Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Torah narratives
Adam and Eve ( Adam and Hawwaa)
According to the Biblical creation story God initially created the first human, a man named Adam, from dust and the
life-force proceeding from God's own mouth; thereafter God created a woman named Eve from one of Adam's ribs.
God placed them in the paradisaical Garden of Eden, telling them to eat any food there they wished, except that from
a single tree, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil".[3] According to this tale, a serpent tempted them to
partake of fruit from the tree, telling them that they would become like God by doing so; both then ate from it.
Immediately thereafter, they became ashamed and covered their nakedness with leaves.[4] God questioned them
concerning their actions, reminding them of His command to not to eat of the tree.[5] He next put enmity between the
woman and man, and between humans and the 'tempter',[6] then forced Adam and Eve to leave the garden, following
which these two humans then populated the earth.[7]
According to the Islamic creation story in the Qur'an, before creating Adam from clay by uttering the simple word
"Be",[8] Allah informed the Angels of His divine plan to "create a vicegerent on earth". When they asked him "will
You place therein one who will do harm and shed blood, while we, we hymn Your praise and sanctify You?" He
said: "Surely I know that which you know not."[9] After creating Adam, Allah taught him the names of all things as
well as those of the Angels, which Adam then repeated correctly after the Angels were unable to comply when Allah
asked them to do so from their own knowledge.[10] Allah next commanded all of the angels to prostrate before
Adam, to honour God's new creation and to display obedience to Allah.[11] [12] [13] All of them did except for Iblis
(thereafter known as Shaitaan), a jinn who was arrogant and rebelled against Allah and thus became a disbeliever.[14]
Noah ( N)
See Genesis 6:5-9:29 and mainly Hud 11:2548 as well as Al-A'raf 7:5964, Yunus 10:7173, Al-Muminun
23:2328, Ash-Shu'ara 26:105121, Al-Qamar 54:916, and all of Nuh 71:128
Noah is described in the Bible as a righteous man who lived among a wicked people. God decided to kill all the
wicked through a vast flood, while saving the righteous; hence He commanded Noah to build an Ark, using God's
own instructions. (Gen. 6:9-16; Hud 11:39) Noah did so and he, a few others, and two of each animal species (a
female and a male) board the Ark (Gen. 6:19; Hud 11:42). Water gushes up from the ground and rains fall from the
sky, flooding the earth and killing all the wicked. (Gen. 7:11-12; Al-Qamar 54:1113). All aboard the Ark are safe
until the waters retreat (Gen. 8:14 ; Hud 11:44). There is disagreement among Christians and Muslims concerning
whether the flood was local or global.
There are several differences between the Biblical and Quranic versions of Noah's story:
The Qur'an focuses on a dialogue between Noah and the wicked (Hud 11:3237), in which Noah unsuccessfully
attempts to remonstrate with his countrymen, who reject his message. Genesis mentions no such dialogue.
In the Qur'an, Noah's wife and one of his sons reject him (Hud 11:43) and die in the flood, while some people
outside his family are faithful and join him (Hud 11:42). In Genesis, Noah's wife together with his three sons and
their wives all board the Ark, but no others.
In the Qur'an, the Ark rests on the hills of Al-Joudi (Judaea) (Hud 11:44); in the Bible, it rests on the mountains of
Ararat (Gen. 8:4) The Al-Djoudi (Judaea) is a mount in the Biblical range Ararat. The Qur'an cites a particular
mount in The Ararat Range and the Bible mentions The Ararat Range. Judaea is still present in the Ararat range in
Turkey. Thus there is no conflict between the Bible and the Qur'an on this topic.
Joseph (Yusuf )
The narratives of Joseph can be found in Genesis 37-50 and in the Qur'an 12.4-102.
In both the Bible and the Qur'an, Joseph has a vision of eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowing to him
which he shares with his family.
(Genesis 37:9) And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed a
dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
(Yusuf|12.4) Behold! Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw
them prostrate themselves to me!"
Joseph's brothers became jealous that their father preferred Joseph over them, and so they form a plot to kill Joseph.
However, one brother convinces them not to kill him but throw him down a well while they are alone.
(Yusuf|12.8-10; Genesis 37:20-22) They agree. They subsequently lie to their father as to Joseph's whereabouts,
covering his clothing in blood and asserting that a wild animal had attacked him. A caravan passing the well inspires
the brothers to pull Joseph out of the well and to sell him as a slave to traders in the caravan. Later the traders sell
him to a wealthy Egyptian. (Genesis 37:27-36; Yusuf|12.20-22)
Moses (Ms )
In the Bible, the narratives of Moses are in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The narratives here are
mostly in Exodus 1-14 and 32. In the Qur'an, the Moses narratives are in the following passages: 2.49-61, 7.103-160,
10.75-93, 17.101-104, 20.9-97, 26.10-66, 27.7-14, 28.3-46, 40.23-30, 43.46-55, 44.17-31, and 79.15-25.
