An excerpt from The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of History and Science, by Dr. William Campbell
What is this book which still need to be "revisited" even though it was published [18] years ago?
What is this book which would take a doctor away from his medicine for three years in order to write an answer?
It is a book which one finds in almost every bookstore in Tunisia and Morocco.
It is a book which turns up in the United States in the hands of a young Egyptian who wishes to use it to influence the girl he is courting. [Hugh would add, in the hands of university students and faculty on virtually every campus he visits. Muslim apologists are now common on U.S. campuses.]
It is the first book on the book rack, just below the Qur'an and the Hadith, in the Mosque at Regents Park in London.
It is a book which is considered so valuable by some that as of 1983 it had been translated from the French original into English, Arabic, Indonesian, Persian, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Urdu, and Goujrati.
I first heard of this work, written by a French medical doctor, from a young Tunisian. He said, "Have you read the book by Dr. Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, The Qur'an, and Science? He has a lot to say about the Bible and the Qur'an. He even says the Qur'an has no scientific errors.."
When I examined the book I found that the author did indeed have much to say about the Bible and the Qur'an, and he does say
"It was only when I examined the text very closely in Arabic that...I had to acknowledge the evidence in front of me: the Qur'an did not contain a single statement that was assailable from a modern scientific point of view."
In contrast, when speaking of the Bible, [Dr. Bucaille] mentions only "contradictions, improbabilities and incompatibilities." He claims that the biblical specialists usually ignore these, or if they do mention them, they just "try to camouflage them with dialectical acrobatics."
Muslims are obviously thrilled with Dr. Bucaille's book because, if it is true, it strengthens them in their confidence in the Qur'an. It is a type of second witness.
Equally obvious is the fact that we Christians are sad to see the ease with which strong testimonies to the truth of the Bible have been ignored.
Fulfilled prophecies are not mentioned.
Dr. Bucaille denies that any of the Gospel writings are the work of
eyewitnesses.
...These ideas fit very well, of course, with what most Muslims claim-that
we Christians changed the Gospel-and that there is no valid witness to Jesus'
words and life.
This is a very serious and disturbing charge, but having heard it from almost every Muslim with whom I spoke during long years on North Africa, I thought I had gotten used to it, that it no longer bothered me. But I was mistaken.
In 1983, while passing through London, I went to the British Museum to see the Codex Siniaticus, one of the oldest complete copies of the New Testament, dating from about 350 A.D. I wanted to take the picture which can be seen on page 155. After asking the guard for directions, I went over to the glass-covered case which he indicated, thinking only about how to take a picture through glass without getting a reflection.
Then I saw the book in front of me. I took one look at that Bible and it was as though all the hundreds of times I had heard "You changed your Bible" went through my head in one instant. I burst into tears. Even now as I write these words tears come to my eyes. I wanted to touch it. It would be like touching my brothers who wrote it 1,600 years ago. We would be one together even though they had died long ago. It was tangible, touchable proof that the Gospel is as it always has been.
...This book in your hands, then, is a response to these two evaluations [by] Dr. Bucaille; but, in fact, it is much more. It is an attempt to examine the real confrontation between Islam and Christianity at the deepest level, both intellectual and emotional.
Dr. Campbell, like Dr. Bucaille, is a medical doctor. He speaks and reads Arabic, and he has made a careful study of both the Qur'an and the Bible. The Arabic word studies in his book have been reviewed by native speakers of Arabic, and when his investigation takes him outside the areas of his competence, he refers to the work of appropriately trained specialists.
See the RTB catalog to order your copy of The Qur'an and the Bible in Light of History and Science.