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Biblical and Quranic narratives

October 15, 2023

The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, contains references to more than fifty people and events also found in the Bible. While the stories told in each book are generally comparable, there are also some notable differences. Knowing that versions written in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament does predate the Quran, scholars recognize the similarities found in Persian, Jewish and Christian texts. Muslims believe the Quran to be direct knowledge from the Creator of existence. As such, some Muslims believe that the earlier versions are distorted through flawed processes of transmission and interpretation over time, and consider the Quran's version to be more accurate.

Often, stories related in the Quran tend to concentrate on the moral or spiritual significance of events rather than the details.[1] Biblical stories come from diverse sources and authors, so their attention to detail varies individually.

The Islamic methodology of tafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Kitab (Arabic: تفسير القرآن بالكتاب) refers to interpreting the Qur'an with/through the Bible.[2] This approach adopts canonical Arabic versions of the Bible, including the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospel), both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur'an. Notable Muslim mufassirun (commentators) of the Bible and Qur'an who weaved biblical texts together with Qur'anic ones include Abu al-Hakam Abd al-Salam bin al-Isbili of Al-Andalus and Ibrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al-Biqa'i.[2]

Torah narratives Edit

Adam and Eve Edit

Main articles: Adam, Eve, Adam and Eve, Adam in Islam, and Adam in rabbinic literature

The Quran usually mentions God creating Adam from "earth" or "clay" (ṭīn,[3] although one verse suggests "dust" or "dirt" (turāb)).[4] [5] God is said to breathe his spirit into Adam as in the Genesis creation narrative,[6] and also to have created him simply by saying "Be".[7] The Quran then depicts the angels as doubting the creation of Adam, a detail not found in the Genesis accounts:[8][Quran 2:30]

When your Lord said to the angels, "I am indeed going to set a viceroy on the earth," they said, "Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity?" He said, "Indeed, I know what you do not know."

While not found in Genesis, the Quranic account is linked to a Jewish exegesis of Psalm 8,[9] which wonders why God cares for human beings despite their cosmic insignificance. Some Jewish interpreters have understood the question as one being asked by the angels when God created Adam. This led to a tradition in the Babylonian Talmud in which the angels object to the evils that humans will commit in the future, which may be the source of the Quranic narrative.[10]

The Quranic narrative continues that God "taught Adam the Names, all of them," and that Adam presented the names to the angels,[11][Quran 2:31] whereas Genesis has Adam himself naming the animals. The difference highlights the Quranic emphasis on both God's absolute knowledge, and the superiority of humanity to the angels implied earlier.[12]

God then commands the angels to bow down to Adam, but Iblis refuses, saying that he is better than Adam because he was created from fire and Adam from clay.[13] The submission of the angels to Adam is another detail not mentioned in Genesis but important in Syriac Christian texts such as the Cave of Treasures, where it reflects a Christian notion of Adam as being a primordial analogue of Jesus.[12] In the Cave of Treasures, Satan refuses God's order to bow before Adam "since I am fire and spirit, not that I worship something that is made of dirt", using almost the same words as in the Quran.[14]

The creation of Eve is not specified in the Quran, but several verses imply the traditional Genesis account by stating that God "created you [humanity] from a single soul, and created its mate from it".[15][Quran 4:1]

In the Quran, God then tells Adam and his unnamed wife to live in paradise but not to approach a certain tree, which Satan calls the "tree of immortality",[16] whereas Genesis refers to two trees, a tree of the knowledge of good and evil which Adam and Eve must not eat from, and another tree of life. This appears to reflect Syrian Christian exegesis, in which the two trees were considered identical.[17] The Quran continues with Satan himself tricking Adam and Eve into approaching the tree, a progression of the Christian notion in which the Serpent becomes an incarnation of Satan, a link not traditionally made in Judaism.[18] Satan tells Adam and Eve that they will become immortal by approaching the tree, but when they do, "their nakedness [becomes] apparent to them."[Quran 7:22] All three are then expelled from Paradise.[19] There is no mention in the Quran of Eve tempting Adam. While Genesis states that Adam and Eve "realized"[20] that they were naked, the Quran is more ambiguous, referring to Satan's desire to "expose to them what was hidden from them of their nakedness".[Quran 7:20] This may reflect Syriac Christian traditions in which Adam and Eve were thought to be clothed with "glory" before eating from the tree, at which point they became naked instead of merely realizing their prior nakedness.[21]

According to the Quranic narrative, Adam is then forgiven by God after "receiving certain words from his Lord".[22][Quran 2:37] While this is another detail not explicitly mentioned in Genesis, the Quranic episode again has a parallel in the Cave of Treasures, in which God comforts Adam and says that he has "preserved him from the curse" of the land,[22] and from the pre-Islamic apocrypha Life of Adam and Eve, in which God promises Adam that he will eventually return to paradise.[23]

Sons of Adam Edit

Main articles: Cain and Abel, Cain and Abel in Islam, and Biblical figures in Islamic tradition § Cain and Abel
 
A depiction of Cain burying Abel from an illuminated manuscript version of Stories of the Prophets

In the Bible, Adam and Eve have two sons: the elder Cain, who is a farmer, and the younger Abel, a shepherd. When both make sacrifices to God, God only accepts Abel's offerings. Angered, Cain kills his brother despite God's warning. He is condemned to a lifetime of wandering and fruitless toil.[24] The Qur'an narrates a similar story relating to the sons of Adam, although the brothers are not named.[25]

However, a significant difference between the two versions is that while God speaks to Cain in the Bible, the brother who is accepted by God speaks to the rejected one in the Quran, saying:[25]

God accepts only from the God-wary. Even if you extend your hand toward me to kill me, I will not extend my hand toward you to kill you. Indeed, I fear God, the Lord of all the worlds. I desire that you earn [the burden of] my sin and your sin, to become one of the inmates of the Fire, and such is the requital of the wrongdoers.[Quran 5:27–29]

A conversation between Cain and Abel is attested in one Syriac source, although this version differs significantly from the Quran in that Abel begs his brother not to kill him. A conversation between the brothers before the murder is also found in the Targum Neofiti, an Aramaic-language Jewish annotation of the Torah.[26]

The rejected brother then kills the younger brother, as Cain does to Abel. In the Quran, God then sends a crow to dig the earth in which to bury the murdered brother, and the murderer regrets his deed as he looks upon the crow.[25] While a bird digging the earth for Abel is a motif that appears in certain late extra-biblical Christian and Jewish sources, such as the Tanhuma, the Quran is the earliest known version of the episode and may be the source of the other attestations.[26]

The Quran then draws a lesson from the murder, not found in the text of the Torah:

That is why We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, without [its being guilty of] manslaughter or corruption on the earth, is as though he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind.[Quran 5:32]

This verse is nearly identical to a passage in the Mishnah Sanhedrin tractate, part of the Jewish Oral Torah, which also concludes that the lesson of the murder of Abel is that "whosoever destroys a single soul is regarded as though he destroyed a complete world, and whosoever saves a single soul is regarded as though he saved a complete world".[27]

Noah (Nūḥ) Edit

Main articles: Noah in Islam, Noah, and Noah in rabbinic literature
 
The building of Noah's ark, in a 17th-century Falnama (Islamic book of divination)

In both the Bible and the Quran, Noah is described as a righteous man who lived among a sinful people, who God destroyed with a flood while saving Noah, his family, and the animals by commanding him to build an Ark and store the animals in them. In Bible, he is said to have lived for 950 years, but Qur'an said that he warned his people for 950 years[1]But unlike in Genesis, which records not a single word from Noah before he leaves the Ark, the Quranic story of the prophet focuses less on the details of the flood and more on Noah's unsuccessful attempts to warn his people, directly quoting his attempts to persuade his wicked countrymen to turn to righteousness.[28] This emphasis on Noah as a preacher vainly attempting to save others, while not found in the Torah itself, appears in Christian sources as early as the Second Epistle of Peter and was present in Jewish and Christian sources of Late Antiquity, including the Talmud.[29] In the context of the Quran, it emphasizes the crucial notion that Noah and other biblical figures were prototypes of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, all preaching righteousness to save their people from doom.[30]

The Bible and the Quran also diverge on the fate of Noah's family. In the Bible, all of Noah's immediate family is saved, including his three sons. But the Quran mentions a son of Noah who rejects the Ark, instead choosing to take refuge on a mountain where he is drowned. Noah asks God to save his son, but God refuses. This buttresses the recurrent Quranic emphasis on the importance of faith and righteous conduct over ties of family.[31] The episode may also be connected to a passage in the Book of Ezekiel, which similarly stresses righteousness over blood ties by stating that "even if Noah and Daniel and Job were living there [in a sinful country]... they would be able to save neither son nor daughter, only themselves by their uprightness".[32] But while the son of Noah who would not be saved is only hypothetical in Ezekiel, he is a real son in the Quran, traditionally identified (though not by the Quran itself) with the biblical figure of Canaan.[33] The Quran also cites Noah's wife as "an example of the faithless" who was doomed to hellfire without further elaboration,[Quran 66:10] although some Islamic exegetical traditions hold that she would call Noah a madman and was subsequently drowned in the flood. No similar reference exists in the Bible, although certain Gnostic legends entailed a hostile portrayal of Noah's wife.[34] The Bible also records Noah being drunk on wine, and fell asleep naked, and after being found naked by his son Ham, he cursed Canaan, Ham's son.[35] The Quranic narrative does not mention such an incident, so Muslims reject this biblical narrative.

In the Quran, the Ark is said to rest on the hills of Mount Judi (Hud 11:44); in the Bible, it is said to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4) The Al-Djoudi (Judi) is apparently a mountain in the biblical mountain range of Ararat. The Quran cites a particular mount in the Ararat Range, whereas the Bible just mentions the Ararat Range by name. There is a Mount Al-Djoudi in the present-day Ararat mountain range in Turkey.

