Four Books

So the books are dispensations. Now, the Muslims do not know how many books there were. But we are told by the Qurʾān to believe with absolute certainty in four books. The first one is called the Torah. And the Torah, generally — most of the Muslims believe it relates to the first five books of the Bible. So there would be Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers. Those would be generally considered the first five books.

Now, it is important that the Muslims do not… — the Bible is collected over nine hundred years, and from the Qurʾānic worldview there were alterations, as discussed in the first chapter. So when the Muslims say they believe in the Torah, it does not necessarily mean everything that exists in the Torah today. So, for instance, stories that would denigrate the prophets — the idea that Lot, for instance, slept with his daughters — things like that are anathema to the Muslims. They really would not accept that as being from the Revelation. And these are differences between the religious teachings. But that is the Muslim worldview.

The Gospel would be the Gospel of Jesus: Gospel in the singular. Not the four accounts, but a Gospel. One Gospel, called the Injīl. And then the Zabūr, which is generally believed to be the Psalms of David. And then, finally, the Furqān, or the Criterion. And it is called the Furqān in relation to the other three books because it is seen as the discriminating book. In other words, it lets us know what is still valid from those other books, and what is no longer valid. This is how the Muslims view the Qurʾān: that it is a book that is a criterion for judging other traditions. And the Qurʾān says that it is muhayminan ʿalayhi:

It is literally an overseer of the other traditions.