Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Torah that Allah تعالى revealed to Moses (peace be upon him) was written, as indicated by the Islamic texts. The changes and distortions that affected it began at an early period after the death of Moses (peace be upon him), and continued through several historical stages. This distortion did not necessarily affect everything that it contained. Rather, some elements of truth remained, but what remained became mixed with additions, omissions, and alterations, making it impossible to identify the original revelation with certainty.
The Qur’an indicates that Allah تعالى wrote for Moses (peace be upon him) on the tablets. Allah تعالى says:
“He said: ‘O Moses, I have chosen you above the people by My messages and by My speaking to you. So hold fast to what I have given you and be among the grateful.’ And We wrote for him on the tablets everything as an admonition and a detailed explanation of all things: ‘So hold fast to them firmly and command your people to take the best of them.’” [Al-A‘raf 7:144–145]
Ibn Kathir رحمه الله mentioned that these tablets contained admonitions and rulings. Some scholars said that they contained the Torah, while others said that the tablets were given to Moses before the Torah. And Allah knows best.
It is also authentically reported from Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه that the Prophet ﷺ said, in the debate between Adam and Moses (peace be upon them):
“Allah chose you by His speaking to you, and He wrote for you with His Hand.”
Narrated by al-Bukhari (6614) and Muslim (2652). A narration in Muslim states: “He wrote the Torah for you with His Hand.” A narration in Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah states: “He inscribed the Torah for you with His Hand.”
This indicates that the Torah revealed by Allah to Moses was not merely a set of oral teachings; rather, it had a written origin.
The distortion did not occur all at once. Rather, it began at an early period after the death of Moses (peace be upon him), and continued over many centuries.
The source mentioned two main factors that contributed to the changes affecting the Torah:
After the death of Moses (peace be upon him) and the entry of the Children of Israel into Palestine, they experienced invasions and wars throughout history. These resulted in the killing of many of them, the destruction of their homes, the burning of their books, and the destruction of their places of worship.
This occurred repeatedly at different historical stages, leading to the interruption of the continuous transmission of the Torah in a manner that would have protected its text from error and alteration. Consequently, the Children of Israel had to rewrite it after some copies had been lost.
Ibn Hazm mentioned that one of the major stages of its re-compilation was attributed to a person called “Ezra” after the Babylonian exile, while noting the instability in the transmission of the text and the lack of established mass transmission for all of its wording.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah also stated that the Torah possessed by the People of the Book was not transmitted with uninterrupted mass transmission in all of its wording from Moses (peace be upon him), and that the interruption of its transmission after the destruction of Jerusalem and the emergence of copies that were rewritten does not preclude errors having entered some of its wording.
The changes were not limited to the loss of books and their subsequent rewriting. Rather, the Qur’an indicates that some people among the People of the Book deliberately altered the words of Allah and wrote things of their own, then attributed them to Allah تعالى.
Allah تعالى says:
“So woe to those who write the Scripture with their own hands, then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they earn.” [Al-Baqarah 2:79]
And Allah تعالى says:
“Among those who are Jews are those who distort words from their proper places.” [An-Nisa’ 4:46]
And He تعالى says:
“Among those who are Jews are those who eagerly listen to falsehood, eagerly listen to others who have not come to you; they distort words from their proper places.” [Al-Ma’idah 5:41]
Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin al-Shanqiti رحمه الله explained that Allah تعالى informed us that the religious scholars had been entrusted with the Book of Allah—that is, it had been entrusted to them and they were required to preserve it—then He explained elsewhere that they did not fulfill this responsibility as required; rather, distortion and alteration occurred at their hands.
The fact that distortion occurred does not necessarily mean that everything in the Torah existing today is false.
Rather, the Qur’an indicates that the Torah present during the time of the Prophet ﷺ contained some of Allah’s judgment. Allah تعالى says:
“But how is it that they come to you for judgment while they have the Torah, in which is the judgment of Allah?” [Al-Ma’idah 5:43]
And Allah تعالى says:
“Indeed, We revealed the Torah, in which was guidance and light.” [Al-Ma’idah 5:44]
For this reason, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله stated that the Torah possessed by the People of the Book contained the judgment of Allah, even though some of its wording had been altered and changed.
Therefore, the correct position is neither to say that everything in the books of the People of the Book is false, nor to say that everything in them has been preserved and is authentic. Rather, some truth remained in them, but it became mixed with the distortion and alteration that occurred.
It is not impossible that some truth has remained in the Torah existing today. However, it is not possible to assert that a particular passage is part of the revelation Allah revealed to Moses (peace be upon him) merely because it exists in the Torah today, because truth became mixed with falsehood through successive stages of distortion and transmission.
This is why the Prophet ﷺ instructed Muslims regarding reports from the People of the Book:
“If the People of the Book narrate something to you, neither affirm them nor deny them, for they may tell you something true and you deny it, or they may tell you something false and you affirm it. Rather, say: ‘We believe in what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to you. Our God and your God is One, and to Him we submit.’”
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah explained that this means refraining from affirming or denying matters whose authenticity or falsehood a person does not know.
Therefore, the Muslim believes generally in what Allah تعالى revealed to Moses (peace be upon him), and believes that the original Torah was revelation from Allah. However, he does not treat the versions existing today as an independent source of creed or law, because the Qur’an is the preserved Book and is the authoritative criterion over the previous scriptures.
The Torah that Allah revealed to Moses (peace be upon him) had a written origin. The distortion and alteration that affected it began after the death of Moses (peace be upon him) and continued for centuries due to the loss of copies, wars, and rewriting, in addition to deliberate distortion by some religious scholars.
This does not mean that everything in the Torah existing today is false. Rather, some truth remained in it, but that truth became mixed with additions, omissions, and alterations. Therefore, it is no longer possible to distinguish the entirety of the original revelation from the words of human beings with certainty.
And Allah knows best.