⚡ The Bible and Gospel in Islamic Sources — The Islamic Dilemma
Type: Apologetics Reference Document — The Quranic Treatment of Scripture Central Claim: The Quran affirms the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel as genuine revelation from Allah and commands both Muslims and People of the Book to judge by those scriptures. It simultaneously affirms that Allah's words cannot be corrupted. This creates an inescapable dilemma: either the Bible that existed in Muhammad's day was authentic — in which case the Quran's divergences from it are errors — or it was already corrupt — in which case Allah commanded people to judge by a corrupted book. There is no third option that leaves both claims intact.
Overview
This document covers two areas: first, what the Quran and hadith say about the Bible's authenticity and authority; second, how the Quran and hadith treat Jews and Christians. Both areas are important for Christian-Muslim dialogue: the first establishes the logical trap known as the Islamic Dilemma; the second shows the actual treatment of non-Muslims prescribed and modelled in canonical Islamic sources.
3.1 — The Quran Affirms the Bible as Real Revelation
The following Quranic verses affirm that the Torah (Tawrat), Psalms (Zabur), and Gospel (Injil) are genuine, authoritative revelations from Allah:
| Verse | Content |
|---|---|
| Quran 3:3 | "He has sent down upon you the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel" |
| Quran 3:48 | Jesus taught "the Torah and the Gospel" |
| Quran 5:46 | Jesus confirmed what came before him in the Torah; gave the Gospel with guidance and light |
| Quran 5:66 | "If only they had upheld the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to them from their Lord, they would have been overwhelmed with blessings from above and below" |
| Quran 9:111 | "A true promise binding on Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran" |
| Quran 57:27 | The Gospel was sent down with Jesus; it contained compassion and mercy |
Additional support from Islamic scholarship:
- Most books in the Gospel are authentic — Archive source (3rd paragraph)
- Waraqa ibn Nawfal translated the Injil into Arabic for Muhammad — Bukhari 3
Note on terminology: The Arabic Injil (Gospel) comes from the Greek euaggelion ("good news"). It refers to the message that Jesus died for sins so others need not pay for their own — the apostolic proclamation. This is the Gospel Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4. It is not a now-lost private revelation distinct from the four biblical Gospels; the four Gospels are the written form of this good news.
3.2 — The Quran Commands Judgment by the Bible: The Islamic Dilemma
Having affirmed the Bible as real revelation, the Quran then commands people to judge by it:
| Verse | Command |
|---|---|
| Quran 5:43 | "How can they come to you for judgment when they have the Torah in which is the judgment of Allah?" |
| Quran 5:47 | "Let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed in it" |
| Quran 5:68 | "Say: O People of the Book, you are standing on nothing until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord" |
| Quran 17:2 | The Torah was given to Moses as guidance |
| Quran 10:94 | "If you are in doubt about what We have revealed to you, ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you" |
The dilemma stated plainly:
- Premise 1: The Quran says Allah's word cannot be changed (6:115; 18:27; 50:29).
- Premise 2: The Quran affirms the Torah and Gospel as Allah's word (3:3; 5:46).
- Premise 3: The Quran commands people to judge by the Torah and Gospel (5:43–47).
- Conclusion A: If those scriptures were intact in Muhammad's day (and they were — see the manuscript evidence in Tahrif Refuted), then they must still be intact today (Premise 1). That Bible teaches Jesus was crucified and is Lord — which contradicts the Quran.
- Conclusion B: If those scriptures were already corrupted by Muhammad's day, then Premises 2 and 3 mean Allah was commanding people to follow corruption, which makes Allah untrustworthy.
There is no third option. Either the Quran is self-contradictory, or the Bible it affirms is true — and the Bible declares Jesus as crucified, risen Lord.
