ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islam In The Bible The Bible as Islamic Scripture At this point the basic issues of Islam have been examined in the light of the Bible. It is appropriate to change points of view. Rather than beginning with the beliefs and practices of Islam as such, and looking for them in the Bible, it is now time to take the Bible as it stands, and see how it appears from an Islamic viewpoint.

We turn to the exami­nation of a particular Biblical text as a text of Islam. We have already noted that James the brother of Christ is the final Imami figure to appear in the Bible. It is therefore appropriate to look at the epistle attributed to him as we seek a bridge from the faith of the Bible to historical Islam. The Epistle of James The epistle of James is a remarkable one.

It contains not only a directly developed discourse on the subjects of its choice, but hints and references to all of the major doctrinal issues and to many matters of practice. Some of these are reminiscent of Islamic values, practices, and beliefs, and they will emerge here as special issues as we go along. The epistle can be seen as a commentary on the prayer of Abraham as it is known to us in a later text, the first chapter of the holy Qur'an.

This first part will examine the epistle from this point of view, showing how the author penetrates the meaning of the prayer with not only theo­logical astuteness, but with an eye continually on the practical side of the life of faith. The epistle of James deals with subjects in order which are reminiscent of the phrases of the first chapter of the Qur'an in the same order of occurrence. The first chapter of the Qur'an is as follows. It should be remembered that the Qur'an cannot be translated.

This is merely an English explanation of the text as rendered by S.V. Mir Ahmad Ali, The Holy Qur'an, Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, New York, 1988, page 4. In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, all praise is only God's, the Lord of the worlds, the Be­neficent, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgement, Thee alone worship we and of Thee only we seek help.

Guide us O Lord on the Right path, the path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Thy bounties, not the path of those inflicted with Thy wrath, nor of those gone astray. 1: 2 In the Name of God The Qur'anic phrase identifies the Deity as Allah, God to whom all creation is submitted. The first thing James does is to establish his identity.