Transcription
In Chapter 29:46 of the Quran, the text commands Muslims to engage with Christians and Jews, the people of the Book, gracefully, saying, "We believe in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed to us. Our God and your God is one, and to Him we submit."
Yet, many Muslims today say something very different. Instead of affirming agreement with what has been revealed in the Bible, they accuse it of being corrupted and changed, claiming that the God of the Bible is no God at all.
In fact, numerous times, the Quran spells out what it thinks has been revealed to the Christians and the Jews, calling the Torah and the Gospel a message that was sent down by God. If Muhammad has doubts, the Quran says that he should go and ask those who have been reading the scriptures revealed before him. Contextually, the only times the Quran has talked about previously revealed scriptures is when it's discussing the Torah and the Gospel.
Muhammad is told by God here to go talk to the Christians and the Jews because they have Revelation given to them already. Muhammad should have confidence because, in the very same section that states that the previous scriptures were revealed, it also says that no one can alter God's word.
We know exactly what the Torah and the Gospel would have looked like in Muhammad's day. We have copies—copies, in fact, that come from the Arabian Peninsula during the time that Muhammad lived. These, of course, don't differ in any significant way in their core doctrine and teaching from any of the other thousands of manuscripts that predate the 7th century.
In Chapter 5, verses 46 and 47 of the Quran, it lays out a chain of custody: God sent down the Gospel to Jesus, confirming the Torah, both of which contained guidance and light. It states that the people of the Gospel, in other words, the Christians, must judge by what God has revealed to them in the Gospel. If they don't judge by the Gospel that God has given to them, then they are referred to as the defiantly disobedient.
The Quran has already stated emphatically that the Gospel and the Torah were given by God, that these are revelations in the same inspirational vein as the Quran, and that they should be treated as such by Muslims. God's Revelation in His word cannot be changed. Therefore, if Muhammad has doubts, he is told to go to those who had the scriptures before him—the Christians and the Jews.
The implication is that the Torah and the Gospel existed in Muhammad's day, enough to connect these revelations with the Christians and the Jews as reliable sources to consult. We have tangible physical evidence of what the Christians and the Jews would have understood as the Torah and the Gospel in their day.
There is no indication in the Quran of any substantial corruption or complete extermination of the Torah and the Gospel. If there were, the numerous times the Quran mentions them would have no reasonable application. The Christians and the Jews cannot judge by what has been revealed to them if they no longer have it.
If the Torah and the Gospel are God's words and no one can change God's words, then an accusation of corruption towards the Torah and the Gospel is one that either makes the God of the Quran out to be a liar or incapable of doing what He says He can do.
But this brings me back to Chapter 5:46 and 47 of the Quran. In order to take this passage seriously—a passage that addresses me personally as a person of the Gospel, a Christian—I run into a problem. If I judge the Quran by the Gospel, which I am commanded to do in order to not be one of the defiantly disobedient, I find that the Quran misunderstands, lacks comprehension of, and outright contradicts the Torah and the Gospel.
So, if the Quran is true and I obey it in this instance by the standards it tells me to judge by, I find the Quran false.