Can Muslims read the Bible?

Can Muslims read the Bible? Yes. Reading the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels is halal, and the Quran itself speaks of these books with reverence. Muslims believe that Allah sent revelation to Moses, David, and Jesus (peace be upon them), and the Bible preserves much of what those prophets taught. A Muslim who reads it for study, for faith, or to understand Christian and Jewish friends is walking a path the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions opened.

Is it haram for Muslims to read the Bible?

It is permitted, and the Quran gives the reason. It describes the scripture given to Jesus in words of honor:

وَءَاتَيۡنَٰهُ ٱلۡإِنجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدٗى وَنُورٞ وَمُصَدِّقٗا لِّمَا بَيۡنَ يَدَيۡهِ مِنَ ٱلتَّوۡرَىٰةِ

“We gave him the Gospel, in which there is guidance and light, confirming the Torah that came before it.”

Quran 5:46

The Quran says the same of the Torah: “We sent down the Torah, in which there is guidance and light” (5:44). It tells the people of the Gospel to judge by what Allah revealed in it (5:47). Muslims are taught to believe in “what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord,” making no distinction between any of them (Quran 2:136).

What does the Quran say about the Torah and the Gospel?

The Quran presents itself as the latest in a family of scriptures. It was sent down “confirming what came before it,” just as Allah “sent down the Torah and the Gospel” (3:3), and it stands as a guardian and measure over the earlier books (muhaymin, 5:48). When some of the People of the Book disputed a point of law, the Quran told the Prophet ﷺ to answer, “Bring the Torah and read it, if you are truthful” (3:93). In another verse Allah says to him, “If you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who have been reading the scripture before you” (10:94).

The Quran also speaks of distortion (taḥrīf) by some who “shift words from their places” (4:46). The classical scholars debated whether this meant changing the text itself or twisting its meaning. Imam al-Bukhari, in the Book of Tawḥīd of his Sahih, explained the word as misinterpretation, noting that no one can remove the words of one of Allah’s books. On every view, the Quran asks Muslims to meet the earlier scriptures with respect and discernment:

۞وَلَا تُجَٰدِلُوٓاْ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ إِلَّا بِٱلَّتِي هِيَ أَحۡسَنُ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنۡهُمۡۖ وَقُولُوٓاْ ءَامَنَّا بِٱلَّذِيٓ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡنَا وَأُنزِلَ إِلَيۡكُمۡ وَإِلَٰهُنَا وَإِلَٰهُكُمۡ وَٰحِدٞ

“Do not argue with the People of the Book except in the best manner, apart from those of them who do wrong, and say: We believe in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to you; our God and your God is one.”

Quran 29:46

More on how the Quran speaks of Jews and Christians is in What does the Quran say about Christians and Jews?

What did the Prophet ﷺ say about earlier scriptures?

The Prophet ﷺ allowed his Companions to learn from the heritage of the Israelites:

«بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَةً، وَحَدِّثُوا عَنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَلاَ حَرَجَ»

“Convey from me, even a single verse, and narrate from the Children of Israel; there is no harm in it.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 3461

In Medina, Jewish neighbors would read the Torah in Hebrew and explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ did not stop the gatherings. He gave a balanced rule: “Do not declare the People of the Book truthful or false, and say: We believe in Allah and what was sent down to us” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4485). What agrees with the Quran is accepted, what contradicts it is set aside, and the rest is left with Allah.

Some early voices were more cautious. Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) asked why Muslims would consult the People of the Book when they had their own Book, fresh and unmixed (Sahih al-Bukhari 7363). A report in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, whose chain the hadith scholars have debated, describes the Prophet ﷺ as displeased when ʿUmar brought him a page from the Torah. Scholars have read such reports as guidance for the earliest years, when the Quran was still being revealed and the community needed to learn its own scripture first. The Prophet’s permission to narrate remains the general rule.

Did Muslim scholars read the Bible?

They did, from the first generation. The Companion ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ was asked how the Prophet ﷺ was described in the Torah and quoted a passage from memory: “You are My servant and My messenger… neither harsh nor coarse, nor loud in the markets; he does not repay evil with evil, but pardons and forgives” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2125). The words echo the servant passages of the Book of Isaiah.

In fifteenth-century Cairo, the Quran commentator Burhān al-Dīn al-Biqāʿī (d. 1480) quoted the Torah and the Gospels at length in his commentary, Naẓm al-Durar. When critics objected, he wrote a treatise defending the practice, arguing that the earlier scriptures could illuminate the Quran’s stories. Muslim scholars across the centuries have read the Bible to understand their neighbors and to deepen their reading of the Quran.

How should a Muslim read the Bible?

• With the Quran as your guide. Read the Bible alongside the Quran and notice where they tell the same stories of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Mary, and Jesus (What does the Quran say about Mary?).
• With respect. Treat the book with the dignity due to a text that carries Allah’s name and the words of His prophets.
• With friends. Reading with Christian or Jewish friends, or visiting their places of worship, is a form of the good companionship the Quran praises (Can Muslims go to church?).
• With humility. Where you meet a teaching Muslims understand differently, such as the nature of Jesus, read it as your friends’ faith and ask them about it (What do Muslims believe about Jesus?).

Closing

The believers, the Quran says, declare their faith in every messenger Allah sent:

لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيۡنَ أَحَدٖ مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦ

“We make no distinction between any of His messengers.”

Quran 2:285

May Allah open our hearts to every word of guidance He has sent, and make our reading of His books a source of light and of friendship with all who love Him.