preservation of scripture

[munir rana]

Dear Joseph

Assalamu alaikum

One of my freinds asked that why Allah did not preserve the previous scriptures like He preserves the Quran? Were not those His favorite? Then why He allowed those to be corrupted? I answered that Allah knows the best. And perhaps time was one factor. As the civilization advanced those scriptures lost relevancy. So the final scripture arrives.
But I myself is not fully content with this answer.

Do you have any explanation regarding this issue.

Best Regards.

Munir Rana

[good logic]

Greetings munir rana.

Please allow me to say the following,even though you asked brother Joseph your question. I hope neither you nor brother Joseph mind.

It was in the divine plan to send the different scriptures at the different times chosen by GOD.

 Is our language or indeed our understanding adequate to attain the divine meaning?
 
Because the answer tends to be more negative than positive, the need for various revelations in parallel with human progress across the ages was always necessary.

The three divine revelations, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all monotheistic: they all believe in the one absolute God, although in the Judaism and Christianity of today there are variations on that subject.

If the 'truth' contained in these three religions is one why does there seem to be so many disputes between the followers of these faiths? What  was preserved ?

They are all related, accepting the first scriptures confirms the second one and both confirm the last scripture. This then had to be preserved as there were no more scriptures after it.

God tries all humans according to His knowledge. This was part of His plan to distinguish His true followers across the ages.

Hope this helps.
GOD bless you.
Peace.

[Anwar]

Munir,

The Quran talks of previous scholars writing things saying that they are from God when they are not. In Al-Bayyinah the Quran says that they did not differ except outside of the clear proofs that God gave to them. Most times 'min ba3di' is considered 'after.' But according to Classical Arabic it can also mean outside of. We can see this in Yusuf Ali's use of 'my absence' for 'ba3di' in 7:150. Most translators do not realize this use of ba3d, just as many do not realize the use of qabl for 'in the presence of' or 'before' in the sense of 'I am standing before you.' Many translators miss these meanings when they translate. I think compiling all of the passages on the subject will bring many things to light. Primarily that The Jews and Christians do have the teachings of Moses and Jesus (God bless them both), although may not all of it but they also have a lot of what is not their teachings mixed up with it. That is why God in the Quran continually tells them to follow what God revealed, because they use Torah and Injeel in a way that it extends to the teachings and words of those who were not God's prophets.  For them to know what God actually revealed they have to only follow what is quoted of their prophets instead of stating that all of their books are from God or from certain prophets when those books do not make those claims. They also need to be following the most original of their scriptures. This would be the Greek Septuagint, the Samaritan Hebrew bible and the Aramaic scriptures NOT the Massoretic Hebrew text which the Jews rewrote after Islam, purposefully changing things when they translated these scriptures back into a later Aramaicized Hebrew. This would delete much of what they claim is the word of God. They also need to include the authentic apocryphal words that have quotes from God's prophets. If they compiled all of this, studying it in the original languages they would be on a much better and correct path. The Quran then comes to clarify what cannot be clarified even when they do this. They are supposed to accept the Quran and use it to as a guide to interpret the compilation of sayings of the prophets of God sent to them and and to clarify what is not clear in these quotations. As far as Christians and Jews directly converting, I think this should be encouraged among their children more than themselves. Despite that I think they can convert and leave their previous religions behind, especially if they see that their scriptures are telling them to do this. I think the issue of the Sabbath is trickier. It is advisable in my opinion that people who have paternal ancestors that are among the tribes of the children of Israel should continue to follow the Sabbath.

[munir rana]

Dear all

Salam.

Thanks Good Logic and Anwar for your responses. But i might have failed to make you understand the query.

Question was, why Allah did not preserve the previous scriptures as Quran is preserved through recitation and other ways. Why Allah allowed/intended those to be corrupted or mixed up with other things.

And if `the need for various revelations in parallel with human progress across the ages was always necessary' then the question comes, is the human progress stopped? Or will it be soon? whats about a few centuries later?

I dont want to be engaged with superfluous query. but as the question came to me, i just put it forward to you.

best regards.

Munir Rana

[good logic]

Greetings munir rana.

The last scripture , Qoran is for all ages/generations. It contains all that is required for the past, present and future,regardless of progress. 

That is the main reason of preserving it.

Because Qoran came after the other two scriptures ,and because it confirms both, then preserving it is preserving all the other scriptures.

Part of GODs trial is to send them in that order. If the Gospel came after the Qoran ,then it would make sense to preserve the Gospel.

That is my understanding.
GOD bless you.
Peace.