Surah Al-Ma'idah Verse 44

750 Guidance, with reference to conduct; tight, with reference to insight into the higher realms of the spirit. 751 Rabbaniyun may, I think, be rightly translated by the Jewish title of Rabbi for their learned men. Jewish learning is identified with Rabbinical literature. Ahbar is the plural of hibr or habr, by which we may understand Jewish Doctors of Law. Later the term was applied to those of other religions. Query: Is the word connected with the same root as "Hebrew", or "Eber", (Gen. 10:21), the ancestor of the Hebrew race? This seems negatived by the fact that the Arabic root connected with the word "Hebrew" is 'Abar, not Habar. 752 They were living witnesses to the truth of Scripture, and could testify that they had made it known to the people; (Cf. 2:143, 4:135, and 5:8). 753 Two charges are made, against the Jews: (1) that even the books which they had, they twisted in meaning, to suit their own purposes, because they feared men rather than Allah: (2) that what they had was but fragments of the original Law given to Moses, mixed up with a lot of semi-historical and legendary matter, and some fine poetry. The Tawrah mentioned in the Qur'an is not the Old Testament as we have it: nor is it even the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament, containing the Law embedded in a great deal of semi-historical and legendary narrative). See Appendix II, on the Tawrah (printed at the end of this Surah).