Transcription
Hello everyone, welcome back to this new series, The Quranic Dilemma. As we mentioned in a prior episode, the intent behind this series is to really focus on exposing the dilemma that our Muslim friends are faced with when we show how the Quran, the book that they believe in, actually affirms the authority of the Bible as an inspired book. And yet, at the same time, our Muslim friends are under the impression that the very same book that they believe in does actually affirm the corruption of the Bible, which is not true, and that's not the case. Obviously, there's no one better than David Wood and Sam Shimon, who are with me here in studio to expose such a dilemma.
Guys, last time we looked at chapter 3, verses 3 to 4, which I have right here on the screen, and we'll read it again for our audience. It says, "He, speaking of Allah, has revealed to you the book with truth, verifying that which is before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel, a guidance for mankind. And He revealed the Criterion." David, just give us a quick summary of the damage that a passage like this would do.
Yeah, well, as we... there's there's far more damaging material in the Quran when it comes to the Quran affirming the preservation and authority of the Christian scriptures. But right here, even in a verse, even in a verse that would seem to say what Muslims believe, namely that our scriptures were inspired by Allah, your average Muslim believes that you already run into some problems with what Muslims believe about the Torah and the Gospel. Two main things: one, that the Quran is saying that Allah revealed the Torah and the Gospel as a guidance for mankind. When you can ask, okay, what book has guided mankind? What book that would be called the Gospel has guided mankind? Because the book that we have that Christians had that was called the Gospel referred to the what's called the four-fold Gospel. So that the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were treated as a unit called the four-fold Gospel. And so that's the book that has actually guided mankind, that has guided Christians. So Muslims have to say, well, it's some other gospel that the Quran is affirming here. Well, guess what? If it's some other gospel, show us what this other gospel is. You point to us, point out this other gospel. If they can't, which means that whatever gospel they want to believe that Allah initially inspired, something that agrees with the Quran, and it's like the Quran, it guided so few people that we have no record of its existence apart from the Quran saying that it existed. Not even one single manuscript to prove it.
Yeah, so what your average Muslim would have to say is, Allah just failed miserably. He gave the Gospel as a guidance for mankind, but oops, the Apostle Paul came along and totally corrupted it, right? So they have to say something like that, which is making Allah sound woefully weak, right? I mean, that sounds, that's just that's a sad-sounding God. It says, "I'm giving this book as a guidance. Oops, someone stopped me. I couldn't do it." You really, Allah couldn't get past the Apostle Paul? Or Allah couldn't get past the Council of Nicaea? Allah couldn't get this message to one person that we have any record of whatsoever. So that's, that's one problem.
The other problem is, as we've looked at, and we'll look at some other verses here which deal with this, that the Quran is not saying, "Hey, these are scriptures that were revealed a long time ago or beforehand, but they have now been corrupted." The Quran is affirming scriptures that are *ma baina yadayhi*, that are between his hands. And as you've pointed out, this is an idiom meaning something that is still a present reality, something that you still possess. That's right.
So when you look at, when you consider that what Allah says about what his Quran is doing, that it's affirming these scriptures that are still present to you, when you take that combined with what Muslims believe, that Allah can't possibly be affirming scriptures that are still there. He's only saying that, yes, you initially had these scriptures a long time ago, but people corrupted them. Oops, I couldn't protect them. So Muslims have to say that Allah is just doing a really horrible job of describing what he's done, right? He wants to say, "He's trying to say, guys, I delivered this revelation, but then men, men corrupted them, and that's why I'm giving the Quran to you, because all my earlier revelations, in spite of the fact that I gave them as a guidance for mankind, I couldn't protect them from people, and so I, you know, I just couldn't get the job done. So I'm giving you this new scripture instead." He describes it as, "I'm affirming these scriptures that you still have." And so on the one hand, they have to say, Allah was too weak to actually get this message across that he wanted to get across, that he was giving it as a guidance for mankind, but he just failed miserably. And then they have to say that he can't even come up with the words to describe what he has done, right? And again, this is all in just the opening passage that's dealing with what our scriptures are.
