# Who Really Has the Corrupted Gospels?

URL: https://islamsproblems.com/corrupted-gospels-claim/
Part: Core Arguments

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### 6. Who Really Has the Corrupted Gospels?

Islam accuses the canonical gospels of corruption. But secular historians trace the Quran’s Jesus stories
to later legends like those in the 2nd century Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which they consider far less
credible than the canonical gospels.

So ironically, Islam calls the more reliable gospels corrupt while drawing from the actual corruptions.

#### Quran

“And [make him (Jesus)] a messenger to the
Children of Israel, [who will say], ‘Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I
design for you **from clay** [that which is] **like the form of a bird**, then I breathe into it
and **it becomes a bird** by permission of Allah.” [Quran 3:49](https://quran.com/3/49?translations=20)

“when Allah will say, ‘O Jesus, Son of
Mary, remember […] when you **designed from clay** [what was] **like the form of a bird** with My
permission,
then you breathed into it, and **it became a bird** with My permission’” [Quran 5:110](https://quran.com/5/110?translations=20)

#### Infancy Gospel of Thomas

“When the boy Jesus was five years old […] He then **made soft clay** and **shaped it into**
twelve **sparrows**. […] But Jesus simply clapped his hands and shouted to the sparrows: ‘Be off, fly
away,
and remember me, you who are now alive!’ And **the sparrows took off and flew away** noisily.”
[Infancy Gospel of Thomas](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancythomas-hock.html#:~:text=made%20soft%20clay%20and%20shaped%20it%20into%20twelve%20sparrows)

A pre-Quranic fragment (dated by scholars to the 4th/5th century) we have of the
infancy gospel preserves this story. [4th-5th century papyrus of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/newly-deciphered-papyrus-describes-miracle-performed-by-5-year-old-jesus)

Quran Takes Commentary of Jewish Rabbis as Revelation From Allah

Whoever Kills a Soul It Is As If He Had Slain Mankind

> “Because of that, **We decreed upon the Children of Israel** that **whoever kills a soul**
> unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - **it is as if he had slain mankind entirely**. And **whoever saves one** - **it is as if he had saved mankind entirely**.”
> [Quran 5:32](https://quran.com/al-maidah/32?translations=20)

**Commentary of Jewish Rabbis** in the Mishnah and Talmud on the Torah:

> “The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! **Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground**.’”
> [Genesis 4:10 (Torah)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%204%3A10&version=NIV#:~:text=Your%20brother%E2%80%99s%20blood%20cries%20out%20to%20me%20from%20the%20ground)

> “‘The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground’ **(Genesis 4:10)**.
> The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: ‘Your
> brother’s blood [demei],’ in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his
> brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes:
> Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that
> that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones.
> The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you
> that with regard to **anyone who destroys one soul** from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one
> Jew, **the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world**, as Adam was one
> person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, **anyone who sustains one soul** from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit **as if he sustained an entire world**.”
> [Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 (Rabbinic Commentary c. 190-230 AD)](https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sanhedrin.4.5)

Islamic Studies scholar Gabriel Said Reynolds:

> “**5:32** A connection between this verse and the account of Abel’s murder which precedes it is
> suggested by ‘that is why’ (Ar. min ajal dhālika). The nature of the connection between the two,
> however, is **clear only in light of a discussion in the Mishnah** over the reason Genesis
> 4:10 speaks of the shedding of Abel’s ‘bloods’ (pl., Hb. dāmīm) and not his ‘blood’
> (sing.)”
> “The precept that killing one soul is like killing all souls is directly
> linked here to the creation of man ‘one and alone in the world,’ but the larger context is the
> discussion of the ‘bloods’ of Abel. The Qurʾān seems to have picked up on that larger context. It
> is also noteworthy that the Qurʾān refers to God’s decreeing (Ar. katabnā ʿalā) **something for Israel which is found not in the Bible but in the Mishnah**. And it should not be missed that
> all of this is connected to the **Qurʾān’s anti-Jewish polemic: the decree ‘whoever kills a soul’ is imposed only on the Israelites, whom the Qurʾān (anachronistically) blames for the murder of Abel** (see further Witztum, Syriac Milieu, 122–24).”
> [Gabriel Said Reynolds, “The Qurʾan and the Bible”, p. 199](https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Reynolds-G-The-Quran-and-the-Bible-Text-and-Commentary.pdf#page=219)

We Raised the Mountain Above Them

> “And [mention] when **We raised the mountain above them** as if it was a dark cloud and they
> were **certain that it would fall upon them**, [and Allāh said], ‘Take what We have given you
> with determination and remember what is in it that you might fear Allāh.’”
> [Quran 7:171](https://quran.com/al-araf/171?translations=20) [Quran 2:63](https://quran.com/al-baqarah/63?translations=20)

**Commentary of Jewish Rabbis** in the Talmud on the Torah:

> “Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and **they stood at the foot of the mountain**.”
> [Exodus 19:17 (Torah)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2019%3A17&version=NIV#:~:text=they%20stood%20at%20the%20foot%20of%20the%20mountain)

> “‘And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the
> lowermost part of the mount’ **(Exodus 19:17)**. **Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain**, and the verse teaches that the Holy
> One, Blessed be He, **overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub**, and said to them:
> If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial.”
> [Babylonian Talmud (Rabbinic Commentary c. 450-550 AD)](https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.88a.5)

