THE QUESTION BEFORE US
Which Gospel could they actually read and obey?
Choose a verse number, book icon or underlined word to read more here.
Bring it. Read it. Judge by it.
In Qur’an , Muhammad is told to challenge his hearers to bring the Torah and recite it in a dispute about food. In , the Qur’an asks why Jewish interlocutors seek his judgment when the Torah is with them and contains God’s judgment. Those appeals require an accessible book. A revelation that had disappeared could not be brought, read aloud, or consulted in a real dispute.
The Gospel receives a similar appeal. Qur’an describes it as guidance and light; calls the People of the Gospel to judge by what God revealed in it. Verse says they would have been blessed had they upheld the Torah and Gospel; tells them they stand on nothing until they uphold them. And says the unlettered messenger is found described in the Torah and Gospel with them. A food-law dispute does not endorse every biblical sentence. These passages do, however, address existing communities as possessors of usable divine revelation.
Qur’an 5:46 Qur’an 5:47 Qur’an 5:66 Qur’an 5:68 Qur’an 7:157
Qur’an addresses Muhammad himself: if he doubts what has been revealed to him, he should ask those who read the earlier Scripture. The condition does not establish that he actually doubted. Even if he never did, the instruction still makes those readers a source of confirmation. Ibn Kathir connects this appeal with the Torah and Gospel in the hands of the People of the Book, while accusing them, in the same comment, of obscuring, distorting and altering what those books say about Muhammad. Even on his account, the witness being consulted is available, not an imagined lost original. A claim that their Scriptures were unreliable must account for the Qur’an’s decision to appeal to their readers.
Qur’an 10:94 Ibn Kathir · Qur’an 10:94 (Arabic) Qur’an 7:157
The collections also describe a physical Torah being consulted. In Bukhari 3635 and Muslim 1699a, the Torah is brought and read during a judgment concerning Jewish defendants. The reader covers the stoning passage with his hand; when told to lift it, he exposes the text. In this account, the charge is concealment of a ruling that remains in the book. Muhammad’s appeal is to an available text, not an inaccessible original.
Sahih al-Bukhari 3635 · the Torah consulted Sahih Muslim 1699a · the Torah consulted
The surviving Gospel says Christ was crucified.
The New Testament does not leave the cross at the edge of its message. Paul proclaims Christ’s death for sins and resurrection; John presents the wounded, risen Jesus receiving Thomas’s confession as . Qur’an denies that Jesus’ opponents killed or crucified him, and forbids saying “Three” and denies that God has a son. These accounts cannot simply be merged into one message.
1 Corinthians 15:1–8 John 20:24–29 Qur’an 4:157 Qur’an 4:171
We are not guessing what a pre-Islamic New Testament contained. Codex Sinaiticus, dated to the fourth century, preserves the complete New Testament. It already contains this proclamation of Christ. Textual variants exist, but the dispute here is not over a spelling or an isolated copied word. It concerns the death, resurrection, and identity of Jesus at the heart of the books.
Nor was the fourfold Gospel merely a Greek book far from Muhammad’s world. The Syriac Rabbula Gospels contain the four Gospels and a colophon dated February 586, locating their copying at a monastery in Syria. This is a further pre-Islamic witness to the Gospel books, in a major language of eastern Christianity.
An original , and the Qur’an as guardian?
The strongest Muslim reply distinguishes the revelation given to Jesus from the four canonical Gospels. It also points to : the Qur’an confirms earlier scripture and is over it, commonly understood as guardian, overseer, or authoritative criterion. On this account, Christians must follow what God truly revealed, while the Qur’an identifies and corrects their alterations. The phrase in , “what God revealed in it,” matters to that reply. Ibn Kathir’s commentary gathers the senses of trustworthiness, witness, and authority over earlier books. This explanation requires evidence for the alleged alterations and must be tested against the rest of the Muslim textual tradition, including its appeals to the Torah and Gospel available to Muhammad’s hearers.
Qur’an 5:43 Qur’an 5:47 Qur’an 7:157 Qur’an 5:48 Ibn Kathir · Qur’an 5:48
Qur’an condemns people who write a book and claim divine authority for gain; describes a party twisting their tongues so hearers mistake their words for scripture. These passages can be cited for textual or interpretive distortion. They must be read together with the appeals to the Torah and Gospel, not ignored. Ibn Abbas is also reported in Bukhari 7363 as charging the People of the Book with changing God’s Book and writing it with their own hands. Those are his reported words, not a saying attributed here to Muhammad.
