Lesson video

Hi there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Miss Marx, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be doing about holy books within Islam, which includes the Qur'an, but also others.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to explain the importance of the Qur'an and other holy books as sources of authority for Muslims. So let's start with our key terms then.

Un and corrupted, so we got uncorrupted and corrupted.

So this means it's either not or it is altered from its original divine form.

Gospel, holy book revealed to Isa, Jesus.

Qur'an, final holy book of Islam revealed to Muhammad.

Scrolls, holy book revealed to Ibrahim, Abraham.

Torah, holy book revealed to Musa, Moses.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So this lesson today will have three sections: the Qur'an is the ultimate authority, other holy books in Islam, and evaluating the importance of other holy books.

So let's start with our first section then, the Qur'an as the ultimate authority.

This is a fragment of a manuscript of the Qur'an, which is held at the University of Birmingham.

It's dated to around the time the Prophet Muhammad, around 600 CE, and it's very similar to copies of the Qur'an that are around today.

So even though it's about 1400 years old, it's very similar to what we have today in the Qur'an as well.

Why might that be important then that it hasn't changed over time? Pause the video, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we'll think about that more in today's lesson.

When the Prophet Muhammad was 40 years old, he was meditating, reflecting in the Cave of Hira on a nearby mountain of Makkah during the month of Ramadan.

And while he was in there, the angel Jibril appeared to him.

Jibril instructed him to iqra, which is often translated as read or recite.

The Prophet Muhammad told Jibril that he couldn't read, and he felt angel Jibril squeezed him tightly.

Jibril then instructed him again to iqra a second time, and Muhammad said he could not, and Jibril squeezed him again.

For third time, Jibril instructed him, and then Muhammad was able to recite the first words of the Qur'an, which are the words of surah 96.

The first line being, "Read in the name of your Lord." The Prophet Muhammad returned to his wife, Khadija, concerned about the experience.

She reassured him this was from God.

She's thought to be the first convert to Islam from this moment.

The revelations continued over a period of 23 years whilst Muhammad lived in Makkah and when the Muslim community had migrated to Madinah.

The revelations were recited and memorised at first by Prophet Muhammad and the companions, but later codified to a book by the instruction of Abu Bakr, who was the leader at the time.

The Qur'an is recited to this day by Muslims, and there are many who learn to recite the Qur'an by heart, known as Hafiz, just as Muhammad and the companions did.

So Muslim beliefs about the Qur'an include: that it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad; it was revealed over 23 years through the angel Jibril; it was revealed in Arabic; it's arranged in sections known as surahs; it's memorised, recited, and then codified; and it was first revealed on the Night of Power.

So let's look to the Qur'an to understand it as a source of authority, as the ultimate authority for Muslims then.

And in the Qur'an in surah 41, it says, "It is an invincible Book.

Falsehood cannot approach it, from before it or behind it.

It is a revelation from One Wise and Praiseworthy." So what does this tell a Muslim about the Qur'an then? Pause video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we've got this phrase, "It's an invincible Book." So invincible means it can't be broken, it can't be changed.

And we've got this idea of falsehood not being able to get near it and the fact that it's a revelation from God.

We've got it's without errors, it will not become corrupt in the future, and it's a direct revelation of Allah.

Let's do a quick check.

What term is often used for when the first revelations came to the Prophet Muhammad in the Cave of Hira? What's the phrase that's used? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It's the Night of Power.

So there are many reasons why the Qur'an has authority for Muslims and these include it was miraculously revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, so it's the words of Allah.

The Prophet Muhammad was illiterate.

Muslims believed the prophet Muhammad couldn't read or write and couldn't have known all these amazing things that the Prophet Muhammad had as a revelation of the Qur'an, so that's seen as a miracle.

It's the complete revelation for humankind, so it corrects the revelations before that have been corrupted over time and it completes and kind of finalises all the revelations that humankind need for everybody.

