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The significance of the all-encompassing revelation to Jesus at the Last Judgement
- kesfetmekursu
- Jun 26
- 14 min read
As the third grace demonstrated to Jesus, Allah refers to the scriptures that were taught to
him.„... Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel ...” (Maide 5:110). For many commentators, this grace does not warrant much explanation. They confine themselves to repeating the verse in their own words: ‘Remember that I taught you to read and write, and wisdom—the wisdom of all things—and the Torah and the Gospel.’1
Nevertheless, the question arises as to why this grace is so crucial to Allah that He will make it the subject of discussion before all the messengers and their successors at the Last Judgement.
Adam’s ability to name all things served as a second proof – following the breathing of God’s Spirit into his earthly form – of his exalted status above the angels, as God’s vicegerent. God had previously taught Adam the names of all things, but had kept them hidden from the angels. The angels had to admit, ‘Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none, save what Thou Hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom ...’ (Bakara 2:32). The fact that Allah had endowed Adam with a greater store of knowledge than the angels meant that the angels were able to accept Adam’s privileged position as God’s vicegerent (Al-Baqarah 2:34). It is therefore striking when, at the Last Judgement, Allah speaks of what He taught Jesus (Maide 5:110bd): '… Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel ...'
Muslims believe that God revealed four books: the Torah was revealed to Moses, the Zabur to David, the Gospel to Jesus, and the Qur’an to Muhammad. It is, however, well known that other prophets too have left behind written accounts of divine revelation.2 Unfortunately, the situation is not quite as simple as ‘one prophet, one book’. This is made clear precisely by the verse in question: Jesus received not only the Gospel, but also the Torah, the Scripture and wisdom. The fact that Allah taught Jesus four books, not just the Gospel, is also confirmed in Al-i Imran 3:48: "And Allah will teach him the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel".
But what exactly is revealed to Jesus here? Unfortunately, the terms used in the Qur’anic account to refer to the books revealed to Jesus cannot be determined with complete accuracy.3
The four books taught to Jesus by Allah
‘Scripture’ or ‘Book’ (l-kitâbe) can, according to the usage of this word in the Qur’an, mean the following:
a) revelation sent to prophets in general, the Qur’an (Al-Baqarah 2:2; Nisa 4:105; Maide 5:48; Ibrahim 14:1; Duhan 44:2–3, etc.), the Torah (Isra 17:2; Ahkāf 46:12; Enam 6:154) or the Gospel (Meryem 19:30) in particular;
b) amongst exegetes, the interpretation of ‘Allah will teach him the Scripture …’ as meaning ‘Allah taught Jesus to write’ is the most widespread;4
c) the Book of Deeds, that is, ‘the Scripture in which the beliefs and actions of people in the world are recorded’ (e.g. Hâkka 69:19, 25; İnschikāk 84:7, 10);
d) and finally, it may also refer to the Levh-i Mahfuz (En‘âm 6:38; Kāf 50:4; Burûc 85:21–22), which are heavenly tablets on which divine knowledge—comprising decrees and laws concerning all beings and events—is inscribed.
Since the Torah and the Gospel are specifically mentioned alongside the term ‘Scripture’ in both Maide 5:110 and Al-i Imran 3:48, the word here is unlikely to refer to these two books.5 This leaves the Qur’an, ‘the Book of Deeds’ or the ‘Levh-i Mahfuz’ as possible 'book options'. In my view, the option ‘teaching writing and reading’ should be rejected for the following reasons: if the meaning were truly ‘writing and reading’, one would wonder why Allah did not take the trouble to teach this to all the prophets.6
Given the historical context surrounding Jesus, however, it is highly unlikely that he did not learn to read and write naturally whilst still a child in the synagogue in Nazareth (see Luke 2:46–47). In any case, by the time he began teaching publicly at the age of around 30, he was already able to read (see Luke 4:16–17), and write (John 8:6-8).
