A False Claim About the Preservation of the Quran by Christian Missionaries

I recently came across another outlandishly false claim against the Quran on a Christian satellite show (ABN). Some unlearned Christian claimed Surah 15:90-91 teaches that the Quran has been corrupted. Here is the English translation of Surah 15: 90-91  by Dr Mohsin:

As We have sent down on the dividers, (Quraish pagans or Jews and Christians). (90) Who have made the Qur'ân into parts. (i.e. believed in one part and disbelieved in the other). (91)

If this Christian had any desire for scholarship and truth he would have consulted Quranic commentaries – none of which agree with this Assyrian Christian. The Verses (15: 90-91) are not referring to the preservation of the Quran.

In fact according to the commentaries that I have consulted, Surah 15:90-91 is either referring to the Polytheists or the People of the Book (Jews and Christians). The polytheists were ‘dividers’ and made ‘into parts’ as they made various false allegations against the origin of the Quran. As for the People of the Book; these people were ‘divders’ and ‘made into parts’ by believing in parts of the Scriptures revealed to them and disbelieving in other parts.

Christian Missionary Dishonesty and/or Idiocy

Only DISHONESTY and/or complete IDIOCY leads a Christian to claim surah 15:90-91 means the Quran teaches it has been corrupted. This Assyrian Christian only needed to engage his brain for a few seconds and read any commentary to realize the falsehood of his claim.

A Clearly False Claim from a Christian Missionary

To highlight the rank dishonesty of this Christian critic even further; his own colleagues and co-religionists do not use such obviously false argumentation – this speaks volumes in indicating the obvious falsehood in this Christian critic’s claim.

In fact if the Christian wanted to understand what the Quran teaches about Its Preservation he should have read the beginning of the chapter and he would have realized Allah is guarding the Quran from corruption:

Verily We: It is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'ân) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)(15:9 Dr Mohsin Translation)

I will include  Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi’s commentary and an excerpt from an article by Bassam Zawadi (citing three classical commentaries on the Quranic passage being discussed) for people to gain further insight.

 

Maududi on Surah 15: 90-91

The schismatics were the Jews for they had split their religion into many parts and caused division in it. They believed in certain parts and rejected the other parts, and detracted some things from it and added others to it. Thus they had been divided into many sectarian groups, which were opposed to one another.

"They have cut their Qur'an (Torah) into pieces" = "They believe in certain parts of it and reject other parts. " The same thing has been stated in II: 85 like this: ".... Do you then believe in one part of the Scriptures and disbelieve in the other parts .... "

" .... this warning is like the warning We sent to the schismatics (Jews)." This is meant to warn the disbelievers that they should learn a lesson from the plight of the Jews who neglected the warning that was given to than by God, and persisted in their wrong ways, as if to say, "You are beholding the degradation of the Jews. Do you like to meet with the same end by neglecting this warning?"   http://www.searchtruth.com/tafsir/tafsir.php?chapter=15

Excerpt from Bassam Zawadi’s article rebuking the Christian critic’s absurdly false claim:

There are various potential meanings for this verse. I will share only a couple...

(Those who break the Qur’an into parts) they said many different things about the Qur’an; some said it was magic, others said it was poetry, others said it was a form of divination; some said it was fables of the people of old while others said that it was mere lies invented by the Prophet. (Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs, Source)

Another potential meaning is...

those who have reduced the Recitation, namely, those scriptures revealed to them, to parts, believing in some and disbelieving in others. It is [alternatively] said that the individuals meant here were those who 'divided up' among themselves the roads to Mecca, barring people from Islam. Some of them said that the Qur'an was sorcery, some that it was soothsaying, and others that it was poetry. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Source)

Another commentary says...

Who have made the Qur'an into parts.) meaning, they have split up the Books that were revealed to them, believing in parts of them and rejecting parts of them. Al-Bukhari reported that Ibn `Abbas said,

(Who have made the Qur'an into parts.) "They are the People of the Book, who divided the Book into parts, believing in some of it, and rejecting some of it.'' Some have said that Al-Mutaqasimin refers to the Quraysh, that the Qur'an means this Qur'an [as opposed to the Scriptures of the People of the Book], and that "made it into parts'' referred to what `Ata' said that some of them said that he (the Prophet ) was a sorcerer, some said he was crazy, or a soothsayer. These various allegations were the parts. This opinion was also reported from Ad-Dahhak and others. Muhammad bin Ishaq reported from Ibn `Abbas that Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah - holding a noble position among the people - rallied a group of Quraysh behind him when Al-Mawsim (the time for pilgrims to meet in Makkah for Hajj) had come. He said to them, "O people of Quraysh! The time of Al-Mawsim has come, and delegations of Arabs will come to you during this time. They will have heard some things about this companion of yours (meaning the Prophet ), so agree on one opinion, let there be no contradicting or denials of each other's sayings''. They said, "And you, O Abu `Abd Shams, give us an opinion and we will say that.'' He said, "No, you make the suggestions and I will listen.'' They said, "We say he is a soothsayer.'' He said, "He is not a soothsayer.'' They said, "We say he is crazy.'' He said, "He is not crazy.'' They said, "We say he is a poet.'' He said, "He is not a poet.'' They said, "We say he is a sorcerer.'' He said, "He is not a sorcerer.'' They said, "So what should we say'' He said, "By Allah, what he says is as palatable [to the average person] as something sweet, so you cannot say anything against it without it being obviously false. Therefore the most appropriate thing you can say is that he is a sorcerer.'' So they left having agreed upon that, and Allah revealed concerning them:

(Who have made the Qur'an into parts.) meaning, of different types, (Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, Source)

So in no way does the Quran claim or ever will claim that it is corrupted.

Excerpt from Bassam Zawadi’s article taken from: http://www.answering-christianity.com/bassam_zawadi/bible_status_in_quran.htm

A Lecture by Abdur Raheem Green on the Preservation of the Quran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt7UqJBLhW4

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