The Islamic Dilemma is an argument made by Christian apologists, above all David Wood, that Islam defeats itself in what it says about the Bible. This page explains the argument, lists the verses it relies on, and summarises the Muslim reply. The Journal article The Islamic Dilemma: the argument and the answer examines it in full.
The argument
The argument runs in two horns. The Qur’an affirms the Torah and the Gospel. If the Gospel is the word of God, Islam is false, because the Qur’an contradicts the Gospel on the divinity of Jesus and on his crucifixion. If the Gospel is not the word of God, Islam is still false, because the Qur’an affirmed it. Either way, the argument concludes, Islam cannot stand.1
The verses
The argument relies on the following verses, given here in the Saheeh International translation:
- Qur’an 3:3-4: He has sent down upon you, [O Muḥammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel before, as guidance for the people.
- Qur’an 5:46: And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.
- Qur’an 5:47: And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allāh has revealed therein.
- Qur’an 5:68: Say, “O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.”
- Qur’an 10:94: So if you are in doubt, [O Muḥammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you.
Surah 5:46 is the verse most often searched for in connection with the argument, because it says that the Gospel given to Jesus contained guidance and light.2
The Muslim reply
Muslim scholars answer that the dilemma rests on three premises the Qur’an does not accept. First, the Qur’an confirms earlier scripture as its muhaymin (مُهَيْمِن, guardian and criterion): in the words of the classical exegete al-Ṭabarī, whatever in the earlier books agrees with the Qur’an is true, and whatever disagrees with it is false.3 Second, the Gospel of the Qur’an is the revelation given to Jesus, which is not the same thing as the four Gospels written about him. Third, the Qur’an itself speaks of people who wrote scripture with their own hands and distorted words from their places, so it never vouched for every text its hearers possessed.4 On this reading the Qur’an can confirm the Torah and the Gospel as revelations and still judge the texts that carry them, and the dilemma loses both its horns.
Further reading
- The Islamic Dilemma: the argument and the answer
- The preservation and transmission of scripture
- The Qur’an
- The Bible
- The Islamic Dilemma, refuted (The Muslim Apologist)