Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | RELATIONS WITH OTHER RELIGIONSBook, introduced the Chaldean alphabet in place of the old Hebrew alphabet,and wrote the books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah of the Old Testament.The book of Ezra (pp. 4: 8, 6: 19 and 7: 1-27) is written in the Chaldeanlanguage because when the people returned from exile, they couldunderstand Chaldean better than Hebrew.’It is widely known to historians, including Jews and Christians, that theTorah which Moses wrote and kept in or near the casket was lost before thetime of Solomon. When the casket was opened during his reign, there wasnothing in it other than the two tablets containing the ten commandments, 25as seen in the first book of Kings. It was Ezra who, after the end of slavery,wrote the Torah and other things in Chaldean letters, and the Chaldeanlanguage mixed with whatever was left of the old Hebrew, which the Jewshad largely forgotten. The people of earlier revelations maintain that Ezrawrote it as it originally was, having been inspired by God. But this is notaccepted by other communities. Many objections are raised which we find atthe appropriate place in specialized books, even those authored by them,such as Dhakhīrat al-Albāb for Catholics, written originally in French. Theauthor devotes Chapters 11 and 12 to objections to the view that the fivebooks were those of Moses. Concerning this, he says:`It is mentioned in the book of Ezra (4: 14.21) that all holy books were burntwith fire at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when he said: “The Law is burnt,and no one knoweth the works that thou hast done, 26 or what thou art aboutto do.” 27 It is added that with inspiration by the Holy Spirit, Ezra re-wrote thefive books burnt with fire, and he was assisted by five contemporary scribes.Therefore, we see St Thertholianus, St Irinaous, St Ironemus, St John theGolden, St Basilius and others call Ezra `the one who revived Jewish holybooks’ 28Shaikh Rashīd Riđā’ further:This is sufficient for our purposes. We wish to make it clear that all the peopleof earlier revelations are indebted to Ezra with regard to the foundation oftheir faith and their holy books. We wish also to show that this foundation isfeeble, relying on weak support. This has been clearly shown by European25 As regards this event, the Qur'ān says: "The portent of his kingship is that a casket shall be brought to you,wherein you shall have peace of reassurance from your Lord, and a legacy left behind by the House of Moses andthe House of Aaron. It will be borne by angels." (2: 248)26 G.H. Box, The Apocalypse of Ezra, London, 1917, p. 110.27 We say that what the Qur'ān mentions is the truth, and the Qur'ān states that a `legacy’was leftbehind.28 M.R. Riđā', Tafsīr al-Manār, Dār al-Ma`rifah, Beirut, Vol. 10, 1930, pp. 322-324.102