Sharing the Quran (and Jesus) with Muslims
I’m sure at one point or another, Christians are going to hear that
accusation that the Bible has not been accurately translated, or it has
been changed or corrupted, or because we don’t have the originals, we’ll
never know what it really said. This can be dealt swiftly and
effectively. However, this challenged was posed to me by a Muslim man,
and I think in this particular case, you can take a slightly different,
and more impacting, route.
There is among them a section who distort the Book with their
tongues: (As they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it
is no part of the Book; and they say, “That is from Allah,” but it is
not from Allah (3:78 AYA).
And remember Allah took a Covenant from the People of the Book,
to make it known and clear to mankind, and not to hide it; but they
threw it away behind their backs, and purchased with it some miserable
gain! And vile was the bargain they made! (3:187 AYA)
Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a
portion that stand (for the right); they rehearse the Signs of Allah all
night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in
Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is
wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in
the ranks of the righteous. Of the good that they do, nothing will be
rejected of them; for Allah knoweth well those that do right (3:113-115 AYA)
Nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those
who say, “We are Christians”: Because amongst these are men devoted to
learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant
(5:85 AYA/82 MP)
What is important to note here is not the reverence that some
Christians received, but the legitimacy of their revelation by God. The
Quran does seem to tip its hat towards the Bible. More explicitly:
O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His Apostle, and the
scripture which He hath sent to His Apostle and the scripture which He
sent to those before (him). Any who denieth Allah, His Angels, His
Books, His Apostles, and the Day of Judgement, hath gone far, far astray (4:136 AYA).
We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what
was revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in
(the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets, from their Lord: We
make no distinction between one and another among them (3:84 AYA)
(7:157 MP).
I presented this to the Muslim man I was talking to. I asked him if
the Quran says that the Bible is revelation from God. He said yes, but
added the objection that it has been corrupted. This is an important
tactic. I believe once you get them to admit that the Bible is from God,
then you’ve found an important common ground. Now, you don’t have to
push your Bible onto them, you can push the Quran on them. I asked him
if the Quran says that the Bible has been corrupted. It doesn’t. But
instead of answering the question, he asked me if we had the original
copies Of course, I had to say no. When I did, he just said, “Well there
you go.”
Now, this is where it’s easier to do Biblical criticism with Muslims
than your average skeptic. According to the Quran, we don’t need the
originals, even though we can reconstruct it to a 99.5% purity. The
Quran does affirm that the faithful word of God as revealed to the Jews
and Christians was still around at the time the Quran was written. So
instead of going back to the originals, with a Muslim, it is not
necessary to go any further than AD 632, which is when the Quran was
completed. So if the Quran says somewhere between 610-632 that there
were legitimate copies of God’s revelation, the originals aren’t needed.
Anything prior to that will probably be an accurate revelation.
At this point, I allowed the Muslim man to insist that the Bible was
corrupted. I asked him, for the sake of the Quran which he so dearly
loves, to sit down with me and see how much of the Bible, God’s word, we
can reconstruct. Not because the Bible is demanding respect, but
because the Quran is giving it respect. And that is a powerful foot in
the door for sharing with Muslims.
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