Islam’s Tahrif Charges Began with Talmudic Rabbis’ Anti-Samaritans

For Christian priests and ministers, as well as Jewish rabbis who wish to reduce religious based hostility to Islam, the single biggest obstacle is the Qur’an’s claim that the sacred scriptures of both Christians and Jews have been, to some unknown extent, corrupted either textually in writing, or at least verbally by erroneous interpretation.

While the Qur’an has very many references to people and events in the Hebrew Bible, it has only one direct quote from the Hebrew Bible in Psalms: “We have written in the Zabur (Psalms) after the reminder [the Torah of Musa] that ‘My righteous servants shall inherit the earth.’” (21:105)

This verse is a close parallel to five verses in Psalm 37 which state that believers in God should never lose hope and fall into despair; because eventually goodness always overcomes evil; and God’s “righteous servants shall inherit the earth.”

This one verse in the Qur’an compares to 283 direct quotations from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in the New Testament. In over ninety instances, the Greek Septuagint is literally quoted and in another eighty cases, the quote is altered in some way so one could say that the New Testament already corrupts the Old Testament.

The reason for the giant difference in quotations is that the New Testament claims to be the fulfillment of many dozens of Old Testament prophecies; and many Christians claim that the New Testament replaces the whole Old Testament on which it is built.

Islam however, does not claim to be based on a previous revelation; although it does claim to correct the erroneous New Testament’s trinitarian teachings; and the idea that Jesus died on the cross to save from hellfire all those who believe in him.

“It is not conceivable that a human being [like Jesus] unto whom God had granted revelation, sound judgment, and prophethood, should thereafter have said to people, “Worship me beside God”; but rather [say], “Become men of God by spreading the knowledge of the divine text, and by your own deep study [of scripture].” (Qur’an 3:79)

God prefers religious pluralism for monotheists: “O mankind, We created you from male and female, and made you peoples and tribes, that you may know (respect) one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. (Quran 49:13)

So: ”Let there be no compulsion in Religion: truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah (one God) has grasped the most trustworthy unbreakable hand hold: Allah hears, and knows all things.” (Qur’an:2:256)

And “Say: we believe in God and in what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma’il: Isaac, Jacob and The Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the Prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another, among them, and to God do we bow our will.” (Qur’an 3:84)

Instead of insisting that one [our own] scripture, or interpretation of our scripture, be the only true one; the Qur’an instructs all monotheistic religions to compete in doing good deeds: “For every one of you did We appoint a law and a way. If Allah had wanted He could have made you one people, but (He didn’t) that He might test you in what He gave you. Therefore, compete with one another to hasten to do virtuous deeds; for all return to Allah (for judgement), so He will let you know [about] that in which you differed.” (5:48)

As a Reform Rabbi who believes that Prophet Muhammad was an authentic prophet of the One God to the polytheists of the world; and a reforming prophet to the two monotheistic religions of Prophets Moses, David and Jesus; I offer an example of how to minimize and even harmonize this conflict.

Prophet Micah asserts that even in the future peace time of the Messianic Age, “All people will walk, each in the name of its God.” (Bible Micah 4:5) So worldwide peace and religious unity will not be the result of total conformity to one universal religion.

It will result from the harmony of different monotheistic religions, each following its own view of what the one God demands of them and respecting other monotheistic religions’ views of what the One God demands of them.

Religious charges of Tahrif, the idea that other people’s sacred scriptures were corrupted, did not begin with Islam; they began with Judaism and Christianity. Rabbi Elazar ben Yossi HaGelili who lived in the first half of the 2nd century C.E. said: “I said to the Samaritan scribes: You falsified the Torah and gained nothing from that. For you wrote “near the terebinths of Moreh near Shechem,” [“near Shechem” being an addition by the Samaritans to the Samaritan Torah]. (Sifre on Deuteronomy piska 56)

As the centuries pass, many words change their meaning; adding new meanings to the old meanings, which are sometimes even lost. So Rabbi Judah said: If one translates a verse literally one is a liar; if one adds or subtracts anything, one could be a blasphemer and can be accused of libel.” (Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 49a) But by the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, the Hebrew words that God said, had been written down for many centuries in the dozens of books that make up the Hebrew Bible and were wide spread from Spain to India.

