Assalam Alakium, Peace be with you
For an initial issue re Comparative Religion, I am interested in more information on what I have been told is the Islam doctrine that the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, albeit originally "given," in a sense similar to the giving of the Qur'an, have been corrupted. I have several questions about this doctrine:
1) I have never been able to get any of the people who have mentioned this doctrine to identify its source. Is there a verse or verses in the Qur'an or a Hadith that deals with it? Are there other commentaries that examine it in more detail that are available in English or English translation?
We must first of all know that the entire Bible is corrupted and unreliable and is mostly filled with man-made laws and corruption! "`How can you say, "We [the Jews] are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?' (From the NIV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
The Revised Standard Version makes it even clearer: "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (From the RSV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
In either translation, we clearly see that the Jews had so much corrupted the Bible with their man-made cultural laws, that they had turned the Bible into a lie!
See Also Deuteronomy 31:25-29 where Moses peace be upon him predicted the corruption/tampering of the Law (Bible) after his death.
The Book of Moses predicted that the Law (Bible) will get corrupted. The Book of Jeremiah which came approximately 826 years after did indeed confirm this corruption.
(2) I understand that this doctrine mentions the Torah of the Jewish Scriptures, the Gospels of the Christian scriptures and something called the Tables of Abraham.
(a) What about the other Jewish and Christian scriptures?
b) What is the "Tables of Abraham?" Are they available on line or otherwise?
It is worth noting, and well known throughout the religious world, that the choice of the present four "gospels" of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were imposed in the Council of Nicea 325 CE for political purposes under the auspices of the pagan Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. Constantine’s mind had not been enlightened either by study or by inspiration. He was a pagan, a tyrant and criminal who murdered his son, his wife and thousands of innocent individuals because of his lust for political power. Constantine ratified other decisions in the Nicene Creed such as the decision to call Christ "the Son of God, only begotten of the father."
Literally, hundreds of gospels and religious writings were hidden from the people. Some of those writings were written by Jesus’ disciples, and many of them were eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ actions. The Nicea Council decided to destroy all gospels written in Hebrew, which resulted in the burning of nearly three hundred accounts. If these writings were not more authentic than the four present gospels, they were of equal authenticity. Some of them are still available such as the Gospel of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas which agree with the Quran. The Gospel of Barnabas, until now, is the only eyewitness account of the life and mission of Jesus. Even today, the whole of the Protestant word, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and other sects and denominations condemn the Roman Catholic version of the Bible because it contains seven "extra" books. The Protestant have bravely expunged seven whole books from their word of God. A few of the outcasts are the Books of Judith, Tobnias, Baruch and Esther.
Concerning Jesus’ teachings of the Gospel (Injeel), the Gospel writers frequently mentioned Jesus preaching the Gospel: Matthew 9:35, Mark 8:35, and Luke 20:1. The word "gospel" is recurrently used in the Bible. However, in the New Testament Greek edition the word Evangeline is used in place of the word gospel, which is translated to mean good news. My question was: what Gospel did Jesus preach? Of the 27 books of the New Testament, only a small fraction can be accepted as the words of Jesus, and only of the 27 books are known to be attributed as the Gospel of Jesus. The remaining 23 were supposedly written by Paul. Muslims do believe that Jesus was given God’s "Good News." However, they do not recognized the present four Gospels as the utterances of Jesus.
(3) Is there any commentary on when this corruption occurred? I ask because we now have some sources [the Dead Sea Scrolls] that date back between 2,000-2,300 years and that appear to be pretty close to the present version of, at least, the Jewish Scriptures [except for some major differences in the Book of Daniel - which is not part of the Torah, and omission of the book of Esther - which also not part of the Torah]
(4) Is there any systematic account of what is corrupt and what isn't in these scriptures?
It should be mentioned that Muslims must believe in all Divine scriptures in their original form, their Prophets and making no distinction between them: The Suhuf (Abraham); Torah (Moses); Psalms (David); Gospel - or the Injeel (Jesus); and the Quran (Muhammad). It is clearly stated in the Quran 3:3 that Allah sent down the Torah and the Gospel. However, none of these scriptures remains in its original form now, except the Quran, which was sent for all mankind everywhere and for all times.
In addition to other reasons why the Quran was sent to mankind, as mentioned in 18:4-5 it was sent to warn the Christians of a terrible punishment from God if they cease not in saying: "Allah has begotten a son."
Muslims sincerely believe that everything Jesus (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) preached was from God; the Gospel (Injeel): The "good news" and the guidance of God for the Children of Israel. There is no place mentioned in the present four Gospels that Jesus wrote a single word of his Gospel, nor is it mentioned that Jesus instructed anyone to do so. What passes off, as the "Gospels" today are the works of third party human hands. The Quran 2:79 says:
"And woe to those who write the book with their own hands and they say: "This is from Allah (God)." To traffic with it for a miserable price! So woe to them for what their hands do write, and woe to them for what they earn thereby!"
Allah, Glory to be Him, provided every one of His prophets with books which He revealed to them. Those books or scriptures contained the tenets and fundamentals of religion as well as the instructions and commandments of Allah conveyed to various nations through His Messengers. The holy books were meant to be records of religion so that the various people and nations of the world might refer to them to know the ordinances and laws revealed by Allah and comply with them.
On the one hand, we are required to believe in all revealed books at large. On the other, we are required to believe in certain books which Allah told us He had revealed, namely:
1. The Qur'an, revealed to Muhammad;
2. The Gospel, revealed to Jesus;
3. The Psalms, revealed to David;
4. The Torah, revealed to Moses;
5. The Tablets, of Ibrahim (i.e., Abraham) and Moses (May peace and blessing of Allah be upon them).
Although books revealed to prophets before Muhammad (the last Messenger of Allah) were just temporary revelations each addressed to a particular tribe or nation, yet it is incumbent upon by Muslims to believe in them in general, and in the Qur'an on detailed basis in particular. The Qur'an is the final and comprehensive Scripture. It is the only book of Allah which has remained free from distortion and change, and has been transmitted to us whole in the most reliable ways and in its original text-a feature not enjoyed by any of the earlier books of revelation.
The current Bible is not all the True Word of GOD Almighty. It is full of doubts and man made corruption as was proven above. How can we believe in a doubtful book as the Perfect Book of GOD Almighty? Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran regarding those who try to corrupt His Holy Words: "Know they not Allah Knoweth what they conceal and what they reveal? And there are among them illiterates, who know not the Book [the Bible], but (see therein their own) desires, and they do nothing but conjecture. Then woe to those who write the Book [the Bible] with their own hands, and then say: 'This is from Allah,' To traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby. (The Noble Quran, 2:77-79)"
I really don't see any point in even trying to argue with anybody about any verse from the Bible at this point after reading this article, because most of the books of the bible are not valid enough to be even worth looking at. So to try to prove Trinity from a book that is for the most part a big hoax would indeed be a blasphemy.
To say the least in our case here: The Bible without a doubt is NOT a perfect book! In fact, it's even far beyond from being anywhere close to perfect! Therefore, it can't be the perfect book of the Perfect GOD Almighty.
Salaam,
Sister Khadija :sister:
