انجيل

Core meaning

Proper noun. The Scripture given to Issa; the text almost always names it with the Tawrah, as two stages of one descent, which the Injil confirms and carries forward. The translation keeps the name: "the Injil".

Uses

1. ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ → "the Tawrah and the Injil" : the pair of the two preceding Scriptures, sent down, taught, and to be maintained.

   • «وَأَنزَلَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ مِن قَبْلُ هُدًۭى لِّلنَّاسِ» — "and He sent down, before, the Tawrah and the Injil, a guidance for mankind" (3:4)
   • «لَسْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَىْءٍ حَتَّىٰ تُقِيمُوا۟ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ» — "You stand on nothing, until you maintain the Tawrah, the Injil" (5:68)

2. ٱلْإِنجِيلَ alone, أَهْلُ ٱلْإِنجِيلِ → "the Injil", "the people of the Injil" : the Scripture proper to Issa, and those who receive it and must judge by it.

   • «وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ ٱلْإِنجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدًۭى وَنُورٌۭ» — "and We gave him the Injil, wherein is guidance and light" (5:46)
   • «وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ ٱلْإِنجِيلِ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ» — "And so that the people of the Injil judge according to what God sent down in it" (5:47)

Evidence from the text

Ten of the twelve uses join the Injil to the Tawrah, and in every listing the Tawrah comes first, the Injil next. The Injil comes "confirming what, of the Tawrah, preceded him" (5:46); both are sent down after Ibrahim (3:65); Issa is taught both (3:48, 5:110). The sequence reaches the Recitation: the promise made to those who fight in the way of God is set down "in the Tawrah, the Injil, and this Recitation" (9:111).

The Injil is never a book merely to possess: it is to be maintained (5:66, 5:68) and applied, "so that the people of the Injil judge according to what God sent down in it" (5:47). Maintaining it opens abundance (5:66); forsaking it leaves one standing "on nothing" (5:68).

Distinctions

• كتب — Scripture in general, whereas the Injil is the named Scripture given to Issa

See also

عيسى (Issa) · توراة (the Tawrah)