David Wood Wants To Change Apologetics: The Islamic Dilemma

if I could change one thing at all in the realm of Christian apologetics it would be getting Christians and Muslims to understand what the Quran says about the Bible about the Jewish and Christian scriptures this would change the course of history and make the world a much better place and I'm not exaggerating your average Muslim has no clue what the Quran says about the Bible he thinks he knows what the Quran says about the Bible but the Quran actually says the opposite of what he thinks it says if he knew what the Quran actually says

about the Bible conversations between Christians and Muslims would go very very differently as things are now you're talking to your Muslim friend he says he believes in Allah and Muhammad and the Quran you say you believe that Jesus is Lord that he died on the cross for sins and rose from the dead and at some point your Muslim friend is going to have to say well you believe that because your Bible's been corrupted so he asked to declare that the Bible's been corrupted he says the Bible's been corrupted because that's what he's been told by

his shakes and imams so the conversation then turns to the preservation of the Bible and textual criticism and stays on the those kinds of issues forever but if you could show your Muslim friend that according to the Quran he has to believe in the inspiration the preservation and the authority of the Jewish and Christian scriptures you would have some very interesting common ground to build upon you and your Muslim friend would agree that the Bible is authoritative for you and for him and you could then move on to showing him what the Bible says and

eventually you could show him that since the Quran affirms the inspiration and the preservation and the authority of the Bible and yet contradicts the Bible on basic doctrines the Quran self-destructs and he should leave Islam wouldn't that be fun so why don't we do that I'll show you how most Muslims again are convinced that according to the they're convinced that according to the Quran Jews and Christians corrupted our scriptures and that this is one of the main reasons Allah had to send the Quran the Quran is supposed to correct the false teachings inserted into the

Torah and the gospel by Jews and Christians but this is simply a myth the Quran never even hints that the Torah and the gospel are no longer reliable so if the Quran doesn't claim that the Torah and the gospel have been corrupted what is the quran's view of the Christian scriptures in a nutshell the position of the Quran is that Allah sent prophets into various parts of the world in fact everyone had their prophet and he inspired scriptures for different groups of people around the world these scriptures these different scriptures are reliable and authoritative for

for the groups that they were revealed to some members of these groups obey their scriptures and others don't as of the early 7th Century Arabs didn't have a revelation in their own language but these Arabs couldn't simply trust what Jews and Christians were telling them couldn't trust what Jews and Christians were just saying about the Torah and the gospel because some Jews and Christians misinterpret and misrepresent what is in the Torah and the gospel so the Arabs need needed a revelation in Arabic that's why Allah sent Muhammad now that Arabs have the Quran a revealed

book that they can understand for themselves in their own language they're supposed to judge by the Quran other groups are supposed to judge by their own books Jews are to judge by the Torah Christians are to judge by the gospel and so on that's the real position of the Quran and it's very different from what most Muslims believe but don't take my word for any of this let's turn to the Quran go through the Quran and see if we can put together a true picture of the actual Islamic perspective on the Christian scriptures in ver

16 verse 36 of the Quran Allah says and certainly we have raised in every nation an apostle saying serve Allah and shun false gods an apostle was sent to every nation the Arabs were the last to receive guidance so Muhammad was the last of the prophets counting Muhammad the Quran names 25 of them we find some examples in Surah 3 verse 84 say we believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us and in what was revealed to Abraham and ishmail and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and in what was given to

Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their lord we do not make any distinction between any of them and to him do we submit Muslims are required to believe in the revelations given to all of Allah's prophets and Messengers they are not to make any distinction between any of these Revelations I can't help but point out that if someone says all of the revelations are corrupted except mine that's a pretty big distinction everyone else's Revelations have been corrupted but not mine that would be the distinction of all distinctions the Quran commands Muslims to make no

distinction between these various Revelations around the world Allah also names some of the books that he revealed for instance the Quran affirms the inspiration of the Torah and the gospel in Surah 3: 3 to 4 he Allah has revealed to you the book with truth verifying that which before it and he revealed the Torah and the gospel a four time a guidance for mankind and he revealed the criterian the Quran so Allah gave the Torah and the gospel as a guidance for mankind what happened then did the Jews corrupt the Torah and did the Christians

corrupt the gospel not according to the Quran the Quran says that Jews and Christians still had the Torah and the gospel in the 7th century when Muhammad was preaching in Arabia the Quran affirms the preservation of the Torah and the gospel in a variety of ways some of which aren't very clear in Translation like right here even here in sah 3 verses 3 to 4 where the inspiration of the Torah and the gospel is obviously affirmed the preservation of these texts is somewhat obscure in the English translation the Quran is said to verify that which