Abraham (Ibrāhīm) Edit

Main articles: Abraham in Islam and Abraham

Promised a son Edit

Main article: Isaac in Islam

See Genesis 18:1–15, 22:1–20 and Q11:69-74,[36] Q15:51-89,[37] Q37:102-109,[38] and Q51:24-30.[39] Several messengers come to Abraham on their way to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham welcomes them into his tent and provides them with food. They then promise their host that Isaac (ʾIsḥāq إسحٰق) will soon be born to Abraham's wife, Sarah (Sārah سارة). Sarah laughs at the idea because she is far too old to bear children. The Hebrew name יצחק means 'he laughs" and is one of the literary tropes in the biblical story. These literary connections are typically lost in Quranic versions of biblical stories.

Genesis 18:12 "After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
Hud 11:72 (Yusuf Ali). "She said: "Alas for me! shall I bear a child, seeing I am an old woman, and my husband here is an old man? That would indeed be a wonderful thing!""

The angels rebuke her, telling her that by God's will she can bear a son. A conversation ensues in which Abraham admits that he wished God to have mercy on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sacrifices his son Edit

Main articles: Ishmael in Islam and Ishmael

In another narrative, Abraham receives a command (in his dream) from God to sacrifice his son. Abraham agrees to this and prepares to carry out the sacrifice. Before he can do so, however, God tells him to stop and gives him a replacement sacrifice. Abraham is subsequently honoured for his faithfulness to God. (As-Saaffat 37:102–108; Genesis 22:2–18)

Abraham's journeys in the Bible and Quran Edit

The Bible describes Abraham as in Iraq-Syria, then in Canaan, Paran, and Egypt, with his final days in Canaan and Hebron. Both Isaac and Ishmael attend Abraham's funeral.

The Quran mentions that Abraham left his wife and Ishmael (as an infant) in the land where present-day Mecca is, while he returned to Palestine.[40]

Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah (Lūṭ and "The People of Lot") Edit

Main articles: Lot (Bible), Lot in Islam, and Sodom and Gomorrah

According to the Bible in the Book of Genesis, after visiting Abraham, two angels go to the city of Sodom in which Abraham's nephew Lot is a foreigner. They tell him God will soon destroy the city because of the wickedness of the people. The men of the city, upon hearing that Lot is entertaining male visitors, converge upon his house and demand that the men be brought out so that they can have sex with them. Lot offers his daughters in their place, but the men insist upon raping the angels instead. After blinding the city's inhabitants, the angels tell Lot and his family to flee by night and to not look back. The following morning, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with a shower of fiery stones from the sky. Lot's wife looked back to see the burning city and was turned into a pillar of salt.[41]

The story continues further after the destruction of the twin cities, with Lot leaving Zoar (where he had fled for refuge) with his two daughters to live in a cave.[42] Fearing that all the men were dead, the daughters decided that in order to 'preserve the seed of their father' and procreate, they must have sexual intercourse with him;[43] they decide to get him into a drunken stupor so as to be able to 'lie with him' and obtain his seed.[44] And so they each sleep with their father (one each on successive nights), having intoxicated him to a point wherein he could 'perceive not',[45] and thus get impregnated by him. The Bible then continues "And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day".[46] The biblical story of Lot ends here.

According to the Quran, Lot (or Lut, as he is called in the Quran) was a Prophet. He was also a nephew of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham).[citation needed] A group of angels visited Ibrahim as guests[47] and gave him glad tidings of a son "endowed with wisdom";[48][49] they told him that they had been sent by God to the "guilty people"[50] of Sodom,[51] to destroy them [52][53] with "a shower of stones of clay (brimstone)"[54] and deliver Lot and those who believed in him. However, Lot's wife was specifically excluded, with the angels saying "she is of those who lag behind".[55][56] The Quran draws upon Lot's wife as an "example for the unbelievers", as she was married to a righteous man but refused to believe in his words; hence, she was condemned to the Hellfire;[57] otherwise, the story of them leaving the city proceeds much as in the Bible, except that Lot does not offer his daughter's to the people of Sodom for sex. The story of Lot in the Quran ends after describing the destruction of the city.

There are several differences between the Quran and the Bible:

  • In the Quran, Lot is described as a prophet, like his uncle Abraham. In Genesis (Genesis 19:1–29), Lot is not described as a prophet. In the New Testament, (2 Peter 2:7,8) Peter the Apostle describes Lot as a righteous man who was daily tormented by the lawless deeds he saw in Sodom.
  • In both the Bible and in the Quran, Abraham pleads for God to have mercy (Quran 11:75;[58] Gen. 18:24–33).
  • In Genesis, Lot's wife leaves with Lot but turns around briefly and God turns her into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). In the Quran, there is no mention of her leaving; rather Lot and his followers were commanded by the angels not to turn, but Lot is informed that his wife will turn and look behind (Quran Hud 11:123), and thus be destroyed with the rest of the two cities. (Q11:81[59]
  • Following the destruction of Sodom, the Bible describes an incestuous event between Lot and his two daughters, at his daughters' behest, in Genesis 19:30–38. The Quran does not describe any such event. Rather, Muslim scholars deny such a thing ever happened since it would not be befitting for a prophet to fornicate and commit incest with his daughters.

(See Also: Bible: Genesis 19:1–26. Quran 15: 57–77, Q11:74–83, Q7:80–84, Q26:160–174, Q27:54–58, Q29:28–35, Q37:133–138, Q51:31–37, and Q54:36–39.)

Joseph (Yūsuf) Edit

Main articles: Joseph in Islam and Joseph (Genesis)

The narratives of Joseph can be found in Genesis 37–45 and in the first 102 verses of Surah Yusuf (Joseph) (Quran 12:1-102)

In both the Bible and the Quran, Joseph has a vision of eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowing to him which he shares with his family (with his father in the Quran, who forbids Joseph from telling his brothers, and to his brothers in the Bible).

(Genesis 37:9) And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brothers, 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. The brothers come to the father asking his permission to take Joseph out with them to enjoy and play with them. Jacob expresses his reservations against letting him go with them and expressing fear about a wild animal killing him while they were not careful about him. The sons assure the father of their being a mighty group against any threats to Joseph. The father eventually agrees to send Yusuf with them (in the Quran), while in the Bible, Jacob sends Joseph out of his own accord without sons trying to persuade him to let him go with them. (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)

Joseph grows up in the house of the Egyptian. When Joseph is a grown man, his master's wife tries to seduce him. Joseph resists and runs away, but is caught by other servants and reported to his master. The wife lies to her husband, saying that Joseph tried to rape her. (Yusuf 12:25; Genesis 39:12); At this point, the two stories differ.

In the Bible, Joseph's master (named as Potiphar) refuses to believe Joseph's denial and imprisons him. In the Quran, Joseph's master (who is only identified as "the Vizier") accepts the suggestion of another wise person to check Joseph's tunic. If it is torn from the front, the wise person asserts, it will prove Joseph a liar; but if it is torn from the back (as proves to be the case), Joseph will be vindicated and the master's wife proven a liar and an adulteress. The Vizier reprimands his wife and permits Joseph to remain in his household. The Vizier's wife hosts a banquet for women who had been gossiping about her and Joseph providing them with knives; Joseph is commanded to appear before the wife and her ladyfriends; they cut their hands with knives. (The Bible does not mention the banquet, and the Quran does not explain why the guests cut themselves, but a "post-Biblical Jewish tradition" describes Potiphar serving fruit to the gossips who, distracted by the handsome Joseph, cut themselves inadvertently while slicing it up.)[60] Although the Vizier again recognizes Joseph's innocence, he orders him imprisoned nevertheless. In prison, Joseph meets two men. One has a dream of making wine and the other dreams of carrying a stack of bread that birds are eating. Joseph tells the first that he will serve the King again and the second will be executed. Both things happen, precisely as Joseph foretold. Although Joseph asks the first man to bring his name and unjust imprisonment to the attention of the King, (referred to in the Quran as only the King, not a Pharaoh) the first man quickly forgets about him once restored to the royal favour.

Sometime thereafter, Pharaoh/the King had a dream:

(Genesis 41:17–24) "17. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile, 18.when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. 19. After them, seven other cows came up – scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the Land of Egypt. 20. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. 21. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up." 22." In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. 23. After them, seven other heads sprouted – withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. 24. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me."

(Yusuf 12:43) The king (of Egypt) said: "I do see (in a vision) seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn and seven (others) withered. O ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."

Pharaoh's/the King's cupbearer, who had been previously imprisoned with Joseph, suddenly remembers his promise and tells Pharaoh/the King about the man who foretold his own restoration to favour. Pharaoh/the King sent to the prison, asking Joseph to interpret his dream.

In the Quranic account, Joseph insists that the Vizier's wife vindicate him before the king after Joseph agrees to do interpret his dream (this is not mentioned in the Bible); Pharaoh summons the Vizier's wife, who admits her lies about Joseph and proclaims his innocence. The Quran rejoins the biblical narrative, where Joseph reveals the meaning of the king's dream: Egypt will have seven years of good crops followed by seven years of famine and the famine will be worse than the abundance. The king rewarded Joseph by giving him charge over the storehouses and the entire land of Egypt.

During the famine, Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy food, but the youngest was left with their father. While Joseph recognized them, they did not recognize him. He demanded that they return with the missing brother. The brothers return home and find that Joseph had hidden in their packs more than they paid for. They asked their father if they might return with the youngest brother. Reluctantly, their father allows this. They return, and after some further incidents, Joseph ultimately reveals himself to his brothers. (Genesis 45:1; Yusuf 12:90).

In both the Quran and the Bible, the missing brother is Benjamin, (Arabic: بن يامين) Joseph's only full blood brother. The others are half-brothers.

The Qur'an does not refer to the king of Egypt during Joseph's time as "Pharaoh".

