Dear Monica,
One of my colleagues Robert Gleave, in the Department of Theology and
Religious Studies, University of Bristol, has provided me with the
following reply to your query regarding Muslims' perception of the Bible:
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One of the main claims used by Muslim polemicists against Christianity and
Judaism was that the Qur'an was the literal word of God (kalam Allah),
whereas the Christians and Jewish scriptures had been altered by the
respective communities (a doctrine known as tahrif). Early Muslim thinkers
developed the notion that the Bible (New Testament and Hebrew Bible) had
been changed with a view to supporting claims by Christians that Jesus was
the Son of God and by Jews that Israel was God's chosen nation - both
ideas contradict the Islamic beliefs that God has no partner in his
divinity and that the true religion was open to all humanity. Early Muslim
exegetes at times show a familiarity with the Bible, particularly the
Hebrew part, and use the account of the lives of Prophets to interpret
Quranic verses revering to Prophets such as Adam,, Moses (all if whom
were, according to Muslim doctrine Muslims). The passages in the New
Testament which are interpreted as referring to Muhammad are usually those
referring to the coming of the holy Paraclete - Muslim exegetes see the
promise of a comforter to the early Christians as referring to Muhammad's
prophetic mission *not* the Holy Spirit as in Christian doctrine. As for
Christian and Jewish responses to these interpretation, I do not know, but
for an account of Muslim views of Jewish scripture see Y. Lazarus Yafeh's
book *Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism* (Princeton,
1992).
Rob Gleave (University of Bristol)
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I hope this helps.
Carolyn
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