Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
Education and Religion
The Islamic Dilemma: Does the Quran Confirm the Bible?

The Islamic Dilemma: Does the Quran Confirm the Bible?

Last updated on: June 11, 2026 at 12:56 pm by Todd Weller

0 Comments

The Islamic Dilemma: Does the Quran Confirm the Bible? 2026-06-11T12:56:49-05:00 Todd Weller

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Quranic Challenge

The Quran, Allah’s Word, was apparently communicated through the prophet Muhammad, “Peace and Blessings be upon him.”

The Quran is said to be the final revelation of God and it captivates the hearts of over 1 billion people worldwide. From Dearborn, Michigan, to London, England, from Saudi Arabia, to Indonesia, the Quran is coveted for its beauty, clarity, and the light that provides. As the eternal word of Allah (an issue I’ll discuss in a later article) it is what is needed for Islamic belief.

Many have tried to disprove it. Others have tried to undermine it. The Quran itself provides a challenge to those who doubt it:

“If you have doubts about the revelation We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a single sura like it – enlist whatever supporters you have other than God – if you truly [think you can’. If you cannot do this – and you never will – then beware of the Fire prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is men and stones.” – Surah 2: 23-24.

This is a serious challenge to anyone who would want to undermine the Quran. Another iteration of this challenge is in Surah 10:38:

“Or do they say, ‘He has devised it?’ Say, ‘Then produce a sura like it, and call on anyone you can beside God if you are telling the truth.'”

This fascinating challenge puts unbelievers in quite a predicament. How would one produce a Surah like one that is in the Quran?

The Issue with this Challenge

Of course, there are a few glaring issues with this challenge. First, the Quranic Challenge, this popular iteration of it, at least, does not have any criteria to which one could fill. For example, a simple question can be raised:

What does it mean for something to be “like” a Surah in the Quran?

Does it need to be poetic?

Or, would the Surah need to be in Arabic?

Perhaps it must be a mix of both?

The claim that is being made by Allah is that no one can produce a Surah that comes close to what we see in the Quran. However, he fails to give a fair chance for someone to meet the challenge by supplying no criteria for what makes the Quran special literarily. That’s a little curious.

Second, the Quranic Challenge is completely subjective. For instance, let’s say that I produce the most beautiful poem in Arabic in the same style that Muhammad “revealed” the Quran. The hearer could simply go, “That doesn’t sound anywhere close to the Quran. You failed!”

The challenge, then, is completely subjective. It’s untestable because it’s rooted in the opinion of the hearer.

The New Challenge: The Quran Confirms the Previous Scriptures

There is a newer challenge that is making its rounds and its made quite a stir in the Dawah community. Yet, this argument was not produced by Christian originally. No.

Ironically, Allah and his messenger are the ones who provide the resources needed to construct it and it has put Muslims in an incredibly odd predicament.

The challenge for Muslims is that the Quran confirms the previous Scriptures over and over again. In other words, the Torah, the Injil, and the Zubur are repeatedly supported by and pointed to by Allah and his messenger as an authority and criterion for Truth.

Let’s look at just 3 examples.

The Quran Confirms the Torah and Zubur

Our first example occurs as Allah addresses “the Children of Israel” in Surah 2:40, Allah says:

“Believe in My revelations which confirm your Scriptures. Do not be the first to deny them or trade them for a fleeting gain. And be mindful of Me.”

Why should Israelites believe Allah’s revelations? Because they confirm their scriptures.

To make matters more interesting, Allah doubles down and charges the people to not deny his revelations. I will happily listen to Allah’s revelation in regards to the Torah.

The Quran Confirms the Torah and Zubur Again

A second example is when Allah addresses the people of Israel again in Surah 2:89. Allah says:

“Although they used to pray for victory ˹by means of the Prophet˺ over the polytheists, when there came to them a Book from Allah which they recognized, confirming the Scripture they had ˹in their hands˺, they rejected it. So may Allah’s condemnation be upon the disbelievers…”

Notice a couple of things here:

First, Allah is imploring the Israelites to obey the Quran because it confirms their scripture. This is standard.

Second, and most importantly. The Quran is claiming to confirm the Scriptures, THAT THEY HAVE IN THEIR HANDS!

