The academics are enthused. “This is a very important discovery for the history of the Qur’an and early Islam,” says Eléonore Cellard. “It’s quite extraordinary,” bubbles Romain Pingannaud, and “very relevant.”
Relevant to what? Pingannaud apparently means that it’s relevant to the contact between Christian and Muslim communities today.
Very well. Let’s examine the implications of this discovery in light of its contemporary relevance. Qur’anic palimpsests, that is, manuscripts in which the Qur’anic text is written over another text that has been erased, are rare. Why? “We think this is because the Qur’an is such an important text and although vellum was very expensive, the Qur’an was always written on new material. It’s highly revered and so they would use brand new material,” says Pingannaud.
But not this time. This one is written over a passage of the Old Testament. The scholars seem to think that is wonderful. “We have here a witness of cultural interactions between different religious communities,” says Cellard. Pingannaud says that “it shows the contact between communities in the first centuries of Islam.”
What kind of “contact between communities” and “cultural interaction” does it show? It shows that contrary to the modern-day historical revisionism that holds that the Muslim conquerors treated the conquered people with respect, a respect they also accorded to their religious traditions, the Muslim overlords actually treated the conquered people and their religions with active contempt, as befitting the people whom the Qur’an designates “the most vile of created beings” (98:6). In Islamic theology, the Old Testament is not a divine revelation; it is a corrupted version of a divine revelation, and thus worthy of no respect; it can be erased and replaced by a Qur’an manuscript with no second thought. There are several Qur’anic passages from which this idea of the corruption of the Bible has been derived:
“So 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. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.” (Qur’an 2:79)
“And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, ‘This is from Allah,’ but it is not from Allah . And they speak untruth about Allah while they know.” (Qur’an 3:78)
“Among the Jews are those who distort words from their usages and say, ‘We hear and disobey’ and ‘Hear but be not heard’ and ‘Ra’ina,’ twisting their tongues and defaming the religion. And if they had said, ‘We hear and obey’ and ‘Wait for us,’ it would have been better for them and more suitable. But Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few.” (Qur’an 4:46)
“So for their breaking of the covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard. They distort words from their usages and have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded. And you will still observe deceit among them, except a few of them. But pardon them and overlook. Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good. And from those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ We took their covenant; but they forgot a portion of that of which they were reminded. So We caused among them animosity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection. And Allah is going to inform them about what they used to do. O People of the Book, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book.” (Qur’an 5:13-15)
This hadith makes the idea that the Jews and Christians have corrupted their scriptures explicit:
“Narrated Ubaidullah: Ibn `Abbas said, ‘Why do you ask the people of the scripture about anything while your Book (Qur’an) which has been revealed to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) is newer and the latest? You read it pure, undistorted and unchanged, and Allah has told you that the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians) changed their scripture and distorted it, and wrote the scripture with their own hands and said, “It is from Allah,” to sell it for a little gain. Does not the knowledge which has come to you prevent you from asking them about anything? No, by Allah, we have never seen any man from them asking you regarding what has been revealed to you!'” (Bukhari 9.92.461)
So why wouldn’t Muslims erase a Christian manuscript, or use one that had been erased, to write the Qur’an? They considered the Jewish and Christian scripture previously written on the palimpsest to be worthless.
Yes, this discovery does illuminate the interaction between the Muslims and their subject communities. It shows the supremacist assumptions of the Muslims, which were abundantly on display at the time this manuscript was written, as you can see in my forthcoming book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS (click here to preorder).
We’re not told what the specific Qur’an and Bible passages on the manuscript are. It would be interesting to see if the Bible passage is any of the Qur’an’s source material. As I show in my book Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam’s Obscure Origins, the Qur’an was cobbled together from earlier Jewish, Christian, and other sources. This manuscript might illuminate that process, unless academia’s dogmatic determination to shield Islam from all critical inquiry prevents such examination of it.
“Passages from the Bible discovered behind Qur’an manuscript,” by Alison Flood, Guardian, April 25, 2018:
…French scholar Dr Eléonore Cellard was looking for images of a palimpsest page sold a decade earlier by Christie’s when she came across the auction house’s latest catalogue, which included fragments from a manuscript of the Qur’an which Christie’s had dated to the eighth century AD, or the second century of Islam. Scrutinising the image, she noticed that, appearing faintly behind the Arabic script, were Coptic letters. She contacted Christie’s, and they managed to identify the Coptic text as coming from the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy – part of the Torah and the Christian Old Testament.
“This is a very important discovery for the history of the Qur’an and early Islam. We have here a witness of cultural interactions between different religious communities,” said Cellard, who is attached to the College de France.
“It’s quite extraordinary,” said Christie’s specialist Romain Pingannaud. “…And what’s even more fascinating is it is on top of passages from the Old Testament … It shows the contact between communities in the first centuries of Islam; it’s very relevant.”
