Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!m2c!wpi!bakken@cs.arizona.edu From: bakken@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken) Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam Subject: Re: Biblical corruption - where is the evidence? Message-ID: <7710@wpi.wpi.edu> Date: 5 Feb 90 20:19:01 GMT Sender: shari@wpi.wpi.edu Lines: 40 Approved: shari@wpi.edu In article <7546@wpi.wpi.edu> gwydion@Dyved.csc.ti.com (Basalat Ali Raja) writes: > >>That is interesting. From what I've read of Muslim literature and the >>Qua'ran, I can see two points (all quotations are from Arberry's >>interpretation, which is the only one I currently have): >> >> 1) The Qua'ran says that God gave Moses the Torah >> S. 5:47 "Surely We sent down the Torah, ..." >> S. 32:24 "Indeed, we have Moses the Book ..." >> 2) The Qua'ran says that no man can change God's word >> S. 6:34 "No man can change the words of God..." >> S. 10:65 "There is no changing the words of God..." >> >>Interestingly, both Mr. Moussaoui and Mr. Deedat claim that Deuteronomy >>(which is part of the Torah - the Tawrat, or books of Moses) have been >>corrupted, in apparent contradiction to the Qua'ran. The only possible >>Qua'ranic reference I've heard of Biblical corruption is S. 4:47-49, but, >>looking at the context, it is not clear at all that this is what the Qua'ran >>is saying here. >This is not very difficult to reconcile - assume that statement 2 >is made at a certain point of time. As such, it logically "protects" >all of God's word present at that point, and in the future. It >makes no statements about Words of God in the past. Thus, the >Torah is not covered by this statement. I do not see how you can arrive at that. Looking at both the verses and their contexts, I see nothing about the verses in #2 above that would inticate a non-universal time domain. "No man can change the words of God" sounds clearly like a statement of fact describing how the world works. I see nothing at all that limits its time domain. If God gives a universal law that nobody can change His word, then I don't see how the fact that he chose to give it to man at time X permits this law of God to be void before He chose to give it to man. -- Dave Bakken Internet: bakken@cs.arizona.edu 721 Gould-Simpson Bldg UUCP: uunet!arizona!bakken Dept of Computer Science; U of Arizona Phone: +1 602 621 8372 (w) Tucson, AZ 85721 USA FAX: +1 602 621 4246