The Jews, in other words, have the Torah with them and the Zubur, for that matter. To make matters more interesting, earlier, Allah chastises the Jews for believing some of the scripture and rejecting the rest (Surah 2:85). In other words, he is ordering that they take all of the revelation that Allah has given them. Keep this mind for later.

So. The Israelites are being implored to listen to the Torah given to Moses which affirms a multi-personal God, and the Psalms which are given to David, which also affirm a multi-personal God.

Being that Islam teaches that Allah is one in essence and person (even though there is no clarity of such in Muslim sources) we see a direct contradiction between Allah’s revelation to Moses and David with Allah’s revelation to Muhammad.

The Quran Confirms the Torah, the Zubur… and the Gospel

One last example is better known. First, let me ask a question: What should Muhammad do if he had doubts about the revelation he was receiving? Who should he turn to?

Allah seems to know exactly who he should turn to.

In fact, here’s what he says directly to the messenger.

“If you ˹O Prophet˺ are in doubt about ˹these stories˺ that We have revealed to you, then ask those who read the Scripture before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord, so do not be one of those who doubt, and do not be one of those who deny Allah’s signs or you will be one of the losers.” Surah 10: 94-95

The Prophet of Allah is supposed to go to the people who were reading the Scriptures before his revelation. That is the Torah, the Zubur, and the Injil (the Gospels). This is not saying that Muhammad HAS doubts.

But it’s clear that “IF HE DOES DOUBT” then he needs to consult Jews and Christians.

A similar situation is if I told a guest in my home: “If you are hungry, you should go grab food from the refrigerator.” I would not be saying that the person is hungry then and there. I would simply be making a conditional statement based on the possibility of the guest becoming hungry in the future.

Allah, then, is making a conditional statement to Muhammad on the possibility of doubts that may arise and what he should do if and when they come.

He is to turn to Christians and Jews and, presumably, their Scriptures since they are the ones reading them.

The Quranic Problem

Here’s the problem that Allah and Muhammad have. Over and over again they say that they are confirming what Jews and Christians are reading and what they have in their hand. Allah chastises the people for only taking a part of the scripture and discarding others, while also being adamant that HE revealed the Torah and the Injil (Surah 3:3-4).

Muslims will often charge Christians with having corrupted Scripture. But when did this corruption take place?

If it was before Muhammad, then this means that Allah is pointing the people and Muhammad himself to corrupted scripture and that he is confirming their trustworthiness. Muslims who affirm the position that the previous scriptures are corrupted would also be rejecting Surah 6:115 which states that Allah’s words can never be changed.

Now, if the Quran is confirming the Torah and the Gospel and they are uncorrupted (which is more in line with what the Quran teaches), then there is another issue.

The Torah and the Gospels contradict the Quran in multiple places:

In the Gospels, Jesus dies and resurrects from the dead. The Quran teaches that he did neither of those things.
In the Gospels, Jesus claims to be the Son of God. The Quran does not teach this.
In the Gospels, Jesus teaches a multi-personal God. The Quran rejects this and teaches Unitarianism.
In the Gospels, Jesus teaches that God is Spirit. In the Quran Allah is described as having a multitude of attributes but doesn’t clarify the ontology of Allah himself.
The Torah teaches that Gideon brought his soldiers to a river to test them according to God’s commands. The Quran claims this to be Saul.
The Torah shows Pharaoh chasing the Israelites down and drowning in the Red Sea with no repentance. The Quran teaches that he repented.

Mind you, if the Quran got only one thing wrong, it would show that it was not from God.

For the Quran, it’s worse, for it gets all of this wrong while confirming the scripture that came before it.

The Islamic Dilemma

Here is where we are at now:

We have discussed the confirmation of the previous scriptures by the Quran.
We’ve seen where Allah tells Muhammad to go to the people of the book before him for confirmation of the Quran.
We have also seen many different contradictions between the Quran and the Torah and the Injil.
And we briefly explored what Muslims typically say about the previous revelations of Allah while also contradicting him.

Now we have a dilemma on our hands.

If the previous Scriptures are corrupted as Muslims like to point out, then Islam is false because Allah and his messenger confirm corrupted Scripture.

If the previous Scriptures are not corrupted, then Islam is false because the previous Scriptures contradict the Quran in multiple areas.

Either way, Islam is false.