Bible Corruption vs. Quran Corruption

Who is Doing the Corruption?

Nowhere in the Quran, the Bible is referred to as being textualy corrupted. The verses in the Quran that Muslims use to accuse the Bible with textual corruption are only attempts used by some Muslims to defend Islam. Even if the Quran were to accuse the Bible of corruption, to substantiate this would be extremely difficult in light of what we have today in the manuscript and archaeological evidence. Regardless of the accusations people make, whether the Quran or the Bible is corrupt, each has to stand on its own. The Quran to be proven divine, has to stand under the light, and be examined and found reliable historically, archaeologically, prophetically, scientifically, and textually. The same examination needs to be done on the Bible. These accusations, however, can be answered by simply examining some of these verses; "Can ye (O ye men of Faith) entertain the hope that they will believe in you? Seeing that a party of them heard the Word of Allah. And perverted it knowingly after they understood it." (Al-Baqarah[2]:75). "Of the Jews there are those who displace words from their (right) places, and say: `We hear and we disobey'; And `Hear you may not hear'; and with a twist of their tongues and a slander to faith..." (Al-Nisa[4]:46a). It is a common thing when debating with Muslims about corruption they will look for the word "corruption", make a statement and ignore the rest of the context. It is known fact today, people hear the Quran or the Bible, and change the words that were said by twisting their tongues, but nowhere they changed the text. Interpretations are always abused by many, but the text remain protected. Textual corruption is easily detected in the Bible since originals are available. In the case of the verse above, it refers to an argument between Muhammad and the Jews of Madinah. The Quran claims that the Jews tried to hide the prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible, but perverted it after they heard it (understood it). It is agreed among Muslims that textual corruption (Al-Tahreef Al-Lafthi), by adding, deleting, and substituting words to the Quran is impossible. However, making verbal changes, omitting, and twisting verses while reading and reciting the word of God is possible. No one can find verses in the Quran referring to textual corruption of the Bible. If that was true, Muslim scholars would have produced them. We could ask: Why was there no reference in the Quran for textual corruption? There are several reasons for that:

(1) Muhammad believed that he was mentioned in the Bible. How could he refer to a book that was corrupt, and speaking of him.
(2) Muhammad was tryingto reach to Jews and some Christian sects. It would be impossible for these people to be reached if he accuses their Bible as corrupt.
(3) It would be difficult to say that God's word can be corrupted, since the Quran testifies that God's words are protected by God. That is why the Bible's integrity and purity is evident the moment one reads the Arabic Quran.

You could ask: Why the Arabic only? It is because the translators of the Quran into English and other languages have the intention to export what they believe to the West, and for the West to adopt Islam, they must teach the West to put away their Bible, since the Bible (according to Muslims) is corrupt. So, twisting the words and applying textual corruption into the translated Quran is the only way. You may say: Such an accusation demands evidence!

Since the subject concerns evidence, here it is: Take for example Surah Al-Ahqaf[46] verse 30, in your major translations by Muslims. Take the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. It says: "They said, "O our people, we have heard a book revealed after Moses, confirming what came before it; it guides (men) to the truth and to a straight path." Look at the words highlighted above that say "before it." In the Arabic the words are not "before it." Let's do a word for word translation, and I leave it to the Arabic reader to be honest to himself when he reading this word for word translation:

Arabic: kaloo ya kawmana inna sami'ina kitaban unzila ba'd Musa
English: they said O our people we have heard a book revealed after Moses

Arabic: Musadekan Lima Bayna Yadayehe
English: confirming what is between his hands

Arabic: Yahdee ela al-hak wa-ela tareekin mustakeem
English: it guides to the truth and to a straight path

Look at the highlighted words that say "between his hands." These words have been replaced by "before it." This is done to override the original words which is "bayna yadayehe" (between his hands). If the words are translated correctly, the reader will conclude that the Bible that was at Muhammad's time (between his hands) as being correct and can be used as a guide to the truth, which Muslims want to cover up, since they know that the Bible that is at Muhammad's hands, is the same as the Bible we have today, but Islamic pride forces them to ignore the facts. The words (between his hands), is all over the Quran, and it has been changed throughout the whole English Quran to say (before it), putting the Bible at an unknown time in the past before the Quran. Here is another one from Abdullah Yusuf Ali; "It is he who sent down to thee in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and he sent down the Law (Of Moses) and the Gospel (Of Jesus)." (Al-Imran[3]:3). Here is a word for word translation:

Arabic: nazzala alayka alkitabu bel-hakkee musaddekan lima bayna yadayehe
English: He sent to you the book in truth confirming what is between his hands

Arabic: wa-anzala al-tawratah wal-enjeel
English: and He sent the Torah and Gospel

In the way he translates the verse, we have "between his hands' translated to "before it', and his addition of (Of Jesus) after Gospel, insinuates a well known modern Muslim claim, that is: the Gospel of Jesus is the name of the original Gospel, which was lost, and that is why he put the name (Of Jesus) after the word Gospel. Muslims claim that the Gospel according to Matthew, The Gospel according to Luke ... are the accounts of men, they will ask: what happened to the Gospel of Jesus? (For more, see Fatir:31, Yunus:37, Yusuf:111, and Al-Maida:51).

We must answer this question of the Gospel of Jesus, it is simple: If your father in a distant country writes you for many years, and he sends a message after a message of his soon coming. One day he knocks on your door. Should he carry a message with him? No, he is the message! And after he comes, and visits, and goes back to his distant country, he could send more messages to tell about his first visit and his second visit in the future.

The Gospels of Luke, John, Mark are what the Quran was referring to, the Quran, was speaking of the Bible in His (Muhammad's) time, which He attested to, and respected. We could ask: What did the Quran mean when it referred to the Bible in the following verses; "Oh Yahya (John the Baptist) take hold of the Book with might, and We gave him wisdom as a child." (Mary:12). "And he (God) will teach him the book and the wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel." (Al-Imran[3]:48). "and Mary believed in the words of her Lord and His books." (Al-Tahrim[66]:12). Tens of other verses in the Quran speaks highly of the Bible, and not one accuses it with corruption.


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