Moses (Mūsā) Edit

Main articles: Moses in Islam, Moses, and Moses in rabbinic literature

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 Quran, 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 (Exodus 1:46), and to avoid this fate, Moses' mother cast Moses as an infant into a small ark, where God protected him. Moses was found by the household of the Pharaoh, who adopted him. Moses' sister, Miriam, had followed Moses, and she recommended that his own mother serves as a nurse to him. When Moses became an adult, he saw an Egyptian fighting with an Israelite, and he interceded and killed the Egyptian. The next day, the Israelite asked whether Moses intended to kill him as well. The Pharaoh tried to have Moses killed and Moses fled 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 and Aaron to the court of Pharaoh. Pharaoh refused to listen to them. In response, Aaron threw down his staff and it became a serpent. This prompted Pharaoh's magicians also threw down their staffs, which also turned into snakes. But the snakes of Pharaoh's magicians were swallowed by Moses' serpent.

God caused a famine. God sent plagues of locusts, frogs, blood, and destruction. God sent at least nine signs to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh ignored these signs. When he could ignore them no longer, he agreed to let the Israelites go. However, after God had allowed tranquility, Pharaoh went back on his word and refused to let the Israelites go. As punishment, God made every first-born Egyptian son die and spared every Israelite (the first Passover). Pharaoh became hysterical and demanded that Moses and the Israelites leave at once- only to pursue them with his army after their exit. Then God helped Moses lead the Israelites into a desert and across a sea. Moses struck the sea with his staff and the sea split in half exposing dry land (while creating a wall of water on each side) for the Israelites to walk through. Pharaoh and his army were catching up to the Israelites but the water returned to its original state. Pharaoh's army drowned, but the biblical narrative is unclear whether or not Pharaoh himself drowned. (Exodus 14:28)

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 were afraid. While Moses was gone, the Israelites demanded to worship an idol. They used the gold from their ornaments to construct a golden calf who 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 actions. 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,[citation needed] there are other differences:

  • 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 the Quran, Aaron was made God's messenger on Moses' request to back him up in the difficult task. Moses asked God to give him human support from his family, then asks for Aaron (his brother) praising Aaron by saying that he (Aaron) is a better speaker than him (Moses).
  • The sorcerers, in the Quranic story, repent after seeing Moses' signs and submit to God at the anger of Pharaoh.
  • In the Bible, Moses first goes to Pharaoh without showing any signs.
  • In Exodus, Aaron helps make the golden calf. In the Quran, Aaron himself was a messenger of God and was representing Moses in his absences. He opposed that idea with all his might and warned the Israelites that God will be angry with them. In the Quran, a person named Samiri (not to be confused with Samaritans) leads the Israelites to worship the golden calf.
  • In the Quran, Pharaoh drowned, but God said in the Quran that he preserved the pharaoh's body as an example for generations to come (or made an example for coming generations)

See also Aaron, Islamic view of Aaron, and Islamic view of Pharaoh.

Destruction of Korah Edit

Main article: Korah

The story of the destruction of Korah appears in Numbers 16:1–50 in the Torah and in Al-Qasas 76–82 in the Quran. Korah was an Israelite living during the time of Moses. Because of his wickedness, God caused him to die by opening the ground and swallowing him and his home (Numbers 16:31–33; Al-Qasas 28:81). In the Quran, Qārūn is simply a rich man who is too arrogant. In the Torah, he leads a minor rebellion against Moses. God also kills the others who rebel with him and destroys their homes.

Later Hebrew Bible narratives Edit

Gideon/Saul (Tālūt) Edit

In the Quran and the Bible, there are stories about smaller armies winning victory over larger ones. One story in the Quran and the Bible share strong resemblances, although they are placed at different times and attributed to different characters. The Bible story features Gideon from the Book of Judges and the Quran story features Talut (usually translated as Saul).

In the Book of Judges 6–8 of the Bible, Gideon receives commands from God to take the Israelites to war against the Midianites. Gideon is reluctant, but accedes after making God prove Himself with three different tests. As they are heading to fight, God tells Gideon to send away those who are homesick or afraid of dying. Because the army is still large enough to credit its own strength for victory, God tells Gideon to observe the drinking habits of his troops at the river. God says to send those who do not drink with their hands, but lap the water directly like a dog, back to their homes. The remaining Israelites go on to victory.

In 2:246-248 of the Quran, God chooses Talut (generally considered to be Saul) to lead the Israelites into battle against the army of Goliath. On their way, God tells Talut to warn the men that they will be tested by God, and that they must not drink from the next river in order to pass the test. Despite this warning, most of the men disobey and drink from the river. God tells Talut to leave the disobedient members behind, unless they only drank one handful so that the army will consist of only faithful members. The army then goes on to defeat General Goliath's army.

Saul, David and Goliath (Tālūt, Dāwūd and Jalut) Edit

Main articles: Saul, Islamic view of Saul, and Goliath

The story appears in 1 Samuel 8–12 and 17:1–58. The Prophet Samuel is petitioned by the Israelites for a king. God sends Samuel to appoint Saul as the king, although with the warning that kings only take from their people. At least a few people are not happy with Samuel's choice, but Saul then prophecizes and wins some victories, so the people embrace him. Later Saul falls out of God's favour and God promises to appoint someone else as king. The Philistines attack and are bolstered by the fear engendered by their champion Goliath, a giant. God sends Samuel to recruit David, who kills Goliath. David eventually goes on to become Israel's new king.

A similar story appears in the Quran 2:246–251. The Israelites demand of their prophet to appoint a king, and so God appoints the man Talut. The people respond poorly to the selection, upset that Talut does not seem special. God gives the Ark of the Covenant back to the Israelites in order to verify His choice (this is an event that predates Saul in the Bible). Talut leads the men to battle against an army led by the General Goliath. The Israelite army is small and doubtful, but a few men trust that God can still give them victory. David then kills Goliath and becomes king of Israel. The account also bears similarity to when Gideon led an army. See the above Gideon/Talut subsection.

The Queen of Sheba Edit

Main articles: Queen of Sheba and Islamic view of the Queen of Sheba

The story appears in 1 Kings 10:1–13 and 2 Chronicles 9:1–13 and in verses Surah 27 20–44. The two stories have almost nothing in common. In each, the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon and is impressed by his wisdom and riches. In the Bible, the visit is only diplomatic. In the Quran, the Queen becomes monotheist and peace is established in the kingdoms. Although not part of the Quran, Islamic tradition holds that the name of the Queen of Sheba is Bilqis or Balqis.

Jonah (Yūnus) and the big fish Edit

Main articles: Jonah and Islamic view of Jonah

In both the Bible and the Quran, Jonah is swallowed by a "big fish", usually inferred to be a whale. The Book of Jonah in the Bible consists of four chapters about Jonah's mission to Nineveh. Jonah is referenced three times in the Quran: in verses 139–148 of Sura 37 (As-Saaffat) (Those who set the ranks), verses 87–88 of Sura 21: al-Anbiya' (The Prophets) and verses 48–50 of Sura 68: al-Qalam (The Pen)/Nun. It is mentioned in verse 98 of Sura 10: Yunus (Jonah) and verse 86 of Sura 6: al-An'am (The Cattle).

In the Quran, Jonah gets frustrated by his own people and abandons them to God's mercy, however without asking permission from God and thus going against his given responsibility. In the Quran, it is also mentioned that if Jonah had not prayed inside the belly of the fish he would have stayed in there until the Judgement day. In the Bible, Jonah pays a fare to sail to Tarshish. In both stories, he boards the ship loaded with passengers, lots are cast and Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish (Jonah 1:17, As-Saaffat 37|142). After praying, he is cast out of the fish and washed ashore, and God causes a gourd to grow (37|146) or weeds (2:5). In the Bible, Jonah continues into Nineveh, and the city is spared by God. In the Quran, God causes the gourd to grow to comfort Jonah after he lies on the shore in a sickly state (As-Saaffat 37|145), in the Bible the gourd plant grows up to provide shade for Jonah while he waits for Nineveh to be destroyed (Jonah 4:6). According to an Islamic tradition[citation needed] however, the big fish gets frightened at first, fearing it might have swallowed a holy person as it heard prayers and supplications read in a wonderful voice from her stomach, hearing which numerous sea creatures had surrounded it. But she comforts herself later since it was God's order to swallow Jonah. After two days the fish casts him out the beach of an island and he is very weak. The gastric juices with the hot sunlight burned his skin till the point he was about to scream of pain. God causes a vine to grow over him and provide him fruit and shade. He recovers and goes back to his people who had become good after he left. According to the Bible, Ninevah was a great city, with more than one hundred twenty thousand people and much livestock (Jonah 4:11). In the Quran, the number of people he was sent towards as a prophet exceeded a hundred thousand. They believed in his message and God granted them prosperity for a long time. (As-Saaffat 37|147–148). In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Ninevites repenting at the preaching of Jonah (Matthew 12:41, Luke 11:32).

Haman Edit

Main articles: Haman (Bible), Haman (Islam), and Haman in rabbinic literature

In the Bible, Haman was an Agagite noble and vizier of the empire under Persian King Ahasuerus who desires to persecute the Jews. In the Quran, Haman is an adviser and builder under a Firaun (Pharaoh) of ancient Egypt whose narrative relationship with Moses is recounted in the Quran.

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.

New Testament narratives Edit

Zechariah (Zakariya) and John (Yahya) Edit

Main articles: Zechariah in Islam and John the Baptist in Islam

The story of Zechariah is told in the Gospel of Luke 1:5–80 and 3:1–22 and in the Quran 3.37-41 and 19.2–15. In both accounts, Zechariah and his wife reached an old age without bearing children. Zechariah is told his wife would conceive, despite her barrenness, and his name would be John. As a sign that this would happen, Zechariah becomes mute. John grows to be a devout man. Both accounts mention John's death.

