The Quran itself vouches for the Bible
UnrefutedNo good counter-argument has been published by Muslim scholars.
Why this case comes first
Most Muslims believe the Bible was changed. That is why they will not accept it as evidence.
So every other argument stalls right here. This case answers it from the Quran itself, not from ours.
What the Quran says about the Bible
Quran 3:3 says the Quran confirms what came before it. Quran 5:43 asks why Jews come to Muhammad for judgment "while they have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah." Quran 5:46-47 tells the People of the Gospel to "judge by what Allah has revealed therein." Quran 5:68 says they stand on nothing until they uphold both books.
Quran 10:94 tells Muhammad, if he doubts, to "ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you." Quran 6:115 and Quran 18:27 add that none can alter His words.
The answer you will hear
IslamQA gives the mainstream reply, and it is a fair one. The Quran confirms the original Torah and Gospel.
By Muhammad's day those books had already been altered in places. Truth remained in them, so the Quran can appeal to that.
A second reply says the Injil was a separate book given to Jesus. On that view it was never the four Gospels at all.
Where that answer runs out
Now read the verses again. Quran 5:43 says the Torah with them holds Allah's judgment now.
Quran 5:47 tells Christians to judge by the Gospel now. Quran 10:94 makes those same readers the check on Muhammad's message.
None of that works if the books could not be trusted.
How strong is this argument?
Strong for you. No Muslim scholar has published a clean answer.
The replies move the problem instead of solving it. Corruption before Muhammad contradicts the Quran.
Corruption after him is closed off by manuscripts, which is the next case.
What to say
"Your own book tells people in doubt to ask those who read the earlier Scripture. Could we do that together?"
How they answer this — at its strongest
They say the Quran confirms the true Torah and Gospel, not today's changed copies.
IslamQA gives the mainstream answer. The Quran confirms the original Torah and Injil. By Muhammad's time the circulating texts had already been altered in places. They were corrupted here and there, yet they still held truth.
That is why the Quran can appeal to what remains without endorsing the whole. A second line argues that the Injil is a separate revelation given to Jesus. It was never the four Gospels that Christians hold.
On this account, affirming and correcting sit together. The Quran affirms what is genuinely from Allah in their books, and corrects the rest.
The verdict
Strong for you: both answers move the problem instead of solving it.
The first answer says the Bible was already corrupt in Muhammad's day. That collides with the plain sense of the verses. Quran 5:43 says the Torah with them holds Allah's judgment now. Quran 5:47 commands present-tense judgment by the Gospel. Quran 10:94 makes readers of the earlier Scripture the check on Muhammad's own revelation. None of that works if those texts were unreliable.
The second answer posits a lost original Injil. That book has no historical or manuscript existence at all. And 5:47 addresses the actual People of the Gospel, and what they hold in hand.
Neither horn is escaped. The answers move the problem rather than resolve it.
Sources
- Quranic Arabic Corpus — Quran 5:47 (translations)
- Quran.com — Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:43-68
- Gordon Nickel, Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'an (Brill, 2011)
- IslamicDilemma.com — the two-horned argument stated