The English translation was made by Claude (an AI model from Anthropic) and has not been reviewed by a human translator. Qur’anic verses are translated by the model, not taken from a published translation. The views expressed in the book are the author’s.

Their sacred books

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Their Sacred Books

First: The Torah

The Torah is the sacred book of the Jews. Its meaning is the law, or the religious teachings, that Moses conveyed to his people at Sinai after they came out of Egypt. In its present form it consists of five books: The Book of Genesis, or Creation:

It contains the story of the creation of the world and of man, the story of Adam's sin and his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, which in their view was on earth and not in heaven, and his life after leaving the Garden, and his descendants down to the event of the Flood.

Then the rise of the peoples after it, then the story of Abraham, his journeys and his offspring, Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons, and Ishmael (peace be upon him).

Then the story of Joseph, what befell him at the hands of his brothers, and his entry into Egypt until he attained great standing there.

Then the entry of Jacob and his sons, the brothers of Joseph, into Egypt. This book ends with the death of Joseph (peace be upon him).

The Book of Exodus

It deals with the story of the Children of Israel in Egypt and their persecution. Then the appearance of Moses and his prophethood, his dialogue with Pharaoh, and the signs with which Pharaoh and his people were afflicted, up to Moses' leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt, what happened to them and what they did in the desert, and the sending down of the Torah to Moses.

Then the book continues to narrate their history in this period until Moses brings them to the gates of Palestine.

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The Book of Leviticus, or of the Priests

This book contains a great deal of legislation, commandments, rulings, rites, acts of worship, offerings and other legal matters.

The Book of Numbers

It is so called because it is full of the counting and division of the tribes of the Children of Israel, the ordering of their encampments by tribe and the census of their males, in addition to the story of the Children of Israel in Sinai. In this it is a continuation of the Book of Exodus.

The Book of Deuteronomy

Its meaning is repetition and restatement. It sets out the Ten Commandments, and it goes over again what the Book of Leviticus discussed concerning the permitted and the forbidden, the rulings and the law.

This book also speaks of the choice of Joshua son of Nun as successor to Moses, and it ends by speaking of the death of Moses (peace and blessings be upon him) and his burial in the mountains of Moab.

Second: Other Books

They number thirty-four books, written in the names of their prophets and rabbis after Moses.

They are a historical narrative of the conditions of the Jews and of their prophets and events after their entry into Palestine until their state there came to an end. Together with the Torah they make thirty-nine books, which are given the name now known as the Old Testament. These books are:

Joshua - Judges - Ruth - First Samuel - Second Samuel - First Kings - Second Kings - First Chronicles - Second Chronicles - Ezra - Nehemiah - Esther - Job - Psalms - Proverbs - Ecclesiastes - Song of Songs - Isaiah - Jeremiah - Lamentations of Jeremiah - Ezekiel - Daniel - Hosea - Joel - Amos - Obadiah - Jonah - Micah - Nahum - Habakkuk - Zephaniah - Haggai - Zechariah - Malachi.

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Third: The Talmud

It is a sacred book for the Jews, like the Torah, composed by the rabbis and learned men of the Jews as an interpretation of the Torah. Its meaning is the book of instruction in the religion of the Jews and its ethics.

It was written down more than once. The first to write it was a rabbi named "Yohanas", around 150 CE, who called it the "Mishnah", that is, the repeated law, as an interpretation and completion of the Torah.

Then the rabbis of the Jews made many additions to it in the following years, until it was completed at the hands of a rabbi named "Judah" in 216 CE, after he had gathered the original text, added the commentaries and additions of the rabbis, and then issued it as a single book.

But the "Mishnah" was very obscure for ordinary Jews, so the scholars and rabbis of the Jews set about writing commentaries and glosses on it, and these additions were called the "Gemara".

The Talmud is made up of the "Gemara" and the "Mishnah".⁽¹⁹⁾

(19) See Muqaranat al-Adyan: al-Yahudiyya (Comparative Religion: Judaism), p. 271 ff.