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 If someone today wrote a book that contradicts a historical document written at the time of an event that took place in 1497 the person who wrote the second book would have to be able to prove the older document was false AND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
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