ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why the Bible was important to some Muslim authors, how Muslim authors used the Bible in their writings and how Muslim views of the Bible changed over time. The Bible was never considered equal to the Qur'an as a source of God's revelation among Muslims because they understood the Qur'an as God's speech, which was quite unlike Jewish and Christian understandings of scriptural inspiration. By the eighth century, biblical texts entered Muslim consciousness in a variety of ways, including conversion, awareness of the late antique Jewish and Christian cultural background, and direct contact with rabbis, monks and clergy. One constant in Muslim views about the Bible was the claim that Christians and Jews tampered with their scriptures. Gordon Nickel has listed six accusations that the Qur'an ascribes to 'Scripture People' which later Muslims used in their arguments, including that they confounded, concealed, substituted, tampered, twisted and/or forgot their scriptures.
