WHAT THE QUR’AN SAYS ABOUT THE BIBLE

 

Whenever a Christian quotes the Bible to a Muslim in order to establish why he believes something, the Muslim almost always responds by saying, “BUT YOU CHANGED YOUR BIBLE.” In making this very serious accusation Muslims usually use the word “harrafa” and quote verses from the Qur’an where this word is used. Therefore in this chapter, we are going to make a detailed study of what the Qur’an actually says about the Torah of Moses, the Psalms (Zabur) of David and the Gospel (Injil) of Jesus.

At this point someone will surely say, “But how can a non-Muslim make any valid study of the Qur’an?” I would be the first to agree that there is some validity to this objection in the sense, that to understand a book from “the inside” requires a prior commitment to the “world view” of that book. However since the Qur’an says of itself that it is a “clear book” written in “a clear Arabic” (`arabiyun mubinun) so that the unbelieving Quraish could understand, we are going to make a study in the same way that Christians would study such a question in the Bible.

We are going to look at all the verses which have any bearing on the subject and examine them in their context. Sometimes this context is only one verse or even half of a verse. But sometimes, it is necessary to examine a whole page in order to show clearly the meaning of a word or phrase.

Muslim writers have also begun to recognize the need for this type of study. In the preface to his book, God of Justice, Dr. Daud Rahbar writes, “If we are to construct a fair narrative of Muslim Theology and Quranic Exegesis, the first important prerequisite of this study will be a knowledge of what the Qur’an meant to the Prophet and people round him within their historical context.”

He goes on to say that commentators of the Qur’an did not coordinate and compare all the verses on a subject before giving their interpretation. As an obvious, but unimportant example, he speaks of Al-Baidawi commenting that in the phrase “earth and heaven”, earth is mentioned first “for when you have to climb, you move from bottom upwards.” Dr. Rahbar goes on to say, “Thereupon, I looked up Baidawi for several passages of the Qur’an in which the very phrase occurs with `the heaven’ preceding `the earth’, but here obviously Baidawi failed to remember what he had said previously.”

At the end of his preface Dr. Rahbar claims to be the first Muslim to make this type of coordinated study. He says, “After all, an exhaustive collection is the full data. What right have we to quote a couple of passages on a subject when there are another three hundred on the same? Of this pioneer aspect of the work I am absolutely sure. Muslim scholarship is invited to improve upon the analysis or classifications of the exhaustive collections of Quranic contexts made herein, but that classified exhaustive collections are made here for the first time none will deny.”

For the English translation of the Quranic passages I have used The Holy Qur’an as translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali as a starting point. However, on many occasions where it seemed that Muhammad Pickthall in English or Muhammad Hamidullah’s French translation were closer to the original I have used them, and rarely I have used an idea from Masson’s French translation.

In addition, there are some verses where the Arabic words were so important to the discussion that I chose to make my own literal translation. This bends the English out of shape, but my purpose was to allow those readers who are not familiar with Arabic to enter into the discussion.

We will start with the Quranic verses referring to the Torah at the time of Jesus and then move forward through history to the verses referring to the Torah and the Gospel during the life of Muhammad. Finally we will look at the verses which specifically refer to tahrif (change). Now, having set the stage with these explanatory remarks, I here present my exhaustive study of what the Qur’an says about the Bible.

A. VERSES SHOWING THE TORAH TO BE TRUE AT THE TIME OF JESUS

A1. Mary (Maryam) 19:12, Middle Meccan in -7 AH.

God says, “`Oh Yahya! (John the Baptist) take hold of the Book with might’: and We gave him wisdom as a child.”

A2. The Family of `Imran (Ali `Imran) 3:48, 2-3 AH.

The Angel Gabriel is speaking to Mary about Jesus before Jesus’ birth and says: “And he (God) will teach him the book and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel“

A3. The Forbidding (Al-Tahrim) 66:12, 7 AH.

“and Mary (Jesus’ mother)…believed in the words of her Lord and His Books“

A4. The Family of `Imran (Ali `Imran) 3:49-50, 2-3 AH.

Jesus says, “I have come to you…attesting to (the truth of) what is between my hands of the Torah, and to make lawful to you a part of that which is forbidden to you.”

A5. The Battle Array (Al-Saff) 61:6, from 3 AH.

“And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: `Oh Children of Israel! I am the apostle of God to you, confirming that which IS between my hands from the Torah…‘”

A6. The Table (Al-Ma’ida) 5:49, 10 AH.

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