What the Quran Says About the Torah and the Gospel

The Quran repeatedly affirms the Torah (TawratTawratThe Torah, as named and affirmed by the Quran as a genuine revelation given to Moses.Full glossary →) and the Gospel (InjilInjilThe Gospel, as named by the Quran — spoken of as a revelation given to Jesus and present among Christians in Muhammad's day.Full glossary →) as genuine revelations of God, and—crucially—it speaks of them as present, available, and authoritative in the seventh century, in the hands of the Jews and Christians of Muhammad’s own day. Key passages include the following.

“He has sent down upon you the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel before, as guidance for the people.”

“But how is it that they come to you for judgement while they have the Torah, in which is the judgement of Allah?”

“And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed — then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.”

“Say, ‘O People of the Scripture, you are standing on nothing until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.’”

“So if you are in doubt about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you.”

Alongside these affirmations stands a categorical promise about the durability of God’s words: “The word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words” (Quran 6:115); “Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. None can change His words” (Quran 18:27). The Quran also tells its audience that Muhammad himself is “written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel” (Quran 7:157) — a present-tense claim about texts in circulation circa 600–632 AD.