34 OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE GENUINESS OF
6 Surah IV An Nisa 50
7

"

"

 135
8

Surah VII

 Al A'raf 168
9 Surah III Al 'Imran 78
10 Surah II Al Baqarah 70
11 Surah XXI Al Anbiya' 49

These verses teach us that the Taurat and Injil were then in the hands of the People of the Book, that they had been sent down by God, and that they were carefully studied. The Bible is called the Word of God, and the Law is also distinguished by the title Furqan, which you deem the highest title of the Qur'an itself. Is this consonant with your assertion that the Bible had been corrupted before Muhammad's time? If so, why does the Qur'an represent Muhammad as commanded to tell the People of the Book to accept the Qur'an because it confirmed what was then in their hands? Why is he directed to bid the Muslims believe in the "previous books" (the Torah and Injil) as well as in the Qur'an? Why are rewards promised to "the People of the Book" if they continue to obey "the Book"? Why are they warned that their hopes are founded upon nothing unless they do so? Our third and fifth quotations show that they still had the Law and the Gospel. Why are the People of the Gospel bidden to judge Muhammad's claims by God's revelation contained in the Gospel, if it had already been corrupted? You must see that, by attacking the Bible as it existed in Muhammad's
THE BIBLE AS IT NOW EXISTS 35

days, you do it no harm but are really overthrowing your own faith in the Qur'an and in Muhammad.

7. M. But the Qur'an itself tells us that the Law at least had been corrupted before Muhammad's time (tahrif, muharraf), as it is said, for example, in the following passages:—

1 Surah II Al Baqarah 56
2 Surah VII Al A'raf 162
3 Surah V Al Maidah 45
4 Surah IV " 48
5 Surah II Al Baqarah 70,73
6 " " 141
7 Surah III Al 'Imran 64
8 Surah II Al Baqarah 39
C. The last few passages prove that the Jews then had the Taurat in an uncorrupted state in their hands: else, how does the Qur'an say, "They transcribe the Book"? Or how could they know and conceal the truth, if the Taurat had already been corrupted? for corrupted truth is truth no longer, but falsehood. Or how could they clothe the truth with falsehood, or sell it for a small price, or even transpose the words (or letters) in their places, if they no longer had the Taurat in an uncorrupted state? These passages therefore fail to prove your assertion; in fact they prove the very opposite. The first two passages you quote inform us that, in Moses' time, certain impious Jews mispronounced a word which God had spoken, and thereby changed its meaning, for which they were at once punished. But even these