Topic(s): World Religions, Bible Study

Bob Prichard

The Qur’an (Koran) is the holy book of Islam. Muslims accept it as a revelation given from Allah (God) to Muhammad, who lived from 570 to 632. Considered the greatest of all prophets, he received a series of messages from the angel Gabriel, which were compiled in the Qur’an after his death. Islam derives its name from a word meaning “submission,” because of its emphasis on obedience to Allah and the Qur’an. Since Muhammad lived over five hundred years after Jesus Christ, he was familiar with the Bible, but was exposed to a very corrupt form of “Christianity,” which no doubt influenced him to begin Islam. Muslims revere the Bible as a revelation from God, but they reject much of it as being corrupted by centuries of teachings of Jews and Christians.

Conflicts between the Qur’an and the Bible are numerous, beginning with the creation story. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve sinned, and were cast out of the Garden of Eden, making it necessary for them, and mankind, to have a later Redeemer, Jesus Christ. According to the Qur’an, however, “Adam learned from his Lord certain words, and his Lord forgave him.” God then made Adam the first of the prophets, and the first of many strong leaders revered by Muslims.

Genesis 22:2 records God’s command to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.” As Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, God sent an angel to stop him, and provided a ram for the sacrifice. The Qur’an teaches, however, that it was not Isaac, but Ishmael whom Abraham almost sacrificed.

Images of the Bible’s loving God, such as a husband who feels pain because of an unfaithful wife (Hosea), or a Father broken hearted by the rebellion of His children (Genesis 6:6), are absent from the Qur’an. Allah is “all merciful,” a just Master who welcomes men as servants, but not a loving Father who receives His children.

The most important conflicts between the Qur’an and the Bible come concerning Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:15-16 tells Christians, “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” According to the Qur’an, Jesus is a great man, the greatest of the twenty-five prophets it mentions, but He was not sinless, did not die on the cross, was not resurrected, is not the Redeemer of mankind, and is not the Son of God. Man is not saved by the grace of God and Christ’s sacrifice, but by his own obedience to the Qur’an, his own sincerity and good works. “For him whose measure (of good deeds) is heavy, those are they who shall be successful” (Sura 7:8-9).

Millions sincerely believe the Qur’an and live pious lives because of its teachings, but it does not reveal the way of salvation, which comes only through Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).