People of the Book: Difference between revisions

In the [[Qur'an]] and [[Hadith]], the term '''People of the Book''' (أهل الكتاب‎ ′Ahl al-Kitāb) is used to refer to followers of certain [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] faiths which pre-date the advent of [[Islam]]. In particular, it refers to the Christian, Jewish, and Sabian faiths.<ref>"...''Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians''..." - {{Quran|2|62}}</ref> This page contains summaries of articles discussing the relationship between Islam and the People of the Book.

The Qur'an talks of the '' Taurat/Tawrah '' ( توراة ) referring to the Torah - the first five books of the Jewish Bible; found in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Some Muslims and scholars believe it refers to the entire Old Testament, but this view is not widely held.

The ''Zabur'' mentioned in the Qur'an refers to the ''Psalms'' of the Old Testament. The Qur'an asserts that the Zabur is one of the 3 Previous Revelations of Allah. Although they are only mentioned three times in the Qur'an, Allah tells us that he revealed them to David.

===Does Qur'an 2:79 Prove Corruption of the Previous Scriptures?===

It is a common belief among Muslims that the Qur'an states that the previous scriptures (the Taurat and Injil) have been physically corrupted by those who were charged with safeguarding it (the Jews and Christians). Thus, they claim, the Qur'an is the 'return' to the true message of the God of the Bible. When asked to provide evidence that the Qur'an says the previous scriptures have been corrupted, Muslims will proudly present verse 2:79 as evidence.

{{ quote | {{Quran|2|79}}|'''Shakir:''' Woe, then, to those who write the book with their hands and then say: This is from Allah, so that they may take for it a small price; therefore woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.}}

The above article examines what the Qur'an really says about the Taurat and Injil; and examine verse 2:79 in its own context, as well as against the aforementioned verses to see if the belief of physical scriptural corruption is valid. <BR>

There are already many articles on Wiki-Islam about contradictions and errors in the Qur'an concerning logic, history, mathematics, cosmology and many more subjects. In this article, however, we would like to describe a quite different kind of weakness of the Qur'an which we would like to refer to as lack of theological professionalism. Even if we overlook the errors in the Qur'an, it is still surprising that the author of this holy book in some cases looks like somebody who cannot make the right use of quotations from Christian literature for his own argumentation. We want to show this by the example of the Christology in the Qur'an.  

 

In this approach, the Qur'an, the Bible and any other text mentioned are regarded as texts written by human beings, not by God. Also, our intention is not to decide which of the opinions concerning the nature of Jesus are true or untrue. Instead we would like to focus on the quality of the arguments rendered in the Qur'an. From this viewpoint, we would like to elaborate the Christological opinions of the Qur'an compared to the Bible and show how they are expressed.

It is an epistemological matter as to which of the three is correct. The Qur'an’s assertion that the Judeo-Christian scriptures have been corrupted is mere accusation devoid of evidence.

This thirteen-page long in-depth study looks at the following parallelisms between the Qur'an and Judeo-Christian Scriptures:

According to Islam, ''Allāh'' is the Creator of the Universe. Allah does not mean 'God' but rather '' 'the God' ''<ref name=EM/> and is thus one of the remnants of Islam's polytheistic origins. In the pre-Islamic era, Allah was the supreme creator god of the Arabs, a moon god who lived in a rock located in the Ka'aba. <ref name=EM>[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/allah.html "Allah"] - Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online; Accessed June 15, 2007.</ref> Yet he was still only one god among the many others they believed in.<ref name=MG>[http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm "Moon God"]- Allah - the Moon God.</ref> The goddesses; ''Allāt'' (the feminine form of “Allah”, meaning '' 'the goddess' ''),<ref>Arne A. Ambros, and Stephan Procházka - [http://jis.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/3/400.extract A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic (p. 306)] - Weisbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3895004006</ref> ''Manat'', and ''al-Uzza'' were Allah's daughters.<ref name=EM/>  

{{Main|Isa al-Masih|Allah, His Word, and 'Isa}}

In Islam, ''Isa al-Masih'' (عيسى المسي usually translated as ''Jesus Christ'') is not believed to be the Son of God, but simply a 'messenger', inferior in status to Muhammad. While Muslims will claim they "love Jesus", it is clearly evident that they do not love ''Yasū‘'' (يسوع the actual Arabic term for ''Jesus'', which is used by Arab Christians),<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isa_(name)&oldid=325004433 Isa (name) - Etymology]</ref> but love the Islamic Isa who, when studied, shares little in common with the founder of Christianity.

The Qur'anic verses 21:91 and 66:12 in conjunction with the tafsir's, tell us the angel Jibreel was sent to breathe Allah's spirit into ''Maryam'''s (مريم Mary's) vagina. {{Quran|5|116}} tells us the Trinity consists of three separate gods, which are the Father (God), the Mother (Virgin Mary) and the Son (Jesus), and due to this abysmal ignorance of the Trinity doctrine, Muslims consider all Trinitarian Christians to be polytheists. Also according to Muhammad, Mary will be one of his wives in paradise.

* [[Islam and Apostasy]]

* [[Islam and Homosexuality]]

* [[Islam and Miracles]]

* [[Islam and Pedophilia]]

* [[Islam and Propaganda]]

* [[Islam and Science]]

* [[Islam and Scripture]]

* [[Islam and Violence]]

* [[Islam and Women]]