I want to make it clear from the beginning that I do not intend to put down or disrespect the Bible. Muslims are taught to respect the holy books of others, which is why, while you may see people in Europe burning the Qur’an streamed live on social media, you will never see a Muslim burning the Bible or any other book considered sacred by its followers. In the Qur’an, God mentions the Gospel of Jesus (peace be upon him) 12 times. With that in mind, I encourage you to approach this page from a Muslim perspective to understand why they believe the original scriptures were altered and corrupted. Sometimes it was due to mistakes, others through misinterpretations or loss in translation, by often it was intentionally as you will see.
Additionally, I’d like to make mention that the Bible has always been the property of the Church and its leaders, when it should have been the property of the Christian people.
The Bible (The Old and New Testament):
Contrary to the belief that the Bible is a single book directly from God, it is actually a collection of 73 books written by various authors, some of whom remain unknown. It’s also important to note that while Jesus (pbuh) is quoted endlessly in the Bible, he did not write any of its content.
As mentioned, the Bible is a collection of 73 books taken from The Old and The New Testament. The Old Testament is comprised of 46 books written sometime between 1000 and 100 BC, and the New Testament is comprised of 27 books written between 50 and 100 AD.
The list of the 46 books from the Old Testament (including the Deuterocanonical ones) and the 27 books from the New Testament were declared the official canon of Sacred Scripture for the Catholic Church by the synod (council) of Hippo in 393 AD, Carthage I & II in 397 AD and 419 AD. The letter of Pope St. Innocent I in 405 AD also officially listed these books, and in 1442 AD the council of Florence also definitively established the official list of 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament. (In other words, the church officially selected the 73 books which form the Bible).
Can the Bible be considered the divine word of God?
In order to answer this question, we must ask another one: Who are the authors of the 73 books that make up the Bible?
The Church believes the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of Sacred Scripture to write down God’s revelations.
In some cases the authors of these books are unknown, for example: Joshua (24 chapters, author unknown), Esther (10 chapters, author unknown), Job (42 chapters, author unknown), Samuel (1 & 2, author unknown), Ruth (4 chapters, author unknown), Nehemiah (13 chapters, author not identified but possibly Nehemiah or Nezra).
So, if some of the authors are unknown, how could a collection of these books be put together and called the divine word of God? And how could the Church claim that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors, when they don’t even know who all of them are?
Why has the Church left out books by well-known authors?
What criteria did the church use to select which books to choose and which ones to omit? They left out the infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Barnabas, the Gospel of Philip, the secret Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and a lot more.
Why would the Church choose to include 73 books (some by unknown authors) and exclude those whose authorship is known, like the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus (pbuh), or the Gospel of Barnabas (an Apostle), written in his own hand? What was the Church trying to hide? Was it because Mary Magdalene may have been married to Jesus (pbuh), as described in the Gospel of Philip? Or was it because the Gospel of Barnabas states that Jesus (pbuh) never claimed to be God or the Son of God, but rather a prophet sent by God, like those before him? Or was it because the name of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned several times, and Jesus (pbuh) prophesized that Muhammad (pbuh) would be sent as a mercy for mankind?
Not only were most of the Gospels, whose authors were well known, excluded from the Bible, but many of them were also burned between July 306 and October 312 AD during the reign of Constantine.
A copy of the handwritten Gospel of Barnabas was discovered with the Apostle Barnabas’ remains in 478 AD, a century before the birth of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Gospel of Barnabas was declared a rejected book by Pope Gelasius [Pope of Rome 492-96] in the Decretum Gelasianum (see below).
A few centuries later, a friend of Pope Sixtus, named Fra Marino, found the Gospel of Barnabas in the Pope’s private library and decided to translate it into Italian. In 1738, the manuscript was moved to the Austrian National Library. Since then, it has been relocated and displayed several times in different National libraries, it is currently housed in the National Library of Turkey in Ankara.
Note: The Apostle Barnabas (who lived during and met Jesus (pbuh)) was stoned to death for having refused to distort the truth about what he saw and about Jesus being the prophet of God (pbuh), to read sections of the Gospel of Barnabas (which was translated into English in London in 1907) please go to page 09 – “the rejected Gospel”.
Contradictions and discrepancies:
There are apparent contradictions and discrepancies in the Bible that raise additional questions: If it is truly the divine word of God, how could there be such inconsistencies? Doesn’t this totally challenge the idea of God being all-knowing? here are 3 examples (and there are a lot more):
The Death of Judas Iscariot, in Matthew 27:5, Judas hanged himself and in Acts 1:18 Judas fell and his bowels gushed out.
- Matthew 27:5: “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.”
- Acts 1:18: “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”
Age of Ahaziah: The age at which he became king, in 2 chronicles 22:2, he became king at 42 years old and in 2 Kings 8:26 he became king at 22 years old.
- 2 Chronicles 22:2 (42 years old): “Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.”
- 2 Kings 8:26 (22 years old): “Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.”
How Many Animals Did Noah took into the Ark? in Genessis 6:19-20 Noah is told to take two of every kind of animal, and in Genesis 7:2-3 to take seven of each
- Genesis 6:19-20: “Of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.”
- Genesis 7:2-3: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female… Of fowls also of the air by sevens, male and female…”
And the missing books:
In addition to these mysteries, the Protestant version of the Bible has fewer books than the Catholic version. It has 66 books and no one seems capable of offering an explanation beyond the doubtful authorship of 7 books of the Old Testament (For more information regarding the Protestant and Catholic Bibles you can read “The Missing Books of the Bible” by Father William Sander, dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom).
Because of these reasons, Muslims believe the original scriptures were corrupted and do not abide by them, opting instead to follow the last scripture sent by God, the Qur’an.
The Decretum Gelasianum: (The list of the books NOT to be included in the Bible)
Below is “Article 5” from the ‘Decretum Gelasianum’ (the Gelasian Decree by Pope Gelasius), which lists the books and writings that the Church officially rejected and did not accept for inclusion in the Bible.
(To read the entire decret of Gelasianum, please visit one those 3 external sources):
http://www.tertullian.org/decretum_eng.htm
http://www.ntcanon.org/Decretum_Gelasianum.shtml
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/decretum.html
V. The remaining writings which have been compiled or been recognised by heretics or schismatics the Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church does not in any way receive; of these we have thought it right to cite below a few which have been handed down and which are to be avoided by catholics:
LIKEWISE A LIST OF APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
Firstly we confess that the synod of Sirmium called together by Constantius Caesar the son of Constantine through the Prefect Taurus is damned then and now and for ever.
