The Word of God ♦ Bible vs other writings

Bible vs. Quran

Muhammad was born in 570 AD in the Quraysh tribe, and before reaching 7 years old, both of his parents died. Around the age of 40, he started to have revelations from angel Gabriel, he memorized the teachings and then he dictated them to others to form the Quran.

Both the Bible and the Quran speak about some characters that have lived in the past, like Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and many others. However, Christianity and Islam remain so different that it is not possible to make them compatible. Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christianity and his divinity is one of the most important teachings of the Bible. But for Islam, Jesus is only a prophet, without any divine attributes. So, christians and muslims can’t agree on this topic, because while christians will worship Jesus Christ as God, muslims will fight to deny and destroy this claim. The Quran says very clearly that God stands against all who believe that Jesus has a divine nature.

The birth and early life of Jesus is also described very differently by the Bible and the Quran. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is also contradicted by the Quran. But, when examining the New Testament manuscripts, archaeological findings and writings of the early church leaders, we can understand that the biblical accounts are telling the truth about Jesus. While the New Testament proved to be highly historically reliable, the similarities of the Quran with the apocryphal writings like the gospel of Pseudo Matthew and the gospel of Thomas indicate that Muhammad used those as a source of inspiration.

Another interesting aspect is regarding the life of Christ. Both the Bible and the Quran affirms that Jesus performed a lot of miracles during his lifetime. Even more, Muhammad in the Quran states that the prophets of God are confirmed by the miracles they do. But the Quran does not mention any miracle made by Muhammad. Muhammad himself refuses to do miracles when requested by his people. Also, the titles that the Quran is giving to Jesus are much higher than those of Muhammad. Jesus is mentioned in the Quran as “Messiah”, “the Word of God”, “the Spirit of God”, “the Speech of Truth” and others too. So, when comparing Jesus with Muhammad, even the Quran offers Jesus a higher place.

Both Jesus and Muhammad are considered as models for the people that follow their teachings. Their lives have inspired millions of people and continue to do so. Their teachings are considered equivalent to the Word of God. But the lives of Jesus and Muhammand were very different.

Muhammad had struggles with demonic possessions. A few of them were mentioned in muslim books. Himself admitted one of them as a clear satanic possession, but later he was forgiven by Allah. He started to preach in Mecca and after thirteen years he flew to Medina, an event known as “Hijira” by Islam. There he gained power and switched from a message of tolerance to a message of intolerance to unbelievers. He had revelations that sustained his attacks on unbelievers and the confiscations of their goods. He spread Islam in the Middle East by force and also called for killing the people that were against his teachings.

In contrast with Muhammad, Jesus had a completely different life. Jesus was never possessed by demons, but instead he proved to have all the authority over them. Also, Jesus did not teach to force people to believe in him and follow him. The disciples of Jesus preached his words to others but did not engage in any war of convincing others using weapons.

Both christians and muslims consider their Holy Book as perfect and without error. But in fact, two contradictory writings can not be both true. Although both the Bible and the Quran teach others to live holy lives, the methods used and the paths of salvation are so different that there is no way to reconcile them.

Jesus said that he is the Son of God and there is no other way to God except through him. He died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and raised from the dead the third day, proving that everything he said was true. His disciples took his message to the world, saying that there is no other way of salvation except through Jesus Christ. After half a century, Muhammad brought an alternative, claiming that he received it through multiple revelations. Although he acknowledges Jesus as higher than him, he still considers that his teachings are true, and all the world should listen to him instead of listening to Jesus.

Take time to read the following articles and understand the differences between the Quran and the Bible. Consider the evidence and understand why the Bible stands as the true and only word of God!