In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Merciful,
Over time, the Bible has been changed. One factor of this change is not preserving the original language. Another main one is the hiding of the prophecies of Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him). For this post, I will be discussing a combination of both of these.
Ar-Ridha (ra) was known for his debates with scholars of religions other than Islam. In his debate with a Jewish High Rabbi, he gives proof from Chapter 3, Verse 3 of the Book of Habakkuk. He states, "He [Habakkuk] said, and your Book says it: ‘Allah, the Most High, brought the law/statement from Mount Faran (Paran); the earth was full of the glorification of Ahmed and his community." However, when you look at the translation of the verse in most versions, such as the NIV Bible, you find a very different translation.
NIV Bible Verse:
"God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth" (Habakkuk 3:3).
Note: Teman/Tema and Mount Paran are both linked to Mecca (See
http://answering-christianity.com/paran.htm and
http://www.answering-christianity.com/isaiah_vision1.htm).
It was some similarities, but it was just so different. When I saw this, I thought to myself, "How could someone of such a high status purposely change the words in order to support his argument? There is no way he committed such a sin." Because of this, I looked in a Hebrew version of the Bible, and it was a little different, but it was still very different than what Ar-Ridha (ra) said.
Hebrew Bible Verse:
"אֱלוֹהַּ מִתֵּימָן יָבוֹא, וְקָדוֹשׁ מֵהַר-פָּארָן סֶלָה; כִּסָּה שָׁמַיִם הוֹדוֹ, וּתְהִלָּתוֹ מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ"
(Habakkuk 3:3).
Approximate Translation of Hebrew Verse:
God cometh from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.
I was still not satisfied, so I decided to look through a Palestinian Aramaic, a Bible from even before Prophet 'Isa (may peace be upon him) and the oldest version of the verse that I could find (See
http://cal.huc.edu/). What I found was shocking.
Palestinian Aramaic Bible Verse:
"בְמִיתַן אוֹרָיתָא לְעַמֵיה אֲלָהָא מִדָרוֹמָא אִתגְלִי וְקַדִישָא מִטוּרָא דְפָארָן בִגבוּרַת עָלְמִין אִתחֲפִיאוּ שְמַיָא זִיו יְקָרֵיה וְאָמְרֵי תוּשבַחתֵיה מַליָא אַרעָא"
(Habakkuk 3:3).
Approximate Translation of Palestinian Aramaic Verse:
God revealed the law from Teman (Tema) for the people, and the Holy One from Mount Paran completely covered the Earth and the heavens with honorary splendor of the Praiseworthy One (Ahmed) and the ones he ordered.
This translation matches up with what Ar-Ridha (ra) quoted, and it even mentions the Praiseworthy One, Ahmed. As the language kept changing the words had changed. Also, the High Rabbi agreed that he was aware of that statement. This shows that it was still in the Bibles they were using at the time, ≈800 CE, but it is quite possible that they changed it after this debate to hide the evidence. This is such a stark difference between the text in the Bible of today and the one in the Bible from more than 2000 years ago. By the glory of Allah. thee Qur'an has been preserved from its first form till today in Arabic.
As-salamu alaykum.
