How Muslims View the Scriptures of the People of the Book: Toward a Reassessment?

Abstract

For many Muslims, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are linked together by their scriptures. The Qur’an recognizes the “Torah” (Tawrat) and the Gospel (Injil) as revelations from God. However, the Qur’an also views itself as the continuation and final validation of the ideas and beliefs expressed earlier in these scriptures. Thus, despite the formal differences between the Qur’an, the Torah, and the Gospels, the Qur’an seems to uphold the authenticity of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Nonetheless, there are references within the Qur’an to certain “distortions” of these texts. What these are, and in what sense parts of the Torah and Gospels were “distorted” is an issue that has been debated by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars throughout the past 14 centuries. This chapter attempts to explore the idea of “distortion” as well as the range of Muslim views around it, arguing that despite the polemics on both the Muslim and non-Muslim sides on the issue, the Qur’an and a number of Muslim scholars take a more nuanced and positive view of existing Jewish and Christian scriptures and their authenticity. Such a view could be quite conducive to today’s interfaith dialogue projects between Muslims and people of other faiths.1 Although there are many “scriptures” of Jews and Christians, I will refer in this chapter only to what the Qur’an refers to as Tawrat (Torah) and Injil(Gospel).