Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/291

 270 merely that they made alterations in the course of reading.

But whilst all the old commentators, who most probaby had never seen a copy of the sacred Books of the Jews and Christians, only charge us with a Tahríf-i-Mʾanawí, all modern controversialists amongst the Muhammadans contend for a Tahríf-i-Lafzí, as being the only solution of the difficulty.

In dealing with such opponents, the Christian divine will avail himself of the following arguments:—

1. The Qurán does not charge the Jews and Christians with corrupting the text of their sacred books; and all the learned Muslim commentators admit that such is not the case.

2. The Qurán asserts that the Holy Scriptures of the Jews and Christians existed in the days of Muhammad, who invariably speaks of them with reverence and respect.

3. There now exist manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments of an earlier date than that of Muhammad ( 610–632).

4. There are versions of the Old and New Testament now extant, which existed before