By Abdullah Ibrahim
To study and understand history has always been a vital tool in developing a correct view on a wide variety of matters. In order to confirm the validity of the Gospel, which is known as the New Testament, it will be necessary to look at its history and that of the Quran.
The following comparison shows that both books have gone through very similar stages of developments. Therefore, if someone assumes that the Gospel was changed in the course of time one would have to apply the same scepticism to the Quran as well.
Revelations were given to Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) from around 610 AD. until shortly before his death in 632 AD. They lasted about 23 years.
("'Ulum Al-Quran", by Ahmad von Denffer, 1985, pages 54-55)
Jesus started his public ministry in about 26 AD. This is known because in Luke 3, verse 1 it is related to the "...fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar..." Secular history verifies that Tiberius had authority in the provinces concerned beginning in 11 AD. (N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, p.1540. The mentioning of three annual Jewish passover feasts (John 2, 6, 12) leads to the conclusion that he preached and taught for about three years until 29 AD.
During the time revelations were received by the prophet of Islam, the Muslims were encouraged to memorize them:
"Narrated Uthman bin Affan: The prophet said: 'The most superior among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it.' " (Bukhari, VI, No. 546, all of Bukhari's English translations in this comparison are taken from: "The translation of the meaning of Sahih al-Bukhari", 9 volumes, by Khan Muhammad Mushin, Istanbul, 1978)
"Narrated Abdullah bin Masud: Allah's Apostle said to me: 'Recite for me.' I said: 'Shall I recite it to you although it had been revealed to you?' He said: 'I like to hear from others'..." (Bukhari, VI, No.106)
What Jesus said and did was memorized during his public ministry. This can be taken as certain for two reasons:
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?...But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." (Luke 6, verses 46, 49)
The revelations Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) received were written down during his lifetime on different writing materials. However, they were not bound into one single book. This is confirmed by a report that says "when people came to Medina to learn about Islam, they were provided with copies of the chapters of the Quran, to read and learn them by heart." ("Sahifa Hammam ibn Munabbih," by Hamidullah, 1979, p.64)
What Jesus said and did during his public ministry was also written down during his lifetime. Papias, a hearer of John, one of Jesus' disciples wrote down the following tradition, or Christian Hadith, sometime between 120 and 130 AD:
"Matthew compiled the sayings (of Jesus) in the Hebrew language." ("Church History" V.33,4.1, by Eusebius)
The revelations Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) received were passed on mainly orally for 43 years from 610 AD until 653 AD. At that time the Quran was officially written under the command of Uthman.
During the first 22 years of this period the prophet of Islam was still alive. In case of doubt his followers could have consulted him immediately. Many of them also memorized the revelations under his personal guidance. More than 20 of those are mentioned by name in the Hadith. Among them were well know persons, such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Ibn Masud, Abu Huraira, Abdullah bin Abbas, Abdullah bin Amr bin al-As, Aisha, Hafsa and Umm Salama. ("Itqan" by Suyuti, I, p.124) Others went over the contents of the Quran with the prophet before his death.
"Narrated Qatada: I asked Anas bin Malik: 'Who collected the Quran at the time of the prophet?'He replied, 'Four, all of whom were from the Ansar: Ubai bin Ka'b, Muadh bin Jabal, Zaid bin Thabit and Abu Zaid.'" (Bukhari, VI, No.525)
After the prophet's death they could be consulted and correct each other if there was any dispute that arose. Besides that, the tradition of memorizing the Quran has continued for many centuries throughout all generations until today.
In any case, secular history makes it clear that Islam spread within its first 25 years of the Hejira (the departure of Muhammad, p.b.u.h. from Mekkah) into many other countries outside Arabia.
Damascus and Syria were taken in 13 AH. One year later Muslim armies made inroads into Persia.
In 19 AH Egypt fell into Muslim hands. By 25 AH Islamic warfare brought success in Armenia, in northern Turkey. A lot of soldiers and leaders who conquered those far away countries had memorized at least parts of the Quran. They also knew about the historical events with regard to its beginnings. Within a short period of time the revelations Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) received spread in this way from Egypt to Persia and from Turkey to Arabia. Any changes within the Quran would surely have met with fierce opposition from all these parts of the world.