Christie’s…believes that the manuscript is likely to have been produced in Egypt, which was home to the Coptic community, at the time of the Arab conquest. It said that the fragments “resonate with the historical reality of religious communities in the Near East and as such are an invaluable survival from the earliest centuries of Islam”.
While the writing style of the Qur’an scribe dates it to around the eighth century or early ninth century, it is not possible to identify how much older the ghostly Coptic writing is…
Qur’anic palimpsests are “extremely rare”, according to Christie’s, with only a handful having been previously recorded, none of which were copied above a Christian text….
“We think this is because the Qur’an is such an important text and although vellum was very expensive, the Qur’an was always written on new material. It’s highly revered and so they would use brand new material,” said Pingannaud….
Mccode says
It will be truly enlightening if the translation of the Koranic text is one of those juicy samples that emphatically calls for the extermination of nonbelievers.
J D S says
They wrote on anything they could find, bones. Leaves, even to dried excrement chips…so why not on pages of a BIble manuscript…
Anyway muhammad (if he ever actually existed) stole from the scriptures of the Holy Bible changing wording t
o fit his troubled mind. Of course he was illiterate and his words were memorized by someone and were tried to be carried on to some point where it could be written…only God knows how scrambled the wording was written when someone was able to write down his ramblings.
gravenimage says
+1
Peterson says
It is symbolic too. Erase Christianity and replace it with Islam. Unless Christians are fervent they will be washed away easily. Christians in the Muslim lands have been facing war of attrition and they have almost lost. I wonder what caused such a defeat. Is the beast unstoppable?
Mike says
It is easy to understand,Peterson. In christianity , if someone offends you , you turn on the other cheek to ask more . In Islam i someone ask for more ,he gets it .
Andrew says
Turning the other cheek is akin to a call out of the absurdity of resorting to violence. e.g.: Is that really the bet you can do?!? I know you can do better.
J D S says
If one reads and studies the book of Revelation in the New Testament one can see unfolding what is happening with Christianity today..Jesus told of oppression of believers…Well who are the only peoples who are the oppressors of Christians today and have been for all these many centuries??????
Save Europe says
Precisely, Islam came to negate and delete Judaism and Christianity, in that totalitarian political ideological way, in which it operates.
DBM echo says
“Yes, this discovery does illuminate the interaction between the Muslims and their subject communities. It shows the supremacist assumptions of the Muslims, which were abundantly on display at the time this manuscript was written”
Other prominent examples of “interaction,” or as the RCC would call it “interfaith dialogue,” include the building of the Dome of the Rock mosque atop the the Jewish Temple Mount (circa 691AD) and the take-over of the Hagia Sophia (1453AD), first into a mosque, then into a museum, with caliphate-in-charge Erdogan now threatening to make it a mosque again.
Some “interaction.”
Antivenin says
Just another example of “Islam Akhbar”…
JM says
Some theories are so obviously false that only an academic would believe them.
Been There Got the Tee Shirt says
So I wonder what the Mohammedans would say if a kufar were to take a couple dozen Korans, bleach out the ink, and reprint the pages with Biblical texts, and say, do this in the UK? And call it a meaningful cultural interaction involving the conflation of faiths? And of course it can be shown that this is merely carrying on a millennium old tradition that is praised by all the great scholars. LOL
HugoHackenbush says
Never mentioned when apologists bring up the “peaceful” Koranic passages is the following (my summation) to be found in Ibn Isaq (first bio of Mr. M.): Page 165: Regarding Sura 109. One of the “Satanic” verses (meaning put into the mind of Muhammad by Satan. Yes you read that right, by Satan). Interestingly Sura 109 is one of the verses frequently quoted to show the “tolerance” of Islam “…You can have your religion, all of it, and I have mine”. Later Mr. Muhammad is chastised by Allah (via Gabriel) for saying this (page 166) and Muhammad is remorseful. Allah then “sends down” a rewrite of Sura 109 via Sura 22.51 which then abrogates the original and acknowledges that this Sura is an undoing of the influence of Satan.
gravenimage says
Good point.
Julea Bacall says
Should we try? I guess whoever did it did not sign his name though. Was there a Name?
Jimbo says
A couple of other relevant issues here as pointed out by apologist Jay Smith are: (1) Recent evidence suggests the Koran, or parts of it, may have been written before Mohammed was born; so much for the Angel Gabriel passing it from Allah to Mohammed. (2) The handful of ancient Korans, considered to be originals of a sort, in fact don’t agree with each other and are incomplete and, furthermore, show evidence their authors erased previous text and added new ones; and some respected Muslim scholars have acknowledged same. For more details, watch Jay Smith on YouTube: Deconstructing Islam (28 minutes), An Historical Critique of Islam’s Beginnings (1 hour plus), and host of other videos of his debating Muslims in London’s Hyde Park Speakers corner over the years.
