These are just deleted scenes from my website that I did not want to put in the main article because it adds too much confusion than is necessary. They are kept here as a reference to myself in the future. Note to myself: Do Not Delete
[Quran 5:47] And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.
Many times in the Quran, when referencing the bible they have in their hands, the Quran uses the term "ma bayna yadayhi" (between their hands), and we don't see this mentioned in this verse. Nonetheless, irrespective of that, the Quran did not say to judge by the Gospel they currently possess in their hands. Thus, this verse is inconclusive as to whether it is saying judge by the original gospel or the gospel they have in their hands. Now, some will say "but then, this verse is misleading". Yes...that's the point. The Quran says it attempts to mislead through inconclusive verses as discussed above. Many Christians, even today are being misled by this verse because they take it at face value (a peripheral approach) and refuse to recognize the nuance and complexity of the Quran. The Quran says it is deliberately misleading as discussed above (see above discussion on 5:43). However, a cautious understanding of the Quran leads us to understand this verse is inconclusive as to whether it claims the bible they have in their hands is uncorrupted (or even should be used as a judgement since it is not clear if the Quran is even talking about the one they have in their hands). In fact, when you take a holistic understanding of the Quran, 4:157 confirms to us unequivocally that the gospel they have in their hands has been corrupted and thus it is not the one to judge by because this verse says to judge by "what Allah has revealed therein"--Allah did not reveal those corruptions that were later added on to the gospel they currently have.
Firstly, this verse could be a description of what Allah expressed to Jesus as the verse before was speaking about Jesus receiving the Gospel. That is, this verse could be expressing what Allah had told Jesus to let those who will inherit the Gospel to judge by what Allah revealed therein. And the "whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed" mirrors what Allah told the Jews (5:43) and the Muslims (5:49). Additionally, we see a pattern of 2 verses for the Jews (5:44, 5:45), 2 verses for the Christians (5:46, 5:47) and 2 verses for the Muslims (5:48, 5:49). So this verse can be understood as a description of the message given to Jesus with respect to his prospective followers mirroring what Allah gave the Jews and Muslims. But here, again, we see no indication the Quran is affirming the Gospel Christians currently have is uncorrupt.
Secondly, this verse could be a command to the Christians contemporaneous with the prophet. It would be telling them to Judge by what Allah had revealed in the Gospel. However, as we learn, the Quran unequivocally informs us the Gospel they have has been corrupted (4:157 and others which contradict the Gospel they have in their hands) and the next part of this verse says "whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed are the defiantly disobedient". This verse is a threat to the Christians. It is telling them it is important to judge by what Allah had revealed in the Gospel, but by judging with the Gospel they currently have they'd be judging by both what Allah revealed and the corruptions that were inserted--and thus by doing so, they would be the defiantly disobedient because they are not only judging by what Allah revealed in the Gospel. The Quran wanted them to ponder over this verse and deduce this conclusion. Similar to what the Quran suggests with the Jews (in 5:43-5:44), everyone is supposed to judge by what Allah revealed, however in 5:44 we learn the Jews have been entrusted to guard their scriptures and in 3:187 (as well as other verses which contradict the Torah), we learn that the Jews have failed to guard their scriptures and corruptions have made their way into the Torah. So both the Jews and the Christians judging by their corrupted texts are not exclusively judging by what Allah had revealed; they are also judging by what the corrupted texts say--and thus, in order to be righteous, the Jews and Christians must judge exclusively by what Allah revealed, and the Quran claims to be definitively what Allah revealed, therefore, they are to judge by the Quran. The Quran is not meant to be passively read and superficially understood, in fact, in many verses (such as 47:24,4:82, 23:68, 38:29, 8:22), we are commanded to ponder/reflect upon its verses. So if this verse is understood as a command to Christians, then they are to understand that this verse does not conclusively say their gospel is uncorrupted, but that they should recognize that the Quran conclusively determined their bible was corrupted (see discussion on 4:157 above) and that they are to judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel, and since they cannot discern what Allah revealed in the Gospel alone, they are to refer to the Quran. In fact, the very next verse, 5:48, informs us that the Quran was sent down to confirm "what is between their hands"-"ma bayna yadayhi" of the scripture and to act as a criterion over it ("wa-muhayminan" = guarding it by determining what is true and false). Since this is a possible interpretation of this verse, we see here that it is inconclusive and it is not saying the bible has not been corrupted contrary to the claims of the nonbeliever.
