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REFLECTIONS ON
The Holy Psalms of David
These Reflections on the Psalms of the prophet David are intended for Jews, Muslims and Christians.
The Psalms of David are contained in the Jewish scriptures (also in the Christian Bible) and as Jewish archaeology has reasonably shown from the Dead Sea scrolls the text of the Jewish scriptures has not been corrupted since they were first translated from Hebrew into Greek in circa 300 B.C.E
Muhammad recited the Surahs of the Qur'an in the 7th century C.E and that text refers to the Book of God which he believed to be the authentic Word of God preserved by the Jews and Christians and that was in their possession: (Muslims at that time were encouraged to cross check claims by Jews and Christians against the Scriptures the Jews and Christians already had in their possession).
The Book of God at the time that Muhammad recited was the very same Jewish scriptures and Christian New Testament (referred to by some Muslims as the Ingel) as existed in the first century C.E and as we have them today. However the later traditions of Islam negate this Qu’ranic text that encouraging Muslims to read ‘the Book’, by claiming that The Book referred to in the Qur'an is no longer the Bible (66 books of the Jewish and Christian scriptures), but is a Book held in heaven. This claim can easily be refuted by careful study of the Qur’an (e.g. refer to article by Sam Green in answering-islam.org)
The original reason for this later Islamic negation of the Qur’an text would appear to be an attempt to explain away some of the vital discrepancies between the Bible and the Qur’an. At the time Muhammad first recited the early Surahs, it is very likely that he was personally unaware of these discrepancies. It is only in later years or centuries that Islamic Tradition introduced these explanations.
Muslims claim that the Qur’an provides the divinely corrected version of The Book, hence Muslims normally teach their adherents not to read the Bible (even though this was advised by the prophet Muhammad himself). However the Qur'an for example does not give the actual Psalms as penned by the prophet David and others in the Jewish scriptures - so realistically the Qur'an can hardly be claimed to replace them.
Muslims and Christians at least should read the Bible.
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