The Scrolls of Moses ( ''Ṣuḥuf Mūsā'') are an ancient body of scripture mentioned twice in the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. They are part of the religious scriptures of Islam, although now they are believed to have been corrupted or lost. These scriptures are understood by

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to refer not to the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, the main Book of Law which Moses was given, but to an ancient text, which contained some of the inspired revelations which Moses received over his years of prophecy, which were then written down by Moses himself as well as his followers.

Background

In two Chapters, which are dated from the first

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

n period, there is a reference to the 'Leaves, Scrolls, Journals' (''Suhuf'') of Abraham (and of Moses), by which certain divinely inspired texts handwritten by the

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

s are meant. These passages refer to the fact that the truth of God's message was present in the earliest revelations, Given to Abraham and Moses. Although ''Suhuf'' is generally understood to mean 'Scrolls', many translators - including

Abdullah Yusuf Ali Abdullah Yusuf Ali, CBE, MA, LL.M, FRSA, FRSL (; ur, عبداللہ یوسف علی‎; 14 April 1872 – 10 December 1953) was an Indian-British barrister who wrote a number of books about Islam including an exegesis of the Qur'an. A sup ...

and

Marmaduke Pickthall Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called ''The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Qur ...

- have translated the verse as "The Books of Abraham and Moses".

, ''The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an'';

, ''The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary''

Qur'anic mention

Moses, being a righteous prophet of God, received many revelations over his lifetime - the contents of which could be contained in this Book of Moses. * *

Identification

Many scholars have speculated whether the "''Books of Moses''" refer to the

or other scriptures of Moses. But the Islamic belief that the

was, in its original form, a single scripture of Law, the plural emphasis on ''Books'' and not ''Book'' leads many to believe that these Books are different. Qur'anic commentator

mentions that it could be a possible reference to a lost book of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

, suggesting the

Book of the Wars of the Lord The Book of the Wars of the Lord () is one of several non-canonical books referenced in the Bible which have now been completely lost. It is mentioned in Numbers 21:13–14, which reads: David Rosenberg suggests in ''The Book of David'' that ...

, an apocryphal book referred to in the Bible, in Numbers 21:14. However, it is well known that the Jews usually refer to the Torah as The Five Books of Torah. Most Notably, Deuteronomy, the fifth book, is distinct in many ways, and is referred to as 'Mishneh Torah'-a review of the Torah. There's also an ancient guideline requiring religious scribes to leave four blank lines between each of the books. This custom (recorded in Babylonian Talmud, bava batra pg.13) predated Muhammad by hundreds of years. For this reason it is plausible to assume that Muhammad is referring to the five scrolls of Moses as they were known.

References

{{Characters and names in the Quran Islamic texts Texts attributed to Moses

Background

Qur'anic mention

Identification

See also

References