Wisdom: In the Qur’an, wisdom is used in the ‘sense of “prophethood, guidance and leadership that educates and matures people and reforms their souls”’. It can mean knowledge of the Qur’an (Ibn ‘Abbas), or a correct understanding of the Qur’an (Qatadah), and the grasping of the truth in words and behaviour (Mujahid). Others understand it to mean ‘reflection on religion, reason, contemplation of the divine command and obedience to it, and fear of Allah’7. ‘He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message but men of understanding’ (Bakara 2:269).
With regard to the combination of ‘Scripture and wisdom’, Abdulaziz Bayındır observes, on the basis of Al-An’am 6:89: ‘Contrary to popular belief, Allah has bestowed both the Book and wisdom upon all the prophets. In Al-An’am 83 and the following verses, He lists 18 prophets from Noah to Jesus … So, having listed all the prophets, He says: ‘The chosen ones are those to whom We have given the Book, wisdom and prophethood’ (Al-An’am 6:89).’8 However, the equating of the expressions hikmet (5:110) with hukme (Anam 6:89) is not fully correct. Although both belong to the same word family, they emphasise different aspects. In Sura 6:89, the emphasis is on the divinely bestowed authority to judge or make decisions, whilst in Sura 5:110, the focus is on divinely bestowed wisdom and insight.
The term ‘Torah’ refers, on the one hand, to the Five Books of Moses, including the Law of Sinai (also known as the Furkan (Al-Baqarah 2:53; Al-Anbiya’ 21:48)); on the other hand, in certain references it also appears to include other writings of the prophets as well as interpretations by Jewish scholars: ‘But why should they make you a judge when the Torah is with them which contains the Law of God? Even then they turn away. They are those who will never believe. We sent down the Torah which contains guidance and light, in accordance with which the prophets who were obedient (to God) gave instructions to the Jews, as did the rabbis and priests, for they were the custodians and witnesses of God´s writ. So, therefore, do not fear men, fear Me, and barter not My messages away for a paltry gain. Those who do not judge by God´s revelations are infidels indeed’ (Maide 5:43-44).9
‘Gospel’: ‘The word “Gospel” appears twelve times in the Qur’an, all of which are found in the Medinan surahs, with the exception of one surah from the late Meccan period, and in all these verses it refers to the divine revelation conveyed by Jesus Christ and to the book in the hands of the Christians who lived at the time of the Prophet (A’râf 7:157). The Gospel was revealed by Allah (al-'Imrān 3:3, 65) and given to Jesus (al-Mā'idah 5:46; al-Hadīd 57:27).’10 Nevertheless, it remains unclear to many Muslims exactly which parts of the Christian New Testament are encompassed by this term. Since, according to the Qur’an, it is supposed to be a single book, many Muslim exegetes take issue with the fact that the New Testament contains four different accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. One well-founded hypothesis suggests that the term ‘Gospel’ in the Qur’an may refer to Tatian’s Diatessaron (compiled c. 150–160 CE).11 Tatian combined the four canonical Gospels into a single harmonious narrative. In this work, only 56 verses from the canonical Gospels have no counterpart, primarily Jesus’ genealogies in Matthew and Luke and John 7:53–8:11. ‘The final work is about 72 per cent as long as the four Gospels combined. In terms of wording, he followed the Gospels closely, but arranged the verses in a new, different order.’12 The term 'Gospel' thus refers to at least the four canonical writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as compiled in Tatian's 'Diatessaron'. An alternative understanding of the four books listed emerges when we take into account the Jewish interpretation of these terms. Jews divide their Holy Book, the ‘Tanakh’, into the Torah, Nevi’im (‘Prophets’) and Ketuvim (‘Writings’). The Torah comprises the Books of Moses, including the Law. Nevi’im encompasses the Prophets, which are subdivided into two groups. ‘The Early Prophets (Hebrew: נביאים ראשונים Nevi’im Rishonim) consist of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings; whilst the Later Prophets (Hebrew: נביאים אחרונים Nevi’im Akharonim) comprise the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the
Twelve Minor Prophets.‘13 The term Kevutim comprises 11 books divided into three groups: the Poetic Books (Psalms (i.e. the Zebur), Proverbs and Job), the five Festive Scrolls (Megillot: Ruth, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations of Jeremiah, and Esther) and, finally, the three remaining books (Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah and the Books of Chronicles). It is therefore also possible that the four terms found here simply refer to the entire Old Testament (i.e. the Tanakh, consisting of the Torah, Nevi’im (perhaps ‘Scripture’) and Ketuvim (perhaps ‘Wisdom’)) as well as the Gospel (including Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The terms in the Qur’an do not correspond exactly to those used by the Jews to subdivide the Tanakh. Nevertheless, the similarity is striking. If this view is correct, the books listed in Maide 5:110 comprise the entire Jewish Holy Scripture (Torah, Nevi’im and Wisdom) as well as the Christian Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).
