Bible quran

The Bible and the Qu’ran

A

Compariso
n

Two Scriptures:
Similarities and

Two Scriptures:
Similarities and
Two major world
religions: their
Scriptures are
deﬁnitional to
their entire
worldview, and
to their
relationship.

Two Scriptures:
Similarities and

Both religions
believe their
sacred Scriptures
are divine in
origin, and
sufficient in and
of themselves.

Two Scriptures:
Similarities and
Both the Bible
and the Qu’ran
present laws by
which man is to
live, which
express God’s
creative
purposes.

Two Scriptures:
Similarities and

So what are the
differences, and
how are they
relevant to the
resultant claims
of both Islam and
Christianity?

The Qu’ran
Direct words of God, not
of men.

The Qu’ran
of men.
Many books (plural, ِ‫)ﻛُﺘُﺒِﻪ‬
“sent down.”

The Qu’ran
of men.
Many books (plural, ِ‫)ﻛُﺘُﺒِﻪ‬
“sent down.”
The Qu’ran acts as a
“guard” (‫ )ﻣُﻬَﻴْﻤِﻨًﺎ‬over the
preceding books.

The Qu’ran
Government controlled
textual transmission.

The Qu’ran
Generally uniﬁed textual
history.

The Qu’ran
Generally uniﬁed textual
history.
1924 Egyptian edition
viewed by most as the
“official” version in
Arabic.

The Bible
40 authors over a course
of 1500 years.

The Bible
of 1500 years.
Two major languages
(Hebrew and Greek), one
minor (Aramaic)

The Bible
of 1500 years.
Two major languages
(Hebrew and Greek), one
minor (Aramaic)
Textual history of the Old
Testament different than
that of the New Testament

The Tanakh
Old Testament (Tanakh)
passed on through the
nation of Israel.

The Tanakh
nation of Israel.
Key translation: Greek
Septuagint (LXX)

The Tanakh
nation of Israel.
Key translation: Greek
Septuagint (LXX)
Hebrew and Arabic both
Semitic languages based
upon (mainly) tri-literal
roots

The New Testament
The New Testament is
written in koine Greek,
an accurate language
capable of in-depth
exegesis.

The New Testament
The New Testament is
written in koine Greek,
an accurate language
capable of in-depth
exegesis.
The New Testament
demonstrates multi-
focality.

The New Testament
That is, the New Testament
was written by multiple
authors from multiple
locations to multiple
audiences at multiple
times. From its inception,
the NT, being a collection
of books, was beyond the
control of any one person
or group.

The New Testament
This means the early copies
of the NT were distributed
far and wide, resulting in
multiple streams of
transmission.

The New Testament
This means the early copies
of the NT were distributed
far and wide, resulting in
multiple streams of
transmission.
As a result we have a rich
early textual history that
protects the text from
controlled, centralized
editing and change.

First Contrast: Text
There is a major
difference between the
centralized, governmental
control of the collation
and transmission of the
Qur’anic text and the
non-centralized, non-
controlled transmission
of the New Testament.

Abu Bakr then said (to me), "Umar
has come to me and said:
"Casualties were heavy among the
Qurra' of the Qur'an (i.e. those who
knew the Quran by heart) on the
day of the Battle of Yalmama, and I
am afraid that more heavy
casualties may take place among
the Qurra' on other battleﬁelds,
whereby a large part of the Qur'an
may be lost. Therefore I suggest,
you (Abu Bakr) order that the
Qur'an be collected."

So I started looking for the
Qur'an and collecting it from
(what was written on) palmed
stalks, thin white stones and
also from the men who knew
it by heart, till I found the last
Verse of Surat At-Tauba
(Repentance) with Abi
Khuzaima Al-Ansari, and I did
not ﬁnd it with anybody other
than him....

Then the complete
manuscripts (copy) of the
Qur'an remained with Abu
Bakr till he died, then with
'Umar till the end of his
life, and then with Hafsa,
the daughter of 'Umar.
(Sahih Al-Bukhari 6:509)

Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the
people of Sham and Iraq) differences
in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he
said to 'Uthman, "O chief of the
Believers! Save this nation before
they differ about the Book (Quran) as
Jews and the Christians did before."
So 'Uthman sent a message to Hafsa
saying, "Send us the manuscripts of
the Qur'an so that we may compile
the Qur'anic materials in perfect
copies and return the manuscripts to
you."

and when they had written
many copies, 'Uthman returned
the original manuscripts to
Hafsa. 'Uthman sent to every
Muslim province one copy of
what they had copied, and
ordered that all the other
Qur'anic materials, whether
written in fragmentary
manuscripts or whole copies,
be burnt.

Said bin Thabit added, "A Verse
from Surat Ahzab was missed
by me when we copied the
Qur'an and I used to hear
Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we
searched for it and found it with
Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari.
(That Verse was): 'Among the
Believers are men who have
been true in their covenant with
Allah.' (33.23) (Sahih Al-
Bukhari 6:510)

Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif,
p. 23, notes, “Many (of the
passages) of the Qur'an that were
sent down were known by those
who died on the day of Yamama
… but they were not known (by
those who) survived them, nor
were they written down, nor had
Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by
that time) collected the Qur'an,
nor were they found with even
one (person) after them."

