34. [M. Doubtless it is because of these various readings and passages of
uncertain authenticity that many learned men in Germany and England at the present day
assert that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, and that much of the Old Testament
and even of the New is untrue. You must convince them to the contrary before you can
convince us.
[C. Not so. The Higher Critics, as they are called, do not base their arguments
upon the various readings, for they know that no single doctrine of the Bible is at all
affected by them. You will find on inquiry that the extreme conclusions you refer to are
largely based upon a principle which denies both miracle and prophecy 1. They
thus attack the very foundation of belief in all revealed religion. You Muslims cannot
really adduce these men's objections without accepting their