The Qur’an
“Let the People of the Gospel judge”: Qur’an 5:47
One verse of the Qur’an tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what God revealed in it. Christians often quote it. What does it ask, and what does it assume?
1The question
What does Qur’an 5:47 ask Christians to do?
2What Christians believe
Christians argue that Qur’an 5:47 assumes the Gospel was available and trustworthy in the Prophet’s day. Why else would Christians be told to judge by it? Since the Gospels we have today are the same as those of the seventh century, they argue, the verse points Christians to the Bible they already read.
They add that Qur’an 5:68 tells the People of the Scripture that they have no guidance until they observe the Torah and the Gospel, which again suggests these books were present and binding.
3What the texts say
What Jesus taught about God
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
The Law stands
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
The prophet to come
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.
4What scholars say
Classical commentators read 5:47 in more than one way. Some took it as describing the command given to Christians in Jesus’s own time; others as a call to Christians of the Prophet’s day to follow what their scripture says, including what it says about a coming prophet.
Gordon Nickel (Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur’an, 2011) shows that early commentators often spoke of the earlier scriptures being concealed or misread, while later writers, such as Ibn Hazm, argued more strongly that the text itself had been changed.
Scholars agree that this verse is central to the question of how the Qur’an views the Bible, and that Muslims and Christians have argued over it for centuries.
5The Islamic perspective
The verse sits in a passage about Jesus and the Gospel, and is followed by a call to accept what God has now revealed:
And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah - a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil).
Let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allah hath revealed therein. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are evil-livers.
Say O People of the Scripture! Ye have naught (of guidance) till ye observe the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord. That which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) from thy Lord is certain to increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them. But grieve not for the disbelieving folk.
Muslims read the call as pointing Christians to the heart of what God revealed to Jesus: the worship of one God (Mark 12:29; John 17:3), obedience to his law (Matthew 5:17), and the expectation of a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18). Those who truly judge by that message are led to the final prophet.
6Objections and responses
“If Christians must judge by the Gospel, the Gospel must have been intact.”
Response: The verse calls Christians to judge by what God revealed in the Gospel, not by every line of every book that carries the name. Muslims hold that the true message remains within the Gospels, alongside additions, and that judging by that message is still possible.
“Qur’an 5:68 says Christians have nothing until they observe the Torah and the Gospel, so they had them.”
Response: The same verse adds “and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord”, which Muslims read as the Qur’an. Observing the Torah and the Gospel truly would mean accepting the prophet they foretold.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Qur’an 5:47 calls Christians to judge by what God revealed in the Gospel. Christians see this as endorsing the Bible they have. Muslims see it as calling Christians back to the core message of Jesus, which points to the oneness of God and to the final prophet.
Read Qur’an 5:44–48 as one passage, then Mark 12:28–34.
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Related topics
Sources
- Bible, King James Version:Mark 12:29John 17:3Matthew 5:17Deuteronomy 18:18
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 5:46Qur’an 5:47Qur’an 5:68
- Gordon Nickel, Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur’an (2011)
- al-Tabari, Jami’ al-Bayan (commentary) on Qur’an 5:47