History of the Quran

The Earlier Prophets and their Books

There is a tradition in the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said:  

"From Adam to me Allah sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets of whom three hundred and fifteen were entrusted with a Book."
The names of all these Prophets to whom scriptures were revealed are not mentioned either in the Qur'an or in the Hadith. It is not possible for us therefore, to provide details about them. We come across a few references to the books revealed to Adam, the first Prophet. Unfortunately, however, we are not aware of the language in which they were revealed nor do we have any idea of their contents.
Adam's son, Shith (peace be upon him) was also a Prophet. A few scriptures. it is suggested in some accounts, were revealed to him. But they, too, are not extant. Parts of a book attributed to ldris (peace be upon him), one of the earliest Prophets, have been found only recently. A few scrolls have been discovered in some caves near the Dead Sea in Palestine. A scripture among these scrolls is attributed to Enoch (in Arabic, Akhndkh) who is none else than Prophet Idris (peace be upon him). Recently a Jew[ish] translation of this book into English [has] been published. Even though there is no definitive and irrefutable proof, yet the research date so far suggests that this book could be called the scripture of the most ancient Prophet. The book contains a prophecy about the last Prophet which is also incorporated in the "Letters of Jehovah" in the New Testament.

After Idris (peace be upon him) we come across a few allusions to Noah. There is a small sect called Sabacans in Iraq. Sabacan's have a religion of their own. They claim to be followers of Noah and his religion. According to them they once possessed Noah's entire Book which is now extinct and they are left with no more than four or five lines which deal with morality. Noah is followed by another Prophet whose book is mentioned in... [continues]

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