is before it does this mean before it in time is the Quran only saying that the Torah and the gospel were reliable when they were originally revealed but not necessarily later or does it mean something much more significant well the Arabic phrase translated as before it here which literally means is b b and literally means between his hands or between its hands when it's used as an idiom B Yi means in his presence or in its presence so the Quran isn't verifying books that came before it but were corrupted at some point in the past

the Quran is verifying books that were still available as it was being revealed and since the Quran specifically refers to the Torah and the gospel here the and the gospel still existed and were verified as the word of Allah during the time of Muhammad let's read the commentary of Muhammad Assad was some uh translator and commentator just so you don't think I'm making stuff up his commentary on the phrase B most of the commentators are of the opinion that Ma Yi literally that which is between its hands denotes here the revelations which came before it

I.E before the Quran this interpretation is not however entirely convincing although there is not the least doubt that in this context the pronominal ma refers to earlier Revelations and particularly the Bible as is evident from the parallel use of the above expression in other konic passages the idiomatic phrase ma Yi does not in itself mean that which came before it IE in time but rather that which lies open before it since however ever the pronoun it refer relates here to the Quran the metaphorical expression between its hands or before it cannot possibly refer to knowledge

but must obviously refer to an objective reality with which the Quran is confronted that is something that was coexistent in time with the revelation of the Quran so when the Quran refers to the Torah and the gospel before the Quran it's not saying before the Quran in time it's saying the Torah and the gospel are there before the Quran as I would say I here I stand before you interestingly Muhammad Assad again dra uh translator and commentator believed that the Torah and the gospel had been corrupted because he knew that the Torah and the gospel

contradict the Quran but he was forced just based on the language to acknowledge that the Quran is affirming something that was still available as Muhammad was receiving his Revelations the Quran uses this phrase Mai between his hands or in its hands or in its presence over and over again to show that it's confirming texts that were still present in the 7th Century Surah 6: 92 and this the Quran is a blessed book which we have sent down confirming that which is B Yi between its hands or in its presence Surah 10:37 and this Quran is

not such as could ever be produced by other than Allah but it is a confirmation of that which is B between its hands or in its presence again the these passages are referring to the earlier scriptures sah 35:31 and that which we have revealed to you of the book that is the truth verifying that which is B between its hands or in its presence sir 46:30 they said Oh Our People verily we have heard a book the Quran sent down after Moses verifying what is B between its hands or in its presence it's as if

Allah is saying how can I make it any clearer to you that I'm talking about texts that are still around not about texts that were corrupted centuries ago not surprisingly since the Quran verifies the Torah and the gospel still in existence in the 7th Century it also declares that 7th Century Jews and Christians were still reading the Torah and the gospel Surah 7 verse 157 we read those who follow the messenger the unlettered prophet most Muslims believe this is talking about Muhammad those who follow the messenger the unlettered prophet whom they find written down with

them in the Torah and the gospel it is they who will prosper how can we he talking about Jews and Christians who find Muhammad mentioned in our book how can we find Muhammad in the Torah and the gospel if we don't have the Torah and the gospel Quran saying that there are parts of the Torah and the gospel that are about Muhammad these are reliable even though the rest of it has been corrupted how would you know that the parts about Muhammad weren't also corrupted seems like the argument wouldn't work very well what's the point

of appealing to a book to validate your profit if you're simultaneously claiming that the book you're appealing to as evidence and proof of your Prophet has been corrupted contrary to charges of corruption the Quran asserts that no one can change Allah's words Surah 6: 114 to 115 shall I then seek a judge other than Allah and he it is who has revealed to you the book made plain and those to whom we have given the book know that it is revealed by your Lord with truth therefore you should not be of the disputers and the

word of your lord has been accomplished truly and justly there is none who can change his words and he is the hearing the knowing there is none who can change Allah's words Surah 18: 27 and recite what has been revealed to you of the book of your lord there is none who can alter his words and you shall not find any Refuge besides him there is none who can alter his words who can corrupt Allah's words can the Apostle Paul or people at the Council of NAA can Christians can Jews ran says no one this

