The History
STORY OF THE QURAN AND THE INJIL
By Abdullah Ibrahim
To study and understand history has always been a vital tool in developing a correct view on a wide variety of matters. In order to confirm the validity of the Injil, which is known as the New Testament, it will be necessary to look at its history and that of the Quran. In the Holy Book of Islam Christians are referred to as the people of the Injil. (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, 47, all references refer to "The Meaning of The Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf 'Ali, Amana Publications, U.S.A., 1989) The literal meaning of the word is "Good News," or "Gospel". It is used in three ways:Firstly, it refers to the Good News that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, on our behalf, and that he rose from the dead. (Mark 14:61-62, Luke 18:31-33, Matthew 26:27)
Secondly, the word "Gospel" has been used to describe the written accounts of Jesus' words and deeds. (e.g.the Gospel of Mattew, Mark, Luke and John)
Thirdly, the term is used in the Quran to describe what is known to Christians as the New Testament, including the four Gospels already mentioned and the 23 other parts written by some of the early followers of Jesus under the inspiration of God. (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, 111-113) This becomes clear when one looks at the evidence found in the Quran and in history.
Evidence from the Quran:
Surah 61, Al Saff, 14 mentions true Christians who prevailed in the time of Jesus, in the 1st century AD.
Surah 57, Al Hadid, 27 speaks about true believers in Christ who received their due reward at the beginning of monasticism, in the 4th century AD.
Surah 85, Al Buruj, 4-9 talks about believers who were ready to die for their faith. Hamidullah identifies them in the footnotes to his translation of the Quran as Christians who were persecuted in the sixth century by Dhu Nuwas, a Jewish king of Yemen. S. Abul A'la Maududi and Yusuf Ali also refer to that tragic incident as a possible explanation in the comments on those verses in their translations of the Quran.
Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, 66 mentions that some Jews and Christians were on the right course in Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) time, the sixth century.
People could only be called "true Christian believers" if they were in possession of the Injil (Gospel), the New Testament given by God, otherwise they would not have been commended as they were. History tells us what was part of it.
Evidence from history:
The 27 parts that together make up the New Testament as we know it today in the twentieth century have been accepted as single letters already by the great majority of the early Christians in the first century AD. In order to be better equipped against false teachings, a list (called "canon") of the 27 books contained in the New Testament was officially approved by the Church in 397 AD at the Third Council of Carthage. ("An Introduction to the New Testament" by D.A. Carson, D.J. Moo, L. Morris, Apollos, 1992, pages 493, 495) It is this whole New Testament teaching that the Christians before and in Muhammad's (p.b.u.h.) time undoubtedly were following. They are described in the Quran verses above as:
-Those "who believed and received their due reward" in the fourth century. -Believers who died for their faith" in the sixth century. -Those who "were on the right course" in the sixth century.
Such favorable terms can only be used for those who followed the complete, unchanged, God given book. Therefore, both, Quran and history, confirm that the Arabic word "Injil" used in the Quran ("Gospel"), is identical with "the New Testament."
The following comparison shows that both, the Muslim and the Christian books, have gone through similar stages of developments. Therefore, if someone assumes that the Injil was changed in the course of time one would have to apply the same skepticism to the Quran as well
