Were divine books sent down after the previous book was distorted?

Were divine books sent down after the previous book was distorted?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The divine books’ being sent down is not based on the distortion of the previous books. As a matter of fact, the Gospel, which was sent down to Hz. Isa (Jesus), did not include the decrees of the Torah. When Hz. Isa taught love, compassion and ethical values with the Gospel, he applied to the Torah for legal arrangements. The Psalms were like that too. There were almost no decrees of shari’ah in those two books. This shows that a divine book’s being sent down is not dependent upon the distortion of the previous book. On the contrary, they were sent down to teach the new principles that were necessary to be introduced based on the conditions of the time and place.

It is not appropriate to attribute the Quran’s being sent down to the distortion of the previous books. In that case, the following wrong decree would be deduced: If they had not been distorted, there would have been no need for the Quran. However, the truths of belief, which are the basic essentials of all religions, are always up-to-date. Nevertheless, the conditions of the time and place play an important role in the explanation, summarization and the detailing of the issue. This is the wisdom behind the coming of different shari’ahs. The Quran has some important issues that are also included in the previous books; they are the common ground for the divine religions.

However, almost all Islamic scholars agree that the Quran abrogated some decrees in the previous books. Nevertheless, we should say it again that the Quran’s being sent down is not based on the distortion of the previous books. For, it was necessary to change some decrees and abolish completely others in the previous books whether they were distorted or not.

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