Context of Surah 2:79 is 2:78 and 2:75

Muslims charge the Christians and Jews with altering, changing, corrupting the text of the previous Scriptures.  (previous to the Qur’an)  Yet the Qur’an teaches that the previous Scriptures are not corrupted or changed.  (Surah 10:94; 5:46-48; 5:68) See here

One of the main verses Muslims use is Surah 2:79

So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allah,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.  Surah 2:79

But they usually fail to note what verses 75 to 78 say, especially verse 75 and 78.

Do you covet [the hope, O believers], that they would believe for you while a party of them used to hear the words of Allah and then distort the Torah after they had understood it while they were knowing? 2:75

And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming. 2:78

The immediate context of Surah 2:79 is 2:78:

2:78 shows that this group is:
a. Uneducated / illiterate
b. Don’t know the Scriptures
c. Only going by what they hear (2:75)

so this group of 2:79 are uneducated and illiterate and don’t know the Scriptures and only going by what they hear.

This is seems to be what Muhammad did . . . he is uneducated, just hearing things; and that hearing gets garbled and misunderstood and the result was the Qur’an – a mishmash of oral apocryphal stuff with legends with Jewish Midrash and oral interpretations that are away from a tight textual concentration. No wonder he got the message so so wrong.

You cannot deal with the context of 2:75 and 2:78 and neither did Basam Zawadi.

2:75 and 2:78 provide the context for 2:79

Yes, it is a party, a specific group of Jews that did that. (Surah 2:75)
Not all Jews. We have copies of the OT long before 600 year late Qur’an. So you are wrong.
2:75 and 2:78 provide the context for 2:79

Your arguments are burnt to a crisp and nuked and flayed.

Surah 2:75 – “a party/sect/group from among them” ( the Jews) ” فریق منهم , who used to hear the words of Allah and distort / change (the Torah) after they had understood it.

They distorted the meaning orally, verbally, but not textually.

This goes with Surah 3:78 – منهم لفریقا – “from among them there is a party/group” – a party among them who distort the Scriptures with their tongues.  (ie. they give a wrong oral interpretation of the verse, but it does not affect the written text of the Bible.

See the debating with Muslims here, if you want.

See my earlier articles on this issue.

And another earlier one today here.