Harmony between the Bible and the Qur'an

[harlan]

Jaymz,

You are right that Muhammed claimed that the Qur'an was dictated to him by the Angel Gabriel. This does not mean that one must accept the Book of Mormon. A person needs to investigate for him or herself to ascertain if either of these claims is believable. And it is always best to do this without prejudice if you want the truth. I know that's a tall order.

Harlan

[BrotherSka]

Bro Ska,

I made a slight error. The website is www.us.bahai.org. I put my "us" in the wrong place.

Harlan

Hi Harlan:

Thank you for the link. I will conduct a scientific comparative analysis of the Bible and the Book of Certitude.

Regards.

[smaneck]

Dear Brother Ska,

Let me say first off, that I too believe in the essential harmony btwn the Qur'an and the Bible.

About 500 years ago, the Christian religious leaders discouraged the reading of scripture except in Latin, and primarilily or exclusively taught their religious traditions rather than what was written in the scriptures.

You're about a thousand years off here. The Catholic Church does not discourage anyone from reading the Bible *until* the Reformation when it became defensive. Before that, hardly anyone could read period. For Western Europe Latin was simply the language of literacy. Elsewhere the church still used Greek and Hebrew.


warmest, Susan

[smaneck]

And not just any Arabic, the medieval Qura'ish (spelling?) dialect.

Modern Standard Arabic is based on Qur'anic Arabic.

[smaneck]

However, both the Bible and the Qur’an identify Jesus as a Prophet and the Messiah.

Regards.

Both also affirm that Jesus was born of a virgin, that He is the Word of God and that He will come again.

[smaneck]

One of the huge differences I find between the bible and the Quran is the Quran presents God as being far away and the Bible presents God as a father figure.

According to the Qur'an God is nearer to you than your life-vein.

The Quran never addresses God as father.

Conceiving of God in terms of patriarchy doesn't work for everyone. I'm reminded of a poem by Rumi, the great Muslim mystic:

Better to know God as Father is to know God as Mother.
Better than to know God as Mother is to know God as the Friend
Better to know God as Friend is to know God a the Beloved.

In the Quran you can not be certain you have ever done enough to deserve God’s mercy.

It is not an issue of having 'done enough' to deserve God's mercy. According to the Qur'an if God were to deal with any of us according to His Justice He would not leave a single thing moving on the earth. God forgives whoever He wishes, however He wishes.

[smaneck]

Hi Harlan:

Thank you for your encouragement. I thought that I was the only person on this Earth that believes as I do - which are the explicit teachings of the Bible, which are in harmony with the principal teachings of the Qur'an.

All Baha'is believe this. The Baha'i Faith teaches the essential unity of religions. They differ largely because of the needs of the time and place in which they arise.

I believe that we should never be afraid to subject claims of truth to rigorous scrutiny. I am unfamiliar with the Baha’i teachings. Is there a principal religious text where the teachings are specified?

Regards

Aside from the URl which you were already given you might google in "Baha'i, Ocean" it will take you to a website which will download all the scriptures of the religions of the world, including the Baha'i Faith. It includes the Bible and various Christian classics as well as four translations of the Qur'an and ten volumes of hadiths.

[smaneck]

I do not read Arabic, but have been told that the word “Allah” has something to do with far away.

That's incorrect. Allah is the Arabic cognate to the Hebrew Elohim, one of the principle names for God in the Bible. It combines a definite article with the generic word for god. In other words it means *The God* much like capitalizing "G" in our word god.

You did find reference to Abraham being a friend of God, but does that suggest God is a close personal friend of every believer?

God is frequently referred to as the Friend in Islamic mysticism.

Both are suggesting it is contingent on “repentance” first or doing stuff in ignorance and repenting. If you define repentance as just accepting God’s free undeserving gift of forgiveness as repentance that might work.

Repentance in Arabic as with Hebrew means 'to turn.' One turns away from ones sin and towards God.

There is a story of how a Muslim poetess, Rabi'a came upon another Muslim who was weeping and wailing over his sins saying what a wretched man he was. Rabi'a said, "Yes, you are wretched, because had you truly repented and turned towards God you would see only God and not your own sinfulness."

[JAYMZ]

Dear Jaymz:

I believe that the standard of Truth is the Bible. Therefore, any information can be compared with the teachings of the Bible and can be determined to be true or false, regardless of how that information came to us.

I have found harmony between the principal teachings of the Bible and the Qur’an and they are clearly described in ‘Brothers Kept Apart’.

Regards.

The bottom line is if anyone teaches that Christ was not crucified and rose on the third day, as Paul would say; " you are still in your sins. "

Without Jesus death and resurrection christianity is worthless.

[BrotherSka]

Dear Brother Ska,
You're about a thousand years off here. The Catholic Church does not discourage anyone from reading the Bible *until* the Reformation when it became defensive. Before that, hardly anyone could read period. For Western Europe Latin was simply the language of literacy. Elsewhere the church still used Greek and Hebrew.


warmest, Susan

Hi Susan:

Let me clarify that between today and approximately 500 years ago, the Bible was relatively accessible compared to the period between 500 years and 1,500 years ago.

Best regards.

[BrotherSka]

The bottom line is if anyone teaches that Christ was not crucified and rose on the third day, as Paul would say; " you are still in your sins. "

Without Jesus death and resurrection christianity is worthless.

Hi Jaymz:

As I have repeatedly mentioned, there is little harmony between what Islamic leaders teach and what the Bible teaches. The Qur'an does not deny Jesus' death and ressurection.

Regards.

[smaneck]

Hi Susan:

Let me clarify that between today and approximately 500 years ago, the Bible was relatively accessible compared to the period between 500 years and 1,500 years ago.

Best regards.

Dear Bro,

I'm just responding to what seemed to be a stereotype that the [Catholic] church was responsible for keeping people ignorant during the Dark Ages when in fact it was the church alone which preserved knowledge and literacy during that period.

warmest, Susan

[BrotherSka]

Dear Bro,

I'm just responding to what seemed to be a stereotype that the [Catholic] church was responsible for keeping people ignorant during the Dark Ages when in fact it was the church alone which preserved knowledge and literacy during that period.

warmest, Susan

Hi Susan:

I agree that the established Christian religious organisations preserved knowledge and literacy for over a millennia. It also spread knowledge via its missionaries/monks/evangelists etc, and much of it was useful. However, during the specified period, it was principally denominational religious traditions, rather than actual scripture, that was being promoted.

You can read about William Tyndale’s concerns about the emphasis placed on religious traditions and the difficulty in accessing the scriptures around 500 years ago.

Regards.

[barnasha]

This is not a game. There are no points to be had. There is only a gift to be accepted.

Jesus said to become his follower you must take up your own cross (i.e. be persecuted by the world for the good of the world)... that is not exactly a 'gift'.

there is more to being a good person than taking a handout. we should be doing the handing out, if we believe what Jesus taught us!

it is us who should be giving the gifts. it is not enough to talk in abstract terms about a salvation, we must realize it in the concrete, otherwise it is nothing but talk.

[harlan]

Thank you for the link. I will conduct a scientific comparative analysis of the Bible and the Book of Certitude.

Brother Ska,

I'm impressed!

Harlan