Qur’an 2:79 Qur’an 3:78 Sahih al-Bukhari 7363 · Ibn Abbas on alteration
Some Muslim interpreters also understand as explaining the Gospel’s purpose in Jesus’ time, rather than issuing a new command to Christians in Muhammad’s time. Ibn Kathir’s commentary includes a reading with that historical reference. Even on this understanding, still speaks of the Torah with them, addresses the People of the Book through Muhammad, and locates the description in books with them. The availability argument does not depend on one verse alone.
Qur’an 5:43 Qur’an 5:68 Qur’an 7:157 Ibn Kathir · Qur’an 5:47
A possible lost book is not historical evidence.
The Qur’an does not reserve the language of a criterion for itself. In , Moses receives “the Scripture and the criterion”; Ibn Kathir identifies the Scripture as the Torah and explains as distinguishing truth from falsehood. In , Moses and Aaron receive al-, light and a reminder. Ibn Kathir records its identification with the Torah; al-Tabari instead understands it here as God’s judgment in their favor against Pharaoh. In , the Qur’an itself is called al-. and are different words, but the earlier witness cannot be dismissed merely by calling the later revelation a criterion too. A claim that the Torah’s words were altered still needs evidence.
Qur’an 2:53 Ibn Kathir · Qur’an 2:53 (Arabic) Qur’an 21:48 Ibn Kathir · Qur’an 21:48 (Arabic) Al-Tabari · Qur’an 21:48 (Arabic) Qur’an 25:1
Calling the Qur’an guardian does not, by itself, identify which Gospel text was available, what was altered, when it was altered, or why the surrounding passage still directs Christians to judge by it. A Muslim may consistently accept the Qur’an as the final criterion within Islamic belief. But when the truth of that belief is the issue, assuming that criterion cannot independently prove that the earlier evidence is false. The word states an authority claim; it does not supply the missing history.
Likewise, accusations against particular writers or reciters do not establish that every community’s Gospel was replaced, or that the crucifixion was inserted into all the witnesses before Islam. Such a replacement needs evidence connecting the accusation to the actual passages in dispute. The existence of forgery does not make every document a forgery. Ibn Abbas’s accusation states an early Muslim position, but it does not itself supply a pre-Islamic manuscript in which the Gospel’s cross and resurrection are absent. That is the historical evidence still required.
Codex Sinaiticus · dating Qur’an 2:79 Qur’an 3:78 Sahih al-Bukhari 7363 · Ibn Abbas on alteration
The claim that God’s words cannot be changed sharpens the question. Qur’an follows a passage about the revealed Book; joins the same assurance to a command to recite revelation. A Muslim may understand these words as God’s inviolable truth or decrees rather than a promise that every human copy is flawless. Even so, that distinction does not identify a different Gospel or explain how God’s usable guidance became an unrecoverable book.
There are proposed alternatives to examine. The Gospel of Barnabas survives in an Italian manuscript dated to the sixteenth century. A late copy can preserve an older work, but this manuscript supplies no seventh-century witness that it was the Gospel Muhammad’s Christian neighbors possessed. Irenaeus also reports a much earlier substitution story attributed to Basilides: Simon of Cyrene was crucified in Jesus’ place. Yet its Christ is an incorporeal divine power, not Islam’s human prophet. An early disagreement with the church is not automatically evidence for the Islamic .
Gospel of Barnabas · Italian manuscript record Irenaeus · Against Heresies 1.24.3–4
The decisive demand remains evidence. A different Gospel given to Jesus, carrying the Islamic account and shown to be the book these commands addressed, cannot be established merely by saying that it must once have existed for the Qur’an to be true. Used that way, the reasoning runs in a circle: the earlier testimony is rejected because the later claim is assumed, then the rejection is used to defend the same claim. The surviving Gospel is evidence in hand. A necessary assumption for a competing belief is not its equal.
Read the Gospel that actually remains.
Christians receive the New Testament alongside the Old, retaining the earlier Scriptures and proclaiming their fulfillment in Christ. The earlier witness remains available to be read and examined.
The dilemma therefore remains: why should a reader discard the central testimony of the accessible, pre-Islamic Gospel in favor of an imagined reconstruction whose content is inferred from its agreement with the Qur’an? The proper answer is not an accusation against a Muslim neighbor’s sincerity. It is to open the surviving Gospel and examine its witness to Jesus Christ, who died for sinners and rose again. His message is there to be read.
Go to the sources.
