๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ โ๐๐๐ฌ๐ (๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ) ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ฅ
Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter@NassarMohamadMR
Question
It is well known among us Muslims that Allah revealed the Gospel (Injeel) to โEesa (peace be upon him), but when I studied some things about Christianity, they told me that the Gospel was not brought by the Messiah, rather it was written by the disciples of the Messiah after the crucifixion (or after Allah raised him up to Him, as it says in the Qurโan). How can we reconcile between the two views?
Answer
Praise be to Allah.
There is no contradiction between the two views such that we would need to ask how they can be reconciled. Rather the reason why the questioner is confused is that he is mixing up two things that we must believe in and that are both true, praise be to Allah.
The first issue is the Gospel that was revealed from the Lord of the Worlds to the Prophet of Allah โEesa (peace be upon him). Belief that Allah revealed a Book to His Prophet โEesa and that the name of this book was the Gospel (Injeel), are basic principles of faith that we must believe in. Allah says (Interpretation of the meaning):
โThe Messenger (Muhammad) believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. (They say,) โWe make no distinction between one another of His Messengersโ โ and they say, โWe hear, and we obey. (We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all)โโ
Quran [al-Baqarah 2:285]
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Jibril, when he asked him about faith, as mentioned in the well-known hadeeth: โFaith means to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in His divine will and decree, both good and bad.โ (Agreed upon).
Disbelieving in that or doubting it is misguidance and kufr or disbelief in Allah. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
โO you who believe! Believe in Allah, and His Messenger (Muhammad), and the Book (the Qurโan) which He has sent down to His Messenger, and the Scripture which He sent down to those before (him); and whosoever disbelieves in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last Day, then indeed he has strayed far away.
137. Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (right) wayโ
Quran [al-Nisaโ 4:136-137]
โVerily, those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers and wish to make distinction between Allah and His Messengers (by believing in Allah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, โWe believe in some but reject others,โ and wish to adopt a way in between.
151. They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating tormentโ
Quran [al-Nisaโ 4:150-151]
The second issue is the Gospel or, more precisely, the Gospels that the Christians have today. Although one of the basic principles of our faith is to believe in the Gospel that was revealed to โEesa, we also believe that there is no longer any book that remained as it was revealed by Allah, neither the Gospel nor anything else, apart from the Qurโan.
Even the Christians themselves do not believe that the books that they have before them were revealed in that form from God, nor do they claim that the Messiah wrote the Gospel or at least that it was written during his lifetime. Imam Ibn Hazm (may Allah have mercy on him) says in al-Fasl fiโl-Milal (2/2):
We do not need to try hard to prove that the Gospels and all the books of the Christians did not come from God or from the Messiah (peace be upon him), as we needed to do with regard to the Torah and the books attributed to the Prophets that the Jews have, because the Jews claim that the Torah that they have was revealed from God to Moosa, so we needed to establish proof that this claim of theirs is false.
Regarding the Christians, they have taken care of the issue themselves, because they do not believe that the Gospels were revealed from God to the Messiah, or that the Messiah brought them, rather all of them from first to last, peasants and kings, Nestorians, Jacobites, Maronites and Orthodox are all agreed that there are four historical accounts written by four known men at different times.
The first of them is the account written by Matthew the Levite who was a disciple of the Messiah, nine years after the Messiah was taken up into heaven. He wrote it in Hebrew in Judaea in Palestine, and it filled approximately twenty-eight pages in a medium-sized script.
The next account was written by Mark, a disciple of Simon ben Yuna, who was called Peter, twenty-two years after the Messiah was taken up into heaven. He wrote it in Greek in Antioch in the land of the Byzantines.
They say that the Simon mentioned is the one who wrote it, then he erased his name from the beginning of it and attributed it to his disciple Mark. It filled twenty-four pages written in a medium-sized script. This Simon was a disciple of the Messiah. The third account written was that of Luke, a physician of Antioch who was also a disciple of Simon Peter.
He wrote it in Greek after Mark had written his account and is similar in length to the Gospel of Matthew. The fourth account was written by John the son of Zebedee, another disciple of the Messiah, sixty-odd years after the Messiah has been taken up into heaven. He wrote it in Greek, and it filled twenty-four pages in a medium-sized script. End quote.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Jawaab al-Saheeh (3:21):
Regarding the Gospels that the Christians have, there are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are agreed that Luke and Mark did not see the Messiah, rather he was seen by Matthew and John. These four accounts which they call the Gospel, and they call each one of them a Gospel, were written by these men after the Messiah had been taken up into heaven.
They did not say that they are the word of God or that the Messiah conveyed them from God, rather they narrated some of the words of the Messiah and some of his deeds and miracles. End quote.
Moreover, these books which were written after the time of the Messiah did not remain in their original form. The original versions were lost long ago.
