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The Injil Corrupted! What do the Hadiths say?

We saw that the Qur’an says that the Taurat, Zabur and Injil of the Bible (al kitab) are not corrupted. The Qur’an clearly states that the followers of Injil still possessed Allah’s message during Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) time. He lived around 600 CE so there could have been no corruption before that date. At the same time, many thousands of manuscripts exist today that scribes wrote long before that time. So we also know that no one corrupted the Injil after the Prophet Muhammad’s time.

The Qur’an also declares that the Injil’s original message was Allah’s very Words. The Qur’an then states that no one can change or corrupt His Words. Since both of these statements are true it means that no one could have corrupted the Words of al-Kitab (Taurat, Zabur and Injil=Bible).

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Bible

Here we study what the hadiths and sunnah say on this topic.  These hadiths affirm the existence and use of the Taurat and Injil in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

“Khadija [his wife] then accompanied him [The Prophet – PBUH] to her cousin Waraqa …, who, during the Pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write.” Al-Bukhari Vol 1, Book 1, No 3

Narrated Abu Huraira: ..The people of the Scripture used to read the Torah in Hebrew and explain it to the Muslims in Arabic. Then Allah’s Apostle said, “Do not believe the people of the Scripture, and do not disbelieve them, but say, ‘We believe in Allah and whatever has been revealed…’  Al-Bukhari Vol 9, Book 96, No. 89

The Jews came to Allah’s Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah’s Apostle said to them, “What do you find in the Torah about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?” They replied, “(But) we announce their crime and lash them.” Abdullah bin Salam said, “You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm.” … the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, “Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm.  Al-Bukhari Vol. 4, Book 56, No. 829.

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar: ..A group of Jews came and invited the Apostle of Allah (PBUH) to Quff. …  They said: ‘AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them’. They placed a cushion for the Apostle of Allah (PBUH) 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.”  Sunan Abu Dawud 4449.

Narrated AbuHurayrah: The Apostle of Allah (PBUH) said: The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it Adam was created, …. Ka’b said: That is one day every year. So I said: It is on every Friday. Ka’b read the Torah and said: The Apostle of Allah (PBUH) has spoken the truth.  Sunan Abu Dawud Book 3, No. 1041

These undisputed hadiths tell us about the attitude of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to the Bible. The first hadith informs us that the Injil existed and was available when he first received his call.  The second hadith tells us that the Jews read the Taurat in Hebrew to the early Muslim community.  The Prophet (PBUH) did not dispute their text. Rather, he remained indifferent (neither confirming nor denying) to their Arabic interpretation of it. The next two hadiths state that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used the Taurat to arbitrate decisions.  The last hadith reveals that the Taurat was used to verify Prophet Muhammad’s statement about the day of man’s creation (i.e.,that it was on a Friday).  In this case, the Taurat was used to check the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself. For the early believers to use the Taurat in such a way means it must have been authentic. 

None of these hadiths even hint that the companions of the Prophet treated the Bible text as corrupted or changed.

Earliest manuscripts of Injil (New Testament)

I own a book about the earliest New Testament (Injil) manuscripts.  It starts with:

“This book provides transcriptions of 69 of the earliest New Testament manuscripts…dated from early 2nd century to beginning of the 4th (100-300AD) … containing about 2/3 of the new Testament text”

P. Comfort, “The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts”. Preface p. 17. 2001

This is significant since these manuscripts come before Roman Emperor Constantine (ca 325 CE). Some have speculated that he might have altered the text of the Bible.  To test this idea we simply compare the texts before Constantine (since we have them) with the later texts. But they show no differences. Constantine did not change the text of the Bible.

Similarly, these and other Bible manuscripts were made long before the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).  Thousands of manuscripts exist from before 600 CE around the world.  Some were copied hundreds of years before the Prophet lived, and we still have them today. The hadiths show that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions used the Bible they had in 600 CE as an authentic text. If those were authentic and all copies are virtually identical, then the Bible text could not have changed.

Even the idea of Christians changing these texts makes no sense.  It would not have been possible for the scattered people to agree on the changes. Even if those in Arabia had made changes, the difference between their copies and those of their brothers, say in Syria and Europe, would become obvious.  But the manuscript copies are the same across the world, and back in time.  The Qur’an and hadiths both clearly support the Biblical text as it existed in 600 CE. The Bible used today is based on manuscripts that come long before this time as well as after it. These manuscripts are essentially identical. Therefore, today’s Bible could not have been corrupted.  The timeline below illustrates this, showing how the text base of the Bible pre-dates 600 CE.

