Quranic Affirmation of the Land Promise to the Children of Israel

The Quran explicitly affirms the biblical account that God granted the land of Canaan (referred to as the Holy Land or the Blessed Land) to the Children of Israel. In Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:20-21), Moses addresses his people with the words:

“O my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you possessors and gave you what He had not given anyone among the worlds. O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah’s cause] and [thus] become losers.”

 This passage presents the land as a divine assignment specifically given to the Israelites.

Other verses reinforce this theme. Surah Al-Isra (17:104) states:

“And We said after Pharaoh to the Children of Israel, ‘Dwell securely in the land, and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering.’”

“Dwell security in the land” echos what appears in Deuteronomy 12:10, where Moses commands the Israelites:

And you all shall cross the Jordan, dwell in the land YHWH your God has provided to you, and He will provide to you from all your surrounding enemies; and you will dwell securely.

Similarly, Surah Al-A’raf (7:137) describes how God caused the Children of Israel to inherit the eastern and western parts of the land which He had blessed. These texts treat the Israelite inheritance of the land as a fulfilled divine promise.

In Islamic theology, this promise is understood as the continuation and fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob (Israel). The Quran repeatedly identifies the Children of Israel as the recipients of prophetic guidance, scripture, and the land, distinguishing this line from Abraham’s other descendants. According to the Quranic narrative, the Israelites were not only given the land but were also commanded to dwell in it, establish themselves there, and worship God according to the instructions revealed to them through Moses and subsequent prophets. Their presence in the land and their observance of divine law there form a central part of the sacred history shared between the Quran and earlier biblical tradition.