The Samaritan Pentateuch is the sacred scripture of the Samaritan Jewish community whose holy writings comprise solely the Torah, the Five Books Of Moses-Pentateuch, from the second century B.C.E. until today. The full text of the Samaritan Pentateuch, like the rabbinic Masoretic Text is known from medieval manuscripts dating from the ninth century C.E. onwards, and undoubtedly goes back to ancient pre Qur’an Jewish texts.

The rabbis describe the Samaritan Pentateuch as a falsification of the Jewish Torah (Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 7.3; Babylonian Talmud  Sotah 33b; and Sanhedrin 90b) and its text was never quoted in rabbinic literature.

One good example of Tahrif in the Torah is Exodus 12:40–41 which states: “The length of time the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. At the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.” But this number is inconsistent with the 2-3 generations name data in Genesis 46 and Exodus 6.

Two ancient versions of the Torah solved this problem by extending the period of 430 years back to Abraham’s arrival in Canaan. Both the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the Samaritan Torah solve the problem by beginning the stay in Canaan explicitly into Exodus 12:40: “And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years”

The rabbis (Mekhilta Bo, parasha 14) also recognized that a 400 year enslavement does not square with the notion of a only four generation absence from the land of Israel and thus infer, “Rabbi Judah HaNasi says: One passage says ‘And they shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years,’ and one passage says, ‘And in the fourth generation they shall come back here.’ How can both these passages be maintained (as correct)? The Holy One, blessed be He said: “If they repent I will redeem them after the number of generations, and if not, I will redeem them after the number of years.”

Today’s Israelite Samaritans, as they call themselves, are closely related to the Jews, but they do not identify as Jews and therefore their Samaritan Pentateuch is not considered a Jewish text any more. Yet the Dead Sea Scrolls contain texts that are very similar to the Samaritan Pentateuch which demonstrates that this text type was also considered to be an authoritative Jewish text in the generations prior to the birth of Prophet Jesus.

These predecessors of the Samaritan Pentateuch found at Qumran share all the major features with the Samaritan Pentateuch which was created probably in the second century B.C.E. by slightly rewriting one of these pre-Samaritan texts to reflect the importance of Mount Gerizim.

Organized Judaism from the Rabbinic period onwards always considered the Masoretic Text as the only (kosher) text of the Bible, and thus by implication the “original text” of the Hebrew Bible. The rabbis describe the Samaritan Pentateuch as a falsification (Tahrif) of the Jewish Torah (Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 7.3; Babylonian Talmud Sotah 33b; and Sanhedrin 90b) and its text was never quoted in rabbinic literature.

Independently, Mani. who lived in Persia from 216-274 C.E. and was the founding prophet of the Manichaean religion, charged all the other then existing sacred scriptures with tahrif.

The Manichaean version of Genesis is not just a derivative distortion of orthodox scriptures. It is close to some older traditions from earlier stages of the biblical narrative tradition which were subsequently dropped from their original settings by the final redactors of Genesis, and which are now found in texts like Jubilees and portions of 1 Enoch.

A principal critique Mani levels against some of his prophetic predecessors is that they failed to insure the accurate registration and preservation of their writings, and so these writings; which eventually evolve into the canonical scriptures associated with religions like Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity; were corrupted and falsified by later generations of disciples and followers. Ibn al- Nadīm reports that ‘Mānī disparaged the other prophets in his writings. He found fault with them and charged them with lies, and maintained that devils had taken possession of them and had spoken using their tongues.’

Christian polemicists have also used tahrif claims since the time of Justin Martyr (c.100-165 C.E.), who was born of pagan parents. By 132 C.E. he had become a Christian and by the 140’s began charging Jews with the alteration of those portions of Jewish scripture which purportedly predicted the advent of Messiah Jesus and the Christian Church.

Justin Martyr built on the New Testament writing of Paul (2 Corinthians 3:14), “But their (Jewish) minds were closed. Until this very day, the same veil remains over their reading of the Old Testament [and] has not lifted, for only in Christ is it done away with.”

