1/8 Does the Quran contain less legal material than the Torah? This is a common assumption scholars make. But a short investigation coupled with a scholarly grasp of the Quran shows the opposite. A short thread.

2/8 The traditional position in Judaism is that there are 613 commandments or mitzvot in the Torah (תרי״ג מצוות). The earliest reference to the 613 count is found in a sermon of the third century Talmudic Rabbi Simlai (רבי שמלאי)

3/8 The count is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b: “Rabbi Simlai taught: there were 613 mitzvot stated to Moses in the Torah, consisting of 365 prohibitions... and 248 positive mitzvot”

4/8 Maimonides (d. 1204), the towering medieval Sephardic Jewish polymath and Talmudic expositor, compiled a detailed list of all 613 commandments

5/8 Like Judaism the Islamic scripture, the Quran, contains many legal verses (آيات الأحكام). In 5.48 the legal nature of the Quran is clear: “we have revealed unto you [i.e. Muhammad] the Book with the Truth... for We have made for each of you a law and normative way to follow”

6/8 Traditional Muslim authorities count 500 legal commandments. The first authority to count 500 legal verses was the 8th century AD exegete Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 767). He is reputed to have authored a work titled on the subject which has been reconstructed and edited

7/8 But 613 is more than 500. Also 500 at first glance seems exiguous, considering the size of the Quran. But the 500 verses represent a larger weight than number may indicate. The Quran repeats itself both literally and thematically, except in legal verses.

8/8 Legal verses are stated once - never repeated. In addition, the length of the legal verses is twice or even thrice that of non-legal verses, as Goitein argued. It terms of length and quantity, then, the Quran offers more legal verses than the Torah. END.