{"id":89639,"date":"2025-08-26T09:50:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T14:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=89639"},"modified":"2025-10-17T13:54:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:54:18","slug":"how-is-muhaimin-translated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2025\/08\/26\/how-is-muhaimin-translated\/","title":{"rendered":"How is &#8220;muhaimin&#8221; translated?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those who attempt to say that the Qur&#8217;an teaches the corruption of the earlier scriptures, often appeal to Qur&#8217;an 5:48, but this argument turns on the translation of the word &#8220;muhaimin&#8221;. I therefore surveyed all the Qur&#8217;anic English translations I could find&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Translations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And to you We have revealed the Book containing the truth, confirming the earlier revelations, and <strong>preserving them (from change and corruption)<\/strong><br>&#8211; Ahmad Ali<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it of the Book and as <strong>a guardian over it<\/strong>. <br>&#8211; Ali Qarai<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And O dear Prophet (Mohammed \u2013 peace and blessings be upon him) We have sent down the true Book upon you, confirming the Books preceding it, and <strong>a protector and witness over them<\/strong><br>&#8211; Amhad Khan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, confirming the Book that was before it, and <strong>assuring it<\/strong><br>&#8211; Arberry<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We revealed to you the Book in [the] truth, confirming what (was) before his hands of the Book and <strong>a guardian over it<\/strong><br>&#8211; Corpus<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We have sent down the Book unto thee with truth; and confirming that which hath preceded it of the Book, and <strong>a guardian thereof<\/strong><br>&#8211; Daryabadi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad SAW) the Book (this Quran) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and <strong>Mohayminan (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures)<\/strong>.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; Hilali &amp; Khan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then We revealed the Book to you (O Muhammad!) with Truth, confirming whatever of the Book was revealed before, and <strong>protecting and guarding over it.<\/strong><br>&#8211; Maududi<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have revealed the Book to you (Muhammad) in all Truth. It confirms the (original) Bible and <strong>has the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains.&nbsp;<\/strong><br>&#8211; Muhammad Sarwar<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the Book and <strong>a guardian over it<\/strong><br>&#8211; Muhammad Shakir<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and <strong>a watcher over it<\/strong>.<br>&#8211; Pickthall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And to you We have revealed the Book with the truth confirming the Book that was revealed before it, and <strong>a guardian over it<\/strong>.<br>&#8211; Qaribullah<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as <strong>a criterion over it<\/strong>.&nbsp;<br>&#8211; Sahih International<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And We revealed to you the Book, with truth, <strong>confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it<\/strong><br>&#8211; Talal Itani<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have sent down the Book to you with the truth, <strong>fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein<\/strong><br>&#8211; Wahihuddin Khan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and <strong>guarding it in safety<\/strong><br>&#8211; Yusuf Ali<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Analysis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you can see, the most consistent translation of the word relates to the Qur&#8217;an&#8217;s protection of the earlier Scriptures:<b> &#8220;&#8230;preserving them&#8230; a guardian over it&#8230; a protected and witness over them&#8230; assuring it&#8230; a guardian over it&#8230; a guardian thereof&#8230; trustworthy in highness and a witness&#8230; <\/b><strong style=\"font-weight: bold\">protecting and guarding over it&#8230;<\/strong> <b><strong>a guardian over it<\/strong><\/b>&#8230; <strong>a watcher over it<\/strong>&#8230; <strong>a guardian over it<\/strong><b>&#8230; <strong>guarding it in safety<\/strong>&#8220;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This clear consensus makes the polemical nature of the remaining four all the more obvious, offering a &#8220;translation&#8221; which goes far beyond the the Arabic text:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><b>&#8220;<b>a criterion over it&#8221;<\/b><\/b> <br>&#8211; Sahih International<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<b><strong>confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it<\/strong>&#8220;<\/b><br>&#8211; Talal Itani<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>&#8220;h<b>as the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains&#8221;<\/b><\/strong><br>&#8211; Muhammad Sarwar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<b><strong>fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein<\/strong>&#8230;&#8221;<\/b> <br>&#8211; Wahihuddin Khan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bias of Sahih International&#8217;s translation is particularly blatant, translating it as &#8220;criterion&#8221;, pretending that the Arabic text says &#8220;furqan&#8221; rather &#8220;muhaimin&#8221;. Even among this group, Talal Itani seems to suggest that the earlier scriptures are uncorrupted, but just subordinate to the Qur&#8217;an.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Early Commentators<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s instructive to look at how earlier Qur&#8217;anic commenators explained the word:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Witness&#8221; (Al-Suddi, Qadadah, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Entrusted\/Faithful&#8221; (Ibn Abbas, Qadadah, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Saeed bin Jubayr and others)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Confirmer&#8221; (Ibn Zayd, Al-Hasan, Al-Hussein and others)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Preserver&#8221; (Al-Khalil, and noted by Al-Tabari and Al-Qortobi)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Judge&#8221; (Ibn Abbas, Saeed bin al-Musayyab, Al-Dahhak)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Guardian&#8221; (Al-Khalil)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those who attempt to say that the Qur&#8217;an teaches the corruption of the earlier scriptures, often appeal to Qur&#8217;an 5:48, but this argument turns on the translation of the word &#8220;muhaimin&#8221;. I therefore surveyed all the Qur&#8217;anic English translations I could find&#8230; The Translations And to you We have revealed the Book containing the truth, confirming the earlier revelations, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2969,29],"class_list":["post-89639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-featured","tag-islam"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89639"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89911,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89639\/revisions\/89911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}