1a

1a.
at the appointed time, which was the coming of the Prophet Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). A covenant had been taken
from the Prophets who came before him that if he was sent when anyof
them were still alive, they would abandon whatever they had and follow
him. God, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And (remember) when Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets, saying:
'Take whateverI gave you from the Book and Hikmah (understanding of
the Laws of Allah, etc.), and afterwards there will come to you a
Messenger (Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him))
confirming what is with you; you must, then, believein him and help
him.' Allah said: 'Do you agree (to it) and will you take up My
Covenant (which I conclude with you)?' They said: 'We agree.' He said:
'Then bear witness; and I am with you among the witnesses (for this).
'
Then whoever turns away after this, they are the Fasiqoon (rebellious:
those who turn awayfrom Allah's Obedience)."
[Aal 'Imraan 3:81-82].
The law of the Qur'aan differs from all the laws that came before it
in that it is suitable for all kinds of people at all times until the
end of this world.
But if you were talking about theTorah as it exists now, then we have
no choice but to tell you of what we really believe – even if that may
upset you – but we hope that you have strong reason and sound thinking
that will help you to distinguish between truth and falsehood, and
that this may motivate you to investigate further until you reach the
truth.
This truth is that the Torah as it exists today is not that which God
sent down to Moses (peace be upon him). Rather it has been distorted
in all ways, adding, subtracting and changing the meaning. This is not
the place to expand upon this topic; we are just referring to it in
the hope that this might motivate you to enquire further.
The Torah as it exists today contains material that one must be
certain is not the words of God; rather it is distortions introduced
by those who attributed it falsely to God, may He be exalted.
For example:
-1-
It contains the ascription of shortcomings to the Lord, may He be
glorified and exalted, and likens Him to created beings. For example,
they say that God wrestled with Jacob for an entire night, then Jacob
overpowered Him! And they say that God regretted having created
mankind when He saw their disobedience, and He wept until His eyes
became swollen, then the angels came to visit Him and comfort Him.
Exalted be God far above what the wrongdoers say.
-2-
It contains insults and slander against the Prophets. For example,
they say that the Prophet of God Aaron made a calf and worshipped it
along with the Children of Israel. And they say that Lot drank wine
until he became drunk, then he committed incest with his two
daughters, one after the other! And they say that Solomon (peace be
upon him) apostatised at the end of his life and worshipped idols, and
built temples for them.
-3-
It includes exaggerations, impossible things and contradictions.
Among the books that have beenwritten on this topic are "What is the
Origin of Man?" and "The Bible, the Qur'aan and Science" by the French
scientist and medical doctor Maurice Bucaille, in which he proved the
existenceof scientific errors in the Torah and Gospel, and at the same
time he proved that there are no contradictions in the Qur'aan even
with modern science and scientific facts.
He says in the introduction to his second book (p. 29):
"It was in a totally objective spirit, and without any preconceived
ideas that I first examined the Qur'anic Revelation. I was looking for
the degree of compatibility between the Qur'anic text and the data of
modern science. I knew from translations that the Qur'an oftenmade
allusion to all sorts of natural phenomena, but I had only a summary
knowledge of it. It was only when I examined the text very closely in
Arabic that I kept a list of them at the end of which I had to
acknowledge the evidence in front of me: the Qur'an did not contain a
single statement that was assailable from a modern scientific point
ofview.
I repeated the same test for the Old Testament and the Gospels, always
preserving the same objective outlook. In the former Idid not even
have to go beyond the first book, Genesis, to find statements totally
out of keeping with the cast-iron facts of modern science."
Based on that, we have two reasons why the Torah as it exists now
differs from the Qur'aan:
1. Differences in the laws of the Prophets
2. Distortion that crept into the Torah and the tampering that
happened to it with the passage of time.
We ask God to show us the truth as truth and enable us to follow it,
and to show us falsehood as false and enable us to avoid it.
And Allah knows best.