An impossible “if”?
It’s the same if….
Confirming the previous scriptures
Here are all the eighteen passages in the Qur’an where it speaks specially about “confirming” the previous scriptures:
“Confirming what is between his hands” – 2.97, 3.3, 5.46 (x2), 5.48, 35.31, 46.30
“Confirming what is between my [Isa’s] hands” – 3.50, 61.6
“Confirming that which is between his hands” – 6.92
“Confirming what is with you” – 2.41, 4.47, 3.81
“Confirming what is with them” – 2.91, 2.101, 2.89
“This is a book [in the] Arabic language confirming [the previous scriptures]” – 46.12
“A confirmation of what is between his hands and a clarification of the Book” – 10.37
“A confirmation of what is between his hands and a clarification of all things” – 12.111
My response to John Fontain
John Fontain recently debated David Wood on the Islamic Dilemma, which points out that the Qu’ran both affirms the Torah and Gospel while contradicting them.
John has a rather different strategy from other Muslim apologists by positing that there was an Islamic Torah and Islamic Gospel present at the time of Muhammad. He claims these are the documents the Qur’an refers to and confirms.
At one point in the debate, John asked David Wood for proof that the documents in the Hejaz were today’s Torah and four-fold Gospel, rather than John’s hypothetical documents. Obviously it’s much easier to do this at leisure and when one isn’t in the hot seat, here’s the answer I would have given…
John, there are lots of things I can’t prove. For example, I can’t prove that there isn’t a small teapot orbiting the sun… but that doesn’t mean I should expect one to be there!
While it is technically possible that unique documents might have been present in Mecca and Medina, I can say for certain that there is no proof of such documents existing prior to the coming of Muhammad. Consider the timeline for a moment. It means that, for six hundred years in the case of the Gospel and for a couple of thousand years in the case of the Torah, there is no evidence of such documents existing. We have no manuscripts of these Islamic works and no fragments either. Not only that, nobody references them, neither the People of the Book nor their enemies. Don’t you not find that strange? If the Qur’an is true and Allah promised to make the true believers of Jesus uppermost from the days of his ministry until the Day of Resurrection, how is possible that Isa’s message, Apostles, and Scripture left no trace in history?
In Early Christianity there was no military power to crush dissenters and there was no central political power such as Caliph Uthman to enforce textual uniformity. Documents were shared by Christians throughout the world in an uncontrolled fashion, yet we find nothing like an Islamic Gospel or Islamic Torah. We also know about the disputes and heresies in Early Christianity (Docetism, Marcionism, Nestoriamism, Modalism etc), yet we find nothing that looks like Islam.
Despite this absence of evidence, you John could provide us with the much-needed evidence to substantiate your extraordinary claim that there was an Islamic Torah and an Islamic Gospel present in the Hejaz… just show it to us! If these scriptures were in the possession of the Muslims, they would have preserved them, right? Surely it would have been in their interest to preserve them! Firstly, these were the words of Allah! Secondly, these works would have provided additional information about the earlier prophets. Thirdly, these documents would have contained the detailed prophecies about the coming of Muhammad. And finally, they would substantiate the Qur’an’s argument for its divine origin by showing how the Qur’an truly does confirm the earlier scriptures!
But there’s a problem, isn’t there? You can’t show us these documents because you don’t have them! There is an additional unfortunate consequence to this… If your theory is true, it is Muhammad-believing Muslims who last had custody of the uncorrupted earlier scriptures, yet they seem to have inexplicably my lost them! So, even if you can explain how these documents survived in secret for thousands of years and then mysteriously turned up in the 7th Century Hejaz, you also have to explain why the Muslims failed to preserve them and also why we don’t find any early Islamic scholars lamenting the fact that is was Muhammad’s immediate followers who lost the best possible evidence to confirm the claims of Islam.
I would suggest that it’s more logical to conclude that your theory is incorrect and your Islamic Torah and Gospel never existed.
Jews and Christians have their Scriptures!
Muhammad once said:
“The Tawrah and Injil are with the Jews and Christians, but what do they avail of them?”
Who is Mary’s family in the Qur’an?
Hadith Production
How is “muhaimin” translated?
Those who attempt to say that the Qur’an teaches the corruption of the earlier scriptures, often appeal to Qur’an 5:48, but this argument turns on the translation of the word “muhaimin”. I therefore surveyed all the Qur’anic English translations I could find…
The Translations
And to you We have revealed the Book containing the truth, confirming the earlier revelations, and preserving them (from change and corruption)
– Ahmad Ali
We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it of the Book and as a guardian over it.
– Ali Qarai
And O dear Prophet (Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) We have sent down the true Book upon you, confirming the Books preceding it, and a protector and witness over them
– Amhad Khan
And We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, confirming the Book that was before it, and assuring it
– Arberry
And We revealed to you the Book in [the] truth, confirming what (was) before his hands of the Book and a guardian over it
– Corpus
And We have sent down the Book unto thee with truth; and confirming that which hath preceded it of the Book, and a guardian thereof
– Daryabadi
And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad SAW) the Book (this Quran) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and Mohayminan (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures).
– Hilali & Khan
Then We revealed the Book to you (O Muhammad!) with Truth, confirming whatever of the Book was revealed before, and protecting and guarding over it.
– Maududi
We have revealed the Book to you (Muhammad) in all Truth. It confirms the (original) Bible and has the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains.
– Muhammad Sarwar
And We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the Book and a guardian over it
– Muhammad Shakir
And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it.
– Pickthall
And to you We have revealed the Book with the truth confirming the Book that was revealed before it, and a guardian over it.
– Qaribullah
And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it.
– Sahih International
And We revealed to you the Book, with truth, confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it
– Talal Itani
We have sent down the Book to you with the truth, fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein
– Wahihuddin Khan
To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety
– Yusuf Ali
The Analysis
As you can see, the most consistent translation of the word relates to the Qur’an’s protection of the earlier Scriptures: “…preserving them… a guardian over it… a protected and witness over them… assuring it… a guardian over it… a guardian thereof… trustworthy in highness and a witness… protecting and guarding over it… a guardian over it… a watcher over it… a guardian over it… guarding it in safety“
This clear consensus makes the polemical nature of the remaining four all the more obvious, offering a “translation” which goes far beyond the the Arabic text:
- “a criterion over it”
– Sahih International - “confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it“
– Talal Itani - “has the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains”
– Muhammad Sarwar - “fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein…”
– Wahihuddin Khan
The bias of Sahih International’s translation is particularly blatant, translating it as “criterion”, pretending that the Arabic text says “furqan” rather “muhaimin”. Even among this group, Talal Itani seems to suggest that the earlier scriptures are uncorrupted, but just subordinate to the Qur’an.
Early Commentators
It’s instructive to look at how earlier Qur’anic commenators explained the word:
- “Witness” (Al-Suddi, Qadadah, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid)
- “Entrusted/Faithful” (Ibn Abbas, Qadadah, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Saeed bin Jubayr and others)
- “Confirmer” (Ibn Zayd, Al-Hasan, Al-Hussein and others)
- “Preserver” (Al-Khalil, and noted by Al-Tabari and Al-Qortobi)
- “Judge” (Ibn Abbas, Saeed bin al-Musayyab, Al-Dahhak)
- “Guardian” (Al-Khalil)