# The Islamic Dilemma: Does the Qur'an Confirm the Bible It Contradicts?
> What is the Islamic dilemma? The Qur'an calls the Torah and Gospel God's word and tells Christians to judge by them, yet they contradict Islam. The verses, hadith and answers.
- Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/the-islamic-dilemma
- Religions: Islam
- Denominations: none
- Beliefs: none
- Tags: islam, bible, quran, dilemma
- Updated: 2026-10-09
- Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul))
The Qur’an calls the Torah and the Gospel God’s revealed word, present with Jews and Christians in Muhammad’s day, and then denies what those books say about Jesus. If those books were God’s word, the Qur’an contradicts God; if they were not, the Qur’an was wrong about the books it tells people to uphold.
## Key points
- [Qur’an 3:3–4](https://quran.com/3/3), [Qur’an 5:44](https://quran.com/5/44), and [Qur’an 5:46](https://quran.com/5/46) say God revealed the Torah and the Gospel before the Qur’an, as guidance and light. [(1)](#ref-1)
- [Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43), [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47), [Qur’an 5:68](https://quran.com/5/68), [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157), and [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94) treat the books in Jewish and Christian hands as present and binding.
- [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115) and [Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27) say no one can alter God’s words. [Qur’an 6:34](https://quran.com/6/34) and [Qur’an 10:64](https://quran.com/10/64) say the same, and Saheeh International glosses “words” there as decrees.
- [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157) denies the crucifixion. [Qur’an 5:72–73](https://quran.com/5/72), [Qur’an 4:171](https://quran.com/4/171), [Qur’an 9:30](https://quran.com/9/30), and [Qur’an 19:35](https://quran.com/19/35) deny that Jesus is God and the Son of God. [Mark 15:37](/bible/mark/15/37), [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1), [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28), and [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) say the opposite. Jesus is God.
- Codex Sinaiticus, written in the middle of the fourth century, “contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament.” [(26)](#ref-26) That copy predates Muhammad.
- The usual replies — textual corruption, a lost Injil, *muhaymin* as a correction, and “His words” as decrees only — are stated below in the form Muslim writers give them. Each one still leaves one horn of the dilemma standing.
- The name is recent. The argument is not. Paul of Antioch, bishop of Sidon, made it around 1200, and Ibn Taymiyya answered a 1316 form of the letter in *al-Jawab al-Sahih*. [(36)](#ref-36) [(37)](#ref-37)
## What is the Islamic dilemma?
The Islamic dilemma is the argument that the Qur’an affirms the Torah and the Gospel as God’s word, present and authoritative in Muhammad’s day, yet contradicts what they teach about Jesus. If those books were God’s word, Islam contradicts God. If they were not, the Qur’an was wrong about them.
The two horns are these.
1. If the Torah and the Gospel of Muhammad’s day were God’s preserved word, the Qur’an contradicts God’s word on the crucifixion, on Jesus as the Son, and on the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Islam is then false.
2. If that Torah and that Gospel were not God’s preserved word, the Qur’an was wrong to call them guidance and light, wrong to tell the People of the Gospel to judge by what they have, and wrong where it says no one can change God’s words. Islam is then false.
[What Does the Qur’an Say About the Bible?](/islam/does-the-quran-confirm-the-bible) stays with the verses that speak of those books. This page states the dilemma those verses create, sets the contradictions beside the Gospel text, and answers the replies in one place. [Has the Bible Been Changed?](/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted) is the corruption claim on its own. [What Is the Injil?](/islam/what-is-the-injil) is the question of what “Gospel” names.
## The argument in four steps
First, the Qur’an says God revealed the Torah and the Gospel as guidance. [Qur’an 3:3–4](https://quran.com/3/3) says he sent down the Qur’an “confirming what was before it,” and that he had already revealed the Torah and the Gospel “as guidance for the people.” [Qur’an 5:44](https://quran.com/5/44) says the Torah was sent down with guidance and light. [Qur’an 5:46](https://quran.com/5/46) says the Gospel was given to Jesus, “in which was guidance and light,” confirming the Torah.
Second, the Qur’an treats the books Jews and Christians were holding as present and binding. [Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43) asks how they come for judgment “while they have the Torah, in which is the judgement of Allāh.” [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what God has revealed in it. [Qur’an 5:68](https://quran.com/5/68) says the People of the Scripture are on nothing until they uphold the Torah and the Gospel. [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94) says to ask those who have been reading the Scripture. [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) speaks of a prophet “whom they find written” in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel.
Third, the Qur’an says God’s words are not changed. [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115) says, “None can alter His words.” [Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27) says there is no changer of his words. [Qur’an 6:34](https://quran.com/6/34) and [Qur’an 10:64](https://quran.com/10/64) say none can alter the words of God.
Fourth, the Torah and the Gospel of the seventh century, which the manuscripts still give us, teach what the Qur’an denies. [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157) says they did not kill Jesus and did not crucify him. [Mark 15:37](/bible/mark/15/37) and [1 Corinthians 15:3–4](/bible/1-corinthians/15) say he died and was buried and was raised. [Qur’an 5:72–73](https://quran.com/5/72), [Qur’an 4:171](https://quran.com/4/171), [Qur’an 9:30](https://quran.com/9/30), and [Qur’an 19:35](https://quran.com/19/35) deny that the Messiah is God and the Son of God. [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1), [John 1:14](/bible/john/1/14), [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28), and [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) confess the Word who is God, made flesh, called Lord and God, and the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Jesus is God.
The conclusion is the pair of horns above. A book cannot coherently order Christians to judge by the Gospel they have and also deny the Gospel’s account of who Jesus is and what was done to him.
## What the Qur’an says about the Torah and the Gospel
The translation below is Saheeh International unless a second rendering is named. Square brackets are in that translation. Abdel Haleem is added where his English is the one Muslim readers often prefer, including “with final authority over them” at [Qur’an 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48?translations=85). [(2)](#ref-2)
### Qur’an 3:3–4
[Qur’an 3:3](https://quran.com/3/3) and [Qur’an 3:4](https://quran.com/3/4) [(1)](#ref-1):
> He has sent down upon you, [O Muḥammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel
> Before, as guidance for the people. And He revealed the Criterion [i.e., the Qur’ān]. Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allāh will have a severe punishment, and Allāh is Exalted in Might, the Owner of Retribution.
The confirmation is of “what was before it.” The earlier books are named, and they were revealed “as guidance for the people.”
### Qur’an 5:43–44
[Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43) and [Qur’an 5:44](https://quran.com/5/44):
> But how is it that they come to you for judgement while they have the Torah, in which is the judgement of Allāh? Then they turn away, [even] after that; but those are not [in fact] believers.
> Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allāh] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allāh, and they were witnesses thereto. So do not fear the people but fear Me, and do not exchange My verses for a small price [i.e., worldly gain]. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers.
They have the Torah. God’s judgment is in it. The warning against selling verses for a small price is a charge against people who hold a text, which is a different sentence from “the text is gone.”
### Qur’an 5:46–47
[Qur’an 5:46](https://quran.com/5/46) says Jesus confirmed the Torah and was given the Gospel, “in which was guidance and light.” [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47):
> And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allāh has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.
Abdel Haleem:
> So let the followers of the Gospel judge according to what God has sent down in it. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are lawbreakers.
The Arabic, in the Uthmani script on Quran.com [(3)](#ref-3):
> وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ ٱلْإِنجِيلِ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ ۚ وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ
Both English translations open with an order: let the People of the Gospel, or the followers of the Gospel, judge by what God has revealed in it. An order to judge assumes a Gospel they can open. Ibn Kathir’s abridged English gives two readings of the verse [(13)](#ref-13):
> meaning, so that He judges the people of the Injil by it in their time. Or, the Ayah means, so that they believe in all that is in it and adhere to all its commands, including the good news about the coming of Muhammad and the command to believe in and follow him when he is sent.
The first reading puts the judgment in the time of the people of the Injil. The second says they are to believe all that is in it, including news of Muhammad. Both readings are taken up below. The verse’s own words are an order to the People of the Gospel.
### Qur’an 5:48
[Qur’an 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48) is the verse most often used to limit the others. Saheeh International calls the Qur’an a confirmation “and as a criterion over it”:
> And We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allāh has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allāh willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allāh is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.
Abdel Haleem renders the same clause “with final authority over them”:
> We sent to you [Muhammad] the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it, and with final authority over them: so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Do not follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that has come to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about.
