Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Reducio of a Muslim "spoof text" Against the Integrity of the Bible

Disturbed by the fact that their prophet assumed that his message was consistent with prior revelation, or that his chimera would not be found out, at least not until it was too late to be of any consequence for him, Muslims have trumped up the claim that the Bible has been corrupted over time and have interpreted certain passages of their own Qur'an in this way. One such passage can be found in Surah 15:89-90, which says the following:

"And say: 'I am indeed he that warneth openly and without ambiguity (of just such wrath) as We sent down on those who divided (Scripture into arbitrary parts)'"

In a footnote to these verses, Yusuf Ali says the following:

"...Verse 90, I think, refers to the Jews and Christians, who took out of Scripture what suited them, and ignored or rejected the rest: 2:85 and 101..."

But if, on the one hand, the teaching of these verses are to be taken as an indication that the originally authentic revelations of God found in the Old and New Testaments have been falsified, corrupted, watered-down, or otherwise rendered something less than the sure and certain truth of God without any admixture of error, then the same conclusion would have to be drawn for the Qur'an, for here is how the passage reads along with more of the context:

"And say: 'I am indeed he
That warneth openly
And without ambiguity"-
(of just such wrath)
As We sent down
On those who divided
(Scripture into arbitrary parts)-
(So also on such)
As have made the Qur'an
Into shreds (as they please).

On the other hand, if the fact that the Qur'an can be and was "made...into shreds" does not mean that it has been altered or transmuted from the absolutely perfect word of God that Muslims claim it is, then neither does this passage teach that the Bible has been so altered simply because there were those who "divided (Scripture into arbitrary parts)." And if this verse teaches that the Bible is, in its present form, the Word of God (as it certainly is), then that means that the Qur'an that it contradicts is not.

(There is another interesting observation to be made regarding the above. Not only does Y.A.'s translation and commentary result in an obvious and unacceptable absurdity for Muslims, but it appears from a comparison of Y.A. with other translations that it is Muslims like Y.A. who are actually guilty of dividing and shredding their own Scriptures, for the idea that these ayas are talking about the Bible at all simply cannot be found in the translations of others such as Pickthall, Shakir, and Hilali.)

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