Muslims believe Allah sent books before the Quran: the scrolls of Abraham, the Torah of Moses, the Zabur of David and the Injil of Jesus. The earlier scriptures themselves speak of the law, the prophets and the psalms, and of the word of God standing for ever. The Quran is the final book and the measure of the earlier ones.
What it is in Islam
The Quran names the earlier books and says the Quran confirms what came before it and stands as a criterion over it.
“He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.”
“and to David We gave the book [of Psalms].”
“Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light.”
“And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light”
“Indeed, this is in the former scriptures, The scriptures of Abraham and Moses.”
“Do not believe the people of the Scripture or disbelieve them, but say:-- ‘We believe in Allah and what is revealed to us.’ (2.136)”
Narrated by Abu Huraira. English as shown on sunnah.com.
In the earlier scriptures
Passages are the King James Version unless marked otherwise. Each carries a tag: a close parallel, a shared principle, or an interpretation (Muslim or traditional), which is a reading we offer as a reading and not as a proven fact.
“The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.”
Quran 21:105 says it was written in the Psalms that “the land [of Paradise] is inherited by My righteous servants”. Psalm 37:29 has a similar promise in the Psalms.
Interpretation: the Quran does not give a chapter or verse, so we cannot say this is the very verse it points to. We show the wording as a close echo. The Quran says “the land [of Paradise]”, and the Psalm speaks of “the land” without that gloss, so the match is one of wording and not of proven meaning.
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
The word of God stands for ever. The Quran also holds that God’s words are not to be altered (6:115).
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”
God promises to raise up a prophet “from among their brethren, like unto thee” and to put his words in his mouth.
Interpretation: Muslims read this as pointing to Muhammad (ﷺ), a prophet from the brothers of Israel (the descendants of Ishmael), and the Quran says he is found written in the Torah and the Gospel (7:157). Many Jews and Christians read it differently, as Joshua, as a line of prophets, or as Jesus. We state the Muslim reading as a reading.
“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.”
Translation by Florentin and Tal (Open Book Publishers, 2024). The translation writes the divine name as “Shema”, the Samaritan way of saying “the Name”.
The Samaritan Torah has the same promise inside its Exodus Decalogue narrative (numbered 17c by its translators), spoken by God to Moses.
Interpretation: the Samaritan Torah has this passage in its text. How Samaritans read it, and how Muslims read it, are separate questions and we do not claim they agree.
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
Jesus names the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. This is the Torah, the prophets and the Psalms (the Zabur of the Quran, 4:163).
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God”
Jesus preaches “the gospel” in his own lifetime, before any written Gospel.
Interpretation: Muslims read the Injil of the Quran as that message given to Jesus, and not as the four written Gospels.
Where this page stands: the Hebrew Bible, the Samaritan Torah and the Gospels speak of the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms as God’s word. The Quran’s claim to confirm and judge them is the Islamic position and is not found in these passages. Several items are marked as interpretations.
Where the scriptures differ
The Quran says the earlier books were revealed, but that the text now in people’s hands has had human additions, and that the Quran is the criterion. We show the Quran’s own verses and the hadith on how a Muslim treats the earlier books.
“And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it.”
“So woe to those who write the ‘scripture’ with their own hands, then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.”
The Quran says that some scribes wrote text with their own hands and said it was from Allah.
“They distort words from their [proper] usages and have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded.”
“Do not believe the people of the Scripture or disbelieve them, but say:-- ‘We believe in Allah and what is revealed to us.’ (2.136)”
A Muslim neither accepts nor rejects a report from the earlier books on its own, and checks it against what Allah revealed. Narrated by Abu Huraira. English as shown on sunnah.com.
Sources
Quran (Sahih International, via api.alquran.cloud; links go to quran.com)
Hadith (English from sunnah.com)
Hebrew Bible and New Testament (King James Version, text via bible-api.com; links go to BibleGateway)
Samaritan Pentateuch