Part 1B

Does the Quran Affirm the Bible?

By Sami Zaatari

Part 1

(B)

We now continue our rebuttal series to Sam Shamoun's own series of articles where he seeks to prove that the Quran affirms the present day Bible. Again Shamoun's comments will be in green followed by my responses in black.

The missionary writes:

Sura 7:156-157:

"And I will write down (my mercy) for those who are righteous and give alms and who believe in our signs; who follow the apostle, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in the Torah and the Gospel THAT IS WITH THEM.

Remark: This verse states that there is a prophecy of Muhammad to be found in the Gospel [singular] available during that time. This destroys the Muslim contention that the Quran mentions the Gospel given to Jesus, not the gospels written about him, since the only Gospel in usage at the time of Muhammad were the same four-fold Gospel accounts contained within our modern-day New Testaments.)

RESPONSE

Although the current Bible we have today which includes the Torah and the Gospels are corrupt, we can still call them the Gospel and Torah, why? Well that's how the people understand them to be, Christians have no problem in calling all 4 Gospels the Gospel, hence the fact the Quran labels their Gospels as a Gospel is not affirming its authority, rather it is simply using terms which both the Muslims and Christians would understand. Hence the Quran is trying to make things easy and simple for the people.

And once again Shamoun is using selective citation, had he taken the Quran, hadiths, and tafsir as a whole he would see that all these sources show that the present day Bible we have is corrupt. Hence my explanation is not merely fancy guess-work, my explanation is based on all the context of the Quran, hadiths, and tafsir put together.

Shamoun then goes on to quote another verse to try and prove his weak points, he quotes:

Sura 5:46:

"But why do they (the Jews) come to thee for decision, when they have the Torah in which IS the command of God."

RESPONSE

It seems Shamoun is in need of some Quranic education, since he quotes this verse out of its proper context, had Shamoun bothered to study the context and background of this verse he would see that this verse is not affirming the present day Torah, rather it is exposing the hypocrisy and crookedness of the Jews around the prophet Muhammad. Since Shamoun needs some education on this verse, I shall be more than happy to give it to him free of charge, all you must do for me is to pay attention.

Now to begin with, this verse was revealed in connection to an event that took place in Madinah, which was that one day a group of Jews came to the prophet Muhammad asking him what is the ruling on punishing and adulterer and adulteress, the prophet Muhammad logically told them to bring their Torah which they had with them to see if their book had a ruling on this matter. The Jews brought their Torah, and they kept hiding the part which stated the punishment for the adulterer and adulteress, instead of carrying out the prescribed punishment which was given in the Torah, the Jews made their own customs and own deviant forms of punishment, such as flogging and humiliating them publicly. However so the prophet and his companions exposed them for their lies and deceit, the prophet and his companions found the prescribed punishment for adultery, and that was stoning, hence the Jews were exposed for their deceit, and making up false interpretations concerning their book.

Hence the moral of the verse is why are you the Jews coming to the prophet Muhammad asking him about rulings if you have your own book the Torah, which does in fact have the prescribed ruling that you are looking for, hence why are you going to the prophet Muhammad to ask him about an issue which is already in your book? Hence it is exposing their crookedness and deceit.

Here is Ibn Kathir's tafsir:

(they say, "If you are given this, take it, but if you are not given this, then beware!") It was reported that this part of the Ayah was revealed about some Jews who committed murder and who said to each other, "Let us ask Muhammad to judge between us, and if he decides that we pay the Diyah, accept his judgement. If he decides on capital punishment, do not accept his judgement.'' The correct opinion is that this Ayah was revealed about the two Jews who committed adultery. The Jews changed the law they had in their Book from Allah on the matter of punishment for adultery, from stoning to death, to a hundred flogs and making the offenders ride a donkey facing the back of the donkey. When this incident of adultery occurred after the Hijrah, they said to each other, "Let us go to Muhammad and seek his judgement. If he gives a ruling of flogging, then implement his decision and make it a proof for you with Allah. This way, one of Allah's Prophets will have upheld this ruling amongst you. But if he decides that the punishment should be stoning to death, then do not accept his decision.'' There are several Hadiths mentioning this story. Malik reported that Nafi` said that `Abdullah bin `Umar said, "The Jews came to Allah's Messenger and mentioned that a man and a woman from them committed adultery. Allah's Messenger said to them,

