From all that has preceded it is quite clear that we can claim without the fear of being wrong that the original Pentateuch and the original Evangel have disappeared and become extinct from the world. The books we have today which go by these names are no more than historical accounts containing both true and false accounts of past ages. We strictly deny that the original Torah (Pentateuch) and the original Evangel existed at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace is on him) and that they were not changed until later. As far as the Epistles of Paul are concerned, even if we grant that they were really written by him, they are still not acceptable to us because it is our well-founded opinion that Paul was a traitor and a liar who introduced a completely new concept of Christianity, absolutely different from what Jesus himself preached
24
As far as the disciples of Jesus who were living after the Ascension of Jesus are concerned, they are held to be respectable and honest by the Muslims. They are not, however, considered to be Prophets (and therefore able to have received inspiration from God). They were ordinary human beings and not free from human errors. Their teachings and their statements have lost validity through the absence of authenticated historical verification: for instance, the absence of any sign of the existence of the present gospels until the end of the second century AD, the disappearance of the original Hebrew copy of Matthew’s gospel and the unavailability even of the same of the translator of the remaining translation, and the presence of accumulated errors and manipulations in the present text, As far as Mark and Luke are concerned, they were not disciples of Jesus, and there is no indication that they ever received inspiration from God
However we do solemnly believe that the Torah (Pentateuch) was the book revealed to the Prophet Moses: The Holy Qur`an says 25
We gave Moses the Book (Torah)
And we also find in the Holy Qur’an in reference to Jesus son of Mary: We gave him the Evangel 26
24 This opinion of the Muslim community should not be misunderstood as the product of prejudice and slander. He was considered a traitor even by the family of Jesus and his disciples. We reproduce below the opinion of a modern French scholar. Maurice Bucaille. He says on page 52 of his book The Bible, The Qur’an and Science:” Paul is the most controversial figure in Christianity, he was considered to be a traitor to Jesse’s thought by the family of Jesus and by the apostles who had: stayed in Jerusalem in the circle around James. Paul created Christianity at the expense of those whom Jesus had gathered around him to spread his teachings. He had not known Jesus during his lifetime and he proved the legitimacy of his mission; by declaring that Jesus, raised from the dead, had appeared to him on the road to Damascus.” (Wali Raazi)
And the nineteenth chapter of the Holy Qur’an, called ’Maryam’ after Mary the mother of Jesus, quotes Jesus as saying:
He hath given me the book (the Evangel 27)
The present gospels, chronicles and epistles are certainly not the Evangel referred to by the Holy Qur`an and so they are not, as such, acceptable to the Muslims. The Islamic teaching regarding the Pentateuch, the other books of the Old Testament, and the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament is that any biblical statements which are confirmed by the Qur’anic Revelation will be accepted and respected by the Muslims and any statements rejected by the Qur’an will be rejected by the Muslims. Any statements about which the Holy Qur’an is silent, the Muslims too should remain silent about without rejecting or accepting them.
Allah the Almighty addressed His Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on Him) in the Holy Qur’an in these words:
To thee we sent the Book (Qur’an) in truth confirming what came before it of the Book, and assuring its safety.28
The famous commentary on the Holy Qur’an, Ma’alim-u-Tanzeel, contains the following comments on this verse:
According to Ibn al-Jurayj, the last phrase of this verse, 'assuring its safety’, signifies that any statement produced by the People of the Book (the followers of Christianity and Judaism) will be accepted, subject to its confirmation by The Holy Qur’an, otherwise that particular statement will be considered as false and unacceptable. Saeed ibn Musayyab and Zihaq said the word ”Muhaimin” in this verse signifies ”the one who judges”, while 'Khalil' gave its meaning as ”protector and guard”. These different shades of meanings, however, do not change the general implication that any book or statement confirmed by The Holy Qur`an should be considered as the word of God; the rest are obviously excluded as not being the word of God.
