The Torah that Jesus held in his hands according to Islam
Reading the Qur’an, I came to the following question. Was the Torah at the time of Jesus trustworthy or not? After reviewing the Qur’an, the interpretations of some verses as well as understanding the Arabic grammar, I came to the following conclusion:
The Torah at the time of Jesus was trustworthy.
I present in this articles a small study to sustain this claim. My invitation to anyone is to then review the claim of Islam, can you find in today’s Bible without a shade of doubt prophecies concerning the Prophet of Islam?
I’d like to review two verses of the Qur’an, which may
provide guidance with regards to the trustworthiness of the Torah that was
available in the times of Jesus:
Sura 61:6 And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of
Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before
me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me,
whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they
said, "This is obvious magic." (1)
Sura 3:48-50 48 And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel
49 And [make him] a messenger to the Children of Israel, [who will say],
'Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I design for you
from clay [that which is] like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and
it becomes a bird by permission of Allah. And I cure the blind and the leper,
and I give life to the dead - by permission of Allah. And I inform you of what
you eat and what you store in your houses. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if
you are believers. 50 And [I have come] confirming what was before me of the
Torah and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden to you. And I have
come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allah and obey me. (2)
Historical
interpretations which support that the Torah at the time of Jesus was
trustworthy
Muhammad Asad
Asad was a Muslim converted from Judaism who lived in the 20th
Century. He was a respected scholar, author of a verse by verse commentary of
the Qur’an titled “The Message of the Qur’an”. With regards to Sura 3:48-50, Muhammad
Asad explained:
* v.50 : Lit., “whatever there is
between my hands”: for an explanation, see note 3 on verse 3 of this sūrah.
*Note on 3:3 as referred above: Most of the commentators are of the
opinion that mā bayna yadayhi – lit., “that which is between its hands” –
denotes here “the revelations which came before it,” i.e., before the Qur’ān.
This interpretation is not, however, entirely convincing. Although there is not
the least doubt that in this context the pronominal mā refers to earlier
revelations, and particularly the Bible (as is evident from the parallel use of
the above expression in other Qur’anic passages), the idiomatic phrase mā bayna
yadayhi does not, in itself, mean “that which came before it” – i.e., in time –
but, rather (as pointed out by me in sūrah 2, note 247), “that which lies open
before it.” Since, however, the pronoun “it” relates here to the Qur’ān, the metaphorical
expression “between its hands” or “before it” cannot possibly refer to
“knowledge” (as it does in 2:255), but must obviously refer to an objective
reality with which the Qur’ān is “confronted”: that is, something that was
coexistent in time with the revelation of the Qur’ān. Now this, taken together
(a) with the fact – frequently stressed in the Qur’ān and since established by
objective scholarship – that in the course of the millennia the Bible has been
subjected to considerable and often arbitrary alteration, and (b) with the fact
that many of the laws enunciated in the Qur’ān differ from the laws of the
Bible, brings us forcibly to the conclusion that the “confirmation” of the
latter by the Qur’ān can refer only to the basic truths still discernible in
the Bible, and not to its time-bound legislation or to its present text – in
other words, a confirmation of whatever was extant of its basic teachings at
the time of the revelation of the Qur’ān: and it is this that the phrase mā
bayna yadayhi expresses in this context as well as in 5:46 and 48 or in 61:6
(where it refers to Jesus’ confirming the truth of “whatever there still
remained [i.e., in his lifetime] of the Torah”). (3)
Muhammad Asad therefore claims that though he would have
expected corruption in the words of the Torah to some extent, basic truths were
within it. And those truths were clear to foretell the coming of Jesus and of Prophet
Muhammad as well.
Tafsir Al-Jajalayn
The Tafsir of the Jalal’s written around 800 years after the
revelation of the Qur’an explains about Sura 61:6 as follows
And, mention, when Jesus son of Mary
said, ‘O Children of Israel — he did not say ‘O my people’ [as did Moses]
because he was not related to them in any way — I am indeed God’s messenger to
you, confirming what is before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a
messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad.’ God, exalted be He,
says: Yet when he brought them, [when] Ahmad brought the disbelievers, the
clear signs, the revelations and the indications, they said, ‘This, namely,
what has been brought, is manifest sorcery!’ (sihrun: a variant reading has
sāhirun, ‘a sorcerer’, meaning the one who has brought them [is a manifest
sorcerer]). (5)
I would like to call your attention to “(…)confirming what
is before me of the Torah (…)”. Notice that the tense used is present, at the
time of Jesus. It does not say, what was of the Torah, but rather what is. So
the Trustworthiness of the Torah at the time of Jesus was paramount to sustain
his claim of prophethood.
