A Theological and Textual Challenge to Islamic Claims
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute
Introduction
Among the persistent demands of Muslim apologists in interfaith dialogues is the challenge to Christians to produce a verbatim statement from Jesus in the Bible: "I am God; worship Me." This demand for explicit wording is often used to undermine the doctrine of Christ’s divinity, despite the abundance of scriptural testimony to Jesus' divine nature through explicit and implicit statements, titles, and actions.
Curiously, this same criterion, when turned toward the foundations of Islamic claims regarding the Torah (Tawrat), exposes a significant textual and theological gap. Muslims universally affirm that Allah revealed the Torah directly to Moses, yet upon close inspection, the Qur’an does not contain a single verse where Allah directly and explicitly says to Moses, "I gave you the Torah." Instead, the relevant verses are indirect or constructed through conjunctions and narrative summary, not through direct divine address.
This article, therefore, poses a critical question to Muslim theologians and apologists: Where in the Qur’an does Allah, in His own words, say to Moses, "I gave you the Torah"? If such explicitness is the standard for Christian claims, let it be applied fairly and equally to the Islamic claim regarding the Torah and Moses.
1. Qur’anic Passages Commonly Cited
Surah 5:44
“Indeed, We revealed the Torah, in which was guidance and light...”
(Qur’an 5:44)
This verse is clear that Allah claims to have revealed the Torah, but it is entirely silent about the recipient. There is no direct reference to Moses in this verse, nor does Allah say, "O Moses, I have given you the Torah." It is a general statement about the Torah, not its transmission.
Surah 32:23
“And We certainly gave Moses the Scripture, so do not be in doubt over his meeting. And We made it [i.e., the Torah] guidance for the Children of Israel.”
(Qur’an 32:23)
Here, Allah says He gave “the Scripture” (al-kitab) to Moses. However, the Arabic does not specify “the Torah” in this clause; rather, it uses the generic word “scripture” and then, in a separate sentence, states that the Torah was made a guidance for the Children of Israel. The structure is conjunctive, not directly attributive. The Torah is not directly named as that which was given to Moses in the same breath.
Surah 7:144–145
“[Allah] said, ‘O Moses, I have chosen you over the people with My messages and My words to you...’ And We wrote for him on the tablets something of all things...”
(Qur’an 7:144–145)
Again, there is reference to “tablets” and “messages,” but the term "Torah" does not occur here, nor is there an explicit divine declaration: "I have given you the Torah."
Surah 6:154
“Then We gave Moses the Scripture, making complete [Our favor] upon the one who did good and as a detailed explanation of all things...”
(Qur’an 6:154)
As in 32:23, the text speaks of “the Scripture” (al-kitab), but not “the Torah” (al-Tawrat). The connection between "the Scripture" and "the Torah" is made by tradition, not by the explicit words of the Qur’an itself.
2. The Polemic of Explicitness: Applying the Muslim Standard
Muslim polemics demand that Christians provide a direct, first-person quotation from Jesus saying, “I am God,” for the claim of His divinity to be valid. This standard is rigid and rarely applied consistently to Islamic doctrines. If we apply the same standard, we must ask:
Where does Allah say, in His own words, "O Moses, I gave you the Torah"?
Or, at the very least:
Where does the Qur’an record a conversation where Allah says to Moses, "I am giving you the Torah"?
Despite repeated references to "scripture" (al-kitab), "tablets," and "guidance," the Qur’an never contains the verbatim phrase: "O Moses, I gave you the Torah." Instead, Muslim belief that Moses received the Torah is inferred through exegesis, secondary hadith sources, and traditional interpretations, rather than on the basis of explicit Qur’anic language.
3. Theological and Hermeneutical Implications
The absence of an explicit, direct statement from Allah to Moses regarding the Torah challenges the consistency of Muslim polemics. If Muslim doctrine rests upon inference, analogy, and interpretive tradition to assert that Moses received the Torah, then, by the same hermeneutical allowance, Christians are justified in affirming the divinity of Jesus through explicit and implicit biblical testimony, even where the exact phrase “I am God” is absent.
Furthermore, the persistent demand for verbatim statements from Christian scripture is revealed to be arbitrary, selective, and ultimately self-refuting when the foundational claims of Islam itself cannot meet this bar.
4. Conclusion: A Call for Consistency
Until and unless Muslim scholars can produce a verse from the Qur’an in which Allah, addressing Moses, says, "I gave you the Torah," the Islamic claim that Moses received the Torah directly from Allah must be recognized as an inference rather than an explicit, verbatim divine statement. Consistency demands that either both traditions be allowed the interpretive space to affirm their beliefs, or both be rejected on the basis of the absence of explicit wording.
Let those who demand, "Where did Jesus say, 'I am God'?" also be willing to answer,
"Where did Allah say to Moses, 'I gave you the Torah'?"
until then, the standard remains one of double measure.
References
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Qur’an 5:44, 32:23, 6:154, 7:144–145 (Sahih International and Yusuf Ali translations)
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Abdul Rahman Squires, “The Torah in the Qur’an,” Muslim Apologetics
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Gerald R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam (Cambridge: CUP, 1999)
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John Wansbrough, Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation (Oxford: OUP, 1977)
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba
Shimba Theological Institute
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