Earliest Manuscripts of the Taurat and Zabur

The earliest manuscript copies of the Taurat and Zabur date from even earlier.  Collections of scrolls were found in 1948 by the Dead Sea and are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.  These scrolls make up the entire Taurat and Zabur and they date from 200-100 BCE.  This means that we have copies of the Taurat from before both prophets Isa al Masih (PBUH) and Muhammad (PBUH).  They both publicly used and approved the Taurat and Zabur that they had. Thus we have the assurance that these first books of the prophets are also not corrupted.  We explore what all this means about the reliability (or unchangedness) of al kitab from a scientific point-of-view here.

The testimony of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) in the hadiths, along with background knowledge of the manuscripts of the Bible, point to the same conclusion as the testimony in the Qur’an. The text of the Bible is uncorrupted and unchanged. Why not understand the message of Allah, beginning with the Sign of Adam?

Manuscripts of Today's Bible (al kitab) - from long ago
Manuscripts of Today’s Bible (al kitab) – from long ago

24 thoughts on “The Injil Corrupted! What do the Hadiths say?”

  1. After Quruan was revealved All other books were cancelled. Allah says in Quruan (( And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.))(3:85)
    and
    ((This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.))(5:3)
    dear brother i invite u to islam, its the only way to success.

      1. a MUSLIM myself I know Ibraheem’s view to be very widespread. A VIEW OF IGNORANCE.

        NOW I HAVE A QUESTION FOR IBRAHIM: YOU WROTE TRANSLATED WORDS FROM THE RECITATION (QUR’AN) IN YOUR POST: BUT WHY DO YOU OMIT TO TRANSLATE THE WORD ISLAAM.

        IF YOU WOULD, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THE ONLY WAY TO THE DOMINION OF ALLAH IS BY SUBMISSION. THIS CANNOT BE OTHERWISE, IT IS IN THE NATURE OF ALLAH BEING ALL-POWERFUL. SO ANYONE SUBMITTED IN HIS HEART WILL CERTAINLY REACH ALLAH. THIS INCLUDES FOLLOWING HIS COMMANDMENTS. IT DOES NOT CANCEL THEM.

        1. Thank you Sabilah for your comment.

          To submit to God is a requirement. James, the brother of the prophet Isa al Masih (PBUH), wrote in the Injil that

          Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8)

          But it is hard to submit when we do not understand all what He has revealed

    1. the fact is a inji is the gospel that muslims are required to recite. jesus was born of a virgin and the gospels say that jesus is divine so the fact is a christian can make it into a muslim heaven a muslim cannot make it into christian heaven.

  2. The only Ouran is accepting , respecting to the other Religion, Its the newest being religion than the others, so it s the most truth knowledges, it s the religion of today’s..So we can understand what s the true, and where is…….

    1. Hi Arzu. Thank you for your comment. And I appreciate what you are saying. But even in any domain of knowledge (eg physics, literature etc), the diligent student must learn the basic foundational knowledge before he can understand the more advanced. Before you can truly understand calculus you must know algebra, and to know algebra you need to know multiplication. In the same way, the prophet Isa al Masih pbuh constantly referred back to the earlier Taurat when he was revealing the Injil (see latter part of article here). These hadith show the same from the prophet Mohamed pbuh. So is it not worthwhile to learn and understand the earlier revelations? What do we have to lose?

  3. dear sir
    i m just a student of the teachers like u but talking about the corruption n our previous holy books by people is quite clear n Quran.
    i cant exactly quote but like ” the use to take limited money to change the words of Allah” and like the use to take limited money and says wrong that these words r from Allah”
    plzzzz guide

    khalid khan
    ur student

    1. You are probably referring to Surah Baqarah around ayah 90 where the Jews are accused of saying different things to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH). But since they are Jews talking to prophet Muhammad this is around the years 620 – 630 AD western calendar. This is more than a thousand years after Taurat and Zabur were written so that has nothing to do with changing the previous books. It would be like today in 2015 a Sunni accusing a shiite of twisting the words of the quran and saying wrong things. That means they are misunderstanding or misapplying or wrong teaching. But it cannot mean that they are changing the actual text of the quran. That text has been set for over thousand years. No one can change it now because it has been set. In the same way, disagreements in 620 AD has nothing to do with changing the actual words that were set for a thousand years before. Does this make sense?

  4. I am relieved to see this, however in my little knowledge the encylopedia Britainica gives the time lines when & what changes have been made i.e King Johns version & the Apocrypha being expunged.
    I also have a copy of Time mag. questioning Is The Bible True Word of God.
    my query is also un answered: is the old testament (pentatush) five books identical to the Hebrew text of Torah ?

    1. Great question. For sure here in West everything about Prophets is questioned inc. Bible and Quran. Yes the 5 books of Moses is identical to Hebrew Torah. Here is a link to Genesis 1 in Hebrew. This is Hebrew Torah text of pentateuch.

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