When Was the Bible Written Compared to the Quran? – Full Guide

The Quran was compiled into a single authoritative text approximately 2 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), around 650 CE — yet its revelation had begun in 610 CE.  The Bible, by contrast, was not written in any single century. Its Old Testament contains texts stretching back to around 1400 BCE or earlier, and its New Testament was completed somewhere between 50 CE and 100 CE. In raw historical terms, the Bible is far older than the Quran. But the Bible is not a single book with a single author or a single date of composition; it is a collection — what Christians call the Old Testament and the New Testament — gathered over an extraordinarily long span of time. Most historians and biblical scholars date the earliest texts of the Hebrew Bible to somewhere between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE, though many Jewish and Christian traditions hold that the Torah (the first five books) was authored by Moses (PBUH) in the 15th or 13th century BCE.  The remaining books — the Psalms, Proverbs, the writings of the Prophets — were added over subsequent centuries, with the Hebrew canon largely settling by around 400 BCE. The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 near Qumran and extensively studied by scholars at the Israel Antiquities Authority, confirmed that the Hebrew texts of the Old Testament had already been circulating in largely recognizable form by at least the 2nd century BCE.  This demonstrates that the Old Testament, in textual terms, precedes the Quran by anywhere from 600 to more than 2,000 years, depending on which book is being measured. The New Testament tells a different story. Jesus (PBUH) — whose prophethood Islam affirms — did not write a scripture himself. The Gospels attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written between approximately 65 CE and 100 CE, meaning 35 to 70 years after his time.  Paul's letters, which constitute a significant portion of the New Testament, were composed in the 50s CE — roughly 20 years after Jesus (PBUH).  The New Testament canon as Christians recognize it today was not formally settled until the late 4th century CE, particularly following the Council of Hippo in 393 CE and the Council of Carthage in 397 CE. This means the New Testament predates the Quran by approximately 500 to 600 years. — palm leaves, bones, parchment. largely through the effort of Zayd ibn Thabit (RA), a principal scribe of the revelation.  The definitive standardized manuscript — the Mushaf — was produced during the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan (RA), around 650 CE, and copies were sent to the major Muslim cities. This is the same text Muslims read today, letter for letter. ) This verse is not a poetic sentiment — it is a theological declaration that Allah has taken upon Himself the protection of this final scripture from corruption. No equivalent guarantee exists for any previous revelation. Learn More About Islam Discover the beauty, teachings, and wisdom of Islam in a clear and welcoming way. Start exploring and deepen your understanding today. But chronological seniority and divine preservation are two separate matters entirely. The faith in Islam requires a Muslim to believe in all previous books and prophets sent by Allah. As affirmed in the Quran: ) . This scholarly tradition traces back to the earliest generations of Islamic scholarship and reflects a reasoned conclusion — not a polemic. The academic study of textual transmission — what scholars call "textual criticism" — has documented tens of thousands of variant readings across different New Testament manuscripts.  The Quran presents a different picture. From the standardized Uthmanic manuscripts of 650 CE to the copies made today, the text is uniform across the Muslim world in all its essential content.  The Quran may be the youngest of the three Abrahamic scriptures by centuries. It is also, by the evidence available and by Allah's own pledge, the most textually preserved. In Islam, revelation itself did not begin with the Bible or the Quran. It began with Adam (PBUH) and continued through a long chain of prophets and books. The Quran explicitly mentions several revealed scriptures: Each came in response to the needs of its time and community. Each confirmed the message of the one before it. And each — except the Quran — was entrusted to human communities without a divine guarantee of textual protection. ) (مُهَيْمِنًا) — means guardian, overseer, or criterion. The Quran does not replace previous revelations out of arrogance. It confirms what was true in them and serves as the final, protected criterion by which truth can be measured. This is the essence of what Muslims believe about the Quran — a belief rooted not in chronological pride but in a coherent theology of revelation. Muslims believe fully in the prophethood of Jesus (PBUH) and affirm that he received a true revelation from Allah called the Injeel. The Quran speaks of him with reverence: ) The original Injeel was guidance and light. The Islam principles page at the Salam Center explores how this affirmation of earlier prophets fits within the broader framework of Islamic belief. What Muslim scholars have maintained is that the Gospel currently in circulation as the New Testament is a human-authored account of Jesus (PBUH), composed by followers after his time, rather than the direct revelation that descended to him.  This distinction is not a point of hostility toward Christians; it is an honest theological observation. The how Islam views other religions article on the Salam platform offers a fuller treatment of this relationship. Learn More About Islam Discover the beauty, teachings, and wisdom of Islam in a clear and welcoming way. Start exploring and deepen your understanding today. is here to accompany you on that journey — without pressure, without judgment, and with the full depth of authentic Islamic knowledge. to access a growing library of articles on Islamic belief, history, and practice. — covering everything from the basics of faith to the most searched questions about Islam. — our team is ready to respond thoughtfully and personally. 's structured, four-stage curriculum for new Muslims, built on the methodology of gradual, compassionate learning: — and it is waiting for you. . The Bible was composed across roughly 1,500 years — its Old Testament dating as far back as the 15th century BCE and its New Testament completed by around 100 CE — while the Quran was revealed between 610 CE and 632 CE and formally compiled within two years of the Prophet's death. Islam affirms all previous divine revelations as genuine but holds that only the Quran carries Allah's direct guarantee of preservation against textual corruption. Muslims do not deny the earlier scriptures — they honor the prophets who received them and accept the original revelations as truth from Allah. What Islamic scholarship consistently maintains is that centuries of human transmission altered the texts of the Bible, while the Quran has remained textually uniform from its earliest manuscripts to every copy circulating today, a reality supported by both Islamic theology and modern manuscript scholarship. No — the Bible predates the Quran by centuries. The Old Testament was composed between approximately 1400 BCE and 400 BCE, and the New Testament between 50 CE and 100 CE. The Quran was revealed between 610 CE and 632 CE and compiled into a single written volume by around 650 CE, making it the most recent of the three Abrahamic scriptures. — affirming that the Quran, though youngest in chronological terms, is the only divinely preserved scripture, as stated directly in Quran 15:9. Muslims affirm that the original Tawrah revealed to Moses (PBUH) and the original Injeel revealed to Jesus (PBUH) were true divine revelations. Islam does not accept the Bible in its current form as a fully intact preserved scripture, because Islamic theology — supported by evidence of textual variation across manuscripts — holds that earlier scriptures were not protected from human alteration. Full details are covered in the Salam article on whether Muslims believe in the Bible. The Bible came first historically. In the Islamic worldview, this reflects the unbroken chain of prophets and revelations Allah sent before the final message to Muhammad (PBUH). Earlier revelations preceded the Quran because they were sent to earlier communities. The Quran came as a guardian and criterion over all that preceded it — confirming what was true and preserving a final, uncorrupted message for all of humanity until the Day of Judgment. Age and preservation are separate questions. The Quran's preservation rests on two foundations: first, the continuous memorization of millions of Muslims (Huffaz) from the time of the Prophet (PBUH) to today; and second, the textual uniformity of Quranic manuscripts across all centuries and regions. Scholars at institutions such as the Corpus Coranicum project have confirmed this stability. Biblical textual criticism, by contrast, has documented hundreds of thousands of manuscript variants across New Testament copies alone.