Of a truth this, your religion, is the one religion and I am your Lord;
therefore serve me. Sura Al-Anbiya' (xxi) 92.
The references to Old Testament history are now many and varied. It is said
that the object of the Qur'an is not only to attest its own divine origin, but
also to confirm what had gone before.
Before the Qur'an was the book of Moses, a rule and a mercy, and this book
confirmeth it (i.e., the Pentateuch) in the Arabic tongue. Sura Al-Ahqaf (xlvi)
It is alleged that the Jews with whom Muhammad at Mecca was friendly said to
him that God was often called the Merciful (ar-Rahman) in the Pentateuch, and
that they noticed he did not use the term. Then the verse came:
Call upon God (Allah), and call on the Merciful (ar-Rahman), by whichsoever
ye will invoke Him. He hath most excellent names. Sura Al-Isra' (xvii) 110.
The title ar-Rahman was dropped in the later Suras, 1 evidently
from the fear lest Allah and ar-Rahman should be supposed to be two distinct
Gods; a danger against which they were warned in the verse:
For God hath said, 'take not to yourselves two gods for He is one God.' Sura
An-Nahl (xvi) 53.
The Quraish also objected to the term and according to the Qur'an said:
Who is the God of Mercy (ar-Rahman) shall we bow down to what thou biddest?
Sura Al-Furqan (xxv) 61.