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Zabur (Arabic:ٱلزَّبُورِ,romanized: az-zabūr) is, according toIslam, the holy book ofDavid, one of theholy books revealed byAllah before theQuran, alongside others such as theTawrāh (Torah) and theInjīl (Gospel).Muslim tradition maintains that the Zabur mentioned in theQuran is thePsalms of Dawud (David in Islam).[1]
The Christian monks and ascetics ofpre-Islamic Arabia may be associated inpre-Islamic Arabic poetry with texts calledmazmour, which in other contexts may refer topalm leaf documents.[2] This has been interpreted by some as referring topsalters.[3]
Among manyChristians in theMiddle East and inSouth Asia, the wordmazmour (Hindustaniمزمور(Nastaʿlīq),ज़बूर(Devanagari)) is used for thePsalms of David in theHebrew Bible. The Hebrew term ismizmor מזמור.
The Arabic wordzabūr means "book", "inscription", or "writing."[4] In early sources it may refer toAncient South Arabian writing onpalm leaves.[2]
Much of Western scholarship sees the wordzabūr in the sense "psalter" as being a conflation of Arabiczabūr, "writing", with theHebrew word for "psalm",mizmōr (Hebrew:מִזְמוֹר) or itsAramaic equivalentmazmūrā (Syriac:ܡܙܡܘܪܐ).[2]
An alternate, less accepted origin for the titlezabūr in this sense is that it is a corruption of theHebrewzimrah (Hebrew:זִמְרָה) meaning "song, music" orsippūr (Hebrew:סִפּוּר), meaning "story."[5]
In the Qur'an, the Zabur is mentioned by name three times. The Qur'an itself says nothing about the Zabur specifically, except that it was revealed to Dawud and that in the Zabur is written "My servants the righteous, shall inherit the earth".[6][7]
Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And we revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the book [of Psalms].
And your Lord is most knowing of whoever is in the heavens and the earth. And We have made some of the prophets exceed others [in various ways], and to David We gave the book [of Psalms].
— Qur'an 17:55[9], Sahih International Translation
And We have already written in the book [of Psalms] after the [previous] mention that the land [of Paradise] is inherited by My righteous servants.
— Qur'an 21:105[7], Sahih International Translation
In the Quran and Urdu translation of the Bible, the Zabur refers to thePsalms.[10] The Quran 21:105 says that in the Zabur there is a quote "the land is inherited by my righteous servants". This resembles the 29th verse ofPsalm 37, which says "[t]he righteous shall inherit the land, and abide forever in it."[11][10][6]
Ahrens supports the view thatal-Anbiya 105 is quoting from the Psalms (1930).[12] He says that the verse in the Qur'an reads, "We have written in the Zabur after the reminder that My righteous servants shall inherit the earth." His conclusion is that this verse represents a close and rare linguistic parallel with theHebrew Bible and, more pointedly, with Psalm 37 ascribed specifically to David (see wording in verses9,11,29).
One hadith, considered valid byMuhammad al-Bukhari, says:
NarratedAbu Huraira:The Prophet said, "The reciting of the Zabur (i.e. Psalms) was made easy for David. He used to order that his riding animals be saddled, and would finish reciting the Zabur before they were saddled. And he would never eat except from the earnings of his manual work."
Christian apologistKarl Gottlieb Pfander suggested that the Qur'an's reference to Zabur actually refers to the third division of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Writings orKetuvim, a broader grouping of Jewish holy books encompassing thePsalms and other collections of Hebrew literature and poetry.[13]
Arabic zabur. In the Quran the Psalms of David are said to be revelation sent to David, who is considered a prophet (4:163; 17:55; 21:105). In Urdu Christians even sing these Zabur's in their worship to God. God is considered the author of the psalms. Surah 21:105 is a direct counterpart of the biblical Psalm 37:29.
