Home > Surah 3 - The Family of Imran
Surah 3:23
Do you not consider, those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They are invited to the Book of Allah that it should arbitrate between them; then a party of them turns away, and they are evasive.
If the Quran claims the Torah and Gospel were sent to "arbitrate" between the People of the Book during Muhammad's time, it is granting those books supreme legal and spiritual authority.
If those books were "corrupted," they would be incapable of providing a just or true arbitration.
Therefore, the Quran acknowledges the Bible of the 7th century as a valid standard of truth.
The verse mentions those who were given a "portion of the Scripture."
While some Muslim apologists argue this implies they only had part of the truth, the polemicist turns this back: even a "portion" of God's Word must be true and uncorrupted to function as an arbiter.
If that "portion" (the Torah/Gospel) was enough to settle their disputes, it was enough to define their faith.
Since the "portion" they had then is what we have in our manuscripts today, the Quran is essentially pointing its followers to the Bible for the final word on these disputes.
If the Jews and Christians were "turning away" from their own Book, the Quran's critique is that they are not being faithful enough to their own scriptures.
How can the Quran criticize people for turning away from a Book that Muslims today claim was already corrupted and unreliable?
If the Book was corrupted, turning away from it would be the correct thing to do.
By condemning their evasion, the Quran affirms that the Book they were evading was, in fact, the authentic Word of Allah.
Surah 3:23 presents the Torah and Gospel as functional, authoritative arbiters for the People of the Book.
By inviting Jews and Christians to be judged by their own scriptures, the Quran confirms the textual integrity of the Bible during the 7th century.
This creates a logical trap for the Muslim position:
If the Bible was authoritative enough to act as an arbiter for Allah, it must have been UNCORRUPTED
Snce it was UNCORRUPTED, its testimony regarding the deity and sacrifice of Jesus Christ (which contradicts the Quran) must be accepted as the truth.