PROLOGUE

Before beginning I would like to state that the following is not an attempt to make the Christians lose their faith, but to help them towards a purer form of God’s religion, Islam. It is against the character of a True Muslim to take this kind of approach, even if Christians do try that with Muslims as many have in the past and are still doing. But it is important to remember that not all Christians are like this, Allah tells us in the Qur’an that it is only a portion of the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) that take this approach, of trying their best to misguide Muslims; You who believe! If you obey a group of those given the Book, they will make you revert to being unbelievers after you have believed. (Surah Al-Imran 3:100)

Many of the People of the Book would love it if they could turn you back to disbelief after you have become believers, showing their innate envy now that the truth is clear to them. But you should pardon and overlook until Allah gives His command. Truly Allah has power over all things. (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:109)

Infact, in the above verse from Surah 2, Allah, the All-Knowing informs us of one reason for this volatile hostility from the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) which shows … their innate envy now that the truth is clear to them. (2:109). Following this part of the verse, Allah gives us great advice as to what approach Muslims should take in retaliating, saying; But you should pardon and overlook until Allah gives His command. Truly Allah has power over all things. (2:109)

Despite this hostile attitude of many of the People of the Book (Jews & Christians), all Muslims must remember that Our Allah says;

Only argue with the People of the Book (Jews & Christians) in the kindest way–except in the case of those of them who do wrong–saying, ‘We believe in what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to you. Our God and your God are one and we submit to Him.’ (29:46) (Emphasis Has Been Given)

For this reason whenever Muslims debate with the People of the Book, they must debate kindly and not with the intention of trying to offend them or harm them but only to try and get their point across as kindly as possible.

True Muslims also need to keep in mind the following verse of the Qur’an, here we are told that the most affectionate of the People of the Book are “some” Christians;

You will find that the people most hostile to those who believe are the Jews and the idolaters. You will find the people most affectionate to those who believe are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’ That is because some of them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. (5:82)

InshAllah, I hope to honour the above advice of Allah in the Qur’an, throughout this article and try my best to get my point across as kindly as possible.


CHANGES IN THE BIBLE

Before beginning I would like to ask the reader to read the following short article by Shabir Ally which is important to what we are going to discuss in this article.

Changes in the Bible

Each time an older manuscript of the Bible is discovered, many changes are required in the Bible to bring it in line with the ancient manuscripts. Mark 1:1 reads as follows:

“The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.b” (Mark 1:1, New International Version).

At the end of that verse, there is a small letter directing us to look at the footnote at the bottom of the page. There we find that some manuscripts do not have “the Son of God.” And those were ancient, reliable manuscripts. The evidence was so compelling that the editors of one Bible just simply removed the title Son of God from the verse altogether. Thus in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures the verse reads:

“The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1).

The title ‘Son of God’ is no longer in that verse.

Another such change had to be made in the Acts of the Apostles 8:37 in every honest translation of the Bible prepared in this century. Evidence from old manuscripts demanded that the verse be removed from all present Bibles. If you go to your New International Version Bible and look for Acts 8:37 you will not find it in the text. You will find verse number 36, and then verse 38, but not 37. If you wish to know what verse 37 used to say, you need to check the footnote at the bottom of the page. This verse used to contain a confession that Jesus is the Son of God. It had to be removed because its absence from the most ancient manuscripts meant that someone added it to the later manuscripts.

Some changes become evident just by comparing one Gospel with another in the present Bibles. You can do this investigation yourself. One example of this is the centurion’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God as reported in Mark’s Gospel as follows:

“Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).

The same confession of the same centurion at the same scene, at the very moment, is reported in Luke also. But in Luke the Centurion is reported as saying:

“Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47).

In Luke the title Son of God is missing. Mark and Luke cannot both be right here. The confession is reported incorrectly in at least one Gospel.

In the next part we will look at other such changes, especially in the Gospel of Matthew.

(The above article was taken from www.ShabirAlly.com and a reproduction of this article is also available at www.allahforever.co.uk)


As you will have read Shabir Ally gives us some good examples and makes a very important point in saying; “Each time an older manuscript of the Bible is discovered, many changes are required in the Bible to bring it in line with the ancient manuscripts.”

It is therefore obvious to anyone that until the ancient manuscript was discovered people were reading a corrupted version or verses of the Bible.

Now, one would object, as some Christians do, that that makes no difference as the original verse or verses have been discovered and therefore the modern Bible has been bought in line with that ancient manuscript, verse, or verses. But those who make this objection are missing two very important and pivotal points. They are as follows;

1. Christians and Muslims believe that God has power over All things, hence he has the power to preserve anything He wishes, as He says of the Qur’an; It is We Who have sent down the Reminder (The Qur’an) and We Who will preserve it. (Al-Hijr 15/9). This is a promise from Allah that He will preserve the Qur‘an. Allah is He who also sent down the Torah and the Gospel or New Testament (Injil) before it was corrupted.

But as is obvious from what we are discussing in this article, Allah chose not to preserve the Injil (now known as the Gospel or New Testament), it went through many changes and alterations, additions, etc.

The fact that old manuscripts are found which correct the current Bible shows that Allah did not choose to preserve the Bible, otherwise there would be no difference with today’s Bible and any old manuscripts discovered, yet the fact that there are differences is clear that God chose not to preserve the Bible.