The Apology of Al-Kindi, AD 830:
"… Then the people fell to variance
in their reading; some read
according to the version of 'Ali,
which they follow to the present day;
some read according to the
collection of which we have made
mention; one party read according to
the text of ibn Mas'ud, and another
according to that of Ubai ibn Ka'b.
When 'Uthman came to power, and
people everywhere differed in their
reading, 'Ali sought grounds of
accusation against him.

One man would read verse one
way, and another man another
way; and there was change and
interpolation, some copies having
more and some less. When this
was represented to 'Uthman, and
the danger urged of division,
strife, and apostasy, he thereupon
caused to be collected together
all the leaves and scraps that he
could, together with the copy that
was written out at the ﬁrst.

But they did not interfere
with that which was in the
hands of 'Ali, or of those
who followed his reading.
Ubai was dead by this
time, as for Ibn Mas'ud,
they demanded his
exemplar, but he refused
to give it up.

Then they commanded Zaid
ibn Thabit, and with him
'Abdallah ibn 'Abbas, to
revise and correct the text,
eliminating all that was
corrupt; they were
instructed, when they
differed on any reading,
word, or name, or to follow
the dialect of the Quraish.

“It is reported from Ismail ibn
Ibrahim from Ayyub from Naaﬁ
from Ibn Umar who said: ‘Let
none of you say “I have
acquired the whole of the
Qur'an.” How does he know
what all of it is when much of
the Qur'an has disappeared?
Rather let him say “I have
acquired what has
survived.”’” (as-Suyuti, Al-
Itqan ﬁi Ulum al-Qur'an, p.524)

And so the ﬁrst contrast is
between a centrally
controlled process (Uthman
vs. Ibn Masud etc.) and the
non-centralized, widespread
promulgation of the New
Testament text together with
the constant search for
earlier and earlier
manuscripts.

Second Contrast:
Authorship

Second Contrast:
Authorship
The second contrast is
related to the authorship of
the Qur’an and the Bible.
The Qur’an claims to be the
very eternal words of Allah,
given through an angel to
Muhammad. But at the very
least, we can say the Qur’an
has one human
intermediary, Muhammad.

Second Contrast:
Authorship
But the Bible has around
40 authors covering a
span of 1500 years. The
New Testament has eight
authors addressing a
number of different
audiences over a span of
30 to 50 years.

Second Contrast:
Authorship
The multiplicity of authors
negatively introduces issues
of consistency and
allegations of contradiction;
positively, it provides a
tremendous witness to the
Spirit-borne harmony and
consistency when those
alleged contradictions are
examined and answered.

Second Contrast:
Authorship
Personally, I can testify to
you that after two and a
half decades of study of the
Christian Scriptures and
defense of them against
leading opponents the
consistency and harmony of
the Biblical text is one of
the most compelling
reasons I believe.

Second Contrast:
Authorship
The single authorship of the
Qur’an raises for me, as a
Christian, questions relating
to the claim that the Qur’an
has eternally existed in
heaven. The origination of
Surah 33:37-38 and
Muhammad’s marriage to
Zaynab, the divorced wife of
his adopted son Zaid, is an
example.

Third Contrast: Jesus
Jesus appears in the Old
Testament prophetically,
long before His advent; He is
the central character of the
New Testament, as the
eternal Logos made ﬂesh
(John 1:14).

Jesus appears in the Old
Testament prophetically,
long before His advent; He is
the central character of the
New Testament, as the
eternal Logos made flesh
(John 1:14).
Jesus’ ministry is firmly
rooted in history, His
crucifixion and resurrection
the cornerstone of the faith.


Titles given to Jesus in the
New Testament include Son
of God, the Only Son who is
God (μονογενὴς θεὸς, John
1:18), the “I am,” Alpha and
Omega, the Son of Man
(Daniel 7), the Lamb of God,
the Lord of Glory, King of
Kings and Lord of Lords

The cruciﬁxion and
resurrection of Jesus
becomes the very center-
point of history itself in
the New Testament
narrative. In the cross
God gloriﬁes Himself by
redeeming an
undeserving people unto
Himself.

“Isa” appears 25 times in
the Qur’an by name, only
once in an identiﬁable
location (speaking from His
cradle).

cradle).
He is virgin born and works
miracles.

cradle).
He is virgin born and works
miracles.
He is, however, not the Son
of God, nor does he die
upon the cross.

“The Qur’anic Jesus is in fact
an argument addressed to
his more wayward followers,
intended to convince the
sincere and frighten the
unrepentant. As such, he has
little in common with the
Jesus of the Gospels,
canonical or
apocryphal.” (Tarif Khalidi,
The Muslim Jesus, 16.)

The Qur’an’s denial of the
cruciﬁxion is particularly
troubling historically, as
there are few events in
history so compellingly
witnessed to. Only one ayah
in all the Qur’an denies the
cruciﬁxion, a total of 40
Arabic words, with no
commentary in the hadith.

Proclaiming and Defending the
Gospel of Jesus Christ Since 1983

www.aomin.org

Bible quran

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