Historical & Manuscript Evidence

A critical historical element of this argument rests on manuscript availability. Some attempt to argue that the Gospel mentioned in the Quran was a single, lost physical book given to Jesus, or that the Bible became corrupted after the Quran was written.

1. Major Biblical Manuscripts Predating Islam

Islam originated in the 7th century AD (approx. 610–632 AD). Centuries prior to this, complete collections of the New Testament and Old Testament were widely copied, distributed, and translated across the Mediterranean world:

Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360 AD): Contains the entire New Testament in Greek. It clearly includes the divinity, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Codex Vaticanus (c. 300–325 AD): Contains almost the entirety of the Old and New Testaments.
Codex Alexandrinus (c. 400–440 AD): Complete Greek Bible including all 27 New Testament books.
Papyri (P52, P45, P66, P75): Fragments and extensive collections dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

2. Historical Conclusion

We possess the exact Greek text of the New Testament that existed in the 6th and 7th centuries. Therefore, when the Quran addresses the "People of the Gospel" in 620 AD, the text they were reading is identical in core theology to the New Testament found in modern Bibles today.