The gospel was mainly passed on by oral means for 29 years from 26 AD until 55 AD when it's main teaching was first written down by Paul. This document, or book, is known as "1 Corinthians". (1 Cor. 1, verses 1-9; 15, verses 1-8, compare with Jesus' teaching in Matthew 26, verse 27 and Mark 14, verses 61-62 ) Its date is undisputed by all Biblical scholars. "
1 Corinthians" is one of 27 parts that together form the New Testament. W.F. Albright, one of the world's best Biblical archaeologists, said: "We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about 80 Ad." ("Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands" by Albright, 1955, p.136)
Another renowned scholar summarizes that the whole New Testament was written before the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. ("Redating the New Testament" by Robinson, 1976).
It is very interesting that those scholars who would disagree with the above conclusions studied the matter on the basis of theories known as "documentary hypothesis" and "form criticism". They both deny vehemently that the Gospel was revealed by God, and that miracles and prophecies can be possible. This is the reason why true Muslims and Christians alike, have to reject those views.
However, all scholars are in agreement that many of the New Testament books were written between 55 and 70 AD. In the light of this evidence the dates of 55 to 70 AD are taken as an average time period wherein the whole New Testament was officially written down. This allows for the balanced conclusion that the Gospel was transmitted predominantly by oral means for a period of 29-44 years.
During the first three years of this time Jesus was still with his followers. In case of doubt they could have consulted him. Afterwards, many of his disciples who memorized what they saw and heard concerning Jesus could remind each other in cases of dispute.
In any case, Biblical sources (Acts 2, verses 5-11; 11, verses 19-20; 18 verses 1-2) and secular history make it clear that about 25 years after Jesus started his public ministry, many Christians were found all over the Eastern Mediterranean. They also spread to the West as far as Rome. Any changes to the Gospel would have been met with very fierce opposition from all these different parts of the world.
The revelations given to Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) were not written down by himself:"Narrated al Bara: There was revealed 'Not equal are those believers who sit and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah' (Surah 4, Nisaa, verse 95). The prophet said: 'Call Zaid for me and let him bring the board, the ink pot and the scapula bone.' Then he said: 'Write: Not equal are those believers...'" (Bukhari,VI, No.512)
The Quran was written down during the prophets lifetime but only on loose pieces of different material. When at the battle of Yamama in 633 AD a number of Muslims were killed it was feared that part of the revelations might be lost. Therefore, Abu Bakr, the first Muslim leader after Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) death, asked Zaid ibn Thabit to collect all the different writing materials on which the Quran was written down. This was his reaction: "...By Allah, if he (Abu Bakr) had ordered me to shift one of the mountains it would not have been harder for me than what he had ordered me concerning the collection of the Quran.I said to both of them, 'How dare you do what the prophet has not done?' Abu Bakr said, 'By Allah, it's a good thing'... So I started locating the Quranic material and collecting it from parchments, scapula, leafstalks of date palms and from the memories of men. I found with Khuzaima two verses of Surah Tauba which I had not found with anybody else..." (Bukhari,VI, No.201)
Even though those verses had only been found with one person and only one man, had the sole responsibility to collect the first official Quran, Muslims believe it contained all the revelations givento their prophet.
The message Jesus brought was not written down by himself. As already mentioned, Matthew, one of his disciples wrote down what he said and did in the Hebrew language. These things were also memorized by the followers of Jesus. The first four books of the New Testament contain the words and deeds of Jesus. They were written down by four different authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke (he also wrote "Acts") and John (he also wrote "1,2,3 John" and "Revelation"). These men wrote under God's inspiration (2 Peter 1, verses 20-21) for different communities with different needs.
The book of Matthew, for example was originally directed at Jewish readers. The book of Mark on the other hand was written for Gentiles. (see N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, pages 1439, 1490)
God inspired the authors to write down the known words and deeds of Jesus in their particular fashion, according to the needs of the original recipients of their books. They, like the other writers of New Testament books, Paul, Peter, James and Jude, were either eyewitnesses or had first hand knowledge of Jesus' ministry. The remaining 23 books of the New Testament again addressed different needs. God inspired the authors to comment and elaborate on the words and facts phOebus ministry. This happened in much the same way as Muslims believe Muhammad to have been inspired in his comments about the Quran. ("Dictionary of Islam" by T.P. Hughes, 1988, p.218)
Muslims and Christians alike believe that inspiration from God comes in different ways but nevertheless in as great a degree, that means, in the same perfect quality.