However one interprets the books revealed to Jesus, it is clear from this list that the Gospel does not automatically contain all the necessary information from earlier writings. Rather, God chose explicitly to teach Jesus the other writings revealed alongside the Gospel.14 Even though we cannot determine with complete certainty exactly what Allah taught Jesus regarding the Scripture, the Wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel, Maide 5:110 makes it clear that this teaching must encompass the entirety of the revealed content which God has conveyed to all His messengers over the millennia. In any case, the list encompasses all the revelations that had been revealed to the prophets before Jesus, plus the Gospel revealed specifically to Jesus, as well as the contents of the Qur’an and God’s knowledge of the universe and every single human being, which are encompassed by the term ‘Scripture and Wisdom’.
This therefore raises the question to which other messenger (angel or prophet; see Maide 5:109) gathered on this occasion was taught by God a similarly comprehensive revelation.15 No prophet before Jesus would have been familiar with the Gospel, at the very least.
With regard to the only prophet mentioned in the Qur’an after Jesus, Muhammad, the Qur’an does state that God also revealed to him information from other scriptures so that he might mention it in the Qur’an: ‘We rehearse to thee some [a portion] of the story of Moses and Pharaoh in Truth, for people who believe.’ (Al-Qasas 28:3). With regard to Jesus and the Gospel: ‘This is part of the tidings of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Messenger!) by inspiration: Thou wast not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary: Nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the point)’ (Al-i Imran 3:44). And at the end of the account of Jesus’ conception, birth and life: ‘This is what we rehearse unto thee of the Signs and the Message of Wisdom.’ (Al-i Imran 3:58). Although Muhammad was taught by God about earlier prophets, this does not appear to have been as comprehensive as in the case of Jesus: ‘Of some messengers We have already told thee the story; of others We have not ...’ (An-Nisa 4:164). It is merely 'a portion of the story of Moses', 'a part of the tidings of the things unseen' revealed by Allah to Muhammad, not the entire Tanakh. Allah recites only a few verses from the life of Mary and Jesus to Muhammad, not the entire content of the Gospels.
Here, Allah makes it clear to all the messengers and their followers that Jesus was entrusted by God with the most comprehensive revelation of all, which presumably also enables him to intercede on behalf of the believers, as it may well include the Levh-i Mahfuz. It becomes clear that none of the other assembled messengers was taught a revelation that came anywhere near being as comprehensive.
