I was wondering whether you could enlighten me further on the books of Allah (Subhana Wa Taala). Were the books of Allah (Injil, Torah, Zabur) the exact words of Allah when they came down originally. I do not mean the books which Chrisitans and Jews read now which have been altered. My question is again: were the books of Allah originally the exact words of God like the Quran is?
Praise
be to Allah.
Firstly:
Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“The Messenger (Muhammad blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) believes in what has been sent down to him from
his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels,
His Books, and His Messengers. They say, ‘We make no distinction between one
another of His Messengers’” [al-Baqarah 2:285].
Al-Bukhaari (50) and Muslim (9) narrated
that Abu Hurayrah said: One day the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) appeared before the people and Jibreel came to him and said: O
Messenger of Allah, what is faith? He said: “To believe in Allah, His
angels, His Books, the meeting with Him, and His Messengers, and to believe
in the resurrection hereafter.”
The Qur’an, the Torah, the Gospel and the
Zaboor are all among the Books of Allah that He sent down to His Messengers
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon them), and it is obligatory to believe
in them. Whoever disbelieves in any of them has disbelieved in Allah.
Secondly:
Nothing of the words of Allah is created.
He, may He be glorified, spoke the Torah, the Gospel, the Qur’an and the
Zaboor in a real sense. Similarly, not a single letter of the Qur’an is
created. It is all the words of Allah in a real sense. The same is also true
of the Torah, the Gospel and the Zaboor. We do not differentiate between the
Messengers of Allah, and we do not differentiate between the revealed Books;
all of them are the words of Allah.
Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Do you (faithful believers) covet that
they will believe in your religion in spite of the fact that a party of them
(Jewish rabbis) used to hear the Word of Allah (the Tawraat (Torah)), then
they used to change it knowingly after they understood it?”
[al-Baqarah 2:75].
What they used to distort is the Torah,
but here Allah, may He be exalted, calls it the “Word of Allah”.
Muslim (2652) narrated that Abu Hurayrah
said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
said: “Adam and Moosa debated. Moosa said: O Adam, you are our father but
you caused our doom and caused us to be expelled from Paradise. Adam said to
him: You are Moosa, Allah chose you to speak to and wrote (the Torah) for
you with His own hand. Are you blaming me for something that Allah decreed
for me forty years before He created me?” The Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) said: “Adam got the better of Moosa, Adam got the
better of Moosa.”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah
have mercy on him) said: The view of the early generations and leading
scholars of the ummah, the Sahaabah and those who followed them in truth,
and all the leading scholars of the Muslims, such as the four imams and
others, is that which is indicated by the Qur’an and Sunnah, which is what
is in accordance with the clear rational evidence: that the Qur’an is the
word of Allah that was revealed and not created; it comes from Him and will
return to Him. He is the One Who spoke the Qur’an, the Torah and the Gospel,
and other words; they are not created and separate from Him. He, may He be
glorified, speaks by His will and power, and His word is within His Essence,
and is not a creation separate from Him… The words of Allah have no end, as
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “Say (O
Muhammad blessings and peace of Allah be upon him
to mankind): ‘If the sea were ink for (writing) the Words of my Lord,
surely, the sea would be exhausted before the Words of my Lord would be
finished, even if we brought (another sea) like it for its aid’” [al-Kahf
18:109]. Allah, may He be
glorified, spoke the Qur’an in Arabic and the Torah in Hebrew.…
Whoever regards His words as created must
say: Is that which is created the One Who spoke to Moosa:
“Verily! I am Allah! La ilaha illa Ana (none has the right to
be worshipped but I), so worship Me, and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat)
for My Remembrance” [Ta-Ha
20:14].
This is impossible; these cannot be anything other than the words of the
Lord of the Worlds. As Allah spoke the Qur’an, the Torah, and other
Scriptures, with their meanings and words which consist of letters, none of
that is created; rather that is the words of the Lord of the Worlds. End
quote.
Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa
(12/37-41). See also: Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (12/355-356)
Shaykh Mustafa ar-Ruhaybaani (may Allah
have mercy on him) said:
Swearing by the words of Allah, may He be
exalted, or the Qur’an, or a soorah or verse thereof, is a (valid) oath,
because it is one of His attributes. So whoever swears by it or by any part
of it has sworn an oath by one of the attributes of Allah, may He be
exalted.
The same applies to swearing by the Torah
or any of the other Books of Allah, may He be exalted, such as the Gospel
and the Zaboor. This is an oath for which expiation is required (if it is
broken), because an oath sworn by the Torah or Gospel in general terms is
swearing by that which was sent down from Allah, may He be exalted, not that
which has been changed or altered, and the sanctity thereof is not waived by
the fact that it has been abrogated by the rulings of the Qur’an, as is
similar to the case of some verses in the Qur’an the rulings of which were
abrogated. That does not alter the fact that it is the words of Allah, may
He be exalted, and as it is His words, it is one of His attributes, as is
the Qur’an.
End quote from Mataalib Ooli an-Nuha
(6/361)
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (may Allah have mercy
on him) said:
It is well-known that Allah sent down
Books to the Prophets. He sent down the Torah to Moosa, He sent down the
Gospel to ‘Eesa, He sent down the Zaboor to Dawood, and He sent down
Scripture (Suhuf) to Ibraaheem, as He said (interpretation of the
meaning): “The Scriptures of Ibrahim (Abraham) and Moosa (Moses)” [al-A
‘la 87:19]. Undoubtedly all of that is the words of Allah that He spoke,
and these words include His laws and His commands and prohibitions.
End quote from Fataawa ash-Shaykh Ibn
Jibreen (63/117)
For more information, please see:
47516, 98194,
145665
And Allah knows best.
