The Reference to the Injeel at the time of Moses

 

By

 

Ansar Al 'Adl

 

 

The allegation is as follows:
 

Moses and the Injil? Jesus is born more than 1,000 years after Moses, but in 7:157 Allah speaks to Moses about what is written in the Injil [the book given to Jesus].

The verses in question:

7:155-158
And Moses chose seventy of his people for Our place of meeting: when they were seized with violent quaking, he prayed: "O my Lord! if it had been Thy will Thou couldst have destroyed, long before, both them and me: wouldst Thou destroy us for the deeds of the foolish ones among us? this is no more than Thy trial: by it Thou causest whom Thou wilt to stray, and Thou leadest whom Thou wilt into the right path. Thou art our Protector: so forgive us and give us Thy mercy; for Thou art the best of those who forgive.

156. "And ordain for us that which is good, in this life and in the Hereafter: for we have turned unto Thee." He said: "With My punishment I visit whom I will; but My mercy extendeth to all things. That (mercy) I shall ordain for those who do right, and practise regular charity, and those who believe in Our signs"

[It is they] who are [now] following the messenger - the Unlettered Prophet - whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel. He enjoins righteousness upon them and forbids them from evil. He makes clean things lawful to them and prohibits all that is foul. He relieves them of their burdens and of the shackles that had weighed upon them. Thus, those who have believed in him and have honored him and have aided him and have followed the light sent down with him, are the ones that shall indeed triumph.

Say [to them O Prophet,]: O people! I am God's messenger to you all. [The God] Who has sovereignty over the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. There is no god but Him. He ordains life and causes death. Therefore have faith in God and His messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believes in God and His commandments. Follow him so that you may be rightly guided.

1. The first point to note, is that this verse does not necessarily have to be part of Allah's dialogue with prophet Moses pbuh. It remains perfectly logical for verse 7:157 to be presented seperately from the two previous verses, or in relation to verse 7:158. For example, M. Farooq-i-Azam Malik renders verse 7:157 with the following interpretation:

(Now special mercy is assigned to) those who follow the Rasool, the unlettered Prophet (Muhammad)....

Hence, it is a seperate reference from Allah's speech to Prophet Moses. This interpretation is supported by the use of past tenses in the verse.

2. Even if this is interpreted as part of the dialogue with Prophet Moses pbuh, it can still be considered a prophecy of future times. As Abdullah Yusuf Ali writes:

In this verse is a pre-figuring, to Moses, of the Arabian Apostle, the last and greatest of the apostles of God. Prophecies about him will be found in the Taurat and the Injeel.

 

These translators also use the translation of "whom they will find" or "whom they shall find", indicating it is a future prophecy.

 

 

 

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