Refuting Islam

If the Qur’an Misrepresents Christianity and Judaism, How Can It Claim to ‘Confirm’ Their Scriptures?

April 15, 2025

Islam presents itself as the final link in a long chain of divine revelations. According to the Qur’an, Muhammad was not introducing a new religion but restoring the true monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

“He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus…”
— Qur’an 42:13

And again:

“This Qur’an is not such as can be produced by other than Allah; it is a confirmation of what was before it…”
— Qur’an 10:37

Islam claims to confirm the Torah and the Gospel. It even urges Jews and Christians to judge by their own scriptures:

“Let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein.”
— Qur’an 5:47

But there’s a deep, unresolvable problem:

The Qur’an does not accurately represent what the Torah and Gospel actually say.

In fact, it repeatedly misrepresents, distorts, and reconstructs key beliefs of Judaism and Christianity — while still claiming to affirm them.

This contradiction goes beyond theology. It exposes a fundamental flaw in Islam’s self-understanding.

Let’s examine this inconsistency closely.

1. What Does It Mean to “Confirm” Earlier Revelation?

In plain terms, to confirm means to:

Agree with the core content,
Affirm previous truths,
Continue the same message in a consistent manner.

The Qur’an insists that it does exactly this:

“And We have revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it.”
— Qur’an 5:48

But “confirming” requires accurate knowledge of what came before.

If the Qur’an gets the content of earlier scriptures wrong, it cannot confirm them.

It can only revise or replace them — which is exactly what it does.

2. How the Qur’an Misrepresents Christianity

Let’s start with Christian doctrine.

❖ The Trinity

“Do not say, ‘Three’; desist — it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God…”
— Qur’an 4:171

“And [beware the day] when Allah will say: ‘O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah?”’”
— Qur’an 5:116

This is a caricature, not a correction.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is not “God, Jesus, and Mary.” It is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — one God in three persons, not three gods.

No mainstream Christian has ever believed that Mary is part of the Godhead. Yet the Qur’an critiques a belief no one holds — revealing a serious misunderstanding of the faith it claims to confirm.

❖ The Crucifixion and Resurrection

“They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but [it was made to appear so to them]…”
— Qur’an 4:157

This is a direct denial of the central event in the Christian Gospel. The crucifixion is not peripheral — it is foundational to salvation and atonement (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

To deny it is not to confirm the Gospel — it is to refute it.

3. How the Qur’an Misrepresents Judaism

The Qur’an also reimagines Jewish tradition in ways that contradict core Jewish beliefs.

❖ Abraham Was a Muslim?

“Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a hanif, a Muslim…”
— Qur’an 3:67

Islam retroactively labels Abraham — a man who lived over a thousand years before Islam — as a “Muslim.”

But Judaism has always viewed Abraham as the patriarch of the Jewish covenant, sealed by circumcision (Genesis 17). There is no historical or theological basis in Jewish tradition for calling Abraham a Muslim.

This is not continuity — it’s revisionist appropriation.

❖ The Golden Calf Blame Game

In the Torah, Aaron is portrayed as complicit (though weak) in the making of the golden calf (Exodus 32). The Qur’an, however, shifts blame onto someone named “the Samaritan”:

“He [the Samaritan] said, ‘I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful [of dust]… and threw it, and thus did my soul entice me.’”
— Qur’an 20:96

But Samaritans didn’t even exist at the time of Moses. The Samaritan community only emerged centuries later after the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel (~722 BCE). This is a clear historical anachronism.

If the Qur’an truly comes from an all-knowing God, how does it get this so badly wrong?

4. The “Corruption” Argument Falls Apart

Muslim apologists often try to explain these problems by saying:

“The Bible was corrupted — the Qur’an restores the original message.”

But this argument creates even more contradictions:

If the Bible was corrupted, why does the Qur’an call it guidance and light?
If Jews and Christians had corrupted texts, why are they told to judge by them?
If Allah sent the same message to all prophets, how did that message disappear for over 600 years — only to be corrected in 7th-century Arabia?

And most importantly:

There is no historical evidence that the Torah and Gospel were changed after Muhammad’s time.

We have manuscripts of the Bible that pre-date Islam — and they match modern translations.

So the corruption claim fails both textually and historically.

5. The Inevitable Conclusion: The Qur’an Does Not Confirm Earlier Scriptures

Despite repeated claims, the Qur’an does not confirm the Torah or the Gospel.

It reinterprets, contradicts, and replaces them.

And in doing so, it reveals a profound internal contradiction:

The Qur’an says it confirms earlier revelation — but only by misrepresenting what that revelation actually teaches.

You cannot simultaneously affirm and reject the same thing.

That’s not confirmation. That’s revisionism wrapped in theological packaging.

6. Final Thought: A Broken Link in the Chain

If a revelation misrepresents the messages it claims to uphold — it cannot be from the same divine source.

If the Qur’an cannot accurately describe the very scriptures it claims to confirm, how can we trust it as a guide to eternal truth?

This contradiction isn’t just academic. It strikes at the heart of Islam’s claim to be the final, complete, and consistent message from the one true God.

And that’s a claim the Qur’an simply cannot uphold