The Alteration of the Sacred Books According to the Islamic Theologians

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity preach the worship of God of Abraham. Jewish and Christian faiths were intertwined with the Islamic faith in its initial days. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians as believers of God (Ahl al-Kitab). Islamic faith is not complete unless believing in Moses and Christ as the messengers/prophets of God. It also affirms Torah, Prophetical literature, and Gospels as the sacred books. At the beginning of the Islamic faith, Christians and Muslims lived in the same country. This closeness in both location and theology undoubtedly led to the extensive theological discussions. As a result of such studies, many subjects emerged as controversial issues. One such theme is the question of alteration/tahrif of the Bible. This paper attempts to delineate how this question is dealt with by the famous Muslim theologians. Muslim theologians have many discussions with Christian theologians on some theological problems, including the issue of tahrif in the Bible. They deal with this question with a reconciliatory approach. According to them, the meaning of tahrif is not clear both in the Old and in the New Testament. It means Muslim theologians have not been in unity on Sacred Books corruption. However, according to significant part of them, corruption (tahrif) is a change of meaning.