3.3 — Christians in the Quran and Hadith
Positive References
| Claim | Source |
|---|---|
| The closest people to believers are Christians | Quran 5:82 |
| "Nearest of them in affection are those who say 'We are Christians'" | Quran 5:82 |
Negative and Hostile References
| Claim | Source |
|---|---|
| Jews and Christians insulted — depicted as those who earned anger and those who went astray | Quran 1:7 |
| Jews likened to a donkey carrying books | Quran 62:5 |
| Fewer than 10 Jewish scholars ever followed Muhammad | Muslim 52/14 |
| Muhammad changed the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca after Jews refused to follow him | Bukhari 8/50 |
| Muhammad threatens to expel Jews unless they become Muslims | Bukhari 58/9 |
| Muhammad vows to drive Jews and Christians out of Arabia | Muslim 32/75 |
| Don't greet Jews or Christians first; push them to the narrow part of the road | Muslim 39/16 |
| Muhammad curses Jews and Christians for worshipping at the graves of their prophets | Muslim 5/26 |
| Muhammad declared Jews tortured in their tombs | Bukhari 23/128 |
| Plague was a torture sent on a group of Jews | Bukhari 60/140 |
| Some Jews were transformed into lizards | Muslim 34/72 |
| Some Jews were transformed into rats (proof: rats prefer sheep milk to camel milk) | Bukhari 59/113 |
| 70,000 Jews will follow the Antichrist at the end of time | Muslim 54/155 |
| Jews changed God's words and entered the city crawling on their buttocks | Bukhari 60/76 |
| At the end of time, rocks and trees will say "There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him" | Muslim 54/105 |
| On Judgment Day, Muslims' sins will be transferred to Jews and Christians | Muslim 50/60 |
| Every Muslim will have a Jew or Christian to replace him in hell | Muslim 50/58 |
| A Muslim who apostatised back to Judaism was killed | Bukhari 88/6 |
| Muhammad stoned a Jewish man and his wife | Muslim 29/45 |
| Muhammad burned the palm trees of Banu Nadir to terrorise them | Bukhari 41/7 |
| A Christian who had been composing the Quran apostatised; his corpse was repeatedly disinterred | Bukhari 61/124 |
Apologetic note on Muslim 50/58–60: These hadiths describe substitutionary atonement operating in Islamic eschatology — a Muslim's sins being transferred to and borne by someone else. The Quran explicitly forbids this five times (6:164; 17:15; 35:18; 39:7; 53:38). This internal contradiction is examined in detail in Twenty Best Arguments (Argument 2).
3.4 — Jews in the Quran and Hadith
| Claim | Source |
|---|---|
| Jews described as evil and responsible for corrupting meat | Bukhari 3330 |
| The Quran claims Jews believed Ezra was the son of Allah | Quran 9:30 |
| The Bible's Ezra is never called the son of God — Ezra 7:1 simply calls him a scribe | Ezra 7:1 (MEV) |
Apologetic note on Quran 9:30: No Jewish source — Talmud, Midrash, or otherwise — records any Jewish community ever believing Ezra was the son of God. This appears to be a claim without historical basis, inserted into the Quran as a charge of polytheism against the Jews.
6. The Good News (Injil) in the Quran
| Reference | Content |
|---|---|
| Quran 9:111 | The promise is "in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran" — the good news is in all three |
| Quran 5:19–21 | Possible Injil reference; a messenger comes with "clear proofs" |
Note: Quran 9:111 describes a transaction — those who fight for Allah will receive Paradise. This is the Islamic "good news." The biblical euaggelion is the opposite: God fights for humans and secures their ransom not by their warfare but by Christ's death. The contrast is stark and worth pressing in dialogue.
Biblical Foundation
The prophet Isaiah wrote 700 years before Christ: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). The New Testament records this as fulfilled at the cross — a voluntary, substitutionary death that the Quran denies happened.
The Quran cannot tell people to judge by the Gospel (5:47) and simultaneously deny the central content of that Gospel — the crucifixion, resurrection, and atonement of Jesus Christ. The dilemma is not an imported Christian argument; it is a trap the Quran builds for itself.