Good examples of internal Jewish Tahrif charges come from Karaite Jews who rejected the Oral Torah expansions taught by rabbinic Jews of the written Torah’s commandments. The most visible mark of Karaite Jews dietary distinction from Orthodox Jews is their lack of a prohibition of eating or cooking foods that are mixtures of dairy and meat. Karaite kitchens are not characterized by separate utensils for milk and meat, and Karaite Jews do not wait for a few hours between eating meat and dairy products, eating them together unless the meat and milk come from the same species.

The Orthodox Rabbinic prohibition of milk and meat together is based upon three biblical passages (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; and Deuteronomy 14:21) each of which concludes with the statement: “Do not cook a goat in its mother’s milk.” Karaite Jews understand the prohibition of “cooking a goat in its mother’s milk” as meaning exactly what it says.

Karaite scholars have also expanded the law from prohibiting cooking a mother goat in its own daughter’s milk, to eating milk and meat from the same species at the same meal. But lamb and cow’s milk, for instance, would be allowed, as would eating chicken with any dairy product.

Thus, some Muslims may have seen the very different dietary regulations between rabbinic Orthodox Jews and Karaite Jews as a sign of Tahrif; for Karaite dietary laws are closer to Islamic dietary laws, and are very different from the much more expansive, and much more restrictive, dietary laws of Orthodox Judaism.

Another somewhat simpler example of Jewish Midrash Tahrif is the debate between the Rabbinic majority and the Sage Ben Zoma who said: “Surely the exodus from Egypt will not be mentioned in the Messianic era for it says, ‘Days are coming says the Lord when they will no longer say: “As the Lord lives who took the Israelites out of the land of Egypt” but rather; “As the Lord lives who took out and brought the seed of the house of Israel from the land of [Exile]…”’” (Jeremiah 16:14-15, 23:7-8)

Ben Zoma, in faithfulness to the literal meaning of the Prophet Jeremiah prophecy, posits that in the future, the exodus from Egypt will be replaced in the Jewish psyche by the [Messianic Age] ingathering of the exiles. Concomitantly, Ben Zoma argues, mention of the exodus will disappear from the liturgy.

The Sages reject Ben Zoma’s liturgy conclusion, and claim that he is misconstruing the Prophet Jeremiah verse: They [the sages] said to Ben Zoma: “It does not mean that the departure from Egypt will no longer be mentioned, but the departure from Egypt will be [mentioned] in addition to the [liberation from oppressive] kingdoms (i.e., exile). The [liberation from oppressive] kingdoms will be primary and the departure from Egypt subsidiary.”

So according to the sages, the biblical phrase “you will no longer say x but y” does not mean abrogation literally “you will no longer say x,” but rather “you will no longer say only x.” In other words, when scripture seems to be substituting one thing for another, what it really intends is not the eradication of one, but only its demotion. Muslim scholars of Hadith know how many disputes can be found in Islamic traditions about the interaction of Qur’an law and non-Qur’an laws and practices.

Similar accusations would appear in Islam under the label of tahrif (alteration) particularly with regard to falsification in both Jewish and Christian scriptures (Quran 3:78; 4:46; and 5:15).

All of these pre-Qur’an influential religious thinkers were themselves influenced by a non-religious pagan Greek philosopher named Aristotle (384–322 BC) who believed that truth had to be what is called today: a Zero Sum Game.

Greek philosophy, with its requirement that truth must be unchanging and universal, influenced most teachers of sacred scripture during early Medieval times to believe that religion itself was a zero sum game; the more truth I find in your scripture the less truth there is in mine.

Instead of understanding differing texts as complementary, polemicists made them contradictory and declared the other religion’s sacred text to be false.

If religion is to promote peace in our pluralistic world we must reject the zero sum game ideology and develop the pluralistic teachings that already exist within our own sacred scriptures, and especially in the Qur’an.

After all “all prophets are brothers. They have the same father (God) but different mothers (mother tongues, motherlands and unique historical circumstances that account for all the differences in their scriptures).

Religions differ because the circumstances of each nation receiving them differ. Where sacred Scriptures differ they do not nullify each other; they only cast additional light on each other.