The combination of the breathing of the Spirit and all-encompassing revelation
It is the combination of the reference to being endowed with God’s own Spirit and God’s teachings at the beginning of a new creation (Maide 5:110) that arouses our interest. When creating the first human, Adam, God breathed His own Spirit into Adam (Hicr 15:28–29) and taught him the names of all things (Bakara 2:32). It is God’s Spirit and His teachings that elevate Adam above all other messengers of God, who at that time consisted of the angels and Satan. On the basis of this endowment – being endowed with God’s own Spirit, plus a more comprehensive revelation from God than the other messengers received – God calls upon the angels and Satan to submit obediently to Adam’s authority: - Spirit: ‘Behold! thy Lord said to the angels: "I am about to create man, from sounding clay from mud moulded into shape; When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him (qa`uu lahuu saadschidiena)!’ (Al-Hijr 15:28-29). - Comprehensive revelation: And the angels’ proposal to be made God’s vice-regents themselves, rather than weak human beings who are prone to failure, is rejected by God on the grounds that Adam had a greater knowledge than the angels, thanks to God’s personal teaching of the names of all things: ‘Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not." And He taught Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and said: "Tell me the names of these if ye are right."SThey said: "Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none, save what Thou Hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in knowledge and wisdom." He said: "O Adam! Tell them their names." When he had told them, Allah said: "Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know what ye reveal and what ye conceal?" And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith’ (Bakara 2:30-34).
The significance of the all-encompassing revelation to Jesus at the Last Judgement
At the beginning of the second creation, God reminds all His messengers of the grace shown to Jesus, namely the breathing of God’s Spirit into Mary at the conception of Jesus; Jesus’ endowment with this very Spirit of God throughout his life on earth, both as an infant and as an adult; and Jesus’ all-encompassing divine instruction of all the revelations of God recorded in writing throughout human history, as well as any further secret knowledge. The parallels between the presentation of God’s representative in the first creation and Jesus’ presentation by God at the beginning of the second creation are so striking that it would be difficult not to conclude that they must also be similar in terms of the reverence shown to them by all God’s other messengers: Should not Jesus, by virtue of the grace shown to him by God, be entitled to the obedience and devotion of all the messengers present, just as Adam was in his time? But this also raises the question of the extent to which the refusal of such devotion, just as in the case of Iblis, would constitute an expression of ‘disbelief’ (Al-Baqarah 3:34), which would ultimately lead to eternal damnation (Al-Hijr 15:34–35). If we also consider these questions in the light of the role as judge that Allah has assured Jesus of at the Last Judgement (see Al-i Imran 3:55 and Nisa 4:159), a clear answer becomes all the more urgent.
We conclude that a correct understanding of the significance of the all-encompassing revelation to Jesus has decisive implications for the Last Judgement.
As these remarks show, the significance of the statement that Jesus’ standing before God in the second creation is the same as Adam’s standing before God immediately after his creation (Al-i Imran 3:59) is becoming increasingly clear.
Our assumptions in this regard are further confirmed in the forthcoming section of God’s speech at the beginning of the second creation. But we shall return to this in the next blog post.
1 E.g. Taberi, Taberi Tefsiri, Vol III, s. 448 in https://archive.org/details/taberi-tefsiri-1_202311/Taberi%20Tefsiri-3/page/448/mode/2up (visited, 21/07/2025).
2 See e.g. TaHa 20:133; Necm 53:36-37; Ala 87/18-19; A narrative attributed to Muhammad states that God revealed a total of 100 suhuf (pages, documents) to various prophets: 10 suhuf to Adam, 50 suhuf to Seth, 30 suhuf to Idris and 10 suhuf to Abraham (Wikipedia katılımcıları. Suhuf [Internet]. Vikipedi, Özgür Ansiklopedi; 2023 Oca 2, 15.56 UTC [cited 2023 May 16]. Alındığı yer: https://tr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suhuf&oldid=29023244).
3 See discussion in Mohsen Goudarzi Taghanaki, The Second Coming of the Book: Rethinking Qur’anic Scripturology and Prophetology, March 2018, ss.233-241, Permanent link: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:40049998 (visited:18/07/2024).
4 'According to the general consensus of exegetes, the meaning intended by the word ‘kitâb’—which we have translated as ‘writing’—is that Jesus (peace be upon him) was to be taught ‘how to write’.' (Koran Yolu Tefsiri, Cilt: 1, Sayfa: 577 in https://kuran.diyanet.gov.tr/tefsir/M%C3%A2ide-suresi/779/110-111-ayet-tefsiri (visted: 26/07/2026)).
