Belief in the Divine Scriptures[1]

     The following are the books which Allah sent to His prophets, the most important of which are the Scriptures of Abraham, the Torah and the Bible of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Qur’ān of Muḩammad, peace upon them all. The original books sent down upon the prophets before Muḩammad, peace be upon him, were not written down under the supervision of their respective prophets. Thus, the process of their transcription involved fabrication and alteration, as stated in the Glorious Qur’ān:

“So woe to those who write something down with their own hands and then claim, ‘This is from Allah,’ in order to make some small gain. Woe to them for what their hands have written! Woe to them for all that they have earned! Woe to them for all that they have earned!” (Qur’ān, 2:79)

     The books that now exist were written by human hands, and should therefore be admitted or denied only by reference to the Qur’ān. The Qur’ān alone is the Book which Allah has guarded against alterations and discrepancy. Allah the Most High says,

“We have really sent down the Qur’ān, and We will indeed guard it.” (Qur’ān, 15:9)

Allah the Most High also says,

“When our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do not expect to meet with Us say, ‘Bring [us] a different Qur’ān, or change it.’ You [Prophet] say, ‘It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I only follow what is revealed to me, for I fear the torment of an awesome Day, if I were to disobey my Lord.” (Qur’ān, 10:15)

     Yet it did not descend in one piece, as a whole, at one time, like the other books. Instead, it descended piecemeal within duration of twenty three years, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, instructed some of the followers, who were the chroniclers of revelation, to take down all that descended upon him.

     From this transcribed collection of revelation, the Qur’ān was arranged, after which ‛Uthmān Ibn ‛Affān commissioned a number of copies to be made and distributed to capital cities at the time. The Muslims were keen on studying and taking the Qur’ān in from generation to generation, memorizing it in its entirety until today, when it has reached us safely from any discrepancy or alterations.