The Quran did confirm the OT and Gospels existed during Muhammad's time, but there is no confirmation from the Quran, those OT and Gospels then are the same as the present ones which were corrupted somehow along the way.
As I note from the Quran, Allah in the Quran accused the Jews of "hiding" [i.e. omitted] the verse that confirmed his prophesy in the Torah, thus in a way that was corruption of the Torah.
77. Are they [Jews -infidels] then unaware that Allah knoweth that which they [Jews] keep hidden [SRR: yusirrūna] and that which they [Jews] proclaim? 2 77
79. Therefore woe be unto those [infidel -Jews] who write the Scripture [book of the law] with their hands [not divine from God] and then say, "This is from Allah," that they [Jews] may purchase [liyashtarū] a small gain [ThMN: thamanan: price] therewith. Woe unto them [Jews] for that their hands have written, and woe unto them [Jews] for that [sinful evil gain] they earn thereby. 2 79
140. Or say ye [Jews and Christians] that Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say [Muhammad]: Do ye [Jews and Christians] know best, or doth Allah? And who is more unjust than he [the Jews] who hideth [KTM: katama] a testimony which he hath received [orally] from Allah? Allah is not unaware of what ye [Jews and Christians] do. 2 140
146. Those [proto-Muslims] unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize (this revelation) [Quran] as they recognize their sons. But lo! a party of them [Jews of old] knowingly conceal [KTM: layaktumūna] the truth. [hide the truth alluding to a Messiah, Muhammad claim to represent] 2 146
159. Those [Jews -infidels] who hide [KTM: yaktumūna] the proofs and the guidance which We [Allah] revealed, after We had made it clear in the Scripture: such [infidels] are accursed of Allah and accursed of those [angels, men] who have the power to curse. 2 159
174. Lo! those [infidels] who hide [KTM: yaktumūna] aught [original contents] of the Scripture which Allah hath revealed, and purchase a small gain [ThMN: thaman] therewith, they [infidels] eat into their bellies nothing else than fire. Allah will not speak to them [infidels] on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He make them [infidels] grow. Theirs [infidels] will be a painful doom. 2 174
211. Ask of the Children of Israel [Jews] how many a clear [bayyinatin] revelation [āyatin ] We gave them! He [the Jew] who altereth [BDL: yubaddil: change] the grace [N3M: niʿ'mata] of Allah after it hath come unto him [Jew] (for him), lo! Allah is severe in punishment. [re Jewish converts objecting to Islamic practice contradicting Mosais Law] 2 211
187. And (remember) when Allah laid a charge [MThQ; mīthāqa; covenant] on those [Jews] who had received the Scripture [the Pentateuch and its prophecies] (He said): Ye [Jews] are to expound it to mankind and not to hide it. But they [Jews - infidels] flung it behind their backs and bought thereby a little gain [ThMN: thaman]. Verily evil is that which they [infidels] have gained thereby. [re prophecies the 'Coming One' apparently Muhammad.] 3 187
4: 50. See, how they [Jew infidels] invent [FRY; yaftarūna] lies [KDhB: l-kadhiba] about Allah! That of itself is flagrant [unforgivable] sin [ithm].
5:13. And because of their [infidel Jews] breaking their covenant [MThQ; Mīthāqa ], We have cursed them [infidel Jews] and made hard their hearts. They [infidels] change [HRF: yuḥarrifūna] words from their context [mawāḍiʿihi] and forget [NSY: nasiya] a part of that whereof they were admonished*. Thou wilt not cease to discover treachery [KhWN: khāinatin] from ALL [Jews] save a few of them. But bear [fa-uʿ'fu] with them and pardon [wa-iṣ'faḥ] them. Lo! Allah loveth the kindly [l-muḥ'sinīna]. [* cautioned, reproved, scolded, or reminded?]
Earlier Muhammad appeared to speak favorable of the Torah in general.
But when the Jews rejected him, Muhammad brought in the above verses.
As for the Gospels, Muhammad claim the Gospels is also corrupted;
4:44. Seest thou not those [Jews & Christians] unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they [Jews & Christians] purchase error [DLL: l-ḍalālata], and seek to make you (Muslims) err from the right way?
That the concept of Trinity is condemned in the Quran, the story of Jesus' crucifixion is different from the Christian's gospels is indication that the Muslims accused the Gospels as corrupted while their's is the correct version.
What I can confirm is Islam as per the Quran do claim the present OT and Gospels in the hand of present Jews and Christian are corrupted based on the Quranic verses above and the argument re the Christian's Trinity as different from the Quran.
As a Christian you have to claim the Gospels is not corrupted but the Muslims would disagree with it. I noted the Christian do have reasonable argument to justify their arguments.
