Islamic view of the Bible

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The Quran states that several prior writings constitute

Injil revealed to Jesus (Isa
).

The Islamic methodology of tafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Kitab (

Arabic: تفسير القرآن بالكتاب) refers to "interpreting the Qur'an with/through the Bible".[2] This approach adopts canonical Arabic versions of the Bible, including the Torah and Gospel, both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur'an. Notable Muslim commentators (mufassirun) of the Bible and Qur'an who weaved biblical texts together with Qur'anic ones include Abu al-Hakam Abd al-Salam bin al-Isbili of Al-Andalus and Ibrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al-Biqa'i.[2]

Quran

The term "Bible" is not found in the Quran; instead the Quran has particular terms to refer to the Torah (توراة, Tawrah), Psalms (الزَّبُورُ, Zabur) and Gospel (إنجيل, Injil).[3]

Psalms

Main articles: Zabur and Psalms

The Quran mentions the Psalms with the use of the term zubur ("writings") in five verses (3:184; 4:163; 17:55; 21:105; 35:25) and two of these mention that it was given to David (4:163; 17:55). The word zubur may originally come from Sabaic, where the verb sbr means "to write" or "to sign" and the noun zbr means "writing" or "signed document".[4]

Gospel

Main articles: Gospel in Islam and Gospel

The term customarily translated as "Gospel" in the Quran, injīl, appears to be an Ethiopic loanword. It originates as a form of revelation delivered to Jesus, being referred to as being "taught" to Jesus or "sent down" to him. Like the Torah, with which it is frequently paired, the Gospel is exclusively mentioned in Medinan verses. The Quran argues that Christians must adjudicate by its content, that this content includes a prophecy of Muhammad, and that it includes a promise of paradise. Whereas "Gospel" is the most common translation, some historians have argued that that the term could encapsulate the entire Christian Bible or, perhaps, the content that might have been commonly assumed to be in the Christian Bible if direct access to its content was unavailable.[5] Some have speculated about the relationship between the singular use of "injīl" (Gospel) and the Bible's inclusion of four Gospels, however, it was common in late antiquity for Christians to speak of "the Gospel" (message) in unison. Likewise, some specific gospel harmonies, such as the Diatessaron of Tatian (which Tatian himself referred to as "the Gospel"), were produced; as such, unitary representations of the canonical Gospels would not have been unusual in late antiquity.[6]

Before the 19th century

Popularity

There is some dispute over the level of familiarity that pre-modern Islamic commentators had with biblical literature. The minimalist position is that Islamic authors had a limited or superficial familiarity until the fifteenth century or later.[7][8] Against this and as part of a maximalist position, Martin Accad published a four-part paper marshalling a non-comprehensive list of 648 Gospel quotations across 23 works,[9][10][11][12] and others have pointed out the more engaged use of the Bible in Al-Biruni (d. 1050)[8] and al-Biqāʿī.[13] More recently, a middle-grounded approach has acknowledged the use of biblical texts in a number of writers, but also views more engaged writers such as al-Biqāʿī to be rare exceptions, while also arguing that Gospel and other biblical quotations were reserved to widely reused canonical quotation lists that do not evince direct engagement with the Bible itself.[14] In this view, familiarity with the Bible only becomes widespread in the nineteenth century and later.[15] To address the impassé of opposing views, unlikely to be resolved by specialized analysis of a few titles of the large volume of commentary (tafsir) literature, the application of computational methods on digitized Arabic texts across a range of genres (encyclopedias, madrasa textbooks, tafsir, etc) has shown that some biblical texts were known in literature belonging to interfaith polemic and apologetics, whereas use of the Bible in commentaries was nearly non-existent (with isolated exceptions) until a sharp rise usage in the late 19th century. This survey covered almost all of the 50 most historically significant commentaries, along with 129 other titles, of which roughly 60% of extant commentaries are a copy of.[16] Further analysis of these quotations demonstrate that (1) an author of a commentary with little quotation of the Bible may have a more abundant set of quotations in their interfaith writings (2) use-cases are largely second-hand, often erroneous, and lack in direct familiarity with the biblical text. For example, Abu Bakr al-Razi believed that the Gospels assert God has a thousand names, and authors like Al-Baghawi (d. 1122), Al-Khazin (d. 1340), and Al-Shawkani (d. 1834) all believed that the first verse of the Torah was the Islamic phrase known as the Basmala ("In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate").[16]

