Question
In what languages were all the heavenly books i.e. Torah, Zubur, Injil and Qur’an revealed?
Answer
The Qur’an informs us that God raised prophets to communicate with people in their native languages.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ
“And We have not sent any messenger except in the language of his people, that he may explain matters to them.” (Qur’an 14:4)
Thus, all divine revelations were delivered in the languages spoken by the people of that time. Consequently, we infer that the Torah and the Zubur were revealed in Hebrew, as they were addressed to the children of Israel who spoke Hebrew. Even today, the extant Torah and Zabur are in Hebrew. During a later period, Jews began to use Greek in addition to Hebrew. Hence, in the mid-3rd century BCE, Jewish scriptures were translated into Greek by 72 scholars, resulting in the ‘Septuagint’ (LXX).
In the case of the Injil, Jesus (pbuh), his disciples, and the Jewish population spoke Aramaic, suggesting that he must have delivered the divine message of the Injil in this language. However, due to severe opposition from the Jews, he did not have the opportunity to transcribe it. The Injil was subsequently written down by various authors many years after Jesus (pbuh) in Greek, the widely spoken language of the Roman Empire at that time. The term ‘Injil’ itself is an Arabized version of the Greek word ‘Evangelion,’ meaning ‘Good News’.
The Qur’an, as is widely acknowledged, was revealed in Arabic, with no dispute regarding this fact.
Hope this helps.
Answered by: Mushfiq Sultan
Date: 2018-04-19