The Arabic includes *muhayminan alayhi*:
> وَأَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ ۖ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلْحَقِّ ۚ لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا ۚ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَٰحِدَةً وَلَـٰكِن لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِى مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۖ فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ ۚ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
Ibn Kathir reports Ibn Abbas: “Muhaymin is, ‘the Trustworthy’. Allah says that the Qur'an is trustworthy over every Divine Book that preceded it.” Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, in the same comment: “whatever in these previous Books conforms to the Qur'an is true, and whatever disagrees with the Qur'an is false.” A further report in that comment gives “Witness” and “dominant over the previous Scriptures.” Those sentences are quoted in full under the *muhaymin* reply. A criterion over a book, or a final authority over books, still has those books in front of it. The verse does not say the Scripture being confirmed was missing.
### Qur’an 5:66–68
[Qur’an 5:66](https://quran.com/5/66) says that if they had upheld the Torah, the Gospel, and what was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have been provided for. [Qur’an 5:68](https://quran.com/5/68):
> Say, "O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord [i.e., the Qur’ān]." And that which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief. So do not grieve over the disbelieving people.
Abdel Haleem:
> Say, ‘People of the Book, you have no true basis [for your religion] unless you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and that which has been sent down to you from your Lord,’ but what has been sent down to you [Prophet] from your Lord is sure to increase many of them in their insolence and defiance: do not worry about those who defy [God].
Ibn Kathir:
> meaning no real religion until you adhere to and implement the Tawrah and the Injil. That is, until you believe in all the Books that you have that Allah revealed to the Prophets.
“The Books that you have” is his phrase. Upholding a book is something done with a book one has.
### Qur’an 10:94
[Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94):
> So if you are in doubt, [O Muḥammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord, so never be among the doubters.
Abdel Haleem:
> So if you [Prophet] are in doubt about what We have revealed to you, ask those who have been reading the scriptures before you. The Truth has come to you from your Lord, so be in no doubt
The Arabic:
> فَإِن كُنتَ فِى شَكٍّ مِّمَّآ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكَ ۚ لَقَدْ جَآءَكَ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ
The people to ask are “those who have been reading the Scripture before you.” A lost book cannot be read, and it cannot settle a question. [Qur’an 16:43](https://quran.com/16/43) and [Qur’an 21:7](https://quran.com/21/7) say to ask the people of the message if you do not know. Saheeh International glosses that message as “former scriptures.”
### Qur’an 29:46
[Qur’an 29:46](https://quran.com/29/46), Abdel Haleem, is the sentence about a shared revelation:
> [Believers], argue only in the best way with the People of the Book, except with those of them who act unjustly. Say, ‘We believe in what was revealed to us and in what was revealed to you; our God and your God are one [and the same]; we are devoted to Him.’
Saheeh International:
> And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, "We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him."
“What was revealed to you” is said to the People of the Book. The verse treats their revelation as real enough to believe.
### Confirming what is with you
[Qur’an 2:41](https://quran.com/2/41) tells its hearers to believe in what has been sent down, “confirming that which is [already] with you.” [Qur’an 2:89](https://quran.com/2/89) says a book came “confirming that which was with them,” and that they recognized it. [Qur’an 4:47](https://quran.com/4/47) addresses “you who were given the Scripture” and calls the new revelation something “confirming that which is with you.”
> And believe in what I have sent down confirming that which is [already] with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs for a small price, and fear [only] Me.
> O you who were given the Scripture, believe in what We have sent down [to Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ)], confirming that which is with you, before We obliterate faces and turn them toward their backs or curse them as We cursed the sabbath-breakers. And ever is the matter [i.e., decree] of Allāh accomplished.
“With you” is present. [Qur’an 3:93](https://quran.com/3/93) tells Muhammad to say, “So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful.” A Torah that can be brought and recited is a book in the room.
### Written in what they have
[Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) describes the prophet “whom they find written [i.e., described] in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel.” [Qur’an 61:6](https://quran.com/61/6) has Jesus bring “good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Aḥmad.” Whether that description is in Deuteronomy 18 or in John 14–16 is [Is Muhammad the prophet of Deuteronomy 18?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-prophet-of-deuteronomy-18) and [Is Muhammad the Paraclete?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-paraclete). The dilemma’s point here is narrower. A description they find in what they have is a description in a book they have.
[Qur’an 9:111](https://quran.com/9/111) calls God’s promise “a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’ān.” [Qur’an 48:29](https://quran.com/48/29) says the believers’ description in the Gospel is “as a plant which produces its offshoots.” Both verses use the Torah and the Gospel as texts a reader can consult. [Qur’an 2:121](https://quran.com/2/121) says those who were given the Book “recite it with its true recital.” [Qur’an 6:20](https://quran.com/6/20) says those given the Scripture “recognize it as they recognize their [own] sons.”
## No one can change His words
[Qur’an 6:34](https://quran.com/6/34):
> And certainly were messengers denied before you, but they were patient over the denial, and they were harmed until Our victory came to them. And none can alter the words [i.e., decrees] of Allāh. And there has certainly come to you some information about the [previous] messengers.
[Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115):
> And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Abdel Haleem:
> The word of your Lord is complete in its truth and justice. No one can change His words: He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing.
The Arabic of 6:115:
> وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدْلًا ۚ لَّا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَـٰتِهِۦ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ
[Qur’an 10:64](https://quran.com/10/64):
> For them are good tidings in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. No change is there in the words [i.e., decrees] of Allāh. That is what is the great attainment.
[Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27), Abdel Haleem:
> [Prophet], follow what has been revealed to you of your Lord’s Scripture: there is no changing His words, nor can you find any refuge except with Him.
Saheeh International:
> And recite, [O Muḥammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is no changer of His words, and never will you find in other than Him a refuge.
The Arabic of 18:27:
> وَٱتْلُ مَآ أُوحِىَ إِلَيْكَ مِن كِتَابِ رَبِّكَ ۖ لَا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَـٰتِهِۦ وَلَن تَجِدَ مِن دُونِهِۦ مُلْتَحَدًا
Ibn Kathir on 6:115 reads the clause as God’s judgment, not as a manuscript: “(None can change His Words.) meaning, none can avert Allah's judgment whether in this life or the Hereafter.” That reading is the Muslim reply, answered below. The sentences themselves say God’s words are not altered.
[Qur’an 15:9](https://quran.com/15/9) is the verse usually limited to the Qur’an:
> Indeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Qur’ān], and indeed, We will be its guardian.
Saheeh International glosses “the message” as the Qur’an. The Arabic word is *dhikr*, “reminder.” [Qur’an 21:48](https://quran.com/21/48) says Moses and Aaron were given “the criterion and a light and a reminder for the righteous.” [Qur’an 21:105](https://quran.com/21/105) says God wrote in the Psalms “after the [previous] mention.” [Qur’an 16:43](https://quran.com/16/43) and [Qur’an 21:7](https://quran.com/21/7) tell people to ask “the people of the message,” glossed as former scriptures. The word *dhikr* is not confined to the Qur’an in those verses. Christians say the same kind of thing from their own books: [Isaiah 40:8](/bible/isaiah/40/8), [Matthew 24:35](/bible/matthew/24/35), [1 Peter 1:25](/bible/1-peter/1/25), and [Psalm 119:89](/bible/psalms/119/89). The dilemma does not need the Qur’an to prove that. It asks why a book that says God’s words cannot be changed also says the Torah and the Gospel were guidance, and then treats them as failed books.
## What Muhammad did with the Torah
[Sunan Abi Dawud 4449](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4449) [(4)](#ref-4) is graded Hasan by al-Albani on sunnah.com. The English on that page:
> Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar: A group of Jews came and invited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to Quff. So he visited them in their school. They said: AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them. They placed a cushion for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who sat on it and said: Bring the Torah. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee. He then said: Bring me one who is learned among you. Then a young man was brought. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition of stoning similar to the one transmitted by Malik from Nafi'(No. 4431).
A Torah was brought, set on the cushion, and answered with “I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee.” The words are addressed to that copy.
[Sahih al-Bukhari 7543](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7543) [(9)](#ref-9), Muhammad Muhsin Khan:
> Narrated Ibn `Umar: A Jew and Jewess were brought to the Prophet (ﷺ) on a charge of committing an illegal sexual intercourse. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked the Jews, "What do you (usually) do with them?" They said, "We blacken their faces and disgrace them." He said, "Bring here the Torah and recite it, if you are truthful." They (fetched it and) came and asked a one-eyed man to recite. He went on reciting till he reached a portion on which he put his hand. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Lift up your hand!" He lifted his hand up and behold, there appeared the verse of Ar-Rajm (stoning of the adulterers to death). Then he said, "O Muhammad! They should be stoned to death but we conceal this Divine Law among ourselves." Then the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that the two sinners be stoned to death and, and they were stoned to death, and I saw the man protecting the woman from the stones. (See Hadith No. 809, Vol. 8)
The Torah is fetched and recited. A hand covers a line. When the hand moves, the stoning verse is there. The man says they conceal the ruling. The text is on the page.
[Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2653](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2653) [(12)](#ref-12) is graded Sahih (Darussalam) on sunnah.com:
> Narrated Jubair bin Nufair: from Abu Ad-Darda who said: "We were with the Prophet (ﷺ) when he raised his sight to the sky, then he said: 'This is the time when knowledge is to be taken from the people, until what remains of it shall not amount to anything." So Ziyad bin Labid Al-Ansari said: 'How will it be taken from us while we recite the Qur'an. By Allah we recite it, and our women and children recite it?' He (ﷺ) said: 'May you be bereaved of your mother O Ziyad! I used to consider you among the Fuqaha of the people of Al-Madinah. The Tawrah and Injil are with the Jews and Christians, but what do they avail of them?'" Jubair said: "So I met 'Ubadah bin As-Samit and said to him: 'Have you not heard what your brother Abu Ad-Darda said?' Then I informed him of what Abu Ad-Darda said. He said: 'Abu Ad-Darda spoke the truth. If you wish, we shall narrated to you about the first knowledge to be removed from the people: It is Khushu', soon you will enter the congregational Masjid, but not see any man in it with Khushu'.'"
“The Tawrah and Injil are with the Jews and Christians, but what do they avail of them?” The complaint is that having the books has not produced obedience. The books are with them.
[Sahih al-Bukhari 7362](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7362) [(5)](#ref-5):
> Narrated Abu Huraira: The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said (to the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' "
[Sahih al-Bukhari 4485](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4485) [(6)](#ref-6) is the parallel:
> Narrated Abu Huraira: The people of the Scripture (Jews) used to recite the Torah in Hebrew and they used to explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. On that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Do not believe the people of the Scripture or disbelieve them, but say:-- "We believe in Allah and what is revealed to us." (2.136)
They were reading the Torah in Hebrew and explaining it in Arabic. Muhammad’s instruction is “Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them,” and then “We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.” That is caution about an explanation. It is not “their book is gone.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 3461](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3461) [(10)](#ref-10) permits narrating the stories of the Children of Israel and forbids lying about Muhammad. A community with no earlier book would not be told that narration is allowed.
## Where the Qur’an and the Gospel disagree
Jesus is God, the eternal Son, crucified and raised. The Qur’an honors him as the Messiah, born of Mary, a word from God, and a prophet, and it denies that confession. [Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels](/islam/jesus-in-the-quran-and-the-gospels) sets the two portraits together. The rows here are the contradictions the dilemma uses.
| Subject | Qur’an | Gospel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Crucifixion | [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157) | [Mark 15:37](/bible/mark/15/37) and [1 Corinthians 15:3–4](/bible/1-corinthians/15) |
| Son of God | [Qur’an 9:30](https://quran.com/9/30) and [Qur’an 19:35](https://quran.com/19/35) | [Mark 14:61–62](/bible/mark/14) and [Romans 1:3–4](/bible/romans/1) |
| Deity and the Trinity | [Qur’an 5:72–73](https://quran.com/5/72) and [Qur’an 4:171](https://quran.com/4/171) | [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1), [John 1:14](/bible/john/1/14), [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28), [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19) |
| A named messenger to come | [Qur’an 61:6](https://quran.com/61/6) and [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) | No such sentence in the Torah or the Gospel |
### The crucifixion
[Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157), Saheeh International:
> And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
Abdel Haleem:
> and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition: they certainly did not kill him-
[Mark 15:37](/bible/mark/15/37), King James Version [(15)](#ref-15):
> And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
[1 Corinthians 15:3](/bible/1-corinthians/15/3) and [1 Corinthians 15:4](/bible/1-corinthians/15/4) [(17)](#ref-17):
> For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
> And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Paul says he delivered what he had received: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose. [Did Jesus die on the cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) quotes the Gospel accounts and the historical notices. [The resurrection of Jesus](/article/resurrection-of-jesus) is the Christian claim about the third day. [Was Jesus a real person?](/article/did-jesus-exist) is the crucifixion under Pilate.
### The Son and the one God
[Qur’an 9:30](https://quran.com/9/30):
> The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allāh"; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allāh." That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before [them]. May Allāh destroy them; how are they deluded?
[Qur’an 19:35](https://quran.com/19/35):
> It is not [befitting] for Allāh to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is.
[Qur’an 4:171](https://quran.com/4/171):
> O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allāh except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allāh and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allāh and His messengers. And do not say, "Three"; desist - it is better for you. Indeed, Allāh is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And sufficient is Allāh as Disposer of affairs.
[Qur’an 5:72](https://quran.com/5/72) and [Qur’an 5:73](https://quran.com/5/73):
> They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allāh is the Messiah, the son of Mary" while the Messiah has said, "O Children of Israel, worship Allāh, my Lord and your Lord." Indeed, he who associates others with Allāh - Allāh has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers.
> They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allāh is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.
Christians do not say God took a wife, and they do not say “Allah is the third of three” as three gods. The confession is one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [Tawhid and Christian monotheism](/islam/tawhid-and-christian-monotheism) and [The Trinity](/article/the-trinity) state that. [Can God have a Son?](/islam/can-god-have-a-son) answers the begetting objection. [If Jesus is God, why did he pray?](/islam/if-jesus-is-god-why-did-he-pray) answers the prayers. [Does Jesus do what only God does?](/islam/does-jesus-do-what-only-god-does) and [Is Jesus God?](/article/is-jesus-god) and [The deity of Christ](/article/deity-of-christ) are the positive claim. Jesus is God.
The Gospel’s own words, King James Version:
> In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
> And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
> And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
> Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
[Mark 14:61](/bible/mark/14/61) and [Mark 14:62](/bible/mark/14/62):
> But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
> And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
[Romans 1:3](/bible/romans/1/3) and [Romans 1:4](/bible/romans/1/4):
> Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
> And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
[Matthew 16:16](/bible/matthew/16/16) has Peter say, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [1 John 2:22](/bible/1-john/2/22) says the liar is the one who denies the Father and the Son. The Qur’an calls that confession a thing Christians say with their mouths and a thing God is exalted above. The books do not agree.
[Qur’an 61:6](https://quran.com/61/6) and [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) require the earlier books to contain a named messenger still to come. The Torah and the Gospel Christians had do not name him. [Deuteronomy 18:22](/bible/deuteronomy/18/22) gives the test of a prophet whose word does not come to pass.
## Was the Bible changed before or after Muhammad?
The text the Qur’an points to is the text Christians still read. The copies that settle that question are older than Muhammad.
The Codex Sinaiticus Project dates the codex to the fourth century, “sometimes more precisely to the middle of that century.” [(25)](#ref-25)
> Codex Sinaiticus is generally dated to the fourth century, and sometimes more precisely to the middle of that century.
The same project’s overview:
> Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament.
On Vaticanus, that date page says:
> Only one other nearly complete manuscript of the Christian Bible – Codex Vaticanus (kept in the Vatican Library in Rome) – is of a similarly early date.
The digitized Codex Vaticanus is Vat. gr. 1209. [(28)](#ref-28) On the books Christians were treating as authoritative, the project’s significance page says:
> By the middle of the fourth century there was wide but not complete agreement on which books should be considered authoritative for Christian communities.
Wide agreement, not complete agreement, by the mid-fourth century. That is about two and a half centuries before Muhammad’s public preaching. The Christians of Arabia and Abyssinia whom the Qur’an addresses were in that world. They were not waiting for a canon to be invented in the ninth century.
The Rylands fragment of John, P52, is earlier still. The University of Manchester Library states both datings, and both belong in the sentence [(29)](#ref-29):
> The first editor dated the Fragment to the first half of the second century (between 100-150 CE).
> Recent research points to a date nearer to 200 CE, but there is as yet no convincing evidence that any earlier fragments from the New Testament survive.
A date in the second century, or nearer 200, is still four centuries before the Qur’an. The fragment is John. It is not a different Injil.
For the Torah, the Great Isaiah Scroll is the witness the Israel Museum describes [(30)](#ref-30):
> Dating from ca. 125 BCE, it is also one of the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some one thousand years older than the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible known to us before the scrolls' discovery.
> The text of the Great Isaiah Scroll generally conforms to the Masoretic or traditional version codified in medieval codices (all 66 chapters of the Hebrew version, in the same conventional order).
The same page states the variants without softening them:
> Strictly speaking, the number of textual variants is well over 2,600, ranging from a single letter, sometimes one or more words, to complete variant verse or verses.
More than 2,600 variants, from letters to verses, and a text that still “generally conforms” to the Masoretic Isaiah, all 66 chapters in the same order. The Library of Congress dates the scrolls and the Qumran ruin from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. [(31)](#ref-31)
> Within a fairly short time after their discovery, historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E.
