Was there an Arabic Bible before Islam?
c. c. 400 – c. 700
Place: arabia · coming soon
No coordinates. This node is on the timeline only.
No pre-Islamic Arabic biblical manuscript is known (attested absence). Kashouh's earlier dating of some versions, e.g. Vat. Ar. 13, is debated.
Named scholars here are as cited in the handoff, not a new survey.
Arab Christians worshipped largely in Syriac or Greek. Griffith argues no written Arabic Bible existed before Islam and that Arabic translations began only in the 8th century, so the Qur'an's knowledge of biblical stories was oral and liturgical. Kashouh and others argue some Arabic gospel versions may go back to before Islam.
Where scholars disagree
For
- Sidney H. Griffith — The Bible in Arabic (2013): no pre-Islamic written Arabic Bible
Against
- Hikmat Kashouh — The Arabic Versions of the Gospels (2012): possible pre-Islamic roots
- Irfan Shahîd — Byzantium and the Arabs series: argued for early Arabic liturgy and scripture (as cited by later critics)
Links
Report and reading
In
Pre-Islamic Christian inscriptions in Arabic script (Zabad 512, Jabal Usays 528, Harran 568)
Christian Arabic writing existed before Islam, but no biblical text in Arabic survives.
evidence_for
attested
Context
Out
Oral and liturgical, rather than written Arabic, transmission of biblical stories.
context
scholarly hypothesisIn
Peshitta (standard Syriac Bible)
Arab Christians mostly heard scripture in Syriac (Peshitta), not Arabic.
context
scholarly hypothesis
Sources
- Sidney H. Griffith, The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the 'People of the Book' in the Language of Islam (2013)
Princeton University Press. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Hikmat Kashouh, The Arabic Versions of the Gospels: The Manuscripts and Their Families (2012)
De Gruyter. Accessed 2026-11-11.