point my Muslim friends usually say well this is just referring to the Quran no one can corrupt his words in the Quran just doesn't say no one can corrupt his words in the Quran it says no one can alter his words and as we've seen according to the Quran the Torah and the gospel are Allah's words in case anyone's wondering whether I'm interpreting these verses correctly I should point out that in Islam Muhammad is considered the greatest interpreter of the Quran and Muhammad was certainly in disputably convinced that Jews and Christians still had reliable scriptures

in Sun Abu daud 4449 Muhammad is judging a dispute among the Jews here's what happens they set out a cushion judge would sit on the Judgment cushion they set out a cushion for the messenger of Allah and he sat on it then he said bring me the Torah it was brought and he took the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it notice the imagery he's setting the Torah on the Judgment cushion as the judge of this dispute he placed the Torah on it and said I believe in you and in the one

who revealed you so the Jews have a copy of the Torah 7th Century Muhammad speaks to it and says I believe in you and in the one who revealed you this goes far beyond confirming the initial inspiration of the Torah 2,000 years earlier Muhammad confirms the Torah that the Jew Jew still had in his time but Jews weren't the only ones whose scriptures had been accurately preserved in Jamia ter 2653 Muhammad's companion Abu reports we were with the prophet when he raised his sight to the sky then he said this is the time when knowledge

is to be taken from the people until what remains of it shall not amount to anything so zad bin laid Al anari said how will it be taken from us while we recite the Quran words Muhammad says knowledge is going to be taken away from my community someone objects what are you talking about we recite the Quran how's knowledge going to depart from us so he says how will it be taken away from us while we recite the Quran by Allah we recite it and our women and children recite it he Muhammad said may you

be bed of your mother hose yet it's pretty harsh response I used to consider you among the fukah those are Islamic jurists of the people of al- Medina the Torah and the gospel are with the Jews and Christians but what do they Avail of them zad wants to know how it's possible for knowledge to depart from the Muslim Community when they still have the Quran Muhammad points to the Jews and Christians and says they still have the Torah and the gospel don't they Muhammad's response makes no sense if he thought the Torah and the gospel

had been corrupted because he's only bringing them up to show that just because you have reliable scriptures and you teach them and quote them this doesn't mean you're on the right track so Muhammad certainly didn't believe that the Torah and the gospel had been corrupted Muslims who maintain that the Christian scriptures have been corrupted are therefore claiming to understand what Allah says in the Quran better than their own Prophet did that's presumptuous but the Quran goes even further than defending the inspir ation and preservation of the Torah and the gospel the Quran insists that these

texts are still authoritative S 5 verse 43 some Jews come to Muhammad to settle a dispute watch Allah's response this is how Allah responds to them why do they come to you for judgment oh Muhammad when they have the Torah before them wherein is the Judgment of Allah yet they turn back after that and these are not the Believers why are they coming to you mammad they've got they've got their own Revelation what are they what are they doing with you for according to the Quran do Jews need the Quran no they got their own

book according to Muslims today do Jews need the Quran according to Muslims today Jews need the Quran because the Torah has been corrupted notice they're saying the exact opposite of what their God says what about Christians sah 5 verse 47 this is just a few verses later it's a few verses after Allah tells the Jews they don't need Muhammad Allah commands Christians Surah 5:47 let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein if any do fail to judge by the light of what Allah hath revealed they are no better than those

who Rebel according to the Quran should Christians judge by the gospel absolutely we're Rebels if we don't according to your Muslim friends should Christians judge by the gospel of course not it's been corrupted they're say saying the exact opposite of what their God says see the difference if the Torah and the gospel have been corrupted Jews and Christians have nowhere else to turn because in Surah 5: 68 Allah tells Muhammad to say oh people of the book you have no ground to stand upon unless you stand fast by the Torah the gospel and all the

Revelation that has come to you from your lord we have no ground to stand upon unless we stand fast by what corrupt scriptures that wouldn't make any sense wouldn't make any sense to say you have no ground to stand upon unless you stand upon corrupt scriptures interestingly the Torah and the gospel were authoritative even for Muhammad when Muhammad was having doubts about his Revelations and he certainly had some doubts he was commanded to go to the people of the book Jews and Christians for confirmation so that we would confirm his Revelations Allah tells Muhammad Surah

