The Ruling on a Muslim Reading from the Torah and the Gospel
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Our sister is asking another question and says: I have a Christian neighbor, and one day curiosity and a desire to know what is in the Gospel led me to borrow the book to see what errors it contains. I read the book and returned it to its owner without my family knowing. However, since reading the Gospel until now, I have not tasted the meaning of peace, and I ask myself: Did I read a phrase that took me out of my Islam? And if I did read it, did I become a follower of the religion of Christ so simply? And so on? Many questions have been troubling me since reading the Gospel. I hope you will be kind enough to guide me, if you please?
Answer: There is no blame on you for that, and praise be to Allah, your Islam is as it was and was not affected by this reading. However, it is prescribed for the believer to be content with the Book of Allah instead of the Torah and the Gospel. These two books were once great books revealed from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) , but the Jews and Christians distorted them, changed them, and altered them. Therefore, they are now not free from distortion and alteration, and they contain distortion and alteration that only Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) can count. The believer should not read them or occupy himself with them, except for one who has knowledge and insight into the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and who has knowledge of what the Jews and Christians changed and distorted. Such a person may look into the Torah and the Gospel to refute them and clarify their falsehoods and misguidance. This is permitted for him according to the scholars of knowledge, due to the need and necessity to refute them and clarify their falsehoods. As for the general Muslims and the general students of knowledge, they have no need for that, so they should not occupy themselves with these two books, nor refer to them, nor read them. And you, praise be to Allah, as long as you were not affected by it, and you only read it and then returned it to its owner, then nothing is required of you. It would only harm you if you did something that the Gospel commands, or if the Gospel calls to something that contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for mere looking into it, it does not harm you. But we advise you to leave that in the future.
Answer: There is no blame on you for that, and praise be to Allah, your Islam is as it was and was not affected by this reading. However, it is prescribed for the believer to be content with the Book of Allah instead of the Torah and the Gospel. These two books were once great books revealed from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) , but the Jews and Christians distorted them, changed them, and altered them. Therefore, they are now not free from distortion and alteration, and they contain distortion and alteration that only Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) can count. The believer should not read them or occupy himself with them, except for one who has knowledge and insight into the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and who has knowledge of what the Jews and Christians changed and distorted. Such a person may look into the Torah and the Gospel to refute them and clarify their falsehoods and misguidance. This is permitted for him according to the scholars of knowledge, due to the need and necessity to refute them and clarify their falsehoods. As for the general Muslims and the general students of knowledge, they have no need for that, so they should not occupy themselves with these two books, nor refer to them, nor read them. And you, praise be to Allah, as long as you were not affected by it, and you only read it and then returned it to its owner, then nothing is required of you. It would only harm you if you did something that the Gospel commands, or if the Gospel calls to something that contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for mere looking into it, it does not harm you. But we advise you to leave that in the future.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.