Each account also contains unique elements and differ regarding Zechariah's muteness. In the Bible, Gabriel appears to Zechariah, a priest, on the right side of the altar telling him that his wife will conceive. Zechariah questions how his wife could conceive when he is an old man and his wife is barren, and is struck mute because of his disbelief. Later, Elizabeth conceives. After Elizabeth gives birth and they went to circumcise the child, Zechariah confirms that the son's name is John and receives his speech back.

In the Quran, God promises Zechariah a child and Zechariah similarly questions God. God replies that it is easy, just as he created Zechariah from nothing. Zechariah then asks for a sign, and God responds that he will not speak to anyone for three nights, except by gesture. This may imply he simply would not find an occasion to speak to anyone.[citation needed] Zechariah comes out from his prayer chamber and gestures to praise God in the morning and afternoon.

Mary (Maryam) Edit

Mary's life is told in several books of the New Testament and the Quran.

Bible Edit

Main article: Mary (mother of Jesus)

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 had 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 (in Matthew 1:21–22 a meaning for the name is given "for he shall save his people from their sins.

In Hebrew ישוע sounds like the Hebrew word for salvation "ישועה"). 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 God, unlike Zachariah, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I have not known a 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 her old 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 Quran never mentions any man. In the Quran, '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.

Quran Edit

Main article: Mary in Islam

"Maryam", a Quranic chapter (surah) is named for Mary and the Quran mentions Maryam by name in numerous verses (āyāt), starting with her birth.

Q3:36-37: Then when she (the wife of ʿImrān) had given birth to her she said:

My lord: I have given birth to a female (And God knew best to what she was to give birth. And the male is not like the female.) And I have named her Maryam.

Then her lord accepted her with a comely acceptance and caused her to grow with a comely growth And placed her under the care of Zakariyyā. Whenever Zakariyyā entered upon her in the sanctuary he found with her provision. He said:

O Maryam: whence comes this to you?

She said: It is from the presence of God. God gives provision to whom he wills without reckoning.[61]

Her final mention is in the final verse of Chapter 66 "Prohibition".[61]

Jesus (ʿIsa, Yeshuaʿ) Edit

Main articles: Jesus in Islam, Jesus, and Jesus in Christianity

New Testament narrative Edit

Jesus's ministry 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. Some stories common to all four Gospels include:

Each gospel represents a different perspective, with some different information and emphases than each of the other gospels. Christians accept all four books as part of the canon of Scripture.

Quran narrative Edit

Jesus directly appears several times in the Quran: Al-Imran 35–59; An-Nisa' 156–158; Al-Ma'idah 109–120; Maryam 16–35, Al-Mu'minun 50; Az-Zukhruf 57–65; As-Saff 6 and 14. He is also indirectly referred to in other locations.

The Quran contains few narratives from Jesus' life, but does include many brief descriptions in common with the Bible:


The details of Jesus's birth differ from those offered in the gospels of Matthew and Luke (see above section). Other accounts in the Quran do not exist in the Bible. Two such stories, one in which infant Jesus verbally testifies to Mary's virginity and another in which young Jesus forms and breathes life into clay birds, have counterparts in non-canonical Christian literature (see Infancy Gospels).[75] The Quran rejects that Jesus ever expected to be interpreted as divine and that he only taught strictly tawhid.

Other figures Edit

Main article: List of people in both the Bible and the Qur'an

The Quran and the Bible have over 50 characters in common, typically in the same narratives. The Quran 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 blessed by God (Genesis 17:20).

There is also one person mentioned in the Quran, Dhul-Qarnayn, who is not mentioned in the Bible by that name. (see Alexander the Great in the Quran).

Mixed similarities Edit

In several cases, the Quran and the Bible have common events but occur in different narrations.

Idol calf and Samaritan Edit

In the Bible, in Moses' absence, certain people who went out of Egypt with the Hebrews worship a golden calf saying "This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." Hundreds of years later, Samaria was founded and became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. King Jeroboam, its first king, also made two golden calves and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

The Quran tells the story of a calf while Moses is gone. A man called "the Samari" (in Yusuf Ali's translation) or "the Samaritan" (in Arberry's) is blamed for protagonizing their idolatry.

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 Quran 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 [Quran 20:97])

In the Quran, 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.

Miriam and Mary Edit

In Arabic, both the names Mary and Miriam are called Maryam.[citation needed] Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the only woman to have her name mentioned in the Quran; all other women are mentioned only by relations, and their names were given later by commentators. While speaking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Quran also refers to her as the sister of Aaron (in verses 66:12 and 19:28–30), who in the Bible also had a sister Miriam. According to James K. Walker, "critics have noted that the Qur’an appears to confuse Mary … in the New Testament with Miram of the Old Testament, who … lived some 1400 years earlier".[76]

However, according to Muslim interpreters, this Aaron is different from the brother of Moses. It was a tradition to give people the names of prophets and pious persons who lived before them as mentioned in the following hadeeth:

Mughira b. Shu'ba reported: When I came to Najran, they (the Christians of Najran) asked me: You read" O sister of Harun" (i. e. Hadrat Maryam) in the Quran, whereas Moses was born much before Jesus. When I came back to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) I asked him about that, whereupon he said: The (people of the old age) used to give names (to their persons) after the names of Apostles and pious persons who had gone before them. (Sheik Muslim – Adaaab Book)

Hannah and Hannah Edit

Further information: Hannah (biblical figure) and Saint Anne

In the Books of Samuel, Hannah is grateful that God gave her a son, Samuel. She dedicated him to God by letting him live with Eli the prophet and priest.

In the Quran, Mary's mother is grateful to God for Mary and dedicates her to God. Mary then lives in the household of Zechariah the prophet.

In the Bible, Zechariah is also a priest. Mary's mother is unnamed in the Quran.

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ e.g. Gerald Hawting, interviewed for The Religion Report, Radio National (Australia), 26 June 2002.
  2. ^ a b McCoy, R. Michael (8 September 2021). Interpreting the Qurʾān with the Bible (Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bi-l-Kitāb). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-46682-1.
  3. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 220, 352.
  4. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 125, 220.
  5. ^ Q3:59 [Quran 3:59]
  6. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 407.
  7. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 126.
  8. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 35.
  9. ^ Psalms 8:4–8:5
  10. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 35–36.
  11. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 36.
  12. ^ a b Reynolds 2018, pp. 36–37.
  13. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 251.
  14. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 251–252.
  15. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 152.
  16. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 502.
  17. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 37–38, 255.
  18. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 38, 254.
  19. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 254–256.
  20. ^ Genesis 3:7
  21. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 255.
  22. ^ a b Reynolds 2018, p. 39.
  23. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 256.
  24. ^ Gen 4:1–15
  25. ^ a b c Reynolds 2018, p. 197.
  26. ^ a b Reynolds 2018, p. 198.
  27. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 199.
  28. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 347.
  29. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 858–859.
  30. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 13–14.
  31. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 348–349.
  32. ^ Ezekiel 14:20
  33. ^ Reynolds 2018, p. 350.
  34. ^ Reynolds 2018, pp. 840–841.
  35. ^ "Bible, Book of Genesis, 9:17-29". from the original on 6 May 2021.
  36. ^ 11:69–74
  37. ^ 15:51–56
  38. ^ 37:102–109
  39. ^ 51:24–30
  40. ^ Çakmak, Cenap (18 May 2017). Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-61069-217-5. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  41. ^ Genesis 19:5–26
  42. ^ Genesis 19:30
  43. ^ Genesis 19:31
  44. ^ Genesis 19:32
  45. ^ Genesis 19:33–35
  46. ^ Genesis 19:37–38
  47. ^ Q15:51 [Quran 15:51]
  48. ^ Q11:69 [Quran 11:69]
  49. ^ Q15:53 [Quran 15:53]
  50. ^ Q15:58 [Quran 15:58]
  51. ^ Q11:70 [Quran 11:70]
  52. ^ Q29:31 [Quran 29:31]
  53. ^ Q29:34 [Quran 29:34]
  54. ^ Q51:33-34 [Quran 51:33]
  55. ^ Q29:32 [Quran 29:32]
  56. ^ Q15:59 [Quran 15:59]
  57. ^ Q66:10 [Quran 66:10]
  58. ^ 11:75
  59. ^ 11:81
  60. ^ Cook, Michael (1983). Muhammad. Oxford University Press. p. 78. ISBN 0192876058.
  61. ^ a b Sam Gerrans, The Qur'an: A Complete Revelation. Reference Edition. ISBN 9780995492097
  62. ^ Matthew 3:1–17; Mark 1:1–11; Luke 3:1–22; John 1:15–34
  63. ^ Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–15
  64. ^ Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:29–44; John 12:12–19
  65. ^ Matthew 21:10–17; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46; John 2:13–17
  66. ^ Matthew 26:21–25; Mark 10:41–45; Luke 22:21–23; John 13:21–30
  67. ^ Matthew 27:32–56; Mark 15:21–41; Luke 23:26–56; John 19:1–37
  68. ^ Matthew 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–11; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–18
  69. ^ a b Surah 5.110
  70. ^ Surah 3.45
  71. ^ "Qur'an, Surah Mu'minun, 23:50". from the original on 25 November 2020.
  72. ^ Surah 3.52
  73. ^ Surah 3.55
  74. ^ "Qur'an, Surah Ma'ida, 5:112-115". from the original on 2 September 2014.
  75. ^ Hans-Josef Klauck (2003). The Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction. p 18 056708390X "The surprising element in this Sure is not the allusion to Jesus' miracles of feeding the crowds, but the reference to the remarkable visual miracle of breathing life into birds formed of clay. This is related in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (2:2–4;"
  76. ^ Walker, James K. (2011). What the Quran Really Teaches About Jesus: Prophet of Allah or Savior of the ... Harvest House. p. 37. ISBN 9780736973830. Retrieved 16 September 2019.

Works cited Edit

  • Reynolds, Gabriel Said (2018). The Qurʾān and the Bible: Text and Commentary. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18132-6. Retrieved 19 August 2020.

