Islamic position
The Tawrāt is the revelation God gave to Mūsā, Moses: “We sent down the Torah, in which is guidance and light” (5:44).
Muslims believe in it as one of the books of God, with the Zabūr, the Injīl and the Qur’an (2:136; 2:285; 4:136). The Qur’an calls itself confirming it and guardian over it (5:48).
The Tawrāt in the Qur’an
Al-Tawrāh is the Arabic form of the Hebrew torah, “instruction”, and the Qur’an uses it 18 times, always in the singular. In English it is spelt Tawrat, Taurat or Torat; in Malay and Indonesian it is Taurat.
What the verses say of it:
- God sent it down before the Qur’an as guidance (3:3). The prophets, the rabbis and the scholars judged by it, “because they were entrusted with the protection of God’s Book” (5:44).
- It holds God’s judgement (5:43), and the law of a life for a life and an eye for an eye, with forgiveness as an expiation (5:45).
- ʿĪsā was taught it (3:48; 5:110), confirms it, and makes lawful some of what it forbade (3:50; 5:46; 61:6).
- The Prophet is found written in it (7:157). The promise to those who strive is in it (9:111), and so is a likeness of the believers (48:29).
- Its people are told to bring it and recite it (3:93). Those who carried it and did not live by it are likened to a donkey carrying books (62:5).
The Qur’an also speaks of the tablets given to Mūsā (7:145), of “the Book and the Criterion” (2:53), and of the scrolls of Mūsā and Ibrāhīm (53:36-37; 87:19).
Is the Tawrāt the Torah of the Jews?
Scholarly consensus
In Judaism the Torah is the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy. The word can also cover the whole Hebrew Bible, and the oral teaching written down in the Mishnah and the Talmud.
Joel Baden sets out the documentary view held by most critical scholars: the Pentateuch was put together from earlier sources and took its final form around the fifth century BCE. Jewish and Christian tradition ascribe it to Moses, though Deuteronomy records his death (Deuteronomy 34).
The Qur’an’s Tawrāt and the Pentateuch meet in their laws. The life for a life of 5:45 is Exodus 21:23-25, the fat forbidden to the Jews in 6:146 is Leviticus 7:23, and both forbid pork and blood (2:173; Leviticus 11:7; 17:10-14).
Islamic position
Muslims hold that the revelation given to Mūsā is in the Torah in part, as the Injīl is in the gospels, with the Qur’an as the measure. The Qur’an says that some moved words from their places (4:46; 5:13).
Emanuel Tov finds the Hebrew Bible in several forms side by side among the Dead Sea Scrolls, before 70 CE. What that means for the Islamic Dilemma is on the pillar page.
The Torah and the Qur’an compared
- Agrees One God. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4); “Say: He is God, One” (112:1).
- Agrees The prophets from Ādam to Mūsā: the flood, Ibrāhīm, Yūsuf in Egypt, the Exodus and the giving of the law.
- Agrees Food and the sabbath. Pork and blood are forbidden (Leviticus 11:7; 17:10-14; 2:173), and Israel keeps the sabbath (7:163; 16:124).
- Conflicts The golden calf. In Exodus Aaron makes it (Exodus 32:2-4). In the Qur’an al-Sāmirī makes it, and Hārūn tries to hold the people back (20:85-94).
- Conflicts Solomon. In 1 Kings his wives turn his heart to other gods (1 Kings 11:4). The Qur’an says “Sulaymān did not disbelieve” (2:102).
- Unclear The seventh day. Genesis says God rested on it (Genesis 2:2), and Exodus that He rested “and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:17). The Qur’an says of the 6 days of creation, “no weariness touched Us” (50:38): the two agree if rest means ceasing from work, and part if it means recovering strength, as Exodus 31:17 puts it.
- Unclear The son Ibrāhīm offered. Genesis names Isaac (Genesis 22:2). The Qur’an leaves him unnamed and announces Isaac after the story (37:99-113); al-Ṭabarī read Isaac, Ibn Kathīr Ismāʿīl.
Do Muslims read the Torah?
The Prophet said: “Do not believe the People of the Book and do not disbelieve them, but say: we believe in God and in what was revealed to us” (al-Bukhārī 7362). He also said: “Narrate from the Children of Israel, and there is no harm” (al-Bukhārī 3461).
Al-Biqāʿī quoted the Torah in his fifteenth-century commentary and wrote a treatise defending the practice, which Walid Saleh has edited. The Qur’an itself calls the Torah as a witness: “Bring the Torah and recite it, if you are truthful” (3:93).
The law Muslims keep is the law of the Qur’an and the Prophet: “To each of you We have made a law and a way” (5:48).
Does the Torah mention Muḥammad?
Islamic position
The Qur’an says the People of the Book find him written in the Torah and the Injīl with them (7:157). Muslims read of him “a prophet like you from among their brothers” (Deuteronomy 18:18), and the Lord who “shone forth from Mount Paran” (Deuteronomy 33:2).
Scholarly consensus
Rashi reads Deuteronomy 18 of the prophets who followed Moses in Israel, and Acts 3:22 applies the verse to Jesus. The Christian case against the Muslim reading goes back to Pfander’s Balance of Truth.
Questions about the Torah in Islam
What is the Torah called in Islam?
The Tawrāt, also spelt Tawrat or Taurat: the book God gave to Mūsā, Moses (5:44). The Qur’an names it 18 times.
Who was the Torah revealed to?
To Mūsā, Moses. The Qur’an speaks of the tablets given to him (7:145) and of the Book and the Criterion (2:53).
Do Muslims believe in the Torah?
Yes. Belief in the books God revealed is part of the faith (2:285; 4:136), and the Torah is one of them. Muslims believe in the revelation given to Mūsā, and read the present Torah with the Qur’an as the measure.
Is the Torah in the Qur’an?
The Qur’an names it 18 times, retells its stories and cites its laws (5:45). It calls itself confirming the Torah and guardian over it (5:48).
Is the Qur’an the same as the Torah?
They are two revelations. They agree on the one God, the prophets and many laws, and differ on several stories, among them the golden calf and Solomon; the Qur’an confirms and corrects.
Does the Qur’an confirm the Torah?
Yes, as muṣaddiq and muhaymin, confirming and guardian (3:3; 5:48). A guardian keeps what is true and rejects the rest; what that means for the Torah and the gospels is on the Islamic Dilemma.
Do Muslims follow the Torah?
Muslims follow the law of the Qur’an: “To each of you We have made a law and a way” (5:48). ʿĪsā himself made lawful some of what the Torah forbade (3:50).
Sources
- The Qur’an: 2:53, 102, 136, 173, 285; 3:3, 48, 50, 93; 4:46, 136; 5:13, 43-48, 110; 6:146; 7:145, 157, 163; 9:111; 16:124; 20:85-94; 37:99-113; 48:29; 50:38; 53:36-37; 61:6; 62:5; 87:19; 112:1.
- Al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ, 3461 and 7362.
- Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-bayān, on 5:44-48 and 37:102; Ibn Kathīr on the same verses.
- Rashi, commentary on Deuteronomy 18:15-18.
- Joel S. Baden, The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).
- Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 4th rev. ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022).
- Walid Saleh, In Defense of the Bible: A Critical Edition and an Introduction to al-Biqāʿī’s Bible Treatise (Leiden: Brill, 2008).
- Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1938), s.v. Tawrāh.