Al-Maqrizi was a great scholar of Islam in the eighth century AH. He said in the first volume of his history:

           The Jews think that the book which they have is true and original, free from all corruption. The Christians, on the other hand, claim that the Septuagint [1] version of the Bible which is with them is free from any possible distortion and change, while the Jews deny this and contradict their statement. The Samaritans consider their Pentateuch to be the only genuine version as compared to all others. There is nothing with them to eliminate the doubts about this difference of opinion among them. [2]

           The same difference of opinion is found among the Christians regarding the Evangel. For the Christians have four versions of the Evangel which have been combined together in a single book, The first version is of Matthew, the second of Mark, the third of Luke and the fourth of John.

           Each of them wrote his gospel according to his own preaching in his own area with the help of his memory. There are innumerable contradictions, incompatibilities and inconsistencies between their various accounts regarding the attributes of Jesus, his message, the time of his Crucifixion and his genealogy. The contradictions are irresolvable.

           Alongside this the Marcionites and the Ebionites have their separate version of the Evangels, each being different from the present canonical gospels. The Manichaeans also claim to have an Evangel of their own totally different from the current accepted gospels. They claim that this is the only genuine Evangel precinct in the world and the rest are inauthentic. They have another evangel called the Evangel of AD 70 (Septuagint) which is ascribed to Ptolamaeus. The Christians in general do not recognize this gospel as genuine.

           In the presence of the above multifarious differences to be found within the corpus of the Judaeo-Christian revelation, it is almost impossible for them to sort out the truth.”

          The author of Kashf az-Zunun said with regard to this matter that the Evangel was a book which was revealed to Jesus, the son of Mary, and, discussing the lack of authenticity and genuineness of the present gospels, he said:

           The Evangel which was in reality revealed to Jesus was a single book which was absolutely free from contradictions and inconsistencies.  It is the Christians who have put the false blame on Allah and His Prophet (Jesus) by ascribing the present gospel to them.

           The author of Hidayatu’I-Hayara Fi Ajwibaru’l-Yahood wa’n- Nasara said quite explicitly:

           The present Torah (Pentateuch) owned by the Jews is much distorted and defective, a fact known to every biblical reader. The Biblical scholars, themselves, are certain and sure of the fact that the original Torah which was revealed to Moses was genuine and totally free from the present distortions and corruptions. There was no corruption present in the Evangel which was originally revealed to Christ and which could not have included the event of the crucifixion of Christ, or other events like his resurrection three days after his death. These are, in fact additions inserted by their elders and have nothing whatever to do with divine Truth.⁴

 He further said:

           Several Islamic scholars have laboriously pointed out hundreds of specific examples and passages showing contradictions, incompatibilities and differences in the so-called Canonical Gospels. It is only to avoid an unnecessary elongated discussion that we refrain from presenting more examples.

           The first two parts of this book should be more than enough to prove the truth of this claim.

 

[1] The Septuagint is the oldest version of the Old Testament. The Septuagint is so-called because in the third century BC severity’ (more correctly seventy-two) translators were sent to Alexandria where they prepared this translation with their combined effort. Later on, the same translation was acknowledged by Greeks as their Bible.

 [2] . Britannica page 868 vol. 14. Marcion.