Surah 2:79 and Bible Corruption

Sacred Scripture

If you’ve ever had dialogue with a Muslim on religion, you’ll find out very quickly that he believes that the previous Scriptures are corrupted and unreliable.  Sometime before the Quran was revealed the Scriptures got corrupted.  Where and when did they get corrupted?  If you ask five different Muslims, you’re likely to get five different answers, unless they tell you that they don’t know.  The interesting thing is to look in the holy book and see what it says.

How does the Quran view the previous Scriptures?  Very positively when one reads the Quran.  The Quran definitely has a higher view of the previous revelations than Muslim apologists do.  However, when forced to provide a verse from the Quran which teaches the supposed corruption of the previous Scriptures, they usually go to Surah 2:79 which reads:

So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands, and then say, “This is from God,” that they may exchange it for a little price. Woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn.

What does this passage say?  What I read here, is that people are writing something and calling it divine, then selling it.  There is no mention of the Torah or the Gospel.  This is very important since the Quran uses the word for Torah and Gospel quite often and always in positive ways.  There is no negative mention of the Torah and the Gospel in the Quran.

Let’s bring some context in here.  This is verse 79 so we should take a look at verse 78 which reads:

And among them are uneducated who know the Scripture only through hearsay, and they only speculate.

These people are those spoken of in verse 79.  These people don’t know the Scriptures, they’re writing things and saying they’re from God, then selling them and this is supposed to prove that the revealed Torah and Gospel have been corrupted and are unreliable?

In Surah 5:68 we read:

Say, “O People of the Scripture! You have no basis until you uphold the Torah, and the Gospel, and what is revealed to you from your Lord.” But what is revealed to you from your Lord will increase many of them in rebellion and disbelief, so do not be sorry for the disbelieving people.

Allah is telling Muhammad what to say to the Jews and the Christians.  They have no basis unless they uphold the Torah and the Gospel.  There are two possibilities when reading this passage.

The first is that these were the mythical original Torah and Gospel and that the Christians would need to follow them.  This is problematic since no one had heard of these documents until the 7th century.  This is six centuries after the Gospel and twenty centuries after the Torah had supposedly been revealed.  No one had heard of these until Muhammad, yet we have no basis until we follow them.

The second possibility is that these are the Torah and Gospel in the hands of the people of the book in the seventh century.  This would be the Torah and Gospel as we know them today.  This is also problematic because it implies that they’re free from corruption.  Muslim apologists know this.  That’s why they never use this argument.  When is the last time you heard a Muslim tell you:

O People of the Scripture! You have no basis until you uphold the Torah, and the Gospel, and what is revealed to you from your Lord.

I’ve never had a Muslim use this as an argument.  Why not though?  Allah told Muhammad to use this against the people of the book.  If it’s good enough for Allah and Muhammad, certainly it should be good enough for the average Muslim?

It’s not good enough for the average Muslim because they believe that the Bible is corrupted.  This is something not taught anywhere in the Quran, including Surah 2:79.  The next time a Muslim says that the Bible is corrupted and you need the Quran, bring up Surah 5:68 and ask them why aren’t they arguing how Allah told Muhammad to argue.  Allah never tells Muhammad to tell the people of the book that the previous revelations are corrupted and that only the Quran should be used in determining religious truth.  He could have, but why didn’t he?  It seems like the Muslims like this argument more than the one that their holy book gives them.

One question remains.  What is Surah 2:79 talking about if not the Bible?  At the time of Muhammad, there was a common literary tool called Midrash.  This was very common among Jews at the time.  They’re stories that include Biblical characters but the stories themselves aren’t Biblical.  Views on the Midrash vary among Jews.  Some say they’re from God while others don’t.  This would fit the time, place, and description perfectly and not contradict what the Quran says about previous scriptures.  Problem solved.