A corruption that is supposed to explain the dilemma has to be dated. If the Torah and the Gospel were already corrupted before Muhammad, then [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) and [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94) send their hearers to a corrupted book, and the Qur’an was wrong about the books in their hands. If the corruption came after Muhammad, the fourth-century codices and the Isaiah scroll are in the way: the text did not become a different Bible after the seventh century. The books Sinaiticus and Vaticanus contain are the books in which Jesus dies, rises, and is confessed as Lord and God. [How was the Qur’an compiled?](/islam/how-was-the-quran-compiled) is the collection history on the other side of the comparison, including [Qur’an 15:9](https://quran.com/15/9).
## How Muslims respond
The replies below are the ones Muslim scholars and apologists actually use. They are stated in that form, with the Qur’an, the hadith, and Ibn Kathir on the page, and then answered.
### The Qur’an itself says the Scripture was corrupted
[Qur’an 2:75](https://quran.com/2/75), [Qur’an 2:79](https://quran.com/2/79), [Qur’an 3:78](https://quran.com/3/78), [Qur’an 4:46](https://quran.com/4/46), and [Qur’an 5:13](https://quran.com/5/13) accuse some People of the Book of distorting words, writing scripture with their own hands, and twisting the Scripture with their tongues. Muslim writers distinguish *tahrif al-nass*, corruption of the wording, from *tahrif al-ma‘na*, corruption of the meaning, and many say the Qur’an teaches both. The page for that claim is [Has the Bible Been Changed?](/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted).
Saheeh International, [Qur’an 2:75](https://quran.com/2/75):
> Do you covet [the hope, O believers], that they would believe for you while a party of them used to hear the words of Allāh and then distort it [i.e., the Torah] after they had understood it while they were knowing?
[Qur’an 2:79](https://quran.com/2/79):
> So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allāh," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.
Abdel Haleem’s 2:79:
> So woe to those who write something down with their own hands and then claim, ‘This is from God,’ in order to make some small gain. Woe to them for what their hands have written! Woe to them for all that they have earned!
The Arabic of 2:79:
> فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَـٰذَا مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ لِيَشْتَرُوا۟ بِهِۦ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا ۖ فَوَيْلٌ لَّهُم مِّمَّا كَتَبَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَوَيْلٌ لَّهُم مِّمَّا يَكْسِبُونَ
[Qur’an 2:78](https://quran.com/2/78) sets the scene as “unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except [indulgement in] wishful thinking.” The writing in 2:79 is something a group produces and sells “for a small price.” It does not say the Torah itself was withdrawn. [Qur’an 3:78](https://quran.com/3/78), Abdel Haleem:
> There are some who twist the Scripture with their tongues to make you [people] think that what they say is part of the Scripture when it is not; they say it is from God when it is not; they attribute lies to God and they know it.
Saheeh International says “there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture.” A tongue can make a hearer think a sentence is in the book. That act needs the book.
[Qur’an 4:46](https://quran.com/4/46), Abdel Haleem, gives the examples as spoken insults:
> Some Jews distort the meaning of [revealed] words: they say, ‘We hear and disobey,’ and ‘Listen,’ [adding the insult] ‘May you not hear,’ and ‘Raina [Look at us],’ twisting it abusively with their tongues so as to disparage religion. If they had said, ‘We hear and obey,’ ‘Listen,’ and ‘Unzurna [Look at us],’ that would have been better and more proper for them. But God has spurned them for their defiance; they believe very little.
[Qur’an 5:13](https://quran.com/5/13) says they “distort words from their [proper] places” and “have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded.” [Qur’an 5:15](https://quran.com/5/15) says the messenger makes clear “much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture.” Concealment is hiding what is still there. [Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43) and [Qur’an 3:93](https://quran.com/3/93) still put the Torah in their hands.
Ibn Kathir on 2:79, citing the charge Ibn Abbas makes:
> Allah told you that the People of the Book altered the Book of Allah, changed it and wrote another book with their own hands.
On 3:78 he also records the other side of Ibn Abbas, and Wahb ibn Munabbih, and then his own fourteenth-century judgment. Those three are quoted under Ibn Abbas below. The verses themselves speak of a party, of tongues, of places of words, and of pages written for gain. They are real charges. They are not a history in which the Torah and the Gospel ceased to exist before anyone could judge by them.
The chronology still closes a horn. Whatever those people did, the Qur’an says the Torah and the Gospel were present and authoritative when it said so. The manuscripts show that the text after that century is the text of Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and the Isaiah scroll. A corruption story that is late enough to leave 5:47 intact has no manuscript in which the Bible was replaced. A corruption story early enough to remove the crucifixion and the deity of Christ makes 5:47 and 10:94 point at a book that was already false.
### The Injil was a book given to Jesus, not the four Gospels
The Qur’an says *al-Injil*, singular, given to Jesus ([Qur’an 5:46](https://quran.com/5/46)). It never names Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or Paul. On this reading, “judge by the Injil” means judge by the true message God gave Jesus, which survives in pieces in the Gospels and fully in the Qur’an. [What Is the Injil?](/islam/what-is-the-injil) is that question at length.
The Injil in these verses is something people have. [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what God has revealed in it. [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) says they find the prophet written in what they have. [Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2653](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2653) says the Tawrah and the Injil are with the Jews and Christians. A lost book cannot be judged by, found written in, or be “with” anyone.
In the New Testament the gospel is the news about Christ. [1 Corinthians 15:3–4](/bible/1-corinthians/15) defines it as his death, burial, and resurrection. [Luke 1:1–4](/bible/luke/1) is a narrative set down from eyewitnesses. [Luke 1:1](/bible/luke/1/1):
> Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Christians in the seventh century had that Gospel in fourfold form. The Qur’an never quotes a different Injil. By the middle of the fourth century there was “wide but not complete agreement” on the authoritative books. If the Qur’an meant a book no church was reading, it gave its hearers no way to know that, and it still told them to judge by the Gospel they had.
Selecting the sentences that sound nearer to Islam, and setting aside [Mark 14:61–62](/bible/mark/14) from the same manuscript tradition, uses the Qur’an as the only test of the Gospel. That is not what [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) says. [Was Jesus a Muslim?](/islam/was-jesus-a-muslim) is the claim that he taught Islam’s confession.
### Qur’an 5:47 was only for their own time, or it means “follow Muhammad”
Ibn Kathir’s two readings are already on the page: judgment “in their time,” or belief in everything in the Injil, “including the good news about the coming of Muhammad.” The surah’s context, [Qur’an 5:41–43](https://quran.com/5/41), rebukes people who come for an easier ruling while they have the Torah. Some add [Qur’an 3:85](https://quran.com/3/85): whoever desires a religion other than Islam, “never will it be accepted from him.”
The verb in 5:47 is an order in both Saheeh International and Abdel Haleem: let them judge. Surah 5 is among the last revealed. A command spoken to the People of the Gospel in Muhammad’s time still assumes a Gospel then available. “In their time,” if that time is the time of the verse, is Muhammad’s time.
The second reading supports the dilemma rather than escaping it. It says the Gospel they had contained news of Muhammad. The Gospels they had, and have, do not. Either the Qur’an misdescribed the Gospel in their hands, or the Gospel is to be read as it stands, and then it denies the Qur’an’s account of Jesus. [Did Paul invent Christianity?](/islam/did-paul-invent-christianity) is the claim that the Gospel’s Christ was a later invention. The death, burial, and resurrection are what Paul says he received.
The context makes the same point as the cushion report and Bukhari 7543. The rebuke is that they will not obey a text they hold. [Qur’an 3:85](https://quran.com/3/85) is about the religion a person adopts. It does not turn “judge by the Gospel” into “ignore the Gospel.”
### Muhaymin means the Qur’an corrects the Bible
In [Qur’an 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48) the Qur’an is confirming and *muhaymin*. Abdel Haleem’s “with final authority over them” is the rendering that states this reply most clearly. Ibn Kathir [(13)](#ref-13):
> `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "Muhaymin is, `the Trustworthy'. Allah says that the Qur'an is trustworthy over every Divine Book that preceded it."
> Ibn Jarir said, "The Qur'an is trustworthy over the Books that preceded it. Therefore, whatever in these previous Books conforms to the Qur'an is true, and whatever disagrees with the Qur'an is false."
> Al-Walibi said that Ibn `Abbas said that Muhayminan means, `Witness'. Mujahid, Qatadah and As-Suddi said the same. Al-`Awfi said that Ibn `Abbas said that Muhayminan means, `dominant over the previous Scriptures'.
Nicolai Sinai’s *Key Terms of the Qur’an* (Princeton University Press, 2023) is the recent lexical study of *muhaymin*; the entry’s wording is not quoted here. [(35)](#ref-35) The Muslim use of the word is that the Qur’an confirms what matches it and sets aside what does not, so there is no dilemma.