Yeah, so there are at least four more passages I want to go through them real quickly, and then Sam, I would like for you, as always, to unpack those for our audience. So we got to start with chapter 6, verse 92, which reads, and this in reference to the Quran, "is a blessed book which We have sent down, confirming that which has been *a day he* between his hand." That's the Arabic idiom that David was referring to. The other passage that we're going to look at is in chapter 10, verse 37, and it says, "And this Quran is not such as could ever be produced by other than Allah, but it is a confirmation of that which is *bayna yadayhi*." And I'm looking at it, I want to make sure, in fact, it says, "well, I can tell the *kulati bayna yadayhi*." Again, we have the same idiom used.
The third passage we want to look at here is chapter 35, verse 31. Chapter 35, verse 31, it reads, "And that which We have revealed to you of the book, that is the truth, verifying that which is *bayna yadayhi* between his hands." And finally, the last passage is 46, verse 30. "They said, 'O our people, verily we have heard a book in rough *ekran* sent down after Moses, verifying what is *bayna yadayhi*.'" Sam, yes, could you please unpack these passages? And of course, as always, you may want to add any additional, you know, passages that will affirm that.
Yeah, by the grace of Lord Jesus Christ, there is one passage, I think it's borne, that also uses the phrase *bayna yadayhi*. It's chapter 12, verse 111. The reason why that's particularly interesting, it's the chapter of Joseph. So that then you use which recounts the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, right? And if you want absolute proof that the Quran does anything but confirm the Bible, just compare the story of Joseph in Genesis with the version in the Quran, and you'll see blatant contradiction and contradictions and differences. And that doesn't mean the Quran is not confirming the Bible, but I just want to mention this verse in that context of a chapter that's recounting the story of Joseph and their history. "Verily, there is a lesson for men of understanding. It is no invented story, but a confirmation of the existing scripture." Literally, it's confirmation of that *bayna yadayhi* between his hands.
So here's another verse that says that the Quran's function is to confirm those scriptures that the Jews and Christians had in their possession, which Muhammad had access to. Not confirm only parts of those scriptures and then expose corruptions to those texts. No, confirm their overall veracity and preservation of authority.
Now, I want to read the explanation by a convert to Islam who was considered a renowned Muslim scholar, who's actually Jewish. He converted to Islam and produced a translation of the Quran with a commentary, Muhammad Asad. He has since passed away, but in his "Message of the Quran," which is his translation of the Quran, and he has copious notes all throughout the Quran. In fact, all serious students of Islam need to get his version of the Quran just for the notes. He admits, he admits that the phrase *bayna yadayhi* means that the Quran is confirming something that is there, an object that is there in existence at the time of Muhammad. But then he tries to spin it, explain it away, because he's fully aware the Quran does anything but confirm the Bible in its present form, which is identical to what the Jews and Christians had. So he has to do a lot of explaining away, but still, nonetheless, his admission on what this phrase means is relevant and important. And it comes from his exposition of chapter 3, verse 3. "Most of the commentators are of the opinion that *ma baina yadayhi*, that phrase literally, 'that which is between its hand,' so he admits it, this is the literal meaning, 'that which is between its hands,' denotes here there are relations which came before it, i.e., before the Quran." This interpretation is not, however, entirely convincing. Although there is not the least doubt that in this context, the pronominal *ma* refers to early revelations, and I love this, and particularly the Bible. He admits it. It's referring to the Bible, as is evident from the parallel use of the above expression and other Quranic passages. The idiomatic phrase *ma baina yadayhi* does not in itself mean that which came before it, i.e., in time, but rather, as pointed out by me in Sura 2, no. 247, "that which lies open before it." Since, however, the pronoun "it" relates here to the Quran, the metaphorical expression "between its hands" or "before it" cannot possibly refer to knowledge, as in 2:255, but must obviously refer to an objective reality with which the Quran is confronted. That is, something that was co-existent in time with the revelation of the Quran. He's admitting co-existent in time. When the Quran, you got it, there's the text that is affirming, co-existent, there you can't escape it. It's not centuries earlier and now they're gone.
Well, you know, it's funny, if you continue reading, he says, "What, however, we know that the Bible isn't corrupted, its legislations obsolete." So the Quran must be referring to those parts of it that remain intact. But that's not what the Quran says. He's honest enough to admit that the phrase means that it's referring to something coexistent with the Quran, available at the time of Muhammad. It's confirming those scriptures. The dilemma we call the Islamic dilemma, and he has to explain it away, but he fails miserably because the Quran does not say what he says.
