How did the Bible change?

None of the divine books that had been revealed before the Qur’an and that are present today are the original copies that Allah revealed to His prophets. The original copies of those books had been lost in the course of time and had been rewritten by people. For this reason, some superstitions and wrong beliefs had been added to them. For example, it is among the historical facts that, the Torah, could not be protected by Jews, who had a captivity life along the centuries, and who also had fallen into idolatry by losing their faith after Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him); and the copy that is present today had been written by some clergymen long after Hazrat Moses; yet, it was accepted as a book of religion again as if it was the original copy of the Torah,. It is apparent that a book which had been appeared after such a long and complex era cannot be the original copy that had been revealed to Hazrat Moses. Therefore, the present copy includes some accusations and slanders to the prophets which are not suitable for a prophet and judgments which are contrary to the spirit of the religion of oneness (tawhid).

The Psalms (Zabur) which had been revealed to Hazrath Davud (peace be upon him), underwent the same process as the Torah, too.

As for the Gospel, Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) (peace be upon him) had not dictated the verses that had been revealed to him because he became a prophet when he was 30 years old, and his task of prophethood ended when he was 33. During that short period of time, he tried to guide the people by wandering from one village to another and from one city to another. And during his last days, he was constantly being followed by Roman rulers because of the provocations of the Jews. Under those circumstances, he could find neither enough time to dictate the Gospel, nor a possibility for it. Thus, the Gospels which are present today are called by their writers’ name (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and they look like siyar (a book in which the lives of prophets are told) books which include sermons and talks that Hazrat Eesa had given his apostles. Besides, those who had written them were not the first believers who were the apostles of Hazrat Eesa, but they were those who had seen the apostles and (from them) listened to the divine words that had been revealed to Hazrat Eesa.

There are some differences in terms of content and narration in the present Gospels. As a matter of fact, those Gospels had been accepted by a clerical consul, consisting of one thousand people, which had gathered in Iznik in 325 B.C. That consul had searched hundreds of Bibles, and with the agreement of 318 members, they accepted the 4 Gospels in which it is claimed that Hazrat Eesa has the aspect of godhead. And they annihilated others by burning them.

As it is seen, the principle that Hazrat Eesa was the son of God (God forbid) was accepted by a consul decision years after Hazrat Eesa died. Some Christian churches did not even obey that decision. So, from this point of view, it is not possible to say that the present 4 Gospels are in accordance with the original Gospel which was revealed to Hazrat Eesa.

The divine books which are divine verses are far away from any kind of contradiction and controversy. And the books which had been given to the messengers who had been sent are the words of God. The fact that the original Gospel had been distorted is understood clearly from the contradictions and different information given in the 4 Gospels.

The aim of the Gospel of Matthew is about the life, death and resurrection of Hazrat Eesa. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest one and he mentions about the interests that people had shown to Hazrat Eesa and mentions a lot about his life. And Luke sets forward his aim clearly at the beginning, that he will narrate the life of Eesa (peace be upon him) truly and comprehensively. The fact that Luke expresses that he addressed that book to Theophilos (Luke: 1/3) shows that this book does not belong to Hazrat Eesa. And John says that he has written that Gospel himself by expressing that “You will be attain life with his name.” (20/30-31).

The divine revelation is nothing but the remark, word and the declaration of God. It includes the laws, commands and the prohibitions that God arranged for the prophets and their communities. It informs about previous prophets and the hereafter.

As it will be seen, those mentioned Gospels were written after Hazrat Eesa and are about his life. The divine copies were mixed, and the original Gospel that had been revealed to Hazrat Eesa was distorted. When it is searched and when one thinks with good sense, that truth can be seen clearly.

The Gospels were written around a hundred years after Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon him), and they were been written in the language of Hazrat Eesa. According to the New Testament, the writers of the Gospel were nothing but the reporters of the first Christian community who had recorded the verbal rumors. Every one of the Gospel writers established a kind of bond between the rumors they got from their surroundings and the stories according to their own styles, their own personalities and religious concerns.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the names that are given as the fathers of Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon him), up to Hazrat Abraham (Hazrat Abraham (peace be upon him) is included) are totally 40 (1/1-17). And in the Gospel of Luke, the total number of the given names including Hazrat Abraham is 55.

When the Gospel of Luke, (for Hazrat Eesa) establishes a relationship with Matthat (3/23-38), the Gospel of Matthew establishes a relationship with carpenter Joseph (1/16).

When the Gospel of Matthew informs that Hazrat Yahya (John - peace be upon him) came without eating and drinking (11/18); the Gospel of Marcos says that Yahya ate a grasshopper and wild honey (1/6). As it is seen, these two pieces of information disprove each other.

