Ibn Abbas' View of the Bible

 

The following is a narration from Al-Bukhari:

"LV. The words of Allah Almighty, "It is indeed a Glorious Qur'an preserved on a Tablet" (85:21-22)

"By the Mount and an Inscribed Book" (52:1-2): Qatada said that "mastur" means "written". "Yasturun" (68:1) means "they inscribe", and the Umm al-Kitab (43:4) is the whole of the Qur'an and its source. [He said that] "ma talfizu" (50:18) means: "He does not say anything but that it is written against him." Ibn 'Abbas said, "Both good and evil are recorded," and "yuharrufuna" (4:46) means "they remove". No one removes the works of one of the Books of Allah Almighty, but they twist them, interpreting them improperly. "Dirasatihim: (6:156) means "their recitation" "Wa'iya" (69:12) is preserving, "ta'iha" (69:12) means to "preserve it". "This Qur'an has been revealed to me by inspiration that I may warn you," means the people of Makka, "and all whom it reaches"(6:19) means this Qur'an, so he is its warner." (http://bewley.virtualave.net/bukhari52.html)

The fact that Imam Bukhari alone narrates this tradition ought to push Muslims to pay heed to this narration, especially since Sahih al-Bukhari is held in extremely high regard within the Muslim world:

"It has been unanimously agreed that Imam Bukhari's work is the most authentic of all the other works in Hadith literature put together. The authenticity of Al-Bukhari's work is such that the religious learned scholars of Islam said concerning him: "The most authentic book after the Book of Allah (i.e., Al-Qur'an) is Sahih Al-Bukhari." …Before he recorded each Hadith he would make ablution and offer two Rak’at prayer and supplicate his Lord (Allah). Many religious scholars of Islam tried to find fault in the great remarkable collection- Sahih Al-Bukhari, but without success. It is for this reason, they unanimously agreed that the most authentic book after the Book of Allah is Sahih Al-Bukhari. (Translation of the Meanings of Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari, Arabic-English, translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Islamic University, Al-Madina Al-Munawwara, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; compilation: Al-Imam Zain-ud-Din Ahmad bin Abdul-Lateef Az-Zubaidi [Maktaba Dar-us-Salam Publishers & Distributors, Riyadh-Saudi Arabia, 1994], pp. 18-19; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Ibn Kathir also writes about this tradition:

Mujahid, Ash-Sha’bi, Al-Hassan, Qatadah and Ar-Rabi' bin Anas said that, <who distort the Book with their tongues.> means, "They alter (Allah’s Words)." Al-Bukhari reported that Ibn ‘Abbas said that the Ayah means they alter and add although none among Allah’s creation can remove the words of Allah from his books, they alter and distort their apparent meanings. Wahb bin Munabbih said, "The Tawrah and Injil remain as Allah revealed them, and no letter in them was removed. However, the people misguide others by addition and false interpretation, relying on books that they wrote themselves." Then, <they say: "This is from Allah," but it is not from Allah;> As for Allah’s books, they are still preserved and cannot be changed. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded this statement. However, if Wahb meant the books that are currently in the hands of the People of the Book, then we should state that there is no doubt that they altered, distorted, added to and deleted from them. For instance, the Arabic versions of these books contain tremendous error, many additions and deletions and enormous misinterpretation. Those who rendered these translations have incorrect comprehension in most, rather, all of these translations. If Wahb meant the Books of Allah that He has with Him, then indeed, these Books are preserved and were never changed" (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Vol. 2, pg. 196)

"The Andalusian interpreter Ibn ‘Atiyya stated that Tahrif means "to change or transfer something from its original character to another" and that Ibn ‘Abbas held that the Jewish (and possibly the Christian, by implication) corruption and change was to be found in exegesis, the letter of the Torah surviving intact, although a second school of scholars maintained that the letters themselves had been changed on the basis that although the Jews had been asked to safeguard the Torah, unlike the Qur’an it was not safeguarded by God Himself." (Muhammad Abu Laylah, The Quran and the Gospels: A Comparative Study, pgs. 145-146)

However, there is another hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari which seems to say that Ibn Abbas viewed the Jewish and Christian Scriptures as inauthentic:

"Narrated Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utba: Ibn Abbas said, "O Muslims? How do you ask the people of the Scriptures, though your Book (i.e. the Quran) which was revealed to His Prophet is the most recent information from Allah and you recite it, the Book that has not been distorted? Allah has revealed to you that the people of the scriptures have changed with their own hands what was revealed to them and they have said (as regards their changed Scriptures): This is from Allah, in order to get some worldly benefit thereby." Ibn Abbas added: "Isn’t the knowledge revealed to you sufficient to prevent you from asking them? By Allah I have never seen any one of them asking (Muslims) about what has been revealed to you." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 48, Number 850) 

Imam Bukhari does at times narrate contradictory ahadith, this being a prominent example. So, how do we solve this?

 

It should be noted that in the above narration where Ibn Abbas says that Jews and Christians did corrupt their Scriptures, he seems to be alluding to Surah 2:79 at one point. We have demonstrated in a previous article (in agreement with classical scholars of Islam, such as Ibn Kathir and Al-Zamakhshari) that this verse is not speaking of Jews and Christian on a wholistic scale, but rather of individual groups within them. If that is true, then it most likely the case that Ibn Abbas has a similar mentality in the above hadith that our Muslim friends cite against us.