No, I mean, as a former Muslim, of course, I was sold on the idea that the Bible is corrupt. But I can assure you one fact: never ever did I lay a hand or an eye on a Bible. If you ask me, "Where can you find a Bible?" I don't even know where to start. And if you ask me, if you gave me a Bible, say, "Okay, so you show me where the corruption is," I don't even know where to go.
Yeah, have you guys noticed any change of heart with some of the Muslims that you were dealing with, like after you share these arguments with them, that they begin to question? Or is it just complete, at least blindness at the beginning, and maybe later they will interact with this idea?
You get a lot of, I mean, it doesn't make any immediate impact. Yeah, well, it takes a while. And I mean, there are there are people who have converted after realizing what the Quran is saying about the Bible. Abdul Murry works with, yeah, you know, yeah. And he actually, he grew up as a Shia Muslim, but he started reading the Bible because he recognized over and over again that the Quran is affirming the Jewish and Christian scriptures. So that made him look into that, and he ultimately converted because of that. But usually, immediately, there's a lot of resistance because Muslims are trained all their lives to just submit to whatever their leaders are saying, right? To trust their leaders, to trust what they're told, and not to question it. If you start questioning it, then you know you've got a bad attitude and you've got a problem.
When I mean, just just think about this. We're telling you, "Hey, this is what the Quran says." And instead of believing what the Quran says, Allah is... I mean, Allah is saying here, "I'm confirming the scriptures that are still present with the Quran, they still exist at the same time that the Quran exists." And Allah is saying, "I gave the Torah and the Gospel as a guidance for mankind." Your leaders are the ones who are telling you, "No, no, no, Allah, he tried to give it as a guidance for mankind, but failed." And why are they saying that? They're not saying that because what the Quran says. They're saying that because they know that the Bible contradicts the Quran. And so, and so they have to say, "Oh, yes, when Allah says that he's confirming scriptures that are coexistent with the Quran, that are that are between his hands, and so on, what he really means is..." And basically they say, they're claiming that they can communicate more clearly than Allah. "Let us tell you what Allah really means." What he says the exact opposite of what we're saying. And so we're the ones who are trying to say, "Hey guys, your leaders are the ones who are contradicting your God." So in this case, you need to pay attention to what your God says, because your leaders are contradicting it.
But that's very, it's still very, they've been trained so much to just submit to their leaders and what their leaders say, that that step is very, very difficult. But there's a, there's a, there's a positive side to it, namely that if you keep pointing this out, "Look, this is not what your leaders say. They're telling you something different from what your God says." Eventually, if they realize that, if they realize that, then then the realization they come to is, "Wait a minute, my leaders are telling me something different from what Allah says." And we're going to look at many examples of this. But my leaders are telling me something very different from what Allah says. That's a light switch moment where they can realize, "Wait a minute, maybe I can't just mindlessly trust what my leaders are saying. Maybe I have to look into these issues for myself and not simply blindly trust my apologists." And once that light is turned on, and they realize, "I have to look at the evidence for myself," that's someone who's on his way out of Islam.
Right. One reason why I'm asking is like, because sometimes people tell me, "Well, how come I'm sharing with a Muslim about all of these things, and I'm not seeing any change?" And I'm like, "Well, it depends. I mean, I think they change to happen in front of you or no. It's not going to happen. There's pride, there is identity, there is fear of retaliation by the family. Sometimes the Muslim thinks like, 'Oh, Satan's messing with me,' you know? Or sometimes they're being told, 'Hey, avoid watching David Wood's videos, avoid interacting with Sam,' because that's why you're starting to doubt Islam." I mean, it's, but like the grace of God, that's why we do what we do, because there's always this idea that they can come back to these videos in their own time, look at and examine the references that we give them.
