This is the sixth part of our series “how Quran never claims what Muslims believe.” If you have not read earlier parts of this series click here. Let us read what Quran claims about the preservation of the written word of God.
Table of Contents
The Claim of the Quran opposes what Muslims believe
The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfilment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who hears and knows all.
Sura 6:115
And recite (and teach) what has been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord: none can change His Words, and none wilt thou find as a refuge other than Him.
Surah 18:27
Now Muslims will say that the context of these words is applicable only to Quran. However, the Bible says exactly in similar words. The God of the Bible said the same promise about his words.
The Word of God in the Bible
The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever.
Isa 40:8
See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, Lord, in accordance with your love.
160 All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.
Psalm 119:159-160
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Luke 21:33
Evaluating the Source and Finding the Liar
Now there are three possibilities for the origin/ source of these words.
- These words of promise of preservation of the Bible, are indeed words of Allah. OR
- These words of promise of preservation of bible are words of Biblical God Yahweh made before Allah became God in the days of Mohammad before whom there is no evidence of its existence. OR
- They are not words of Allah/ or Yahweh but are fabrication of Jews and Christians inserted into the bible.
Imagine, the first possibility that Allah gave those words of preservation of the Bible. In that case, Allah failed to preserve the right teachings making it possible for Jews to insert the teachings of Jesus, trinity etc, making Allah a liar and weak God. Now, Muslims are not ready to accept the failure of Allah, because according to them, the Bible is corrupted. That makes Allah a liar.
The next option is that the God of the Bible, Yahweh is a true God. Hence Allah of the Quran becomes a liar in this case.
Finally, the only option left with Muslims is the third option that these biblical promises of preservation are words inserted by Jews and Christians.
Archaeological Evidence of Biblical Text quoted above
Archaeologists have discovered the ‘great scroll of Isaiah the prophet‘ (1Qisaa) dating back to 600 BC – i.e. at least a thousand years even before Mohammad was born or before the Allah of Quran promised similar words (Isaiah 40:8).
Archaeologists have also discovered Bodmer Papyrus (P 75) dated 300 years before Muhammad, and it also says the same words that Jesus said which is also what we find in modern English bibles (Luke 21:33).
Thus, it is very clear that God of the Bible has been claiming the promise of the preservation of his words from the times of Prophet David (writer of Zabur), prophet Isaiah, and Lord Jesus Christ centuries before Mohammad was born. The dating of these manuscripts is few 100 years before even Mohammad brought Quran.
As we have been proving there is no unequivocal evidence in Quran, that all words of the Bible were changed by all Jews and all Christians in the whole world. These words are historically, archaeologically and scientifically spoken before Quran even existed. Therefore, it is impossible that Jews and Christians living in Arabia have inserted these words in the Old Testament and the Gospels. Moreover, we have proved in our series that Allah is a thief and a robber who is a master of plagiarism – (see our plagiarism series on Quran), who thus have copied these words from the bible into the Quran.
Reasons for Why we can trust the New Testament
- We have more manuscripts to compare (More manuscripts means more we can be sure that the text we have is reliable). We have 24,000 manuscripts, more than 50 complete bible, and lectionaries from early fathers. Compared to the Bible, other ancient literature has only 10 to 15 copies to compare and rely on its trustworthiness. Only other next ancient literature is the illiad of Homer 500 copies.
- Early writers: The books of the New Testament (Gospels – biography of life of Jesus) was written by eyewitnesses, within 30 years of the death of Jesus. Josephus says that James died in AD 62. While Luke wrote “The Acts of the Apostles” James was alive. Luke wrote the gospel of Luke before Acts (Acts 1:1). Luke also mentions others have written gospel before him (Luke 1:1). Moreover, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts are written before the temple destruction in AD 70. Thus, we can say the time difference between the actual event and it being penned down is extremely less when compared to other documents of ancient history.
- Early Non-biblical witness : Epistle of Barnabas (AD 70-90), Epistle of Clement (AD 94-95), Epistle of Polycarp (AD 90-155), Didache (AD 80 to 120), Shepherd of Hermas (AD 90 -100), Epistle of Ignatius (AD 117), Fragments of Papias (AD 130). Early secular witness include Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Thallus, Jewish Talmud.
- Better copying: Copies of the New Testament were made with much more accuracy (99.9%) and care than any other historic literature. Compared to the Bible if we see copies of the Mahabharata they are 90% accuracte and Iliad is 95% accurate.
- Written by Eye witness:
- Matthew (Apostle of Jesus Matt 10:3),
- Mark (associate of Peter – 1 Pet 5:13),
- Luke associate of Paul (II Tim 4:11),
- John (Eyewitness Apostle of Jesus John 21:24, I John 1:1-4),
- Peter (Eyewitness & Apostle of Jesus Matt 10:2, II Pet 1:16-17, Acts 2:32),
- James (brother of Jesus and eye witness – I Corinthians 15:7),
- Jude brother of James (Jude 1),
- Paul was the contemporary of Apostles who were eye witness (I Co 15:8, Acts 9, Gala 2:9),
- Writer of Hebrews (Heb 2:3, 13:23) [See Also Luke 1:1-4, I Co 15:4-8 500 eye witness ,Acts 4:19-20, 10:39-40].
- Many Archeological finds support the New Testament writings. There are more than 30 historical persons recorded in the New Testament (Herod Agrippa, Agrippa II, Ananias, Annas, Aretas, Augustus, Bernice, Caiaphas, Claudius, Drusilla, Egyptian Acts 21, Erastus, Felix, Gallio, Gamaliel, Herod Antipas, Herod Archelaus, Herod the great, Herod Philip, Herodias, John the Baptist, Lysanias, Pilate, Porcius, Festus, Quirinius, Salome, Sergius Paulus, Tiberius Caesar, Judas of Galilee – see book by Norman Geisler – I don’t have enough faith to be Atheist)
- Nature of writings shows the honesty and reliability
- Authors of the Gospel did not make attempt to harmonize their writings. If they were liars, they would have fabricated to match their contents. Matthew is 42% unique, Mark is 7% Unique, Luke is 59% unique and John is 92% unique when compared with each other.
- Writers did not deny their testimony under the threat of being killed (They died for what they preached)
- They discarded long held Jewish beliefs overnight.
- They have women witnessing the resurrection before men – contrary to custom of that time where the women’s words were of low value.
They challenged the readers to check their facts [See Also Luke 1:1-4, I Cor 15:4-8 500 eyewitnesses, Acts 4:19-20, 10:39-40, II Pet 1:16-17].
If Gospels are tried in the Supreme Court
SIMON GREENLEAF (1783-1853) [professor at Harvard Law School], a world-renowned expert on evidence, said that if Gospel were held in the court of law for trial, then looking at the evidence, any court will give a verdict in favour of Gospels
Thus, it is very clear that the modern belief of Muslims is a falsehood that scientifically, biblically, and Quranically is a lie.
End of “The Quran Never Claims what Muslims Believe 6“