10:94 but if you are in doubt as to what we have revealed to you ask those who read the book before you certainly the truth has come to you from your lord therefore you should not be of the disputers why would Allah tell Muhammed to verify his Revelations by checking with people who have corrupt Revelations the only way his Revelations would line up with corrupt Revelations was if his Revelations were also corrupt so the Torah and the gospel are authoritative not only for Jews and Christians but even for Muhammad himself our book is the standard

on whether his book is from God now if the Torah and the gospel are the inspired preserved authoritative word of Allah why why did Allah need to send the Quran it tells us sah 46:12 and before this Quran was the book of Moses as a guide and a mercy and this book the Quran confirms it in the Arabic language to admonish the unjust and as Glad Tidings to those who do right the Quran confirms the Torah in Arabic why Arabic so that Muhammad could warn the Arabs s for 2:7 and thus we have revealed to

you Muhammad an Arabic Quran that you may warn the mother City Mecca and those around it and that you may give warning of the day of gathering together wherein is no doubt party shall be in the garden and another party shall be in the burning fire if Allah hadn't given a revelation in Arabic the Arabs would have had an excuse on the day of judgment other words if you didn't have a revelation in your own language you could say I didn't I didn't know what I was supposed to do sorah 6: 155 to 157 and

this Quran is a book we have revealed as a blessing therefore follow it and guard against evil that Mercy may be shown to you lest you should say the book was only revealed to two parties before us and we were truly unaware of what they read or lest you should say if the book had been revealed to us we would certainly have been better guided than they so Allah doesn't reveal the Quran because all other Revelations have been corrupted he reveals the Quran so that Arabs can't complain that they don't have a book in their

own language by the way my Muslim friends tell me that the Quran is the book for all people all languages that the Quran can only be understood in Arabic but if the point of revealing the Quran in Arabic according to the Quran itself was for a particular group of people to have a revelation in their own language so that they could understand it what sense does it make to say that the Quran is the book for all people when the vast majority of the world's population can't understand Arabic what Muslims say over and over again

completely contradict icts what their own God and their own Prophet say so the quran's view both of itself and of the Jewish and Christian scriptures is quite different from The View held by Muslims today but how do Muslims respond when we show them that their book affirms the inspiration and the preservation and the authority of our book we'll quickly go through the four most common things they say they can say other things but these are the ones I you'll hear over and over again uh first Muslims State the obvious they'll say but the Bible contradicts

the Quran and they'll conclude that the Quran can't possibly be affirming a book that it contradicts sorry but we know that the Bible contradicts the Quran that's part of the Islamic dilemma the Quran affirms a book that contradicts the Quran the fact that the Quran contradicts the Bible doesn't change the fact that the Quran affirms the Bible if I were to say that I affirm the inspiration and the preservation and the authority of the Quran and then I contradict it that would be a problem for me thinking would be incoherent on this issue and that's

the point the Quran is incoherent it's affirming scriptures that contradict it so that doesn't help uh they'll also say when the Quran talks about the gospel it's referring to a book that Jesus brought not to the gospels Christians have today very common they say this because of Surah 5 verse 46 of the Quran which says that Allah gave Jesus the gospel so they think that Allah gave Jesus a book that Jesus then gave to his followers and they say that the Quran is only affirming only affirming this book that Allah gave to Jesus and not

the gospels but that just doesn't work because the Quran says that Christians still have the gospel Quran says that Christians were still reading the gospel during the time of Muhammad the Quran says that Christians have to judge by the gospel and that we're Rebels if we don't the Quran says that Christians have no ground to stand upon if we don't stand upon the gospel so if the Quran is saying all of this about a book that we don't have and that we've never even heard of the Quran is even more incoherent than we thought we

don't have a book that was given to Jesus we can't read a book that we don't have we can't judge by a book that we don't have the Quran affirms a book that we have here's the book that we have do the math third Muslims will quote Surah 2 ver 79 of the Quran and claim that this verse is about the corruption of the Bible verse reads then woe to those who write the book with their own hands and say this is from Allah to purchase with it a little price woe to them for what

their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn thereby see it's talking about your Bible being uh corrupted nice try uh there are literally dozens of problems with this response but there's just no way this is talking about the corruption of the Bible in context the Quran is discussing Muhammad's interactions with Jews according to the Muslim commentary Surah 2 ver 79 is either about some Jews writing a false prophecy about Muhammad and saying that it's the Torah or it's about Jews who were writing blessings for non-jews and saying that it's it's from

the Torah and then selling these uh uh Little Blessings uh either way it can't possibly have anything to do with the Torah being corrupted because we've got the rest of the Quran which constantly affirms the inspiration the preservation and the authority of the Torah but even in the same chapter so I'll just glance at a couple verses from the exact same chapter both before it and after it for context sorah 2: 40 to 41 oh children of Israel call to mind the special favor which I bestowed upon you and fulfill your Covenant with me as

