Tanakh and the Old Testament

As for scripture, Mūsā (Moses) عليه السلام was given the Tawrāh (Torah). He led the Israelites, and many prophets and messengers came to the Israelites after him, such as Dāwūd (David) عليه السلام, who was given the Zabūr (Psalms). It is likely that other Israelite prophets and messengers were sent with books and scriptures other than the Tawrāh and Zabūr. The Jews believe in the Tanakh, also known as the Jewish Bible or Hebrew Bible, which contains more than the Tawrāh and the Zabūr. Christians often refer to the Tanakh as the Old Testament, but Jews often object to the Tanakh being labeled as the Old Testament. The Old Testament of Protestant Christians, as well as most Unitarian Christians, is essentially the same in terms of content with the Tanakh, but the books therein may be ordered differently. Furthermore, the Old Testament of Protestants spreads the twenty-four books of the Tanakh into thirty-nine books. The Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox may include additional books in the Old Testament.

The Tanakh has three sections and twenty-four books. The first five books include:

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

These first five books are the Tawrāh, also known as Pentateuch [1]. The Tawrāh is the first section of the Tanakh. Sometimes all of Jewish teaching and law are referred to as the Tawrāh [2]. The next section of the Tanakh is Nevi’im, which refers to the Israelite prophets. Nevi’im is divided into two parts: former prophets and latter prophets. The first part of Nevi’im, former prophets, contains the following books:

6. Book of Joshua (Yūshaʿ)
7. Book of Judges
8. Book of Samuel (Samūʾīl)
9. Book of Kings

The Book of Samuel is divided into two parts: Samuel 1 and Samuel 2. The Book of Kings is divided into two parts: Kings 1 and Kings 2. The second part of Nevi’im, latter prophets, contains the following books:

10. Book of Isaiah
11. Book of Jeremiah
12. Book of Ezekiel (Dhul-Kifl)
13. Book of the Twelve

The Book of the Twelve mentions twelve prophets, such as Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (Yūnus), Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah (Zakarīyyā), and Malachi [3]. The third section of the Tanakh is called Ketuvim. The Ketuvim consists of the following books:

14. Book of Psalms (Zabūr)
15. Book of Proverbs
16. Book of Job (Ayyūb)
17. Song of Songs
18. Book of Ruth
19. Book of Lamentations
20. Book of Ecclesiastes
21. Book of Esther
22. Book of Daniel
23. Book of Ezra and Nehemiah
24. Book of Chronicles

Chronicles is sometimes divided into Chronicles 1 and Chronicles 2. As for Catholics, they add seven more books into the Old Testament, totaling up to forty-six books. These include: the Book of Tobit, Book of Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon (Sulaymān), Book of Sirach, and the Book of Baruch. The Eastern Orthodox may have up to fifty-four books in their Old Testament, and other sects of Christianity may include even more books.

Alongside the Written Torah and the Tanakh is the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah is essentially commentary, interpretation, and explanation of Jewish scripture. Due to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Oral Torah was written down. The Oral Torah is primarily composed of the Mishnah and the Gemara. The former is a concise collection of legal rulings, discussions, and debates, while the latter is an analysis of the Mishnah. There are two versions of the Oral Torah: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud.

The New Testament

While Christians believe in the Tanakh, which they call the Old Testament, they also affirm the New Testament, which is rejected by the Jews. Different sects of Christianity disagree on the number of books in the Old Testament, but virtually all Christians today, with rare exceptions, accept that the New Testament has twenty-seven books. The Old Testament plus the New Testament is the Christian Bible, commonly known as just the Bible. The total number of books in the Christian Bible is sixty-six according to the Protestants, seventy-three according to the Catholics, and up to eighty-one for the Eastern Orthodox. Other Christian denominations may have a different number of books in their Bibles.

The first four books of the New Testament include:

1. Gospel of Matthew
2. Gospel of Mark
3. Gospel of Luke
4. Gospel of John

These gospels teach the life and mission of ʿĪsā (Jesus) عليه السلام. The first three gospels are known as the Synoptic Gospels [4]. The next book is:

5. Acts

The Book of Acts mentions the actions of the disciples of ʿĪsā عليه السلام. After the Book of Acts are many letters from a man named Paul. Paul used to be Saul, not to be confused with King Saul (Ṭālūt) رضي الله عنه. Paul was a Jew who persecuted Christians. Although he never knew or met ʿĪsā عليه السلام, Paul accepted Christianity when he was traveling and supposedly saw an apparition of ʿĪsā عليه السلام. Paul eventually went on to spread his form of Christianity [5]. Paul wrote the following letters to churches, which are included in the New Testament:

6. Romans
7. 1 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians
9. Galatians
10. Ephesians
11. Philippians
12. Colossians
13. 1 Thessalonians
14. 2 Thessalonians

Paul also wrote the following letters to individuals:

15. 1 Timothy
16. 2 Timothy
17. Titus
18. Philemon
19. Hebrews

The Epistle to the Hebrews is thought of as one of Paul’s letters, but its authorship is debates, as is the authorship of many books of the Jewish Tanakh, Old Testament, and New Testament. After Paul’s letters, the New Testament contains general letters, such as:

20. James
21. 1 Peter
22. 2 Peter
23. 1 John
24. 2 John
25. 3 John
26. Jude

The last book of the New Testament is:

27. Revelation

The Book of Revelation mentions many prophecies of the future, particularly about the end times.

[1] Muslims do not consider the first five books of the Tanakh to be the original Tawrāh that was given to Mūsā عليه السلام. It is probable that the Jewish Bible does contain some of the original Tawrāh, but one cannot be sure what it is. The same applies to the Book of Psalms; Muslims do not believe that the current-day Book of Psalms is a perfect transmission of the original Zabūr given to Dāwūd عليه السلام.
[2] Kolatch, Alfred (1988). This is the Torah.
[3] Not all of these prophets are explicitly mentioned in the Qurʾān or Aḥādīth. Therefore, Muslims neither confirm nor deny that these figures are true prophets.
[4] These four gospels are not the same as the Injīl (Gospel) that was given to ʿĪsā عليه السلام. However, it is probable that the New Testament does contain some of the original Injīl, but one cannot be sure what it is.
[5] The New Testament shows that Paul's teachings often contradicted the teachings of the disciples. Muslims are generally skeptical about Paul and believe that he played a part in corrupting the original teachings of ʿĪsā عليه السلام.