Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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

2. The Qurʾān asserts that the Holy Scriptures of the Jews and Christians existed in the days of Muḥammad, 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 Muḥammad (A.D. 610–632).

4. There are versions of the Old and New Testaments now extant, which existed before Muḥammad; for example, the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac, the Coptic, and the Armenian versions.

5. The Hexapla, or Octapla of Origen, which dates four centuries before Muḥammad, gives various versions of the Old Testament Scriptures in parallel columns.

6. The Syrian Christians of St. Thomas, of Malabar and Travancore, in the south of India, who were separated from the western world for centuries, possess the same Scriptures.

7. In the works of Justin Martyr, who lived from A.D. 103 to 167, there are numerous quotations from our sacred books, which prove that they were exactly the same as those we have now. The same may be said of other early Christian writers.