The Quran

183

Preface

الَّذينَ قالوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَهِدَ إِلَينا أَلّا نُؤمِنَ لِرَسولٍ حَتّىٰ يَأتِيَنا بِقُربانٍ تَأكُلُهُ النّارُ ۗ قُل قَد جاءَكُم رُسُلٌ مِن قَبلي بِالبَيِّناتِ وَبِالَّذي قُلتُم فَلِمَ قَتَلتُموهُم إِن كُنتُم صادِقينَ

Yusuf Ali

They (also) said: “God took our promise not to believe in a messenger unless He showed us a sacrifice consumed by Fire¹ (From heaven).” Say: “There came to you messengers before me, with clear Signs and even with what ye ask for: why then did ye slay them, if ye speak the truth?”

Burnt sacrifices figured in the Mosaic Law, and in the religious ceremonies long before Moses, but it is not true that the Mosaic Law laid down a fire from heavens on a burnt sacrifice as a test of the credentials of Prophets. Even if it had been so, did the Jews obey the Prophets who showed this Sign? In Leviticus 9:23- 24. we are told a burnt offering prepared by Moses and Aaron: “and there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat.” Yet the people rebelled frequently against Moses, and rebellion against a Prophet is spiritually an attempt to kill him. Abel’s offering (sacrifice) was probably a burnt offering: it was accepted by God, and he was killed by Cain out of jealousy: Gen. 4:3-8. Mosaic sacrifices were no longer needed by the people of Jesus or the people of Muḥammad.