What Does the Quran Say About the Bible and Torah? A Three-Faith Comparison

Judaism doesn't engage with the Quran as a sacred authority — the Torah (Hebrew: Torah) is understood as God's direct, complete, and unaltered covenant with the Jewish people, given at Sinai. From a Jewish perspective, no subsequent revelation can add to or supersede it. The Talmudic principle that the Torah is eternal (Torah min hashamayim) leaves no room for a later scripture to claim corrective authority over it.

Jewish scholars like Saadia Gaon (10th century) and later Maimonides addressed Islamic claims about the Torah's alleged corruption (tahrif) and firmly rejected them, arguing the Masoretic text had been carefully preserved. The Quran's command to believe in what was given to Moses Quran 2:136 is, from a Jewish standpoint, a one-sided acknowledgment — welcome in affirming the Torah's divine origin, but insufficient as a basis for accepting the Quran's own authority.

Interestingly, the Quran's repeated insistence that believers make no distinction between prophets Quran 3:84 is itself a point of tension: Judaism does not recognize Jesus or Muhammad as prophets in the biblical sense, so the Quran's inclusive formula lands differently for Jewish readers than it does for Muslims.

Christianity holds the Bible — comprising the Old and New Testaments — as the inspired, sufficient, and authoritative Word of God. The Quran's acknowledgment that what was revealed to Jesus is divinely sourced Quran 2:136 is noted by some Christian scholars as a point of contact, but mainstream Christianity does not accept the Quran as a continuation or correction of biblical revelation. Theologians like John of Damascus (8th century) were among the first Christians to engage critically with Islamic claims about scripture.

The Quran's self-description as confirming what came before it Quran 35:31 is interpreted very differently by Christians and Muslims. Christians generally argue that if the Quran truly confirmed the Gospel, it would affirm core Christian doctrines — the Trinity, the crucifixion, the resurrection — which it does not. This creates an irreconcilable tension at the heart of the inter-faith dialogue.

Some modern ecumenical scholars, like Kenneth Cragg in The Call of the Minaret (1956), have tried to find genuine common ground in the Quran's reverence for Jesus (Isa) and Mary (Maryam), while still acknowledging that the Quran's portrait of Jesus differs fundamentally from the New Testament's. The Quran's insistence that no distinction be made between prophets Quran 3:84 is particularly challenging for Christians who confess Jesus as uniquely divine.

The Quran's position on the Torah and the Bible is nuanced and multi-layered. It unambiguously affirms that the Torah (Tawrat) given to Moses and the Gospel (Injil) given to Jesus are divine revelations from the same God who revealed the Quran Quran 2:136. Muslims are commanded to believe in all of them without distinction Quran 3:84. This is a core article of Islamic faith — rejecting any one of these original revelations would be considered disbelief.

At the same time, the Quran presents itself as the final, authoritative, and preserved confirmation of all prior scriptures Quran 35:31. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir (14th century) and modern ones like Ismail al-Faruqi argued that while the original Torah and Gospel were authentic divine revelations, the texts that Jews and Christians possess today have undergone tahrif — alteration or corruption — over centuries. This doctrine explains, in Islamic theology, why the Quran sometimes contradicts the Bible.

The Quran's declaration that truth has come from God and that guidance or misguidance is each person's own responsibility Quran 10:108 is often read in this context: the Quran is the final, uncorrupted truth, and humanity is accountable for how it responds to it. The Quran's statement that it is "the truth, confirming what came before it" Quran 35:31 is thus read not as endorsing the current biblical texts in their entirety, but as affirming the original divine messages those texts once contained.