The Islamic Dilemma

The Qur’an’s Greatest Self-Own

Islam proudly touts itself as the final, flawless divine revelation, sent to confirm the truth of the Torah and the Gospel. Yet, beneath this claim lies a monumental self-contradiction—a glaring theological mess that exposes the Qur’an’s greatest self-own. It demands Muslims to revere earlier scriptures as God’s revealed word, while simultaneously branding those scriptures as hopelessly corrupted fabrications. This isn’t just a paradox—it’s an intellectual and spiritual disaster baked into Islam’s core narrative.

The Qur’an’s Hypocritical Double Game

The Qur’an shamelessly flaunts reverence for the Torah and Gospel, insisting they contain guidance and light:

  • “Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light.” (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:44)

  • “And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah.” (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:46)

  • “O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.” (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:68)

The Qur’an dares to claim that Muslims must uphold these scriptures as divine. But then, like a slap in the face, it turns around and accuses these very texts—and their followers—of deliberate distortion, deceit, and outright corruption:

  • “They distort words from their [proper] usages...” (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:13)

  • “Do you covet that they would believe for you while a party of them used to hear the words of Allah and then distort it after they had understood it while they were knowing?” (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:75)

  • “Woe to those who write the ‘scripture’ with their own hands, then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ in order to exchange it for a small price.” (Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:41)

This isn’t theological nuance—it’s intellectual schizophrenia. How can the Qur’an simultaneously demand reverence for texts it labels as lies and fabrications? This isn’t a mystery to be politely explained away—it’s a fundamental contradiction that blows Islam’s claims to divine continuity and finality out of the water.

Hadith and Scholars: Doubling Down on Delusion

The hadith literature doubles down on this glaring hypocrisy. The Prophet Muhammad and early Islamic authorities explicitly accuse Jews and Christians of corrupting their scriptures, thereby justifying the Qur’an’s supposed superiority—but at the cost of eroding the very foundations of Islam’s appeal to previous revelations.

  • Sahih Muslim recounts the Prophet condemning the People of the Book for altering their scriptures, turning their holy texts into instruments of deception.

  • Ibn Abbas, a respected companion, openly stated in Tafsir Ibn Kathir that what exists today as the Torah and Gospel are nothing but shadowy remnants, riddled with additions and deletions to suit human desires.

This is the intellectual equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot—and yet, Islamic tradition insists on maintaining both contradictory claims without shame or apology.

The Doctrine of Tahrif: A Convenient Cover-Up

Islamic scholars developed the doctrine of tahrif (textual corruption) to paper over this gaping wound. By insisting that the Torah and Gospel were irreparably altered, they attempted to position the Qur’an as the only untainted divine word.

But this “solution” only plunges Islam deeper into epistemological chaos:

  • If the Torah and Gospel are corrupt beyond recognition, how can Muslims genuinely claim to confirm or rely on their original divine message?

  • How can the Qur’an be the “confirmation” of texts that no longer exist in authentic form, if the “confirmation” depends on knowledge of those very texts?

Medieval scholars like Ibn Hazm tried to solve this by dismissing existing scriptures as total fabrications. But this intellectual jettison leaves Muslims with a hollow claim: the Qur’an stands alone, yet constantly appeals to absent texts as its justification.

The Consequences of This Contradiction

This contradiction isn’t just a dusty academic footnote—it poisons Muslim relations with Jews and Christians, justifies hostile sectarian attitudes, and wrecks any possibility of honest interfaith dialogue. Islam’s own scripture brands entire communities as liars and cheats, tearing apart the social fabric it pretends to uphold.

Muslims are left trapped in a theological maze where acknowledging the divine origin of earlier scriptures means undermining the Qur’an’s authority, while defending the Qur’an means declaring those scriptures fraudulent. There is no logical escape hatch—only the choice to live with this glaring self-own or abandon reason altogether.

Conclusion: Islam’s Intellectual Implosion

The Qur’an’s stance on the Torah and Gospel is the ultimate Islamic self-own: an irreconcilable contradiction at the heart of its claim to be the final, perfect revelation. The supposed “confirmation” of earlier scriptures collapses under the weight of the Qur’an’s simultaneous accusation of corruption.

To accept Islam fully is to embrace this contradiction—an intellectual and spiritual dead end. The only honest conclusion is to expose this dilemma openly, refusing the double standards and logical gymnastics demanded by Islamic theology. The Qur’an’s greatest self-own is a testament not to divine perfection, but to the fractured, conflicted nature of its own origin story.

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