The Muslims know that on this particular question the Christians hold the correct view, yet they do not side with them in the fabrications and acts of polytheism they later introduced.

In the same way one may say: if a small part of their narrative wording has been altered, that does not mean that the greater part has been changed—especially when the very book itself contains indications that expose the alteration. Indeed, whatever phrases of the Torah and the Gospel were tampered with, the Torah and the Gospel still contain within them evidence of that tampering. Thus the objection of those who insist that nothing of their wording has ever been altered is answered. They argue that, were any alteration to have taken place before the mission of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—truth could no longer be distinguished from falsehood; the two scriptures would then cease to serve as proof, and the People of the Book would no longer be obliged to act upon them, nor blamed for abandoning them.

Yet the Quran censures them for failing to judge by what is in those books, and in a number of passages invokes them as testimony.

The response is that the alteration that did occur is minor, while the majority of the text remains untouched. What was left intact contains clear expressions that reveal the intended meaning and expose the error of anything that contradicts them. These unaltered passages have numerous corroborating parallels that confirm one another, whereas the altered material consists of only a few phrases contradicted by the rest of the scriptural texts.

This is comparable to the hadith collections transmitted from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. If a few weak reports are found in the Sunan of Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, or others, the sound, authentic hadiths that have been firmly traced back to the Prophet clarify the weakness of those few reports.