Islamic Studies scholar Gabriel Said Reynolds:

> “**2:63** The Qurʾān here returns to the story of the Israelites. The Mount is Mt. Sinai, where God gave
> the Law to Israel. The idea of ‘raising the Mount’ above Israel—which may be difficult to
> picture—**reflects an interpretation of Exodus 19:17** (cf. Deu 4:10) **preserved in the Babylonian Talmud** (cf. 4:154; **7:171**):
> And they stood under mount: R. Abdimi b.
> Ḥama b. Ḥasa said: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, **overturned the mountain upon them like an [inverted] cask**. (b. Shabbat, 88a; cf. Avodah Zarah, 2b)”
> [Gabriel Said Reynolds, “The Qurʾan and the Bible”, p. 51](https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Reynolds-G-The-Quran-and-the-Bible-Text-and-Commentary.pdf#page=71)

Mary’s Date Palm Miracle (Christian Legend From 3rd-5th Century AD)

In the Quran, Allah provides Mary with a **stream** of water and **dates**
from a **palm** tree:

> “And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, ‘Oh, I wish I had died
> before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.’ But he called her from below her, ‘Do not grieve; **your Lord has provided beneath you a stream**. And **shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates**.’”
> [Quran 19:23-25](https://quran.com/19/23-25?translations=20)

Scholars trace the story to a non-canonical **Christian legend which started in the 3rd-5th century AD** where the infant Jesus reveals a **spring** and orders a
**date-palm** to bend down and feed Joseph and Mary:

> “And he said, ‘**My mother, you did not understand my power.** **I first revealed it to you at the spring**, where I led Joseph. He was crying, the child who is glorified because he is greater
> than everything, and Joseph was angry with you, saying, ‘Give your breast to your child.’ At once you
> gave it to him, as you went forth to the Mount of Olives, fleeing from Herod. And when you came to
> some trees you said to Joseph, ‘My lord, **we are hungry, and what do we have to eat in this desert place?**’”
> “And the child stopped [nursing from] your breast, this one who is greater than all things, and he
> said to Joseph, ‘My father, why don’t you climb this date-palm and bring it to her, so that my
> mother might eat from it, as was said about it. And I will feed you: not only you, but also the
> fruit that comes forth from it. I will not be hungry even for one day.’ And the **child turned and said to the date-palm, ‘Incline your head with your fruit, and satisfy my mother and father.’ And it inclined immediately.** And who made it incline? Is it not because I have power, which was
> because of me?”
> [Book of Mary’s Repose (3rd-5th century AD), translated by Shoemaker, p. 20](https://islamspring2012.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/192/2018/10/Shoemaker_christmas-in-the-Quran.pdf#page=10)

Islamic Studies scholar Stephen J. Shoemaker:

> “**Modern scholars of the Qur’an have long acknowledged that the Qur’anic account of Jesus’ birth is based largely on the reworking of a relatively obscure, apocryphal Christian tale**, which is now
> known in several versions. This early Christian legend describes certain miraculous events that were
> imagined to have transpired during the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. According to these
> traditions, while Mary and Joseph were travelling to Egypt with their newborn son, the Holy Family
> came into a remote, desolate area. In the midst of this desert, **Mary expresses her hunger to Joseph, and in response, her infant son causes a tall date palm to bend and offer her its fruit**. Then, in some versions of the story, **Mary also drinks from a spring that her son miraculously provides**. **The parallels between this legend and Mary’s feeding from the date palm and stream in the Qur’anic Nativity account are obvious.**”
> “As I have demonstrated in my recent book on these traditions, the narrative that best preserves the
> story of Mary and the date palm **was first composed by the early fifth century at the latest**,
> although the peculiar theology reflected in this narrative very strongly suggests **its formation sometime in the third century**, if not even earlier. Several Syriac fragments copied in the
> later fifth century form the earliest witness to this narrative, and by the end of the sixth century,
> this version was **widely dispersed throughout the cultures and languages of the Byzantine Near East**.” [p. 19](https://islamspring2012.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/192/2018/10/Shoemaker_christmas-in-the-Quran.pdf#page=9)
> “**The dependence of the Qur’anic Nativity account on these earlier Christian traditions of Mary and the date palm is all but certain**: as modern Qur’anic scholarship has frequently recognized,
> **the similarities are just too striking to be mere chance**.” [p. 21](https://islamspring2012.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/192/2018/10/Shoemaker_christmas-in-the-Quran.pdf#page=11)
> [Shoemaker, “Christmas in the Qur’an”](https://islamspring2012.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/192/2018/10/Shoemaker_christmas-in-the-Quran.pdf#page=7)

One-Liners

- **The Burden of Proof:** Corrupted compared to what? The Injeel? Where is the
Injeel in the real world so we can verify the corruption claim?

- **The Double-Edged Sword:** You can’t use New Testament manuscripts to prove
corruption while ignoring their agreement on Jesus’ divinity, unless you produce an earlier Injeel
that denies it.

### Sources
- Quran 3:49: https://quran.com/3/49?translations=20
- Quran 5:110: https://quran.com/5/110?translations=20
- Infancy Gospel of Thomas: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancythomas-hock.html#:~:text=made%20soft%20clay%20and%20shaped%20it%20into%20twelve%20sparrows
- 4th-5th century papyrus of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/newly-deciphered-papyrus-describes-miracle-performed-by-5-year-old-jesus

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