Personally I believe Islam's argument is flimsy.
Hi Joyousperson,
I am familiar with the verses you posted. If we take away what is written in parenthesis, and stick with just what the Qur'an states, we really see absolutely no clear evidence that the Qur'an suggests that the Torah or the Gospel were themselves altered. And that would be ridiculous, since the Qur'an keep repeating that no one can alter Allah's words, that Allah protects His words.
Rather, we see that the Jews write books with their hands and sell them, which is historically accurate. That is why we have apocryphal and traditions and legendary/mythical books written by those professing to be Jews or Christians. Some of these books were readily available during the time of Muhammad.
Unfortunately, Muhammad could not tell truth from fiction when he gave Qur'anic revelations. Anyone living at that time could see that Muhammad was just repeating myths and legends that would be told during Muhammad's day.
Qur'an 25:5
And they say: “Tales of the ancients, which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening.”
Qur'an 8:31 And when OUR verses are recited to them, they say, `We have heard. If we wished we could certainly say the like of it. This is nothing but mere tales of the ancients'.
Qur'an 16:24 And when it is said unto them: What hath your Lord revealed? they say: (Mere) fables of the men of old...
Qur'an 68:15 That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old.
Qur'an 83:13 Who, when thou readest unto him Our revelations, saith: (Mere) fables of the men of old.
Qur'an 16:103-104
“We know indeed that they say “It is a man that teaches him.” The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notable foreign while this is Arabic pure and clear. Those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, Allah will not guide them and theirs will be a grievous Penalty.” (Yusef Ali’s translation)
Interesting that Allah's eternal book, the Qur'an contains about 35% foreign words, not Arabic - vocabulary that was adopted into the Arabic language of the Qur’an as words derived from Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Greek, and other languages, especially words used from Jewish-Christian tradition. Besides this, the Quran includes many passages modified from biblical and extra-biblical texts - the Talmud, mythical Christian tales, and from Syrian legends - all of which were widely circulated in Mecca and the Middle East during the time of Muhammad.
Muhammad also made up, or changed, words and whole verses copied from the Hebrew Scriptures into the Quran. Even the word “Quran” is a Syrian word meaning “text.”
Besides that, many grammatical errors exist in the perfect word for word recitation of Allah's eternal word - the Quran. A few major ones are as follows:
•
In Quran 2:177, there are actually FIVE grammatical errors in this verse alone!
'aaman should read tu'minuu
'aata shoud be tu'tuu
'aqaama should be tuqimuu
'aata shoud be tu'tuu
saabiriina should be saabiruuna
•The yakuun in
3:59 should read kana
•The muqiimiin in
4:162 should read muqiimuun
•The Saabi'uuna in
5:69 should read Saabi'iina
•The qaribun in
7:56 should read qaribah
•The asbatan in
7:160 should read sebtan
•The 'asarru in
21:3 should read 'asarra
•The 'ikhtasamuu in
22:19 should read 'ikhtasamaa
•The ta'e'een in
41:11 should read be ta'e'atain
•The 'eq-tatalu in
49:9 should read 'eqtatalata
•The 'akun in
63:10 should read 'akuuna
•The ma in
91:5 should read man
•The haazaani in
20:63 should read haazayn
Regarding the Bible, Muhammad took all the important names: Abraham (rendered into Arabic as Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Joseph (Yusuf), Ishmael (Ismail) etc. Most of the Old Testament prophets that the Quran mentions are Arabic forms of the Greek translation of the name.
If the Quran was from Allah, then the names of the prophets should have been taken from their original Hebrew names.
He took many of the customs, such as the weekly Sabbath day, the Holy Book or written Scripture, forswearing of idolatry, and the concept of monotheism, from the Christians and Jews who at that time constituted a large proportion of the population of Arabia.
To say that Jews or Christians actually altered the manuscript text, that would be impossible. If you alter even one word in any one manuscript in the NT, there are at least 20,000 others to compare to all over the known world. As regards the OT writings, we have books of the OT found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and other such caves showing the accuracy of the OT Scriptures we have today with minor differences, mostly grammatical.
By comparing manuscripts we can determine fraudulent and spurious writings from the real thing.
Unfortunately for the Muslims, their own writings state that chapters and verses were lost, such as the chapter on stoning, and the chapter on breast feeding adult men.
To add to that, those closest to Muhammad were at odds as to which Qur'anic verses were authentic and which were added and which were lost.
Then we have all the manuscripts of the Qur'an that were conveniently burned up by Caliph Uthman after creating a copy from them.
Fortunately not all the manuscripts were burned, and we have the oldest ones in libraries around the world. After being studied and reviewed, we see thousands of variants and differences between them, some very significant.