October 15, 2023
biblical, quranic, narratives, quran, central, religious, text, islam, contains, references, more, than, fifty, people, events, also, found, bible, while, stories, told, each, book, generally, comparable, there, also, some, notable, differences, knowing, that,. The Quran the central religious text of Islam contains references to more than fifty people and events also found in the Bible While the stories told in each book are generally comparable there are also some notable differences Knowing that versions written in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament does predate the Quran scholars recognize the similarities found in Persian Jewish and Christian texts Muslims believe the Quran to be direct knowledge from the Creator of existence As such some Muslims believe that the earlier versions are distorted through flawed processes of transmission and interpretation over time and consider the Quran s version to be more accurate Often stories related in the Quran tend to concentrate on the moral or spiritual significance of events rather than the details 1 Biblical stories come from diverse sources and authors so their attention to detail varies individually The Islamic methodology of tafsir al Qur an bi l Kitab Arabic تفسير القرآن بالكتاب refers to interpreting the Qur an with through the Bible 2 This approach adopts canonical Arabic versions of the Bible including the Tawrat Torah and the Injil Gospel both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur an Notable Muslim mufassirun commentators of the Bible and Qur an who weaved biblical texts together with Qur anic ones include Abu al Hakam Abd al Salam bin al Isbili of Al Andalus and Ibrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al Biqa i 2 Contents 1 Torah narratives 1 1 Adam and Eve 1 2 Sons of Adam 1 3 Noah Nuḥ 1 4 Abraham Ibrahim 1 4 1 Promised a son 1 4 2 Sacrifices his son 1 5 Abraham s journeys in the Bible and Quran 1 6 Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah Luṭ and The People of Lot 1 7 Joseph Yusuf 1 8 Moses Musa 1 9 Destruction of Korah 2 Later Hebrew Bible narratives 2 1 Gideon Saul Talut 2 2 Saul David and Goliath Talut Dawud and Jalut 2 3 The Queen of Sheba 2 4 Jonah Yunus and the big fish 2 5 Haman 3 New Testament narratives 3 1 Zechariah Zakariya and John Yahya 3 2 Mary Maryam 3 2 1 Bible 3 2 2 Quran 3 3 Jesus ʿIsa Yeshuaʿ 3 3 1 New Testament narrative 3 3 2 Quran narrative 4 Other figures 5 Mixed similarities 5 1 Idol calf and Samaritan 5 2 Miriam and Mary 5 3 Hannah and Hannah 6 See also 7 References 7 1 Works citedTorah narratives EditAdam and Eve Edit Main articles Adam Eve Adam and Eve Adam in Islam and Adam in rabbinic literature The Quran usually mentions God creating Adam from earth or clay ṭin 3 although one verse suggests dust or dirt turab 4 5 God is said to breathe his spirit into Adam as in the Genesis creation narrative 6 and also to have created him simply by saying Be 7 The Quran then depicts the angels as doubting the creation of Adam a detail not found in the Genesis accounts 8 Quran 2 30 When your Lord said to the angels I am indeed going to set a viceroy on the earth they said Will You set in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood while we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your sanctity He said Indeed I know what you do not know While not found in Genesis the Quranic account is linked to a Jewish exegesis of Psalm 8 9 which wonders why God cares for human beings despite their cosmic insignificance Some Jewish interpreters have understood the question as one being asked by the angels when God created Adam This led to a tradition in the Babylonian Talmud in which the angels object to the evils that humans will commit in the future which may be the source of the Quranic narrative 10 The Quranic narrative continues that God taught Adam the Names all of them and that Adam presented the names to the angels 11 Quran 2 31 whereas Genesis has Adam himself naming the animals The difference highlights the Quranic emphasis on both God s absolute knowledge and the superiority of humanity to the angels implied earlier 12 God then commands the angels to bow down to Adam but Iblis refuses saying that he is better than Adam because he was created from fire and Adam from clay 13 The submission of the angels to Adam is another detail not mentioned in Genesis but important in Syriac Christian texts such as the Cave of Treasures where it reflects a Christian notion of Adam as being a primordial analogue of Jesus 12 In the Cave of Treasures Satan refuses God s order to bow before Adam since I am fire and spirit not that I worship something that is made of dirt using almost the same words as in the Quran 14 The creation of Eve is not specified in the Quran but several verses imply the traditional Genesis account by stating that God created you humanity from a single soul and created its mate from it 15 Quran 4 1 In the Quran God then tells Adam and his unnamed wife to live in paradise but not to approach a certain tree which Satan calls the tree of immortality 16 whereas Genesis refers to two trees a tree of the knowledge of good and evil which Adam and Eve must not eat from and another tree of life This appears to reflect Syrian Christian exegesis in which the two trees were considered identical 17 The Quran continues with Satan himself tricking Adam and Eve into approaching the tree a progression of the Christian notion in which the Serpent becomes an incarnation of Satan a link not traditionally made in Judaism 18 Satan tells Adam and Eve that they will become immortal by approaching the tree but when they do their nakedness becomes apparent to them Quran 7 22 All three are then expelled from Paradise 19 There is no mention in the Quran of Eve tempting Adam While Genesis states that Adam and Eve realized 20 that they were naked the Quran is more ambiguous referring to Satan s desire to expose to them what was hidden from them of their nakedness Quran 7 20 This may reflect Syriac Christian traditions in which Adam and Eve were thought to be clothed with glory before eating from the tree at which point they became naked instead of merely realizing their prior nakedness 21 According to the Quranic narrative Adam is then forgiven by God after receiving certain words from his Lord 22 Quran 2 37 While this is another detail not explicitly mentioned in Genesis the Quranic episode again has a parallel in the Cave of Treasures in which God comforts Adam and says that he has preserved him from the curse of the land 22 and from the pre Islamic apocrypha Life of Adam and Eve in which God promises Adam that he will eventually return to paradise 23 Sons of Adam Edit Main articles Cain and Abel Cain and Abel in Islam and Biblical figures in Islamic tradition Cain and Abel nbsp A depiction of Cain burying Abel from an illuminated manuscript version of Stories of the ProphetsIn the Bible Adam and Eve have two sons the elder Cain who is a farmer and the younger Abel a shepherd When both make sacrifices to God God only accepts Abel s offerings Angered Cain kills his brother despite God s warning He is condemned to a lifetime of wandering and fruitless toil 24 The Qur an narrates a similar story relating to the sons of Adam although the brothers are not named 25 However a significant difference between the two versions is that while God speaks to Cain in the Bible the brother who is accepted by God speaks to the rejected one in the Quran saying 25 God accepts only from the God wary Even if you extend your hand toward me to kill me I will not extend my hand toward you to kill you Indeed I fear God the Lord of all the worlds I desire that you earn the burden of my sin and your sin to become one of the inmates of the Fire and such is the requital of the wrongdoers Quran 5 27 29 A conversation between Cain and Abel is attested in one Syriac source although this version differs significantly from the Quran in that Abel begs his brother not to kill him A conversation between the brothers before the murder is also found in the Targum Neofiti an Aramaic language Jewish annotation of the Torah 26 The rejected brother then kills the younger brother as Cain does to Abel In the Quran God then sends a crow to dig the earth in which to bury the murdered brother and the murderer regrets his deed as he looks upon the crow 25 While a bird digging the earth for Abel is a motif that appears in certain late extra biblical Christian and Jewish sources such as the Tanhuma the Quran is the earliest known version of the episode and may be the source of the other attestations 26 The Quran then draws a lesson from the murder not found in the text of the Torah That is why We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul without its being guilty of manslaughter or corruption on the earth is as though he had killed all mankind and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind Quran 5 32 This verse is nearly identical to a passage in the Mishnah Sanhedrin tractate part of the Jewish Oral Torah which also concludes that the lesson of the murder of Abel is that whosoever destroys a single soul is regarded as though he destroyed a complete world and whosoever saves a single soul is regarded as though he saved a complete world 27 Noah Nuḥ Edit Main articles Noah in Islam Noah and Noah in rabbinic literature nbsp The building of Noah s ark in a 17th century Falnama Islamic book of divination In both the Bible and the Quran Noah is described as a righteous man who lived among a sinful people who God destroyed with a flood while saving Noah his family and the animals by commanding him to build an Ark and store the animals in them In Bible he is said to have lived for 950 years but Qur an said that he warned his people for 950 years 1 But unlike in Genesis which records not a single word from Noah before he leaves the Ark the Quranic story of the prophet focuses less on the details of the flood and more on Noah s unsuccessful attempts to warn his people directly quoting his attempts to persuade his wicked countrymen to turn to righteousness 28 This emphasis on Noah as a preacher vainly attempting to save others while not found in the Torah itself appears in Christian sources as early as the Second Epistle of Peter and was present in Jewish and Christian sources of Late Antiquity including the Talmud 29 In the context of the Quran it emphasizes the crucial notion that Noah and other biblical figures were prototypes of the Islamic prophet Muhammad all preaching righteousness to save their people from doom 30 The Bible and the Quran also diverge on the fate of Noah s family In the Bible all of Noah s immediate family is saved including his three sons But the Quran mentions a son of Noah who rejects the Ark instead choosing to take refuge on a mountain where he is drowned Noah asks God to save his son but God refuses This buttresses the recurrent Quranic emphasis on the importance of faith and righteous conduct over ties of family 31 The episode may also be connected to a passage in the Book of Ezekiel which similarly stresses righteousness over blood ties by stating that even if Noah and Daniel and Job were living there in a sinful country they would be able to save neither son nor daughter only themselves by their uprightness 32 But while the son of Noah who would not be saved is only hypothetical in Ezekiel he is a real son in the Quran traditionally identified though not by the Quran itself with the biblical figure of Canaan 33 The Quran also cites Noah s wife as an example of the faithless who was doomed to hellfire without further elaboration Quran 66 10 although some Islamic exegetical traditions hold that she would call Noah a madman and was subsequently drowned in the flood No