In both the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an, Noah is instructed by God to build a ship, which allows a few members of humankind and two, a pair, s of each species of animals to survive the great flood. There are subtle differences between the two versions of this story. In the Bible, God is portrayed as extremely disappointed in humankind. Only Noah is worthy in his eyes. Noah and his family go on board and are saved, along with each species of animal. Animals are important, especially the dove, which Noah lets loose to see if the flood is receding. It returns with an olive branch, an image used…

The story of the first murder, one brother killing the other, is told in both in the Qur’an and in the Bible. In Genesis, these sons of Adam and Eve are called Cain and Abel. In Islamic tradition the sons of Adam are called Qabil and Habil. The root of evil here is jealousy in pleasing God. The sacrifice of Abel is accepted, that of Cain is rejected. In the Bible, God makes clear that acceptance depends on whether one acts in the right way or not. If one acts badly, it can go from bad to worse. The Qur’an refers to earlier crimes. The sacrifice of a righteous man…

As the flowers awaken at the touch of the morning dew, I pace the skies. If it hadn’t been for the muddied soil, these flowers would not reach for the Heavens, and if it hadn’t been for this broken body, I would not have craved the embrace of the sky… But in the end, and after all is said and done, it is this brain that has been the mind’s throne and shelter — the brain returns to the mud from where it came, and the mind returns to God.Khaled Abou el Fadl p.233 Longing for Brotherhood intermezzo by Khaled Abou El Fadl The wonder of brotherhood cannot be invented…

The first human couple lived in the Garden of Eden. The Qur’an speaks of Adam and his wife. The Bible talks in the abstract about the man, who was later joined in Eden by the woman created from his rib. In this garden of paradise, they were allowed to enjoy the abundance. But the fruit of one tree was forbidden in both books. In the Bible, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; in the Qur’an, it represented transgression.Both books relate how the man and the woman ate from the tree. They were seduced to that deed of disobedience by a snake (Bible), by Satan (Qur’an).…

Gender issues in the interpretation of the Qur’an Intermezzo by Barbara Freyer Stowasser For the Qur’an interpreters of the classical age and their modern traditionalist descendants, the women of sacred Qur’anic history, like the prophetic figures with whom they are associated, belong into a special ‘sacred’ realm of past factual events. These were the events that marked humankind’s historical evolution toward God’s final message in human time, of which the Prophet Muhammad received knowledge by way of revelation. However even the most literalist interpreters past and present, have also recognized the symbolic, ‘exemplary’ didactic dimension of the Qur’anic message in relation to the women of the sacred past. Over time,…

In Bible and Qur’an, the first human being was created from mud or dust and was therefore named after the Hebrew word for earth: Adam = Men. God breathing His spirit into man to make him come alive is also found in both books. The Qur’an relates how God gave man beautiful forms. According to Genesis, God blessed humankind and saw that what He had created was good. In the Bible, both men and women are said to have been created in God’s image. The concept of God in the Qur’an is more abstract. Nobody can be equal to or like God, although humans are destined to return to God…

Reading the Creation Story together Intermezzo by Herman Beck It’s always a great pleasure to work in a context of religious diversity. Reading each other’s relevant texts together with believers from another tradition is an enriching experience. Their refreshing perspective and different historical experience force you to look at your own familiar texts in a new way. As a protestant Christian I had the privilege of teaching as a visiting professor at the IAN Sunan Kalijaga, an Islamic State University in Yogyakarta in Indonesia. It was my task to introduce PhD students to the Western approaches in religious studies; in particular historical critical analysis and the method of literary-critical method…

Heaven and earth and everything in between were created, out of the void by a Divine Word. First, God created light. Then, He created the Sun and the Moon and in so doing He created day and night. God created time. Then, heaven, earth and the seas were separated. The earth was covered with plants. He made sky, water and the earth teem with birds, fish and land animals. That is the story of the creation in both books. The Qur’an adds that everything was created from water, and that heaven unfolded into seven heavens.The book of Genesis tells us that God affirmed what He had created. “He saw that…

Alpha: the Beginning קַדְמוֹן לְכָל דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִבְרָארִאשׁוֹן :וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית לְרֵאשִׁיתוֹ He preceded every being that was created the First, and nothing precedes His precedence. Yigdal -Jewish Hymn alpha “I am Alpha…the beginning…the first…” Revelation 22:13 Bismillah Bismillah “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” Beginning of each Surah except 9 The Beginning In the beginning, there was only God, but the promise was there. The ultimate goal was given. God was also the Last, even when He was only the First. Both books relate how even before the universe had been created, God’s spirit was moving over, was enthroned above the waters. Bijbelk&B Bijbel“I am Alpha and…

A long history of comparing the Bible with the Qur’an precedes the “side-by-side” presentation that is the feature of this book. The process may even be said to start with the New Testament’s citations of the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an’s views of both of its predecessors. The Gospel writers looked to the biblical record of the past for scriptural predictions that were fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. Muslim scripture suggests that possession of revealed books is a criterion of true religion; it thus recognizes the Jewish Torah and Psalms and the Christian Gospels as defining characteristics of the earlier faith communities and as a basis for the construction…