Why is only Quran protected by Allah and not Bible or Torah?

Question

Salam ,

Quran is the un-altered word of Allah. Allah had promised for the protection of Quran. We also believe that Christians and Jews corrupted the Bible and Torah for their personal profits.

I want to know that why did Allah only promised protection of Quran and not his others books? Why didn't he saved other books from human corruption, like he's doing for Quran?

Answer 1

There are several reasons here a short summary:

1. The universality of the message the qur'an brought

Both Torah and New Testament were revealed as a reminder for Banu Israel. While the qur'an itself states:

And We have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner. But most of the people do not know. (34:28)

2. The qur'an is a miracle

While prior messengers had their miracles which showed the truth about their message, Muhammad's () miracle was the qur'an who showed the truth of his message at least to the contemporary people.

3. The corruption of the Torah by banu Israel

As for the Torah Allah left the duty to protect it to the scholars of banu Israel and they corrupted the scripture and failed in their task:

Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah ] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah , and they were witnesses thereto. So do not fear the people but fear Me, and do not exchange My verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers. (5:44)

4. The nature of the people to whom the earlier scripture was revealed

The qur'an tells us about these people and how easy they went astray after being faithful. For example banu Israel who saw and witnessed the cane who became serpent, the sea which was "split", who witnessed mountain which was raised and who were caused to die and were revived by Allah at the time of Musa () at first option they saw people worshiping idols asked Musa to give them an idol for worship:

And We took the Children of Israel across the sea; then they came upon a people intent in devotion to [some] idols of theirs. They said, "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods." He said, "Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly. (7:138)

5. The restriction of the validity of these scripture

The qur'an tells us about the scripture of Ibraheem() and that of Dawood() etc. which applied to their people till a new revelation either adapted or .

6. The finalization of the prophet-hood

The qur'an also tells us that Muhammad () is the last prophet and messenger it also informs us that the shari'a or dyn is accomplished therefore it didn't make sense to protect earlier scripture since they are not the final message. In other words either the message is final and must be "preserved" and protected or there will come a new messenger with an update. And as no new messenger is to be expected the message is final and therefore it is a reference for judging people till they meet Allah in the day of judgement, Allah says:

Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it. And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And never would We punish until We sent a messenger. (17:15)

Further the end of prophet-hood means that a reference for judgement is needed and must be final and protected to remain uncorrupted. It also means that mankind reached a level of maturity and they don't need more nor further reminders, prophets nor messengers like banu Israel needed and Mohammad's message was sufficient for them. Allah says:

And is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and reminder for a people who believe. (29:51)

The qur'an was preserved by Allah by different means those we know of are

• preparing the right people to receive and spread the message: Our messenger () and his sahabah () who memorized it and orally trnasmitted it to the next generation and this is how this is done till today.
• A backup solution by writing the qur'an down on whatever was accessible like leather, paper, leafs, stones etc. during the life time of the prophet () and by guiding the sahabah () to gather all these in a Moshaf (a "book").
• Sahabah and scholars of the early generations who understood the Qur'an, learned from the mistakes and misdeeds of previous nations and applied it in their daily lives to teach people how to apply its teachings in real life.
• Scholars who investigated and researched in several different disciplines studying the qur'an and Moshafs, its language, its meaning, its rasm etc. and this way made it more accessible and understandable for later generations and in the mind of the people. ...

See also Is the Quran really preserved or are there missing parts of the Quran?

Answer 2

The preservation and protection of Quran was taken by Allah:

Indeed, it is We who brought down the 'Zhikr' (Reminder/Quran) and We will surely preserve it. [15:9]

Torah preservation and protection was given to the Jewish scholars and rabbis:

Indeed, We revealed the Torah, containing guidance and light, by which the prophets, who submitted themselves to Allah, made judgments for Jews. So too did the rabbis and scholars judge according to Allah’s Book,with which they were entrusted and of which they were made keepers....

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There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Allah wanted the Quran to remain the eternal Book and the law that would abide until the Day of Resurrection.

“And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)) the Book (this Quran) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and Muhaymin (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures).” [5:48].

There was no need for the previous Books to be preserved, especially since the time of the Quran was close to the time of the Gospel, and there were only six hundred years between them.

2. That it was to be a test for those who had been given the Book – would they play their role in preserving the Scripture? Would they believe in what it said? Would they follow the Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, whom they found mentioned in the Torah and Gospel? Or would they persist in their stubbornness and distort, conceal and falsify?

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Thanks to Islamqa and quran.com for references .

Answer 3

I will offer a different answer to this question:

(5:44)

We have revealed the Torah, wherein is guidance and light. The submissive prophets ruled the Jews according to it, so did the rabbis and the scholars, as they were required to protect God’s Book, and were witnesses to it. So do not fear people, but fear Me. And do not sell My revelations for a cheap price. Those who do not rule according to what God revealed are the unbelievers.

