Affiliation:
1. Department of Theology and Philosophy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11884, Egypt
2. Department of Religion and Theology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1QU, UK
Abstract
Two Qurʾānic concepts have largely defined how the Qurʾān related to previous revelations. Those two concepts are taḥrīf (alteration) and naskh (abrogation). Appealing to those two concepts, the mainstream understating of the Qurʾān was that it superseded pre-Islamic scriptures and that, after its revelation, such scriptures had limited epistemic value. With this in mind, this article aims to achieve descriptive and prescriptive goals. With the descriptive goal, it problematizes the theories of taḥrīf and naskh, with a view to showing how such concepts influenced Muslim understanding of the Straight Path (al-Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm). With the prescriptive goal, it proposes the concept of taṣdīq (confirmation) as an alternative. In doing so, this article demonstrates how, despite the fact that the Qurʾān never shied away from critiquing what it believes to be forms of deviation in the Bible, it never introduced itself as an “abrogator” (nāsikh) to it but rather as a “confirmer” (muṣaddiq) in no less than 12 occurrences in the Qurʾān, but the concept of taṣdīq was largely overshadowed by the overemphasis on taḥrīf and naskh.
Reference31 articles.
1. Abdelnour, Mohammed Gamal (2021). A Comparative History of Catholic and Aš‘arī Theologies of Truth and Salvation: Inclusive Minorities, Exclusive Majorities, Brill.
2. Adang, Camilla (1996). Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, Brill. Islamic Philosophy Theology and Science: Texts and Studies 22.
3. al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (1997). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Darussalam. 9 vols.
4. Ali, Abdullah Y. (1937). The Holy Qurān: Arabic Text with an English Translation and Commentary, Shaik Muhammad Ashraf.
5. al-Sāyiḥ, Aḥmad, and Wahba, Tawfīq (2009). al-Irshād ilā qawāṭiʿ al-adillah, Maktabat al-Ṯaqāfa al-Dīniyyah.