98.4 – Those who were given the Book did not become divided until after the clear sign had come to them
By repeating the expression “clear sign,” this verse seems to say that “those who were given the book” divided over the messenger at the time of his appearance. Would they accept the Muslim truth claims that the messenger is a true prophet of Allah, that his recitations are from Allah, and that Islam is Allah’s true religion?
This is the final statement that “those who were given the book” divide (farraqa), differ and disagree (ikhtalafa), or are in doubt (shakk). Such statements begin at 2.213, where the basic charge is that those who were given the book differ concerning it. They differ after “clear signs” come to them because of “envy” among them. By context, some of these statements refer to the Children of Israel and the book of Moses (2.213; 11:110; 32.25; 45.17), but the Quran seems even more interested in the divisions of Christians (2.253; 5.14; 19.34; 23.53; 43.65). In several of the statements, disagreement with the “clear signs” (2.213; 2.253; 3.105) and “knowledge” (3.19; 42.14; 45.17) that came to the People of the Book seems to concern the Quran’s messenger and his recitations.
Disagreement over the meaning of scripture, or over the identity of Jesus, is common. The same verb, ikhtalafa, is used repeatedly by commentators like al-Ṭabarī (d. 923) to say that Muslim interpreters do not agree about the meaning of most verses in the Quran. However, many Christians would join the Quran in lamenting the envy (2.213; 3.19; 42.14; 45.17), “suspicious doubt” (42.14), enmity and hatred (5.14), and especially the in-fighting (iqtatala, 2.253) among Christian groups prior to the rise of Islam – and continuing to the present day.
In response to this well-taken criticism, a few comments are called for: Disagreement over the Torah or the Gospel accounts does not form an argument for invalidating their contents. There seems to be a sense in many of the Quran’s statements that attributing failure to the custodians of the Bible justifies dismissal and ignorance of the Bible. For example, the Quran uses disagreements among Christian groups in the seventh century regarding how to describe the humanity of Jesus in order to negate his deity and death as portrayed in the Gospel accounts.
Second, disagreement with Islamic truth claims does not place people “in the fire of Gehenna” or make people “the worst of creation” (98.6). People of faith make their decisions about Muslim claims according to their own criteria – often according to scriptures the Quran itself acknowledges. After reading the Quran carefully and respectfully, many “People of the Book” will conclude that the Quran does not amount to a “clear proof” of its extravagant claims.