These verses teach us that the Taurat and Injil were then in the hands of the People of the Book, that they had been sent down by God, and that they were carefully studied. The Bible is called the Word of God, and the Law is also distinguished by the title Furqan, which you deem the highest title of the Qur'an itself. Is this consonant with your assertion that the Bible had been corrupted before Muhammad's time? If so, why does the Qur'an represent Muhammad as commanded to tell the People of the Book to accept the Qur'an because it confirmed what was then in their hands? Why is he directed to bid the Muslims believe in the "previous books" (the Torah and Injil) as well as in the Qur'an? Why are rewards promised to "the People of the Book" if they continue to obey "the Book"? Why are they warned that their hopes are founded upon nothing unless they do so? Our third and fifth quotations show that they still had the Law and the Gospel. Why are the People of the Gospel bidden to judge Muhammad's claims by God's revelation contained in the Gospel, if it had already been corrupted? You must see that, by attacking the Bible as it existed in Muhammad's

days, you do it no harm but are really overthrowing your own faith in the Qur'an and in Muhammad.

7. M. But the Qur'an itself tells us that the Law at least had been corrupted before Muhammad's time (tahrif, muharraf), as it is said, for example, in the following passages:—