Answer
Peace be upon you dear seeker of the truth,
Thank you so much for your question and for your respectful way of asking. It is really beautiful to sense your apparent sincerity in wanting to know the answer and the truth. We ask Allah ( The One and only God of all mankind) to open your heart, mind and eyes to seeing, accepting and loving the Truth.
Now to answer your question, let’s break down a few points together:
- First, it is a known and undisputed fact that the bible has been changed and altered repeatedly over time and there isn’t one single unified version of the bible today. Unlike the Qur’an, the bible is not the direct, literal word of God, it is written by authors who didn’t even witness entirely the time of Jesus (peace be upon him).
- If you hold a King James Bible and read the forward you will find that the authors say that due to finding nearly 30,000 mistakes in previous bible versions, they produced their new one. This is a clear and undisputed fact for you that the bible is written by men, edited and altered repeatedly.
- Dr. Jerald Dirks- a former Christian Minister who has a Masters degree in Divinity from Harvard- says that there isn’t a copy of a copy of a copy of the original bible that was revealed to Jesus (peace be upon him). After his extensive research and experience in ministries, he has accepted Islam and became a Muslim preacher, writer and lecturer. You can watch one of his talks listing major errors in the bible here, it is really eye-opening.
- Obviously, as well, when you translate something from its original language, meanings will get lost in translation. This is why it is a miracle that the Qur’an is kept to date in its original form, memorized entirely by millions of people from all nationalities around the world. And this is why the Qur’an can never be destroyed or overpowered because it is a recitation, the word Qur’an itself means that which is being recited repeatedly. So it is not simply a book, it is a recitation preserved in the hearts of the believers. As God Almighty describes the Qur’an,
“But this ˹Quran˺ is ˹a set of˺ clear revelations ˹preserved˺ in the hearts of those gifted with knowledge. And none denies Our revelations except the ˹stubborn˺ wrongdoers.” (Qur’an 29:49)
- You are asking, why we think the original message in the bible has changed, I want you please to think about a simple example, if you wrote your own ‘will’ that tells your inheritors how you want to distribute your fortune, and you give this ‘will’ to your lawyer, then the lawyer “edits” your words and gives it to your inheritors and says “here is his direct will”… does this make it your original will? is it legal or acceptable to edit your words? How can we know what is your original word and what was changed by the lawyer? And why is the lawyer changing your words? What gives him the right to edit your words unless he/she has worldly materialistic intentions and desires?
This is why, due to manipulating previous scriptures, God has revealed His direct, verbatim Word, the Qur’an, and promised to keep it protected. The Qur’an is kept intact in its original form and original language from the minute it was revealed 1400 years ago and until today.
And God told us in the Qur’an commenting on what happened to previous scriptures:
“And among those who are Jews are men who displace words from their right places.}[Qur’an 5:13].
Also He says:
{So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allaah,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.}[Qur’an 2:79].
And He says:
{And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, “This is from Allaah,” but it is not from Allaah. And they speak untruth about Allaah while they know.}[Qur’an 3:78].
And He says:
{And from among the Jews, there are avid listeners to falsehood, listening to another people who have not come to you .They distort words beyond their [proper] places [i.e. usages].}[Qur’an 5:41].
Moreover He says:
{O People of the Scripture, why do you mix [i.e. confuse] the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know [it]?} [Qur’an3:71].
Side note:
The One and Only God of all humanity, Allah Almighty, told us in the Qur’an:
“Those who say, “Allah is one in a Trinity,” have certainly fallen into disbelief. There is only One God. If they do not stop saying this, those who disbelieve among them will be afflicted with a painful punishment.
Will they not turn to Allah in repentance and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger. ˹Many˺ messengers had ˹come and˺ gone before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They both ate food. See how We make the signs clear to them, yet see how they are deluded ˹from the truth˺!” (Qur’an 5: 73-75)
Note here that “kufr” or disbelief means covering the truth. It doesn’t mean complete denial of God. Even Satan acknowledged God, but he was so arrogant to accept His Truth and guidance, so he covered and manipulated the truth. This is what made him a disbeliever. So the worst thing a person can do against his/herself is to reject and cover the truth.
Final Comment
We have presented here some logical and factual evidence on why the current bible is not the original message revealed by God. And we have quoted the direct word of God from the Qur’an regarding the distortions that happened to previous scriptures, and the protection of the Qur’an as the last direct message from God to all of humanity.
Our conversation here is not to prove we are right and you are wrong, it is not about us being divided into teams. The reality and the truth to the matter is, deep down in our hearts, we all want peace of heart and mind. We all want this unique, beautiful connection with the Creator of our hearts, the One that makes us feel safe, stable, guided, comfortable and pleased, regardless of our external situations.
And this is exactly what our One Creator gave us all through Islam. He gave us His Direct Word, He gave us complete guidance for every small and big matter of our lives, He gave us unique, intimate and direct connection with Him. This is the greatest gift ever given to mankind.
Anything else in this world will end once we die and nothing will go with us into our graves. But only our bond with our Creator, our faith, our actions and our obedience to Him are what will last with us for eternity and will be the source of our eternal happiness.
God sent us all the Qur’an as mercy and guidance and healing, and He wants to connect with each and every single one of us without intermediaries between us and Him. And this is what I ask you to do. Simply ask the Creator sincerely from your heart that if what you read here is the truth, that He enables you to accept it, love it and embrace it.
And because we do not believe, unless we love for our brothers what we love for ourselves, we invite you to accepting Islam and enjoying it and living the rest of your life and the rest of your eternity in pure happiness and joy for the beautiful bond you create with The incomparably Loving, Affectionate, Compassionate, Forgiving and Glorious Allah (glorified and exalted). You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And we will all remember this conversation when we go back to Him on the Day of Judgement.
May Allah grant your eyes and heart light through which you see and accept His Truth.
Peace be upon you.