similar reference exists in the Bible although certain Gnostic legends entailed a hostile portrayal of Noah s wife 34 The Bible also records Noah being drunk on wine and fell asleep naked and after being found naked by his son Ham he cursed Canaan Ham s son 35 The Quranic narrative does not mention such an incident so Muslims reject this biblical narrative In the Quran the Ark is said to rest on the hills of Mount Judi Hud 11 44 in the Bible it is said to rest on the mountains of Ararat Gen 8 4 The Al Djoudi Judi is apparently a mountain in the biblical mountain range of Ararat The Quran cites a particular mount in the Ararat Range whereas the Bible just mentions the Ararat Range by name There is a Mount Al Djoudi in the present day Ararat mountain range in Turkey Abraham Ibrahim Edit Main articles Abraham in Islam and Abraham Promised a son Edit Main article Isaac in Islam See Genesis 18 1 15 22 1 20 and Q11 69 74 36 Q15 51 89 37 Q37 102 109 38 and Q51 24 30 39 Several messengers come to Abraham on their way to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham welcomes them into his tent and provides them with food They then promise their host that Isaac ʾIsḥaq إسح ق will soon be born to Abraham s wife Sarah Sarah سارة Sarah laughs at the idea because she is far too old to bear children The Hebrew name יצחק means he laughs and is one of the literary tropes in the biblical story These literary connections are typically lost in Quranic versions of biblical stories Genesis 18 12 After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also Hud 11 72 Yusuf Ali She said Alas for me shall I bear a child seeing I am an old woman and my husband here is an old man That would indeed be a wonderful thing The angels rebuke her telling her that by God s will she can bear a son A conversation ensues in which Abraham admits that he wished God to have mercy on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah Sacrifices his son Edit Main articles Ishmael in Islam and Ishmael In another narrative Abraham receives a command in his dream from God to sacrifice his son Abraham agrees to this and prepares to carry out the sacrifice Before he can do so however God tells him to stop and gives him a replacement sacrifice Abraham is subsequently honoured for his faithfulness to God As Saaffat 37 102 108 Genesis 22 2 18 Abraham s journeys in the Bible and Quran Edit The Bible describes Abraham as in Iraq Syria then in Canaan Paran and Egypt with his final days in Canaan and Hebron Both Isaac and Ishmael attend Abraham s funeral The Quran mentions that Abraham left his wife and Ishmael as an infant in the land where present day Mecca is while he returned to Palestine 40 Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah Luṭ and The People of Lot Edit Main articles Lot Bible Lot in Islam and Sodom and Gomorrah This article uncritically uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them Please help improve this article by adding references to reliable secondary sources with multiple points of view October 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message According to the Bible in the Book of Genesis after visiting Abraham two angels go to the city of Sodom in which Abraham s nephew Lot is a foreigner They tell him God will soon destroy the city because of the wickedness of the people The men of the city upon hearing that Lot is entertaining male visitors converge upon his house and demand that the men be brought out so that they can have sex with them Lot offers his daughters in their place but the men insist upon raping the angels instead After blinding the city s inhabitants the angels tell Lot and his family to flee by night and to not look back The following morning God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with a shower of fiery stones from the sky Lot s wife looked back to see the burning city and was turned into a pillar of salt 41 The story continues further after the destruction of the twin cities with Lot leaving Zoar where he had fled for refuge with his two daughters to live in a cave 42 Fearing that all the men were dead the daughters decided that in order to preserve the seed of their father and procreate they must have sexual intercourse with him 43 they decide to get him into a drunken stupor so as to be able to lie with him and obtain his seed 44 And so they each sleep with their father one each on successive nights having intoxicated him to a point wherein he could perceive not 45 and thus get impregnated by him The Bible then continues And the firstborn bare a son and called his name Moab the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day And the younger she also bare a son and called his name Ben ammi the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day 46 The biblical story of Lot ends here According to the Quran Lot or Lut as he is called in the Quran was a Prophet He was also a nephew of Prophet Ibrahim Abraham citation needed A group of angels visited Ibrahim as guests 47 and gave him glad tidings of a son endowed with wisdom 48 49 they told him that they had been sent by God to the guilty people 50 of Sodom 51 to destroy them 52 53 with a shower of stones of clay brimstone 54 and deliver Lot and those who believed in him However Lot s wife was specifically excluded with the angels saying she is of those who lag behind 55 56 The Quran draws upon Lot s wife as an example for the unbelievers as she was married to a righteous man but refused to believe in his words hence she was condemned to the Hellfire 57 otherwise the story of them leaving the city proceeds much as in the Bible except that Lot does not offer his daughter s to the people of Sodom for sex The story of Lot in the Quran ends after describing the destruction of the city There are several differences between the Quran and the Bible In the Quran Lot is described as a prophet like his uncle Abraham In Genesis Genesis 19 1 29 Lot is not described as a prophet In the New Testament 2 Peter 2 7 8 Peter the Apostle describes Lot as a righteous man who was daily tormented by the lawless deeds he saw in Sodom In both the Bible and in the Quran Abraham pleads for God to have mercy Quran 11 75 58 Gen 18 24 33 In Genesis Lot s wife leaves with Lot but turns around briefly and God turns her into a pillar of salt Genesis 19 26 In the Quran there is no mention of her leaving rather Lot and his followers were commanded by the angels not to turn but Lot is informed that his wife will turn and look behind Quran Hud 11 123 and thus be destroyed with the rest of the two cities Q11 81 59 Following the destruction of Sodom the Bible describes an incestuous event between Lot and his two daughters at his daughters behest in Genesis 19 30 38 The Quran does not describe any such event Rather Muslim scholars deny such a thing ever happened since it would not be befitting for a prophet to fornicate and commit incest with his daughters See Also Bible Genesis 19 1 26 Quran 15 57 77 Q11 74 83 Q7 80 84 Q26 160 174 Q27 54 58 Q29 28 35 Q37 133 138 Q51 31 37 and Q54 36 39 Joseph Yusuf Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main articles Joseph in Islam and Joseph Genesis The narratives of Joseph can be found in Genesis 37 45 and in the first 102 verses of Surah Yusuf Joseph Quran 12 1 102 In both the Bible and the Quran Joseph has a vision of eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowing to him which he shares with his family with his father in the Quran who forbids Joseph from telling his brothers and to his brothers in the Bible Genesis 37 9 And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brothers 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 The brothers come to the father asking his permission to take Joseph out with them to enjoy and play with them Jacob expresses his reservations against letting him go with them and expressing fear about a wild animal killing him while they were not careful about him The sons assure the father of their being a mighty group against any threats to Joseph The father eventually agrees to send Yusuf with them in the Quran while in the Bible Jacob sends Joseph out of his own accord without sons trying to persuade him to let him go with them 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 Joseph grows up in the house of the Egyptian When Joseph is a grown man his master s wife tries to seduce him Joseph resists and runs away but is caught by other servants and reported to his master The wife lies to her husband saying that Joseph tried to rape her Yusuf 12 25 Genesis 39 12 At this point the two stories differ In the Bible Joseph s master named as Potiphar refuses to believe Joseph s denial and imprisons him In the Quran Joseph s master who is only identified as the Vizier accepts the suggestion of another wise person to check Joseph s tunic If it is torn from the front the wise person asserts it will prove Joseph a liar but if it is torn from the back as proves to be the case Joseph will be vindicated and the master s wife proven a liar and an adulteress The Vizier reprimands his wife and permits Joseph to remain in his household The Vizier s wife hosts a banquet for women who had been gossiping about her and Joseph providing them with knives Joseph is commanded to appear before the wife and her ladyfriends they cut their hands with knives The Bible does not mention the banquet and the Quran does not explain why the guests cut themselves but a post Biblical Jewish tradition describes Potiphar serving fruit to the gossips who distracted by the handsome Joseph cut themselves inadvertently while slicing it up 60 Although the Vizier again recognizes Joseph s innocence he orders him imprisoned nevertheless In prison Joseph meets two men One has a dream of making wine and the other dreams of carrying a stack of bread that birds are eating Joseph tells the first that he will serve the King again and the second will be executed Both things happen precisely as Joseph foretold Although Joseph asks the first man to bring his name and unjust imprisonment to the attention of the King referred to in the Quran as only the King not a Pharaoh the first man quickly forgets about him once restored to the royal favour Sometime thereafter Pharaoh the King had a dream Genesis 41 17 24 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile 18 when out of the river there came up seven cows fat and sleek and they grazed among the reeds 19 After them seven other cows came up scrawny and very ugly and lean I had never seen such ugly cows in all the Land of Egypt 20 The lean ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first 21 But even after they ate them no one could tell that they had done so they looked just as ugly as before Then I woke up 22 In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain full and good growing on a single stalk 23 After them seven other heads sprouted withered and thin and scorched by the east wind 24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads I told this to the magicians but none could explain it to me Yusuf 12 43 The king of Egypt said I do see in a vision seven fat kine whom seven lean ones devour and seven green ears of corn and seven others withered O ye chiefs Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions Pharaoh s the King s cupbearer who had been previously imprisoned with Joseph suddenly remembers his promise and tells Pharaoh the King about the man who foretold his own restoration to favour Pharaoh the King sent to the prison asking Joseph to interpret his dream In the Quranic account Joseph insists that the Vizier s wife vindicate him before the king after Joseph agrees to do interpret his dream this is not mentioned in the Bible Pharaoh summons the Vizier s wife who admits her lies about Joseph