Thirdly, the nonbeliever just assumes that this verse is definitively a command to Christians. However, when the Quran makes definitive commands, if often uses "O people of the gospel", but, the Quran does not say this here. It says "Let the people of the gospel judge by what Allah had revealed therein". In line with the context, this verse could be understood as a command to the prophet Muhammad to allow the Christians or permit them (not forbid them) to judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel. The Quran elsewhere for example, commands us to leave the disbelievers alone (e.g 15:3, 70:42), but in no way is this Allah commanding the disbelievers to keep on disbelieving, rather, it is a command for us to leave them alone. Likewise, Allah may not be commanding them to judge by the Gospel, but commanding the prophet to let them judge by what Allah revealed in there. Now, the burning question is, if the gospel they currently have has elements of human fabrication as well as elements of original revelations from God, how is the prophet Muhammad supposed to know if the Christians are judging by what Allah revealed in the gospel? Allah could easily inform him of instances they are not judging by what Allah revealed in the Gospel and have the prophet address this. So as we see, this verse could be specific to the prophet Muhammad and not to us, just as in 5:42 where it commanded the prophet to either judge between them or not. And if this interpretation is the case, then the second half of this verse is emphasizing that the Christians are to obey the prophet (similar to 4:59) and if they do not take the prophet's instructions as to how they judge based on what Allah revealed in the Gospel, then they are defiantly disobedient. But then why did Allah say "judge by the Gospel", there could be any number of reasons the Quran did not disclose--one of them may be to gradually allow Christians to accept the authority of the prophet or to ease them into ultimately judging the Quran. Now as a side note, even if this verse is a command to the prophet, the same things above apply--The prophet letting them judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel means letting them judge by the Quran (since the prophet cannot discern what Allah revealed in the Gospel alone, he refers to the Quran. In fact, the very next verse, 5:48, informs us that the Quran was sent down to confirm "what is between their hands"-"ma bayna yadayhi" of the scripture and to act as a criterion over it ("wa-muhayminan" = guarding it by determining what is true and false). Since this too is a possible interpretation of this verse, we see here that it is inconclusive and it is not saying the bible has not been corrupted contrary to the claims of the nonbeliever.
Now, let's closely read the next verse (5:48) to get a deeper understanding. It says Allah gave the prophet Muhammad the book confirming what is between their hands of the scripture and as a guard/criterion over it. Then it goes on to tell the prophet Muhammad to judge between the Jews/Christians based off of what he was revealed and not to follow their inclinations away from the truth the prophet Muhammad received. What we see here is that they have inclinations that deviate from the truth of what Allah sent down in the Quran. These inclinations may be partly due to the corruptions of their scriptures. Next, this verse informs us that all of us have been prescribed (past tense) a law and a method. Now, the next verse is answering the burning question: Why? Why the confusion? Why the complexity? Why have the Quran as the guard/criterion over the previous scriptures? Why have the prophet judge between them based on the Quran if you are all powerful and could've just made us all agree on one thing without deviance in the first place? The Quran answers that Allah could've done so, however, he chose not to so that we may be tested with what Allah had given us. So now, we finally understand--this is a test. Now, in verse 5:68, it is made even clearer. The Jews/Christians are to judge by the Torah, Gospel AND what has been revealed from Allah (the Quran)-- "and that which is revealed to you from your lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief". Here, the Quran is informing them that the Quran is part of the test upon them and through it, many will fail (increase in disbelief). They are commanded to uphold the Quran; the reason Allah gave everyone a law and a method in the past and then have the Quran imposed on them is for them to be tested.
