Thi is perhaps the most cited "smoking gun" by Muslim apologists attempting to prove the Bible was corrupted, yet for the Christian, it serves as a primary exhibit for why the Bible must have remained intact and available during Muhammad's time.
Surah 2:79:
So woe to those who write the 'scripture' with their own hands, then say, 'This is from Allah,' 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.
If someone writes a fake check and tries to cash it, it does not mean the bank’s actual records have been altered; it simply means there is a criminal trying to deceive people.
Surah 2:79 condemns the forgers, NOT the original text. If the forgeries were being compared to the REAL Scripture, then the REAL Scripture was PRESENT in 7th-century Arabia.
If this verse implies that the Bible we have today is "what their hands have written," the Muslim apologist faces a historical nightmare.
Christians have the Dead Sea Scrolls (pre-Christian) and the Great Uncials (4th century, like Codex Vaticanus). These manuscripts were written centuries before this Quranic verse was revealed.
If the Jews in Medina were writing "new" things in the 600s, they couldn't have gone back in time to change the manuscripts from the 300s.
Just a few verses prior (2:78), the Quran refers to these people as ummiyyuna (unlettered/illiterate) who "do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking."
If they didn't even know the Scripture, they certainly didn't have the scholarly authority to globally corrupt the textual tradition of the entire Jewish and Christian world.
The Quran is critiquing a LOCAL group of scammers, not making a statement about the ontological integrity of the Bible. By using this verse to claim the entire Bible is corrupted, modern Muslims contradict the Quran’s specific description of the perpetrators and all the other Quran verses that say differently!
Surah 2:79 defines the "corruption" as a localized act of forgery by a few individuals rather than a global alteration of the Word of God.
This verse confirms that the "real" Scripture was the benchmark used to expose these forgers. Since the forgers failed to replace the authentic manuscripts—which still exist today—the Quran’s warning actually serves to protect the Bible’s reputation by identifying the specific, failed attempts to mimic it.