Prophethood and the Holy Books

Why more than one book

Muslims believe that Allah has sent guidance to humanity many times, through a long line of prophets, and that several holy books were given. That raises a question which is easy to walk past and which this whole module answers. If the sender is one, and the message is one, why is there more than one book? ⭐ The Muslim answer is not about what was sent. It is about WHAT HAPPENED TO IT AFTERWARDS. Muslims hold that the earlier books were genuine revelation, and that what sets the Qur'an apart is PRESERVATION: that it has been kept as it was given, in the language it was given in. ⚠️ So the question to ask of anything in this topic is not what the message was, but what happened to it. That one question explains almost every practice you will meet here, which a list of names never can.

One message, several books

Set out what Muslims hold to be the same across every revelation, and what they hold to differ. Almost every exam answer on this topic needs both columns. Remember that Jews and Christians understand their own scriptures differently, and say so when you write.

Order the books by their prophets

Muslims name several holy books, each associated with a prophet. Put them in the order Muslims place them in history, earliest first.

• The Scrolls, associated with Ibrahim
• The Tawrat, associated with Musa
• The Zabur, associated with Dawud
• The Injil, associated with Isa
• The Qur'an, revealed to Muhammad

Why a translation is called something else

Muslims usually describe a rendering of the Qur'an into English as an interpretation rather than as the Qur'an itself. Which explanation best accounts for that?

• Because the revelation is held to have been given in Arabic and preserved in it, so a rendering into another language is one person understanding of it rather than the thing given
• Because Arabic is a difficult language to translate accurately
• Because Muslims are not permitted to read it in any other language
• Because the Arabic version is older than the translations

Words for this topic

Five terms, each defined so that you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.

Find the sentence that attributes

A student writes about the holy books. Select the ONE sentence that states a Muslim belief properly, as a belief held by Muslims rather than as a fact about other faiths.

• There are several holy books in Islam and the Qur'an is the most important one.
• The other books were all changed over time and are no longer reliable.
• Muslims believe the earlier books were genuine revelation and hold that the Qur'an has been preserved as it was given, while Jews and Christians understand their own scriptures differently.
• Muslims read the Qur'an in Arabic.
• The Qur'an was revealed over a period of many years.

What follows from preservation

Three of these five follow from the belief that the Qur'an has been preserved as it was given. Choose the three.

• Great value is placed on memorising the whole text word for word
• The Arabic text is treated as the revelation, with renderings into other languages called interpretations
• The physical copy is handled with great care and respect
• The earlier prophets are rejected and not honoured
• A further prophet is expected to bring a corrected message later

One question for this topic

You may be asked about a prophet, a book, or a practice you have not revised in detail. ⭐ Ask not what the message was, but what happened to it. The message is held to be one throughout. What changes is who received it, when, how much of it was written down, and how completely it was kept. ⚠️ And attribute. Say what Muslims believe, and acknowledge that other faiths read their own scriptures in their own way. That sentence costs nothing and is expected of you.

Match each belief to what it explains

The song that was never written down

Step away from religion. A composer writes a tune in 1890 and never publishes it. It survives in two ways at once. One family learned it by ear and has sung it at every gathering since, parent to child, for five generations. Another family wrote a rough version on the back of an envelope, which was copied, water-damaged, recopied from the damaged copy, and translated into a different key by somebody who could not read the original notation. ⭐ Ask which family has the tune and you are not asking about music. You are asking about transmission. Both families are sincere. Both love it. Neither is lying about anything. But the question of what survived is a separate question from the question of what was composed, and it has a separate answer. ⚠️ And notice what the singing family does, without being told. They correct each other. They will not allow a word to drift. A child who sings it wrong is stopped, kindly, and made to do it again. ⭐⭐ That is not fussiness. It is what preserving something by memory actually looks like from the inside, and it tells you why a community that believes it holds something unchanged behaves the way it does.

Complete the prophethood facts

The belief that Allah sends messengers to guide people rather than leaving them alone is called _____. A prophet is a nabi, while a messenger who brings a book is a _____. Muslims name several books: the Scrolls of Ibrahim, the Tawrat of Musa, the Zabur of Dawud, the _____ of Isa, and finally the Qur'an. What Muslims hold sets the Qur'an apart is its _____, that it has been kept as it was given, which is why the _____ text is treated as the revelation itself. Muhammad is called the _____ of the prophets, meaning no further prophet is expected.

Build the explanation

Complete an explanation of how Muslims understand the relationship between the holy books.

Prophethood quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Write about another faith scripture carefully

You are answering a question about how Muslims regard the earlier holy books. Work through the decisions.

• You want to explain the Muslim view of the earlier books. How do you put it?
• You need to show why this matters in practice. Which example does most work?
• The question also asks about the prophets. What must your answer avoid?

Explain why there is more than one book

Explain how Muslims understand the relationship between the holy books and the prophets who brought them.

• Explain what Muslims hold to be the same in every revelation
• Explain what Muslims hold to differ, using the idea of preservation
• Give one practice that follows from that belief, and say how it follows
• Use the terms risalah, rasul and seal of the prophets correctly
• Attribute the beliefs to Muslims, and note that other faiths understand their own scriptures differently