Islamic Views On David - The Book of David

The Book of David

The Zabur was the Holy Book attributed to David by God, just as Musa (Moses) got the Tawrat (Torah), Isa (Jesus) got the Injil (Gospel) and Muhammad received the Qur'an. In the current Hebrew Bible scriptures, the Zabur is known as the Psalms. However, like other Islamic scripture of the past, the Psalms are believed to have been corrupted over time, with some of the original message gone. Nonetheless, Muslims are told to treat the present Psalms with immense respect because, in their original form, they too were an inspired Book of God. The Qur'an states:

Your Lord knows whoever is in the heavens and the earth. We exalted some of the prophets over the others; and to David We gave the Book of Psalms. —Qur'an, sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayah 55

The term Zabur is the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew Zimra, meaning "song/music." It, along with Zamir ("song") and Mizmor ("Psalm"), is a derivative of Zamar, meaning "sing", "sing praise", "make music". Thus, David is also usually attributed the gifts of music and song.