We must understand that 5:48 could be answering or explaining the question of why make
It's important to recognize that 5:48 just said "To each we have prescribed a law and method...to test you". It did not say anything about whether the previous laws/methods have been corrupted, and it doesn't say anything about how to approach this test (it is Quran 5:68 and 4:47 that goes on to explain how to succeed in this test--by upholding the Torah, Gospel AND Quran), nonetheless, Quran 5:48 remains inconclusive as to whether it is making the claim the bible has been corrupted or not. Notice how they will keep relying on inconclusive verses when it comes to trying to demonstrate the Quran claims the bible has no corruptions. If a verse is inconclusive as to its interpretation when it comes to whether the bible has been corrupted or not, then it is inconclusive.
_________________
Many people, whether from Wiki-Islam, or non-muslims love to assert that the Quran claims that the bible is not corrupt at all, and the bible that we have today is fully the original bible that Allah had sent down. They would love to claim this because once they do, the errors of the bible are now errors of Islam since Islam allegedly attests the current bible is fully the word of God. And any contradiction between the Bible and the Quran would thus go against Islam. They'd love to believe that the Quran asserts the bible was not corrupted. Christians and Jews can use a slightly different tactic: by asserting the Quran claims the bible is not corrupt, they feel a sense of security following their bible and they assert that the Quran says to follow their bible so they don't have to change their practices or beliefs; they feel a sense of safety by asserting that the Quran is telling them not to change their practices or beliefs. However, as Quran 3:7 states, these people are using Quranic vagueness and seeking an interpretation that is suitable to them out of this vagueness. In this article, we will discuss why the Quran makes it clear that the Torah and Gospel have been corrupted and that the Quran is the binding document on the Jews/Christians to believe.
__________________
On Quran [2:79], Even worse, another thing that adds to the inconclusiveness is in Quran 2:78, "ummi" could be translated as "unlettered/illiterate" or "gentile". However, the context of the verse is talking about Jews and you can't have a gentile Jew (a gentile by definition is not a Jew) and thus it refers to unlettered Jews--so this begs the question: how could an unlettered/illiterate person write a book? Thus 2:79 would not refer to the unlettered Jews, but it would just be a conjunction with the previous verses that add to the narrative describing how the Jews transgressed against Allah through corrupting their scriptures and continue to transgress through using those corruptions to contend against Islam (2:76). This is another possible understanding and, again, it adds to the fact these verse are inconclusive.
__________________
I don't have time to research it now, but I remember seeing verses in the Quran that referred to Jews/Christians who became Muslim/Followed the Quran as Jews/Christians/people of the book even though they converted to Islam. I'll have to find those verses and take a look in the future.
__________________
This is part of the "corruption of the bible" article that I deleted. Note this was added after I had finished writing the article. And I deleted it within the hour. I just put it here for reference. This paragraph's statement of "tendency" to corrupt their scriptures did not come first, this was a conclusion made previously (in the last paragraph of the section on 2:75-2:79 in the main article) before I wrote or thought about the following paragraph. In other words the last paragraph of that section on the original article was written first in its entirety (without further additions). The following was written after all of that and then deleted soon after:
Further, the verse right before (2:74) talks about how the Jews hearts hardened after Moses, and then 2:75-2:79 mentions the continual general defiance of the Jews: they corrupt the words of Allah after they have understood it, and they write the book with their own hands and attribute it to Allah. So how can you expect them to be righteous and believe in Islam? As an analogy, let's say you are admonishing a political party for their actions and you say "how could they be a party of the people if they write laws that impose serious hardship", this is talking about their previous actions and their tendency to do this. So 2:75-2:79 reflects what they have done and their tendency to corrupt the words of Allah.
