The Qur'an as the Criterion · What Furqan Means
What the Qur'an says happened to the earlier scripture
Handle with care. Handle with care: never speak with contempt about the Torah or the Gospel themselves. The Qur'an honours both as revelation.
In short
- 1.Q 2:79 — writing a book with their own hands and calling it from God.
- 2.Q 3:78 — twisting the tongue so you think it is from the Scripture.
- 3.Q 5:13-14 — they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of.
The claim being examined
Muslims are often heard as saying the Bible was simply made up.
The Islamic position
The Qur'an makes specific, limited charges: writing with their own hands, twisting the tongue, concealing, and forgetting part of what was given.
Analysis
The Qur'anic vocabulary for what happened to the earlier books is more careful than the popular Muslim summary of it. Four distinct charges appear. First, interpolation: writing a text by hand and attributing it to God (Q 2:79). Second, verbal distortion in delivery — talyu alsinatahum, twisting the tongue so a hearer takes it for scripture (Q 3:78). Third, concealment: hiding part of what was revealed (Q 2:42, 5:15, "you used to conceal much of the Scripture"). Fourth, loss: "they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of" (Q 5:13-14). Classical scholars divided over the balance between tahrif al-lafz (alteration of the wording) and tahrif al-ma'na (alteration of the meaning): Ibn Hazm argued strongly for textual corruption, while others such as al-Ghazali and, in places, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi leaned toward distortion of interpretation. You do not have to settle that debate to make the argument in this section. Every card here works either way, because each one puts the two texts next to each other and asks which one is worthy of God and of a prophet.
From the Qur'an
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ
So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands, then say: this is from God.
يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَ عَن مَّوَاضِعِهِ وَنَسُوا حَظًّا مِّمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ
They distort words from their places and they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of.
From the Bible
Hebrew
How can you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
Read it in their BibleSources
Ibn Hazm, al-Fasl fi al-Milal · Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghayb, on Q 2:75 · Qur'an 2:79; 5:13-15
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