IslamDraft · awaiting advisor review

Doesn’t the Qur’an say the Bible was corrupted?

In short

The Qur’an actually honours the Torah and the Gospel, tells the people of the Gospel to judge by it, and says no one can change God’s words. The manuscripts we have from centuries before Muhammad contain the same Bible Christians read today. So if the Bible was changed, it would have to have happened before Muhammad’s time, which sits uneasily with what the Qur’an says.

The Objection

Muslims believe the Torah and the Gospel were originally revealed by God but were later altered by Jews and Christians, which is why they differ from the Qur’an. The Qur’an speaks of people who distort the Scripture with their tongues and write the book with their own hands (Qur’an 2:79, 3:78).

Put as its strongest advocates would put it.

The Christian Case

Historical evidence
The Qur’an calls the Torah and the Gospel guidance and light, tells the people of the Gospel to judge by what God revealed in it, and tells Muhammad, if in doubt, to ask those who read the Scripture before him (Qur’an 5:46–47, 5:68, 10:94). It also says no one can change God’s words (Qur’an 6:115, 18:27).
Historical evidence
Complete Bibles such as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus were copied in the fourth century, and many papyri are older, centuries before Muhammad. They contain the same text, with the same central message, that Christians read today.
Historical evidence
The Qur’an’s charges of distortion are about how some people misread or misquoted Scripture. Many early Muslim scholars took them to mean corruption of meaning; the view that the text itself had been rewritten became common later, argued strongly by Ibn Hazm in the eleventh century.
Scripture
The Bible says God’s word endures for ever and that Jesus’ words will not pass away.

Where the Evidence Is Weaker

Muslim scholars hold a range of views, and a Muslim friend may hold a different one from the one described here. Showing that the text is early doesn’t by itself show it is true; that rests on the case for Jesus.

Arguments to Avoid

Quoting the Qur’an out of context, or without knowing how Muslims read the verse.
Claiming there are no differences between biblical manuscripts: there are, and they are openly known.

Read for Yourself

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Luke 1:1–4

¹Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, ²Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; ³It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

2 Peter 1:16–21

¹⁶For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. ¹⁸And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. ¹⁹We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: ²⁰Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.