Was the Holy Scripture Altered? 1 October 1965

This subject is handled in exactly the opposite manner. This time, with proofs they take from the Quran, they prove that the Holy Scripture has NOT been altered! Astonishing — the Quran, which was a book of which they said “it cannot be from God,” now suddenly becomes a book that defends the Holy Scripture! This trick, too, has become a tactic that nearly every Christian missionary uses lately when drawing a Muslim over to their own side! I will even write here the very verses they cite. Only this time I too stand alongside the Witnesses’ point of view — but not with the fraudulent hypocrisy that they possess!

The Islamic world claims that the Holy Scripture, that is, the Torah–Psalms–Gospel, has been altered. This is nothing but an enormous absurdity. If the Holy Scripture, being the word of God, could be altered, then we would have to say that the Quran too has been altered in the same way. Without repeating the same subjects over and over, let me write the verses the Witnesses cite on this matter. Baqarah, Sure 2:39, 40 and 76-79; 3:71-72 and 79; 4:52, 137, 5:16, 47-50, 66-68; 10:95. The Witnesses took all these verses from a single sura. Far from these verses showing that the Holy Scripture has been altered, on the contrary; these verses only support the Holy Scripture and say “read it.” Let the Islamic world, which shrieks that “the Holy Scripture has been altered,” think about it — perhaps they will be ashamed! If we attempt to open a door saying that the word of God can be altered, then not only do we come to doubt God and the word He has given, but we are left with no ground at all upon which we can say “this is the word of God.” And by this we would also make God unjust. For if God could not preserve the knowledge that lets us distinguish right from wrong, how could He judge us later on? He, on the other hand, when He judges all mankind, will do so in a just manner. Otherwise, would not everyone say: “My God, I did not know; we had no proof at all in our hands showing what was right and what was wrong. And the books of YOURS that we could read had been altered by people. So I acted according to my own head, I did what I found right according to myself”?

Look at the whole world; among so many mixed cultures and laws, you tell me what is right. Is that possible? In one country even drinking beer is strictly forbidden, while in another place people bathe in whisky. And this is even regarded as something valuable. In one country almost everything short of a sexual act is permitted openly out in the street, while in another country a man who merely held his wife’s hand is looked upon as having done a grave, dishonorable thing, and might even be stabbed and killed! In Africa women walk about stark naked, while in another country of the same climate women are veiled up to their eyes! Among these extreme poles, which one can we call right? If God cannot preserve His word, then come, find the truth yourselves. Would a loving Father do such a thing? Look at what Jesus says about this matter:

For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks it will be opened.

“Which father among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If you, then, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven give holy spirit to those asking him!” Luke 11:13

If we ask God for knowledge in order to distinguish good from evil, would He hide it from us and let people corrupt it? God gives His promise in all three of these books, saying, “I will preserve my word.” Psalms 12:6-7; Isaiah 34:16; Matthew 24:35; John 5:39; from the Quran: Sure 6:34; 6:115; 5:48; 2:91.

The Witnesses’ writings after this vilify the Quran in this and similar ways. As I did at the beginning, I did not attempt to translate all of it one for one. But I have worked the most important criticisms into my reply. Again, one most important point was: what sort of qualities must a prophet of God have in order to be a prophet. I had written on this subject citing its verse. It said, “If that thing a prophet speaks does not come about and is not fulfilled, then in the name of God that prophet has spoken falsely.” In the book of Deuteronomy, that is, the Repetition of the Law, 18:20-22. Only, we cannot take this verse as “this is the definite measure” for a prophet either. Because, as I had also written, even if that prophet is a false prophet, the thing he says can still come to pass. This too is written in Deuteronomy 13:1-3. When one goes very deep, it can sometimes be very hard to understand whether a person is a prophet or not. Because the thing a false prophet says can also come to pass. Even though all of this is so, the thing that a prophet appointed by God speaks during his lifetime must absolutely come about. This is a condition. For this reason we are in extreme need of knowledge. But if this knowledge is in accordance with the dogma, interpretations and doctrines of a Witness, a Catholic, a Muslim, a Jew, or of any religion whatsoever, then all these religions will absolutely, but absolutely, count that true prophet of God who comes as a liar and a fraud. Since all religions work in complete opposition to God’s will, just as they at once failed to accept the prophets who came in the past, opposed them, and even killed them, so now, if a prophet comes, all these religions I have counted and not counted will not accept him. And one of the very first to oppose him will be the Jehovah’s Witnesses! How could God, without getting their permission, have appointed as prophet not one of the members of their governing body but somebody else! Only if that prophet asks their leave, and the whole world praises them on account of that prophet, would they still barely manage even to say “well, all right then.” If it suits the pulse and the interests of the people, if he will say “yes” to everything they say — then, even then, perhaps. On the other hand, the man who would do all this would in any case not be, and could not be, a prophet of God.