and proclaims his innocence The Quran rejoins the biblical narrative where Joseph reveals the meaning of the king s dream Egypt will have seven years of good crops followed by seven years of famine and the famine will be worse than the abundance The king rewarded Joseph by giving him charge over the storehouses and the entire land of Egypt During the famine Joseph s brothers came to Egypt to buy food but the youngest was left with their father While Joseph recognized them they did not recognize him He demanded that they return with the missing brother The brothers return home and find that Joseph had hidden in their packs more than they paid for They asked their father if they might return with the youngest brother Reluctantly their father allows this They return and after some further incidents Joseph ultimately reveals himself to his brothers Genesis 45 1 Yusuf 12 90 In both the Quran and the Bible the missing brother is Benjamin Arabic بن يامين Joseph s only full blood brother The others are half brothers The Qur an does not refer to the king of Egypt during Joseph s time as Pharaoh Moses Musa Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main articles Moses in Islam Moses and Moses in rabbinic literature 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 Quran 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 Exodus 1 46 and to avoid this fate Moses mother cast Moses as an infant into a small ark where God protected him Moses was found by the household of the Pharaoh who adopted him Moses sister Miriam had followed Moses and she recommended that his own mother serves as a nurse to him When Moses became an adult he saw an Egyptian fighting with an Israelite and he interceded and killed the Egyptian The next day the Israelite asked whether Moses intended to kill him as well The Pharaoh tried to have Moses killed and Moses fled 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 and Aaron to the court of Pharaoh Pharaoh refused to listen to them In response Aaron threw down his staff and it became a serpent This prompted Pharaoh s magicians also threw down their staffs which also turned into snakes But the snakes of Pharaoh s magicians were swallowed by Moses serpent God caused a famine God sent plagues of locusts frogs blood and destruction God sent at least nine signs to Pharaoh but Pharaoh ignored these signs When he could ignore them no longer he agreed to let the Israelites go However after God had allowed tranquility Pharaoh went back on his word and refused to let the Israelites go As punishment God made every first born Egyptian son die and spared every Israelite the first Passover Pharaoh became hysterical and demanded that Moses and the Israelites leave at once only to pursue them with his army after their exit Then God helped Moses lead the Israelites into a desert and across a sea Moses struck the sea with his staff and the sea split in half exposing dry land while creating a wall of water on each side for the Israelites to walk through Pharaoh and his army were catching up to the Israelites but the water returned to its original state Pharaoh s army drowned but the biblical narrative is unclear whether or not Pharaoh himself drowned Exodus 14 28 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 were afraid While Moses was gone the Israelites demanded to worship an idol They used the gold from their ornaments to construct a golden calf who 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 actions 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 citation needed there are other differences 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 the Quran Aaron was made God s messenger on Moses request to back him up in the difficult task Moses asked God to give him human support from his family then asks for Aaron his brother praising Aaron by saying that he Aaron is a better speaker than him Moses The sorcerers in the Quranic story repent after seeing Moses signs and submit to God at the anger of Pharaoh In the Bible Moses first goes to Pharaoh without showing any signs In Exodus Aaron helps make the golden calf In the Quran Aaron himself was a messenger of God and was representing Moses in his absences He opposed that idea with all his might and warned the Israelites that God will be angry with them In the Quran a person named Samiri not to be confused with Samaritans leads the Israelites to worship the golden calf In the Quran Pharaoh drowned but God said in the Quran that he preserved the pharaoh s body as an example for generations to come or made an example for coming generations See also Aaron Islamic view of Aaron and Islamic view of Pharaoh Destruction of Korah Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main article Korah The story of the destruction of Korah appears in Numbers 16 1 50 in the Torah and in Al Qasas 76 82 in the Quran Korah was an Israelite living during the time of Moses Because of his wickedness God caused him to die by opening the ground and swallowing him and his home Numbers 16 31 33 Al Qasas 28 81 In the Quran Qarun is simply a rich man who is too arrogant In the Torah he leads a minor rebellion against Moses God also kills the others who rebel with him and destroys their homes Later Hebrew Bible narratives EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Gideon Saul Talut Edit In the Quran and the Bible there are stories about smaller armies winning victory over larger ones One story in the Quran and the Bible share strong resemblances although they are placed at different times and attributed to different characters The Bible story features Gideon from the Book of Judges and the Quran story features Talut usually translated as Saul In the Book of Judges 6 8 of the Bible Gideon receives commands from God to take the Israelites to war against the Midianites Gideon is reluctant but accedes after making God prove Himself with three different tests As they are heading to fight God tells Gideon to send away those who are homesick or afraid of dying Because the army is still large enough to credit its own strength for victory God tells Gideon to observe the drinking habits of his troops at the river God says to send those who do not drink with their hands but lap the water directly like a dog back to their homes The remaining Israelites go on to victory In 2 246 248 of the Quran God chooses Talut generally considered to be Saul to lead the Israelites into battle against the army of Goliath On their way God tells Talut to warn the men that they will be tested by God and that they must not drink from the next river in order to pass the test Despite this warning most of the men disobey and drink from the river God tells Talut to leave the disobedient members behind unless they only drank one handful so that the army will consist of only faithful members The army then goes on to defeat General Goliath s army Saul David and Goliath Talut Dawud and Jalut Edit Main articles Saul Islamic view of Saul and Goliath The story appears in 1 Samuel 8 12 and 17 1 58 The Prophet Samuel is petitioned by the Israelites for a king God sends Samuel to appoint Saul as the king although with the warning that kings only take from their people At least a few people are not happy with Samuel s choice but Saul then prophecizes and wins some victories so the people embrace him Later Saul falls out of God s favour and God promises to appoint someone else as king The Philistines attack and are bolstered by the fear engendered by their champion Goliath a giant God sends Samuel to recruit David who kills Goliath David eventually goes on to become Israel s new king A similar story appears in the Quran 2 246 251 The Israelites demand of their prophet to appoint a king and so God appoints the man Talut The people respond poorly to the selection upset that Talut does not seem special God gives the Ark of the Covenant back to the Israelites in order to verify His choice this is an event that predates Saul in the Bible Talut leads the men to battle against an army led by the General Goliath The Israelite army is small and doubtful but a few men trust that God can still give them victory David then kills Goliath and becomes king of Israel The account also bears similarity to when Gideon led an army See the above Gideon Talut subsection The Queen of Sheba Edit Main articles Queen of Sheba and Islamic view of the Queen of Sheba The story appears in 1 Kings 10 1 13 and 2 Chronicles 9 1 13 and in verses Surah 27 20 44 The two stories have almost nothing in common In each the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon and is impressed by his wisdom and riches In the Bible the visit is only diplomatic In the Quran the Queen becomes monotheist and peace is established in the kingdoms Although not part of the Quran Islamic tradition holds that the name of the Queen of Sheba is Bilqis or Balqis Jonah Yunus and the big fish Edit Main articles Jonah and Islamic view of Jonah In both the Bible and the Quran Jonah is swallowed by a big fish usually inferred to be a whale The Book of Jonah in the Bible consists of four chapters about Jonah s mission to Nineveh Jonah is referenced three times in the Quran in verses 139 148 of Sura 37 As Saaffat Those who set the ranks verses 87 88 of Sura 21 al Anbiya The Prophets and verses 48 50 of Sura 68 al Qalam The Pen Nun It is mentioned in verse 98 of Sura 10 Yunus Jonah and verse 86 of Sura 6 al An am The Cattle In the Quran Jonah gets frustrated by his own people and abandons them to God s mercy however without asking permission from God and thus going against his given responsibility In the Quran it is also mentioned that if Jonah had not prayed inside the belly of the fish he would have stayed in there until the Judgement day In the Bible Jonah pays a fare to sail to Tarshish In both stories he boards the ship loaded with passengers lots are cast and Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish Jonah 1 17 As Saaffat 37 142 After praying he is cast out of the fish and washed ashore and God causes a gourd to grow 37 146 or weeds 2 5 In the Bible Jonah continues into Nineveh and the city is spared by God In the Quran God causes the gourd to grow to comfort Jonah after he lies on the shore in a sickly state As Saaffat 37 145 in the Bible the gourd plant grows up to provide shade for Jonah while he waits for Nineveh to be destroyed Jonah 4 6 According to an Islamic tradition citation needed however the big fish gets frightened at first fearing it might have swallowed a holy person as it heard prayers and supplications read in a wonderful voice from her stomach hearing which numerous sea creatures had surrounded it But she comforts herself later since it was God s order to swallow Jonah After two days the fish casts him out the beach of an island and he is very weak The gastric juices with the hot sunlight burned his skin till the point he was about to scream of pain God causes a vine to grow over him and provide him fruit and shade He recovers and goes back to his people who had become good after he left According to the Bible Ninevah was a great city with more than one hundred twenty thousand people and much livestock Jonah 4 11 In the Quran the number of people he was sent towards as a prophet exceeded a hundred thousand They believed in his message and God granted them prosperity for a long time As Saaffat 37 147 148 In the New Testament Jesus refers to the Ninevites repenting at the preaching of Jonah Matthew 12 41 Luke 11 32 Haman Edit Main articles Haman Bible Haman Islam and Haman in rabbinic literature In the Bible Haman was an Agagite noble and vizier of the empire under Persian King Ahasuerus who desires to persecute the Jews In the Quran Haman is an adviser and builder under a Firaun Pharaoh of ancient Egypt whose