What follows are the remarks on this matter from the commentary Tafseer-e-
Mazhari:
26 Qur’an 5:16
27 The complete verse is this: ”He said, I am in deed the servant of God, he hath given me the Book (the Evangel) and made me a Prophet.” (Wali Raazi)
If The Holy Qur’an bears witness to it, you are bound to confirm it and if it rejects or says it is false, it must be rejected by us. If The Holy Qur’an has been silent, you too have to be silent because, in that case, the possibility of truth and falsehood will be equal.
Imam al-Bukhari cited a tradition of the Holy Prophet, reported by Ibn ’Abbas, in his Kitabu’sh-Shahadat along with its chain of authorities then the same hadith has been cited by him in Kitabu’l-I’tisam supported by a different chain of reporters, and the same hadith was again quoted by him in his book
Kitabur Radd ’ala Jahmiyyah, reported by a different group of narrators.
Why do you go to the People of the Book, the Jews and the Christians, to seek injunctions about the Shari’a while your Book, The Holy Qur’an, revealed to Muhammad, the prophet of Allah, is the latest and freshest revelation of God. You recite it in its original form. Allah Almighty has told you that the the Jews, have changed the Pentateuch, the Book of Allah, having written it with their own hands. They started saying that it was from Allah, only to get a small amount of money in return. Does not your knowledge prevent you from asking them questions.
The other version of this hadith as cited by al-Bukhari in Kitab-ur- Radd’al
Jahmiyyah is as follows:
O Muslims! Why do you ask the People of the Book questions regarding anything when your own Book is the Word which God has revealed to your Prophet, Muhammad (Peace be on Him). It is new and fresh, pure and original, free from foreign touch. Allah has declared in His Book that the People of the Book have changed and distorted their Books. They have written them with their own hands and claimed that they come from God, (they did so) only for a small amount of money. Does the knowledge which has come to you not prevent you from seeking guidance from them? No, by God.’ we have not seen them asking you about what has been sent to you. Why then do you ask them knowing that their books have been distorted.
Kitabu’l-I’tisam contains the following statement of the companion
Mu’awiyah (may Allah be pleased with Him) regarding Ka’b al-Ahbar (an expert on the Bible and a scholar of Islam):
Although he was one of the most truthful of those scholars of hadith who sometimes report traditions from the People of the Book, we have nevertheless found falsehood in them (in the reports of the Bible).
This implies that the falsehood found in those reports was due to the fact that those books had been distorted, not Ka’b al-Ahbar’s misstatement, because he is considered one of the righteous scholars of the Bible by the Companions of the Prophet. The phrase, “We have found falsehood in them,” clearly denotes that the Companions of the Prophet had the belief that all the Judaeo-Christian books had been distorted.
Every Muslim scholar who has examined the Torah and the Evangel has certainly refused to recognise the authenticity of these books. The author of the book Takhjeel Man Harrafaal Injeel said in chapter two of his book regarding the present gospels:
These gospels are not the true and genuine Gospel which was sent through the Prophet (Jesus) and revealed by God.
Later in the same chapter he said:
And the true Evangel is only the one which was spoken by the tongue of Christ.
Again in chapter nine he stated:
Paul through his clever deception deprived all the Christians of their original faith, because he found their understanding so weak that he deluded them quite easily into believing anything he wished. By this means he totally abolished the original Pentateuch.
One of the Indian Scholars has written his judgment about the thesis of the author of Meezan ul Haq and the speech made by me in the public debate held in Delhi. ’This judgment has been added as a supplement to a Persian book called Risalatu’l-Munazarah printed in 1270 AH in Delhi. He said that a certain Protestant scholar, either because of a misunderstanding or perhaps through misinformation, publicly claimed that the Muslims did not refute the present Torah and Evangel. This scholar himself went to the scholars of Delhi to find out whether this was true. He was told by the ‘Ulama’ (Muslim scholars) that the collection of books called the New Testament was not acceptable as it was not the same Evangel which had been revealed to the Prophet Jesus. He got this judgment of the ’Ulama’ in writing and then made it part of his book. All the Indian scholars of Islam have verified this judgment for the guidance of the people.