5 Although some commentators disagree with this view: ‘The term “the book”, as used in the Arabic original, may be understood to mean “to write”, or to mean the Torah and the Gospel. If it is the latter, then the fact that they are mentioned immediately afterwards is perfectly acceptable usage in Arabic which provides the details of something already mentioned in general terms.’ (Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Quran, s. 516).
6 It is taught that Muhammad was unable to read or write throughout his life: ‘Because he could not read and write himself, he was constantly served by a group of 45 scribes who wrote down his sayings, instructions, and his activities. Muhammad himself insisted on documenting his important decisions.’ (Wikipedia contributors. Historicity of Muhammad [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2025 Jul 8, 16:40 UTC [cited 2025 Jul 23]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Historicity_of_Muhammad&oldid=1299475381).
7 Kur'an Yolu Tefsiri Cilt: 1 in respect to Bakara 2:269, Sayfa: 423-425 in https://kuran.diyanet.gov.tr/tefsir/Bakara-suresi/276/269-ayet-tefsiri (visited: 16/05/2023).
8 KİTAP VE HİKMET, 23/11/2011 in https://www.suleymaniyevakfi.org/kutsanan-gelenek-ve-kuran/kitap-ve-hikmet.html (visited: 16/05/2023). Linguistically, however, the words used in Anam 6:89 (حكم (ḥukm)) and Maide 5:110 (حكمة (ḥikmah)) are not identical: Although both belong to the same word family, they emphasise different aspects. In Sura 6:89, the emphasis is on the divinely bestowed authority to judge or make decisions, whilst in Sura 5:110, the focus is on divinely bestowed wisdom and insight.
9 'In the Quran, the word 'Tawrat' occurs eighteen times. When referring to traditions from the Tawrat, Muslims have not only identified it with the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses), but also with the other books of the Hebrew Bible as well as with Talmudic and Midrashim writings.' (Wikipedia contributors. Torah in Islam [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2023 Apr 20, 09:49 UTC [cited 2023 May 15]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Torah_in_Islam&oldid=1150820887).
10 ÖMER FARUK HARMAN, "İNCİL", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/incil (16.05.2023).
11 The Diatessaron is thought to have been available to Muhammad, and may have led to the assumption in the Quran that the Christian Gospel is one text. (New World Encyclopedia contributors. Diatessaron [Internet]. New World Encyclopedia; 2022 Jul 29, 03:17 UTC [cited 2023 May 16]. Available from: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Diatessaron&oldid=1074469).
12 New World Encyclopedia contributors. Diatessaron [Internet]. New World Encyclopedia; 2022 Jul 29, 03:17 UTC [cited 2023 May 16]. Available from: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Diatessaron&oldid=1074469.
13 Wikipedia contributors. Nevi'im [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2024 Jul 1, 01:04 UTC [cited 2024 Jul 8]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nevi%27im&oldid=1231925782.
14 Sayyid Qutb observes: ‘The Torah is the book of Jesus in the same way as the Gospel, for it represents the basis of the religion he preached. The Gospel is a complement renovating the spirit of the Torah and reviving the essence of faith which had been smothered by the Israelites. Many of those who speak about Christianity make the mistake of neglecting the Torah when it is the basis of the religion preached by Jesus and contains the law which should be implemented in a Christian society. The Gospel contains only a few amendments to the Torah. Otherwise, it is a message reviving what has already been established by the Torah. It has a refining effect on human conscience enabling man to be in direct contact with God through the revealed text. It is for this revival and refinement that Jesus strove, and because of them his enemies schemed against him ...’ (In the Shade of the Quran, s. 516).
15 On the basis of the word ‘Scripture’ alone, some commentators have concluded that Allah taught Jesus the ‘divine books’ in general (see Kur'an Yolu Tefsiri, Cilt: 1, Sayfa: 577).
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