Grant the meaning. A guardian, a witness, or a final authority over a book presupposes the book. One verse earlier, [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) still tells Christians to judge by the Gospel. [Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43) still says the Torah they have contains God’s judgment. Ibn Kathir’s list — trustworthy, witness, dominant — does not say the earlier text had already been lost.
If the Qur’an “corrects” the crucifixion, the deity of Christ, his Sonship, and the Trinity, it is not confirming the Gospel. It contradicts what every fourth-century copy of that Gospel says. That is the first horn. Al-Tabari’s rule, as Ibn Kathir reports it, makes the Qur’an the test of the earlier books. [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94) tells Muhammad to test a doubt by the people who read those books. The two sentences are not the same test.
### “His words” means decrees, or the Qur’an only
Ibn Kathir’s decree reading of [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115) is on the page: none can avert God’s judgment. Saheeh International already glosses “words” as “decrees” in [Qur’an 6:34](https://quran.com/6/34) and [Qur’an 10:64](https://quran.com/10/64). [Qur’an 15:9](https://quran.com/15/9) is then taken as a promise for the Qur’an alone.
Grant the decree reading of 6:34 and 10:64. The Qur’an still calls the Torah and the Gospel God’s revealed word, “guidance and light” ([Qur’an 3:3–4](https://quran.com/3/3), [Qur’an 5:44–46](https://quran.com/5/44)). [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115) and [Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27) do not carry the “decrees” gloss in Saheeh International, and Abdel Haleem’s 6:115 says, “No one can change His words.” If God’s words are unchangeable, the Torah and the Gospel are an odd exception to single out, while the Qur’an still points to them as present.
*Dhikr* is also what Moses and Aaron received ([Qur’an 21:48](https://quran.com/21/48)), and the people of the *dhikr* are the people of the former scriptures in the gloss on [Qur’an 16:43](https://quran.com/16/43). [Qur’an 15:9](https://quran.com/15/9) is not, on the Qur’an’s own wording elsewhere, obviously limited to one book. Christians answer from [Isaiah 40:8](/bible/isaiah/40/8), [Matthew 24:35](/bible/matthew/24/35), and [1 Peter 1:25](/bible/1-peter/1/25): the word of God stands. [2 Timothy 3:16](/bible/2-timothy/3/16) says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
### Qur’an 10:94 does not mean Muhammad doubted
Ibn Kathir, in the comment published with [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6:115/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir), says of the conditional “if”:
> The conditional `if' in this Ayah does not mean that `doubt' will ever occur to the Prophet .
The note on that excerpt identifies it as his reading of the conditional in [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94). On 10:94 itself he says of the People of the Book:
> They are as certain of this as they are about who their children are, yet they hide it and distort it.
The honest ones, on this reading, know he is described, and they hide it ([Qur’an 6:20](https://quran.com/6/20), [Qur’an 6:114](https://quran.com/6/114)).
Grant the rhetorical “if.” The verse still names “those who have been reading the Scripture before you” as the people who can confirm the revelation. That reference works only if what they were reading was trustworthy. If the point is that they find Muhammad described, the Torah and the Gospel they were reading do not name an Arabian prophet. [Deuteronomy 18:22](/bible/deuteronomy/18/22) is the biblical test of a prophet.
### Jesus confirmed the Torah and also changed it
[Qur’an 3:50](https://quran.com/3/50) has Jesus say he confirms the Torah “and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you.” The same word, *musaddiq*, is used for the Qur’an. Confirmation, on this reply, allows correction.
Making a ruling lawful is not the same act as falsifying a text. Changing a law is not denying a history. Jesus’ confirming, in this verse, does not deny the Torah’s story of God. The Qur’an’s “confirming” sits beside a denial of the Gospel’s central historical claim, the crucifixion ([Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157), [Mark 15:37](/bible/mark/15/37), [1 Corinthians 15:3–4](/bible/1-corinthians/15)). [Qur’an 2:85](https://quran.com/2/85) asks, “So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part?”
### The Qur’an corrects the Bible on purpose
The Qur’an retells episodes differently from the Bible. On this reply, its author knew the Bible and rejected parts of it, so he cannot have thought the Bible was intact.
That concedes the first horn. The Qur’an then knowingly contradicts the Torah and the Gospel that existed in its day, the same books it calls revealed guidance and the same Gospel it orders Christians to judge by. “Judge by the Gospel you have” ([Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47)) and “the Gospel you have is wrong on the crucifixion and on who Jesus is” are not one coherent instruction.
### No scholar says the Qur’an affirms the Bible word for word
Academic writers do not treat the Qur’an as a certificate for every letter of a 66-book canon. The dilemma, on this reply, is an online construction.
The argument does not need a word-for-word certificate. It needs the Qur’an to treat the Torah and the Gospel in seventh-century hands as revealed, available, and binding, which is what [Qur’an 5:43](https://quran.com/5/43), [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47), [Qur’an 5:68](https://quran.com/5/68), [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94), and [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157) do. Gordon Nickel’s *Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur’an* (Brill, 2011) studies the earliest commentaries. [(32)](#ref-32) Gabriel Said Reynolds, in the *Journal of the American Oriental Society* 130.2 (2010), treats the Qur’an’s tampering charges in relation to earlier polemic about misreading. [(33)](#ref-33) Martin Whittingham’s *A History of Muslim Views of the Bible: The First Four Centuries* (De Gruyter, 2020) finds early Muslim views mixed: textual corruption, corruption of meaning, use of the Bible, and abrogation. [(34)](#ref-34) The full doctrine that the Bible’s wording was replaced is not required by the verses that tell Christians to judge by the Gospel they have.
The argument is also older than any modern label. Christians made it by about 1200. That history is the next section.
### Only Quranists face this
Orthodox Islam, on this reply, does not read the Qur’an alone. The Sunnah and the commentators say the Bible was altered, so a dilemma built from the Qur’an by itself misses how Muslims actually read.
The reports point the same way as the verses. [Sunan Abi Dawud 4449](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4449) puts the Torah on the cushion: “I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee.” [Sahih al-Bukhari 7543](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7543) has that Torah read aloud. [Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2653](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2653) says the Tawrah and the Injil are with the Jews and Christians. [Sahih al-Bukhari 7362](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7362) says to believe what was revealed to them. The commentators are not unanimous. Wahb ibn Munabbih and Ibn Abbas in the Tawhid chapter, both quoted below, say the wording was not removed.
[Qur’an 12:111](https://quran.com/12/111) calls the Qur’an “a detailed explanation of all things.” [Qur’an 16:89](https://quran.com/16/89) calls it “clarification for all things.” [Qur’an 3:7](https://quran.com/3/7) distinguishes precise verses, “the foundation of the Book,” from unspecific ones. An escape that needs later scholars to reverse the plain order in [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) has to say that the order was not one of the clear sentences.
### The cushion only honors the true words left inside a corrupt Torah
[Sunan Abi Dawud 4449](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4449) is Hasan, not Sahih. Respecting a volume because some of God’s words remain in it, on this reply, does not mean every word is preserved.
The sentence spoken to that volume is “I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee.” The Torah of Medina belongs to the tradition the Great Isaiah Scroll already represents: a text that “generally conforms” to the Masoretic books, a thousand years before the medieval codices, with the variants the Israel Museum counts. [Sahih al-Bukhari 7543](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7543), which is Sahih, has the same Torah recited and used as evidence when the hand is lifted.
### Ibn Abbas said they changed it
[Sahih al-Bukhari 7363](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7363) [(7)](#ref-7) should be quoted in full. Muhammad Muhsin Khan:
> Narrated Ubaidullah: Ibn `Abbas said, "Why do you ask the people of the scripture about anything while your Book (Qur'an) which has been revealed to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) is newer and the latest? You read it pure, undistorted and unchanged, and Allah has told you that the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) changed their scripture and distorted it, and wrote the scripture with their own hands and said, 'It is from Allah,' to sell it for a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen any man from them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!"
[Sahih al-Bukhari 2685](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2685) [(8)](#ref-8) is the parallel:
> Narrated Ubaidullah bin `Abdullah bin `Utba: Ibn `Abbas said, "O Muslims? How do you ask the people of the Scriptures, though your Book (i.e. the Qur'an) which was revealed to His Prophet is the most recent information from Allah and you recite it, the Book that has not been distorted? Allah has revealed to you that the people of the scriptures have changed with their own hands what was revealed to them and they have said (as regards their changed Scriptures): This is from Allah, in order to get some worldly benefit thereby." Ibn `Abbas added: "Isn't the knowledge revealed to you sufficient to prevent you from asking them? By Allah I have never seen any one of them asking (Muslims) about what has been revealed to you."