(What do find of the ruling about stoning in the Tawrah) They said, `We only find that they should be exposed and flogged.' `Abdullah bin Salam said, `You lie. The Tawrah mentions stoning, so bring the Tawrah.' They brought the Tawrah and opened it but one of them hid the verse about stoning with his hand and recited what is before and after that verse. `Abdullah bin Salam said to him, `Remove your hand,' and he removed it, thus uncovering the verse about stoning. So they said, He (`Abdullah bin Salam) has said the truth, O Muhammad! It is the verse about stoning.' The Messenger of Allah decided that the adulterers be stoned to death and his command was carried out. I saw that man shading the woman from the stones with his body.'' Al-Bukhari and Muslim also collected this Hadith and this is the wording collected by Al-Bukhari. In another narration by Al-Bukhari, the Prophet said to the Jews,

(What would you do in this case) They said, "We would humiliate and expose them.'' The Prophet recited,

(Bring here the Tawrah and recite it, if you are truthful.) So they brought a man who was blind in one eye and who was respected among them and said to him, "Read (from the Tawrah).'' So he read until he reached a certain verse and then covered it with his hand. He was told, "Remove your hand,'' and it was the verse about stoning. So that man said, "O Muhammad! This is the verse about stoning, and we had hid its knowledge among us.'' So the Messenger ordered that the two adulterers be stoned, and they were stoned. Muslim recorded that a Jewish man and a Jewish woman were brought before Allah's Messenger because they committed adultery. The Messenger of Allah went to the Jews and asked them,

(What is the ruling that you find in the Tawrah for adultery) hThey said, "We expose them, carry them (on donkeys) backwards and parade them in public.'' The Prophet recited;

(Bring here the Tawrah and recite it, if you are truthful.) So they brought the Tawrah and read from it until the reader reached the verse about stoning. Then he placed his hand on that verse and read what was before and after it. `Abdullah bin Salam, who was with the Messenger of Allah , said, "Order him to remove his hand,'' and he removed his hand and under it was the verse about stoning. So the Messenger of Allah commanded that the adulterers be stoned, and they were stoned. `Abdullah bin `Umar said, "I was among those who stoned them and I saw the man shading the woman from the stones with his body.'' Abu Dawud recorded that Ibn `Umar said, "Some Jews came to the Messenger of Allah and invited him to go to the Quff area. So he went to the house of Al-Midras and they said, `O Abu Al-Qasim! A man from us committed adultery with a woman, so decide on their matter.' They arranged a pillow for the Messenger of Allah and he sat on it and said,

(Bring the Tawrah to me.) He was brought the Tawrah and he removed the pillow from under him and placed the Tawrah on it, saying,

(I trust you and He Who revealed it to you.) He then said,

(Bring me your most knowledgeable person.) So he was brought a young man... '' and then he mentioned the rest of the story that Malik narrated from Nafi`. These Hadiths state that the Messenger of Allah issued a decision that conforms with the ruling in the Tawrah, not to honor the Jews in what they believe in, for the Jews were commanded to follow the Law of Muhammad only. Rather, the Prophet did this because Allah commanded him to do so. He asked them about the ruling of stoning in the Tawrah to make them admit to what the Tawrah contains and what they collaborated to hide, deny and exclude from implementing for all that time. They had to admit to what they did, although they did it while having knowledge of the correct ruling. What made them go to the Prophet for judgement in this matter was their lusts and desires, hoping that the Prophet would agree with their opinion, not that they believed in the correctness of his judgment.

So the context of the verse was revealed in connection to this situation, why are the Jews coming to the prophet Muhammad to ask about rulings concerning Jews if they have the Torah? It is to simply expose them for their deceit, and evil lustful desires. How sad Shamoun could not see that, in fact I know for certainty that Shamoun knew that this verse was connected to this issue because he always quotes this tafsir of Ibn Kathir, hence how did he suddenly miss this point when he always talks about it?! Deceit is a mighty missionary charm it seems.

With that said we conclude Rebuttal part 1B.

And Allah Knows Best!