A Comparison of Seven Stories Found in Both the Bible and the Koran

- Content:

Introduction

One of the statements you’ll always see in stories of Christians reverting to Islam is that “the Koran’s superiority to the Bible was evident in practically every line”. Christians tend to be puzzled at the notion that the Bible can’t stand on its own, that there needs to be any final scripture brought about after the Bible. There are any number of ways in which the Koran is superior to the Bible, but in this article I will focus on the most obvious one: the parallel versions of the same stories. Where the details differ, the Koran will always come out ahead. What follows is excerpts from seven stories that are found in both books in which it is obvious that the Koran has cleaned up and corrected the Bible’s account.

The Story of Adam (peace be on him) and Eve

The biblical version of this story is infamous for its anti-feminist agenda and its strangely anthropomorphic God who walks around a garden to catch the cool breezes. (The Koran repeatedly denies that God has any image.) Here is an excerpt:

Now the serpent...said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”....To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Genesis 3:1-16)

Now here is the parallel excerpt in the Koran:

We said, “Adam, surely [Satan] is an enemy to thee and thy wife. So let him not expel you both from the Garden, so that thou art unprosperous. It is assuredly given to thee neither to hunger therein, nor to go naked, neither to thirst therein, nor to suffer the sun.” Then Satan whispered to him, saying, “Adam, shall I point thee to the Tree of Eternity, and a Kingdom that decays not?” So the two of them ate of it, and their shameful parts revealed to them, and they took to stitching upon themselves leaves of the Garden.

And Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he erred. Thereafter his Lord chose him, and turned again unto him, and He guided him. Said He, “Get you down, both of you together, out of it, each of you an enemy to each; but if there comes to you from Me guidance, then whosoever follows My guidance shall not go astray, neither shall he be unprosperous; but whosoever turns away from My remembrance, his shall be a life of narrowness, and on the Resurrection Day We shall raise him blind.”

(The Koran Interpreted 20:117-124)

Blame the woman, right? That’s what the Bible does, but the Koran does not do any such thing, and as such no curse is laid on women to be slaves to their husbands as is in the Bible’s version of the story. And in the Koran’s version, the humans repent, and God forgives them, and even makes Adam (peace be on him) into the first prophet. This is a much more merciful depiction of God than you get in the Bible’s version.

The Story of Noah (peace be on him)

In the Bible’s version of this story, God decides to destroy every human being on earth except for Noah and his family. He doesn’t offer anybody a warning or anything, but only assigns Noah (peace be on him) the impossible task of collecting two of each species on earth and squeezing them onto a single ship, and then destroys the whole world in a massive flood which left no evidence of it having occurred, even though you’d expect such a flood to do so. Here is the relevant excerpt from the Pentateuch:

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them. (Genesis 6:17-21)

Now here is one of the Koran’s many summaries of the story (the complete version being dispersed between a number of chapters, including the one called “Noah” (surah 71):

Recite to them the story of Noah, when he said to his people, “My people, if my standing here is grievous to you and my reminding you of the signs of God, in God have I put my trust; so resolve on your affair, with your associates, then let not your affair be a worry to you, but make decision unto me, and respite me not. Then if you turn your backs, I have not asked you for any wage; my wage falls only on God, and I have been commanded to be of those that surrender.” But they cried him lies; so We delivered him, and those with him, in the Ark, and We appointed them as viceroys, and We drowned those who cried lies to Our signs; then behold how was the end of them that were warned!

(The Koran Interpreted 10:71-73)

We can see that in the Bible, God’s mandate to slaughter every human on earth is both unrealistic (since there’s no evidence of such a huge flood ever happening) and cruel, but also that it is absent in the Koran. According to the Koran, Noah (peace be on him) preached to his civilization, and most of the people of it rejected him, so God saved Noah (peace be on him) and his followers (and his family) in the ark and drowned the civilization in a local flood. Notice how even though it’s only one civilization being destroyed, God still doesn’t wipe out everyone, but a few people listen to His prophet and thus become saved. The Bible’s version of the story does not contain anything so realistic or just.

The Meeting of Zachariah (peace be on him) and Gabriel

Back when I was a Christian, I was rather disturbed by Gabriel’s reaction when Zachariah (peace be on him) exhibited the under-standable signs of shock and temporary incredulity when he found out that his menopausal wife was going to have a child. He doesn’t really do anything but act surprised and express a healthy concern that all this might not really be happening (i.e. that he’s hallucinating or dreaming), but Gabriel gets angry for no good reason and punishes him for having the natural human reaction--which is unfair, if you think about it, since Mary had the same reaction to her similar news and didn’t get cursed for it. Here is the story as told by the author of Luke:

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord...Zechari’ah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechari’ah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord....He will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God...to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

And Zechari’ah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” (Luke 1:11-20)

What’s the big deal, Gabriel? Is this how God’s angel is supposed to act? Here is the Koran’s version of the story, in which this rather disturbing element is removed:

[Gabriel said] “O Zachariah, We give thee good tidings of a boy, whose name is John. No namesake have We given him aforetime.” He said, “O my Lord, how shall I have a son, seeing my wife is barren, and I have attained to the declining of old age?” Said he, “So it shall be; thy Lord says, ‘Easy is that for Me, seeing that I created thee aforetime, when thou wast nothing.’” He said, “Lord, appoint to me some sign.” Said He, “Thy sign is that thou shalt not speak to men, though being without fault, three nights.” So he came forth unto his people from the Sanctuary, then he made signal to them, “Give you glory at dawn and evening.”