This was deleted because 2:75 has the word "Kana" which is past tense. So it would be like saying "there used to be a party of them who distort the book". While distort is present tense, "there used to be" is past tense. So this whole thing is in the past tense, similar to me saying "there used to be humans who eat xyz". Eat is present tense, but the whole thing is past tense because I said "there used to be". Additionally in 2:79 there is a past tense verb for "written". Now it still is the case that the Jews have attempted to corrupt their scriptures. These verses do not mention if those corruptions made it into the bible, however in conjunction with 4:157 and other verses that contradict the Torah/Bible, we learn that the Jewish tendency and attempts to corrupt the word of Allah ultimately made it into the text of their scriptures. Moreover, these verses are in the past tense to say in essence: "How could the Jews believe in you when they have corrupted their scriptures. Their scriptures have corruptions that can make them think Islam is false". Also: "There were a group of people who used to write the scriptures. So, woe to those who write the scripture with their own hands and curse them for what they have written". Notice the use of the past tense and then present tense to signify that it is a general statement cursing all of those who do this activity: "woe to those who write the book" and thus it is connected to the first sentence "there were a group of people who used to write the scripture" and anyone else who engages in this activity. In other words, whether it is past or present tense, both have the same meaning. It's also possible that 2:75-2:79 is only limited to those contemporaneous with the prophet (although this is not conclusive), but if this is the case then these verses are not disclosing whether the text of the bible has been corrupted or not and as such we refer to 4:157 and other verses which conclusively establish their corruption. The Quran wants us to ponder about it and it has deliberate vagueness to make it easy for those who want to reject the Quran/Islam to do so etc etc.
__________________
Deleted because I felt it was redundant and unnecessary and I think it distracts from my main point. But anyway in 2:79, the word "fa" can mean "so", "then", "and". Thus it can be translated as "and woe to those who write the book with their own hands". So the Jews (1) Distorted their scriptures, (2) Made conjectures and worst of all--so bad that 'woe' is mentioned there: (3) Fabricated scriptures and attributed them to Allah.
Additionally, Allah could've worded it this way and kept it ambiguous as such to allow Jews/Christians to be misguided into securely believing the Quran endorses the bible's non-corruption. etc etc. I wrote about this in my notes.
__________________
[Quran 5:47] And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.
Many times in the Quran, when referencing the bible they have in their hands, the Quran uses the term "ma bayna yadayhi" (between their hands), and we don't see this mentioned in this verse. Nonetheless, irrespective of that, the Quran did not say to judge by the Gospel they currently possess in their hands. Thus, this verse is inconclusive as to whether it is saying judge by the original gospel or the gospel they have in their hands. Now, some will say "but then, this verse is misleading". Yes...that's the point. The Quran says it attempts to mislead through inconclusive verses as discussed above. Many Christians, even today are being misled by this verse because they take it at face value (a peripheral approach) and refuse to recognize the nuance and complexity of the Quran. The Quran says it is deliberately misleading as discussed above (see above discussion on 5:43). However, a cautious understanding of the Quran leads us to understand this verse is inconclusive as to whether it claims the bible they have in their hands is uncorrupted (or even should be used as a judgement since it is not clear if the Quran is even talking about the one they have in their hands). In fact, when you take a holistic understanding of the Quran, 4:157 confirms to us unequivocally that the gospel they have in their hands has been corrupted and thus it is not the one to judge by because this verse says to judge by "what Allah has revealed therein"--Allah did not reveal those corruptions that were later added on to the gospel they currently have.
Firstly, this verse could be a description of what Allah expressed to Jesus as the verse before was speaking about Jesus receiving the Gospel. That is, this verse could be expressing what Allah had told Jesus to let those who will inherit the Gospel to judge by what Allah revealed therein. And the "whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed" mirrors what Allah told the Jews (5:43) and the Muslims (5:49). Additionally, we see a pattern of 2 verses for the Jews (5:44, 5:45), 2 verses for the Christians (5:46, 5:47) and 2 verses for the Muslims (5:48, 5:49). So this verse can be understood as a description of the message given to Jesus with respect to his prospective followers mirroring what Allah gave the Jews and Muslims. But here, again, we see no indication the Quran is affirming the Gospel Christians currently have is uncorrupt.