Pharaoh slew the young male children of the Israelites (II:46). Moses' mother cast Moses as an infant into a small
ark. God protected him. Moses was found by the household of Pharaoh. They adopted him. Moses' sister, Miriam,
had followed Moses. When he was found, she recommended that his own mother serve as nurse to him. When
Moses became an adult, he saw an Egyptian fighting with an Israelite. Moses interceded and killed the Egyptian. The
next day Moses saw the Israelite whom he saved. "Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" he asks.
Pharaoh tried to have Moses killed and Moses fled. He went to a watering place in Midian. He met some sisters and
watered their herd. When the women's father, Jethro, learned of Moses, he invited him to stay and gave him a
daughter, Zipporah, to marry.
In Midian, Moses saw a fire and approached it. God spoke to him, and told him to remove his shoes. God said that he
had chosen Moses. God said to throw down his staff and to stretch out his arm as signs. His staff turned into a
serpent and then returned to the form of a staff. His arm became white although he was not sick. God commanded
him to go to Pharaoh to deliver a message. Moses said that he could not speak well. So God provided Aaron, his
brother, to help Moses speak.
God sent Moses to the court of Pharaoh. Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses. Moses threw down his staff. It became a
serpent. He extended his hand, and it turned white. Pharaoh's magicians performed a magic feat also but the feat was
swallowed by Moses' serpent. God caused a famine. God sent plagues of locusts, frogs, blood, and death. God sent at
least nine signs to Pharaoh. Each time the Egyptians agreed to let the Hebrews leave and God stopped the plague.
When they broke their word. God told Moses to lead the Israelites across a sea. Moses struck the sea with his staff
and the sea dried up. Pharaoh's army pursued them but the water returned and they are drowned. (Exodus 14:7, II:47)
Moses left the Hebrews for forty nights. He put his brother Aaron in charge of the people (Al-Baqara|2.48) On a
mountain, God gave Moses a revelation of precepts for Israel to follow. God made tablets with writing on them
which Moses carried back to Israel.
Moses asked to see God. The people saw the fire and lightning and the mountain and are afraid. While Moses is
gone, the Israelites demanded to worship an idol. They used the gold from their ornaments to construct a golden calf
whom they said was the god who rescued them from Egypt. Aaron does not stop them. Then Moses returned and
chastised them and Aaron. Many were killed for their action. God sent down manna and quail to eat but the Hebrews
still rebelled against God, and complained about the food. Moses asked God for water and God answered him.
Moses struck a stone with his staff and water came forth. The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes.
God gave the Israelites a bountiful land, but this occurred at different times in the two scriptures. Besides that and
the many additional details in the Torah, there are other differences:
In the Bible, Moses' message is to free the Israelites from slavery under Pharaoh. In the Qur'an, Moses initially
focuses on Pharaoh to convert toward one God. Pharaoh assumed himself as god and was worshiped by
Egyptians.
The Biblical Moses is reluctant to become a prophet and makes excuses. He eventually agrees and Aaron speaks
and performs miracles at first until Moses is ready and takes over. In Quran, Aaron was made Allah's messenger
on Moses' request to back him up in the difficult task. Moses asked Allah to give him human support from
Family, then ask for Aaron (his brother) praising Aaron by saying that he (Aaron) is better speaker than him
(Moses).
The sorcerers, in the Quranic story, repent after seeing Moses' signs and submit to Allah at the anger of Pharaoh.
In the Quran, Pharaoh didn't repent but tried to deceive Moses and Allah by saying that now he believes in one
God, God of Moses and Aaron (while drowning). But all knowing Allah didn't accept this because he sought
repentance at the time of death after seeing the angels.
Haman
In the Bible, Haman was a Persian noble and vizier of the empire under Persian King Ahasuerus who desires to
persecute the Jews. In the Qur'an, Haman is an adviser and builder under a Firaun(Pharaoh) of ancient Egypt whose
narrative relationship with Moses is recounted in the Qur'an.
The structure which Firaun commands Haman to build is similar to the Tower of Babel in Genesis, unrelated to the
narrative of Haman in the Bible. Both structures are made from burnt bricks for the purpose of ascending to the
heavens.