Ibn Kathir on [Qur’an 2:79](https://quran.com/2/79) reports the same charge: they “altered the Book of Allah, changed it and wrote another book with their own hands.” This is the strongest Companion-level statement on the Muslim side. It is Ibn Abbas’s opinion, not a saying of Muhammad. The collection that preserves it also preserves, as the Arabic chapter heading of Book 97, chapter 55, Ibn Abbas on *yuharrifun* [(11)](#ref-11):
> وَقَالَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ يُكْتَبُ الْخَيْرُ وَالشَّرُّ، {يُحَرِّفُونَ} يُزِيلُونَ، وَلَيْسَ أَحَدٌ يُزِيلُ لَفْظَ كِتَابٍ مِنْ كُتُبِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، وَلَكِنَّهُمْ يُحَرِّفُونَهُ يَتَأَوَّلُونَهُ عَلَى غَيْرِ تَأْوِيلِهِ
sunnah.com gives that heading in Arabic only. Ibn Kathir’s English summary of the report, on [Qur’an 3:78](https://quran.com/3/78), is:
> Al-Bukhari reported that Ibn `Abbas said that the Ayah means they alter and add although none among Allah's creation can remove the Words of Allah from His Books, they alter and distort their apparent meanings.
The same comment quotes Wahb ibn Munabbih:
> Wahb bin Munabbih said, "The Tawrah and the Injil remain as Allah revealed them, and no letter in them was removed. However, the people misguide others by addition and false interpretation, relying on books that they wrote themselves.
Ibn Kathir then gives his own view, if Wahb meant the books “currently in the hands of the People of the Book”:
> However, if Wahb meant the books that are currently in the hands of the People of the Book, then we should state that there is no doubt that they altered, distorted, added to and deleted from them.
Read all three. Ibn Abbas is cited for a changed scripture in Bukhari 7363 and 2685, and for the claim that no one removes a word of God’s books, only a wrong interpretation, in the Tawhid chapter and in Ibn Kathir. Wahb says no letter was removed. Ibn Kathir, writing in the fourteenth century, says the books then in their hands were altered, added to, and deleted from. Early commentary is divided. Nickel, Reynolds, and Whittingham, cited above, describe that early mixture. A Companion’s opinion, even a strong one, does not erase [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) or [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94), and it does not erase Muhammad’s own instruction in [Sahih al-Bukhari 7362](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7362): do not believe them or disbelieve them, but believe what was revealed to you.
### Textual criticism proves the Bible was corrupted
The Johannine Comma in the King James Version of 1 John 5:7 is absent from Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. Mark’s longer ending and the thousands of variants in the Great Isaiah Scroll are in print. [Does the Trinity depend on 1 John 5:7?](/article/does-the-trinity-depend-on-1-john-5-7) states the Comma and why the Trinity does not rest on it.
Christian scholarship found these variants and prints them. They are visible because early manuscripts survive in large numbers. None of the variants removes the crucifixion, the resurrection, Jesus as the Son of God, or the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in [Matthew 28:19](/bible/matthew/28/19). Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, the manuscripts used to identify the Comma, are fourth-century books. What they say about Jesus was in the Gospel the Qur’an told Christians to judge by. The Isaiah scroll’s 2,600 variants are real, and the Israel Museum still says the scroll generally conforms to the traditional book.
## An old argument with a new name
People ask who coined “the Islamic dilemma.” The label spread in online Christian–Muslim argument in the 2010s and 2020s. The argument is much older, and it does not depend on any modern speaker.
Around 1200, Paul of Antioch, the Melkite bishop of Sidon, wrote a letter arguing from the Qur’an’s own verses about the Gospel. A revision, the *Letter from the People of Cyprus*, is dated about 1316. Rifaat Ebied and David Thomas edited that letter with the reply of Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi in *Muslim-Christian Polemic during the Crusades* (Brill, 2005). [(36)](#ref-36) Ibn Taymiyya answered the same line of argument in *al-Jawab al-Sahih*. Thomas F. Michel translated it as *A Muslim Theologian’s Response to Christianity* (Caravan Books, 1984). [(37)](#ref-37) No sentence from Michel’s translation is quoted here; the book is the classical Muslim reply to that letter.
The modern academic discussion of the underlying verses is Nickel (2011) on the earliest commentaries, Reynolds (2010) on *tahrif*, Whittingham (2020) on the first four centuries of Muslim writing about the Bible, and Sinai (2023) on *muhaymin*. The dilemma is a medieval argument with a recent name. It is not answered by dating the name.
## Read these seven passages
Each passage is quoted in full. Each one carries one question.
**1. [Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47).** Saheeh International.
> And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allāh has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.
Which Gospel did Christians in 630 have?
**2. [Qur’an 5:68](https://quran.com/5/68).** Saheeh International.
> Say, "O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord [i.e., the Qur’ān]." And that which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief. So do not grieve over the disbelieving people.
What book are you told to uphold?
**3. [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94).** Saheeh International.
> So if you are in doubt, [O Muḥammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord, so never be among the doubters.
Who were they reading?
**4. [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115) and [Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27).** Saheeh International.
> And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
> And recite, [O Muḥammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is no changer of His words, and never will you find in other than Him a refuge.
Abdel Haleem’s 18:27:
> [Prophet], follow what has been revealed to you of your Lord’s Scripture: there is no changing His words, nor can you find any refuge except with Him.
If no one can change his words, what happened to the Torah and the Gospel he called guidance?
**5. [Qur’an 3:3–4](https://quran.com/3/3).** Saheeh International.
> He has sent down upon you, [O Muḥammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel
> Before, as guidance for the people. And He revealed the Criterion [i.e., the Qur’ān]. Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allāh will have a severe punishment, and Allāh is Exalted in Might, the Owner of Retribution.
What did God reveal before the Qur’an, and as what?
**6. [Sunan Abi Dawud 4449](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4449).** sunnah.com English.
> Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar: A group of Jews came and invited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to Quff. So he visited them in their school. They said: AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them. They placed a cushion for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who sat on it and said: Bring the Torah. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee. He then said: Bring me one who is learned among you. Then a young man was brought. The transmitter then mentioned the rest of the tradition of stoning similar to the one transmitted by Malik from Nafi'(No. 4431).
Which Torah was placed on the cushion?
**7. [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157) beside [1 Corinthians 15:3–4](/bible/1-corinthians/15).** Saheeh International, then the King James Version.
> And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
> For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
> And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Which of these is the Gospel the earlier verses tell Christians to judge by?
[Qur’an 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what God has revealed in it. [Acts 17:11](/bible/acts/17/11) describes readers who received the word and searched the scriptures daily. [(24)](#ref-24)
> These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Read the Gospel as your own book commands. The manner of the disagreement is the one [Charity in disagreement](/article/charity-in-disagreement) takes from 1 Peter 3:15: a reason, given with gentleness and respect. Jesus is God, the Son, crucified and raised.
## Frequently asked questions
### What is the Islamic dilemma?
The Qur’an affirms the Torah and the Gospel as God’s word, present and authoritative in Muhammad’s day, and it contradicts what they teach about Jesus. If those books were God’s word, Islam contradicts God. If they were not, the Qur’an was wrong about them.
### Who came up with the Islamic dilemma?
The label is recent. It spread in online Christian–Muslim argument in the 2010s and 2020s. The argument is medieval. Paul of Antioch, bishop of Sidon, wrote it around 1200. Ibn Taymiyya’s *al-Jawab al-Sahih* replies to a 1316 revision of that letter, the *Letter from the People of Cyprus*. [(36)](#ref-36) [(37)](#ref-37)
### What verses are used in the Islamic dilemma?
On the affirming side: [Qur’an 3:3–4](https://quran.com/3/3), [Qur’an 5:43–48](https://quran.com/5/43), [Qur’an 5:66–68](https://quran.com/5/66), [Qur’an 10:94](https://quran.com/10/94), [Qur’an 29:46](https://quran.com/29/46), [Qur’an 7:157](https://quran.com/7/157), [Qur’an 6:34](https://quran.com/6/34), [Qur’an 6:115](https://quran.com/6/115), [Qur’an 10:64](https://quran.com/10/64), and [Qur’an 18:27](https://quran.com/18/27). On the contradicting side: [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/4/157), [Qur’an 4:171](https://quran.com/4/171), and [Qur’an 5:72–73](https://quran.com/5/72).
### What does Qur’an 5:47 mean?
It orders the People of the Gospel to judge by what God has revealed in the Gospel. Ibn Kathir gives two readings: judgment “in their time,” or belief in all that is in the Injil, including news of Muhammad. Both still require a Gospel those people can use. Abdel Haleem: “So let the followers of the Gospel judge according to what God has sent down in it.”
### What does Qur’an 10:94 mean?
If there is doubt about what has been revealed, ask those who have been reading the Scripture. Ibn Kathir says the conditional “if” does not mean doubt will occur to the Prophet. The people named are still the readers of the earlier Scripture, which is a reference only if their Scripture was a true reference.
