all but eliminated, the city has survived mostly as
a tourist attraction.
See also colonialism; morocco; West aFrica.
Further reading: R. A. Adeleye, Power and Diplomacy in
Northern Nigeria, 1804–1906 (London: Longman Group
Limited, 1971); Beverly B. Mack and Jean Boyd, One
Woman’s Jihad: Nana Asma’u, Scholar and Scribe (Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 2000); Elias N. Saad,
Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars
and Notables, 1400–1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1983); Ibraheem Sulaiman, The Islamic
State and the Challenge of History (London: Mansell
Publishing, 1987).
Tirmidhi, Abu Isa Muhammad al- See
hadith.
Torah (Hebrew: instruction, teaching;
Arabic: Tawrat)
The Torah is the Jewish holy book, believed to
have been revealed to moses on Mount Sinai. The
written Torah consists of the first five books of
the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as the Old
Testament): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. Many Jews use the term in an
expanded sense with respect to the entire Hebrew
Bible (including the books of the prophets and
other writings) and the oral Torah of Moses, also
known as the Talmud (Hebrew: study). The Torah
is mentioned explicitly 18 times in the qUran, in
addition to a number of indirect references. On the
basis of statements in the Quran, Muslims agree
that it is the holy book of the Jews revealed to
Moses on Mount Sinai, and that it is why they con-
sider Jews to be people oF the book (for example,
Q 5:44, 68). Sometimes referred to as the “tablets”
(Q 7:145, 150, 154), the Torah is seen as a cov-
enant between God and the Children of Israel,
who, following the biblical and quranic theme,
violate its commandments (Q 2:63–64, 83–85).
The Quran declares that they will be punished on
JUdgment day for this, as well as suffer burden-
some restrictions in this life, such as the Jewish
dietary laWs. The Quran also alleges that Jews and
other People of the Book have changed or cor-
rupted God’s word (for example, Q 4:46; 5:12–13),
which Muslims used to support the doctrine that
the Quran is the uncorrupted revelation. Later
commentators asserted that the Jews had changed
the Torah in order to conceal references to mUham-
mad, believed by most Muslims to be the final
prophet. The existence of different translations
of the Torah was used to support allegations that
it had been corrupted or distorted. This meant,
in part, that even though the Torah must still be
regarded as a sacred scripture, its laws were not
binding for Muslims. In medieval granada Jews
involved in court cases before a Muslim judge were
allowed to swear by it, thus attesting to its sacred
status in the eyes of the sharia nonetheless. Mus-
lims as a rule know the Torah only on the basis
of what is said in the Quran, commentaries, and
hadith literature. Nevertheless, Hunayn ibn Ishaq
(d. 873), the well-known Christian translator of
Greek philosophical works, translated it from the
Greek into Arabic, and Saadia (d. 940), the head
of the Jewish community in iraq, translated it into
Arabic from the Hebrew. These translations, how-
ever, were not read widely by Muslim scholars. It is
noteworthy that the Masoretic text of the Hebrew
Bible, which has all the diacritical markings for
correct pronunciation, was assembled during the
early centuries of Muslim rule, and completed in
the rabbinic academies of Iraq and Palestine dur-
ing the 10th century c.e.
See also holy books; JUdaism and islam; proph-
ets and prophecy.Further reading: Camilla P. Adang, Muslim Writers on
Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: From Ibn Rabban to Ibn
Hazm (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996); Jane D. McAuliffe, “The
Quranic Context of Muslim Biblical Scholarship.” Islam
and Christian-Muslim Relations 7 (1996): 141–158;
Brannon M. Wheeler, “Israel and the Torah of Muham-
mad.” In Bible and Quran: Essays in Scriptural Intertextu-Torah 671 J