WHY do Muslims believe the text of the Bible has been corrupted?
1. The Quran declares the Bible to be a true revelation of
God and demands faith in the Bible.
Sura 2:40-42,126,136,285; 3:3,71,93; 4:47,136; 5:47-51,
69,71-72; 6:91; 10:37,94; 21:7; 29:45,46; 35:31; 46:11
a. All these above texts presuppose the availability of the
true revelation of God to the people of Muhammad's day.
Sura 3:71,93; 10:94; 21:71
b. A true Muslim is obliged to believe in all the
revelations of God. Sura 2:136; 4:136; 29:46
c. The Quran makes no distinction between God's revelations
Sura 2:136
2. The Quran claims that NO ONE can change the Word of God.
Sura 6:34; 10:34
BUT,
3. The Bible and the Quran do not agree.
The Bible and the Quran differ widely on fundamental concepts
of faith and practice.
BUT,
4. Since the Bible existed before the Quran the burden of proof
is upon the Muslim to prove that the Bible is incorrect AND
that the Quran is correct.
a. The Bible was completed 500 years before the Quran was
revealed to Muhammad. If someone today wrote a book that
contradicts a historical document written at the time of
an event that took place in 1497 the person who wrote the
second book would have to be able to prove the older
document was false AND also prove its facts were true.
b. The document written at the time of the event would not
have to prove itself against a latter document. This is
neither logical, rational or true to the principles of
the science of history.
c. Merely proving that the older document was not accurate
also does not by default mean the newer document is true.
It must stand on its own and prove itself.
SO
WHY DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS CORRUPTED?
5. In 1064, Ibn-Khazem, FIRST charged that the Bible had been
corrupted and the Bible falsified. This charge was to defend
Islam against Christianity because Ibn-Khazem come upon
differences and contradiction between the Bible and the
Quran. Believing, by faith that the Quran was true, the Bible
must then be false. He said, "Since the Quran must be true it
must be the conflicting Gospel texts that are false. But
Muhammad tells us to respect the Gospel. Therefore, the
present text must have been falsified by the Christians after
the time of Muhammad."
His argument was not based on any evidence or historical facts
but only on his personal faith, reasoning and desire to
safeguard the Quran.
This led him to teach that, "The Christians lost the revealed
Gospel except for a few traces which God has left intact as
argument against them."
BUT,
6. Many great MUSLIM teachers DO NOT believe the Bible has been
corrupted and ACCEPT the authenticity of our PRESENT New
Testament texts.
a. Ali al-Tabari (died 855) accepted the Gospel texts
b. Amr al-Ghakhiz (869) " " " "
c. BUKHARI (810-870) " " " "
(he gathered some of the earliest tradition of Islam
quoted the Quran itself to support his belief in the text
of the Bible Sura 3:72,78)
d. Al-Mas'udi (956) " " " "
e. Abu Ali Husain Bin Sina (1037)" " "
f. AL-GHAZZALI (1111) " " " "
(probably the greatest Muslim scholar he lived after Ibn-
Khazem but did not accept his teachings)
g. Ibn-Khaldun (1406) " " " " " "
(he lived after Ibn-Khazem but did not accept his
teachings but rather believed the earlier Islamic
teachers.)
h. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, founder of the Aligarh College
"In the opinion of us Mohammedans it is not proved that
corruption (tahrif-i-lafzi)...was practiced."
i. Fakhruddin Razi, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, a nephew
of Muhammed, "The Jews and early Christians were
suspected of altering the text of the Taurat and Injil;
but in the opinion of eminent doctors and theologians it
was not practicable thus to corrupt the text, because
those Scriptures were generally known and widely
circulated, having been handed down from generation to
generation."
SO,
WHY do YOU believe the Bible text has been corrupted?
WHY do you believe Ibn-Khazem rather then the witness of the Quran,
the word of Muhammad, and these 10 great Muslim scholars who
all believed the Bible texts to be truthful?
Sources:
Christians Answer Muslims, Gerhard Nehls, 1992
Can We Trust the Bible?, J Wijngaard
Quran, A. Yusuf Ali
Kitab al-Asnam, Ibn al-Kalbi, 1952
Sahih al Bukhari, 6th ed. 1986
The Islamic Christian Controversy, LCA 1996
Authenticity of the Bible
Answering Islam Home Page