OLD TESTAMENT

Al-ʿAhdu ʾl-ʿAtīq ( العهد العتيق‎ ). Muḥammad, in his Qurʾān, profe es to receive all the inspired books of the Old Testament. (See Sūrah ii. 130 ) : “We believe in God, and what has been revealed to us, and what has been revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was brought unto the Prophets from their Lord : and we will not distinguish between any of them, and unto Him are we resigned” ( i.e . Muslims). But there is no evidence that Muḥammad had ever seen the Jewish Scriptures, as now received by both Jews and Christians. In the Qurʾān, he mentions the Taurāt of Moses, the Zabūr (Psalms) of David, and makes several references to the historical portions of the Old Testament; but Jonah is the only name amongst the writers of the prophetical books (either greater or minor), of the Old Testament scriptures, mentioned in the Qurʾān. Muḥammadan writers say there have been 124,000 prophets, but only eight of these have been apostles to whom the Almighty has revealed books, and that only one hundred portions, or ṣuhuf , and four books, or kutub , have been given to mankind. Ten portions to Adam, the first of the prophets, fifty to Seth (not once mentioned in the Qurʾān), thirty to Idrīs or Enoch, and ten to Abraham. One book to Moses, another to David, another to Jesus, and the fourth to Muḥammad. Six of the prophets are said to have brought in new laws which succe ively abrogated the preceding, namely Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. It is impo ible to read the Qurʾān carefully without arriving at the conclusion that Muḥammad derived his knowledge of the events of Old Testament scriptures rather from the Rabbins and their Talmudic teaching, than from the inspired text itself. Mr. Emanuel Deutsch truly says: “Judaism forms the kernel of Muḥammadanism, both general and special. It seems as if he (Muḥammad) had breathed from his childhood almost the air of contemporary Judaism, such Judaism as is found by us crystallised in the Talmud, the Targum, and the Midras.” ( Literary Remains , p. 89.) The following Old Testament characters are mentioned by name in the Qurʾān:— Aaron, Hārūn ; Abel, Hābīl ; Cain, Qābīl ; Abraham, Ibrāhīm ; Adam, Ādam ; Terah, Āzar ; David, Dāʾūd ; Goliath, Jālūt ; Enoch, Idrīs ; Elias, Ilyās ; Elijah , Alyasaʿ ( al-Yasaʿ ); Ezra, ʿUzair ; Gabriel, Jibrīl ; Gog, Yājūj ; Magog, Mājūj ; Isaac, Isḥāq ; Ishmael, Ismāʿīl ; Jacob, Yaʿqūb ; Joseph, Yūsuf ; Job, Aiyūb ; Jonah, Yūnus ; Joshua, Yūshaʿ ; Korah, Qārūn ; Lot, Lūt̤ ; Michael, Mikāʾīl ; Moses, Mūsā ; Noah, Nūḥ ; Pharaoh, Firaun ; Solomon, Sulaimān ; Saul, T̤ālūt . The following incidents of Old Testament history are related in the Qurʾān, with a strange want of accuracy and a large admixture of Talmudic fable:— Aaron makes a calf. Sūrah xx. 90 . Cain and Abel. Sūrah v. 30 . Abraham visited by Angels. Sūrah xi. 72 , xv. 51 . Abraham ready to sacrifice his son. Sūrah xxxvii. 101 . Adam, his fall. Sūrah vii. 18 , ii. 34 . Korah and his company. Sūrah xxviii. 76 , xxix. 38 , xl. 25 . Creation of the world. Sūrah xvi. 3 , xiii. 3 , xxxv. 1, 12 . David’s praise of God. Sūrah xxxiv. 10 . Deluge. Sūrah liv. 9 , lxix. 11 , xi. 42 . Jacob goes to Egypt. Sūrah xii. 100 . Jonah and the fish. Sūrah vi. 86 , x. 98 , xxxvii. 139 , lxviii. 48 . Joseph’s history. Sūrah vi. 84 , xii. 1 , xl. 36 . Manna and quails given. Sūrah vii. 160 , xx. 82 . Moses strikes the rock. Sūrah vii. 160 . Noah’s ark. Sūrah xi. 40 . Pharaoh . Sūrah ii. 46 , x. 76 , xliii. 45 , xl. 38 . Solomon’s judgment. Sūrah xxi. 78 . Queen of Sheba. Sūrah xxvii. 22 . The compiler of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn (ed. Flügel, vol. ii. p. 458, article, Taurāt ) attempts an account of the Old Testament scriptures. He divides the whole into four sections, and gives the names of the books as follows:— | (1) | The Taurāt, or the Five Books of Moses. | | (2) | Yūshaʿ (Joshua). | | Sifru ʾl-Ḥukkām (Judges). | | Shamūʾīl (Samuel). | | Sifru ʾl-Mulūk (Kings). | | (3) | Shaʿyāʾ (Isaiah). | | Irmiyā (Jeremiah). | | Ḥizqīl (Ezekiel). | | Yūnus (Jonah). | | (4) | Taʾrīk͟h. A history from Adam to the building of the Temple. | | Mazāmīr (Psalms). | | Aiyūb (Job). | | Ams̤āl (Proverbs). | | Aḥbāru ʾl-Ḥukkām qabla ʾl-Mulūk (Ecclesiastes). | | Nashāʾid li-Sulaimān (Song of Solomon). | | Ḥikmah (Wisdom). | | An-Nawāḥ (Lamentations). | | Urdshair (Esther). | | Dānyāl (Daniel). | | ʿUzair (Esdras). | [ PROPHETS , TAURAT , ZABUR .]