It's also remained unchanged since the revelation.

So that revelation that was miraculously revealed to the Prophet Muhammad that corrects and makes sure that all the things that have been changed over time in the past revelations are no longer, but also it itself hasn't changed since then.

And we saw that, didn't we, with the Birmingham manuscript at the start of the lesson? Which of these might be the most important for a Muslim when they're thinking about why the Qur'an has authority? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

I think any one of those could be argued to be the most important reason why the Qur'an has authority for a Muslim.

Well, many Muslims argue that the Qur'an is the most important authority for their religion, and Nadia is going to explain it to us.

Nadia says, "The Qur'an is the ultimate authority for my religion because it's the direct words of Allah.

Other sources are important like the Hadith, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, but not all Muslims agree on every Hadith's authenticity.

Other holy books are important that were reveal to our prophets before Muhammad, but they have been corrupted over time.

The Qur'an is the authority that corrects those mistakes, so it is the most important." What passages from the Qur'an could Nadia use to support these views then? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

I think Nadia could use, "It is an invincible Book, and falsehood shall not approach it." That quote that we had earlier from the Qur'an.

Thank you, Nadia.

Let's do a quick check.

Is this true or false? Most Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad was illiterate and could not read.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is true, isn't it? But why? Well, the Prophet Muhammad is referred to as the unlettered prophet in the Qur'an.

And many Muslims believe this means he couldn't read, and therefore the Qur'an was a miraculous revelation from Allah.

Well done.

So time for a practise task to see what we've learned then.

You are going to describe Muslim beliefs about the Qur'an, and the guidance is to give a point and develop it twice.

We've got for each part of your answer you should include a range of religious or specialist terms. And for at least one part of your answer, you should use a source of wisdom and authority.

It could be an exact or paraphrased quote or a general teaching from a named source.

You're going to accurately apply this to the point and the question.

So pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

Some great thinking there.

So I asked you to describe Muslim beliefs about the Qur'an, and your answer might be similar to this, remembering that we're going to use a source of wisdom or authority and accurately apply this to the point and the question.

It may say this, "One Muslim belief about the Qur'an is that it's the direct words of Allah and without error or mistake.

Muslims believe this because it says in the Qur'an, 'Falsehood cannot approach it, from before it or behind it.

It is a revelation from One Wise and Praiseworthy.

' This means it's uncorrupted and trustworthy.

Another Muslim belief about the Qur'an is that it's revealed to and not written by the Prophet Muhammad.

The first of these revelations of the Night of Power when the angel Jibril appeared to Muhammad in the Cave of Hira." Well done.

So onto our second section.

So onto our second section then, other holy books in Islam.

So one of the six articles of faith in Islam is a belief in holy books, and in Arabic this is known as kutub.

And along with the Qur'an, these are sacred texts within Islam.

So it's not just the Qur'an that is an important holy book within Islam.

So now let's think about the kutub, the holy books in Islam, and the prophet that they were revealed to because they were each time revealed to a prophet, a messenger.

So we've got the Scrolls which were revealed to Ibrahim, the Torah revealed to Musa, Psalms revealed to Dawud, the Gospel revealed to Isa, and the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad.

So together these are the holy books of Islam, and we know that the Qur'an is the ultimate authority, but the other ones are important holy books within Islam too.

So now let's understand a little bit more why these holy books are important then.

So the Torah, which is also known as Tawrat, was revealed to Musa, Moses, revealed for the children of Israel, guidance for how to live.

So you might have heard of the 10 Commandments for example, that's found in the Torah.

It's not exactly the same as the Torah found in Jewish scriptures today.

And it foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Psalms, known as Zabur.

They were revealed to Dawud, David.

And of the 25 prophets named in the Qur'an, he's the only one that's both a prophet and a king.

And the Psalms that were revealed to him are songs and poems praising Allah.

So a little bit different maybe to the style of writing or the genre we find in the other holy books.

