Each of the three monotheistic religions possess its own collection of Scriptures.For the faithful-be they Jews,Christians or Muslims-these documents constitute the foundation of their belief.For them they are the material transcription of a divine Revelation,directly,as in the case of Abraham and Moses,who received the commandments from God Himself,or indirectly,as in the case of Jesus and Muhammad,the first of whom stated that he was speaking in the name of the Father,and the second of whom transmitted to men the Revelation imparted to him by Archangel Gabriel.If we take into consideration the objective facts of religious history,we must place the Old Testament,the Gospels and the Quraan on the same level as being collections of written Revelation.Although this attitude is in principle held by Muslims,the faithful in the West under the predominantly Judeo-Christian influence refuse to ascribe to the Quraan the character of a book of Revelation...Such an attitude may be explained by the position each religious community adopts towards the other two with regard to the Scriptures.Judaism has as its holy book the Hebraic Bible.This differs from the Old Testament of the Christians in that the latter have included several books which did not exist in Hebrew.In practice,this divergence hardly makes any difference to the doctrine.Judaism does not however admit any revelation subsequent to its own.Christianity has taken the Hebraic Bible for itself and added a few supplements to it.It has not however accepted all the published writings destined to make known to men the Mission of Jesus.The Church has made incisive cuts in the profusion of books relating the life and teachings of Jesus.It has only preserved a limited number of writings in the New Testament,the most important of which are the four Canonic Gospels.Christianity takes no account of any revelation subsequent to Jesus and his Apostles.It therefore rules out the Quraan.The Quraanic Revelation appeared six centuries after Jesus.It resumes numerous data found in the Hebraic Bible and the Gospels since it quotes very frequently from the(Torah)[1]and the(Gospels.)The Quraan directs all Muslims to believe in the Scriptures that precede it(sura 4,verse136).It stresses the important position occupied in the Revelation by Gods emissaries,such as Noah,Abraham,Moses,the Prophets and Jesus,to whom they allocate a special position.His birth is described in the Quraan,and likewise in the Gospels,as a supernatural event.Mary is also given a special place,as indicated by the fact that sura 19 bears her name.