### What does muhaymin mean in Qur’an 5:48?
Ibn Kathir records “the Trustworthy” over every earlier divine book (Ibn Abbas), “Witness,” and “dominant over the previous Scriptures.” Abdel Haleem translates the clause “with final authority over them.” Saheeh International says “as a criterion over it.” A criterion over a book presupposes the book. Sinai’s *Key Terms of the Qur’an* is the recent academic dictionary entry for the word. [(35)](#ref-35)
### Does the Qur’an say the Bible is corrupted?
It accuses some people of distorting words, concealing scripture, twisting tongues, and writing pages they call from God: [Qur’an 2:75](https://quran.com/2/75), [Qur’an 2:79](https://quran.com/2/79), [Qur’an 3:78](https://quran.com/3/78), [Qur’an 4:46](https://quran.com/4/46), and [Qur’an 5:13](https://quran.com/5/13). Ibn Abbas is quoted both ways in Bukhari. Wahb ibn Munabbih said no letter was removed. The fuller account is [Has the Bible Been Changed?](/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted).
### What is the Injil, and is it the Bible?
The Qur’an speaks of a Gospel given to Jesus and of a Gospel the People of the Gospel can judge by. In the New Testament the gospel is the news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, written in the four Gospels. [What Is the Injil?](/islam/what-is-the-injil).
### Do Muslims believe in the Bible?
They believe God revealed the Tawrat, the Zabur, and the Injil. Most say the Bible Christians and Jews now read is altered. [Sahih al-Bukhari 7362](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7362) says not to believe the People of the Book and not to disbelieve them, but to say, “We believe in Allah and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.”
### Has the Islamic dilemma been refuted?
The main replies are tahrif, a lost original Injil, a past-only reading of 5:47, *muhaymin* as correction, “His words” as decrees, a non-doubting 10:94, Jesus’ lawful changes in 3:50, open correction, the claim that no scholar affirms the Bible word for word, Sunni commentary, the cushion report, Bukhari 7363, and textual variants. Each one is quoted above. Each one leaves a horn standing: either the Qur’an contradicts the Gospel it calls God’s word, or it was wrong to send its hearers to that Gospel.
### Does the Bible mention the Qur’an?
No. The claims that Muhammad is the Paraclete, or the prophet like Moses, are [Is Muhammad the Paraclete?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-paraclete) and [Is Muhammad the prophet of Deuteronomy 18?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-prophet-of-deuteronomy-18).
### Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
Both confess one God, the God of Abraham, and reject many gods. Christians confess that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that Jesus is God. [Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?](/islam/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god).
## Keep reading
- [What does the Qur’an say about the Bible?](/islam/does-the-quran-confirm-the-bible)
- [Has the Bible been changed?](/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted)
- [What is the Injil?](/islam/what-is-the-injil)
- [Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels](/islam/jesus-in-the-quran-and-the-gospels)
- [Did Jesus die on the cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross)
- [Can God have a Son?](/islam/can-god-have-a-son)
- [Does Jesus do what only God does?](/islam/does-jesus-do-what-only-god-does)
- [Is Muhammad the Paraclete?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-paraclete)
- [Is Muhammad the prophet of Deuteronomy 18?](/islam/is-muhammad-the-prophet-of-deuteronomy-18)
- [How was the Qur’an compiled?](/islam/how-was-the-quran-compiled)
- [Did Paul invent Christianity?](/islam/did-paul-invent-christianity)
- [Does the Trinity depend on 1 John 5:7?](/article/does-the-trinity-depend-on-1-john-5-7)
- [Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?](/islam/do-muslims-and-christians-worship-the-same-god)
- [Tawhid and Christian monotheism](/islam/tawhid-and-christian-monotheism)
- [Was Jesus a Muslim?](/islam/was-jesus-a-muslim)
- [Is Jesus God?](/article/is-jesus-god)
- [The deity of Christ](/article/deity-of-christ)
- [The Trinity](/article/the-trinity)
- [The resurrection of Jesus](/article/resurrection-of-jesus)
- [Was Jesus a real person?](/article/did-jesus-exist)
- [If Jesus is God, why did he pray?](/islam/if-jesus-is-god-why-did-he-pray)
- [Charity in disagreement](/article/charity-in-disagreement)
## Passages quoted on this page
### Qur’an 3:3-4
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/3-4)
> [3] He has sent down upon you, [O Muḥammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel [4] Before, as guidance for the people. And He revealed the Criterion [i.e., the Qur’ān]. Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allāh will have a severe punishment, and Allāh is Exalted in Might, the Owner of Retribution.
### Qur’an 5:46
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/46)
> And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.
### Qur’an 7:157
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/7/157)
> Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written [i.e., described] in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and prohibits them from what is wrong and makes lawful for them what is good and forbids them from what is evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful.
### Qur’an 5:72-75
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/72-75)
> [72] They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allāh is the Messiah, the son of Mary" while the Messiah has said, "O Children of Israel, worship Allāh, my Lord and your Lord." Indeed, he who associates others with Allāh - Allāh has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers. [73] They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allāh is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment. [74] So will they not repent to Allāh and seek His forgiveness? And Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful. [75] The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed on before him. And his mother was a supporter of truth. They both used to eat food. Look how We make clear to them the signs; then look how they are deluded.
### 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
King James Version.
> [15:3] For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; [15:4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
### Qur’an 5:66
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/66)
> And if only they had upheld [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to them from their Lord [i.e., the Qur’ān], they would have consumed [provision] from above them and from beneath their feet. Among them are a moderate [i.e., acceptable] community, but many of them - evil is that which they do.
### Qur’an 16:43
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/16/43)
> And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed [Our message]. So ask the people of the message [i.e., former scriptures] if you do not know.
### Qur’an 21:7
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/21/7)
> And We sent not before you, [O Muḥammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message [i.e., former scriptures] if you do not know.
### Qur’an 2:89
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/89)
> And when there came to them a Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] from Allāh confirming that which was with them - although before they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieved - but [then] when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it; so the curse of Allāh will be upon the disbelievers.
### Qur’an 3:93
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/93)
> All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel [i.e., Jacob] had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muḥammad], "So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful."
### Qur’an 61:6
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/61/6)
> And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allāh to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Aḥmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic."
### Qur’an 9:111
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/9/111)
> Indeed, Allāh has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allāh, so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’ān. And who is truer to his covenant than Allāh? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment.
### Qur’an 48:29
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/48/29)
> Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allāh; and those with him are forceful against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating [in prayer], seeking bounty from Allāh and [His] pleasure. Their sign is in their faces from the effect of prostration [i.e., prayer]. That is their description in the Torah. And their description in the Gospel is as a plant which produces its offshoots and strengthens them so they grow firm and stand upon their stalks, delighting the sowers - so that He [i.e., Allāh] may enrage by them the disbelievers. Allāh has promised those who believe and do righteous deeds among them forgiveness and a great reward.
### Qur’an 2:121
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/121)
> Those to whom We have given the Book recite it with its true recital. They [are the ones who] believe in it. And whoever disbelieves in it - it is they who are the losers.
### Qur’an 6:20
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/6/20)
> Those to whom We have given the Scripture recognize it as they recognize their [own] sons. Those who will lose themselves [in the Hereafter] do not believe.
### Qur’an 21:48
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/21/48)
> And We had already given Moses and Aaron the criterion and a light and a reminder for the righteous
### Qur’an 21:105
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/21/105)
> And We have already written in the book [of Psalms] after the [previous] mention that the land [of Paradise] is inherited by My righteous servants.
### Isaiah 40:8
King James Version.
> The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
### Matthew 24:35
King James Version.
> Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
### 1 Peter 1:25
King James Version.
> But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
### Psalms 119:89
King James Version.
> For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
### Sahih al-Bukhari 3461
Muhammad Muhsin Khan.
[Open on sunnah.com](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3461)
> Narrated `Abdullah bin `Amr: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Convey (my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence, and tell others the stories of Bani Israel (which have been taught to you), for it is not sinful to do so. And whoever tells a lie on me intentionally, will surely take his place in the (Hell) Fire."
### Mark 14:61–62
King James Version.
> [14:61] But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? [14:62] And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
### Romans 1:3–4
King James Version.
> [1:3] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; [1:4] And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
### Matthew 16:16
King James Version.
> And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
### 1 John 2:22
King James Version.
> Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
### Deuteronomy 18:22
King James Version.
> When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
### Qur’an 3:78
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/78)
> And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, "This is from Allāh," but it is not from Allāh. And they speak untruth about Allāh while they know.
### Qur’an 4:46
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/4/46)
> Among the Jews are those who distort words from their [proper] places [i.e., usages] and say, "We hear and disobey" and "Hear but be not heard" and "Rāʿinā," twisting their tongues and defaming the religion. And if they had said [instead], "We hear and obey" and "Wait for us [to understand]," it would have been better for them and more suitable. But Allāh has cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few.