CogitoErgoSum says
This news article states that the text which was overwritten comes from the Book of Deuteronomy which contains the following passage (Deut. 18:14-22):
_______________________________
“14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, FROM YOUR FELLOW ISRAELITES. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”
_______________________________
In verse 15 of this passage Moses is telling the Israelites that God has promised to send a future prophet who will come from among them and will be like unto Moses himself. This future prophet could not be Muhammad since he was NOT from among the Israelites …. but this prophet could be Jesus who was born a Jew.
Then in verse 22 the command is given that any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods is to be put to death. For the Jews, this could be taken as justification for putting Jesus to death when He spoke of God and Himself as being one. However, for Christians this could be taken as justification for putting Muhammad to death (or for disregard of his words after his death) when he spoke of a god who was not the Triune God of the Trinity. So Muslims would not be interested in seeing this information spread across the land and would wipe it out whenever and wherever they came across it and replace it with their own scripture … as they did in the case described in the above news article.
BTW, here is a link to an item I came across as a result of looking for additional information about this story. It says that it is time for members of my religion (Roman Catholic) to reconsider Islam and the idea that Muhammad is a prophet. Since it was written in 2016 I would say that it is now PAST time for this reconsideration.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2016/09/08/time-for-catholics-to-reconsider-islam-and-the-prophet-muhammad/
So yes, this discovery of the Quran being written on parchment that once contained a part of the Old Testament is quite relevant … and revealing about Islam. It’s further confirmation that Muhammad should be viewed by Christians as a false prophet …. and that Muslims have and always will try to wipe out such an idea.
Julea Bacall says
And wipe out Israel/Judaism and steal all Abraham’s history. Both Iran’s Shia and Arabias Sunni want to wipe Israel from the map and history. Like China to Tibet.
somehistory says
My thoughts, exactly. It shows disrespect in the highest degree. And contrary to what the “always written on new materials: says, probably happened every time they had the chance.
Michael says
Actually something I found funny was that for years I was pissed at the Muslims for slapping Christianity’s face over the Dome of the Rock building a mosque there on what was thought to be Christianity’s holiest site. But recent archaeological digs and scripture all place the 1st and 2nd Temple downslope of there by the River Gihon. This is where the 3rd temple is to be built to satisfy prophesy.
The Dome is actually built on the dungpiles left over from the Roman Legion who were stationed there. Now I call that God’s slap in the face to the Muslims.
mortimer says
Romain Pingannaud is clearly trying to keep the funding money coming his way. His remarks are carefully crafted for his TARGET AUDIENCE: HIS MONEYMEN…possibly, they are ARAB MONEYMEN.
My own reaction to this discovery is that it shows the SUPREMACISM that Robert Spencer has identified.
We see here not only supremacism, but absolute DISDAIN and DISRESPECT for the Bible.
I agree with those scholars who think the Koran was intentionally CADGED, COPIED and “CALQUED” from the writings of other religions: Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Sabeanism and paganism.
Julea Bacall says
It is not just Spenser who identifies this. Anyone who reads the Qur’an can see it. The Qur’an identifies it.
gravenimage says
Spot on, Mortimer.
mortimer says
HERE IS MORE OF VIBRANT CULTURAL EXCHANGE THAT OCCURED AT THE TIME OF ISLAMIC CONQUESTS:
The new caliph from 715, Sulaiman, saw the absurdity of Islam having conquered from Spain to China, while nearby Constantinople had not yet been conquered. He believed that victory over that city — Byzantium and its empire — would bring an end to the prolonged and exhausting campaigning. In 716 he sent his army and navy to begin another siege at Constantinople. The great city was imperiled again. A general named Leo the Isaurian put the city’s defenses in order. Sulaiman’s forces were unable to penetrate Constantinople’s fortifications. A shorter and more direct route to the heart of Europe than through Spain was thereby blocked. Sulaiman left his forces just outside Constantinople, and there they continued to wear down and to grow weaker. Angry, while on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Sulaiman invited his courtiers to try their swords on four hundred persons recently captured during the fighting at Constantinople, and the courtiers beheaded them as Sulaiman looked on. Sulaiman consoled himself with food and women. Then suddenly he died, and his rule passed to another Umayyad — his cousin Umar II.
Raja says
Mortimer, Thanks for the historic info. Your point is pretty plausible.
mortimer says
Raja, that is the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of what was occurring when the MANUSCRIPT above had the Bible test washed off and the Koran re-written on it.