Ibn Hazm said:
With regard to the Christians, there is no dispute among them or anyone else that only one hundred and twenty men believed in the Messiah during his lifetimeโฆ and all of those who believed in him concealed themselves and were afraid during his lifetime and afterwards; they called people to his religion in secret and none of them disclosed himself or practised his religion openly, because any of them who was caught was executed.
They continued in this manner, not showing themselves at all, and they had no place where they were safe for three hundred years after the Messiah was taken up into heaven.
During this time, the Gospel that had been revealed from Allah disappeared, apart from a few verses which Allah preserved as proof against them and as a rebuke to them, as we have mentioned.
Then when the Emperor Constantine became a Christian, then the Christians prevailed and started to practise their religion openly and assemble in safety.
If a religion is like this, with its followers practicing it in secret and living in constant fear of the sword, it is impossible for things to be transmitted soundly via a continuous chain of narrators and its followers cannot protect it or prevent it from being distorted.
End quote. Al-Fasl, 2/4-5.
In addition to this huge disruption in the chain of transmission of their books, which lasted for two centuries, these books did not remain in the languages in which they were originally written, rather they were translated, more than once, by people whose level of knowledge and honesty is unknown.
The contradictions in these books and their shortcomings are among the strongest evidence that they have been distorted and that they are not the Gospel (Injeel) that Allah revealed to His slave and Messenger โEesa (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Allah indeed spoke the truth when He said (interpretation of the meaning):
โHad it been from other than Allah, they would surely, have found therein many a contradictionโ
Quran [al-Nisaโ 4:82].
Quranic Verse Quran (3:3) โ Quran confirms the previous Scriptures โ the Torah , the Injil (Bible) ?
3. It is He Who has sent down the Book to you with truth, confirming what came before it. And He sent down the Tawrah and the Injil, 4. Aforetime, as a guidance to mankind. And He sent down the criterion. Truly, those who disbelieve in the Ayat of Allah, for them there is a severe torment; and Allah is All-Mighty, All-Able of Retribution.
Surah Ale-Imran (3:3-4)
Interpretation of the meaning (Tafsir Ibn Kathir):
โIt is He Who has sent down the Book to you with truth,โ โ means, revealed the Qurโan to you, O Muhammad, in truth, meaning there is no doubt or suspicion that it is revealed from Allah. Verily, Allah revealed the Qurโan with His knowledge, and the angels testify to this fact, Allah is sufficient as a Witness.
Allahโs statement, โConfirming what came before itโ โ means, from the previous divinely revealed Books, sent to the servants and Prophets of Allah. These Books testify to the truth of the Qurโan, and the Qurโan also testifies to the truth these Books contained, including the news and glad tidings of Muhammadโs prophethood and the revelation of the Glorious Qurโan.
Allah said, โAnd He sent down the Tawrahโ โ to Musa (Moses) son of `Imran, โAnd the Injilโ, to `Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), โAforetimeโ โ meaning, before the Qurโan was revealed, โAs a guidance to mankindโ โ in their time. โAnd He sent down the criterionโ โ which is the distinction between misguidance, falsehood and deviation on one hand, and guidance, truth and piety on the other hand. This is because of the indications, signs, plain evidences and clear proofs that it contains, and because of its explanations, clarifications, etc.
Allahโs statement, โTruly, those who disbelieve in the Ayat of Allahโ means they denied, refused and unjustly rejected them, โFor them there is a severe tormentโ โ on the Day of Resurrection, โAnd Allah is All-Mightyโ โ meaning, His grandeur is invincible and His sovereignty is infinite, โAll-Able of Retribution.โ โ from those who reject His Ayat and defy His honorable Messengers and great Prophets.
Some Christians and Jews claim that the Glorious Quran confirm the current partly corrupted Gospels and Torah by misquoting Quran (3:3)
Despite the Abobe-mentioned Nobel Quranic verse is crystal clear as it confirms WHAT COME BEFORE Prophet Muhammed= REVEALED to Prophet Moses AND Prophet Jesus son of Mary. Yet Christains and Jews out of desperation trying to do anything to justify their polytheism.
However, we are going to quote the clarification of the verse which rflect the Islamic solid, unshakable view:
(It is He Who has sent down the Book to you with truth, ) means, revealed the Qur’an to you, O Muhammad, in truth, meaning there is no doubt or suspicion that it is revealed from Allah. Verily, Allah revealed the Qur’an with His knowledge, and the angels testify to this fact, Allah is sufficient as a Witness. Allah’s statement,
(Confirming what came before it) means, from the previous divinely revealed Books, sent to the servants and Prophets of Allah. These Books testify to the truth of the Qur’an, and the Qur’an also testifies to the truth these Books contained, including the news and glad tidings of Muhammad’s prophethood and the revelation of the Glorious Qur’an.
Allah said,
(And He sent down the Tawrah) to Musa (Musa) son of `Imran, (And the Injil), to `Isa, son of Mary,