The Scrolls, Sahifah.

these were revealed to Ibrahim and Musa, Moses.

No copy exists today of this.

So of the other ones, we do sort of have copies of them that we can see, but the Scrolls of Ibrahim, we don't have a copy, even in existence in any other religious tradition, but it's believed that they had a message of tawhid.

We know that was very important.

There's only one God to the story of Ibrahim, and the idea of submission to Allah, and we know that Ibrahim submitted to Allah's will.

Then we have the Gospel, Injill, and this is revealed to Isa, Jesus.

And this is confirmation of the Torah, and it also foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad.

And there's differing opinions in Islam like about the exact nature of what that Gospel is because it's not the same as the Christian Gospels are.

So in Christian scriptures, if I go to the Gospels, that is different to the Gospel that in Islam was revealed to Isa.

So why might these four, Torah, Psalms, Scrolls, and Gospel, be important for Muslims today then? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, perhaps these are important because they tell that story of Islam all the way from Ibrahim here, Dawud, and Moses, and Isa.

They tell the story of how the Prophet Muhammad is the seal and the final prophet, but there were prophets before.

There were those revelations that were given before.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

For each statement below, fill in the gap with the prophet the holy book, or kutub, was revealed to.

So the Scrolls were revealed to, the Torah was revealed to, the Psalms were revealed to, and the Gospel was revealed to.

Who were they revealed to? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well done.

The Scrolls were revealed to Abraham, or Ibrahim, the Torah was revealed to Musa, or Moses, the Psalms to David, or Dawud, and the Gospel to Isa, Jesus.

Well done.

So to understand the importance of the holy books, we can look to the ultimate authority in Islam, which is the Qur'an.

And how could this passage in the Qur'an support a belief in those holy books then? Let's see what it says in surah seven.

"Those who follow the messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel in their possession, those are the successful." So how does that link to belief in holy books then? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, Ilham tells us now, "The Torah and the Gospel are important to me because they're mentioned in the Qur'an that they foretold the Prophet Muhammad was going to come." So if they're mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Qur'an is the ultimate authority, then that is important to Ilham and other Muslims. This belief in them as holy books and the fact that they were revealed with a foretelling of the Prophet Muhammad coming later.

Thank you, Ilham.

And secondly in surah 87 it says, "But you prefer the present life.

Though the hereafter is better and more lasting.

This is in the form of scriptures.

The Scriptures or the Scrolls of Abraham and Moses." And Iqbal tells us that this is important for him because, "The importance of a belief in one God and submission to Allah were in the Scrolls of Ibrahim and this message is very important to me as a Muslim." Thank you, Iqbal.

And we have in surah 17, "Your Lord knows well everyone in the heavens and earth.

We have given some prophets advantage over others; and to David we gave the Psalms." And that's in surah 17.

And Sarah tells us, "The Qur'an reminds me that the Psalms were a holy book given to Dawud.

There're a different style to the other holy books, so they can help me understand Allah in another way." Thank you, Sarah.

Let's do another check.

The Qur'an states that the other holy books in Islam are not important.

Is that true or false? Pause video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? But why? Because there are several passages in the Qur'an which support a belief in the other holy books of Islam, which shows their importance for Muslims. If the Qur'an's the ultimate authority, says it's important to believe in these other holy books, well then, it will be important for Muslims, won't it? Well done.

Let's do another practise task to see what we've learned then.

Alex and Aisha are working on the question explain the importance to a Muslim of the other holy books in Islam, and you're going to expand on their explanations by filling in the missing parts.

Alex says, "The Torah and Gospel are important Muslims." And the source of wisdom or authority he's using is, "Those who follow the Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, from whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel in their possession, these are the successful." And Aisha says, "The Scrolls and Psalms were given to important prophets." She's developed this with, "Ibrahim was given the Scrolls and Dawud was given the Psalms." So for each of them there's two things missing in the table.

So have a read through and find what goes in those gaps, and pause the video and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some great thinking there.

