Inter-Faith Series, Islam: What is the Muslim viewpoint on the Bible?

Question

I know you will say the Bible has been altered, tampered and corrupted. But why do you say in Sura 5,68: “Say, O People of the Book [Jews and Christians] Ye have no ground to stand upon unless you stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from the Lord.”

Also in Sura (chapter) 5,44 it says: “It was We [Allah] who revealed the Law to Moses: therein was guidance and light.” It goes on to say, “And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him. We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light” (v. 46).

So how can you say the Bible has been altered, tampered and corrupted when the Quran itself acknowledges the authenticity of the Bible? What factual evidence can you show that the Bible has been altered, tampered and corrupted?

Sumon
The so-called gospel of Barnabas has been proven to be a forgery. It only came out in the 16th century and in Spanish.

Appreciate the explanation of our Muslim brothers and sisters.

To my Muslim brothers:
Could you start an Inter-Faith Series of your own? We would like to answer questions you might have regarding Christianity and Judaism.

Please read all the answers before picking the best answer. Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, Islam acknowledges both the Jews and Christians as people of the book. The Torah and the Bible we believe was sent down by Allah, yes they are his words... But the ayah's you listed are talking about the untempered version of the Bible.. The old testament. No religion was sent down specifically, Allah did not say.. Here is Christianity. When his words were sent down, people divided into different faiths. From the Jews were born the Christians who believed in Jesus as son of God, and Islam is said to be the right religion because it carries Allah's original message. Allah is saying to basically respect HIS original messages i.e.. the scriptures and Gospels.

Muslims believe that Jesus peace be upon him according to the Holy Quran is a wonderful, humble, generous messenger of God who came down and revealed God's words to his people, the people of Israel. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is God, nor they believe that God ever chose to come down to earth in a form of a man to die for our sins to purify us and forgive us. Over all, these ayah's further teach tolerance.

According to Islam, Jesus never died on the cross, nor ever wanted to die on the cross, nor ever was born to die on the cross. Muslims believe that Jesus was sentenced to death, and people thought that he got executed on the cross. The Holy Quran rejects this idea, and claims that it is a false one. Jesus never died on the cross, nor he ever died for anyone's sins. Let us look at what the Holy Quran (The Muslims Holy Scripture) says about this issue:

Let's look at verse 4:156-159 "That they rejected Faith; That they uttered against Mary A grave false charge; That they said (in boast): 'We killed Christ Jesus The son of Mary, The Messenger of Allah.' But they killed him not, Nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. Nay, Allah raised him up Unto Himself; and Allah Is Exalted in Power, Wise. And there is none of the people of the book (Jews and Christians) But must believe in him (Jesus) Before his death; And on the Day of Judgment He (Jesus) will be a witness Against them." The false charge against Mary was that she was unchaste. Such a charge is bad enough to make against any woman, but to make it against Mary, the mother of Jesus, was to bring into redicule Allah's power itself. Islam is specially strong in guarding the reputation of women. Slanderers of women are bound to bring four witnesses in support of their accusation, and if they fail to produce four witnesses, they are be flogged with eighty stripes and debarred forever from being competent witnesses.

Proof Bible was Altered:

According to the NIV and KJV Bible's theologians, the gospels were written by mysterious and unknown people, in unknown places and unknown dates.http://www.answering-christianity.com/nt_confirms_apocalypse_of_peter.htm

THE TRINITY:

SCRIPTURE SHOWS JESUS WAS CREATED BY GOD
"THESE THINGS SAYS THE AMEN, THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD."

