Dear Editor,
We must be wary of giving ground on the Muslim idea that the Qur’an exclusively declares the corruption of the three previous ‘Holy Books’; the Pentateuch, Psalms and Gospels (en July, page 19).
The integrity and existence of the Pentateuch (Tawraat) and Gospel (injil) is affirmed in Surah 5.46-50, 71.
The Qur’anic passages referring to corruption allude to verbal misquote, not a tampering of written sacred texts. The corruption was of tahrifi-manawi (the meaning) not tahrifi-lafzi (the text).
Surah 3.78 refers to yaluwnal-sinatahum (tongue twisting) i.e. verbal distortion.
It is important that the Muslim hearer can be open to the reliability of our written Scriptures and their narratives.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Marcus, Kent
