One of the strongest evidences in the Qur’an that testifies to the everlasting integrity of the Bible is firmly established in the following Qur’anic verse. In view of the importance of this verse, we have provided the rendering of four different translations:
Surah 3:55: When Allah said: O Jesus, I will cause thee to die and exalt thee in My presence and clear thee of those who disbelieve and make those who follow thee above those who disbelieve to the day of Resurrection. (Maulana Ali)
I will make those who follow thee superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. (Yusuf Ali)
I will clean you of those who rejected you and exalt your followers above the unbelievers until the Day of Resurrection. (Farook Malik)
And I will place the people who follow you above those who are kafir until the Day of Rising. (A. Bewley)
This is a very profound statement in the Qur’an. It reveals the superiority of those who follow Jesus Christ. It does not say those who believe in Jesus will be made superior but those who follow him. The context shows that Allah spoke the above words to Jesus Christ while he was still alive on earth. Thereafter, Jesus was raised to the heavens. This event took place centuries before the birth of Islam. The disciples of Jesus who followed him were known as Christians.
According to the above Qur’anic verse, Christians will be “exulted” or made “superior” over the disbelievers “until the Day of Resurrection.” The Day of Resurrection or Qiyamah will occur at the “time of the end.” Therefore, from the time of the establishment of Christianity until the time of the end, true Christians will be made superior over the unbelievers. Let us see how this Qur’anic verse actually testifies to the eternal legitimacy of the Bible that is in the possession of Christians. Let us now analyze this Qur’anic verse step by step.
- For Christians to be exulted until the time of the end, the true Christian faith must exist in this world until the time of the end.
- For the true Christian faith to exist in this world until the time of the end, true Christians must be present in this world until the time of the end.
- For true Christians to be present in this world until the time of the end, Christians must have a righteous standing with God until the time of end.
- For Christians to have a righteous standing with God until the time of end, Christians must be guided righteously until the time of the end.
- For Christians to be guided righteously until the time of the end, the Bible which is in their possession must remain true until the time of the end.
- For the Bible to remain true until the time of the end, the Bible must remain free from corruption until the time of the end.
- Only then, can Christians have a righteous standing with God and be exalted until the Day of Resurrection.
This Qur’anic verse is one of the strongest testimonies which proves that the Bible will continue to remain pure and unchanged for all eternity. And this certainly confirms the truth that the Bible, which is in our possession today, is the uncorrupted Word of God. It would be logically impossible for the Bible to remain as the uncorrupted guidance for Christians until the time of the end if it is already a corrupted book today.
The Qur’an also contrasts the followers of Jesus with the unbelievers (kafirs). This in itself proves that Christians are true believers. Can you imagine Christians being judged as true believers “until the Day of Resurrection” by Allah himself when Muslims are taught to believe that Christians are following a falsified Bible. Muslims must note that the above Qur’anic verse does not say that Christians will be made superior until the time of Muhammad’s arrival or until the arrival of the Qur’an but until the time of the end.
From the founding of Christianity until today, true Christians have not and still do not submit themselves to the teachings of Allah in the Qur’an. They only submit to the teachings of the Bible. So how can Allah then exalt Christians and make them “superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection” when they do not subscribe to the teachings of the Qur’an? The answer is obvious but not to Muslims. This Qur’anic verse proves beyond doubt that the Bible alone is indeed sufficient for the outworking of a Christian’s salvation – in the past, present and future. In fact, the teachings of the Bible will remain as the authoritative guidance for all mankind. Thus, the claim that the Qur’an was sent to replace the Bible is a preposterous lie concocted by Muslims.
Since the Qur’an states that Allah will make the followers of Christ superior over the disbelievers, this would then mean that Christians will prevail over the disbelievers until “the Day of Resurrection.” As such, it would be logically impossible for the disbelievers to corrupt the Scriptures of the Christians. So how can Muslims then believe that the Christians who were given supremacy by Allah, remain helpless as their Scriptures are mutilated by the disbelievers? Would not this in reality then mean that the disbelievers are superior? Would not this make Allah’s promise regarding the supremacy of the followers of Jesus a lie? Does not this then make the Qur’an false?
