For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. (Taurat, Shaya 55:8)
Mankind needs divine guidance. The Lord Almighty revealed his Word through the prophets so that we could learn his ways. However, some things about the Lord’s ways are difficult for us to understand, as the above verse implies by Him saying “my thoughts are not your thoughts.” An example of this difficulty is found in the following prophecy from the holy Zabur of Prophet Dawud (pbuh), revealed about 1000 BCE (“before the common era” or “before the birth of Christ”):
In the scroll of AL-KITAB it is written about me. I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your TAURAT (law) is within my heart. I have proclaimed the INJIL (good news) of righteousness in the great assembly. (Zabur 40:7-9)
So who is speaking in these verses–the prophet Dawud or is it someone else? This passage teaches several things about this unnamed individual. First, he delights to do God’s will. Second, he has the Taurat within his heart, and third, he proclaimed the Injil, that is, he told the Good News of how to be right with God. Who is this person? Perhaps Al-Kitab itself can answer the question. In all of Al-Kitab, there is only one person of whom all these things are explicitly taught. As it is written in the holy Quran:
Then Allah will say: “O ‘Isa Ibn Maryam! Recount my favour to you and to your mother. Behold! I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit, so that you spoke to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught you AL-KITAB and wisdom, the TAURAT and the INJIL. (Quran 5:110; also 3:45)
The unnamed individual mentioned in the Zabur passage above is undoubtedly Prophet ‘Isa Ibn Maryam, written about 1000 years before his birth. Of him, the verse says, “In the scroll of Al-Kitab it is written about me” (confirmed by the Injil, Hebrews 10:7).
The Taurat, Zabur, Injil, and Quran all teach that ‘Isa is a great prophet, but there is more. They also declare that he alone is Al-Masih, or the MESSIAH, the One chosen by Allah to lead and rescue his people. There have been many prophets and apostles, but only one who is called AL-MASIH.
All four of these holy books are collected here so that you might discover the truth about ‘Isa Ibn Maryam, and how important he is in the plan of God as al-Masih, the Chosen One. As ‘Isa himself says in the holy Injil,
You search Al-Kitab, because you think that in its writings you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. (Injil, John 5:39)
May our gracious Lord grant spiritual insight and wisdom as you read, compare, and search for the truth.
About this translation
This is a public domain translation of the Holy Bible together with the Holy Quran, and published under the name Al-Kitab. This is an effort to make available in one place, all four “heavenly books” said to believed in by all Muslims, known as the Taurat, Zabur, Injil and Quran.
The fact that all these holy books are placed here together should not be construed to mean that we should view them all as having the same function, purpose or authority. For more information on this matter, we suggest you carefully study courses such as “Eternal Word” and “The Way of Truth“, available at the Al-Kitab Scripture Research Institute.
This Al-Kitab translation was first published online in 2001 as part of the Al-Kitab Scripture Research Institute website. The Bible portion of this translation (Taurat, Zabur, Injil) is an updated adaptation of the public-domain World English Bible (WEB) begun in 1994. When this Al-Kitab update/adaptation was undertaken in 2000, the WEB was still only a rough draft revision of the American Standard Version of 1901. The Quran portion of this Al-Kitab translation is an updated adaptation of the classic Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation.
In this translation of Al-Kitab, names of God are used which are commonly known by Muslim readers as well as Arabic-speaking Christians. In the Taurat and Zabur, which were originally written mostly in Hebrew, the personal covenant name for God often designated by the four letters YHWH (often pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah), is usually rendered “Allah” in this translation. This is not intended to indicate that “Allah” is God’s personal name (any more than “the Lord” is, which is the usual English rendering of YHWH). Rather, it was decided that “Allah” was more fitting for Muslim readers than any other available option. The English word “God” is used often to render the Hebrew words el, eloah, and elohim. The couplet YHWH elohim is usually rendered “Allah Ta’ala”.
In this translation, italics are often used to indicate certain words that have an Arabic flavour. These include the names of holy books as well as some other specialized terms.