The Immutability of Divine Texts

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Divine texts are the common heritage of human beings. They cultivate human spirituality. Too much time is spent finding faults with divine text and too little attention is paid to understanding their unity of purpose. While doubters question the authenticity of divine texts and while factions set one divine text against the other, divine texts are munificent in establishing the truth. The Hebrew Bible warns that among nations gone astray from the path of God, “the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.”[1] The Qur’an affirms: “We have sent thee revelation, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: We sent revelation to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.”[2] The New Testament declares, “All scripture is God-breathed.”[3] The Buddhist Dhammapada proclaims, “Blessed is the devotion of those who dwell in unity.”[4] The Bhagavad Gita’s call to unity is no less vivid when Krishna proclaims the following words: “As men approach me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.”[5] Hindu, Buddhist, Hebrew, Christian, Muslim, and other divine texts originate from the same source, what the Qur’an calls ommu al kitab, the mother book.[6] All divine texts are revealed to guide the peoples of the world. No divine text can be confined to any one nation, language, time, or space. Divine texts constitute one universal series. Read the entire aricle
[1]. Hosea 9:7. All biblical quotes are from the New International Version.
[2]. Qur’an, sura an-Nisa 4:163.
[3]. 2 Timothy 3:16.
[4]. Dhammapada XIV:194.
[5]. Bhagavad Gita 4:11–12. The text is a conversation between Krishna, the divine speaker of the Gita, and Prince Arjuna, who is getting ready for an imminent war.
[6]. See Qur’an, sura ar-Rad 13:39.

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