Abstract
Scholars of comparative religion often observe that various religions have certain similarities. However, when they study these similarities with more care, they realize that apparently similar concepts are different in subtle and unexpected ways. Islam and Christianity share many apparently similar concepts such as, prophetology, revelation, sacred books, ‘ūlam┐’ and clergy, and mosques and churches. This paper aims at elaborating the Qur’┐nic concept of the Inj┘l and investigates whether the Injīl mentioned in the Qur’ān refers to the Christian canonical gospels or to a different scripture. The article starts with a brief survey of literature, advances to describe different uses of the kitāb in the Qur’ān, formulates a typology of the Injīl-related Qur’ānic verses, turns to highlight the characteristics of the Injīl mentioned in the Qur’ān, discusses the question of the distortion of the previous scriptures, and ends with a critical appraisal. It concludes that the Injīl in the Qur’ān mostly refers to the revelation entrusted to Prophet ‘Īsā not to the Christian canonical gospels. However, when the Qur’ān charges Christians with distorting their scripture, it may refer to the canonical gospels as well. Moreover, the paper relates this question to the debate of scriptural distortion and difference between Islam and Christianity in terms of prophetology and revelation and suggests that for this reason the Injīl should be treated differently from the Tawrāh mentioned in the Qur’ān