Yes. Sam, another thing that's important to note to show that the Quran testifies that there has been no corruption to the scriptures even during the time of Jesus up to Muhammad is that that phrase *bayna yadayhi* is actually used in three verses in reference to Jesus confirming what was before him. Chapter 3, verse 50. The Quran, I'm not going to read all of them, but chapter 3, verse 50, chapters 5, verse 46 of the Quran, and chapter 61, verse 6. It uses *ma bayna yadayhi* in reference to Jesus confirming the Torah between his hands, and that the Gospel he possessed confirms the Torah between us. And I'll just read one, 5:46: "And in their footsteps of Moses, We sent Jesus son of Mary, attesting to the Torah which was between his hands. We said, 'Let him judge by the law of God,' and we gave him the Gospel, therein is guidance and light, and attesting to the Torah which was between his hands." So Jesus confirmed the scriptures that he had access to that were available in existence at that time. Confirms the scriptures that he had access to, that were available and the possession of the Jews and Christians at that time. When exactly did corruption to the Bible take place? It couldn't have taken place before Jesus, because he confirms the scriptures as being the preserved words of God. It couldn't have taken place after Jesus, because Muhammad confirms the scriptures that were in the possession of the Jews and Christians.
So if the Quran is to be trusted, the Quran is to be accepted, believed on, the Bible has been always preserved before the time of Christ, after the time of Christ, up to the time of Muhammad. And since we have manuscripts of the Bible like the Dead Sea Scrolls, copies of the Old Testament written before Christ, and copies of the Bible before Muhammad that are identical to what we have today, how can a Muslim be faithful to the Quran and say that we do not have the original pure words of God, the previous scriptures preserved intact with us today? How can you do that?
And I want to add an interesting thing. I mean, it seemed like the Quran affirmed really what the Gospel is teaching, doctrine. Says to go to Luke chapter 24, verse 44. Look what the Lord did. He was telling the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, he's saying, "Then he said to them, 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.'" Notice confirming what was between his hands, using the canon of the scripture, at least the Jewish canon at that time, to try to come from. And he wants to proceed to ask him to go and preach the gospel, basically, that we preach. So it's really an interesting dilemma for our Muslim friends. And I faced that dilemma, of course. The more I started to hear the Gospel message, I began to really get troubled by, "Okay, so which one am I going to follow now? I mean, one is telling me a story that appears to be wrong, and one is telling me a story now that I have to make a decision: what I follow the Savior or not?" And it wasn't really an easy one.
And just unless someone accuses us of reading too much into these passages, it's been Kiss's comments on 3:50, and he says the same thing for the rest. Look what he says about chapter 3, verse 50, where Jesus confirms the Torah between his hands, meaning he believed in it and ruled by it, meaning he adhered to the Torah. Well, what Torah did he believe in, rule by, and affirm, if not the Old Testament we have today? Because again, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the different versions like the Greek version show that Jesus had the same Old Testament that we have today. So the Quran is true, the Bible has not been corrupted. And you see, Jesus came to fulfill, you know, what was written, basically.
So, you know, David, just to help our audience continue with our logic, what would be our next steps now, and then any episodes to come?
Well, we are, we focused a lot just on 3:3 through 4 and the phrase that's used there to show that Allah, even in the verse that Muslims would be familiar with, namely that the Quran is affirming the initial inspiration of the Torah and the Gospel, even there they've got a problem. Even at a verse that's just affirming the inspiration, they already have multiple problems. But as we go on, we're going to see that the Quran doesn't simply affirm the initial inspiration of the Torah and the Gospel, but also the preservation of the Torah and the Gospel, and all of Allah's revelations, and the authority now, and the status of the Torah and the Gospel, that they are even authoritative over Muhammad himself. So that's where we're heading.
Amen. Thank you. And I hope everyone is enjoying this really much-needed series because we want to help you in your own dialogue, interactions, ministry among Muslims, so that you can have these resources. By the way, that will be available not only just on my own YouTube channels here, International, by the grace of God, will be available at David's YouTube channel, which is Acts 17 Apologetics, and Sam's,monium companion. And we will have, you know, always these references for you, so you'll be able to find them in these places. So I hope you're enjoying it as I am, and as we are here together, helping unpack these important, you know, passages that, you know, ironically are coming from the Quran and from Islamic sources, just to show you that the Bible that we believe in has always been the inspired Word of God, and that is the guidance that mankind needs. Until we meet you in the next episode, have a blessed day. Thanks for watching. Make sure to like and subscribe. Also hit the bell so that you don't miss future videos. And please consider becoming a patron at Patreon.com/serieinternational. And together, we can introduce Muslims to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you.