Muhammadan Objections

66	OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE GENUINESS OF

C. The Qur'an itself was not written down by Muhammad, whom you call the unlearned (أمّي) prophet, but by his companions, and the whole book was not "collected" till after Muhammad's death. Three evangelists' accounts (if we remember that St. Mark was St. Peter's scribe) were written down by eye-witnesses, and that by St. Luke was (as he tells us) compiled by him from the statements not of one eye-witness but of many (Luke i. 1-4). The evangelists were guided by Divine inspiration, according to Christ's promise (John xiv. 26). Moreover, do not forget that your own Qur'an, as we have seen, bears witness to the Gospel, and teaches that it must be received as having "descended on Jesus¹." We have proved that it has not been lost or corrupted.

38. M. There are Apocryphal Gospels; how do you know that only the present Four Gospels are genuine, and not some of the Apocryphal ones?

C. We know it just in the same way that we know that the Qur'an is genuine, and not some other book instead. The Four Gospels have been

¹ This expression should not be adopted by Christians, for it is not correct. The Bishop of Lahore says: "I always pointed out that our Lord was Himself the Word of God (Kalimatu'llah), or, in other words, the Gospel. The reduction of this to writing-so far as that is possible-was naturally not for Him to do (being, in a sense, beneath His dignity), but for His disciples, who received the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this work."

THE BIBLE AS IT NOW EXISTS

handed down among all Christians everywhere, and not a single one of the Apocryphal Gospels has ever been received by the Christian Church as a whole. We have studied them and know that they are of later date than the genuine ones. Moreover, they do not in general contradict the genuine ones, but were intended to supplement them. The latest of them, and the only one that does in one matter contradict the genuine Gospels, is the so-called Gospel of Barnabas, which is known to have been forged considerably after Muhammad's time. In it the writer was ignorant enough to apply the title "Messiah" to Muhammad! (See Sale's remarks in the Preface to his translation of the Qur'an¹.

39. M. Your Bible as it now exists cannot be from God (that is, it must have been corrupted), because it uses language about God which is unfitting: e.g. it speaks of God's hand, God's eye, and again and again says that He "repented." How can we believe that?

C. Such an argument is unmeaning when brought forward by a Muslim: for we find exactly the same style of language used in the Qur'an, with this

¹ The Clarendon Press is publishing the Italian version of the Gospel of the pseudo-Barnabas, and an English translation is also being prepared. I had hoped to be able to give a short account of the book here, but, as it is not yet published, this has not been possible. In view of the expected appearance of the work it is better not to attempt a (necessarily imperfect) account of it.

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA