Short answer
No. No Arabic Bible is known to have been in circulation before the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). The two Christians most often named as his teachers could not have taught him the Qur'an. Waraqa, the old cousin of his wife Khadija, died a few days after the first revelation. The monk Bahira is said to have met him once, as a boy. Above all, a copyist copies mistakes, and the Qur'an does not. It never calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh, only the king. It clears Aaron, Lot, David and Solomon of the sins the Bible gives them. It tells of things the Bible does not have, such as Noah's son who drowned. Each of these differences runs the same way: toward the honour of the prophets and the facts of history. Islam's answer is that the Qur'an is revelation from God (﷾), not a copy.
Full explanation
No Arabic Bible to copy
In the Arabia of the Prophet (ﷺ), the Torah (the books of Moses) existed in Hebrew. The New Testament Gospels existed in Greek and Syriac. The standard study of the Bible in Arabic finds no evidence of a written Arabic translation before Islam. Waraqa ibn Nawfal was a Christian cousin of Khadija, the wife of the Prophet (ﷺ). He wrote out parts of the Christian scriptures of his day, which the hadith calls the Injil. One report in Sahih al-Bukhari says he wrote in Hebrew; others say in Arabic. Either way, it was his own writing, not a book in circulation. Sahih al-Bukhari records the meeting between the two after the first revelation, and says Waraqa died a few days later. In that account Waraqa does not teach him. He hears what happened and says this was the angel God (﷾) had sent to Moses. The Qur'an kept being revealed for more than twenty years after Waraqa died. The biographies report one meeting with the monk Bahira, on a caravan journey, when the Prophet (ﷺ) was a boy. The Prophet (ﷺ) could not read or write. The Qur'an said so in public to the people who had known him from childhood.
Finds no evidence of a written Arabic translation of the Bible before Islam; the earliest Arabic versions that survive were made by Christians and Jews living under Muslim rule.
Aisha describes the first revelation. In the cave of Hira the angel told the Prophet (ﷺ) to read, and three times he answered that he could not read, before the first verses of Surat al-Alaq were given to him. Khadija took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, an old, blind man who had become a Christian and wrote out parts of the Gospel in Hebrew letters. Waraqa said this was the angel God had sent to Moses, and a few days later he died.
Aisha's account of the first revelation, through another chain. It says Waraqa ibn Nawfal had become a Christian before Islam, and wrote Arabic and wrote of the Gospel in Arabic as much as God willed. The Prophet (ﷺ) told the angel he could not read, and Waraqa died soon after their meeting.
Tells how the boy Muhammad (ﷺ), travelling with his uncle Abu Talib in a caravan to Syria, was met at Busra by a Christian monk named Bahira, who took him for the coming prophet and told Abu Talib to take him home and guard him. It is a single meeting on a single journey.
“And thou wast not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: In that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted.”
The charge was answered in his lifetime
The people of Mecca who rejected him said a man was teaching the Prophet (ﷺ). The Qur'an answered in public. The man they pointed to spoke a foreign tongue, while the Qur'an is clear Arabic. The same Qur'an challenges anyone who says it was forged to bring one surah (chapter) like it. And what such a teacher would have passed on is not what the Qur'an says, as the blocks below show.
“We know indeed that they say, "It is a man that teaches him." The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear.”
“Or do they say, "He forged it"? say: "Bring then a Sura like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides Allah, if it be ye speak the truth!"”
A king in Joseph's day
Genesis uses Pharaoh as the name of Joseph's ruler all through his story, just as it does for the ruler of Moses' day. Genesis says "the king of Egypt" a few times, but "Pharaoh" more than eighty times. The Qur'an never once calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh. He is only "the king". The title Pharaoh is kept for the ruler of Moses' day. Egyptologists, who study ancient Egypt, find that the word pharaoh, "great house", first named the palace. It was used for the king himself only from the New Kingdom, a later period of Egyptian history. On the Bible's own figures, Joseph lived before the New Kingdom. A copyist working from Genesis would have carried its name for him across. The Qur'an does not.
“The king (of Egypt) said: "I do see (in a vision) seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. O ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."”
“Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.”
The standard grammar of Middle Egyptian. Explains that pr-aa, "Great House", first named the royal palace, and only in the New Kingdom (from the 18th dynasty) came to be used for the king himself.
“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”
“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.”
Aaron and Lot cleared
In Exodus, Aaron makes the golden calf himself. The Qur'an says a man called the Samiri led the people astray, and that Aaron warned them against it. Lot was a nephew of Abraham. In Genesis, Lot's daughters make him drunk and lie with him. The Qur'an tells Lot's story at length and has nothing of the kind. It says God (﷾) gave Lot judgment and knowledge, and counts him among the righteous. The New Testament itself calls him "just Lot" and "that righteous man". The Qur'an's Lot is the Lot of 2 Peter, not of Genesis 19.
“And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”
“(Allah) said: "We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray."”
“Aaron had already, before this said to them: "O my people! ye are being tested in this: for verily your Lord is (Allah) Most Gracious; so follow me and obey my command."”
“And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.”
“And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)”
“And to Lut, too, We gave Judgment and Knowledge, and We saved him from the town which practised abominations: truly they were a people given to Evil, a rebellious people. And We admitted him to Our Mercy: for he was one of the Righteous.”
David and Solomon cleared
The Bible does not speak with one voice about David. One verse in Kings says he kept God's (﷾) commandments and did only what was right. The next chapter says he did right in everything except the matter of Uriah, whose wife he took and whom he had killed. The Qur'an never makes that charge. It says David once asked forgiveness after he judged a dispute between two men. It names no adultery and no murder. Kings says Solomon turned after other gods in his old age. The Qur'an says in plain words that it was not Solomon who disbelieved.