A number of Hadith mention that several of Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) companions wrote down their own collections of the revelations.("Itqan I" by Suyuti, p.62)
The most well known among them are:
Ibn Masud
He claimed to have learned some seventy Surahs directly from the prophet. Muhammad
(p.b.u.h.) told other people to learn the Quran from him and three others. (Bukhari, 6,
No.521) However, Surah 1, 113 and 114 were missing in his collection. (Fihrist, I, pages
53-57)
Ubay bin Kab
The prophet's secretary in Medina. He is one of the other three mentioned above whom the
prophet recommended as a teacher of the Quran. His collection contained two additional
Surahs and an otherwise unknown verse. ("Itqan I" by Suyuti, p.65;
"Masahif" by Ibn Abi Dawud, pages 180-181, also "Geschichte des
Quran's" by Noeldeke, pages 33-38) His text was widely used in Syria before the
appearance of Uthman's text.
Abu Musa
His collection was used by the people of Basra. It was identical with the material of Ubai
bin Kab.
These different collections of the Quran contained also many variant readings. More than 1700 are attributed to Ibn Masud alone. ("Materials for the history of the text of the Quran" by A. Jeffry,1937)
Muhammad Hamidullah divides them into four classes in the introduction to his French translation of the Quran (p.XXXIII):
Most of the variant readings have very little significance with regard to the meaning of the text. Only a few present some problems, such as:
Surah 5, Maida, verse 63
19 alternate readings have been identified, some of which change the actual meaning of the
verse. 14 changes were caused by changing the vowel combinations. In the remaining 5 cases
one or two consonants were added. (Ibid, by A. Jeffery, pages 39, 129, 198, 216, 237)
Surah 33, Alizab, verse 6
"The Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives are
their mothers..."
"...In some Qiraats, like that of Ubai ibn Kab, occur also the word " and he is a father to them..." ("The Holy Quran" by A. Yusuf Ali, 1975, note 3674)
Only reports in the hadith about these variants have survived. But none of them changes any doctrine of the Quran in the slightest way.
There are about 5500 Greek manuscripts still existent which contain the whole or part of the New Testament. ("Answers to tough questions" By Josh Mc Dowell and Don Stewart, 1980, p.4)Many of them contain a number of variant readings. They are usually printed in the margin of today's translations which are based on manuscripts written from the second to the fourth century AD. All variant readings arising from mistakes that happened in later years have therefore no effect on the present translations. Because all manuscripts have been carefully preserved a scholarly study is possible to determine the correct readings. The following criteria are important in this science:
1 John 5, verses 7,8
This verse, as it appears in some older English versions only, adds some words that speak
about the Trinity of God. "But the addition is not found in any Greek manuscripts or
NT translation prior to the 16th century." (N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, p. 1913) It was
probably a marginal note that was translated by mistake as part of the text.
Mark 16, verses 9-20
These verses summarize the ministry of Jesus. The literal translation of verse 8 reads:
"Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said
nothing to anyone. They were afraid for..." The last word in this verse is a
translation from the Greek conjunction "gar". Metzger, a leading scholar in New
Testament greek says that in all Greek literature "no instance has been found where
"gar" stands at the end of a book." ("Text of the New Testament"
by Metzger, pages 226-229)
He lists two possible solutions to this problem:
Verses 9-20 therefore present a marginal note that accidentally became part of the text.
John 7, verse 53-8, verse 11
In these verses a woman who has committed adultery is brought before Jesus by Jewish
teachers. They want to test how he judges her. "This story may not have belonged
originally to the Gospel of John. It is absent from almost all the important early
manuscripts, and those that have it sometimes place it elsewhere. But the story may well
be authentic." (N.I.V. Study Bible, 1985, p.1611)
None of these variant readings changes any doctrine of the New Testament in the slightest way.