The Qur’an states explicitly that the Christians who follow Jesus will be made superior until the time of the end. For this Qur’anic verse to be true, the continuous existence of true Christians from each successive generation must be present here on earth until the time of the end. But how can Christians keep following Jesus when he is no longer with them? This is only possible if the teachings of Jesus are perfectly preserved in the Bible. Therefore, by submitting to the accurate teachings of Jesus as it is preserved in the Bible today, true Christians can continue to follow him until the time of the end.
This means that the reliability of Allah’s proclamation in this Qur’anic verse is very much dependent on the continued preservation of the Bible. The instant the Bible becomes corrupted, then this Qur’anic verse loses its credibility. Therefore, the Bible must continue to remain authentic for this Qur’anic verse to maintain its credibility. Thus, once again we can see that each time Muslims claim the Bible to be corrupted, the end up falsifying the Qur’an.
Yes! True Christians will continue to follow Jesus Christ not only until to the Day of Resurrection but even beyond that. This is possible because the Bible in their possession will continue to remain as the authentic Word of God, both now and eternally. In fact, in one of the teachings that Jesus taught his followers, he confirmed this truth regarding the preservation of the Bible:
Matthew 5:18: Truly I say to you that sooner would heaven and earth pass away than one stroke of a letter to pass away from the Holy Scriptures before everything has come true.
WHY MUSLIMS DESPERATELY TRY TO FAULT THE BIBLE
The Qur’an states that the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel were all revealed by Allah. In other words, they are the Words of Allah.
Surah 5:44: “Lo! We did reveal the Torah, wherein is guidance and a light.” (Pickthall)
Surah 4:163: “We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.” (Yusuf Ali)
Surah 3:2-4: “Allah! There is no god but He…, It is He Who sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind.” (Yusuf Ali)
And the Qur’an states emphatically that none can change or corrupt the Words of Allah:
“None can change the Words of Allah. This is indeed the Supreme Triumph.” (Pickthall)
As testified above, the Qur’an itself states that the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel are the inspired “Words of Allah.” And Allah guarantees that they cannot become corrupted at the hands of humans.
The same claim of inspiration is also made for the Qur’an. As such, there should be complete agreement between the teachings of the Bible and the Qur’an. However, the Bible and the Qur’an differ immensely from one another. As a result, Muslims find themselves in a dilemma. How are they going to reconcile the significant differences between the teachings of the Qur’an and the Bible? How are they going to reconcile the considerable differences when the Qur’an claims that both Scriptures are equally inspired by Allah? In their desperate attempt to reconcile the differences in favor of Islam, Muslims found it necessary to fault the Bible.
Therefore, the claim that the Bible is corrupted is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Muslims to salvage the credibility of the Qur’an. However, in their attempt to falsely accuse the Bible of corruption, Muslims have invalidated the Qur’an in the process. Muslims have now proven that Qur’an is false in its claim that the inspired Messages of Allah cannot be corrupted.
This article clearly proves why the Bible cannot be corrupted as Muslims claim. Finding no evidences in the Qur’an to support their claim of corruption, some Muslims have begun asserting that the corruption of the Bible must have taken place after the completion of the Qur’an. Of course, this claim is false since it still contradicts the teachings of the Qur’an which says that none can change the Word of Allah. And logically this would mean that Allah’s Word cannot be changed at any time. It cannot be changed in the past, present or in the future. It is not supposed to according to the teachings of the Qur’an.
Hence, if Muslims were to insist that the Bible was corrupted after the completion of the Qur’an, this would then mean that Allah was unaware that his Scriptures would become corrupted in the future. Otherwise, he would not have boldly made the claim that none can change his Word. Of course, if this is true it would without a doubt make the Qur’an false since it contains an erroneous claim of Allah in it. And it would make Allah a liar and an impotent weakling who could not protect his divine Revelations.
