Does aya 9.111 use the word "Kitab"?

Submitted by jennifer solis (United States), May 23, 2008 at 01:54

Hello, sTs,

The Qur'an calls followers of the Bible, including both Christians and Jews, "Ahlal Kitab", or followers of the Book. So, the closest that the Qur'an comes to identifying the "Bible" is by the use of the word "Kitab", or Book.

The Qur'an borrowed many foreign terms and names like Tawrat, Furqan, Injil, Isa and Musa, etc; and Arabized them into it's text.

When it came to the Greek word Biblio, from which the word Bible comes from, obviously the Qur'an did not use this word.

The Qur'an used its own Arabic words derived from Hebrew and Aramaic, thus calling the Jews and Christians "Ahlal Kitab", the people of the book, and the Qur'an refers to their scripture not only as "the book", Kitab, but SUPPOSEDLY* also lists the parts of it as the Tawrah, Zaboor, Injil and Sahaif (Torah, Psalms, the Gospel and books of the prophets).

Qur'an, 9.111 -

Inna Allaha ishtara mina almumineena anfusahum waamwalahum bianna lahumu aljannata yuqatiloona fee sabeeli Allahi fayaqtuloona wayuqtaloona waAAdan AAalayhi haqqan fee alttawrati waalinjeeli waalqurani waman awfa biAAahdihi mina Allahi faistabshiroo bibayAAikumu allathee bayaAAtum bihi wathalika huwa alfawzu alAAatheemu - Muhammad Asad translation (you like him better?)

While "alttawrati" (torah or tawrah) and "waalinjeeli" (injil or gospel) are in there, where do you see "Kitab"("Book", or "Bible") - as you claim, sTs?

Perhaps you do not realize this, but the Torah consists of only the first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible (there are 39 books in the Old Testament).

Also, the Gospels consist of only four New Testament books, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John (there are 27 books in the New Testament).

Read this carefully - THE TORAH AND THE GOSPELS ARE NOT THE WHOLE BIBLE.

So, as you can see, the word "Bible" is nowhere to be found in Qur'an 9.111. The Torah and the Gospels are only a small part of the Bible. There are manuscripts (over 5,000) of the Bible dating back to 125 A.D. They do not just include the Torah and the Gospels. The Bible, including ALL THE BOOKS, was complete AT LEAST 500 years before the Qur'an was written.

*With regards to the word "torah"- or "tawrah"- in the Qur'an: I would argue whether or not "tawrah" in the Qur'an, indeed, EVER refers specifically to the Biblical Torah. Same goes for the Gospel (injil) - they simply mean "god's Law, and Message". "God's Law, and Message", the way Allah sees it - the way it is portrayed in the Qur'an. NOT THE BIBLE.

P.S. This is fun. Thanks for insulting me. With regards to the BIBLE, it does command the killing of the enemy - but it NEVER REWARDS IT WITH PARADISE, as does the Qur'an (Qur'an 9.111)!

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