The many variant reading caused Muslim soldiers from Iraq who followed Ibn Masud's collection, and soldiers of Syria who took Ubay's collection to be the correct one, to accuse each other of lying. Uthman's reaction in 653 AD is recorded in the following Hadith:
"Uthman sent a message to Hafsa saying, 'Send us the manuscripts of the Quran so that we may compile the Quranic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you'. Hafsa sent it to Uthman, Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Said bin Al-As and Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men, 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Quran, then write it in the dialect of Quraish as the Quran was revealed in their tongue.' They did so, and when they had written many copies, Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Quranic materials whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burned. Zaid bin Thabit added, 'A verse from Surah 33, Alizab, (verse 23) was missed by me when we copied the Quranand I used to hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari...'" (Bukhari, VI, No.510)
In spite of the radical measures taken there still is a verse missing in today's Quran:
"Abdullah bin Abbas reported that Umar bin Khattab sat on the pulpit of Allahs messenger and said: 'Verily Allah sent Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) with truth and he sent down the book upon him, and the verse of stoning was included in what was sent down the book upon him, and the verse of stoning was included in what was sent down to him. We recited it, retained it in our memory and understood it...I am afraid that with the lapse of time, the people (may forget) and may say: We do not find the punishment of stoning in the book of Allah, and this go astray by abandoning this duty prescribed by Allah...'" (Bukhari, VIII, No.816, Muslim, III, No. 4194)
The verse can not have been abrogated because the messenger of Islam was the only one who was authorized to do so. By the time the problem arouse he was dead. The only reference found in today's Quran reads: "The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes..." (Surah 24, Nur, verse 2)
Perhaps for reasons such as this Ibn Masud opposed the new official version of the Quran with the following words:
"The Prophet taught me to recite 70 Surahs which I had mastered before Zaid had even become a Muslim. How can you order me to recite the readings of Zaid, when I recited from the very mouth of the Prophet some 70 Surahs? Am I to abandon what I acquired from the very lips of the Prophet?" ("Masahif" by Ibn Abi Dawud)
The oldest known copy of the Quran still in existence is dated about 688 Ad, that is 56-78 years after it was first written down. ("'Ulum Al-Quran", by Ahmad von Denffer, 1985, page 61)
The present translations of the New Testament (the Gospel) are based on the following, oldest manuscripts:
The 27 books that together form the New Testament were accepted as authentic by the different, early Christian communities. But because of the fast expansion of Christianity and the growing number of heretic writings (Apocryphals: the prophet of Islam faced the same problem in Musailama who claimed to have received revelations too, see "Dictionary of Islam" by P. Hughes, 1988, p.422) it became necessary to write down officially the names of the New Testament books.There was no need for this process until around the end of the fourth century when the Syriac Church accepted some Apocryphals to be part of the Bible. This happened even though the Peshitta, the Syriac Bible of the second century A.D. did not contain them. Until the end of the fourth century there was common agreement among the Christians as to which books were part of the Gospel.
Sadly, the Roman Catholic Church too accepted some heretic writings as part of the Bible but only in 1563 as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation. By doing so they legitimized their reference to them in disputed doctrinal matters. ("Answers to tough questions", by Josh Mc Dowell, 1980, page 37)
The oldest known copies of almost half of the New Testament that are still in existence, are dated about 200 AD, that is 130-174 years after they were originally written. It is important to realize that all the main Christian doctrines are therein contained! The oldest copy of the complete New Testament (Gospel) which still exists today is dated around 350 AD, that is 280-324 years after it was first written down.
The first written accounts of both, the Quran and the Gospel were made during the life of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and Jesus respectively. In both cases the transmission took place mainly orally. The Quran was passed on in that way for about 43 years, the Gospel for 29-44 years.
Muslims and Christians alike believe that God inspired their holy book and that He watched over the process when it was memorized and later written down. In spite of numerous variant readings in both books, Muslims and Christians believe that they possess essentially what God had intended them to receive. For good reasons both communities believe that their books had been carefully preserved in the beginning and ever since.
Abdullah Ibrahim
For questions, comments, more information, a free Bible in the language of your choice, a free Bible correspondence course please send mail to Abdullah Ibrahim
Last Updated 10/05/03