We will now provide evidences to prove why it will be impossible for the Bible to become corrupted after the time of Muhammad. Just ponder on this for a moment. If the corruption took place after Muhammad’s time, then our present Bible would surely be different from the Bibles that predated Muhammad. Then how is it possible that we have ancient copies of the Bible, in various museums, which predate Muhammad that are identical to the Bibles we have today? Does not this positively confirm the truth that the Bible we have today is the same as the ones that existed before the time of Muhammad? The only way possible for the Bible to reach us identically as the predated copies is by absolutely maintaining its authenticity and by remaining unchanged during and after the time of Muhammad. Otherwise, it could not have reached us as such.
Furthermore, how does one explain the fact that the Bibles that we have with us today are based on manuscripts which predate Muhammad by hundreds of years? And there are thousands of these manuscripts in multiple languages. We can find manuscripts of the Bible written four to five hundred years before the time of Muhammad that are on public display in museums today. When comparing our modern Bibles with these ancient manuscripts, we can easily substantiate the fact that the Bible we have today has remained the same since those words were written in the Qur’an saying, “there is guidance and light” in the Torah and the Gospel.
The Qur’an testifies to the authenticity of the Bibles at the time of Muhammad. Since the Bibles we have today are identical copies of the Bibles that existed before and during the time of Muhammad, then the Qur’an’s testimony to their authenticity applies with equal force to the copies of the Bible that we have today in our possession. Yes! The Bible has continued to remain unchanged right to our day. We will now show the readers why it is absolutely impossible for the Bible to be altered after the time of the Qur’an’s completion.
ONE: Not only was the Bible translated into many languages before the time of Muhammad, but by then it had already been distributed throughout the civilized world. The Bible was by that time distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa. It was translated into Latin, Greek, Coptic, Gothic, Syrian, Ethiopian, Armenian and many other languages. For the corruption to take place after the time of the Qur’an’s completion, it would mean that the Jews and the Christians were able to alter the texts of every single copy of their Bible, all over the world, in every country and in all the languages that the Bible was written in. And this must be accomplished with the consent and collusion of every single individual in the entire world who owns a copy of the Bible. And they must do this without leaving a single copy of the original Bible to exist. This would then involve the undertaking to destroy thousands or even hundreds of thousands of the original Bibles from all around the world. Are the Jews and the Christians capable of accomplishing such a stupendous task without leaving a trace of their conspiracy?
TWO: Since the copies of the Bible that we have today are identical in its message and content, then the assumption that it came from earlier corrupted versions would mean that the earlier corrupted versions were also identical in their message and content. Therefore, those who corrupted the earlier versions must have made identical changes in all those earlier copies of the Bible in all the nations and in all the languages. And this change has to be made simultaneously in all the Bibles, in all the nations and in all the languages. This means a universal approval for the alteration of the Bible has had to take place. Then, this would also call for every single individual Jews and Christians all over the world – who owns a Bible – to conspire with one another so that the changes would be identical.
Imagine! Muslims are asking us to believe that some unknown individuals were able to change all the manuscripts that were written in multiple languages and that were distributed over a significant geographical area and change them all simultaneously and in the same manner so that nobody would notice the changes. This is not only an utterly absurd proposition but also a feat that is humanly impossible. And we are also left wondering, why did the rest of the faithful Christians and Jews remain silent while their Scriptures were mutilated right before them? This feat, if it is true, would be a miracle in itself.
To even imagine such an event taking place is totally insane. This scenario is not only logistically unachievable but also morally impossible. For this to occur, thousands of God-fearing persons who love the Word of God with their very lives would have had to choose to alter their sacred Scriptures knowingly. Are Muslims expecting us to believe this? The Qur’an itself testifies that faithful worshippers among the People of the Book will take a stand for righteousness:
Surah 3:113: “Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (for the right): They rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration.” (Yusuf Ali)
Not all the People of the Scripture are alike. Among them are those who take a firm stand for the right cause, reflect upon the Revelations of Allah by night and fall in full submission. (Shabbir)
Would not these faithful ones safely protect and preserve their Scriptures? These righteous Jews and Christians would certainly have exposed those among them that were attempting to corrupt their sacred Scriptures. Such sincere worshippers would never permit the corruption of their Scriptures to occur. The Qur’an itself testifies that they will “take a firm stand for the right cause.”
