CHAPTER III
THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WHICH ARE NOW IN CIRCULATION
ARE THOSE WHICH EXISTED IN THE HANDS OF JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN MUHAMMAD'S TIME, AND TO
WHICH THE QUR'AN BEARS WITNESS
IN this and the next chapter our object is to consider the question whether the books
of the Old Testament, now in circulation among both Jews and Christians, and those of the
New Testament, now in the hands of Christians, are those which existed in Muhammad's time,
and, if so, whether they have in any degree become corrupted
(محرّقة) or changed. Before we
examine the evidence, let us for the moment suppose that the assertion so common among
ignorant people in Muslim lands is correct, and (1) that the existent Scriptures are not
those current in Muhammad's day, or (2) are at least so corrupted as to be unreliable. If
so, then the condition of all men is most miserable. For it is clear to our reason that
God's Word
(كلام
الله) is as unchangeable as His Will. That Word was spoken by the Prophets, as
even the Qur'an teaches, and Muslims are commanded to express their belief in it (Surahs
ii. 130; iii. 78). If then this Word of God has utterly vanished from among men, or has
been so corrupted as to be no longer trustworthy, how miserable must all the race of men
be, and how completely has the Qur'an failed to be a1
مُهَيْمِن (Protector) to it!
What then is
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