narrative relationship with Moses is recounted in the Quran 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 New Testament narratives EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Zechariah Zakariya and John Yahya Edit Main articles Zechariah in Islam and John the Baptist in Islam The story of Zechariah is told in the Gospel of Luke 1 5 80 and 3 1 22 and in the Quran 3 37 41 and 19 2 15 In both accounts Zechariah and his wife reached an old age without bearing children Zechariah is told his wife would conceive despite her barrenness and his name would be John As a sign that this would happen Zechariah becomes mute John grows to be a devout man Both accounts mention John s death Each account also contains unique elements and differ regarding Zechariah s muteness In the Bible Gabriel appears to Zechariah a priest on the right side of the altar telling him that his wife will conceive Zechariah questions how his wife could conceive when he is an old man and his wife is barren and is struck mute because of his disbelief Later Elizabeth conceives After Elizabeth gives birth and they went to circumcise the child Zechariah confirms that the son s name is John and receives his speech back In the Quran God promises Zechariah a child and Zechariah similarly questions God God replies that it is easy just as he created Zechariah from nothing Zechariah then asks for a sign and God responds that he will not speak to anyone for three nights except by gesture This may imply he simply would not find an occasion to speak to anyone citation needed Zechariah comes out from his prayer chamber and gestures to praise God in the morning and afternoon Mary Maryam Edit Mary s life is told in several books of the New Testament and the Quran Bible Edit Main article Mary mother of Jesus 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 had 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 in Matthew 1 21 22 a meaning for the name is given for he shall save his people from their sins In Hebrew ישוע sounds like the Hebrew word for salvation ישועה 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 God unlike Zachariah but filled with fear and astonishment she said How shall this be done because I have not known a 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 her old 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 Quran never mentions any man In the Quran 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 Quran Edit Main article Mary in Islam Maryam a Quranic chapter surah is named for Mary and the Quran mentions Maryam by name in numerous verses ayat starting with her birth Q3 36 37 Then when she the wife of ʿImran had given birth to her she said My lord I have given birth to a female And God knew best to what she was to give birth And the male is not like the female And I have named her Maryam Then her lord accepted her with a comely acceptance and caused her to grow with a comely growth And placed her under the care of Zakariyya Whenever Zakariyya entered upon her in the sanctuary he found with her provision He said O Maryam whence comes this to you She said It is from the presence of God God gives provision to whom he wills without reckoning 61 Her final mention is in the final verse of Chapter 66 Prohibition 61 Jesus ʿIsa Yeshuaʿ Edit Main articles Jesus in Islam Jesus and Jesus in Christianity New Testament narrative Edit Jesus s ministry 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 Some stories common to all four Gospels include Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist 62 Subsequently travelled as an itinerant preacher and healer Took on twelve apostles Miraculously fed 5000 people at least once 63 Entered Jerusalem on a donkey 64 Drove merchants from the Second Temple 65 Predicted his betrayal by one of his disciples 66 Was crucified 67 But resurrected from death 68 Each gospel represents a different perspective with some different information and emphases than each of the other gospels Christians accept all four books as part of the canon of Scripture Quran narrative Edit Jesus directly appears several times in the Quran Al Imran 35 59 An Nisa 156 158 Al Ma idah 109 120 Maryam 16 35 Al Mu minun 50 Az Zukhruf 57 65 As Saff 6 and 14 He is also indirectly referred to in other locations The Quran contains few narratives from Jesus life but does include many brief descriptions in common with the Bible Made the dead to live 69 Was the prophesied Messiah 70 Flew into Egypt with Mary in childhood 71 Had disciples 72 Taught disciples to carry on his ministry 73 Healed individuals inflicted with blindness and leprosy 69 Had a last supper with his disciples 74 The details of Jesus s birth differ from those offered in the gospels of Matthew and Luke see above section Other accounts in the Quran do not exist in the Bible Two such stories one in which infant Jesus verbally testifies to Mary s virginity and another in which young Jesus forms and breathes life into clay birds have counterparts in non canonical Christian literature see Infancy Gospels 75 The Quran rejects that Jesus ever expected to be interpreted as divine and that he only taught strictly tawhid Other figures EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main article List of people in both the Bible and the Qur an The Quran and the Bible have over 50 characters in common typically in the same narratives The Quran 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 blessed by God Genesis 17 20 There is also one person mentioned in the Quran Dhul Qarnayn who is not mentioned in the Bible by that name see Alexander the Great in the Quran Mixed similarities EditThis article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed November 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message In several cases the Quran and the Bible have common events but occur in different narrations Idol calf and Samaritan Edit In the Bible in Moses absence certain people who went out of Egypt with the Hebrews worship a golden calf saying This is your God O Israel who brought you up out of Egypt Hundreds of years later Samaria was founded and became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel King Jeroboam its first king also made two golden calves and said These are your gods O Israel who brought you up out of Egypt The Quran tells the story of a calf while Moses is gone A man called the Samari in Yusuf Ali s translation or the Samaritan in Arberry s is blamed for protagonizing their idolatry 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 Quran 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 Quran 20 97 In the Quran 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 Miriam and Mary Edit In Arabic both the names Mary and Miriam are called Maryam citation needed Mary the mother of Jesus is the only woman to have her name mentioned in the Quran all other women are mentioned only by relations and their names were given later by commentators While speaking about Mary the mother of Jesus the Quran also refers to her as the sister of Aaron in verses 66 12 and 19 28 30 who in the Bible also had a sister Miriam According to James K Walker critics have noted that the Qur an appears to confuse Mary in the New Testament with Miram of the Old Testament who lived some 1400 years earlier 76 However according to Muslim interpreters this Aaron is different from the brother of Moses It was a tradition to give people the names of prophets and pious persons who lived before them as mentioned in the following hadeeth Mughira b Shu ba reported When I came to Najran they the Christians of Najran asked me You read O sister of Harun i e Hadrat Maryam in the Quran whereas Moses was born much before Jesus When I came back to Allah s Messenger may peace be upon him I asked him about that whereupon he said The people of the old age used to give names to their persons after the names of Apostles and pious persons who had gone before them Sheik Muslim Adaaab Book Hannah and Hannah Edit Further information Hannah biblical figure and Saint Anne In the Books of Samuel Hannah is grateful that God gave her a son Samuel She dedicated him to God by letting him live with Eli the prophet and priest In the Quran Mary s mother is grateful to God for Mary and dedicates her to God Mary then lives in the household of Zechariah the prophet In the Bible Zechariah is also a priest Mary s mother is unnamed in the Quran See also EditAbrahamic religion Islam and Judaism Isra iliyat Christianity and Islam Christianity and Judaism Comparative religion Cyrus Bible List of chapters in the Quran Miracles of Jesus Miracles of Muhammad Superstition in Judaism Superstitions in Muslim societiesReferences Edit e g Gerald Hawting interviewed for The Religion Report Radio National Australia 26 June 2002 a b McCoy R Michael 8 September 2021 Interpreting the Qurʾan with the Bible Tafsir al Qurʾan bi l Kitab Brill ISBN 978 90 04 46682 1 Reynolds 2018 pp 220 352 Reynolds 2018 pp 125 220 Q3 59 Quran 3 59 Reynolds 2018 p 407 Reynolds 2018 p 126 Reynolds 2018 p 35 Psalms 8 4 8 5 Reynolds 2018 pp 35 36 Reynolds 2018 p 36 a b Reynolds 2018 pp 36 37 Reynolds 2018 p 251 Reynolds 2018 pp 251 252 Reynolds 2018 p 152 Reynolds 2018 p 502 Reynolds 2018 pp 37 38 255 Reynolds 2018 pp 38 254 Reynolds 2018 pp 254 256 Genesis 3 7 Reynolds 2018 p 255 a b Reynolds 2018 p 39 Reynolds 2018 p 256 Gen 4 1 15 a b c Reynolds 2018 p 197 a b Reynolds 2018 p 198 Reynolds 2018 p 199 Reynolds 2018 p 347 Reynolds 2018 pp 858 859 Reynolds 2018 pp 13 14 Reynolds 2018 pp 348 349 Ezekiel 14 20 Reynolds 2018 p 350 Reynolds 2018 pp 840 841 Bible Book of Genesis 9 17 29 Archived from the original on 6 May 2021 11 69 74 15 51 56 37 102 109 51 24 30 Cakmak Cenap 18 May 2017 Islam A Worldwide Encyclopedia 4 volumes ABC CLIO p 27 ISBN 978 1 61069 217 5 Retrieved 16 December 2022 Genesis 19 5 26 Genesis 19 30 Genesis 19 31 Genesis 19 32 Genesis 19 33 35 Genesis 19 37 38 Q15 51 Quran 15 51 Q11 69 Quran 11 69 Q15 53 Quran 15 53 Q15 58 Quran 15 58 Q11 70 Quran 11 70 Q29 31 Quran 29 31 Q29 34 Quran 29 34 Q51 33 34 Quran 51 33 Q29 32 Quran 29 32 Q15 59 Quran 15 59 Q66 10 Quran 66 10 11 75 11 81 Cook Michael 1983 Muhammad Oxford University Press p 78 ISBN 0192876058 a b Sam Gerrans The Qur an A Complete Revelation Reference Edition ISBN 9780995492097 Matthew 3 1 17 Mark 1 1 11 Luke 3 1 22 John 1 15 34 Matthew 14 13 21 Mark 6 30 44 Luke 9 10 17 John 6 1 15 Matthew 21 1 11 Mark 11 1 10 Luke 19 29 44 John 12 12 19 Matthew 21 10 17 Mark 11 15 17 Luke 19 45 46 John 2 13 17 Matthew 26 21 25 Mark 10 41 45 Luke 22 21 23 John 13 21 30 Matthew 27 32 56 Mark 15 21 41 Luke 23 26 56 John 19 1 37 Matthew 28 1 10 Mark 16 1 11 Luke 24 1 12 John 20 1 18 a b Surah 5 110 Surah 3 45 Qur an Surah Mu minun 23 50 Archived from the original on 25 November 2020 Surah 3 52 Surah 3 55 Qur an Surah Ma ida 5 112 115 Archived from the original on 2 September 2014 Hans Josef Klauck 2003 The Apocryphal Gospels An Introduction p 18 056708390X The surprising element in this Sure is not the allusion to Jesus miracles of feeding the crowds but the reference to the remarkable visual miracle of breathing life into birds formed of clay This is related in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2 2 4 Walker James K 2011 What the Quran Really Teaches About Jesus Prophet of Allah or Savior of the Harvest House p 37 ISBN 9780736973830 Retrieved 16 September 2019 Works cited Edit Reynolds Gabriel Said 2018 The Qurʾan and the Bible Text and Commentary Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 18132 6 Retrieved 19 August 2020 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Biblical and Quranic narratives amp oldid 1176841504, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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