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The Jews say, the Christians are not (founded) upon
anything; and the Christians say the Jews are not (founded) upon
anything; and yet they read the Scripture.
"They read," present or imperfect tense, "are
reading," or "are in the habit of reading." These are the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in current use among the Jews and
Christians, which elsewhere are spoken of as "confirmed" or
"attested" by the Corân.
LXXXI.SURA II., v. 137[136].
سورة البقرة
قُولُواْ
آمَنَّا
بِاللّهِ
وَمَآ
أُنزِلَ
إِلَيْنَا
وَمَا
أُنزِلَ
إِلَى
إِبْرَاهِيمَ
وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ
وَإِسْحَقَ
وَيَعْقُوبَ
وَالأسْبَاطِ
وَمَا
أُوتِيَ
مُوسَى
وَعِيسَى
وَمَا
أُوتِيَ
النَّبِيُّونَ
مِن
رَّبِّهِمْ
لاَ
نُفَرِّقُ
بَيْنَ
أَحَدٍ
مِّنْهُمْ
وَنَحْنُ
لَهُ
مُسْلِمُونَ
Say,We believe in God, and in what hath been revealed
unto us, and in what hath been revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes; and in what hath been given unto Moses and
unto Jesus, and in what hath been given unto the prophets from their Lord we
make no distinction between any of them; and unto Him we are resigned.
It is not necessary to determine what is meant by "that which was
revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob." It may probably signify
the revelations made to them or respecting them, as recorded in the Books of
Moses. It is to be noted, however, that the
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TESTIMONY TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES |
151 | |
expression used in reference to the patriarchs,
ما أنزل
that which was revealed to them, differs from the phrase applied to
the Scriptures which were "given" or "delivered" to the
prophets:
ما أوتي موسى وعيسى وما أوتي النبيون من ربهم أتي
"that which was given unto Moses and Jesus, and that which was
given unto the prophets from their Lord." The word
أوتي
is used only of a Book, Scripture, or Revelation, committed to writing, and
so spoken of as given or delivered; whereas the former term,
(نزل
) signifies the
inspiration, or revelation, to man of the will of God, which may or may not be
recorded.
The verse proceeds with a very important declaration of the necessity of
belief in the Scriptures which "were given to Moses, to Jesus, and to the
prophets from their Lord," equally with the Corân; to make no
distinction between them; to honour, reverence and obey all, because all are
held in the Corân to be equally the word of God. Why is it then that those who
believe in the Corân neglect these sacred Scriptures, the observance of which
is inculcated by their prophet as an indispensable condition of Islâm.
LXXXII.SURA II., v. 141[140].
سورة البقرة
أَمْ
تَقُولُونَ
إِنَّ
إِبْرَاهِيمَ
وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ
وَإِسْحَـقَ
وَيَعْقُوبَ
وَالأسْبَاطَ
كَانُواْ
هُودًا أَوْ
نَصَارَى
قُلْ
أَأَنتُمْ
أَعْلَمُ
أَمِ اللّهُ
وَمَنْ
أَظْلَمُ
مِمَّن
كَتَمَ
شَهَادَةً
عِندَهُ
مِنَ اللّهِ
وَمَا
اللّهُ
بِغَافِلٍ
عَمَّا
تَعْمَلُونَ
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