The Quran

136

Preface

قولوا آمَنّا بِاللَّهِ وَما أُنزِلَ إِلَينا وَما أُنزِلَ إِلىٰ إِبراهيمَ وَإِسماعيلَ وَإِسحاقَ وَيَعقوبَ وَالأَسباطِ وَما أوتِيَ موسىٰ وَعيسىٰ وَما أوتِيَ النَّبِيّونَ مِن رَبِّهِم لا نُفَرِّقُ بَينَ أَحَدٍ مِنهُم وَنَحنُ لَهُ مُسلِمونَ

Yusuf Ali

Say ye: “We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma?il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to God (in Islam)¹.”

Here we have the Creed of Islam: to believe in (1) the One Universal God, (2) the Message to us through Muḥammad and the Signs (ayat) as interpreted on the basis of personal responsibility, (3) the Message delivered by other Teachers in the past. These are mentioned in three groups: (1) Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes: of these Abraham had apparently a Book (87:19) and the others followed his tradition: (2) Moses and Jesus, who each left a scripture; these scriptures are still extant though not in their pristine form; and (3) other scriptures, Prophets, or Messengers of God, not specifically mentioned in the Qur-ān (11:78). We make no difference between any of these. Their Message (in essentials) was one, and that is the basis of Islam. (Cf. 3:84 and 4:163).