Books of the People of the Book

Question: If you study the Quran and have not studied the Torah, or the New Testament how can you say you are a scholar? The Quran as I read it speaks about the people of the book many, many times. Read the books of those People.

Answer: Did I call myself a scholar? No, I’m just a plain muslim who likes to discuss religion to understand the reasons behind other peoples’ conviction and faith in their religion, and shares her understanding and faith, as I believe we all are, indeed, here in this group, for a common cause, in pursuit of knowledge. By the way, I have read both The Old Testament and The New Testament. In the very beginning of the Quran, we are told that this book(the Quran) is a guidance for those who are pious…. And the definition of pious that follows includes faith in the revelations on Muhammad, and those before Muhammad, so you see, it is mandatory upon us to believe in, respect and honour all prophets, messengers and holy books. But, we are also told that, over time humans have made changes in those books, and that we will have to use the Quran as the measure of truth when studying those books. Thus, we accept all that is in accordance with the Quran….. for instance, Jesus says that He has come to confirm the Law, the Quran confirms this so we believe that Jesus was indeed sent as a prophet to the Jews to confirm the Laws, and to explain the wisdom of it.

Are God of the Old Testament and New Testament same?

Question: If the god of the old and new testament are one god, he has changed drastically. Perhaps he learned from the trials of Job or from the near sacrifice of Isaac, perhaps he awakened to a new truth. I don't know. I only know that the new God knows Love. The new God IS Love.

Answer: To Moses was revealed the Torah, which contained the Laws. With the passage of time, though prophets kept coming from time to time, yet the followers of Torah forgot the wisdom behind the Laws, and the Law became blind…… the compassion, the love, the mercy, and the wisdom was lost on most….. people who followed became rigid and closed their minds, their religion was difficult and harsh, and it seemed okay to them. Then God sent Jesus to re-teach the Torah, to let the people know the immense love and compassion that God has for His creatures. But the followers of Jesus concentrated so much on the love and compassion part, that they forgot that he had come to confirm the Law, not to do away with it…….. that he had come to explain why it was important and beneficial for humans, but, unfortunately, we have two religions while both study the Old Testament.

New Testament deity is very different

Question: I think the new testament deity is very different, the new testament covenant between god and man is very different, and we have clearly been informed of this, through the life of Christ. Our new covenant is based on Love not Law. The Ten Commandments telling us what not to do are replaced by the golden rule telling us what to do. The new testament god does not tell us to kill; he tells us to die and know that we shall never die.

Answer: God is one and has sent essentially the same message to all humans throughout time. The true religion is a beautiful combination of the Law and the Love…. The religion preached by the prophets throughout time……………… we humans tend to learn a part and ignore the rest, the fault lies with us, for being content with whatever little knowledge of religion we have and ignoring the vast body of wisdom around us.

The central message is the same of all divinely-inspired religions

Question: Where do you think that the Holy Books of the other world religionsand belief systems came from ? Are they incomplete books written bysincere persons who thought that they knew what God wanted them to write, but failed to correctly understand. Or are they simply theproduct of cunning human minds seeking power and influence?

Answer: In the very beginning of the Quran, we are told that:
http://searchtruth.com/chapter_display.php?chapter=2&translator=4
1. Alif. Lam. Mim
2.This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).
3.Who believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that We have bestowed upon them;
4And who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the Hereafter.
5These depend on guidance from their Lord. These are the successful.
So, you see, we are required to believe in all the sacred, holy books of religions before Islam as the source and message were essentially the same…… Allah sent His messengers from time to time to guide humanity. What happened, we believe, is that, with time, part or most of the essential message was lost, varying from nation to nation, people to people. The Holy Books came to contain a mixture of Divine revelation and human interpolation. The result was a parting of ways from the original, true spirit and teachings of the Prophets. The Quran came as a confirmation of the prophets and prophecies of old, and as a ‘sift or seive’…. To distinguish between ‘the truth and the false’ in what people among different religions had come to believe. Thus, you will find, in the Quran, mention of the prophets of old, but how and what the Quran relates is quite different from accounts given in the other scriptures. Sometime earlier, a muslim brother had posted the passages about Prophet Jesus……….. did you read it? Wasn’t it so different?Also, reading any of the divine books, whether it is the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Vedas, etc, doesn’t the radiance, the brilliant sparkle of the divine message shine through certain verses, while at other places one wonders could the Prophets or God/gods have spoken and behaved so and so, can this actually be true, is this actually of divine origin? Whereas, when you read the Holy Quran, morally and ethically it is so sound, so perfect, and all Prophets have been mentioned with such respect that…. it is so easy to believe in it!
So, Yes, the central message is essentially the same of all divinely-inspired religions.