Home > Arguments for the Bible's corruption
"The Injeel, the true revelation given to Jesus (peace be upon him), was originally oral—Allah's message delivered through his preaching, not a written book he left behind. The Qur'an says, ‘And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming what came before him of the Torah; and We gave him the Injeel, in which was guidance and light' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:46). He spoke it to guide people to Allah, as prophets did, but humans later wrote the Gospels, adding their own hands. The Qur'an warns, ‘They distort words from their places' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:13).
In Islam, the Qur'an was revealed and written down during the Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) life: ‘Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an, in a Register well-protected' (Surah Al-Waqi'ah, 56:77-78). Jesus, a messenger—‘The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:75)—gave the Injeel orally. What's called the Bible today isn't that pure Injeel; it's a corrupted record. The Qur'an preserves Allah's truth directly."
Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:46
The idea that the true Injīl was an "oral message" conveniently lost to history—only to be corrected by a later revelation—is a spectacular piece of circular reasoning designed solely to dismiss the inconvenient testimony of the written Gospels we possess.
1. The Necessity of Written Scripture
We are told that Jesus (peace be upon him, of course) spoke His message, as if He somehow missed the 1st-century technological marvel of pen and parchment. The truth is, while teaching began orally, the Apostles quickly and necessarily moved to a written record to ensure the preservation of truth and to counter the very same kind of corruption the opponent now claims occurred. Luke, for one, didn't rely on whispers; he explicitly wrote an "orderly account... that you may have certainty" (Luke 1:3-4). The written Gospels aren't corrupted notes; they are the inspired, authoritative solidification of the eyewitness testimony.
2. The Injīl is the Gospel—Not a Missing Book
There is zero historical evidence from the 1st-century Christian world for a separate, distinct, and pure Injīl that was mysteriously lost. The Gospel (Euangelion—"good news") is the unified message of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, as attested in the four written accounts. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh (John 1:1, 14), and the Gospels are the testimony to Him. The entire argument is an attempt to create a theological vacuum where the real Gospels should stand, only to fill it with the later, contradictory claims of the Quran.
3. Circular Logic of the New Revelation
The core of the issue is the self-defeating logic: the Qur'an claims it confirms the true Injīl ("guidance and light" - Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:46). Yet, when the existing Christian Gospels utterly conflict with the Quran's diminished view of Christ (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:75), the Christians are suddenly accused of "distorting" their own text (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:13). It's a beautifully closed system: If the Gospel agrees, it's the Injīl; if it disagrees, it's corruption. We, however, trust the written testimony of those who walked with Christ over the theoretical "oral message" of convenience.