In reading the best English interpretations of the Qu'ran I see many surahs honoring the Tawrat and the Injil, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example:
- "He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammed) the Scripture with truth, confirming
that which was (revealed) before it, even as He revealed the Torah and
the Gospel aforetime, for a guidance to mankind; and hath revealed the
Criterion (of right and wrong). Lo! those who disbelieve the revelations
of Allah, theirs will be heavy doom. Allah is Mighty, Able to Requite (the
wrong) (3:3,4).
The Qu'ran speaks of itself in this way:
- "And lo! it is a revelation of the Lord of the Worlds, which the True
Spirit hath brought down upon thy heart, that thou mayest be one of the
warners, in plain Arabic speech. And lo, it is in the Scriptures of
the men of old. Is it not a token for them that the doctors of the
Children of Israel know it? (26:192-197).
Perhaps the reason for this is that many muslims feel that the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians have now been corrupted. There is disagreement as to when this happened amongst muslims. Some say the Injil (the Gospels) was taken to heaven with Jesus. Others say it has been abrogated (i.e. it no longer applies). Others believe that Christians changed it in order to hide some important truths. But is this what the Qu'ran itself says?
The Qu'ran DOES reprimand Jews and Christians for hiding and not proclaiming some of what was revealed to them.
- "And with those who say: "Lo! we are Christians", We made a covenant,
but they forgot a part of that whereof they were admonished. Therefore
We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection
when Allah will inform them of their handiwork.
"O People of the Scripture! Now hath Our messenger come unto you, expounding unto you much of that which ye used to hide in the Scripture, and forgiving much. Now hath come unto you light from Allah and a plain Scripture." (Surah 5:14,15)
Here it says that the Christians forgot some of God's warnings. It says that the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) used to hide some of the things revealed to them. Did they hide a corrupted or an uncorrupted Scripture? Surely they would not be rebuked for hiding something that was corrupted!
Should muslims be angry at Christians for proclaiming what God has revealed to them through the Injil? Should we hide what our Lord has revealed to us?
Actually, historically it is true that by the time of Muhammed much of the visible church had forgotten many of the basic teachings of the Injil, and had become occupied with ornate furnishings, statues, various forms of idolatry and the quest for more political power. Truly much of the teaching, purity and power of the first century church life and doctrine had been forgotten by the 7th century.
In another place, the Qu'ran says of Jews and Christians:
- Those unto whom We have given the Scripture, who read it with the right
reading, those believe in it. And whoso disbelieveth in it, those are they
who are the losers. (2:121).
On the contrary, the weight of Qu'ranic evidence is in favor of the proposition that the People of the Scriptures at the time of Muhammed had the true Scriptures. This is interesting as we have today manuscripts of the Tawrat and Injil that date to BEFORE the time of Muhammed. Therefore our Holy Bibles should not be too readily dismissed by muslim seekers after truth.
As one muslim said to me, 'The Bible is really my book. I'm ashamed that I've never read it.'
Surah 5:43 is interesting.
- H
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