Bani Israel had the task to provide God’s Book, and the submissive prophets ruled the Jews according to it, so did the rabbis and the scholars and were witnesses to it. They did their best to preserve the Word of God. They preserved the Decalogue, the direct written Word in original for 800 years, and in copy until now. They preserved the traditions of the ancient prophets and the hadith of Moses (ﷺ) and the Word revealed to the later prophets until now in the original language, for over 3000 years. Neither Muslim nor Christians did that.

The Christians were a bit less performing; the Gospel that is only related in hadith has only been preserved in translation because the knowledge of the original language was soon lost among them. The fact that the message gone through Jesus (ﷺ) was related in hadith has a good reason: This message is not only contained in the words from his mouth but equally through his deeds and signs. And finally, the Christians preserved more of the revelationcome through Jesus (ﷺ) than we did.

The problem of all of us is that we are not able to discern clearly between truth and imitation, we only try to do so. The same happens in Islam with our hadith: the scholars had to decide with their limited capabilities whether a hadith should be considered true.

Now, why was the Quran preserved?

Because the people were fully aware of the task to preserve it in its original wording already during the life time of Muhammad (ﷺ). This is how it has been protected. God has not protected the Quran beyond our possibility but by means of our possibilities.

The Quran is the last scripture revelation. This is a good reason why it has been protected more diligently than other revelation before.

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Philosophical background of this Answer:

I part from the working hypothesis that anything that can be explained from our own experience is more probable than an explanation that cannot be experienced in our lives.

What is a working hypothesis?

A working hypothesis is an unverified assumption. There is no claim for final truth behind it. Indeed, I am aware that the aforementioned hypothesis cannot be upheld as a dogma (teaching claiming to be true) on the backgroud of the Quran; it is just a criterion for the most probable explanation.

In this case: In contrast to the ability to discern good from evil, which is somehow engraved in the hearts of any human (although there are certain differences according to our religious background), we, in our state and time, are not able to decide whether something is really true (modern: journalistically correct, or in older terms: reliable tradition, to be understood literally or metaphorically) or false (modern: fake news, or in older terms: fabricated hadith).

Now, parting from this experience: How can the grade of the preservation of the Word of God in the Torah, the Prophetic scriptures, the writings of the minor Jewish Nabi, the Gospel accounts, the Quran and the Hadith be explained?

• All those who contributed to the preservation were essentially believers at least in their own belief (a Jew who lived before Jesus (ﷺ) could not be a disbeliever according to the message that Jesus (ﷺ) was the Messiah, and a Jew or Christian before Muhammad (ﷺ) could not be a disbeliever rejecting him as a prophet; and even those who did not believe in Jesus or teh two lates prophets acted according to their belief). On the basis of theirs beliefs, it has always be important to them to preserve the Word of God as good as they were able to do so.
• With our hadith we can see exactly our disability to discern true from false: The ancient (and partly even the contemporary) scholars have to decide on rational criteria such as the chain of transmission, the compatibility with the Quran, the reliability of any person of the chain and indications whether the subject was really known in the times of Muhammad (ﷺ). Nobody can decide with certainty, reading a hadith: this is true, and this is not.
• It is right to assume that the people before faced the same difficulties.
• In spite of the fact that the Arabic writing in the times of Muhammad (ﷺ) was extremely deficient (not even consonnant punctuation!) so that a written text was little worth safe one knows what had be written, just serving as a reminder, the companions were fully aware that the Quran will be a Book, the last Book of Revelation. The Quran is even called a Book in itself, although in the time of revelation, it was not a book at all. This awareness of the importance of the revelation can - without any supernatural force - explain the effort and the success of the companions of Muhammad (ﷺ) to remember the words in mind and by means of written notes, so that it could finally become the book we hold in our hands.

Answer 4

Read Quran for yourself and determine whether Allah has preserved His revelations or not. There are no changers of His words. Do not listen to fallible men…..

3:3 Al-i-Imraan He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was between his two hands. And He revealed the TORAH and the INJEEL

5:68 Al-Maaida Say, "O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord."..

6:114 Al-An'aam "Then is it other than Allah I should seek as judge while it is He who has revealed to you the Book explained in detail?" And those to whom We gave the Scripture know that it is sent down from your Lord in truth, so never be among the doubters.

6:115 Al-An'aam And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. NONE can alter His words,...

10:94 Yunus So if you are in doubt, [O Muhammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you...

21:7 the Prophet And We sent not before you, [O Muhammad], except men to whom We revealed [the message], so ask the people of the message if you do not know.

18:27 Al-Kahf And recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. There is NO CHANGER of His words...