According to Matthew (27/60), Mark (15/46), Luke (23/53); the corpse was taken and put in a grave which was carved in a rock. However, according to Johanna (John), the corpse of Hazrat Eesa was put in a grave which was in a garden (19/41). In the Gospel of Matthew, while it is stated that a man came to Hazrat Eesa in order to save his epilectic son (17/15); the Gospel of Mark says that he brought his dumb son to Hazrat Eesa (9/17). And Luke, when narrating the same story, says that the man says to Hazrat Eesa that “O Master, I beg you, cure my child.”

The Gospels were written in Greek. In the New Testament, some terms which were maimtained in their original forms are not written in Greek but in Hebrew language. It is also a proof that it had been distorted because the language that Hazrat Eesa spoke was Hebrew (Aramaic).

According to what the Gospel of Matthew informs us, Hazrat Eesa states that he did not come to break the shariah (religious law) of Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him), but to restore it (Matthew: 5/17-18).

However, today’s New Testament teaches that the shariah of Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him) was abolished completely by Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon him). So, it is a contradiction.

The verse which is about the trinity, the basis of Christianity, was as follows: The number of those who testify in the heaven is three: the Father, the word and the Holy Sprit and those three are one and those who testify are three. Sprit, water and blood are in agreement that it is one (John’s Letter: 5/7-8).

The first part was removed from the corrected copy published in 1881 and it is not present in today’s new impressions.

That example shows us that there had been distortions on the holy book of Christianity and those distortions went on.

There is a contradiction between the statements of Matthew “Do not counteract against an evil act; and whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other cheek, too; if one goes to a court to get your jacket, leave him your gabardine as well.” (5/39-40) and (Matthew: 10/34) “Do not think that I came to bring salvation to the earth; I came not for salvation but for sword.”

According to Matthew, the number of the blind people who came to Eesa of Jericho in order to get a cure is two; but according to Mark, the number is one.

According to the Gospel of Matthew (10/9), Hazrat Eesa does not let his Apostles even take a stick with them.

However, according to the statement of the Gospel of Mark, he advised them to take a stick with them (6/8).

When Matthew (25/15) shows the number of the servants as three, Luke shows this number as ten (19/33).

According to the Gospel of Matthew (18/1), the person who asked the question “Who is the greatest in the universe?” is the student of Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon him).

However, in the Gospel of Mark (9/33-34), it is Hazrat Eesa.

Somewhere in the Gospel of Mark (1/1) it is said that “It is the Gospel of Jesus.”, in another place (1/14) it is said that “It is the Gospel of God.”.

In the Gospel of Luke, in one place (Luke: 1: 47) it is said “My savior is God”; in another place it is said “My savior is Jesus.” (2: 11).

For Hazrat Eesa, the expressions of “the son of God”, “the son of Joseph”, “the son of David” and “the son of Adam” are often used.

Which of those is true? There can never be such big contradictions in a divine religion. Those expressions show that there are plenty distortions in the Gospel.

It is often said as an annotation in the Gospels (Matthew: 17/20-21, 18/10-11 - Mark: 7/15-16, 11/25-28, Luke: 8/45, 9-56) “Those statements are mentioned in many old texts.”

In Mark’s Gospel (16/20), it is said that the verses from 9 to 20 of this part are not mentioned in the old texts.

The openness that shows this distortion is present in the Gospel of John (7/53-8/11).

There cannot be such kind of contradiction and incoherence in a book that is attributed to God. On the other hand, a prophet who is a servant and messenger of God cannot put himself in place of God and make people worship him.

Thus, it is understood that the Gospel that was revealed to Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon him) was written, later on, by people and was distorted.

The Qur’an informs that the Gospel was distorted as follows:

“There is among them a section who distort the Book with their tongues: (As they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it is no part of the Book; and they say, "That is from God," but it is not from God. It is they who tell a lie against God, and (well) they know it!” (The Qur’an, Al-Imran, 3/78).

Since the divine books except for the Qur’an were distorted, how can one believe in them?

We, Muslims believe that divine books were revealed to Hazrat Moses, Hazrat David and Hazrat Eesa (peace be upon them) which are named as the Torah, the Psalms and (the Gospel); and those divine books did not have any judgment contrary to the truth and to the religion of oneness (tawhid). However, those books could be maintained and their original copies were distorted.

We cannot say that there are not any verses revealed to the prophets in the books that Jews and Christians have today. However, it is a fact that, there are superstitious beliefs included in them. For this reason, we deal with those books with caution. We regard the decrees suitable to the Qur’an as a revelation. We regard the decrees which are contrary to the Qur’an as verses that had been added later to those books. And we keep silent when there is no contrary or convenient information to the Qur’an. We neither accept nor deny them because they may just as well be a revelation or superstition.

Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) said the following regarding the issue: “The People of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew (text) and interpret it in Arabic for Muslims. The Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said to his companions the following about it:

Say ye: "We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we submit to God (in Islam).’” (the Qur’an, Al-Baqarah, 136)