The revelation granted to Musa (AS) on Mount Sinai, as referenced in Surah 7:144–145, was delivered in the form of Al-Wah (tablets/stones). The inscriptions engraved upon these tablets constituted the Torah, encompassing laws, doctrines, and divine instructions.
The tablets/stones
are the form, and the inscriptions are the laws; together, they combine as one
Torah.
Thus, the tablets/stones
represent the physical medium of revelation, while the inscriptions represent
its legislative and doctrinal content; together, they collectively constitute a
single, unified Torah.
It
was narrated that 'Amr bin Dinar heard Tawus say:
"I
heard Abu Hurairah narrating that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'Adam and Musa debated, and Musa said to him: "O
Adam, you are our father but have deprived us and caused us to be expelled from
Paradise because of your sin." Adam said to him: "O Musa, Allah chose
you to speak with, and he wrote the Tawrah for you with His own Hand. Are you
blaming me for something which Allah decreed for me forty years before He
created me?" Thus Adam won the argument with Musa, thus Adam won the
argument with Musa.'"
[Sunan
Ibn Majah 80]
“And He
wrote the Tawrah for you with His own Hand” (وَخَطَّ لَكَ التَّوْرَاةَ بِيَدِهِ).
Conclusion:
In the
Islamic paradigm, the Torah refers to the divinely revealed laws, instructions,
and doctrines inscribed upon the Tablet as a form of revelation. It is neither
a biography of Musa (AS) nor identical to the five books traditionally
attributed to him. Rather, the Torah consists of the legislations revealed to
Musa (AS) as guidance and light for the Children of Israel, as affirmed in
Surah 5:44–46.
There is no
theological compromise with Jewish or Christian interpretations on this matter.
The Torah, in the Islamic understanding, is not the collection of five books attributed
to Moses commonly referred to as the Pentateuch or Chumash.
Note: the
rabbis confirm Moses received the entire Torah on Mount Sinai
How would that explain Qur'an 2:41?:
ReplyDelete"And believe in what I have sent down *confirming that which is [already] with you*, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs for a small price, and fear [only] Me." (مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ)
And Qur'an 7:157?:
"Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, *whom they find written [i.e., described] in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel*, who enjoins upon them what is right and prohibits them from what is wrong and makes lawful for them what is good and forbids them from what is evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful." (يَجِدُوۡنَهٗ مَكۡتُوۡبًا عِنۡدَهُمۡ فِى التَّوۡرٰٮةِ وَالۡاِنۡجِيۡلِ)
The Jews have had the Old Testament canon for centuries, perhaps a thousand years, before Islam arrived on the scene. We've got our earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible in the Qumran scrolls (dating 200BC-50BC), and the Qur'an isn't able to make a distinction?
How would we find the description of Muhammad in the Torah when only accounting for what you said as being the Torah?