Islamic holy books
Encyclopedia
Islamic holy books are the texts which Muslim
s believe were dictated by God
to various Islamic prophets
throughout the history of mankind. All these books, in Muslim
belief
, promulgated the code and laws of Islam
. Muslims believe the Qur'an
, the final holy scripture, was sent because all the previous holy books had been either corrupted or lost. Nonetheless, Islam
speaks of respecting all the previous scriptures in their original forms. Belief in all the revealed books is an article of faith in Islam
and a Muslim
must believe in all the scriptures to be a Muslim
.
mentions at least three main Islamic scriptures by name, which came before the Qur'an:
also mentions two ancient 'scrolls':
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s believe were dictated by God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
to various Islamic prophets
Prophets of Islam
Muslims identify the Prophets of Islam as those humans chosen by God and given revelation to deliver to mankind. Muslims believe that every prophet was given a belief to worship God and their respective followers believed it as well...
throughout the history of mankind. All these books, in Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
, promulgated the code and laws of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Muslims believe the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, the final holy scripture, was sent because all the previous holy books had been either corrupted or lost. Nonetheless, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
speaks of respecting all the previous scriptures in their original forms. Belief in all the revealed books is an article of faith in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
must believe in all the scriptures to be a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
.
Major books
The Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
mentions at least three main Islamic scriptures by name, which came before the Qur'an:
- TorahTawratTawrat is the Arabic word for the Torah. Muslims believe it was a holy book of Islam given by Allah to Musa . The Hebrew word for their scripture, the Torah means instructions, that is why Tawrat does not refer to the entire Tanakh or Old Testament...
(al-Tawrāt): According to the Qur'anQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, the Torah was revealed to MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, but Muslims believe that the current Pentateuch, although it retains the main message, has suffered corruption over the years. MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
and his brother AaronAaronIn the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
used the Torah to preach the message to the Bany-Israil Children of Israel. The Qur'an implies that the Torah is the longest-used scripture, with the Jewish people still using the Torah today, and that all the Hebrew prophetProphetIn religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s would warn the people of any corruptions that were in the scripture.
- PsalmsZaburZabur is, according to Islam, the holy book of Dawud , one of the holy books revealed by God before the Qur'an, alongside others such as the Tawrat of Musa and the Injil of Isa ....
(al-Zabur): The Qur'an mentions the Psalms as being the holy scripture revealed to David. Scholars have often understood the Psalms to have been holy songs of praise. The current PsalmsPsalmsThe Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
are still praised by many MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
scholars, but Muslims generally assume that some of the current Psalms were written later and are not divinely revealed.
- GospelInjilThe Injil is the Arabic name for the original Gospel of Jesus, and one of the four Islamic Holy Books the Qur'an records as revealed by God, the others being the Zabur, Tawrat and Qur'an. The word Injil is derived from the Greek word and means 'good news'. Muslims believe this original Gospel...
(al-Injil): The Gospel was the holy book revealed to the prophet JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, according to the Qur'an. Although many lay Muslims believe the Injil refers to the entire New TestamentNew TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, scholars have pointed out that it refers not to the New TestamentNew TestamentThe New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
but to an original Gospel, written by GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, which was given to Jesus. Therefore, according to Muslim belief, the Gospel was the message that Jesus, being divinely inspired, preached to the Children of Israel. The current canonical Gospels, in the belief of Muslim scholars, are not divinely revealed but rather are documents of the life of Jesus, as written by various contemporaries, disciples and companions. These Gospels, in Muslim belief, contain portions of Jesus's teachings but don't represent the original Gospel, which was a single book written not by a human but by God.
- KitabKitabKitab-Verlag is a publishing house in Klagenfurt, Austria. It primarily focuses on books about the history of the culture of the near east and on modern literature from Austria, Slovenia, and Italy...
of Yahya: There is an allusion to a Kitab or Book of Yahya (who is also known as 'John the Baptist'). It is possible that portions of its text appear in some of the MandaeanMandaeismMandaeism or Mandaeanism is a Gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist...
scriptures such as the Genzā RabbāGinza RbaGinza Rba or Siddra Rba, "The Great Book" is the largest of the many holy scriptures of the Mandaean religion...
(German translation available here) or the Draša d-IahiaJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
"The Book of John the Baptist" (text; German translation). Yahya is revered by the Mandaeans and by the SabiansSabiansThe Sabians of Middle Eastern tradition were a monotheistic Abrahamic religious group mentioned three times in the Quran: "the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians." In the Hadith they are nothing but converts to Islam, while their identity in later Islamic literature became a matter of...
(who are mentioned in the Qur'an as people who 'shall have their reward with God' - just like Jews and Christians).
Scrolls of the Prophets
The Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
also mentions two ancient 'scrolls':
- Scrolls of Abraham: The Scrolls of Abraham are believed to have been one of the earliest bodies of scripture, which were vouchsafed to AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, and later used by IshmaelIshmaelIshmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
and IsaacIsaacIsaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
. Although usually referred to as 'scrolls', many translators have translated the Arabic Suhuf as 'Books'. The Scrolls of Abraham are now considered lost rather than corrupted, although some scholars have identified them with the Testament of AbrahamTestament of AbrahamThe Testament of Abraham a pseudepigraphic text of the Old Testament. Probably composed in the 1st or 2nd century CE, it is of Jewish origin and is usually considered to be part of the apocalyptic literature. It is not regarded as scripture by Jews or any Christian group...
, an apocalyptic piece of literature available in Arabic at the time of MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. - Scrolls of MosesScrolls of MosesThe Scrolls of Moses are an ancient body of scripture mentioned twice in the Qur'an. They are part of the religious scriptures of Islam, although now they are believed to have been corrupted or lost...
: These scrolls, containing the revelations of MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, which were perhaps written down later by MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, AaronAaronIn the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
and JoshuaJoshuaJoshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
, are understood by Muslims to refer not to the TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
but to revelations aside from the Torah. Some scholars have stated that they could possibly refer to the Book of the Wars of the LordBook of the Wars of the LordThe Book of the Wars of the is one of several non-canonical books referenced in the Bible which have now been completely lost. It is mentioned in , which reads: "From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the desert and bounding the Amorite territory. For Arnon...
, a lost text spoken of in the Hebrew BibleHebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
.