THE GOSPEL THAT IS WITH THEM

In this post I will be quoting from a monumental work titled The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (SQ), produced by a team of credentialed and bonafide Muslim scholars from various academic backgrounds. It was published by HarperOne published in 2015, and its editor-in-chief is renowned Muslim philosopher and Sufi scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

I cite this work in order to show what this team of Muslim scholars/theologians say in regards to the Gospel, which the Quran states was in the possession of the Christians of Muhammad’s day. Bold emphasis will be mine.

Q. 5:66

66 This is one of several verses in this sūrah indicating the importance of Jews and Christians following their own scriptures (see also vv. 44, 47, 68) and suggesting that these scriptures remain a source of spiritual nourishment. “Observing” the Torah and Gospel is understood by some commentators in a limited sense to mean merely upholding the covenant with God established in those scriptures in a general way, which would not preclude Jews and Christians from following the Prophet— indeed, according to some, it would require them to follow the Prophet Muhammad, whom the Quran indicates was inscribed in the Torah and Gospel (R; see 7:157; 61:6). It can also be understood as enjoining them to continue to uphold the rituals and laws prescribed in these scriptures (R) in keeping with the statement in v. 48 that God had prescribed a law and a way for every religious community. Yet, the verse also requires them to observe that which was sent down to them from their Lord. This is understood by many early commentators as referring to the Quran (Q, Ṭ), although some have thought it might be a reference to certain prophetic books, such as the book of Daniel, found in the Hebrew scriptures, but outside of the Torah narrowly defined (Q, R).

For the People of the Book to observe both their own Scriptures and the Quran means, according to some commentators, that Jews and Christians should follow those teachings in the Torah and the Gospel that were either endorsed by the Quran or at least not declared false in it (Ṭ). Had they done this, they would surely have received nourishment from above them and from beneath their feet…

68 As in v. 66, this verse reiterates the importance of Jews and Christians observing both their own scriptures, the Torah and the Gospel, and that which has been sent down unto you from your Lord, which most commentators understand to mean the Quranic message brought by the Prophet (see 5:66; 5:66c). The idea that many of the People of the Book will be increased in rebellion and disbelief echoes v. 64, which indicates that that which has been sent down unto the Prophet will increase some of the People of the Book in “rebellion and disbelief” (see 5:64; 5:64c). Here, as elsewhere, the Prophet is told to grieve not for those who are unresponsive to the Divine message (cf. 5:26; 27:70). Some connect this verse to the injunction to the Prophet in the previous verse to convey that which has been sent down to him, indicating that this message to the People of the Book to follow their own scriptures as well as the Quran was what the Prophet had hesitated or feared to convey (R, Ṭ).

Another reputable Quranic translator, the late Abdullah Yusuf Ali, also pointed to the current New Testament, specifically John’s Gospel, as foretelling Muhammad’s coming:

In this verse is a prefiguring, to Moses, of the Arabian Messenger, the last and greatest of the messengers of Allah. Prophecies about him will be found in the Taurat and the Injil. In the reflex of the Taurat as now accepted by the Jews, Moses says: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me” (Deut. xviii. 15): the only Prophet who brought a Shari’at like that of Moses was Muhammad Al- Mustafa, and he came of the house of Ismail the brother of Isaac the father of Israel. In the reflex of the Gospel as now accepted by the Christians, Christ promised another Comforter (John xiv. 16): the Greek word Paraclete which the Christians interpret as referring to the Holy Spirit is by our Doctors taken to be Periclyte, which would be the Greek form of Ahmad. See Q. lxi. 6. (Footnote: 1127 https://www.alim.org/translation/yusuf-ali/7/)

Q. 7:157

The Prophet is also said here to be inscribed in the Torah and the Gospel, meaning for most commentators that the qualities that identify and describe him as a prophet are mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel (Ṭ). See 61:6, where Jesus says that he brings glad tidings of a Messenger to come after him whose name is Aḥmad — Aḥmad is one of the most often used names of the Prophet in the Islamic tradition (see 61:6c). According to a ḥadīth, the Prophet was described in the Torah with some of the same qualities attributed to him in the Quran, including that he is a giver of glad tidings and a warner, that he does not do evil to those who do evil to him, that he is kind and forgiving, that he is not rude or loud in the marketplace, and that he is a guardian for the unlettered (ummiyūn), here probably referring to the Arabs. The ḥadīth goes on to say that he will cause even those who are astray to utter, “There is no god but God,” and hence open eyes, ears, and hearts (Q, Ṭ). Some commentators mention particular statements in the Torah and Gospel that were interpreted by Muslims as references to the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, including prophecies about the descendants of Ishmael in Genesis 16– 17 and Jesus’ reference to a spiritual “comforter,” the “Paraclete” (Fāraqlīṭ, which was understood to mean Aḥmad), who would come after him and “will speak whatever he hears” (John 16:7–14; Ṭ s).

Q. 61:6

6 A function of every Divine messenger is to confirm the revelations that have come before; thus 6:92 says of the Quran, This is a blessed Book that We have sent down, confirming that which came before it (cf. 35:31; 46:30). That the prophets would confirm one another is said to be part of the primordial covenant that they made with God in 3:81 and 33:7. The prophets’ confirmation of other messengers is also understood to refer to those who would follow them in time, and several verses are interpreted as references to the mention of the Prophet Muhammad in the Old and New Testaments (see 7:157c). The name Aḥmad means “most praised”; it derives from the same root as Muhammad— ḥ-md — and has long been recognized by Muslims as one of the many honorific names given to the Prophet by God Himself. This is based upon a saying of the Prophet: “I have several names: I am Muhammad; I am Aḥmad; I am al-Māḥī (the Effacer) by means of whom God eliminates unbelief.” Many other aḥadīth simply refer to the Prophet as Aḥmad.

Some Muslims have likened Jesus’ reference to Aḥmad here in the Quran to the reference to the Paraclete (Gk. Paraklētos) or Advocate of whom Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John 14:15– 16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever” (see also John 16:7– 14; Āl, R). Such an interpretation is, however, complicated by the next verse, 14:17, where the Advocate or Paraclete is said to be “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you,” and by 14:26, where the Advocate is again equated with the Holy Spirit.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The scholars of the SQ realize that the only way to take seriously the Quran’s statements in respect to the existence of the Torah and the Gospel at Muhammad’s time is to presume that these terms refer to the Old and New Testaments respectively. At the very least, the Gospel mentioned cannot refer to anything other than the canonical Gospels, such the Gospel of John.

This, therefore, confirms that the author(s) and/or editor(s) of the Muslim scripture had the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in view, since these were the only sacred texts that the Jews and Christians had in their possessions during the reported lifetime of Muhammad.

FURTHER READING

Let the Study Quran Speak! Pt. 1, Pt. 1b, Pt. 2

THE QURAN’S GOSPEL

What the Qur’an says about the Bible (overview page)

Does the Holy Bible Call Itself the Holy Bible?

Does the Holy Bible claim to be the inspired Word of God?

Does the Quran confirm the Bible and the Canonical Gospels?

The Quran’s Confirmation of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures

Does Taurat Refer Only to the Revelation Given to Moses?

The Greek Quran Confirms That Allah Revealed the Holy Bible

The Muhammadan Fraud That Was Ahmed Deedat: Which Bible?

THE QURAN’S CONFIRMATION OF THE HOLY BIBLE REVISITED