But let us stay on our subject and investigate whether there is at least one prophecy that had to be fulfilled during Muhammad’s lifetime. The meaning of prophecy was “God foretelling His warnings, His word, and events that will come to pass in the future.” And the person who declares and announces this is called a prophet. In simple terms, this is how it is. In this latest series of the Witnesses’ writings about the Quran (1 November 1965), this subject too is taken up. They argue that the second verse in the Sura of the Romans is in fact an absurd prophecy. As we said, once someone has taken sides, no matter what the other one says, according to the one who has taken sides it is always absurd, always wrong. In this verse the Quran speaks of the Romans being defeated and then defeating again. What is meant by the “Romans” in these verses is the old Byzantium, or by its other name, the Eastern Roman Empire. Those who defeated them were the Persians, the people of a region of present-day Iran. And Muhammad again foretells that within three to nine years the Romans will be victorious. (Rum, sure 30:2-4) Concerning this prophecy the Witnesses argue that any sharp-sighted person could have foretold this at that time. Because the Romans were in the position of the world power of that time, and their winning is said to be normal. Yet let us not forget that the first time they were defeated. And what is to be said about the fact that it had to happen precisely between those dates? It is not said six months or two years. Nor is it said twelve years. It speaks of it happening within three to nine years. Even though this three-to-nine-year span may look like a flexible figure, these words were fulfilled between those dates. While in our own time everything can be calculated far more accurately, we still see that even the ruling-power countries of the world are greatly mistaken in their calculations. This means that to state future events exactly with such sharp foresight is not really so easy. Even though this is so, how did Muhammad know it! I will not dwell too much on this subject at all. Because for me there are more important prophecies whose fulfillment was even more impossible. Of course, this subject is not taken up at all by the Witnesses. For example, after Muhammad declared himself a prophet, because they attempted to kill him he was forced to flee from that place. If I am not mistaken, there was only one person with him, no one else at all. Under many hard conditions, in time these followers multiplied. Despite this, to foretell the fact that Muhammad would return again to that place — and moreover that all the people of that whole region would accept Islam — one truly has to be a prophet. And that is written in the Sura of Victory, verse 27. There it says:

God confirmed to His Messenger the true vision He had shown him. God willing, you shall enter the Sacred Mosque in safety, without fear, some of you with heads shaved and some with hair cut short. He knows what you do not know. Besides this, He has ordained a near victory. Sure 48:27

All these events, which Muhammad set in motion almost single-handedly, come to pass during his lifetime. One thing the Witnesses boast of most is their numbers. By the latest figures now, they have passed a little over 6 million worldwide. The other Christians, of whom they say to those outside their own ranks, “The curse of God will come upon them; none but us will be saved,” number more than 2 billion, and right behind comes Islam! According to the latest figures I know, 1.4 billion. If blessing lies in numbers, then must not these Witnesses regard Muhammad, for that time, as someone successful, someone who received blessing from God? I do not wish to dwell on numbers. It is the Witnesses who boast with these numbers. I am trying to show how ridiculous they are. If there is one truth, it is that the prophecies Muhammad spoke during his lifetime — indeed those two prophecies that are hard to believe — were fulfilled. Whether people accept this or not, it is a fact of Islamic history. Whoever does not want to accept it thereby does not accept the prophecies found in the Holy Scripture either. Some, claiming that those mentioned events were written down only after they had taken place, brand the prophecies of the Holy Scripture as fraud. And do you know who they are? Generally the Christian thinkers who are the representatives of this book itself! Heaven forbid these people should think any further!

Again, even the Witnesses, touching on a truth in their final paragraphs, emphasize that by declaring himself a prophet Muhammad fell, at least for a while, into the state of a person who was not liked at all. With such words they, so to speak, want to say, “Watch out; look, if you too attempt to defend the Quran, you may enter the class of unloved people like Muhammad!” And the ones saying this are, so to speak, the ones who exhort us, “Walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.” When they led Jesus to death there was not even one person at his side who took his part. Take note, I am not saying “when they took him out for a stroll,” I am saying “when they led him to death.” Why did they kill him? Because he opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, made the deaf hear, the mute speak, the crippled walk, and raised the dead? God was carrying out all of these upon that person. Why? Because He wanted to say, “Believe in him; I am with that person.” (John 11:32-42, especially verse 42) And what did Jesus say? “If they did this to me, what more will they do to you.” (John 15:20) But look at what Jesus himself says to such fraudulent and hypocritical people:

Go on, then, finish the work your forefathers began!

“You serpents, you offspring of vipers! How will you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?

For this reason I am sending to you prophets, wise men, and scholars of the law. Some of them you will kill and hang on stakes, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.

So that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Truly I say to you, this generation will be held responsible for all of these things.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you did not want it. Matt 23:32-37

After reading these verses, when one reads the Witnesses’ closing exhortations written about Muhammad, “Heaven forbid you be like him; he was not someone much liked,” how very believable they become. As Jesus said, these are precisely “hypocritical vipers.” They brand the United Nations (UN) as “the assembly of Satan,” yet they remain members there until it sets limits upon them. In their explanations they say that they became members of the United Nations in order to obtain the information of the archive library there. God’s people on earth are fed with the food of the Nations of Satan! Astonishing, that God gives the food that will feed His people to these people by means of Satan! On the other hand, someone who works as a cleaner in a barracks for his livelihood they at once cast out from among themselves, saying, “You served Satan.” Look at the logic. Let me tell you something far plainer. Certainly everyone in the world has their fault and their sin. But by believing in such hypocritical people and following after them, we not only pile up crime upon crime and error upon error; we also, by willingly taking their filth upon our backs and becoming partners with them, trample all values underfoot. Because of those values we have thus trampled underfoot, God certainly looks upon us with wrath. And after all this, do we still, shamelessly, hope for salvation? And moreover as the only people on earth worthy of it! Look at the perversion in the belief, and then go on calling these people “the people chosen by God.”