Doctrine of corruption/taḥrīf

Views differ about how medieval Islamic authorities understood the doctrine of the corruption (taḥrīf) of biblical texts. According to Martin Accad, doctrines of corruption primarily meant referred to corruption of the meaning and interpretation of the biblical scriptures among Jews and Christians, as opposed to the text itself.[17] However, more recently, Reynolds has argued that while corruption of meaning (taḥrīf al-maʿānī) was often invoked by interpreters, this was done for the rhetorical purpose of arguing against Jewish and Christian interpretations of their own scripture, meanwhile, the Islamic authors typically did also believe in the corruption of the text itself (taḥrīf al-naṣṣ).[18]

Today, Muslims may take references to individuals manipulating scripture, such as in Q 2:79, as indications of the textual corruption of texts like the Torah. By contrast, the exegete Al-Tabari referred to the Torah in his words as "the Torah that they (the Jews) possess today".[19]

One Islamic interpretations hold that "Gospel" references in the Quran are that it refers to the original divine revelation

Jesus Christ, as opposed to the canonical Gospels in the New Testament.[20]

Interpretation

Ninth century Islamic commentators who invoked significant sections of the Bible in their writings include

Book of Matthew in his Refutation of Christians.[21]

Muhammad and the Bible

Main article: Muhammad and the Bible

Deuteronomy 18:18

And the LORD said unto me: 'They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.'

— Deuteronomy 18:17–18[22]

Deuteronomy 18:18 has often been considered a prophecy of the coming of Muhammad by Muslim scholars.[23] Al-Samawal al-Maghribi, a medieval Jewish mathematician who converted to Islam, pointed to Deuteronomy 18:18 in his book Confutation of the Jews as a prophecy fulfilled by the appearance of Muhammad.[24] Samawal argued in his book that since the children of Esau are described in Deuteronomy 2:4–6[25] and Numbers 20:14[26] as the brethren of the children of Israel, the children of Ishmael can also be described the same way.[27] Some Muslim writers, like Muhammad Ali and Fethullah Gülen, have interpreted several verses in the Quran as implying that Muhammad was alluded to in Deuteronomy 18:18, including Quran 46:10[28] and 73:15.[29][30][31]

Christians interpret Deuteronomy 18:18 as referring to a future member of the community of Israel who re-enacts the function of Moses, serving as a mediator for the covenant between God and the Israelites. Walter Brueggemann writes that "The primary requirement for the prophet, like the king in 17:15, is that he or she must be a member of Israel, thoroughly situated in the traditions and claims of God's covenant."[32] The Gospels of Matthew and John both present Jesus as being the "prophet like Moses" from Deuteronomy 18[33] and Acts 3:15–23[34] states that Jesus is the one Moses was talking about in Deuteronomy 18:18.

Paraclete

Main article: Paraclete

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate (παράκλητος), to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

— John 14:16–17, New Revised Standard Version[35]

Many Muslim scholars have argued that the Greek words paraklytos ('comforter') and periklutos ('famous'/'illustrious') were used interchangeably, and therefore, these verses constitute Jesus prophesying the coming of Muhammad; but neither of these words are present in this passage (or in the Bible at all), which instead has παράκλητος "Paracletos", that is, Paraclete, Advocate.[36]