The Qur’an states, in opposition to the Greek Zero Sum Game theory of truth, that: “If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (God’s plan is) to test you in what He has given you: so compete in all virtues as in a race. The goal of you all is to (please) Allah who will show you on judgment day) the truth of the matters in which you dispute.” (Qur’an 5:48)

So until judgement day humans here on earth are limited to the particular truth of there own specific religion.

In an important Hadith of Prophet Muhammad. Abu Huraira relates, “The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah’s Apostle said (to the Muslims). “Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, ‘We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.”’

Following Muhammad’s teaching I neither believe nor disbelieve the Qur’an. If I believed in the Qur’an, I would be a member of the Muslim ummah (community). But I cannot disbelieve in the Qur’an because I believe that Prophet Muhammad was indeed a non-Jewish, Abrahamic prophet; and I respect the Qur’an as a revelation to a kindred people, in a kindred language. In fact, the people, the language and the theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other religion on earth.

Unlike those in the past who played the zero sum game, I do not seek some verse in the Qur’an I can dispute or object to. Indeed, this is what the Qur’an itself teaches. “For every community We have appointed a whole system of worship which they are to observe. So do not let them draw you into disputes concerning this matter.” (22:67)

And the Qur’an clearly states: “Those who believe (Muslims), those who advocate Judaism, Christians, Sabeans, whoever truly believes in God and the Last Day, and does good righteous deeds, surely their reward is with their Lord, they will not fear, nor will they grieve.” (2:62)

Thank God, in 21st century America the majority of most religious groups now believe the teachings of the Qur’an cited above. A survey of over 35,000 Americans in 2008 found that most Americans agree with the statement: many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those affiliated with some religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life.

This view is shared by a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including 82% of Jews, 79% of Catholics, 57% of evangelical Protestants and 56% of Muslims. (From the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2008, Pew Research Center.)

Thus, in 21st century United States most Christians, Jews, and Muslims have rejected the zero sum mind set and believe in the Qur’an’s pluralism teachings. Only those who reject God by disbelief or by unrepentant evil activities will be the losers when Judgement Day comes.

Although many, perhaps most theologians will learn that they might not be as smart as they thought they were.

It is also very important to understand that ‘religious pluralism is the will of God’ is different from religious, moral or cultural relativism. Relativism teaches that all values and standards are subjective, and therefore there is no higher spiritual authority available for setting ethical standards or making moral judgments.

Thus, issues of justice, truth or human rights are, like beauty, just in the eye of the beholder. Most people, especially those who believe that One God created all of us, refuse to believe that ethics and human rights are simply a matter of taste. Religious pluralism as the will of God is the opposite of cultural or philosophical relativism.

The fundamental idea supporting religious pluralism is that religious people need to embrace humility in many areas of religion. All religions have always taught a traditional anti self – centered personal egoism type of humility.

Religious pluralism also opposes a religious, philosophical, and self righteous intellectual egoism that promotes a tendency to turn our legitimate love for our own prophet and Divine revelation into universal truths that we fully understand and know how to apply.

Religious pluralism teaches that finite humans, even the most intelligent and pious of them, can not fully understand everything the way the infinite One does.

This is true, for every human being, even for God’s messengers themselves. When prophet Moses, “who God spoke with face to face, as a person speaks with a friend” (Exodus 33:11) asks to see God face to face, he is told, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see My face and live.” (33:20)

Similarly, in the Qur’an prophet Jesus admits to God, “You know everything that is within myself, whereas I do not know what is within Yourself”. (7:116) And when prophet Jesus was asked, in private, by his disciples, “What will be the sign for your coming (back) and the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3) Jesus warns his disciples about upheavals and false Messiahs that will come. Then Jesus concluded by saying, “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the son: only the Father”. (24:36)

A similar statement was made by Prophet Muhammad when he was asked, “Tell me about the Hour”. He said: “The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner.” (Muslim book 1 Hadith 1&4)

God taught the general principle of epistemological humility through his Prophet who taught his followers “I am no novelty among the messengers. I do not know what will be done to me, or to you.” (Qur’an 46:9)

In truth, the only universal truth should be the humility to admit: “Only God knows”