The Islamic Dilemma: The Quran and the Prior Scriptures

The single most discussed internal critique of Islam in contemporary apologetics is the argument popularly known as the “Islamic Dilemma.” It is an internal critique in the strictest sense: it uses only the Quran’s own statements about the Torah and the Gospel, combined with the documented manuscript history of those scriptures, to argue that the Quran’s position is self-defeating. The argument does not assume the truth of Christianity or Judaism at any step; it asks only whether the Quran’s claims about prior revelation can be held together consistently.

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   What the Quran Says About the Torah and the Gospel

   The Quran repeatedly affirms the Torah (Tawrat) and the Gospel (Injil) as genuine revelations of God, and—crucially—it speaks of them as present, available, and authoritative in the seventh century, in the hands of the J…

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   The Dilemma Stated

   The argument runs as follows. (1) The Quran affirms the inspiration and continuing authority of the Torah and the Gospel that existed in the seventh century, commanding contemporary Christians to judge by the Gospel “wit…

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   The Quran’s Own Falsification Test

   The Quran proposes an internal test of its divine origin: “Do they not reflect upon the Quran? If it had been from other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction” (Quran 4:82). This invites precisel…