Was a divine book sent down after the previous book was distorted?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The sending down of a divine book does not depend on the condition of the distortion of the previous book. As a matter of fact, the Gospel, which was sent to Hz. Isa (Jesus) did not include the legal decrees of the Torah, the previous book. Hz. Isa taught people love, compassion and ethical values through the Gospel but he referred to the Torah regarding legal arrangements. The Psalms were like that, too. Those two books contained almost no legal decrees. They referred to the Torah regarding them. This shows that the sending down of a divinebook does not depend on the condition of the distortion of the previous book. On the contrary, they were sent down to teach the new principles based on the state of the time and place.

It will not be appropriate to say that the Quran was sent down because the previous books were distorted. In that case, it would lead to this extremely wrong conclusion: if they had not been distorted, there would have been no need for the Quran. However, the principles of belief that are the fundamentals of all religions always keep being on the agenda. However, the state of the time and place has a great role in explaining, summarizing or detailing the issue in some degree. This is the reason behind the advent of new shari'as. The Quran includes the important topics mentioned in the previous books; they are common ground among the heavenly religions.

Nevertheless, almost all Islamic scholars agree that the Quran abrogated some of the decrees in the previous books. However, we need to state again that the advent of the Quran does not depend on their distortion because some of the decrees of the previous books had to be changed or abolished whether they were distorted or not.

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