Secondly, this verse could be a command to the Christians contemporaneous with the prophet. It would be telling them to Judge by what Allah had revealed in the Gospel. However, as we learn, the Quran unequivocally informs us the Gospel they have has been corrupted (4:157 and others which contradict the Gospel they have in their hands) and the next part of this verse says "whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed are the defiantly disobedient". This verse is a threat to the Christians. It is telling them it is important to judge by what Allah had revealed in the Gospel, but by judging with the Gospel they currently have they'd be judging by both what Allah revealed and the corruptions that were inserted--and thus by doing so, they would be the defiantly disobedient because they are not only judging by what Allah revealed in the Gospel. The Quran wanted them to ponder over this verse and deduce this conclusion. Similar to what the Quran suggests with the Jews (in 5:43-5:44), everyone is supposed to judge by what Allah revealed, however in 5:44 we learn the Jews have been entrusted to guard their scriptures and in 3:187 (as well as other verses which contradict the Torah), we learn that the Jews have failed to guard their scriptures and corruptions have made their way into the Torah. So both the Jews and the Christians judging by their corrupted texts are not exclusively judging by what Allah had revealed; they are also judging by what the corrupted texts say--and thus, in order to be righteous, the Jews and Christians must judge exclusively by what Allah revealed, and the Quran claims to be definitively what Allah revealed, therefore, they are to judge by the Quran. The Quran is not meant to be passively read and superficially understood, in fact, in many verses (such as 47:24,4:82, 23:68, 38:29, 8:22), we are commanded to ponder/reflect upon its verses. So if this verse is understood as a command to Christians, then they are to understand that this verse does not conclusively say their gospel is uncorrupted, but that they should recognize that the Quran conclusively determined their bible was corrupted (see discussion on 4:157 above) and that they are to judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel, and since they cannot discern what Allah revealed in the Gospel alone, they are to refer to the Quran. In fact, the very next verse, 5:48, informs us that the Quran was sent down to confirm "what is between their hands"-"ma bayna yadayhi" of the scripture and to act as a criterion over it ("wa-muhayminan" = guarding it by determining what is true and false). Since this is a possible interpretation of this verse, we see here that it is inconclusive and it is not saying the bible has not been corrupted contrary to the claims of the nonbeliever.
Thirdly, the nonbeliever just assumes that this verse is definitively a command to Christians. However, when the Quran makes definitive commands, if often uses "O people of the gospel", but, the Quran does not say this here. It says "Let the people of the gospel judge by what Allah had revealed therein". In line with the context, this verse could be understood as a command to the prophet Muhammad to allow the Christians or permit them (not forbid them) to judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel. The Quran elsewhere for example, commands us to leave the disbelievers alone (e.g 15:3, 70:42), but in no way is this Allah commanding the disbelievers to keep on disbelieving, rather, it is a command for us to leave them alone. Likewise, Allah may not be commanding them to judge by the Gospel, but commanding the prophet to let them judge by what Allah revealed in there. Now, the burning question is, if the gospel they currently have has elements of human fabrication as well as elements of original revelations from God, how is the prophet Muhammad supposed to know if the Christians are judging by what Allah revealed in the gospel? Allah could easily inform him of instances they are not judging by what Allah revealed in the Gospel and have the prophet address this. So as we see, this verse could be specific to the prophet Muhammad and not to us, just as in 5:42 where it commanded the prophet to either judge between them or not. And if this interpretation is the case, then the second half of this verse is emphasizing that the Christians are to obey the prophet (similar to 4:59) and if they do not take the prophet's instructions as to how they judge based on what Allah revealed in the Gospel, then they are defiantly disobedient. But then why did Allah say "judge by the Gospel", there could be any number of reasons the Quran did not disclose--one of them may be to gradually allow Christians to accept the authority of the prophet or to ease them into ultimately judging the Quran. Now as a side note, even if this verse is a command to the prophet, the same things above apply--The prophet letting them judge by what Allah revealed in the Gospel means letting them judge by the Quran (since the prophet cannot discern what Allah revealed in the Gospel alone, he refers to the Quran. In fact, the very next verse, 5:48, informs us that the Quran was sent down to confirm "what is between their hands"-"ma bayna yadayhi" of the scripture and to act as a criterion over it ("wa-muhayminan" = guarding it by determining what is true and false). Since this too is a possible interpretation of this verse, we see here that it is inconclusive and it is not saying the bible has not been corrupted contrary to the claims of the nonbeliever.