### Qur’an 5:13
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/13)
> So for their breaking of the covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hardened. They distort words from their [proper] places [i.e., usages] and have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded. And you will still observe deceit among them, except a few of them. But pardon them and overlook [their misdeeds]. Indeed, Allāh loves the doers of good.
### Qur’an 2:78
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/78)
> And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except [indulgement in] wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.
### Qur’an 5:15
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/15)
> O People of the Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allāh a light and a clear Book [i.e., the Qur’ān]
### Luke 1:1–4
King James Version.
> [1:1] Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, [1:2] Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; [1:3] It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, [1:4] That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
### Qur’an 5:41
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/41)
> O Messenger, let them not grieve you who hasten into disbelief of those who say, "We believe" with their mouths, but their hearts believe not, and from among the Jews. [They are] avid listeners to falsehood, listening to another people who have not come to you. They distort words beyond their [proper] places [i.e., usages], saying, "If you are given this, take it; but if you are not given it, then beware." But he for whom Allāh intends fitnah - never will you possess [power to do] for him a thing against Allāh. Those are the ones for whom Allāh does not intend to purify their hearts. For them in this world is disgrace, and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.
### Qur’an 3:85
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/85)
> And whoever desires other than Islām as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.
### 2 Timothy 3:16
King James Version.
> All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
### Qur’an 6:114
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/6/114)
> [Say], "Then is it other than Allāh I should seek as judge while it is He who has revealed to you the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] explained in detail?" And those to whom We [previously] gave the Scripture know that it is sent down from your Lord in truth, so never be among the doubters.
### Qur’an 3:50
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/50)
> And [I have come] confirming what was before me of the Torah and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you. And I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allāh and obey me.
### Qur’an 2:85
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/2/85)
> Then, you are those [same ones who are] killing one another and evicting a party of your people from their homes, cooperating against them in sin and aggression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allāh is not unaware of what you do.
### Qur’an 12:111
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/12/111)
> There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding. Never was it [i.e., the Qur’ān] a narration invented, but a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of all things and guidance and mercy for a people who believe.
### Qur’an 16:89
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/16/89)
> And [mention] the Day when We will resurrect among every nation a witness over them from themselves [i.e., their prophet]. And We will bring you, [O Muḥammad], as a witness over these [i.e., your nation]. And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims.
### Qur’an 3:7
Saheeh International.
[Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/3/7)
> It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] precise - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allāh. But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All [of it] is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding.
### Matthew 5:17
King James Version.
> Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
## Sources
Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site.
1. [Qur'an, 3:3–4; 5:43–48; 5:66–68; 6:34; 6:115; 10:64; 10:94; 18:27; 4:157; 4:171; 5:72–73; 9:30; 19:35](https://quran.com/3/3) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. Words in square brackets are part of that translation.)
2. [Qur'an (Abdel Haleem), 5:47–48; 5:68; 6:115; 10:94; 18:27; 4:157; 2:79; 3:78; 4:46; 29:46](https://quran.com/5/48?translations=85) (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics), as published on Quran.com.)
3. [Qur'an (Arabic), 5:47; 5:48; 6:115; 10:94; 2:79; 18:27](https://quran.com/5/47) (Uthmani script, as published on Quran.com.)
4. [Sunan Abi Dawud, 4449](https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4449) (English text as published on sunnah.com. That site does not name a translator for this collection. The grade line on the page is Hasan (al-Albani).)
5. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 7362](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7362) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.)
6. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 4485](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4485) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. Parallel to 7362.)
7. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 7363](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7363) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. Ibn Abbas. A Companion’s statement, not a saying of Muhammad.)
8. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 2685](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2685) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan. Parallel report from Ibn Abbas.)
9. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 7543](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7543) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.)
10. [Sahih al-Bukhari, 3461](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3461) (English translation by Muhammad Muhsin Khan.)
11. [Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 97, chapter 55](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7553) (Arabic chapter heading on sunnah.com. The English sense is Ibn Kathir’s summary on Qur'an 3:78.)
12. [Jami' at-Tirmidhi, 2653](https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2653) (English text as published on sunnah.com. That site does not name a translator for this collection. The grade line on the page is Sahih (Darussalam).)
13. [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 5:47; 5:48; 5:68; 3:78; 6:115; 10:94; 2:79](https://quran.com/5:47/tafsirs/en-tafisr-ibn-kathir) (Abridged English, as published on Quran.com.)
14. [Gospel of Matthew, 5:17; 16:16; 24:35; 28:19](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/matthew/5/17). King James Version
15. [Gospel of Mark, 14:61; 14:62; 15:37](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/mark/14/61). King James Version
16. [Gospel of John, 1:1; 1:14; 20:28; 20:31](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/1/1). King James Version
17. [First Letter to the Corinthians, 15:3; 15:4](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/1-corinthians/15/3). King James Version
18. [Letter to the Romans, 1:3; 1:4](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/romans/1/3). King James Version
19. [Gospel of Luke, 1:1; 24:44](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/luke/1/1). King James Version
20. [Book of Isaiah, 40:8](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/isaiah/40/8). King James Version
21. [First Letter of Peter, 1:25](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/1-peter/1/25). King James Version
22. [Book of Psalms, 119:89](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/psalms/119/89). King James Version
23. [Deuteronomy, 18:22](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/deuteronomy/18/22). King James Version
24. [Acts of the Apostles, 17:11](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/acts/17/11). King James Version
25. [First Letter of John, 2:22](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/1-john/2/22). King James Version
26. [Second Letter to Timothy, 3:16](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/2-timothy/3/16). King James Version
27. [Codex Sinaiticus, date, Date](https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/date.aspx) (Codex Sinaiticus Project.)
28. [Codex Sinaiticus, What is Codex Sinaiticus?](https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/) (Codex Sinaiticus Project.)
29. [Codex Sinaiticus, significance, Significance](https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/significance.aspx) (Codex Sinaiticus Project.)
30. [Codex Vaticanus, Vat. gr. 1209](https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.gr.1209) (Digitized manuscript, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. The dating sentence is on the Codex Sinaiticus Project date page.)
31. [Rylands Papyrus P52, P.Ryl. Gr. 457](https://www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/MS-GREEK-P-00457/1) (University of Manchester Library. Both dating statements on that page are quoted below.)
32. [Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a](http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah) (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Digital Dead Sea Scrolls.)
33. [Dead Sea Scrolls, Introduction](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/intr.html) (Library of Congress, Scrolls from the Dead Sea.)
34. [Gordon Nickel, Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'an, History of Christian-Muslim Relations 13](https://brill.com/display/title/19538) (Brill, 2011.)
35. [Gabriel Said Reynolds, On the Qur'anic Accusation of Scriptural Falsification (tahrif) and Christian Anti-Jewish Polemic, Journal of the American Oriental Society 130.2 (2010): 189–202](https://philpapers.org/rec/REYOTQ)
36. [Martin Whittingham, A History of Muslim Views of the Bible, The First Four Centuries](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110335880/html) (De Gruyter, 2020.)
37. [Nicolai Sinai, Key Terms of the Qur'an, muhaymin](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691241319/key-terms-of-the-quran) (Princeton University Press, 2023. The entry’s wording is not quoted here.)
38. Rifaat Ebied and David Thomas, Muslim-Christian Polemic during the Crusades, The Letter from the People of Cyprus and Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi's Response (Brill, 2005. Paul of Antioch’s letter, the Cyprus revision of about 1316, and al-Dimashqi’s reply.)
39. Thomas F. Michel, A Muslim Theologian's Response to Christianity, Ibn Taymiyya, al-Jawab al-Sahih (Caravan Books, 1984. Named as Ibn Taymiyya’s reply. No sentence from the translation is quoted here.)
## See also
- [Has the Bible Been Changed? The Muslim Corruption Claim](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted) — The Qur'an accuses some People of the Scripture of distorting words and of writing scripture with their own hands. It also speaks of the Torah and the Gospel as books still in their possession.
- [What Does the Qur'an Say About the Bible?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/does-the-quran-confirm-the-bible) — The Qur'an calls the Torah and the Gospel guidance, tells the People of the Scripture to judge by them, and says it confirms what was already with them.
- [What Is the Injil?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/what-is-the-injil) — Muslims hear the Injil as a book God gave to Jesus. The New Testament uses 'gospel' for the news about Christ, and the Qur'an tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what they have.
- [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) — The Qur'an is widely read as saying Jesus was not crucified. The Gospels, Paul, and two Roman-era historians say he was.
- [Does Jesus Do What Only God Does?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/does-jesus-do-what-only-god-does) — The Qur'an says God gives life to the dead, is the First and the Last, and comes with the angels. The Gospel says Jesus does those things.
## History
[View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/the-islamic-dilemma.md)