REVELATION 3:14
We are taught in the Bible that the Heavenly Father is without beginning and without end. Jesus Christ in his own words claims to be God's first, or "chief" creation. According to the Apostle John, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten SON." (John 3:16) If Jesus was "begotten" some other being must have "beget" him. According to Webster's Dictionary, "Beget" means to be the "FATHER OR TO SIRE. To bring into being." This being the case, a higher power must have created Jesus.
In examining the account of creation as written in the book of Genesis, it is clear that the Heavenly Father employed a helper in the creation process. "Let US make man in our image, according to our likeness, let them have dominion over the the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:26) It is our contention that Jesus Christ in his pre-human form was this very helper.
"THINGS WERE MADE THROUGH HIM"
The gospel of the Apostle John tells us that "All things were made THROUGH him, (Jesus) and without him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:3) The majority of translations use the word "through," which is wrongly translated in the original King James Bible as "all things were made by him." If all things were made through him, this indicates that he was carrying out orders that had been delegated by a higher authority. Jesus acted as Jehovah's agency and is the one who dealt directly with mankind in the Old Testament.
JESUS IS THE "ARM" OF JEHOVAH"
There are numerous scriptures that speak of Jehovah's Holy "arm." When one examines the context of these verses it becomes clear that this "arm" is Jesus Christ. In speaking of the coming redeemer, "therefore his own arm brought salvation FOR him." (Isaiah 59:16) "The Lord has made bare his Holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see his salvation." (Isaiah 52:10) "Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule over them." (Isaiah 40:10) "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (John 12:38) and (Isaiah 53:1) Jesus serves as the General of Jehovah. He is the one who carries out the will of his Father.

Answer 2

Muslims respect the Bible, they call it Injil, but unfortuenly the Bible has been changed many times, so one does not know what is true message of God & what aint, the original texts, verses from the bible are hidden away as mention in the Barnabes testoments, check in Wikipedia, you get the facts there, here u will only get ignorant, made up answers, Muslims respect the bible in its orignal text, trust me in that. evidence is what Christians ppl say about the bible, during the centuries Christians have said different to other Christians of what is said in the bible, they contridict each other, some dont agree with eachother (Christians), again as i have mention the books of Barnabas or sumfin like that, check themm out, read in wikipeidia about this, early Christians did not believe Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) was crucufied, early Christians did not belive Jesus (pbuh) was son of God, the bible was written centuries after Jesus (pbuh) lived, even some Christians know the bible has been changed, thats y partly i left Christanity & converted to Islam, i never been happier, i got all the answers i need, whereas the bible seem to be contridcited, too many verses from the bible which are man made, the Koran has never been changed, the Koran (Holy Book of the Muslims) came from God (Allah Subantallah) through Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). PEACE".

Answer 3

Two points need to be cleared out for this:

1. According to the Quran, God gave Jesus orders to pass by his followers..meaning Jesus was given scripture. Since the current Bible was (according to Christians) written by different people in different times and most were 'inspired' words rather than Jesus's words, Muslims assume that the current Bible and the one spoken about in the Quran are two very different things.

2. On a more factual note, the verses that speak of the 'corruption' of the previous scripture all say that they were corrupted by the 'mouths of men'. Meaning, men of religion, actually corrupted the message itself by adding meaning to it in their oral interpretations, and not necessarily written scripture. Example: the concept of the Trinity is non existant in the Bible, the word trinity doesnt even exist...but it is taught as a maxim of the faith.

How much of the oral interpretation got noted down as written scripture later, is beyond me ofcourse, I dont know as much about the History of the Bible.

If youd like to know the verses that mention the corruption of the previous messages, look at my best answers. I have already answered a question about that.

Thank you

Answer 4

Yourself being a converted Catholic, would it not be best for you to confront your leader regarding this question....The Pope. The Pope should resolve this matter for you, in swift fashion!

If nothing else you should yourself follow the teachings of Jesus (PBUH) in this matter.

A copy of "The Gospel of Barnabas", has been available in the United States for years. I was going to be a priest in my early years, and went through seminary, at St. Paul's Theological Seminary, in Philadelphia Penn. They have several copies there in the Library. And the Franciscan monks there won't talk much about what they have learned from them!


"Peace be with you."

Answer 5

Muslims (and Islam) say Jesus was a prophet but they reject all His teachings ....that is hypocrisy.

They reject Christ's diety;
they deny his claim to be the Son of God;
they deny his death on the cross...
they deny His resurrection..
They deny Jesus is the Christ/ Messiah...
In fact, the Quran says : "Allah has no son".
Need I say more...?

