What Can a Muslim Do With This?
Three Possible Responses to the Islamic Dilemma
Introduction
We have now reached the crossroads.
The Islamic Dilemma presents three claims that cannot all stand together:
The Qur’an affirms the Torah and the Gospel.
God’s words cannot be changed.
The Qur’an contradicts key teachings found in the Torah and the Gospel.
If these three cannot all be true at the same time, then something must be reconsidered.
This is not a call to anger.
It is not an attack.
It is an invitation to think carefully and honestly.
So what can a Muslim do with this tension?
There are three primary responses.
Response One: Double Down on Corruption
The most common response is to insist:
“The Bible was corrupted.”
In this view:
The original Torah and Injil were true.
The current Bible is not the same as the original.
The Qur’an corrects what was altered.
But as we have seen, this raises serious questions:
Where is the manuscript evidence of a different original Gospel?
When did the corruption happen?
Why does the Qur’an speak as though Christians still possessed their Scripture?
Why command Christians to judge by what is in it?
The corruption claim attempts to remove the tension, but historically it creates new difficulties.
Response Two: Reinterpret the Contradictions
Another response is to reinterpret the apparent contradictions.
For example:
The crucifixion could be explained as illusion or substitution.
Divine Sonship could be redefined as metaphor.
Gospel passages could be read in a non-literal way.
But this approach often requires:
Re-reading clear historical claims.
Softening plain Gospel language.
Explaining away large portions of the New Testament narrative.
The crucifixion, for example, is not a small detail in the Gospel.
It is the central event.
Reinterpretation may delay the tension, but it does not remove it.
Response Three: Reconsider the Qur’an’s Relationship to the Gospel
The final response is the most difficult — but also the most direct.
It is to reconsider whether the Qur’an truly stands in continuity with the Gospel.
If:
The Gospel existed in recognizable form before Islam,
The Qur’an affirms it,
And yet contradicts it on core issues,
Then perhaps the tension does not lie in the Gospel.
Perhaps it lies in the claim of later confirmation.
This response does not require rejecting belief in God.
It requires asking whether the later revelation truly aligns with the earlier one.
A Personal Crossroad
For many Muslims, this is not merely academic.
It touches identity.
Family.
Community.
Tradition.
And those are not small things.
The purpose of this series is not to push anyone into rash decisions.
It is to encourage honest reflection.
If God has revealed Himself, then His revelation will not collapse under careful examination.
Truth does not fear questions.
The Invitation to Examine
The Qur’an itself encourages examination.
Surah 10:94 says:
فَإِن كُنتَ فِي شَكٍّ مِّمَّا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ فَاسْأَلِ الَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكَ
“If you are in doubt about what We have revealed to you, ask those who have been reading the Book before you.”
This verse assumes:
The People of the Book had Scripture.
That Scripture could be consulted.
It retained value.
If so, then reading the Gospel carefully is not betrayal.
It is obedience to examine.
What This Series Has Tried to Do
We have:
Looked at the Qur’an’s own words.
Examined manuscript history.
Reviewed early Islamic sources.
Compared the portrait of Jesus.
Followed the logic step by step.
No mocking.
No caricatures.
Only questions.
Where We End
Every reader must decide what to do with the tension.
The Islamic Dilemma does not demand emotional reaction.
It calls for thoughtful evaluation.
If the Gospel presents the true identity of Jesus —
crucified, risen, eternal Word made flesh —
then the invitation is not to argument, but to encounter.
And that is where this series ends.
Not with debate.
But with invitation.