THREE: If Muslims claim that the Bible was corrupted after the completion of the Qur’an, then this is an admission that it was not corrupted before that. If so, how is it possible that until today, not a single copy of the uncorrupted Bible can be found from among the millions of Bibles that were available before the time of Muhammad in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa? What happened to all of those Bibles? If the claim of Bible corruption is true, then the original would be needed to prove the existence of any such distortions in the later copies of the Bible. Such “originals” has never been found till today. Of course it will never be found since the Bible that we have in our possession today is the original. This proves that the Bible that came into existence before the time of the Qur’an is the same that we have today.
Let us now consider the commentary by an early Muslim theologian on his views concerning the alleged corruption of the Bible. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149 C.E. – 1209 C.E.) is a well-known and respected Persian Sunni Muslim theologian and philosopher. He made this statement on the authority of Ibn Abbas, a paternal cousin of Prophet Muhammad:
“The Jew and early Christians were suspected of altering the text of the Tawrat 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. No interpolation could therefore be made in them, although it is admitted that some people used to conceal their true sense and interpretation.” (Sayyid Ahmad, THE MOHAMMEDAN COMMENTARY on the HOLY BIBLE, 7th discourse, p.81)
This commentary by a prominent Sunni Muslim theologian clearly shows that it is impossible to alter the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians. The solid reason is “because those Scriptures were generally known and widely circulated.” The eminent doctors and theologians of Islam testify that it is “not practicable to corrupt the text.” These are their very words.
Not practicable means: not feasible, not realistic, not possible, not workable, not practical, not viable, not achievable and not doable. In short, it means it is utterly impossible to corrupt the Bible. Additionally they also stated that “no interpolation could therefore be made in them.” In other words, no intrusions can be made in them. Therefore, no alterations of the texts could be made in the Bible by the deliberate insertion of foreign or unauthorized materials.
It is interesting to note that the Jews and Christians were only looked upon with suspicion of having altered their Scriptures. The fact that the Jews and Christians were only suspected reveals that Islam does not have a single shred of evidence to validate the claim that the Jews and the Christians actually corrupted their Scriptures. This substantiates the truth that Muslims do not have a single piece of tangible evidence such as the actual textual corruption of the Scriptures to charge the Jews and Christians of corrupting their Scriptures.
And even the grounds for suspicion were shown to be unfounded because in the admission of these eminent doctors and theologians of Islam “it was not practicable to corrupt the text.” Why is it not practicable? The reason is irrefutably clear. According to these eminent doctors and theologians it is not practicable “because those Scriptures were generally known and widely circulated, having been handed down from generation to generation. No interpolation could therefore be made in them.” Thus, Islam’s own conclusion proves that “it was not practicable to corrupt the text.”
But what is more important is the fact that this confirms the undeniable truth that no teachings of corruption of the Holy Bible can be found in the Qur’an. Should such teachings of corruption of the Bible exist in the Qur’an, it would have certainly influenced the opinion of these eminent doctors and theologians of Islam. And they would not have stated that “it was not practicable to corrupt the text.” And they would not have said that “no interpolation could be made in them.” No Muslim scholars in their right mind would have dared to contradict the Qur’an. Therefore, Muslims who boldly claim that the Jews and Christians corrupted the Bible are really treading on thin ice when they say this.
Sincere Muslims should be glad with evidences provided here because they prove the Qur’an to be right when it says that “none can change the Word of God.” And this means, the Bible that we have today is the authentic, unchanged Word of God. Muslims do not have any valid grounds to reject the Bible since the claim that it was corrupted cannot be supported by the teachings of the Qur’an. Therefore, in harmony with the teachings of the Qur’an, Muslims should accept the Bible as the authentic Word of God. And it truly is.
A WARNING FROM ALLAH
Allah warns Muslims. He warns Muslims to stop spreading lies about his divine Books. One such lie is the claim by Muslims that some of his divine Books have been altered. If you are a Muslim, it is crucial for you to seriously consider Allah’s stern warning to all those who spread malicious lies about the integrity of the Bible:
Surah 40:70-72: Those who gave the lie to this Book and all the Books which We had sent with Our Messengers shall soon come to know the Truth when fetters and chains shall be on their necks, and they shall be dragged into boiling water, and cast into the Fire. (Maududi)
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