mmirza@grumpy.eng.ohio-state.edu (Muhammad Mirza) (12/03/90)
In a question it was asked " Do Islamic people agree with Quran and accept the Torah word for word? ...." . This is a very important point, and needs some explanation. It applies to Injil (New Testament) as well, because Quran confirms all the Scriptures which preceded it. Quran itself has explained this statement in other verses, and Islamic scholars have given elaborate answers about these questions. For the benefit of interested netters, I am posting this information. First let us see what Quran says about its relation with previous Scriptures: " Allah! He is Ever-living, the Sustainer of the Universe: In reality there is no god but He. He has sent down to you the Book (Quran), which has brought the Truth and confirms the Scriptures which preceded it. Before this, He sent down the Torah and the Gospel for the guidance of mankind, and He has sent down the Criterion (of right and wrong, the Quran)." 3: 2-4 " Then, O Muhammad, We sent this Book to you which has brought the Truth: it confirms whatever has remained intact from the Book at the time of its revelation and safeguards and protects it" 5:48 Now, we see what Quran specifically mentions about Jews and Christians: " Allah had bound the Israelites by a solemn covenant, ....... Now they have become so degenerate that they distort the word of the Scriptures so as to change their meanings completely: moreover they have FORGOTTEN the major portion of the teachings given to them ............... Likewise We bound by a covenant those people, who said, "We are Nasara (Christian)." But they, too, forgot much of what had been taught to them." 5: 12-13 " O People of the Book, Our Messenger has come to you: he makes manifest to you many things of the Book which you were concealing and passes over many things. Light has come to you from Allah and the Book (Quran) which guides to the Truth, whereby Allah leads to the path of peace those who seek His pleasure and brings them out of the depths of darkness ...." 5:15 Although, there and many other verses in Quran make it abundantly clear what Quran implies by confirming the previous Scriptures. Here are the main points: 1. Quran rightly claims that the people of the previous Books tempered with the divine guidance, forgot most of it and added their own interpretations to them. With the advent of the Last Messenger, the final link between the Creator and the creation, it was mondatory to revive that original message, part of which was still in the old Scriptures, and complete the guidance for mankind (a natural consequence of the finality of the prophethood), and preserve the final message (Quran). 2. Naturally, the Torah which Quran confirms, is not the Pentateuch but is contained in it, and the Injil is not " the four Gospels" but is within these books. There is no way for man to find out himself what the original message was, the Lord of the universe, sent His original message through His last Prophet. Since the divine guidance did not change with time, even today we can find many places in both old and new testaments, which confirm the teachings of Quran. 3. The Quran supports and upholds these Books in the sense that it corroborates the Words of Allah (God) which has remained intact in them. It stands a witness because it bears testimony to the Word of Allah contained in those Books. 4. However, the absolute yardstick for right and wrong is only Quran. It helps to sort it out from the interpretations and commentries of the people which were mixed with previous Scriptures, the true Words of the Creature revealed to those Prophets. 5. If something is mentioned in the Taurah, but is not there in Quran, we have guidance from our Prophet,"neither testify nor falsify." However, if any such story is against the general teachings of Islam, the Islamic Scholors have the right to point it out and reject in on based on Quran and Sunnah (the methodology of the Prophet). -- Me The Ohio State University Electrical Engineering Dept. Room 204 Dreese Labs