Distorting Religion

God blamed the scribes of the previous nations for distorting their scriptures [Bible]:

‎يُحَرِّفُونَ ٱلْكَلِمَ عَن مَّوَاضِعِهِۦ
‘They distort words from their places.’ [Qur’an 5:13].

Ibn Kathir said:
‎يتأولون على غير تأويله ، ويفسرونه بغير مراد الله ، عز وجل
‘They interpret the words to mean something else and make them to mean something other than what God intended by those words.’
[‘Tafsir Ibn Kathir’, 4/97].

Imam Tabari said:
‎يبدِّلون معناها ويغيِّرونها عن تأويله
‘They change the meanings of the words and twist them to a different interpretation.’
[‘Tafsir Tabari’, 5/118].

The Prophet had prophesied that people of this nation will also imitate them.

So now there are people in our nation, who are also trying to do the same thing with our scripture [the Qur’an].

They feel ashamed of some parts of the Qur’an.

They so wish they could change some words.

But they realise that they cannot change the words [الفاظ] of our scripture [Qur’an, like the scribes of the ahlalkitab did with the Bible] – so they resorted to changing the meanings of those words [معاني] and are seeking far-fetched interpretations which clash with the orthodox understanding of Sunni scholarship.

Yes, there are things in our scriptures which are hard to swallow – but it’s the bitter medicine we need to heal.

These people could not change themselves to match the Qur’an, so they try to change the Qur’an to match them.

They will fail in this project of theirs – whether they are liberals or extremists.

God will guard this Book and He will not allow anyone to tamper with it in any shape or form.

Anyone who tries to distort this Book, God will take away the Light from their lessons, and God will shame them and make them fail, before they get a chance to distort His message. They will not succeed.

The curse that landed on the ahlalkitab for tampering with their scriptures will land on them too.

And God accepts the repentance of those who repent.