(The Koran Interpreted 19:7-11)

We can see that here the oversensitivity and cruelty that Gabriel shows in the Bible is not present in the Koran’s version of the tale. Instead, Zachariah (peace be on him) simply asks for a sign and gets it, and Gabriel and his sign inspires Zachariah (peace be on him) to preach God’s word, which he does. Doesn’t that sound more likely to have happened than what the Bible portrays, given that God’s righteousness is supposed to be reflected in His angels, who do nothing but His will?

The Plagues of the Exodus

The one plague of the exodus that always bothered me was the slaying of the innocent firstborn sons:

“I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13)

What did those children do to deserve being killed? They were being punished for what their parents did (a theme found throughout the Bible), and that just ain’t right. But as you can see, that plague is not included among the plagues in the Koran’s version of the story:

Then seized We Pharaoh’s people with years of dearth, and scarcity of fruits, that haply they might remember. So, when good came to them, they said, “This belongs to us”; but if any evil smote them, they would augur ill by Moses and those with him. Why, surely their ill augury was with God; but the most of them knew not. And they said, “Whatsoever sign thou bringest to us, to cast a spell upon us, we will not believe thee.”

So We let loose upon them the flood and the locusts, the lice and the frogs, the blood, distinct signs; but they waxed proud and were a sinful people. And when the wrath fell upon them, they said, “Moses, pray to thy Lord for us by the covenant He has made with thee. I fthou removest from us the wrath, surely We will believe thee,” and send forth with thee the Children of Israel.” But when We removed from them the wrath unto a term that theey should come to, lo, they broke their troth. So We took vengeance on them, and drowned them in the sea, for that they cried lies to Our signs and heeded them not.

(The Koran Interpreted 7:130-136)

The Story of Job (peace be on him)

There may be book in the Old Testament that contains a more disturbing and blasphemous depiction of God than Job. Here is an excerpt that demonstrates what I’m talking about:

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life.” (Job 2:1-6)

I shouldn’t even have to discuss what’s wrong with that. When the Old Testament portrays God as being so limited as to be made a fool of by Satan, is it any wonder that the Koran complains about Judaists saying that God’s hand is tied? Now here is the entire story of Job (peace be on him) in the Koran:

Remember also Our servant Job; when he called to his Lord, “Behold, Satan has visited me with weariness and chastisement.” “Stamp thy foot! This is a laving-place cool, and a drink.” And We gave to him his family, and the like of them with them, as a mercy from us, and a reminder unto men possessed of minds.

(The Koran Interpreted 38:41-43)

The superiority of this version of the story is unmistakable, as you can see for yourself.

Saul, David (peace be on him) and the Philistines

This fifth example I will give you is more about realism than depicting God and His angels accurately. Compare the story of David (peace be on him) and Goliath in the Bible and in the Koran. First, here is the Bible’s extremely theatrical version of the story:

Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd's bag or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, ruddy and comely in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; there was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sha-ara’im as far as Gath and Ekron. (1 Samuel 17:40-52)

These two guys sound uncannily like professional wrestlers making their dramatic speeches and going at it in the ring, don’t they? And somehow the slaying of that one person manages to save the day, amidst the entire battle scene where you would think no one would even notice who had fallen until after the battle was over. Now here is the much more sober, historical account of the story in the Koran:

When they went forth against Goliath and his hosts, they said, “Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, and make firm our feet, and give us aid against the people of the unbelievers!” And they routed them, by the leave of God, and David slew Goliath.

(The Koran Interpreted 2:250-251)

No drama, no resemblance to a plotline in professional wrestling—only the realistic depiction of David (peace be on him) killing Goliath as a small part of the battle, a peripheral detail, suggesting that he used a sword like everyone else and not the rather incredible use of a slingshot, and the battle goes on after Goliath falls. This is obviously the truth behind the legendary embellishment of 1 Samuel; this is the version of the story in the real infallible Word of God.

Elijah (peace be on him) and the Worshipers of Ba’al

Here is an excerpt from 1 Kings which shows you what Elijah (peace be on him), God’s honored prophet, supposedly did after mocking the priests of Baal when they failed to bring about a miracle:

Eli'jah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Ba’al; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them; and Eli’jah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. (1 Kings 18:40)

That was not very tolerant of him, I would say. In Islam we are told to argue with the unbelievers in a fairer manner (Koran 16:125, 109:1-6). Now here is the account of Elijah (peace be on him) and the followers of Ba’al in the Koran:

Elias too was one of the Envoys; when he said to his people, “Will you not be godfearing? Do you call on Baal, and abandon the best of creators? God, your Lord, and the Lord of your fathers, the ancients?” But they cried him lies; so they will be among the arraigned, except for God’s sincere servants; and We left for Him among the later folk, “Peace be upon Elias!” Even so do We recompense the good-doers. He was one of our sincere servants.

(The Koran Interpreted 37:123-132)

As you can see, the Koran’s account does not include any such atrocities. Instead, we are told that it is God’s job to sort out the good people from the bad come Judgment Day.

Conclusion

I think I’ve made my point. These things I’ve been pointing out are the kind of thing that keeps converting Christians to Islam. Our religion has been the fastest spreading one in the world for at least a hundred and fifty years now, and more Muslims come from Christianity than from any other previous position. If you want further examples of the Koran’s polished version of biblical texts or stories, compare the alternate versions of the Ten Commandments given in Koran 6:150-151 and Exodus 20:3-17, or go through the Old Testament and see how many passages you can find in which God is limited or humanized in some way, and then go through the Koran and see if you can find any similar passages. I will leave you now with this verse:

People of the Book, now there has come to you Our Messenger, making clear to you many things you have been concealing of the Book, and effacing many things. There has come to you from God a light, and a Book Manifest whereby God guides whosoever follows His good pleasure in the ways of peace, and brings them forth from the shadows into the light by His leave; and He guides them to a straight path.

(- 05:15 -)
Noble Quran