Complete source list(35)
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 2:53
53And when We gave unto Moses the Scripture and the criterion (of right and wrong), that ye might be led aright.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 21:48
48And We verily gave Moses and Aaron the Criterion (of right and wrong) and a light and a Reminder for those who keep from evil,
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 25:1
1Blessed is He Who hath revealed unto His slave the Criterion (of right and wrong), that he may be a warner to the peoples.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 10:94
94And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture (that was) before thee. Verily the Truth from thy Lord hath come unto thee. So be not thou of the waverers.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 3:93
93All food was lawful unto the Children of Israel, save that which Israel forbade himself, (in days) before the Torah was revealed. Say: Produce the Torah and read it (unto us) if ye are truthful.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:43
43How come they unto thee for judgment when they have the Torah, wherein Allah hath delivered judgment (for them)? Yet even after that they turn away. Such (folk) are not believers.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:46
46And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah - a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil).
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:47
47Let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allah hath revealed therein. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are evil-livers.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:66
66If they had observed the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed unto them from their Lord, they would surely have been nourished from above them and from beneath their feet. Among them there are people who are moderate, but many of them are of evil conduct.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:68
68Say O People of the Scripture! Ye have naught (of guidance) till ye observe the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord. That which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) from thy Lord is certain to increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them. But grieve not for the disbelieving folk.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 7:157
157Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them. He will enjoin on them that which is right and forbid them that which is wrong. He will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them only the foul; and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe in him, and honour him, and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him: they are the successful.
King James Version
1 Corinthians 15:1–8
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
King James Version
John 20:24–29
24¶ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26¶ And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 4:157
157And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 4:171
171O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 5:48
48And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed a divine law and a traced-out way. Had Allah willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good works. Unto Allah ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye differ.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 2:79
79Therefore woe be unto those who write the Scripture with their hands and then say, "This is from Allah," that they may purchase a small gain therewith. Woe unto them for that their hands have written, and woe unto them for that they earn thereby.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 3:78
78And lo! there is a party of them who distort the Scripture with their tongues, that ye may think that what they say is from the Scripture, when it is not from the Scripture. And they say: It is from Allah, when it is not from Allah; and they speak a lie concerning Allah knowingly.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 6:114–115
114Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers.
115Perfected is the Word of thy Lord in truth and justice. There is naught that can change His words. He is the Hearer, the Knower.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 18:27
27And recite that which hath been revealed unto thee of the Scripture of thy Lord. There is none who can change His words, and thou wilt find no refuge beside Him.
King James Version
Matthew 5:17–18
17¶ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
M. Pickthall · English translation
Qur’an 6:115
115Perfected is the Word of thy Lord in truth and justice. There is naught that can change His words. He is the Hearer, the Knower.
# PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE THIS COPYRIGHT BLOCK #==================================================================== # # Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani, Version 1.1) # Copyright (C) 2007-2026 Tanzil Project # License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 # # This copy of the Quran text is carefully produced, highly # verified and continuously monitored by a group of specialists # at Tanzil Project. # # TERMS OF USE: # # - Permission is granted to copy and distribute verbatim copies # of this text, but CHANGING IT IS NOT ALLOWED. # # - This Quran text can be used in any website or application, # provided that its source (Tanzil Project) is clearly indicated, # and a link is made to tanzil.net to enable users to keep # track of changes. # # - This copyright notice shall be included in all verbatim copies # of the text, and shall be reproduced appropriately in all files # derived from or containing substantial portion of this text. # # Please check updates at: http://tanzil.net/updates/ # #====================================================================
Word meaning · Arabic
الحَدِيث
hadith (ḥadīth)
A report or account. In Islamic usage, a transmitted report of what Muhammad said or did.
In this context
Used for the reports gathered in collections such as al-Bukhari’s and Muslim’s. These readings treat them as secondary to the Qur’an.
Word meaning · Greek
ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou
“My Lord and my God”: kyrios, lord or master; theos, God.
In this context
Thomas’s words addressed to the risen Jesus in John 20:28; Jesus answers by commending belief.
Word meaning · Arabic
مُهَيْمِن
muhaymin
One who watches over, guards and bears witness to something; a trustee.
In this context
Qur’an 5:48 calls the Qur’an muhaymin over the Scripture before it. Ibn Kathir gathers the senses of trustee, witness and judge over every earlier book.
Word meaning · Arabic
الإِنْجِيل
Injil (al-Injīl)
The Arabic name for the Gospel, the Scripture the Qur’an says God gave to Jesus (5:46).
In this context
Many Muslims distinguish an original Injil given to Jesus from the four Gospels. The reading asks for evidence that such a different book existed.
Word meaning · Arabic
الفُرْقَان
furqān (al-furqān)
That which separates truth from falsehood; a criterion.
In this context
The word appears with Moses’ book in 2:53, with what Moses and Aaron received in 21:48, and of the Qur’an in 25:1. Ibn Kathir records the reading “the Torah” for the criterion in 21:48; al-Tabari instead reads it as God’s judgment. Al-Raghib also lists its use for the Qur’an, Torah and Gospel.