88 OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE GENUINESS OF

according to what God hath sent down therein. And whoso will not judge by what God hath sent down—such then are the perverse. And to thee We have sent down the Book with truth, confirmatory of previous Scripture and its safeguard." And in Surah X., Yunus, 94 the command is given to Muhammad himself to make the Bible the touchstone by which to judge the Qur'an, for there we read: "And if thou art in doubt as to what We have sent down to thee, inquire of those who are reading the Scriptures before thee." Therefore your principle is contrary to the Qur'an itself. We have also seen that the Qur'an never asserts that the Bible has been corrupted, but acknowledges it to be the Word of God and says that God's Word cannot be corrupted or changed. And if you appeal to reason, your reason must prove to you from what has been already said that the Bible was not corrupted before Muhammad's time, nor during his life, nor has it been corrupted since. Finally, whether or not there are differences in teaching between the Bible and the Qur'an, it is certain that in many points in which you object to the doctrines of the Bible, the Qur'an confirms them, as indeed reason also does 1.

1 Vide Chapter IV.
89

CHAPTER III.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE PRESENT AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE.

65. M. YOU Christians are always quoting the Bible to us and endeavouring to persuade us to read it. This is all in vain. Even if, as you say, the Bible has not been corrupted, nevertheless it has been annulled by the descent of the Qur'an, God's latest and most perfect Revelation. Therefore we are not bound to read or to obey it. We Muslims have no need of the Bible: we have the Qur'an. All that is good in the other books (Torah and Injil) is contained in the Qur'an, according as it is said فيها كُتُبُ قَيّمَةٌ‬ 1.

C. Is what you state in accordance with the Qur'an itself?

66. M. Undoubtedly it is.

C. Will you then kindly quote one single verse in the Qur'an which declares that the Bible has been annulled (rendered منسوخ) by the descent of the Qur'an?
1 "In them are upright books" (Surah XCVIII, 2). Muslims quote the words as if they meant that the essential parts of the previous Scriptures were contained in the Qur'an. But they mean nothing of the kind. Vide Baizawi in loco.