1. Endorsement of Physical Torah Transmission:
Surah 52:1–3 opens with sacred oaths by Mount Sinai (Aṭ-Ṭūr) and "a Book inscribed in unrolled parchment". The phrase precisely describes the physical Hebrew Torah scrolls held, unrolled, and read in Jewish liturgical worship, acknowledging the legitimacy of their written transmission.
2. Logical Inconsistency with Textual Corruption Arguments:
In classical rhetoric, an oath derives its solemnity and validity from the authority and integrity of the object invoked. Swearing a divine, cosmic oath by a physical book implies its reliability; if the unrolled parchment held by the Jewish community were corrupted or untrustworthy, invoking it as a sacred divine witness would undermine the authority of the oath itself.
Surah 52:1–3 (Aṭ-Ṭūr) establishes the solemnity of upcoming divine judgments by swearing a series of oaths, invoking Mount Sinai alongside an open, inscribed manuscript written on parchment.
Surah 52:1-3:
By the Mount. And a Book inscribed. In parchment unrolled.
The surah opens by swearing an oath by At-Tur (the Mount, universally understood in Islamic tradition as Mount Sinai, where God spoke to Moses) and a "Book inscribed in parchment unrolled" (Kitabin masturin fee raqqin manshoor).
This is a direct acknowledgement of the physical, written transmission of the Mosaic revelation. A book written on raqq (parchment/vellum) that is manshoor (unrolled/opened) describes the exact format of the Hebrew Torah scrolls kept and read by the Jewish community.
The Quran is swearing an oath by the validity of this unrolled parchment. If the text written on the scrolls held by the Jews was corrupted and untrustworthy, why is Allah using it as a sacred, cosmic oath to prove his own truthfulness? An oath is only as reliable as the object being sworn by. Swearing by a corrupted, falsified book would invalidate the very warning Allah is trying to issue in this surah.