What is in the Old Testament? The Torah (called Taurat in the Qur’an) is the first five books of the Bible. Genesis, called Taqueen in Arabic, means “Beginnings” in both languages. It tells us how people were created and where things come from. The Torah is of interest to people from Muslim background because it include many of the patriarchs they have heard of (and call “prophets”). For example, we meet Adam, Noah (Nuh in the Qur’an), Abraham (Ibrahim in the Qur’an), and Moses (Musa in the Qur’an) in the book of Genesis.
The Old Testament also includes books of history, poetry called “psalms” (the Zabur in the Qur’an), other poetry and wisdom, and the prophets. The books of the prophets are divided into first the “major,” and then the “minor” prophets. This distinction is based on the length of their writings, not their importance. It is wonderful that the Bible preserves the words of so many previous prophets.
In learning about the Bible, we learn about the books written before Jesus, called the Old Testament, as well as the books written after, called the New Testament (see “What Does Injeel Mean?”). Dr. C tells us that the Old Testament contains not only the Torah (known to Muslims as the Taurat), which are the first five books of the Bible, and the Psalms, (known to Muslims as the Zabur), but other books as well. These include books of history, and the words revealed to multiple prophets. The books of prophecy are divided into Major Prophets and Minor Prophets, not because of the importance of the prophets, but in reference to the size of their books.
