John Zain
Member
Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas
(Mohammed’s cousin and one of his companions) ... Islam's premiere commentator
(a) “They corrupt the word†means “they alter or change its meaningâ€,
yet no one is able to change even a single word from any Book of God.
The meaning is that they interpret the word wrongly.â€
From: Kitaab (the book of) Al-Tawheed, Baab (chapter) Qawlu Allah
Ta'ala, Bal Huwa Qur'aanun Majeed, fi lawhin Mahfooth
(b) “The word “Tahrif†[corruption] signifies to change a thing from its
original nature; and there is no man who could corrupt a single word
of what proceeds from God, so that the Jews and Christians could
corrupt only by misrepresenting the meanings of the word of God.''
From: Imam Muhammad Isma'il al-Bukhari in Dictionary of Islam, T. P. Hughes,
Kazi Publications, Inc, 3023-27 West Belmont Avenue, Chicago Il. 60618, 1994, p.62
Al-Razi (Egyptian, 7thc.)
One of the most famous Muslim scholars, called "the Imam of Muslim Imams".
â€How could there be any alteration in the Book whose words' sharpness
has reached a great level of circulation in the East and in the West?
… For no change can occur in a book that is well circulated among men.
Every wise man can see that the alteration of the Bible was impossible
for it was well circulated among men of different faith and backgrounds."
From: p.327 of his Third Volume
Ali Tabari (Arabian, 7thc.)
Tabari wrote a semi-official defence of Islam against the Jews and Christians
while he was at Baghdad during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Mutawakkil (AD 847-861).
At no time did he charge them with corrupting their Scriptures.
Instead he says concerning the first religious book in history:
â€... the first one which came into existence, is the Torah, which is in the hands of the
People of the Book.†He goes on to say, “As to the Gospel which is in the hands of
the Christians, the greater part of it is the history of the Christ, His birth and His life.â€
From: Tabari, The Book of Religion and Empire, p.51
He thus openly acknowledged that the authentic Torah and Gospel remained in the hands
of the Jews and the Christians, and when speaking of them, he outlined the contents of the
Old and New Testaments. His only charge against the Jews and Christians was that they
did not always understand or accept the true meaning of their teachings, and he often
quoted the Old and New Testaments to make his point.
Fakhruddin Razi (Persian, 1149-1209) -- Sunni theologian
Razi ... on the authority of Ibn Abbas, a nephew of Muhammed:
"The Jews and early Christians were suspected of altering the text of the Taurat and Injil;
but in the opinion of eminent doctors and theologians it was not practicable thus to
corrupt the text, because those Scriptures were generally known and widely circulated,
having been handed down from generation to generation."
Muhammad Abduh Sayyid Ahmad Khan (Indian, 1817-1898)
Prominent Muslim modernist whose influence on Islamic thought and policy
shaped/defined Muslim responses to modernism in the latter half of the 19thc
â€As far as the text of the Bible is concerned, it has not been altered.
No attempt was made to present a diverging text as the authentic one.â€
From: M. H. Ananikian, “The Reforms and Religious Ideas of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khanâ€,
The Moslem World 14 (1934) p.61
Muhammad â€کAbduh (Egyptian, 1849-1905)
Reformer and pioneer of Islamic modernism and nationalism
â€... the charge of corruption of the Biblical texts makes no sense at all.
It would not have been possible for Jews and Christians everywhere
to agree on changing the text. Even if those in Arabia had done it,
the difference between their book and those of their brothers,
let us say in Syria and Europe, would have been obvious.â€
From: Jacques Jomier, “Jesus, The Life of the Messiahâ€, C. L. S., Madras, 1974, p.216
Ibn Muniyah
â€Ibn Mazar and Ibn Hatim state, in the commentary known as the Tafsir Durr-I-Mansur,
that they have it on the authority of Ibn Muniyah, that the Taurat (i.e. the books of Moses),
and the Injil (i.e. the Gospels), are in the same state of purity in which they were sent down
from heaven, and that no alterations had been made in them, but that the Jews were wont
to deceive the people by unsound arguments, and by wresting the sense of Scripture
… Shah Waliyu ‘Illah (in his commentary, the Fauzul â€کl-Kabir), and also Ibn ‘Abbas,
support the same view.â€
From: T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, Kazi Publications, Inc,
3023-27 West Belmont Avenue, Chicago Il. 60618, 1994, p.62
... continued in post #2 ...
totopic
Some people will believe anything based upon anti-Christian writers such as Gibbons...