Infact, Allah informs us in the following verse that has been underlined that he  allowed the Torah to be preserved in part only;

We sent down the Torah containing guidance and light, and the Prophets who had submitted themselves gave judgement by it for the Jews–as did their scholars and their rabbis–by what they had been allowed to preserve of Allah’s Book to which they were witnesses. Do not be afraid of people, be afraid of Me. And do not sell My Signs for a paltry price. Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down, such people are disbelievers. (5:44)


2. An even more important point than the first is that Christians seriously need to ask themselves that if changes took place in the Bible which were obvious when compared to older manuscripts, then they must consider, how many more changes there are that they do not yet know about, and will they ever discover these or not, and how can one know whether all of the changes have been discovered and rectified or not, they can never know where this ends, it is impossible. And it is this impasse that should be a major concern to every honest Christian who truly loves God, how is he to ever know whether all of the changes have been discovered and rectified and whether there are more that he does not yet know about or have not discovered, or will he ever discover them. And another very important question arises is, are there older manuscripts than the ones found, and do they have differences too. As already said if they love God and understand His attributes properly they will know that He can preserve whatever He wishes, yet the fact the Bible was not preserved, naturally must lead them to ask ‘where can I find the preserved word of God?, the answer to that has been echoing towards them for over 14 centuries, since Our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and the Muslims who came after Him. That is the Qur’an; … truly it is a Mighty Book; falsehood cannot reach it from before or behind it - it is a revelation from One who is All-Wise, Praiseworthy. (41/41,42)

People of the Book! Our Messenger (Muhammad Pbuh) has come to you, making clear to you much of the Book that you have kept concealed, and passing over a lot. A Light has come to you from Allah and a Clear Book. (5:15)

But as for those who believe and do right actions and believe in what has been sent down to Muhammad–and it is the truth from their Lord–He will erase their bad actions from them and better their condition. (47:2)


THE LAST WORD:

The Qur’an: The Only Uncorrupted Book Revealed by God,
Under His Protection.

It is We Who have sent down the Reminder (The Qur’an) and We Who will preserve it. (Surah Al-Hijr 15/9).

If they argue with you, say, ‘I have submitted myself completely to Allah, and so have all who follow me.’ Say to those given the Book and those who have no Book, ‘Have you become Muslim?’ If they become Muslim, they have been guided. If they turn away, you are only responsible for transmission. Allah sees His servants. (Surah Al-Imran 3:20)


ADDENDUM - 12/2008

Another great example of what is being discussed in this article can be seen in the following Bible preface, in fact many Bibles mention similar problems like that quoted below in their prefaces and introductions. The following was brought to my attention by a good Brother of mine (Muhammad Abdullah) and whose articles are featured on this site, which have been very popular, with the most hits, like, ’I Wonder Why?’, ‘Pope Makes Excuses for Paedophile Priests’ ‘Islam != Muslim != Terrorism != …’, ‘Richard Dawkins vs Harun Yahya’, and many more, which can also be found on his personal blog, http://2believeornot2.blogspot.com/(click here);

So, here’s the quote, in the King James Version PREFACE page iii and iv you can find comments such as:

"The King James Version has with good reason been termed 'the noblest monument of English prose.' Its revisers in 1881 expressed admiration of 'its simplicity, its dignity, its power, its happy turns of express... the music of its cadences, and the felicities of its rhythm.' It entered, as no other book has, into the making of the personal character and the public institutions of the English-speaking peoples. We owe to it an incalculable debt"

"Yet the King James Version has grave defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was based, made it manifest that these defects are so many and so serious as to call for a revision of the English translation. The task was undertaken, by authority of the Church of England, in 1870. The English Revised Version of the Bibles was published in 1881-1885; and the American Standard Version, its variant embodying the preferences of the American scholars associated in the work, was published in 1901."

It is quite common to come across confessions of this nature which admit to the corruption of the Bible or that modern Bibles have not been identical to previous older manuscripts for which reason the modern Bibles had to be constantly brought in line with older ones so far discovered, but as I said in the above, this is not an attack, it is an honest question, which I stated before ‘how can we be sure if there are not more differences we do not know of, and will they ever be discovered’, because any honest person who really loves God cannot find the above discussed predicament acceptable. It is obvious that God chose not to preserve the Bible.

Yusuf Estes, a former Christian preacher, makes a very important and pivotal point about what is said in the above quote, he says;

The words are in plain English. The second paragraph says it all, "Yet, the King James Version has grave defects.

Therefore, we must conclude the "King James Version" is NOT the Actual Bible sent by God to mankind. (Emphasis Given)

And another equally important point he makes is as follows;

From the previous chapter we can easily determine that the original source of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments have been lost and are no longer extant in any language. What has remained and been referred to for translations, is in fact nothing more than old copies that do not necessarily agree with each other and there does exist in them obvious corruption in additions and deletions. Additionally, they are not complete and do not have full agreement of the scholars of the Bible as to their meanings.

(The Bible – A Closer Look by Yusuf Estes. www.shareislam.com) (You can read this full booklet on this site by going to the Home page and clicking on the link)

What’s more, it is interesting that many of these confessions come from scholars and translators of the Bible itself, as can be seen from the first quote above.

Finally I would like to finish this addendum by quoting Yusuf Estes, from the same booklet quoted above, bear in mind that Yusuf Estes was first a Christian and has extensive knowledge of the Bible, its history and of Christianity, and now he has a great amount of knowledge of the Qur’an also and Islam, hence he is a unique person who’s research and knowledge would be valued by any person with a genuine desire for research;

Today, there are thousands of different versions of the Bible in circulation and the transcript has been freely translated from one language to another numerous times. According to Bible scholars themselves, the original scripture is no longer extant. It is nowhere to be found. We have no idea if what we are reading and implementing into our lives and belief system is, indeed, God's teaching.

(The Bible – A Closer Look by Yusuf Estes. www.shareislam.com)