At the heart of the Christian faith is the Bible, God’s revelation, which in the Old Testament prophesies the coming of the Messiah and then in the New relates how those prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. At the heart of Islam is the book known as the Qur’an. The Arabic word Qur’an means “reading” or “reciting,” a reference to the command said to have been given to Muhammad to read or recite.
Unlike the Bible, which consists of 66 books written by several dozen inspired writers over 1500 centuries—from 1400 B. C. to A.D. 100—the Qur’an is the product of one man, Muhammad, between the years 610 and 632. Moreover, while the Bible is arranged chronologically and by subject matter, the Qur’an follows no such arrangement. Rather, it is simply a collection of chapters, called suras, which are divided into verses, called ayat.
Of the Qur’an’s 114 suras, 86 were composed during Muhammad’s time in Mecca and 28 at Medina. All but one of the suras (Sura 9) begins with the phrase Bismillah . . . which means “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” Each sura also has a title that is taken from a phrase within the chapter. For example, one of the best known chapters is Sura 96, known as “The Clot”; it tells of Muhammad’s call: “Read: In the name of thy Lord who created; created man from a clot.” Muslims refer to the suras not by their numbers but by their titles. Since most chapters are not coherent stories or unified messages, these titles generally do not designate the theme of the entire sura.
For the most part, the chapters are arranged according to length, with the longest toward the beginning of the Qur’an. The first 20 suras cover about as many pages as the remaining 94. Generally, the shorter suras come from the earlier Meccan period and the long ones from the later time in Medina, which means that in reading through the Qur’an one goes backwards in time. The Qur’an is approximately 85 percent the length of the New Testament, or about one-third the length of the entire Bible.
Muslims believe the Qur’an is an exact replica of God’s heavenly book, going back before the creation of the world and resting on a “guarded tablet” (Sura 85:22). Only in Arabic is the Qur’an considered God’s word. All translations are referred to as interpretations. According to the Qur’an, no mortal, including Muhammad, could have created this sublime book: “and this Qur’an is not such as could ever be invented . . . Or say they: [Muhammad] invented it? Say: then bring a surah like unto it” (Sura 10:37-8).
For all its beauty of expression in the original Arabic, the Qur’an still makes for difficult reading; as one scholar puts it, “The Glorious Koran . . . is not easy to read. Especially in translation, where it inevitably lacks the compelling resonance and subtlety of the Arabic, it seems disjointed, repetitive, and stylistically inconsistent.”
The Qur’an is a book of instruction, many regulations, words of praise to Allah, and admonitions about judgment. Yet it would be difficult to fill so large a book simply with such dogmas and warnings. Not surprisingly, then, the Qur’an contains extensive material consisting of stories or accounts. Little of this material is drawn from Arabic sources. The bulk, some seventy-five percent, comes from Jewish and Christian sources.
Biblical characters in the Qur’an
Muhammad saw himself as standing in the tradition of the Bible: “And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto you; our God and your God is One, and unto Him we surrender” (Sura 29:46). Since the Qur’an is viewed as taking up where the Bible left off, it includes many references to biblical history and characters. Unlike in the Bible, these events and people are not presented in a chronological order. Rather, they are scattered throughout the Qur’an.
Among the biblical characters who are mentioned or whose story is told in the Qur’an are: Adam; Abraham (Ibrahim); the angels Gabriel and Michael; David; Ezra; Goliath; Haman; Isaac; Ishmael; Jacob; Jesus (called Isa); Job; John the Baptist; Jonah; Lot; Joseph the son of Jacob; Mary (or Maryam) the mother of Jesus; Moses; Noah; pharaoh the king of Egypt; Satan (or Iblis); and Solomon.
Abraham
Abraham (Ibrahim) is seen not only as the father of the Jews, but of the Arabs as well. The Qur’an often speaks of him; for example, it describes him: “Surely he was righteous, a prophet” (Sura 19:41). Muslims consider Abraham neither a Jew nor a Christian but a hanif, that is, a true monotheist, who worshipped one God while living in pagan times. According to the Qur’an, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael, not Isaac as in the Bible, but spared him at the last moment (Sura 37:102-7).
Mary
Mary the mother of Jesus, has the honor of being the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an. As a matter of fact, she is named more in the Qur’an than in the New Testament! But there appears to be confusion between her and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, who lived some 1400 years before. Since in Arabic both names would be the same, and the New Testament Greek Maria is but a variation of the Old Testament Hebrew Miryam, it is not difficult to see how misunderstanding could arise. Sura 19, entitled “Mary,” addresses her, “Oh sister of Aaron.”
Contrary to the Bible, the Qur’an has Mary giving birth to Jesus under a desert palm tree and depicts Mary as a person of the Trinity: “And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? he saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right . . . “ (Sura 5:116). Muhammad has Jesus denying he and Mary are “two gods” in addition to Allah.
Jesus
As for Jesus (Isa), “the Qur’an gives a greater number of honourable titles to Jesus than to any other figure.” For all it says about Jesus, the Qur’an denies what in the four Gospels is central—the crucifixion of Jesus. “They slew him [Jesus] not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself” (Sura 4:157-8). According to this, Jesus ascended into heaven without ever dying. To Muhammad, Jesus was not the eternal Son of God and Savior of the world: “O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth: the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God: far be it from His glory that He should have a son” (Sura 4:171).
Although it denies the crucifixion and the Trinity, in some ways the Qur’an honors Jesus more than Muhammad. Although the Qur’an denies the crucifixion, it honors him as not having experienced the corruption of death. Nowhere does the Qur’an mention sin in connection with Jesus, but Muhammad is urged, “Ask forgiveness of thy sin” (Sura 40:55). Jesus is mentioned in the Qur’an 97 times, Muhammad 25 times. While miracles are attributed to Jesus, starting with his virgin birth, that is not the case for Muhammad.
The compilation of the Qur’an
According to early sources such as Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad received his revelations under seven different conditions: dreams, visions, an angel, an angel “in the form of a young, tall man,” his night journey and ascent into heaven, Allah speaking from behind a veil, and seizures. Some have concluded he suffered epileptic seizures. Muhammad told his wife Khadija that he feared he might be possessed by demons.
During his lifetime, Muhammad’s followers memorized or wrote down the various recitations of their leader. They wrote the Prophet’s “impassioned outbursts” on whatever materials were available—papyrus, palm leaves, stones, and even as tattoos on their chests. Other followers, known as “reciters,” tried to memorize his recitations. Within a year or two after Muhammad’s death these recitations were collected, and during the caliphate of Uthman, the Qur’an was complied in its final form.
Muslims hold the Qur’an in great esteem. They do not touch it without first being washed and purified. They read it with the greatest respect, never holding it below their waist. They swear by it and consult it. They carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on their banners, suspend it from their necks as charms, and always place it on the highest place of honor in their homes. In many places children are required to learn by heart its 6200 verses. No significant event in family or public life passes without the reading of some appropriate passage. Yet for all the worldwide reverence it receives, the Qur’an is at odds with the Bible, which is the center of Christian faith and life.
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Further reading: Speaking The Truth In Love To Muslims (pages 55-69)
(discussion questions: pages 179-191)
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