Meaning of ' بين يديه '

Assalamu 'Alaikum dear brothers and sisters A Christian recently argued with me by quoting Al Ahqaf:30 that Prophet (S) had the Original Thaurath in his hands. Here is what he said: > "Let me give you some more proof that the Torah at the time of > Mohammed was the truth, acording to your Prophet. Take for example > Surah Al-Ahqaf verse 30, in your major translations by Muslims. > Take the translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. It says: "They said, "O > our people, we have heard a book revealed after Moses, confirming what > came before it; it guides (men) to the truth and to a straight path." > Look at the words highlighted above that say "before it." In the > Arabic the words are not "before it." Let's do a word for word > translation, and I leave it to the Arabic reader to be honest to > himself when he reading this word for word translation: Arabic: kaloo > ya kawmana inna sami'ina kitaban unzila ba'd Musa English: they said > O our people we have heard a book revealed after Moses Arabic: > Musadekan Lima Bayna Yadayehe English: confirming what is between his > hands Arabic: Yahdee ela al-hak wa-ela tareekin mustakeem English: > it guides to the truth and to a straight path My point is the un > corrupted BIBLE was in their hands at the time of Mohammed. Where is > the uncorrupted copy of the BIBLE. Why is it that we have copies of > the BIBLE from the &th century and copies from the 4th 3nd the 2nd and > we also have copies from the 10th 12 th an up to today and all say the > same thing. all come from the same manuscripts in Hebrew, Greek and > Aramaic. So I dont have a clue what youare talking about. you are just > repeating what you have been told. I suggest you go study your own > religion first before you comment on a religion you dont know anything > about." I replied like this: > "Here is the right translation. Of Ahqaf:30 > > {They said, "O our people! We have heard a Book revealed after Moses, > confirmation for what is before it: it guides to the Truth and to > Straight Path. } > One thing you said is right.The word-by-word > translation says “What is between its hands”.It is an Arabic idiom for > saying 'In front of' or 'before'.See Al Baqara 66 for Example. > Now you > have quoted Ahqaf:30 and stated that Original Thourath existed at the > time of Prophet Muhammed (S). > My question:Where does it say that > 'Thaurath exist in its original form'? Nowhere.It just says that > Qur'an conforms the Thaurath.It says about the Thaurath,which is > already corrupted. How can you know that the manuscripts you > said,which belongs to 2nd,3rd,4th centuries,etc are not corrupted? > Just have a check at the Great Isaiah Scroll: > http://www.answering-christianity.com/topic_1996.htm " He said: > "You getting your information from answeringchristianuty.com no wonder > you are confused. This guy Osama Abdullah fabricated emails, then had > to admit and apologize. This is your source of information a confessed > liar. A man whi CHRISTIAN PRINCE destroyed in every debate. Wow you > are really lost. Seeing that you cannot read either Arabic or English. > The verse says BETWEEN HIS HANDS that sir means the prophet had the > uncorrupted copy in his hands. The words translated as BEFORE IT > doesnot mean that it is a deception the proper translation of BAYNA > YADAYEHE. Is BETWEEN HIS HANDS. Your lieing schollar neglected to tell > you what the arabic really says. My next question would be, WHY WOULD > YOU HAVE TO LIE TO PROVE THE BOOK OF UTHMAN TO BE TRUE?." As you see,he didn't accept what I said: "The word-by-word translation says "What is between its hands".It is an Arabic idiom for saying 'In front of' or 'before'.See Al Baqara 66 for Example." In Holy Qur'an 2:65-66 Allah says: > بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ > > { وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ > فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ > > And you had already known about those who transgressed among you > concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, "Be monkeys, despised." > > فَجَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا > وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ >And We made it a deterrent punishment > for those who were present and those who succeeded [them] and a lesson > for those who fear Allah. } The verse 66 says “Bayna Yadayha” which means 'between her hands'.But it is absurd to translate it like that. Similarly, there are other verses like: > {And it is He who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy, > and We send down from the sky pure water}(Holy Qur'an 25:48) Now,before replying to that Kafir,I just want to conform my point: In Arabic,'Between the hands' means means 'before' and 'in front of'.It is an idiom or figurative speech. I need conformation for that Please say if I am right or wrong. _____ ### EDIT ### P.S: Our debate was of course about the preservation the Bible/Thaurath/Injeel. I am preparing answers to give him.I can get that also from the answering-christianity blog(http://www.answering-christianity.com/blog/index.php) But my real doubt is,as the title of my question says,the meaning of 'bayna yadayhi' or 'between his hands'(Please reread the last part of my question).I asked it here because I thought there would be people knowing more Arabic. I hope I will get a good reply from here. Thank you. Salam, S.H.O