Historical
interpretations which are not clear whether or not the Torah at the time of
Jesus was trustworthy
Tanwir Al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas
(And (I come)
confirming) and I have come confirming Allah's divine Oneness in the Religion
(that which was before me of the Torah) and all other Scriptures, (and to make
lawful) to give you legal dispensation regarding (some of that which was
forbidden unto you) such as the meat of camels, the fat of bovines and sheep,
the Sabbath, and other things. (I come unto you with a sign) with a token (from
your Lord, so keep your duty to Allah) so fear Allah in that which He has
commanded you with and repent to Him (and obey me) and follow my command and
Religion; (4)
The tense used in here, “that
which was before me of the Torah” is open for interpretation. It could be claimed
that Jesus in these verse referred to the original text Torah revealed to
Moses. However it could be argued that “before me” may not relate to time but
in front of Jesus eyes.
Ibn Kathir
The tafsir Ibn Kathir (circa 1200 CE) presents the following
commentary about Sura 61:1:
And when `Isa, son of Maryam, said:
"O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allah unto you, confirming
the Tawrah before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me,
whose name shall be Ahmad.''
`Isa said, "The Tawrah conveyed the glad tidings of my coming, and
my coming confirms the truth of the Tawrah. I convey the glad tidings of the Prophet
who will come after me. He is the unlettered, Makkan, Arab Prophet and
Messenger, Ahmad.'' `Isa, peace be upon him, is the last and final Messenger
from among the Children of Israel. He remained among the Children of Israel for
a while, conveying the good news of the coming of Muhammad, whose name is also Ahmad,
the Last and Final Prophet and Messenger. After Muhammad, there will be no
Prophethood or Messengers. (5)
Also with regards to Sura 3:48-50 Ibn Kathir explains:
(…)all these miracles(…)<>, testifying to the truth of what I was sent to you with. <<>
(means) affirming the Tawrah and upholding it << and
to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden to>> This part of the
Ayah indicates that `Isa abrogated some of the Laws of the Tawrah and informed
the Jews of the truth regarding some issues that they used to dispute about.
(6)
From the comments above, two possible conclusions could be
drawn:
- Ibn Kathir considered that The Torah at the time of Jesus was Trustworthy
- Ibn Kathir considered that The Torah at the time of Jesus was not Trustworthy, but because God has taught the true Torah to him he knew what was in reality in it. However, how can Jesus reprimand the Jews if the Torah wasn’t trustworthy? How can he say that the Torah attests of his coming if the Torah wasn’t trustworthy?
Points to Incline the Balance
The commentaries shown above
would indicate that even if there was corruption in the manuscripts of the
Torah available at the time of Jesus, one cannot simply say these were not
Trustworthy at all. Why would the Qur’an and the Hadith say that in the Torah
was convincing evidence of prophecies related to Muhammad and to Jesus?
One last point that inclines the
balance towards support of the theory of Torah trustworthiness comes from
Arabic grammar. The Language Research Group of the University of Leeds has made
available on line a translation word by word of the Qur’an (7). Let us review some
critical words of Sura 3:50 and Sura 61:1. In both verses the words “confirming
what was before me of the Torah” appear. The LRG of the University of Leeds
presents the transliteration of these words as follows:
3:50 wamuṣaddiqan (and
confirming) limā (that which) bayna (was) yadayya (before me) mina (of) l-tawrāti
(the Taurat) (8)
61:6 muṣaddiqan (confirming)
limā (that which) bayna (was between) yadayya
(my hands) mina (of) l-tawrāti (the Taurat) (9)
The words transliterated are
basically the same. In transliteration the only difference is the use of the
prefix “wa” next to “musaddiqan”. The prefix “wa” refers to the conjunction “and”.
So the verses use the same words and shall express the same meaning. The
difference appear in the translation. The question would be, what is the right
translation of the word transliterated as “yadayya”. According to the University
of Leeds LRG this word “is divided into 2 morphological
segments. A noun and possessive pronoun. The noun is feminine dual and is in
the genitive case (مجرور). The noun's triliteral root is yā
dāl yā (ي د ي). The attached possessive pronoun is first person
singular” (10). With regards
to the root yā dāl yā (ي د ي), the LRG’s Quran Dictionary states that “The triliteral root yā dāl yā (ي د ي) occurs 120 times in the Quran as
the noun yad (يَد). The translations below are brief
glosses intended as a guide to meaning. An Arabic word may have a range of
meanings depending on context” (11)
When reviewing the 120
appearances of yā dāl yā is concluded that the noun yad (يَد) means hand. Therefore is fair
to conclude that the best translation of these two verses would be “confirming that which was between my
hands of the Torah”. This would discard the claim that Jesus referred
to the original manuscript Moses held in his hands, but to the manuscripts the
Jesus held.
Footnotes:
(1)
Sura 61:6 Sahih International translation to
English. http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=61&verse=6
(2)
Sura 3:48-50 Sahih International translation to
English. http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=3&verse=50
(10) http://corpus.quran.com/wordmorphology.jsp?location=(61:6:15)
and http://corpus.quran.com/wordmorphology.jsp?location=(3:50:4)
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