passage in the whole Corân which could, by any possible construction, cast
the slightest suspicion upon Christians of tampering either with their Gospel or
with their copies of the Jewish Scripture. The utmost charge brought against
them is that they had "forgotten a part of that whereby they were
admonished," i.e., fallen into erroneous doctrines and practices.Art.
CXXII.
Now supposing for a moment that the Old Testament had been interpolated by
the enemies of Mahomet, and that they had even extended their attempts to the
New Testament, would not some of the good Jews and Christians have
preserved and multiplied copies of the uncorrupted Scriptures? Those Scriptures
were constantly appealed to by Mahomet; they contained, as he alleged, valuable
testimony in favour of the Corân, his Mission, and Islâm. Even when wielding
the sword and supported by victorious armies, the followers of Mahomet would
hardly neglect so reasonable and so convincing a mode of gaining over the Jews
and Christians as that of pointing out to them the evidence for Islâm recorded
in their own uncorrupted Scriptures. The early Mahometans surely would not
dispense with such useful proof of the claims of their Prophet. Besides, for the
new converts from among the Jews and Christians, the preservation of the pure
and uncorrupted text of the Old and New Testaments would be not only desirable
but necessary. They were commanded by the Prophet to believe in, to observe, and
to judge by those Scriptures; and in doing so, they were promised "a double
portion of Mercy" and special "light." Surely if these had any