Islam’s scriptural-falsification claims against Jews originate in early Medina conflicts

Evidence

Yet there were conflicts with Jews in Medina, and it is in this context that the Medinese Sûras assert that Islam is the true uncorrupted form of the religion of Abraham, that Judaism has been sullied by the worship of the golden calf in Sinai, by failure to abide by God’s law, and by willfully “altering words from their proper meanings.” The Koran echoes the Christian polemical attack on “blindness” of the Jews: “Those to whom the burden of the Torah was entrusted and yet refused to bear it are like a donkey laden with books. Wretched is the example of those who deny God’s revelation.” Jews (and Christians), it seems, misinterpret their scripture so as to deny the antiquity of Islam and the prophethood of Muhammad. Later Muslim authors will accuse Jews (and Christians) of falsification of scripture (tahrîf): deliberately expunging prophecies relating to Muhammad from the Torah and Gospel. Judaism in its present form is a corrupted, imperfect version of the true religion revealed to Abraham and Moses. It is to be tolerated but never to be granted equal footing with Islam. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 248

Categorization

• XREF: Genealogy for the vault’s existing Anidjar/Aziz/Razack claims about Islamic oppositional framing of Jews — shows the tahrîf trope already present in the Koranic era, not a medieval invention.
• DEFINE: Defines tahrîf as the accusation of deliberately falsifying scripture to delete Muhammad prophecies.