Reason 1 of 10
The Quran vouches for the Bible it contradicts
The Quran calls the Torah and the Gospel guidance and light, tells Christians to judge by the Gospel they had, and says no one can change God's words. That Gospel says Jesus died, rose and is the Son of God. Both cannot be true.
What the Quran says about the Torah and the Gospel
The Quran never calls the Torah and the Gospel lost. It calls them revelation, says the Quran confirms them, commands Christians to judge by the Gospel, and describes the Torah and Gospel as being with the Jews and Christians of Muhammad's own time.
If those books were already corrupted, the commands make no sense: you cannot judge by a book that no longer exists, and Muhammad could not settle his doubts by asking people who were reading a forgery.
نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَأَنزَلَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ 3
3He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammad) the Scripture with truth, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.
Quran 3:3 (Pickthall) · context
وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِم بِعِيسَى ٱبْنِ مَرْيَمَ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ ٱلْإِنجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدًى وَنُورٌ وَمُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ 46
46And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah - a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil).
Quran 5:46 (Pickthall) · context
وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ ٱلْإِنجِيلِ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَٰسِقُونَ 47
47Let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allah hath revealed therein. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are evil-livers.
Quran 5:47 (Pickthall) · context
قُلْ يَٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ لَسْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَىْءٍ حَتَّىٰ تُقِيمُوا۟ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنْهُم مَّآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ طُغْيَٰنًا وَكُفْرًا فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ 68
68Say O People of the Scripture! Ye have naught (of guidance) till ye observe the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord. That which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) from thy Lord is certain to increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them. But grieve not for the disbelieving folk.
Quran 5:68 (Pickthall) · context
ٱلَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ ٱلرَّسُولَ ٱلنَّبِىَّ ٱلْأُمِّىَّ ٱلَّذِى يَجِدُونَهُۥ مَكْتُوبًا عِندَهُمْ فِى ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَٱلْإِنجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُم بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَىٰهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْخَبَٰٓئِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَٱلْأَغْلَٰلَ ٱلَّتِى كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ فَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِهِۦ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَٱتَّبَعُوا۟ ٱلنُّورَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ مَعَهُۥٓ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ 157
157Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honour him, and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful.
Quran 7:157 (Pickthall) · context
فَإِن كُنتَ فِى شَكٍّ مِّمَّآ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكَ لَقَدْ جَآءَكَ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ 94
94And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture (that was) before thee. Verily the Truth from thy Lord hath come unto thee. So be not thou of the waverers.
Quran 10:94 (Pickthall) · context
قُولُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسْمَٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحَٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِ وَمَآ أُوتِىَ مُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَمَآ أُوتِىَ ٱلنَّبِيُّونَ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ مُسْلِمُونَ 136
136Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.
Quran 2:136 (Pickthall) · context
What that Gospel actually says
The Gospel the Christians of Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Ethiopia were reading in the 600s is the same New Testament we read today. It says Jesus was crucified, died, was buried and rose on the third day, and that he is the Son of God who shares the Father's glory.
37Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
Mark 15:37 (WEB) · context
6He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee, 7saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”
Luke 24:6-7 (WEB) · context
61But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62Jesus said, “I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky.”
Mark 14:61-62 (WEB) · context
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1 (WEB) · context
14The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (WEB) · context
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
John 14:6 (WEB) · context
The dilemma
Either the Gospel in Muhammad's day was God's word, in which case it is God's word that Jesus died and rose and is the Son of God, and the Quran contradicts God's word. Or the Gospel had already been corrupted, in which case the Quran was wrong to call it guidance and light, to command Christians to judge by it, and to send Muhammad to its readers.
Either way the Quran is wrong about something it says God revealed. That is the dilemma, and every Muslim apologist has to choose a horn of it.
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا 157
157And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.
Quran 4:157 (Pickthall) · context
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَقَالَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ يَٰبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُۥ مَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَىٰهُ ٱلنَّارُ وَمَا لِلظَّٰلِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ 72
72They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil-doers there will be no helpers.
Quran 5:72 (Pickthall) · context
وَٱتْلُ مَآ أُوحِىَ إِلَيْكَ مِن كِتَابِ رَبِّكَ لَا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَٰتِهِۦ وَلَن تَجِدَ مِن دُونِهِۦ مُلْتَحَدًا 27
27And recite that which hath been revealed unto thee of the Scripture of thy Lord. There is none who can change His words, and thou wilt find no refuge beside Him.
Quran 18:27 (Pickthall) · context
The manuscripts settle the question of corruption
The claim that Jews and Christians changed their Scriptures has to say when. The manuscript record leaves no room before Muhammad.
The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsa-a), dated to about the second century BC, contains all of Isaiah, including chapter 53, and agrees closely with the Hebrew text used today.
Papyrus 52 (John 18:31-33, 37-38) is usually dated to the second century AD. Papyri 66 and 75 (around AD 200) contain most of John and Luke. Codex Vaticanus (about 300-325) and Codex Sinaiticus (about 330-360) contain the whole New Testament or nearly all of it. More than 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts are catalogued today.
Every one of these was copied before the Quran existed, and every one of them that contains the Passion narrative has Jesus crucified. There is no manuscript, anywhere, of a Gospel that matches the Quran's Jesus.
What Muslims answer
Most Muslim scholars answer with tahrif (distortion): either the text itself was changed (tahrif al-nass) or its meaning was twisted (tahrif al-ma'na). They point to Quran verses about people who write Scripture with their own hands or twist it with their tongues, and say the Injil was a single book given to Jesus, not the four Gospels.
79Therefore woe be unto those who write the Scripture with their hands and then say, "This is from Allah," that they may purchase a small gain therewith. Woe unto them for that their hands have written, and woe unto them for that they earn thereby.
Quran 2:79 (Pickthall) · context
78And lo! there is a party of them who distort the Scripture with their tongues, that ye may think that what they say is from the Scripture, when it is not from the Scripture. And they say: It is from Allah, when it is not from Allah; and they speak a lie concerning Allah knowingly.
Quran 3:78 (Pickthall) · context
Why that answer fails
Those verses describe some people misusing Scripture, not the loss of the Scripture itself; the same Quran says nobody can change God's words. A distortion of meaning (tahrif al-ma'na) leaves the text intact, so the Gospel text still says what it says.
The single-book Injil theory has no manuscript, no quotation and no witness: no early Christian, Jewish or pagan writer mentions a Gospel of Jesus that denies the cross. The only Injil any Christian community ever possessed is the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and that is the one the Quran told Christians to judge by.
Where scholars disagree
- Dating of Papyrus 52: most editions give the first half of the second century; Brent Nongbri (2005) argues for a wider range reaching into the third century. Even the latest date is about 350 years before Muhammad.
- Muslim scholars differ on whether tahrif means a changed text or a changed interpretation; early commentators held both views.
Sources
- Earliest source The Quran, Pickthall translation (1930): 2:79, 2:136, 3:3, 3:78, 5:46-47, 5:68, 6:115, 7:157, 10:94, 18:27.
- Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Israel Museum, Jerusalem: Digital Dead Sea Scrolls project.
- C. H. Roberts, An Unpublished Fragment of the Fourth Gospel in the John Rylands Library (Manchester, 1935) [Papyrus 52].
- Brent Nongbri, "The Use and Abuse of P52", Harvard Theological Review 98 (2005) 23-48.
- Codex Sinaiticus Project (British Library, Leipzig University Library, St Catherine's Monastery, National Library of Russia).
- Codex Vaticanus, Vatican Library, Vat. gr. 1209.
- Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF, Munster), Kurzgefasste Liste of Greek New Testament manuscripts.