Our sources to learn about them and their teachings are the Bible and the Qur'an as the firsthand authority. One of the key questions considered in their main teaching is on Eternity. Which GPS should we follow?
Both the Bible and the Qur'an relate that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth (Geneses 1:1-3; Sura 2:164; 6:1). Did God rest as the Bible says? (Gen 2:2). Muslims strongly deny the relation Jesus has with God in the Creation event and its restoration and reinstatement of the universe.
What reason does the Qur’an give for Adam’s fall? 1. Satan’s fault (Sura 2:36). 2. Adam forgot (Sura 20:115). 3. Adam’s Disobedience (Sura 20:121). Let’s compare the Bible & the Qur’an.
The Qur'an has many Biblically derived narratives. The most prominent are Abraham and Moses. Abraham is known as Ibrahim. According to Islam, Abraham was a Muslim. Both Jesus and Muhammad mentioned Abraham. Despite such familiarity, the Qur'an has contradictory information about key points in the life of Abraham and his descendants.
The Bible and the Qur’an agree that God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The details are drastically different. The key event/sign, the Passover, is missing from the Qur’an. Also, Aaron’s priesthood, the Levites, the ceremonial laws, and the sacrifices are not mentioned. The Qur’an does not discuss how the Israelites were given rules and regulations to offer sacrifices to God. Passover is significant, referring to the future when Jesus would come as the Passover sacrifice for us all – mentioned by many prophets before Him.
The Qur'an mentions Saul (Talut), David (Dawood), and Solomon (Sulayman) as God's anointed kings to lead the Israelites to gain victory against their enemies who had refused to follow the true God. Muhammad mentioned them in his way to convince his followers to rise against those who did not accept him as the prophet and drove him out of Mecca.
In the Qur’an after Abraham (Ibrahim) and Moses (Musa), other prophets like Noah (Nuh), Lot (Lut), Job (Ayub), Joseph (Yusuf), and Jonah (Yunus) are mentioned as prophets with significant detail. Muhammad used narratives to warn his people that the same calamities would come over them if they did not listen to him. The student of the Bible quickly becomes aware that the Qur’an takes just one corner of each story from the Bible and builds a whole different account on it – with the attention being given to Muhammad instead of Jesus. The eventual underlining is to show that the climax is not Jesus but Muhammad to be accepted as the final hope from God.
The Qur’an states that the Torah and the Gospel have news about the coming of Muhammad (Sura 7:157; 61:6). Strangely on one hand, Muslims claim that the Bible is corrupted, yet on the other, they quote selective passages to argue that the coming of Muhammad is mentioned in them. In part one of this lesson, we look at some examples of Muslim scholars quoting from Psalms, Songs of Solomon, and Isaiah and we respond with a Biblical perspective.
In this section, we examine two passages, one from Deuteronomy and the other from John, about how Muslims claim to be about Muhammad, and we give a Biblical perspective in response.
The Qur’an and traditions of Islam portray Jesus very differently from Jesus in the Bible. The Qur’an denies Jesus’ crucifixion and death and burial and resurrection. The Bible, on the other hand, says that it all happened. If Jesus had not died, buried, and risen again victoriously, he would be false, including all the Old Testament prophets who predicted about Him.
The message of Jesus and that of Muhammad are not the same. While the Qur’an declares the message of Muhammad and him as the final, the Bible declares that God has spoken through Jesus in these last days. Anyone after him has to align with the message of Jesus. There is also the difference between the leadership. While Jesus did not change his message, Muhammad would change his. They both talk of the hereafter. Jesus gives hope – Muhammad does not.
The Qur’anic perspectives cannot be from the God who revealed the Bible. – why? The Qur’an accepts the fall but states that Adam & Eve were forgiven. Abraham was promised ‘Nations will be blessed’ – according to Islam, this was fulfilled through Muhammad, not Jesus. It is not Jesus but Muhammad who is like Moses. The Bible refers to Jesus' divine status before coming to this earth as the Son of Man and as Savior. The Qur’an rejects this status. He did not die for us. Muslims believe Jesus is coming back to establish Islam and that salvation is available through ‘works.’ Assurance is not now but in the Future. Sure? Well, if Allah wills. In contrast, the Bible encourages us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace” (Hebrews 4:16).