Don't be deceived. The Islamic god is totally different than the God of Jesus Christ.

The Bible calls Muhammed and those like him false prophets:
"Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ, that denies the Father and the Son. He that denies the Son, the same has not the Father." (I John 2:22)

Answer 6

Any Christian scholar of Christian history will readily confirm that after the famous council of Nicea (325 AD), the church of St. Paul (The Roman Catholic Church) selected out of the over three hundred Gospels in their possession the four that most closely conformed to their doctrines. All others were ordered completely destroyed because they were considered "Apocrypha" (which actually means "hidden from the people"). Some of these were written by disciples of Jesus (pbuh), and not disciples of disciples, who had never met Jesus (pbuh), such as Paul. If these destroyed Gospels were not more authentic than the current selection then they were at least of equal authenticity. The church also ruled that all Gospels written in Hebrew were to be destroyed. An edict was issued that anyone found in possession of an unauthorized Gospel would be put to death. Countless numbers of Christians were then systematically killed as heretics and burned at the stake if they maintained their belief in the divine Unity of God and did not conform to the innovative teachings of Paul. It is well known that this practice continued until at least the year 1616 AD.

Fortunately there was one Gospel -that I know of-, which was saved although it does not agree with the teachings of St. Paul, this Gospel is the Gospel of Barnabas, there is one copy of it in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and another one in the British museum. A new printing has been made off of these copies and it is available today. This Gospel agrees with the Quran and mentions Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by name.

Some quotations from the Gospel of Barnabas:

In reply to a question by Philip, Prophet Jesus said: "God alone hath no equal. He hath had no beginning, nor will he ever have a end, ... He hath no sons, nor brethern, nor companions." (Gospel of Barnabas: 17).

"... Verily ye have erred greatly, O Israelites, in calling me, a man, your God. ... I confess before heaven, ... that I am a stranger to all that ye have said; seeing that I am man, born of a mortal woman, subject to the judgment of God, suffering the miseries of eating and sleeping, of cold and heat, like other men, Whereupon when God shall come to judge, my words like a sword shall pierce each one (of them) that believe me to be more than man," (Gospel of Barnabas: 93).

Muslims respect and venerate Jesus Christ. They consider him to be one of God's greatest messengers to humankind. The Qur'an re-affirms his miraculous birth and his miraculous abilities. Furthermore, his mother Mary is regarded as one of the most pure and exalted women of all creation. As the Qur'an says:

"Behold! the angel said: 'God has chosen you and purified you and has chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary! God gives you the good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and the hereafter, and one of those brought near to God" (3:42).

Islam regards its teachings to be a re-affirmation and culmination of the teachings of previous monotheistic religions like Judaism and Christianity.

Hence, all Muslims believe in Moses and Jesus as Prophets of God. Prophet Muhammad was commanded to recite in the Qur'an:

"Say, we believe in God and that which was revealed unto us,

and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob, and the tribes

and that which was entrusted unto Moses and Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord

We make no distinction between any of them and unto Him we have submitted" (3:84).

A Muslim never refers to him simply as "Jesus", but always adds the phrase "upon him be peace." The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth, and an entire surah (chapter) of the Qur'an is entitled "Mary." The Qur'an describes the Annunciation as follows:

"She said: 'O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?' He said: 'Even so; God creates what He wills. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, "Be!" and it is.'" (Qur'an 3:42-7)

Jesus was born miraculously through the same power that had brought Adam into being without a father: "Truly the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust and then said to him, 'Be!' and he was." (Qur'an 3:59)

During his prophetic mission, Jesus performed many miracles. The Qur'an tells us that he said:
"I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, a figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave." (Qur'an 3:49)

Neither Muhammad nor Jesus came to change the basic doctrine of the belief in One God, brought by earlier prophets, but to confirm and renew it. In the Qur'an, Jesus is reported as saying that he came: "To attest the law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden to you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey me." (Qur'an 3:50)