Epistles of the Apostles (besides a few other tractates) were in existence among the Jews and Christians: (2) that the Qur'an states positively that these were given by Divine Inspiration; (3) that the Qur'an, claiming for itself the highest style of Inspiration and the highest titles, states that the Bible is due to the very same Inspiration as itself; (4) that the Qur'an gives to the Bible the titles of Book of God, Word of God (كلام الله), Furqan, Zikr, Light, Guidance, Mercy, &c., being the very same which it claims for itself; (5) that the Qur'an teaches that Muhammad was Divinely directed to appeal to the Bible and to bid the Jews and Christians take it as their guide: (6) that he did refer the Jews to it as authoritative; (7) that Muslims are in the Qur'an commanded to profess to believe in the Bible just as they do in the Qur'an: (8) and that very terrible punishments in the next world are threatened to those who reject either the Bible or the Qur'an

CHAPTER II

THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW HAVE NEVER BEEN ABROGATED, AND CAN NEVER BE ABROGATED IN (1) THEIR FACTS, (2) THEIR DOCTRINES, AND (3) THEIR MORAL PRINCIPLES

FROM what has been said in the first chapter of this Treatise it is evident that all Muslims who really believe and accept the Qur'an are bound in duty to study, honour, and obey "the Book of God", that is to say, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testaments.

But some deny that this conclusion is correct, because they assert (1) that the Old and the New Testaments have been abrogated. Others say (2) that the books now in circulation as the Bible, and generally received by Jews and Christians as their Holy Scriptures, are not those referred to in the Qur'an as such. Others again say (3) that, if the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are really those mentioned in the Qur'an, they have at least been altered and corrupted, and therefore are no longer worthy of reverence. With these two latter objections we propose, God helping us, to deal in later chapters. In the present chapter we devote our attention to the question whether it is true that the Old Testament and the New, that is to say, the Torah, the Zabur and the Injil, have been abrogated. It is granted that, if these objections are correct, our argument in Chapter I is thereby nullified: but at the same time the effect on the authority of the Qur'an itself will not be favourable, as will be clear to every thoughtful man.

Be it noticed that some Muslim writers distinctly assert that the Bible has been abrogated. For instance,