The Paraclete, or "Advocate," or "Comforter," is mentioned five times in the Gospel of John,[37] and once in 1 John 2:1 as referring directly to Jesus Christ. The Advocate, called the "Spirit of truth", is considered to be the Holy Spirit; the replacement for Jesus in the world and within believers after His resurrection.[38][citation needed] John says that the world cannot receive the Spirit, although the Spirit abides with and in the disciples (14:17). The Spirit will convict the world of sin (16:8–9) and glorify Jesus (16:13–14).[39]

Biblical figures in Islam

Main articles:
Biblical and Quranic narratives, Biblical people in Islam, and Prophets and messengers in Islam

Some of the people revered or mentioned in both the Quran and the Bible include:

Zachariah.[40][41][42]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Bible - Google Books". Retrieved 2022-09-24.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-46682-1
    .
  3. ^ Jane Dammen McAuliffe. "Bible". Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an. Vol. 1. p. 228.
  4. ISBN 978-0-691-24131-9
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-691-24131-9
    .
  6. ISBN 978-90-04-68712-7
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-691-07398-9
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-10034-3
    .
  9. ISSN 0959-6410
    .
  10. ISSN 0959-6410
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  11. ISSN 0959-6410
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  12. ISSN 0959-6410
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-691-07398-9
    .
  14. ^ Ross, Samuel (2024). Qur’an Commentary and the Biblical Turn: A History of Muslim Exegetical Engagement with the Biblical Text. De Gruyter. pp. 13–16.
  15. ISBN 978-0-691-15082-6
    .
  16. ^ a b Ross, Samuel (2024). Qur’an Commentary and the Biblical Turn: A History of Muslim Exegetical Engagement with the Biblical Text. De Gruyter. pp. 19–43.
  17. ^ Accad, Martin (2003). "Corruption and/or misinterpretation of the Bible: the story of the Islâmic usage of "taḥrîf"". Near East School of Theology Theological Review. 24 (2).
  18. ISSN 0003-0279
    .
  19. ISBN 978-90-04-10034-3
    .
  20. ISBN 978-0-415-32639-1
    page 298
  21. ISBN 978-3-11-028671-7
    .
  22. ^ Deuteronomy 18:17–18
  23. ^ McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. "Connecting Moses and Muhammad" in Books and Written Culture of the Islamic World: Studies Presented to Claude Gilliot on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday (Brill 2014): 335.
  24. ^ al-Maghribi, Al-Samawal; Confutation of the Jews (in Arabic). Syria: Dar Al Qalam, 1989, 75
  25. ^ Deuteronomy 2:4–6
  26. ^ Numbers 20:14
  27. ^ al-Maghribi, Al-Samawal; Confutation of the Jews (in Arabic). Syria: Dar Al Qalam, 1989, 77
  28. ^ [Quran 46:10]
  29. ^ [Quran 73:15]
  30. ^ Muhammad Ali and Zahid Aziz, English Translation of the Holy Quran: With Explanatory Notes, Revised 2010 edition, 627, 732
  31. ^ Gülen, Fethullah. The messenger of God Muhammad: An analysis of the Prophet's life. Tughra Books, 2000, 11. Link[dead link]
  32. ^ Brueggemann, Walter. Deuteronomy. Abingdon Press, 2001, 192–197
  33. ^ Barton, John, and John Muddiman, eds. The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2007, 866, 963.
  34. ^ Acts 3:15–23
  35. ^ John 14:16–17
  36. ^ Zepp, Ira G. A Muslim Primer: Beginner's Guide to Islam. Vol. 1. University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 50–51
  37. ^ John 14:16–17; John 14:26; John 15:26–27; John 16:7–11; John 16:13–17
  38. ^ Barnes, Albert. "Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes: John: John Chapter 14". sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  39. ^ Barton, John, and John Muddiman, eds. The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2007, 987–990
  40. ISBN 978-0-19-969864-6
    .
  41. ISBN 978-0-8264-4956-6
    .
  42. ISBN 978-0-7007-1394-3
    .
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