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The Bible is more diverse than the Koran in form, purpose, place, time and nature. It was written by over 40 different inspired authors and/or editors from a wide variety of places and cultures over a period of 1,000 to 1,600 years. It represents the mores, idioms and thought-patterns of many cultures from the beginning of recorded history to the formation of our western calendars (about AD 100). It spans the Bronze and Iron
ages and encompasses the Sumerian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. It was originally written in at least three different languages and contains books of law, historical narratives, treaties, wisdom sayings, songs, hymns, poetry, prophecy, genealogies, gospels, sermons, parables, prayers and personal and public letters.
The Koran, by contrast, is claimed by its admirers to have been a recitation of God’s truth only in Arabic to one man (Muhammad; reputed to be illiterate) in 7th century Arabia. It conveys deep religious devotion to one Sovereign God and it has long been effective in unifying its readers around that devotion and the mission it inspires.
Both the Old Testament and the Koran contain violent passages that are hard for peace-loving people to stomach. In the Old Testament, the harsh passages tend to be descriptive of commands and events set in specific ancient times. In contrast, the harsh Koranic passages, in my view, tend to be prescriptive, open-ended instructions that call for application both then and now. In the Old Testament, the victims are
Amalekites, Philistines and even fellow Israelites (to name a few). In the Koran, the victims are generally to be “infidels” (unbelievers) wherever and whenever they are found.
The following passages (rather randomly selected) are better understood in their own context. Yet, the comparisons below are instructive to the generalization just above.
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- Koran: “The unbelievers are your sworn enemies.” Women; Sura 4:101.
- Bible: “’Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his
brother and friend and neighbor." Exodus 32:27, NIV.
- Koran: “Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal harshly with them.” Repentance; Sura 9:123.
- Bible: “How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.” Psalm 137:9, NASB.
- Koran: “Mohammed is Allah’s apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another." Victory; Sura 48:29.
- Bible: “For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Joshua 11:20, NIV.
- Koran: “When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its load.” Women; Sura 4:47.
- Bible: “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” 1 Samuel 15:3
In the Exodus passage, God was angry at the Israelites for worshipping a golden calf and He directed Moses to give the Levites a bloody mission (13th century BC). The Psalm above was uttered by Israelite captives against their Babylonian captors (6th century BC). Joshua was describing victories over the Northern Kings in Canaan (12th century BC). Destroying the Amalekites was an instruction disobeyed by Saul (10th century BC). All these
passages are painful but their application was largely limited to a certain place and time. In contrast, it is less characteristic of the Koran to limit
its instructions to a specific historical situation.
The God of the Bible is often portrayed as a “husband” who feels pain because of an unfaithful wife, or as a loving father disappointed in his children's disobedience. Muslims do not refer to Allah with such familial and relational terms. Allah is never a father.
The Bible claims that believers are adopted into God’s family. It pictures a God with various powerful emotions ("[God’s] heart was filled with pain" Genesis 6:6). In the Koran, people are allowed to be Allah’s servants but not his children. Frankly, the Koran speaks a lot more about the
pain Allah will inflict than the pain he will feel.
Muslims respect Jesus as one of Allah’s prophets, one of 25 listed in the Koran. But they do not believe Jesus died at the crucifixion nor do they see Him as God in the flesh. They cannot relate to Isaiah 53 -- "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. . . .
pierced for our transgressions . . ." Meekness and weakness are not qualities their prophets exude.
Finally, for Muslims, redemption requires men to wise up and follow Allah’s guidance in the Koran to distinguish good from evil. Sincerity and good works bring salvation. Sura 21:47 says; “We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection... Actions as small as a grain of mustard seed shall be weighed out. Our reckoning shall suffice.”
The New Testament speaks of redemption through the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of our sins. No scales, just nails through the hands and feet of God’s Son.
Joel Mark Solliday is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Brooklyn Center
Church of Christ in Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later worked in their Campus Life Office and at ACU as a Missionary in Residence. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary.
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