am the first to revive Your command after they had put it to death.”

For this reason, Ibn ‘Abbās said, concerning Allah’s words:

“We sent down the Torah, containing guidance and light, by which the prophets who submitted to Allah judged.”

He said: “Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is among the prophets who submitted to Allah.” He judged only by what Allah had revealed to him, as Allah said:

“And judge between them by what Allah has revealed.”

Likewise, one may read a copy translated into Arabic by trustworthy translators, using Arabic script and wording. Through these, one can learn what their scriptures contain, with the assistance of trustworthy Muslim translators or those among us who know their script, such as Zayd ibn Thābit and others like him. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed him to learn it. This hadith is well known in the Sunan collections, and al-Bukhārī cited it as evidence in the chapter entitled “Translation for the Judge, and Whether an Interpreter Is Permissible.” He wrote:

“Khārija ibn Zayd ibn Thābit related from Zayd ibn Thābit that the Prophet instructed him to learn the Jews’ script: ‘I then wrote the Prophet’s letters for him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and read their letters to him whenever they wrote to him.’”

Corresponding in their script and conversing in their language are activities of the same kind. Although they may occur together, either may also occur independently of the other—for example, writing Arabic words in Hebrew script or other non-Arabic scripts, or writing non-Arabic words in Arabic script. It has also been said that this suffices.

For this reason, Allah, glorified be He, said:

“All food was lawful for the Children of Israel, except what Israel had forbidden himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, ‘Bring the Torah and recite it, if you are truthful.’”

Thus, we were commanded to ask them to bring the Torah and recite it, if they were truthful in reporting