The Author

The Author was God/Allah.

I reckon, people.

do u mean who actually physically wrote it down? :S

I do mean that, although if it was dictated then who was dictating? I'm not averse to reading extended answers, whatever constitutes a proper response.

i'll just tell you what i know 🙂

and i know its says holy books but i can only talk about the Qur'an...

Angel Jibra'il would come and reveal the verses of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ who would then remember them and tell his companions to write them down on whatever they could find; sotens, leaves etc

The companions wrote them down but also memorised them and taught other people the Qur'an too.

I can't remember the time frame :/ but after the death of the Prophet (saw), Uthman Ra thought the Qur'an should be compiled in book form so it wasnt lost if all the people who had memorised died etc.

Zaid bin Thabit ra then gathered all the seperate pieces of text that were written down and also asked those that had memorised it all and then write it all down after it was verified that ever verse was exactly how it had been narrated by the Prophet ﷺ and angel Jibra'il

I'm just gratefully acknowledging that answer for now, and also it gives me a list of core assertions to look at. This is not a question just about Islam (obviously I have to apply it to Judaism) and it is one I am giving more time to as I realise the importance of asking it quietly and aloud, and the scarcity of what I can attest to since I want to go on being a very honest person.

[quote=Joie de Vivre]I reckon, people.[/quote]

Come on Joie, I enjoy your posts, but this?

Your title for this topic is The Author, but then the question is who wrote the holy books?

Specifics please... do you want to know the Author or who put the revelations down on paper?

Nevertheless, you've already made up your mind so why not just say I think people wrote the holy scriptures rather than ask the question?

i think he was tryna make it interesting lol

and technically the person who physically wrote it is the author, no?

[quote=ThE pOwEr Of SiLeNcE]i think he was tryna make it interesting lol

and technically the person who physically wrote it is the author, no? [/quote]

Nope. If I narrated a letter for you to type, I would be the author and you the scribe. Dictionary -> Author!

oh yeah :oops:

[quote=YouShutup]Nevertheless, you've already made up your mind so why not just say I think people wrote the holy scriptures rather than ask the question?[/quote]
Because I wanted a discussion about it, to know what other people would write, and also because taking or tending to a position at a given time doesn't mean my mind's made up - that line saying "people" was to be upfront about my position. I phrase things in a way that suggests I'm not entirely at ease with religion - at times I explain in terms of what the tradition says rather that what I reckon - but this thread probably revises a couple of statements I made in the past and brings my own frame of mind up to date.

I think this is a good question as I have heard mentioned a few time now (and first time in a hollywood film) which suggested "the idea of God was good, but then people had to write it down, codify it and make rules, that is where it went wrong". Which totally goes against the Islamic (and other religions') dogma that the book was revealed from God. Islam goes as far that even the name of the faith was revealed, and not added later on to describe the religion/followers.

As for "the how" of the compilation of the qur'an, it is a l;ong story, which can be read in a q and A format over here (I have not read it all) and if you find it interesting, by all means read it - just be aware that it seems to be targeted at youngish muslims, so it may lack the format and the detail that you require.

and if you have more questions, just ask.

For other religions, I hear that with judaism, the "old testament" was "revealed" over like a millenium, where it was compiled and a work in progress. (we also believe that it was modified incorrectly, but that is a separate issue/debate.)

On the issue of the "new testament"/Injil - it seems the original was totally lost, and what is the new testament new is comparable to the ahadith of the Muslims - but I have not read the bible, so I cannot confirm this hunch of mine.

[quote=Joie de Vivre][quote=YouShutup]Nevertheless, you've already made up your mind so why not just say I think people wrote the holy scriptures rather than ask the question?[/quote]
Because I wanted a discussion about it, to know what other people would write, and also because taking or tending to a position at a given time doesn't mean my mind's made up - that line saying "people" was to be upfront about my position. I phrase things in a way that suggests I'm not entirely at ease with religion - at times I explain in terms of what the tradition says rather that what I reckon - but this thread probably revises a couple of statements I made in the past and brings my own frame of mind up to date.[/quote]

Appreciated. The part in bold made me laugh as I'm sure it was the intention!

From the above, it still isn't clear whether you believe in Judaism and Elahi?!

I believe, Allah was the Author of all (Abrahamic) religious scripture and men wrote them down. Some scriptures have been 'revised'.

Re: Islam

We believe Prophet Muhammad SAW recieved two types of revelation. The first is where the meaning was revealed by God to the Prophet SAW, this is everything that the Prophet SAW said that is not Qur'an.
The second type is where the meanings and also the literal words were revealed by God to the Prophet SAW, this is called Qur'an.

Who put pen to paper? The successors of the Prophet SAW, His companions RA.

http://www.therevival.co.uk/blogs/sbf/who-wrote-bible-documentary

[quote=ThE pOwEr Of SiLeNcE]http://www.therevival.co.uk/blogs/sbf/who-wrote-bible-documentary[/quote]

Still need to watch that fully

Joie,

It's pretty obvious (to Muslims that is) that the Quran came as a direct revelation from God over a short number of years and came directly to the Prophet Mohammed. There was almost no other human involvement in its revelation. This is sacrosanct, to say the least, from a Muslim perspective. In its writting there was human involvement. People had to write the words down. Same with its compilation.

From an academic or analytical perspective it's only after this point that we can, precariously, start atributing sociologocal, political and economic factors to the Quran as a "living book". Maybe the Ummayads, the Abbasids and their successors chose to emphasise certain verses over others and favoured certin groups of clerics over others. With this came various "re-interpretations" of the Quran. Similar "re-interpretations" can be said to be made by every translation. Here you get human influence on the Quran. You may even be able to stretch "re-interpretation" to mean "re-writing". But regardless of this, the words revealed to the Prophet are from God and they have remained the same no matter how differently people chose to interpret them.

About other holy books, I haven't really thunked about it.