Reading the Bible and other scriptures

Q: I accidentally read a few verses of the Bible, now I read that we are not allowed to read the Books of the other religions because we might disbelieve in what we must believe in and vice versa. So I was stricken with waswasa. I got really confused while reading them, so I said I neither confirm nor deny these verses and also I neither confirm nor deny if these are in the Quran. Now if those verses and whatever’s mentioned in that really in our religion, will I have committed kufr? What should I do? 

A: We are commanded to refrain from getting involved in things that will create doubts and confusion in our deen. Since these heavenly books have been distorted and changed by the followers of the previous religions to such an extent that differentiating between the verses of  Allah Ta'ala and the distortions is not possible, the Fuqahaa have ruled that it is not permissible to read these past heavenly scriptures. However, the belief we hold in regard to these heavenly scriptures is that we believe in the all the past heavenly scriptures in the exact manner they were revealed by Allah Ta'ala (i.e. in their original forms) and we do not believe in the distortions that were made by the people. 

Make istigfaar and in future do not recite from these books.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

 

Answered by:

Mufti Zakaria Makada

Checked & Approved:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

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