What does people of the book mean?
Question:
Assalaamu Alaikum
what does/ who is people of the book mean?
Answer:
Wa Alaikum as Salaam,
The people of the book literally refers to all those people of the past to whom a heavenly revealed scripture was given. So those who have been given scriptures via the prophets like Ibraheem (SA), Dawood (SA), Sulaiman (SA) and other prophets, would fall into this category, based on the literal meaning of the phrase ‘people of the book’. However, in the context of the Holy Quran and Ahadith of the Prophet (SAS), and generally in Islamic literature, the phrase ‘the people of the book’ (or Ahlul kitaab) refers to the Jews and Christians.
And Allah knows best,
Mufti Waseem Khan
21/2/2013