There was no respect given to Christians… they were beheaded merely for sport and amusement at an afternoon party.
melek-ric says
The Biblical text beneath the Arabic is in Coptic letters. When Islam conquered Coptic peoples they were forbidden to speak their own Coptic language in the presence of Muslims; any who did had their tongues cut out. In light of this, one would expect that the expunging of Coptic Christian texts would have been policy even if the parchment had been valueless.
Stacy Girl says
Exhibit A- the smoking gun.
Richard says
You are absolutely right. It also shows why Islam can never change any of its tenants. They believe the Qur’an is from God, so changing the slightest dot or title would be a horrible blasphemy – as it would be for Christians or Jews to change our religious texts. “Dialog” between these religions can only subsist of: “We are right; you are wrong”, or the congenial religion is conceding it is a complete lie.
Mr Gerogy says
Look at the early Quran text. No dots or tittles. Of course, the Quran has never changed, has it? Yesh, right.
J D S says
Any one with knowledge of the Holy Bible and ancient history would see that the Koran was put together from fragments of the Holy BIble and made up stuff from the mind of individuals who wanted to be overlords of Christians. Of course the words came from Satan…Satan is a very powerful spirit who is in the world working to destroy God’s people but only for ….a time…
JM says
Excerpt from an article on early Islamic interfaith dialogue and cooperation with Judaism:
‘ “Everything that came before is now inferior… Muhammed is the seal of the prophets,” [he said.]
The idea of “tolerance” is “anachronistic and wishful thinking.”
“To say that non-Muslims were equal to Muslims? That’s unfair to Muslims, who, as members of the ‘true faith,’ would be in a superior position,” …’
Link to article:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-expose-muslim-jewish-dialogue-in-jerusalem-from-1300-years-ago/
(Disclaimer: the rest of the article presents wishful academic theories of Islamic tolerance regarding Jerusalem.)
Raja says
Many theories may float around this discovery. One thing is certain: Islam was always rearing its head against the incumbent religious system or culture or monuments or all of them put together.
The clowns of this discovery may be offered millions and this will be a catalyst for inter faith dialogue with motive of converting more to Islam and to prove the amity of the religious groups of those days.The truth seems to be the other way around. IT IS iSLAM AT ITS WORST AS ALWAYS. Satan never respects anyone, he can use people as tissue paper.
blitz2b says
It’s exactly what is happening in France and the rest of Europe… The erasure of Christendom and the establishment of the Islamic over top….
Lydia Church says
The Bible is true and the quran is false, and Christianity refutes islam regardless.
And that is relevant to everything.
Kepha says
While I hold no candle for Islam, which I frankly see as a bundle of blasphemies, I have to note that Christians also have turned Bibles into palimpsests.
An important witness to the text of the NT is a 5th century uncial manuscript including much of the Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, and Revelation called Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (deisgnated C in the Nestle-Aland critical apparatus in the United Bible Societies’ edition of the Greek New Testament). Iit gets its name because it was erased so a Greek translation of the Syriac father Ephrem the Syrian could be written over it. The New Testament text underlying this is faintly readable with some chemical help; but can’t be read clearly without the help of ultraviolet light.
Ephrem Syrus is seen as an important father by both Eastern and Western Churches. His writings would be preserved by Christians. Apparently, some back in the day believed they had enough Bibles/New Testaments, and could sacrifice one to preserve a patristic text.
Keep in mind that back in those days, things were written on vellum or parchment, which was a very expensive material.
Brother Charles says
It proves the BIBLE was there before the quran , So the Bible is the Book they have to go to to understand their book ,That is written in the quran .
Troybeam says
This finding shows that Muhammed used the bible to create his own cult, and the Koran shows his own insanity that formed the most vicious ideals.. Since there has been no actual findings of his physical remains or proof of his existence other than the Koran and other books perhaps its time to raid Mecca to see if any bones remain that Islam claims he is buried there.
As for the proof of Jesus being alive, there have been more biblical findings of Jesus being here than that of Muhammed.
Linnte says
The only thing this trifle of writing proves is that Islam plagerised the Bible when they, the human beings, were manufacturing Qur’an and so called history of Muhammad.
Save Europe says
Totally agree. Even in East London they have been turning small synagogues into Mosques. I recall seeing a programme on this scenario, a few years ago, and those involved were grinning.
Julea Bacall says
I am confused what they mean by ‘cultural interactions’. We know there were Jewish villages beside Medina.Mecca, like Khyber….the one where Mohammed ordered nearly 800 men/boys to have their heads cut off and that he took one Jewish woman to be his sex slave (as she refused to ‘marry’ him and convert.) So what do they men? Are they so ignorant or is there some kind of point?
gravenimage says
Ancient Qur’an manuscript discovered to have been written over erased Bible manuscript
………………..
All this really shows is that Muslims were probably stealing from Jews or Christians. No surprise there.
gravenimage says
Just what I was going to say, Jay Boo.
Julea Bacall says
Exactly!