So you could have said, when Alex said the Torah and Gospel are important to Muslims, you could have developed this with, "They are mentioned numerous times in the Qur'an, and the importance of this could be that they show Muhammad was from the same line of prophets as Musa and Isa." And when Aisha said the Scrolls and the Psalms were given to important prophets, the source of wisdom and authority, you could've used, "This is in the form of scriptures, the Scriptures, the Scrolls of Abraham and Moses, and to David we gave the Psalms, and that's both in the Qur'an.

And the importance could be that they contain the message of the oneness of Allah and more about Allah's nature." Well done.

So onto our third section then, evaluating the importance of other holy books.

So whilst there are many similarities between the other holy books of Islam and the same stories in Judaism and Christianity today, there's many similarities, there are some important differences.

So in the Qur'an it says, "Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a monotheist, a Muslim." Well, the Qur'an is clarifying that Islam doesn't start with the Prophet Muhammad.

It's been there since even as far back as Abraham.

Abraham was a Muslim.

Also the Qur'an clarifies that Abraham was asked by God to take Ishmael to the desert.

In the stories that we might read today in Jewish and Christian scriptures, Abraham is asked by his first wife, Sarah, to take Ishmael into the desert.

Sarah's the mother of Isaac, Ishmael's half brother.

And in those stories, Abraham is told by her to go and do this, but in the Qur'an it clarifies for Muslims that God asks Abraham to do this.

And we know the story of Islam continues from this because of the rebuilding of the Ka'bah and many things that Muslims do in relation to Abraham and Ishmael.

And then the Prophet Muhammad is born from Ishmael's line.

And then also in the Qur'an it says, "As for their saying, 'We have killed the Messiah, Jesus.

' In fact, they did not kill him." So within both Muslim traditions and Christian traditions, Jesus has a very special role.

And he's seen as a messiah within both the traditions, but in Islam he is not the son of God.

So it's quite an important teaching in Christianity that Jesus is the son of God.

But within Islam, the idea of tawhid and the oneness of God is that God would not have children, so Jesus is not the son of God.

He's a prophet, an important prophet, but he's not the son of God.

Secondly, within Islam there isn't a belief that Jesus died on the cross.

So here we've got, yes, they may have thought they've killed him, but they have not.

So the Qur'an is clarifying this, and it's quite an important part of the Christian gospels that you might read today, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is an important part of those stories that he did die on the cross and rose again.

But the Qur'an here is clarifying that that's not in fact what happened.

People may have thought that's what happened, but the Qur'an is correcting and clarifying this for us by telling us that they thought they killed him when in fact they hadn't.

And for both Muslims and Christians, he will return in the last days.

Many Muslims believe that scriptures such as the Torah and the Gospel are no longer found in the original forms in the Tanakh and Christian Bible, so they don't have that same authority as the Qur'an.

So here we've got those clarifications where the Qur'an is clarifying those changes from what was in the original form.

Sarah is a Muslim revert.

So that means she converted to Islam or she reverted to her natural state as a Muslim when she converted, but she was raised as a Christian.

So here she's gonna explain to us why these differences matter to her.

Sarah says, "I knew about Jesus, Moses, David, and Abraham from my Christian upbringing, but in Islam I can see how they're all connected through the revelations from Allah.

It makes sense to me that their messages can be known in their uncorrupted version through the Qur'an.

I had questions about Jesus and his death that the Qur'an answers well for me." Thank you, Sarah.

Time for a quick check.

Is this true or false? The Muslim understanding of other holy books of Islam is exactly the same as Christian and Jewish understandings of them.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

It's false, isn't it? But why what is false? Well, it's because whilst there are many similarities and much common ground between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish understandings of the other holy books of Islam, there are some important and significant differences.

Well done.

Now, Muslims can hold different opinions on the authority of the other holy books of Islam.

We've got a variety of views we can find within Islam.