Now, let's closely read the next verse (5:48) to get a deeper understanding. It says Allah gave the prophet Muhammad the book confirming what is between their hands of the scripture and as a guard/criterion over it. Then it goes on to tell the prophet Muhammad to judge between the Jews/Christians based off of what he was revealed and not to follow their inclinations away from the truth the prophet Muhammad received. What we see here is that they have inclinations that deviate from the truth of what Allah sent down in the Quran. These inclinations may be partly due to the corruptions of their scriptures. Next, this verse informs us that all of us have been prescribed (past tense) a law and a method. Now, the next verse is answering the burning question: Why? Why the confusion? Why the complexity? Why have the Quran as the guard/criterion over the previous scriptures? Why have the prophet judge between them based on the Quran if you are all powerful and could've just made us all agree on one thing without deviance in the first place? The Quran answers that Allah could've done so, however, he chose not to so that we may be tested with what Allah had given us. So now, we finally understand--this is a test. Now, in verse 5:68, it is made even clearer. The Jews/Christians are to judge by the Torah, Gospel AND what has been revealed from Allah (the Quran)-- "and that which is revealed to you from your lord will surely increase many of them in transgression and disbelief". Here, the Quran is informing them that the Quran is part of the test upon them and through it, many will fail (increase in disbelief). They are commanded to uphold the Quran; the reason Allah gave everyone a law and a method in the past and then have the Quran imposed on them is for them to be tested.
We must understand that 5:48 could be answering or explaining the question of why make
It's important to recognize that 5:48 just said "To each we have prescribed a law and method...to test you". It did not say anything about whether the previous laws/methods have been corrupted, and it doesn't say anything about how to approach this test (it is Quran 5:68 and 4:47 that goes on to explain how to succeed in this test--by upholding the Torah, Gospel AND Quran), nonetheless, Quran 5:48 remains inconclusive as to whether it is making the claim the bible has been corrupted or not. Notice how they will keep relying on inconclusive verses when it comes to trying to demonstrate the Quran claims the bible has no corruptions. If a verse is inconclusive as to its interpretation when it comes to whether the bible has been corrupted or not, then it is inconclusive.
_________________
Many people, whether from Wiki-Islam, or non-muslims love to assert that the Quran claims that the bible is not corrupt at all, and the bible that we have today is fully the original bible that Allah had sent down. They would love to claim this because once they do, the errors of the bible are now errors of Islam since Islam allegedly attests the current bible is fully the word of God. And any contradiction between the Bible and the Quran would thus go against Islam. They'd love to believe that the Quran asserts the bible was not corrupted. Christians and Jews can use a slightly different tactic: by asserting the Quran claims the bible is not corrupt, they feel a sense of security following their bible and they assert that the Quran says to follow their bible so they don't have to change their practices or beliefs; they feel a sense of safety by asserting that the Quran is telling them not to change their practices or beliefs. However, as Quran 3:7 states, these people are using Quranic vagueness and seeking an interpretation that is suitable to them out of this vagueness. In this article, we will discuss why the Quran makes it clear that the Torah and Gospel have been corrupted and that the Quran is the binding document on the Jews/Christians to believe.
__________________
On Quran [2:79], Even worse, another thing that adds to the inconclusiveness is in Quran 2:78, "ummi" could be translated as "unlettered/illiterate" or "gentile". However, the context of the verse is talking about Jews and you can't have a gentile Jew (a gentile by definition is not a Jew) and thus it refers to unlettered Jews--so this begs the question: how could an unlettered/illiterate person write a book? Thus 2:79 would not refer to the unlettered Jews, but it would just be a conjunction with the previous verses that add to the narrative describing how the Jews transgressed against Allah through corrupting their scriptures and continue to transgress through using those corruptions to contend against Islam (2:76). This is another possible understanding and, again, it adds to the fact these verse are inconclusive.
__________________
I don't have time to research it now, but I remember seeing verses in the Quran that referred to Jews/Christians who became Muslim/Followed the Quran as Jews/Christians/people of the book even though they converted to Islam. I'll have to find those verses and take a look in the future.
__________________
This is part of the "corruption of the bible" article that I deleted. Note this was added after I had finished writing the article. And I deleted it within the hour. I just put it here for reference. This paragraph's statement of "tendency" to corrupt their scriptures did not come first, this was a conclusion made previously (in the last paragraph of the section on 2:75-2:79 in the main article) before I wrote or thought about the following paragraph. In other words the last paragraph of that section on the original article was written first in its entirety (without further additions). The following was written after all of that and then deleted soon after:
Further, the verse right before (2:74) talks about how the Jews hearts hardened after Moses, and then 2:75-2:79 mentions the continual general defiance of the Jews: they corrupt the words of Allah after they have understood it, and they write the book with their own hands and attribute it to Allah. So how can you expect them to be righteous and believe in Islam? As an analogy, let's say you are admonishing a political party for their actions and you say "how could they be a party of the people if they write laws that impose serious hardship", this is talking about their previous actions and their tendency to do this. So 2:75-2:79 reflects what they have done and their tendency to corrupt the words of Allah.
This was deleted because 2:75 has the word "Kana" which is past tense. So it would be like saying "there used to be a party of them who distort the book". While distort is present tense, "there used to be" is past tense. So this whole thing is in the past tense, similar to me saying "there used to be humans who eat xyz". Eat is present tense, but the whole thing is past tense because I said "there used to be". Additionally in 2:79 there is a past tense verb for "written". Now it still is the case that the Jews have attempted to corrupt their scriptures. These verses do not mention if those corruptions made it into the bible, however in conjunction with 4:157 and other verses that contradict the Torah/Bible, we learn that the Jewish tendency and attempts to corrupt the word of Allah ultimately made it into the text of their scriptures. Moreover, these verses are in the past tense to say in essence: "How could the Jews believe in you when they have corrupted their scriptures. Their scriptures have corruptions that can make them think Islam is false". Also: "There were a group of people who used to write the scriptures. So, woe to those who write the scripture with their own hands and curse them for what they have written". Notice the use of the past tense and then present tense to signify that it is a general statement cursing all of those who do this activity: "woe to those who write the book" and thus it is connected to the first sentence "there were a group of people who used to write the scripture" and anyone else who engages in this activity. In other words, whether it is past or present tense, both have the same meaning. It's also possible that 2:75-2:79 is only limited to those contemporaneous with the prophet (although this is not conclusive), but if this is the case then these verses are not disclosing whether the text of the bible has been corrupted or not and as such we refer to 4:157 and other verses which conclusively establish their corruption. The Quran wants us to ponder about it and it has deliberate vagueness to make it easy for those who want to reject the Quran/Islam to do so etc etc.
__________________
Deleted because I felt it was redundant and unnecessary and I think it distracts from my main point. But anyway in 2:79, the word "fa" can mean "so", "then", "and". Thus it can be translated as "and woe to those who write the book with their own hands". So the Jews (1) Distorted their scriptures, (2) Made conjectures and worst of all--so bad that 'woe' is mentioned there: (3) Fabricated scriptures and attributed them to Allah.
Additionally, Allah could've worded it this way and kept it ambiguous as such to allow Jews/Christians to be misguided into securely believing the Quran endorses the bible's non-corruption. etc etc. I wrote about this in my notes.
__________________