“And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;”
“Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
“and David gathered that We had tried him: he asked forgiveness of his Lord, fell down, bowing (in prostration), and turned (to Allah in repentance).”
“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
“They followed what the evil ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers Were, not Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men Magic,”
What the Bible does not have
The Qur'an tells of a son of Noah who refused the ark and drowned. It says God (﷾) would save Pharaoh's body as a sign for those after him. The Bible has neither episode.
“So the Ark floated with them on the waves (towering) like mountains, and Noah called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): "O my son! embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!" The son replied: "I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water." Noah said: "This day nothing can save, from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy! "And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood.”
“"This day shall We save thee in the body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! but verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!"”
| Story | The Bible | The Qur'an |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph's ruler | Pharaoh | Only “the king”. Pharaoh is kept for the ruler of Moses' day |
| Aaron and the golden calf | Aaron makes the calf himself | A man called the Samiri leads the people astray, and Aaron warns them |
| Lot | His daughters make him drunk and lie with him | Nothing of the kind. God (﷾) gave him judgment and knowledge, and he is among the righteous |
| David | Took Uriah's wife and had Uriah killed | No such charge |
| Solomon | Turned after other gods in old age | It was not Solomon who disbelieved |
| Noah's son | Not in the Bible | Refused the ark and drowned |
Every difference runs one way: prophets cleared and history corrected. A copyist copies his source's mistakes, and the Qur'an does not.
The charge answered
Qur'an 16:103 — Surat al-Nahl (The Bee), verse 103
“We know indeed that they say, "It is a man that teaches him." The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear.”
Cited for
Critics then and now say someone taught him: a Christian or Jewish informant who knew the Bible's stories.
The response
The informant the Meccans named spoke a foreign tongue, and the Qur'an is pure, clear Arabic. A teacher whose Arabic was poor could not have produced a book whose Arabic his enemies could not match. An informant passes on what his own tradition says. Jewish and Christian tellers alike called Joseph's ruler Pharaoh and kept the story of Lot's daughters. The Qur'an does neither.
Where it lands — The teacher theory cannot explain a Qur'an that corrects its supposed source.
Qur'an 20:85 — Surat Ta-Ha (Taa-Haa), verse 85
“(Allah) said: "We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray."”
Cited for
'Samiri' means Samaritan, but Samaria was built centuries after Moses.
The response
The Qur'an names a man, not the people of a city. The Hebrew root of the name, sh-m-r (to guard), gave the Israelites personal names. In Moses' own day, Numbers lists a clan of Israel, the Shimronites, named after Shimron, a grandson of Jacob. The city of Samaria came centuries later, named after a man called Shemer (1 Kings 16:24).
Where it lands — A name from this root belonged to a clan of Israel in Moses' day, so it is not an anachronism.
Perspectives
Christian critic: he heard the stories from Christians
Many Christian critics say the Qur'an's stories of the prophets resemble the Bible's for a simple reason. Muhammad (ﷺ), they say, heard them from Christians and Jews in Arabia and retold them.
Critics say Muhammad (ﷺ) heard the Bible's stories from Christians and Jews and retold them in the Qur'an.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an answered that charge in his lifetime. The man his enemies named spoke a foreign tongue, while the Qur'an is clear Arabic. No Arabic translation of the Bible is known from before Islam. And the Christians most often named could not have taught him: Waraqa died days after the first revelation. Where the Qur'an tells the same stories, it corrects them the same way every time, clearing the prophets. A copyist does not do that.
Jewish: the Torah is older, so it is right
Jewish readers note that where the Qur'an tells a Torah story differently, the Torah is far older. On that view the older account is the true one, and the Qur'an's changes are errors.
The Torah says Aaron made the golden calf; the Qur'an blames another man, so it has the story wrong.
Rebuttal
Being older does not make a copy right, and the Qur'an's change runs one way: it clears a prophet. It records Aaron's warning to the people, that they were being tested and should follow him. Would God (﷾) choose as His high priest the man who had just made an idol? The Qur'an lays the calf on the Samiri, and keeps Aaron a prophet.
What the historical record shows
No Arabic Bible is known that the Prophet (ﷺ) could have read. The two Christians most often named as his teachers could not have taught him. Waraqa died days after the first revelation, and Bahira is said to have met him once, as a boy.
No written Arabic translation of the Bible is known from before Islam.
Waraqa ibn Nawfal died a few days after the first revelation.
The biographies report a single meeting with the monk Bahira, when Muhammad (ﷺ) was a boy.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an is revelation from God (﷾) to the Prophet (ﷺ). Where it tells the same stories as the Bible, it corrects them, and it does so the same way every time.
The Qur'an answered the charge of a human teacher in the Prophet's (ﷺ) lifetime. The man accused spoke a foreign tongue.
The Qur'an told his own townsmen that he had recited no Book before it and had written none with his right hand. They had known him all his life.
The Qur'an challenges anyone who says it was forged to produce a single surah like it.
The Qur'an never calls Joseph's ruler Pharaoh, only "the king", where Genesis mostly names him Pharaoh. On the Bible's own figures, Joseph lived before that title was used for the king.
The Qur'an lays the golden calf on the Samiri, not Aaron, and records Aaron's warning.
The Qur'an says Solomon did not disbelieve, where Kings says he turned to other gods.
The Qur'an includes episodes the Bible does not have. Two are Noah's son who refused the ark and drowned, and Pharaoh's body kept as a sign.
The differences run one way: prophets cleared and history corrected. A copyist of the Bible does not behave like this.