I fulfill my Covenant with you and fear none but me and believe in what I reveal confirming the Revelation which is with you la says he's confirming the Revelation that they still had doesn't sound like he thought it was corrupted sah 2: 85 Allah rebukes the Jews for violating the commands of the Torah look at what he says yet you it is who slay your people and turn a party from among you out of their homes backing each other up against them unlawfully and exceeding the limits and if they should come to you as captives

you would Ransom them while their T very turning out was unlawful for you do you then believe in a part of the book Torah do you then believe in a part of the book and disbelieve the other what then is the reward for such among you as do this but disgrace in the life of this world and on the day of Resurrection they shall be sent to the most Grievous chastisement and Allah is not Allah is not at all heedless of what you do did you uh did you catch that Allah condemns them for believing

part of the Torah and not all of it and he says he'll send them to hell for only believing part of the Torah and not all of it what do our Muslim friends tell us tell us to only believe in the parts of the Torah that line up with Islam and to uh not believe the rest which Allah says is a one-way ticket to hell here again and there are plenty of these Surah 2 ver 101 and when there cometh unto them a messenger from Allah confirming that which they possess a party of those who

have received the scripture fling the scripture of Allah behind their backs as if they knew it not notice a messenger from Allah that's Muhammad when Muhammad comes confirming that which they possess talking about their scripture that they have the Quran here the Quran condemns Jews I mean yeah condemns Jews for rejecting Muhammad when Muhammad confirms that which they possess according to the Quran do Allah and Muhammad confirm the Torah that Jews possess absolutely indisputably according to Muslims today do Allah and Muhammad confirm the Torah that Jews still possess not at all constantly contradict their own

God and their own prophet and they just don't realize it that's why we have to tell them Tas Falls to us and finally here sah 3 ver 78 they quote this to show that the Bible's been corrupted fortunately this just requires the ability to read words off a page to see the problem and lo there was a party of them who distort the scripture with their tongues that you may think that what they say is from the scripture when it is not from the scripture and they say it is from Allah when it is not

from Allah and they speak a lie concerning Allah knowingly what's it actually say Corruption of the Scripture it says they distort their T they distort the scripture with their tongues he talking about speech talking about misrepresenting what's in the scripture it's about people misrepresenting what the Bible says not about people corrupting the text in the Bible on the contrary since it says at the end there that they distort the scripture with their tongues and that they do it knowing ly they would have to still have uncorrupted scripture if they know that they're that they're twisting

the scripture with their tongues so these are the main reasons Muslims give when they try to respond to the obvious fact that the Quran affirms our scriptures these are not good responses but there are fortunately Muslims who are starting to admit what the Quran actually says here's Dr Abdullah s professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne who writes since the authorized scriptures of Jews and Christians remain very much the same today as they existed in the time of Muhammad it is difficult to argue that the quranic references to torat and injil

Torah and gospel were only to the pure torat and injil as existed at the time of Moses and Jesus respectively if the texts have remained more or less as they were in the 7th Century CE the reverence the Quran has shown them at the time should be retained even today many interpreters of the Quran from tabar to razi to IB and even to appear to be inclined to share this view the wholesale dismissive attitude held by many Muslims in the modern period towards the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity do not seem to have the support

of either the Quran or the major figures of tapir as the commment s our hope is that our Muslim friends will soon come to have the same reverence for the Torah and the gospel that we find in the Quran and in the teachings of Muhammad so just to put everything together got two books here Bible the Quran always make sure your Bible is bigger than the Quran that's a psychological impact like oh what's your cute little book say I'm show you what my big book says [Applause] but we we've got this book and this book

affirms The Inspiration preservation and authority of this book notice we call it a dilemma because there are only two possibilities here either we have the inspired preserve authoritative word of God here or we don't one or the other if we have the inspired Preserve authoritative word of God Islam is false because Islam contradicts The Inspired preserved authoritative word of God on basic fundamental doctrines if on the other hand we don't have the inspired preserved authoritative word of God here Islam is false because Islam affirms the inspiration and the preservation and the authority of what we

have so if we have the word of God Islam is false if we don't have the word of God Islam is false either way Islam is false that's a pretty big problem and we want our Muslim friends to understand that so that they leave Islam and that my friends is the Islamic [Music] dilemma just F me PR on that just backf this is a part of our religion there's a reason to it yeah yeah yeah