Mary ("Maryam" ),
Mary's story is told in the Gospel of Luke 1:26-37, 2:1-21, and Qur'an 19.16-35. In the Bible, in the sixth month after
the conception of John the Baptist by Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary, at
Nazareth. Mary was of the house of David, and was betrothed to Joseph, of the same royal family. And the angel
having taken the figure and the form of man, came into the house and said to her: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with
thee.' Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak; she was troubled in spirit, since she knew not the angel,
nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation. And the angel continued and said: 'Fear not, Mary, for
thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end.' Not doubting the word of Godlike Zachary, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall
this be done, because I know not man?' The angel to remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity
would be spared, answered: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' In token of the truth of
his word he made known to her the conception of John, the miraculous pregnancy of her relative now old and sterile:
'And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also has conceived a son in herold age, and this is the sixth month with her
that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God.' Mary may not yet have fully understood the
meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging
to the first words of the angel and trusting to the Omnipotence of God she said: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be
it done to me according to thy word.'
In Luke, Mary is betrothed to Joseph but the Qur'an never mentions any man. In the Qur'an, 'her people' have a
conversation with Mary accusing her of fornication. In the Bible, no such conversation happens but Joseph knows
that people are thinking this.
The Quran states in the chapter named after Mary, verse 16-37: And make mention of Mary in the Scripture, when
she had withdrawn from her people to a chamber looking East, And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent
unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord,
that I may bestow on thee a faultless son. She said: How can I have a son when no mortal hath touched me, neither
have I been unchaste? He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. And (it will be) that We may make
of him a revelation for mankind and a mercy from Us, and it is a thing ordained. And she conceived him, and she
withdrew with him to a far place. And the pangs of childbirth drove her unto the trunk of the palm-tree. She said: Oh,
would that I had died ere this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! Then (one) cried unto her from below
her, saying: Grieve not! Thy Lord hath placed a rivulet beneath thee, And shake the trunk of the palm-tree toward
thee, thou wilt cause ripe dates to fall upon thee. So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal,
say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. Then she brought him to
her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! Thou hast come with an amazing thing. O sister of Aaron! Thy
father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to
one who is in the cradle, a young boy? He spake: Lo! I am the servant of God. He hath given me the Scripture and
hath appointed me the Messiah, And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer
and alms giving so long as I remain alive, And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made
me arrogant, unblest. Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! Such was
Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. It befitteth not (the Majesty of)
God that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be!
and it is. And lo! God is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. The sects among them differ:
but woe unto the disbelievers from the meeting of an awful Day. (translation: Pickthal)
10
Jesus (Isa )
Jesus takes up the whole of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible, as well as being the focus
of the subsequent books of the New Testament. He appears several times in the Qur'an: in verses 35-59 of Sura 3:
al-Imran (The Family of Imran), verses 156-158 of Sura 4: an Nisa' (The Women), verses 109-120 of Sura 5:
al-Ma'idah (The Repast), verses 16-35 of Sura 19: Maryam (Mary), verse 50 of Sura 23: al-Mu'minun (The
Believers) verses 57-65 of Sura 43: az-Zukhruf (The Gold Adornments) and in verses 6 and 14 of Sura 61: as-Saff
(The Battle Array). Reference is made to him several more times.
The Qur'an contains few narratives from Jesus' life, but does include many brief descriptions in common with the
Bible:
-In the Qur'an Jesus is said to have created a bird out of clay and blown life into it; and he is also said to have spoken
as an infant in the cradle to defend his mother from the false accusations of fornication. These two narratives are not
found in the Bible, but are in the Infancy Gospels (Non-Canonical Gospels).
The Qur'an rejects the Christian view of Jesus, specifically his divinity. According to the Qur'an, Jesus did not ask to
be worshipped and Jesus asked people to worship God. Also, according to the Qur'an, God "has no partners" and
believing that God took physical form is in of itself a sin.
Other figures
The Qur'an and Bible have over 50 people in common, typically in the same narratives. The Qur'an identifies Enoch
and Ishmael as prophets, but they are never given a story. In the Bible, all these men are identified as righteous
people but not prophets except Ishmael who is not written of favorably.
There is also one person mentioned in the Qur'an, Dhul-Qarnayn, who is not mentioned in the Bible by that name but
whose story is similar to stories about Alexander the Great as mentioned in other Jewish and Christian writings (see
Alexander the Great in the Qur'an). However Dhul-Qarnayn may also be Cyrus the Great who is mentioned in the
Bible (see Cyrus (Bible) and Cyrus the Great in the Qur'an).
Mixed similarities
In several cases, the Qur'an and the Bible have common events but occur in different narrations.
11
12
A verse in Hosea 8:5-6 contains the same content as Ta-Ha|20.97 where Hosea refers to the Jeroboam calf and the
Qur'an refers to the earlier calf. Both feature a prophet speaking to the Samaritan/Samaria promising to destroy the
calf.
Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity? They are from Israel! This
calf - a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.
(Moses) said: "Get thee gone! but thy (punishment) in this life will be that thou wilt say, 'touch me not'; ... Now look at thy god, of whom thou
hast become a devoted worshipper: We will certainly (melt) it in a blazing fire and scatter it broadcast in the sea!"(Yusuf Ali [Qur'an20:97])
In the Qur'an, Moses' punishment that the Samari cannot be touched is the same as the modern Samaritan's
punishment where no Jew was allowed to touch them because of their idolatry. In his commentary, Yusuf Ali claims
that the Samari is not a Samaritan.
"O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" (Yusuf Ali [Qur'an19:28])
Miriam (translated in English Qur'an as Mary), however, the mother of Zechariah and sister of Aaron and Moses,
was mentioned many times in the Qur'an, usually calling her: O daughter of 'Imran!.
In Exodus in the Bible, Miriam is a prophetess who is the sister of Aaron and Moses and the daughter of Imram but
lived a thousands years before Mary mother of Jesus. Some Muslims are confused between the two characters
because of holding the same name in Arabic, which led to believing that she is called a spiritual sister, not a literal
sister. Some say that Mary's father's name was also Imran. The generally accepted view is that 'Imran refers to the
father of Moses, an ancestor of Mary, mother of Jesus. This is similar to how Jesus is referred to as Son of David.
References
[1] eg Gerald Hawting, interviewed (http:/ / www. abc. net. au/ rn/ talks/ 8. 30/ relrpt/ stories/ s591483. htm) for The Religion Report, Radio
National (Australia), 26 June 2002. "...the Koran seems to assume that the readers know these stories [already], it doesn't tell these stories as
if it's talking to people who are ignorant of them, it's using these stories to make moral and religious points, and assuming that the people
already know the details of the stories."
[2] The Orientalists,The Bible & The Qur'n: A Brief Review Of The Bible Borrowing Theories (http:/ / www. islamic-awareness. org/ Quran/
Sources/ BBorientalist. html) (Islamic Awareness) - A Muslim review and critique of the notion that the Qur'an depends on earlier sources.
[3] Genesis 2:17
[4] Genesis 3:6-7
[5] Genesis 3:9-13
[6] Genesis 3:14-15
[7] Genesis 5:4
[8] [Qur'an3:59]
[9] [Qur'an2:30]
[10] [Qur'an2:31-33]
[11] [Qur'an38:71]
[12] [Qur'an20:116]
[13] [Qur'an18:50]
[14] [Qur'an38:74]
[15] [Qur'an7:16]
[16] [Qur'an20:120]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[Qur'an7:20]
[Qur'an20:117]
[Qur'an20:118]
[Qur'an20:121]
[Qur'an20:123]
[22] Lawrence E. Brown, M.D., Original Sin (http:/ / www. islamreligion. com/ articles/ 1776/ ).
[23] Genesis 2:19
[24] [Qur'an4:1]
[25] [Qur'an7:189]
[26] Genesis 2:9
[27] Genesis 1:27
[28] [Qur'an7:10]
[29] [Qur'an2:30]
[30] [Qur'an7:19]
[31] [Qur'an20:115]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42]
[43]
[44]
[45]
[46]
[47]
[48]
[49]
[50]
(Genesis 19:5-26
Genesis19:30
Genesis19:31
Genesis19:32
Genesis19:33
Genesis19:34
Genesis19:35
Genesis19:37
Genesis19:38
[51]
[52]
[53]
[Qur'an66:10]
[Qur'an15:51]
[Qur'an11:69]
[Qur'an15:53]
[Qur'an15:58]
[Qur'an11:70]
[Qur'an29:31]
[Qur'an29:34]
[Qur'an51:33]
[Qur'an29:32]
[Qur'an15:59]
[Qur'an07:81]
[Qur'an26:165]
13
[Qur'an29:29]
[76]
[Qur'an37:137]
[77]
[78]
[79]
[80]
[81]
[82]
Surah 5.110
Surah 3.45
Surah 3.52
Surah 3.55
Surah 2.87
Surah 4.158
[Qur'an54:33]
[Qur'an7:80]
[Qur'an26:168]
[Qur'an11:77]
[Qur'an54:37]
[Qur'an11:78]
[Qur'an15:67]
[Qur'an11:79]
[Qur'an15:72]
[Qur'an11:81]
[Qur'an51:35]
[Qur'an7:83]
[Qur'an15:73]
[Qur'an54:38]
[Qur'an11:82]
[Qur'an7:84]
[Qur'an51:33]
[Qur'an54:39]
[Qur'an15:75]
[Qur'an26:174]
[Qur'an29:35]
14
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/
15