Surah 3 Refutes Bible Corruption and Islam

Surah 3

The only thing keeping Islam from utter falsification in terms of apologetics is the myth of Bible corruption.  The Quran affirms the Torah and Gospel in multiple areas with Surah 5:68 being the clearest example.  The fact that the Torah, Gospel, and other previous scriptures are mentioned endlessly and there is no statement of corruption, backs up what Surah 5 says.

Muslims are starting to realize that Surah 2:79 doesn’t teach corruption, and even then Islamic commentators tend to see this as a reference to Jews only.  The Torah isn’t even mentioned and it’s obvious that this is talking about certain Midrashim as it was big at the time for Jews to do that.

The next verse behind Surah 2:79 in Bible Corruption myth apologetics is Surah 3:78.  In preparation for this post I had to decide which Quran I would use.  I took my M.A.S. Abdel Haleem translation off my shelf and read through Surah 3.  In the introduction notes to Surah 3 in this Quran translation it said the following:

It begins by emphasizing that the Qur’an confirms the earlier scriptures and goes on to say later that the central tenet of the faith is devotion to God(verses 19-20).

Already off the top we have an admission from the translator that the Quran affirms the previous scriptures in this chapter.  However, I don’t rely on arguments from authority but the text itself.  Before we analyze verse 78, let me point out a fact.  Throughout Surah 3 there are numerous references to the Torah, Gospel, and other previous revelations.  It had many opportunities to give a clear testimony to corruption and it doesn’t do that anywhere.  Again, verse 78 is the only one used, and it reads:

There are some of them who twist the Scripture with their tongues to make you [people] think that what they say is part of the Scripture when it is not; they attribute lies to God and they know it.

They twist the Scripture with their tongues.  Obviously what the Quran says here is that some among the people of the book promote false doctrine orally and attribute it to Scripture.  For example, if someone said: “The Bible tells us that God is a monkey” this would be a great example.  This is a falsehood that’s being credited to the Bible.  We all know that the Bible doesn’t teach us that God is a monkey.  However, the person preaching this nonsense isn’t changing what is written in the text as the Scripture is being twisted with the tongue.

Another problem is that this is only some of the people of the book, not all of them.  Muhammad was addressing Jews and Christians in Mecca, Medina, and elsewhere in the Hijaz.  We know that Surah 3 goes to great lengths to differentiate some of certain groups from the whole.  Verse 78 is talking about the people of the book.  We know this from verse 75 which differentiates between certain groups of the people of the book.

There are People of the Book who, if you [Prophet] entrust them with a heap of gold, will return it to you intact, but there are others of them who, if you entrust them with a dinar, will not return it to you unless you keep standing over them, because they say, ‘We are under no obligation towards the gentiles.’ They tell a lie against God and they know it.

– Surah 3:75

We see an obvious differentiation.  The same differentiation can be found in verses 69, 100, 113, and 199.  There is not a single verse in all 114 Surahs of the Quran that says that the previous Scriptures are corrupted; Surah 3 is no exception.  It’s beautiful.