And Ilham and Mustafa are going to explain a couple of these views to us now.

Mustafa says, "The Qur'an corrects all the corruptions and mistakes of the other holy books, so they're not as important for my faith.

All I need is the Qur'an." And Ilham says, "Well, the other holy books help me understand the whole story of Islam from Adam to Muhammad.

They're different genres too, which can show me more of Allah." Which of these views is more convincing to you and why? Pause the video and have think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, as we've seen here with Ilham and Mustafa, there can be different reasons given in support and against a statement such as this, the Qur'an is the only Holy Book Muslims need.

So let's have a think about some reasons why people might agree or not with this statement then.

So on the for side.

Well, the Qur'an is without error or corruption and has the greatest authorities, so it's the only book a Muslim needs.

The Qur'an is for all of humanity, so that's why it's the only one that a Muslim needs.

And also the Qur'an is the complete revelation, so it's got everything in there that is needed.

So that's another reason why it could be the only holy book a Muslim needs.

But then of course we've got the other side, and we could say in views against the statement, well, the other holy books are important because it tells Muslims about the prophets before Muhammad, and that's kind of whole story of Islam before Muhammad.

Also those holy books are mentioned in the Qur'an.

So if the Qur'an is the ultimate authority and it mentions those holy books, well then they must be important.

Finally, some of those holy books confirm that message that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

They foretold the prophet Muhammad was going to come, and they also contained that message of tawhid and submission to Allah.

Which side now do you think is the most convincing? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's explore this a bit more.

We've seen there can be different views within Islam on the authority of other holy books other than the Qur'an.

So let's together give one reason why the Qur'an is the only text a Muslim needs.

Hmm, I think because it's without error.

The other texts have errors in their current form.

The Qur'an is the only one without those errors.

So over to you then.

Give one reason why a Muslim might need the other holy text then.

Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well, I have here that they could inform Muslims about the story of Islam from earlier prophets.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned then.

Here is a full evaluation question on holy books in Islam.

And you are going to write a paragraph against the statement.

So it maybe your view or not, but you're going to show why someone might be against this statement.

And you're gonna refer to Muslim teachings and give reasons to support this view.

And you might like to use the sentence stems on the next slide.

So the statement is, "The Qur'an is the only holy book a Muslim needs," and you're doing a paragraph, remember, that's showing a different point of view against that statement, so that Muslims do need the other holy books.

Let's look at the sentence stems you could use.

The Qur'an is the only holy book a Muslim needs.

You could say some Muslims may disagree with this statement and say holy books other than the Qur'an are needed because.

A Muslim may want to read the Torah and Gospel because.

It says in the Qur'an that.

And therefore the Qur'an is not the only what? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done.

Some great thinking there.

So I asked you to write a paragraph against the statement, "The Qur'an is the only holy book a Muslim needs." And you might have included some Muslims may disagree with the statement and say holy books other than the Qur'an are needed because there are other holy books within Islam that were revealed by Allah to prophets.

These can show them more about the religion of Islam and the oneness of Allah.

A Muslim may want to read the Torah and the Gospel because they can help them understand more about the prophets Musa and Isa.

And they foretold that Muhammad would come and receive revelation.

And it says in the Qur'an that the hereafter is better and more rewarding than the present.

This was in the form of scriptures.

So therefore, the Qur'an is not the only holy book that a Muslim needs.

Well done.

So let's summarise what we've learned today then.

Holy Books.

The Qur'an is the ultimate source of authority for Muslims. The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over many years starting on the Night of Power.

The Qur'an is the complete revelation for all of humanity, and is the direct words of Allah with no error or corruptions.

Important prophets were given the Scrolls, Torah, Psalms, and Gospel as revelations from Allah.

The messages of these other holy books in Islam have been corrupted over time.

And the Qur'an, the ultimate authority, corrects the corruptions of the other sacred text in Islam and is without error or corruption.

So well done for your hard work today, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye.