The Bible and the Koran: a comparative analysis. God, His creation of the world and the first people. Bible and Koran. What is the difference, what is the similarity? Koran and bible comparison

It’s no secret that among people of different levels there is an opinion that the Koran is a copy of the Old Testament and the Gospel. Many representatives of the secular intelligentsia, and sometimes the Muslim intelligentsia, sometimes, in order to emphasize their “well-read” and “enlightenment”, and some purposefully, in their works and during discussions at various levels, on the pages and screens of the media, often make this kind of conclusion: “Prophet Muhammad (SAW) copied the text of the Qur'an in whole or in part from the Bible." This statement is transmitted to the masses, who also try to keep up with the “enlightenment” of intelligent people, and pick up what they say. Is the Holy Quran actually a plagiarism of the Holy Scriptures of Christianity and Judaism?! Below we will try to consider in detail the answer to this question.

It is known that the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) at a time when the Bible was already established among Christians and Jews. It is impossible not to recognize the fact that all three Holy Books (Koran, Torah and Gospel) consider common issues and provisions from the point of view of monotheism, all three heavenly religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) call for common ideals. However, the claims of the “critics” of the Koran that Muhammad (SAW) allegedly studied the Bible in order to then compose on its basis his own version of the new Holy Scripture are unfounded and absurd, for the following reasons:

BIBLE IN ARABIC

At the time when the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) lived and the Holy Quran was revealed, there were no translations of the Bible into Arabic. In support of this, we cite the words of Ernst Wrthwein, a famous Christian scholar, from his book The Text of the Old Testament. So, on page 104 we read: “With the victory of Islam, the Arabic language spread over vast territories. For Jews and Christians living in countries conquered by the Arabs, it became the language of their daily life. Over time, there was a need for Arabic versions of the Holy Scriptures (Torah). Thus, it becomes quite clear that the Arabic version of the Old Testament (Torah), translated from the Hebrew language, appeared for the first time after Islam became widespread. In addition, it should be noted that the oldest manuscript of the Old Testament in Arabic dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century.

Regarding the early translations of the New Testament (Gospel), another Christian scholar, Sidney H. Griffith, who has conducted extensive research in this area, notes that the Sinai manuscript, which is kept in the monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai is, to date, the oldest translation of the Gospel into Arabic. This manuscript contains a translation of all four canonized Gospels and dates back to 897 of the Christian era. And, as you know, the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) died in the first half of the seventh century, more precisely in 632 AD.

UNEDUCATED PROPHET

The second thing that the reader needs to pay attention to is that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was not taught to read and write. He could neither read nor write, and therefore would not have been able to study and assimilate the primary sources of Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, as well as the ancient beliefs of the Arabs, in order to compose the Koran on their basis. The lack of education of Muhammad (SAW) was confirmed by his opponents, who did not want to accept his teachings, more than 1400 years ago. This is confirmed in the Holy Quran:

“You have never read any Scripture before or copied it with your right hand. Otherwise, the adherents of lies would fall into doubt. On the contrary, these are clear verses in the chests of those who have been given knowledge, and only the wrongdoers reject Our signs.”

THE QURAN IS NOT A TRANSLATION

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was an Arab and the Holy Quran was revealed in the original Arabic language and cannot in any way be a translation of other Holy Scriptures. And the name “al-Qur’an” is from Arabic “reading”; “Recitation” (reading aloud the revealed word of Allah) speaks for itself. As for the Bible, the language of the Old Testament is Hebrew. Jesus was also a Jew and spoke Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew. The Arameans belonged to the East Semitic peoples. However, the New Testament, including the Gospel, was written in ancient Greek, a Western language, some time after the ascension of Jesus.

The Bible is a collection of sacred texts reflecting various historical events. It includes the Old and New Testaments, and was written by the hands of several authors. Not all Christian denominations recognize the decision of the church council that canonized the common Christian Bible. The texts of some authors are not internationally recognized.

There is much confusion surrounding the early texts of the Bible. The oldest manuscript, called the Vatican Code (Codex Vaticanus), is kept in the Vatican Museum. The second, Codex Sinaiticus, is preserved in the British Museum. Both of these manuscripts were written in the 4th century AD. The most ancient of them is the Vatican Code.

Initially, in the 1st and 2nd centuries. At least fifty Gospels were written. Only four of them (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are officially canonized by the church. However, the originals of all these texts have been lost. Rudolf Baltman, a professor and New Testament scholar, writes about the life of Jesus: “We can know nothing about the life of Jesus from primary sources recorded in the early era of the Christian era. Today we have nothing, not fragments from his life, not even legends recorded in writing.”

The name “Bible” is not of evangelical origin, since this word does not appear even once in the New Testament itself. While Allah (praise be to Him!) Himself calls the Holy Book of Islam the Koran. The word "al-Qur'an" is repeated seventy times in the Qur'an.

Another fact that distinguishes the Bible from the Koran is that only a few Christians believe that the former (the Bible) is in its entirety the word of God. It (the Bible), as many Christians admit, is partly the story of the life of Jesus and his sayings, and partly the words of the Almighty. In comparison, the Qur'an is the Word of Allah delivered to His servant and Messenger (SAW). There is indisputable evidence in favor of this: Allah Himself (praise be to Him!) speaks in the Koran and He addresses directly to man, while the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his sayings are recorded in the works of scientists, and are called “Sira” and “Hadith "

PRESERVATION OF THE QURAN

The verses of the Holy Quran were transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through revelation for 23 years during his lifetime, when events related to the establishment of the religion of Allah (Monotheism) unfolded. As soon as the Messenger of Allah (SAW) received another revelation, he read it to his companions, who, in turn, not only wrote it down, but studied it with all their hearts. In addition, many of the companions memorized the entire text of the Koran. Thus, the Holy Book of Muslims, from the moment of the first divine revelation to Muhammad (SAW), was in the hands of people, and found its place in their hearts.

Already during the life of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the entire text of the Holy Quran was recorded in writing, verified and confirmed by himself. From that moment onwards, the integrity of the Koran was strictly protected from any corrections or distortions. There were always several original copies of the Holy Book among Muslims. It was even deliberately impossible to introduce any change into the text of the Koran, since its original was kept among the people, and many companions knew its full text by heart. Allah (praise be to Him!) promised to preserve His Word from all kinds of changes and interventions:

“After all, We - We have sent down a reminder, and We are protecting it.”

After the death of the Messenger of Allah (SAW), during the reign of Caliph Abu Bakr (RA), the Council of Companions decided to collect all parts of the Quran together to avoid discrepancies. The famous scholar and scribe of the Prophet Zaid ibn Thabit (RA) was entrusted with the responsible mission of compiling a unified Quran (mushaf).

INCORRUPTIBILITY

The Holy Quran, unlike the Bible, has retained its original text, written in classical Arabic, for more than 14 centuries. This is one of the main reasons why it continues to remain resistant to change to this day. No one in the Muslim world has ever thought of replacing the original Holy Quran with its translation. The text of the Koran that we are reading today is the same one that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by Allah (praise be to Him!)

Any Muslim who speaks Arabic today can easily understand the text of the Koran, revealed fourteen centuries ago, in classical Arabic. Every language undergoes changes and changes over time. Linguists will confirm that it is logically difficult to believe that a modern Arab is able to understand a book written 14 centuries ago. However, this is not the case with the Holy Quran. But why?! The answer is simple: “This is the Koran - the Word of the Almighty, which He (praise be to Him!) promised to protect from all distortions and changes.”

“This book is, without a doubt, a guide for the God-fearing.”

“Say: “Truth has appeared and falsehood has disappeared. Truly, lies are doomed to destruction."

Translated and prepared by Khasim AKKAEV

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OLD TESTAMENT AND QURAN

God, His creation of the world and the first people

As is known, the problems of the essential characteristics of God, the creation of the world, cosmology, cosmogony and the origin of life and man occupy a significant place in the creed of any religion. The Jewish Christian and Islamic religions claim that these problems are based on the will of the One God. However, the Bible and the Koran, despite some similarities, have significant doctrinal differences on these issues.

According to the Koran, after Adam was cast down to earth, he, his wife, and then his descendants were ordered to worship one God. However, after several generations, a significant part of humanity, having personified divine attributes and deified the righteous, believed that the world was ruled by a pantheon of gods, which led to idolatry. God many times sent his messengers to the lost peoples of antiquity, whose main task was to promote monotheism and deny paganism.

In Islam, assigning any partner (shirk) to God is the greatest mortal sin of man. All other sins flow from shirk. It is the strictest monotheism (monotheism) that is the basis of the true religion of God. Moreover, it is service to the one God that is the only goal and meaning of a Muslim’s life in Islam. In its monotheistic concept, the Koran is distinguished by the greatest consistency compared to other religions of the world. "No religion has interpreted monotheism as literally and consistently as Islam does."

Allah in the Quran is the true, greatest and incomparable Creator of the Universe. Not a single verse of this scripture contains even the remotest hint of polytheism or anthropomorphism. Both of these concepts are condemned and rejected. There is not a word here about God being the god of a particular people or community. Reading the Koran, the conclusion arises that Allah, who sent it down to humanity through the Prophet Muhammad, and on whose behalf the verses are presented, is above this world. Being above time and space, He sees absolutely everything and nothing can be hidden from His gaze. The Qur'an makes one feel the true greatness of the Creator as much as the human mind allows. All verses of the Koran are literally imbued with this meaning. It is this idea that is the leitmotif of all the plots that are described in this Book.

The description of God in the Koran boils down to the following provisions:

Allah is the lord and ruler of the worlds (Quran, 7:54).
Allah is omnipotent (Quran, 3:26).
Allah is one and there is no likeness to Him (Quran, 112:1-4).
Allah is above all qualities that can be attributed to Him (Quran, 23:91).
There is no God but Allah (Quran, 64:13).
Only Allah rules the world (Quran, 32:5).
Only Allah gives life and death to all living things (Quran, 2:28).
Allah has attributes, some of which are expressed in His Names.

Christianity, which is considered a monotheistic religion, also advocates monotheism. There are many verses in the Bible that condemn paganism. And this is natural for a monotheistic religion. But biblical scholars, starting with Spinoza, have identified several layers in this scripture dating back to different eras. They put forward a version that the Bible contains verses that go back to the polytheistic beliefs of the ancient Semites. Indeed, in several verses of this scripture, a dubious, from the position of monotheism, point of view on the essence of the Creator is striking.

An example is the following verse from the book of Genesis:

“And the Lord God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us, knowing good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Genesis , 3:22) .

Doubtful, from the point of view of polytheism, moments are clearly manifested in two more verses of the Old Testament:

"...and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5).

“God stood in the company of gods: he pronounced judgment among the gods; how long will you judge unrighteously...” (Psalm 82:1,2).

In addition to all this, the 1st chapter of the book of Genesis talks about the creation of the Universe by God. However, God is called "Elohim" in this chapter, and this word is translated from Hebrew as gods (i.e., plural), as opposed to the word "Eloh", meaning God (singular), as already mentioned in previous chapter. True, church leaders deny that this could be a remnant of the polytheism of the ancient Semites.

“Here is how the Catholic Dictionary of Biblical Theology interprets the question of Elohim: “Elohim is the plural. It is not a form of dignification - the Hebrew language does not know such a form "..., however, it goes on to say that "... it cannot be considered a consequence of any vestiges of polytheism, which are incredible," and that "in all likelihood, this is the plural - a trace of the general Semitic worldview, in which divinity is perceived as a plurality of forces."

However, such an explanation does not seem convincing.

An undoubted concession to the ancient worldview in Christianity is the doctrine of the trinity of God (Trinitarianism) and the belief that Jesus (logos) is the son of God.

“Among the three great monotheistic religions, Christianity occupies the last place in terms of monotheism, since it contains a trinitarian dogma that contradicts the monotheism of Judaism and Islam.”

According to Christian theology, this does not mean recognizing three gods; behind these three faces there is a single substance hidden. However, this explanation is somewhat dubious, especially since “... the New Testament does not affirm the trinity of God, with the exception of a few liturgical formulas.” It should be noted here that at different periods in the history of Christianity there have been movements to reject the Trinity. In the Middle Ages they were represented by "monarchians" and "dynamists". "Monarchians" defended the absolute unity of God and rejected the idea of ​​the Trinity. .

In addition, the Bible contains pronounced anthropomorphism. An example of this is the following verse:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

Here there is an open likeness of the image of the Creator to His rational creation. And another verse from the book of Genesis says:

“And the Lord repented that he had created man on the earth, and was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:6).

Here there is a transfer of the exclusive human concept of “repentance” to God.

Here is another verse from the book of Genesis. Here several qualities of man are attributed to God. This is “walking in paradise” and the fact that Adam can hide from Him, and the fact that God is looking for him, not knowing where he is, and the fact that God has a voice and man can hear it:

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of paradise. And the Lord God called to Adam and said to him: Adam, where are you? He said: the voice. Yours I heard in paradise, and I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself" (Genesis 3:10).

In addition to the significant difference in ideas about the essence of the Creator in the Koran and the Old Testament, there are differences in the description of the act of God’s creation of the world and man and his further fate.

According to the book of Genesis, God created light on the first day of creation:

"And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness night. And there was evening, and there was morning; one day "(Genesis 1:3-5) .

However, natural sources of light were created by Him only on the fourth day:

“And God created two great lights, the greater light, to rule the day, and the lesser light, to rule the night, and the stars; and God set them in the expanse of the heaven, to shine on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness... And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day" (Genesis 1:16-19).

From the point of view of rationalism, there are dubious moments here. The fact is that the Moon is not a source of light. The light emanating from it is a reflection of the sun's rays. Therefore, it cannot be a luminary, which only the Sun is. And light could not appear on the first day of creation, while its cause was only on the fourth.

Vegetation was created on the third day:

“And the earth brought forth greenery, herb that yieldeth its name according to its kind, and a tree that yieldeth fruit, in which is its seed according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day” (Genesis 1: 12, 13).

However, plants cannot appear before the Sun, which was created on the fourth day of creation, since plants cannot be viable without the sun's rays.

The Earth, according to the Bible, is stationary at the center of the Universe. The Sun, Moon and stars revolve around it. As proof of this, it is appropriate to cite the following verse from the Bible:

“The Lord God communicated to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah... Behold, I will bring back ten steps the shadow of the sun, which passed along the steps of Ahaz. And the sun returned ten steps according to the steps on which it went down” (Isaiah 38:8) .

If God brought the Sun back, then that means it is revolving around the Earth. And here is another verse with the same content:

"(Joshua said) ... the sun remained over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Analon! And the sun stood still, and the moon stood..." (Joshua 10:12-13).

As in the previous case, it was not the earth that was stopped in order to achieve the goal, but the sun and moon.

This idea of ​​the structure of the universe is called geocentrism. This model has been known since ancient times and is reflected in the Bible.

When the Polish astronomer N. Copernicus (1473-1543), who made a genuine revolution in the ideas of Europeans in the field of astronomy, proved the rotation of the earth around its axis and thereby refuted the biblical verse, the famous church reformer M. Luther (1483-1546) spoke out in his address as follows:

"People listen to a newfangled astrologer who is trying to prove that the Earth rotates, and not the firmament, the Sun and the Moon. Anyone who wants to show his intelligence invents some kind of system, of all systems, of course, the best. This fool wants to turn the whole world upside down." the science of astronomy. But the Holy Scriptures say that Jesus commanded the Sun to stand still, not the Earth."

And the Jesuit Inhofer wrote:

"The opinion about the movement of the Earth is the most disgusting, the most harmful, the most scandalous of all heresies. The immobility of the Earth is thrice sacred. Arguments against the immortality of the soul, the existence of God and the incarnation are more tolerable than attempts to prove that the earth moves."

Geocentrism was rejected by science after the 17th century, during the era of a radical revolution in ideas about the structure of the solar system, based on scientific facts.

And finally, according to the Bible, the creation of the universe took place in six days, and on the seventh day God, tired of his work, rested. Fatigue from business is also a purely human quality. The transference of this quality to God makes Him similar to man.

The Quranic account of God's creation of the universe differs significantly from the biblical account. The Koran also states that the universe was created by God in six days, but it is not as inconsistent as the Bible:

“Are you more difficult to create or is the sky? He built it. He raised its vault and built it, darkened its night and brought out the dawn and then spread out the earth” (Koran, 79:27-30). .

“Don’t you see how Allah created the seven heavens in rows and made the month in them a light, and made the sun a lamp” (Qur’an, 71:15-16).

These verses, unlike the biblical verses, make it clear that only the sun is the “lamp”, that is, the source of light, and the light emanating from the moon is here called “light”. The moon is not its source.

Today it is known that water is the basis of life and the main component of all living cells that make up all organisms. This scientific fact is reflected in the following verse from the Koran:

“Have not those who disbelieved seen that the heavens and the earth were united, and We separated them and made from water every living thing...” (Koran, 21:30).

Another scientific fact is confirmed here. The universe was once one. Its division occurred as a result of a phenomenon that scientists called the “Big Bang”.

It is noteworthy that all this information was reflected in the Koran, while in the 7th century AD, when it was revealed to Muhammad, humanity did not yet have scientific evidence of all this. And Muhammad himself was also illiterate. This is one of the many proofs of the Divine origin of the Koran and its preservation from later distortions. This also proves that the claims of some scholars that Muhammad simply rewrote or presented stories from the Bible in his own way have no basis, since in this case he would have introduced into the Koran the model of creation from the book of Genesis, which was given higher.

Moreover, the Qur'an, unlike the Bible, denies God's weariness after creation:

“And We created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, and weariness did not touch Us” (Quran, 50:38).

The same differences can be seen in the stories of the Koran and the Bible about the first people on earth. This topic is of fundamental importance for Christians, whose doctrine states that the fall of Adam and Eve at the dawn of mankind led to the “saving” mission of Christ, by believing in whom and accepting the church sacrament of baptism, any person is free from the sin of the ancestors of mankind.

The Christian tradition on the issue of the life of the first people adheres to the following basic principles:

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve are the first people created by God (Genesis 2:7, 2:22).

They lived in the Garden of Eden and could eat the fruits of trees except one of them, which was called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Otherwise, God threatened them with death (Genesis 2:16).

However, a certain serpent told Adam's wife that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would become knowledgeable, and not die at all. He turned out to be right. God did not fulfill his promise and did not kill them after they finally ate the fruit (Genesis 3:4-5).

All responsibility for this act lies with the wife, since she was the first to taste this fruit and then offered it to her husband (Genesis 3:6).

As a result, they became knowledgeable (Genesis 3:7).

God, having learned about this, severely punished them. The first to be punished was the serpent (Genesis 3:14).

He punished the wife (and with her all the women of the human race) with pregnancy, childbirth and the husband’s dominion over her (Genesis 3:16).

And he punished Adam by the fact that he would work by the sweat of his brow to feed himself (Genesis 3:19).

The expulsion of Adam and his wife from paradise to Earth is also a punishment for them, like their entire life journey (Genesis 3:23).

There is not a word in the book of Genesis about the repentance of Adam and his wife before God for their sin. But there is no refutation of this and no statement about the existing sinfulness of humanity. However, Christian theologians who developed the doctrine of original sin argued that all subsequent generations of people bear this sin from birth. Even a newborn child, in their opinion, is born “in a sin” that he never committed.

Almost all religions and near-religious philosophies in the world in one form or another recognize the concept of the original sinfulness of man, except for Islam and Judaism. For example, in Hinduism or Buddhism, where the basis of these teachings is the belief in the transmigration of souls, these are sins that the human soul committed in its previous incarnations. According to their views, the soul repeatedly wanders from the body of one person to another, aggravated by the sins of each of them. Therefore, every person, born into the world with the imprint of various sins of past generations (karma), finds himself doomed to even greater misfortunes, both in his life and in his future incarnations, if he does not believe in Buddha, Krishna or other deities. As a result of following the teachings of these religious and philosophical systems, the adept gets the opportunity to break out of the circle of regular reincarnations.

Something similar is present in Christianity. Here these views are expressed in the doctrine of original sin. At the same time, there is also the image of the savior and redeemer of this sin in the person of the son of God Jesus Christ. Faith in him is the main condition for salvation.

However, the doctrine of original sin does not seem uncontroversial. It is not surprising that in Judaism, which also recognizes the Old Testament as sacred scripture, there is no concept of this doctrine. The point here is that there is no literal indication of such sin in this scripture. Moreover, there are verses in the Old Testament that contradict this concept. For example:

“I, I myself, blot out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

“...the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall remain with him, and the iniquity of the wicked shall remain with him” (Ezekiel 18:20).

In this regard, it is undeniable that the concept of original sin is a theological development of later Christian theologians to justify the need for faith in Christ as the son of God and his divine essence. However, even among the early leaders of the church there was no unity on this issue. The most significant example of this is the polemic between a supporter of the idea of ​​original sin, Augustine, and Pelagius, who categorically denied this idea. Pelagius's views were later called the "Pelagian heresy."

All this is confirmed by the data of the Koran, in which a characteristic distinctive feature is the information about the repentance of Adam and his wife for the sin they committed. Here the story of the history of the first people comes down to the following points:

Adam and his wife are the first people. God created woman from Adam (Quran, 4:1). .

When Allah created Adam, he ordered all the angels to bow to him. They all carried out the order of their Lord. Among them was a genie named Iblis (Satan, Devil), who, being proud, refused to obey this order, while before that he worshiped Allah and carried out all his commands. As a result of this, Allah cursed him for disobeying His will and assigned him a place in hell. But the devil asked him for a respite until the day of the Last Judgment and received it. From that moment on, he became the enemy of humanity and leads astray all people except the true slaves of Allah (Quran, 15:28-42).

Allah settled them in paradise and forbade them to approach the tree. It does not say that it was a tree of knowledge (Quran, 2:35).

However, Satan (and not the snake) whispered to them: “Your Lord forbade you this tree only so that you would not turn out to be angels or become eternal” (Quran, 7:20).

Then Adam and his wife “ate of the tree” and “their abomination appeared before them, and they began to sew for themselves the leaves of paradise...” (Koran, 7:22). Here, not only the wife is responsible for this act. They carry it together.

God was angry with them for this (Quran, 7:22). But, having accepted the repentance of Adam and his wife, he forgave them (Koran, 7:23).

Unlike the Bible, in which Adam and his wife ended up on earth only because of this sin, the Koran states that Allah prepared a place for them on earth even before their creation, and that this sin is not the reason for their subsequent life on earth , but is the original plan of God (Quran, 2:30).

Life in paradise, according to the predestination and plan of Allah, was only the initial stage that was necessary for man, and his subsequent residence in this world is the Earth.

As already mentioned, the Qur'an contains information about the repentance of Adam and his wife. In this context, the Koranic narrative diverges from the biblical one, which contains no information about this. This repentance saved them from hellfire, and this is what, according to the Koran, distinguishes them from Satan, cursed by Allah.

Thus, in Islam there is neither the concept of “original sin” of humanity, nor the premise from which such a thought could arise. This is how Islamic doctrine differs from Jewish and Christian ones.

Thus, no one bears the mark of the sin of Adam, or of any other person. People are born absolutely sinless, and they acquire their sins in the process of their life and will answer on the day of the Last Judgment only for them. Therefore, in Islam there are no redeemers for the past sins of mankind, by believing in whom a person becomes free from them. According to Islamic doctrine, all these redeemers, even Christ or Buddha, are in fact mediators between God and humanity. Islam believes that any intermediate link between God and man destroys the very basis of the strictest monotheism and gives the One Creator partners either in creation or in worship.

Holy Scripture: Koran or Bible? Part 1

The first thing that any person who wants to know a particular religion pays attention to is the book, which is considered sacred scripture in this religion, the basis of the teachings and way of life of believers.

In our country, after Orthodox Christians, the Muslim community is the largest in number, and therefore contacts between Orthodox Christians and Muslims occur more often than with representatives of other religions.

Such contacts often take on the character of discussions about faith, so it seems quite justified to pay attention to the books considered sacred scripture in Christianity and Islam - the Bible and the Koran. And to a greater extent, on how Christians and Muslims understand the term “holy scripture”, and what arguments they offer in support of their faith, and how convincing these arguments are.

This is also worth doing because, as a rule, almost any serious discussion about faith between a Christian and a Muslim necessarily concerns the question of what is the true Word of God - the Koran, or the Bible, and what is not.

For the Christian reader there is no need to explain in detail what the Bible is, which he himself regularly reads and listens to during worship. But he is much less familiar with the Koran, so it wouldn’t hurt to say more about it.

The Koran, according to Muslims, is their holy book, it is a record of the “revelations” that Muhammad spoke for more than twenty years. These revelations are collected in suras (chapters), consisting of verses (verses). There are 114 surahs in the canonical version of the Koran. (Koran)

The Koran, as understood by Muslims, is the direct speech of Allah addressed to people. And Muhammad is only a transmitter, an intermediary through whom the word of Allah was brought to people. Therefore, speech almost always comes from the person of Allah.

The content of the book covers the retelling of biblical stories, the stories of pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient world, moral and legal institutions, polemics with non-Muslims, a description of the Last Judgment and posthumous retribution, etc. Most suras combine passages recited at different times and on different occasions. The composition of the book looks formal, the names of the suras are arbitrary, sharp semantic and thematic transitions, ambiguities, repetitions, and incoherent narration are characteristic. Most of the Qur'an is rhymed prose, with no consistent meter or rhyme.

During Muhammad's lifetime, many Muslims wrote down his revelations. He himself is believed to have been illiterate and did not keep records. After his death, under his two successors, Muslims were content with oral memory and individual records. Then several of Muhammad's companions began to compile the verses they knew into one set. Discrepancies emerged. In order to overcome the emergence of disagreements, the third caliph, Osman, around 650, organized a commission to standardize the text of the Koran and consolidate it into one body under the leadership of Zeid ibn Thabit, the last scribe of Muhammad.

Throughout the caliphate, they began to collect and search for surviving records. They were put into chapters, often without any thematic systematization, and placed in descending order: lengthy suras were located closer to the beginning, short ones were located closer to the end.

The resulting text was declared to be the only correct one, Uthman sent to the main cities of the Muslim world one copy of those they had written, and ordered that all other Quranic material, whether fragmentary records or the complete text, be burned, which then caused the indignation of many Muslims .

The text of the Koran was subject to changes at the beginning of the 8th century, when, on behalf of the ruler of Iraq, al-Hajjaj (d. 714), diacritics were added to it, necessary to distinguish one Arabic letter from others depicted in the same way as it, then in the 10th century , when, thanks to the activities of Ibn Mujahid (d. 935), the permissible variants of textual vowels were fixed, limited to seven “canonical” traditions, two of which eventually became dominant. Finally, even later, work was done to introduce punctuation marks into the text of the Koran in order to avoid the danger of an opposite understanding of phrases like “execution cannot be pardoned.”

How do Muslims teach about the Quran and the Bible?

The modern Muslim teaching on the Quran is formulated as follows: “The Quran is the word of Allah, therefore it has always existed, it was not created by Allah. The Koran that we have in our hands today is a manifestation in the material world of the eternal Koran - the word of Allah. The Prophet Muhammad, with the help of revelation, received this Book and, without adding anything of his own and without losing anything, passed it on to his companions. Therefore, the Qur'an contains nothing but the words of Allah. Moreover, no one can change the text of the Koran at will.” “The Koran, down to a single word, to a single letter, has remained in the same form in which it was revealed by the Almighty, there are no changes in a single word or vowel.”

By the 11th century, the concept of the “inimitability” of the Koran was finally formed in Islam ( ijaz) - the absolute perfection of its content and form, indicating that it is the main miracle of Islam, which no one can create equal to. Also because of this teaching, Islam developed a position on the untranslatability of the Koran. Currently, Muslims are actively translating the Quran into other languages, but they consider such translations only as interpretations of the Quran, and not as a sacred text.

As for the Muslim attitude to the Bible, it is defined in the third of the six dogmatic foundations of Islam (“aqidah”): “faith in the scriptures of Allah.” This means recognizing the fact that Allah revealed the Holy Scriptures to some of His messengers. The Koran mentions: certain scrolls that Allah sent down to Abraham; The Torah that was revealed to Moses; The Psalter that was given to David; The Gospel that was revealed to Jesus and the Qur'an that was revealed to Muhammad. In addition, Muslims believe that Allah revealed other Scriptures to His other messengers.

This belief does not at all mean that Muslims consider what is actually in the Old and New Testaments to be Holy Scripture. According to the teachings of Islam, the Bible was distorted by Jews and Christians and therefore the Torah, Psalms and Gospels are not the books that were supposedly actually revealed to Moses, David and Jesus, and which have not been preserved.

Only the Koran is considered to be Holy Scripture, which is supposedly preserved unchanged and which was sent to all humanity, in contrast to the previous Scriptures, which, as Muslims are convinced, were sent only to one specific people. Muslims recognize in the Bible only what is in accordance with the Koran, and they declare everything that contradicts it to be later human distortions.

In their opinion, the Jews distorted the Old Testament, and the Christians distorted the Gospel. Very often, Muslim polemicists claim that this distortion was allegedly made by the Apostle Paul, and, no less often, they claim that the New Testament was formed only in the 4th century, and only then, at the First Ecumenical Council of the Orthodox Church, all those teachings that contradicted appeared among Christians. The Koran - namely, about the Trinity of God, that Christ is God and the Son of God, about His death on the cross, etc.

How does this differ from Christian teaching about the Bible and the Koran?

The Koran among Muslims and the Bible among Christians are equally called the Word of God. It may seem that the understanding of Muslims and Christians is the same. That is, as the Bible is for Christians, the Koran is for Muslims. But this is not so, and there are fewer similarities than differences.

What is the Bible? To understand this, it is enough to read the title of the two parts of this Book: the Old Testament, the New Testament.

So, the Bible is a Covenant, an agreement concluded between God and people. Concluded voluntarily by both parties.

With Abraham and Moses, through the forefathers and prophets, God enters into a Covenant with all the people of Israel, the Jews. At the same time, the universal significance of the covenant with Abraham is immediately emphasized, for the Lord promises him: and in you all families of the earth will be blessed(Gen. 12:3), which is what happened in Christ Jesus, a descendant of Abraham in the flesh, for in Christ the Old Covenant was fulfilled and the New Covenant was concluded with the New Israel - with Christians, who became representatives of all tribes of the earth.

This Testament has all the signs of any normal contract. Conditions are stipulated:

If you, when you cross [over the Jordan], will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, carefully fulfilling all His commandments that I command you today, then the Lord your God will set you above all the nations of the earth.(Deut. 28, 1); If you do not listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do not try to fulfill all His commandments and His statutes that I command you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.(Deut. 28:15).

But these conditions are accepted voluntarily. All Israel voluntarily and freely accepts the following obligations:

And Moses called all the [children] of Israel and said to them: ...You all stand today before the Lord your God... that you may enter into a covenant with the Lord your God and an oath with Him which the Lord your God is setting up with you today, to make you His people today, and He to be your God, as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.(Deut. 29, 2-15). (Moses descends from Mount Sinai)

And the Bible is the document of this Testament. It lists not only the terms of the contract, but also the events associated with its compliance. The Book of the Covenant gives an honest, detailed, and unvarnished account of how this covenant was observed throughout history by both parties to it. In this regard, an analogy can be made with a bill of exchange, on which, when transferring it to another person, appropriate notes are made.

The Bible describes the Covenant that was made, but is not the Covenant itself. This is how “Agreement” is written on any contract, but the contract consists of a fact, not a text. The text is only a fixation on paper of the terms of the actual agreement. It is clear that the agreement itself is more important than the document. The document is secondary and has official dignity.

Why is the document needed? Only for one thing - so that the parties do not forget about these obligations. But for God there is no need for this, for He remembers His Testament perfectly and will never distort It.

But a person needs a document, but for no other reason than weakness. In general, as St. John Chrysostom wrote: “In fact, we should not have any need for the help of Scripture, but should lead a life so pure that instead of books, the grace of the Spirit serves our souls, and so that, just as those are covered with ink, so our hearts are covered with the Spirit. But since we have rejected such grace, we will at least use the second path.” .

Despite all the similarities and differences, there is one most important difference between the Koran and the Bible: the Koran is not a Testament. In no sense of the word is the Qur'an a document of a covenant, nor is it generally regarded as a contract or anything like that.

According to Muslim beliefs, the Koran is an order from Allah. And its very name is often derived from the command “Punishment!” (“Read!”), which was demanded from Muhammad by the tormenting spirit that appeared at night when he was sleeping in a cave on Mount Hira. The Koran in form is a continuous monologue of Allah, which recalls certain actions, quotes people, jinn, animals and insects, polemicizes with the enemies of Muhammad, promises and orders him and his followers.

Another aspect that does not allow the Quran to be classified as a covenant is the nature of the relationship between Allah and man, as described in the Quran itself. For example: “So his Lord said to him: “Surrender!” He said: “I have surrendered to the Lord of the worlds!” And Abraham and Jacob bequeathed this to his sons: “O my sons! Verily, Allah has chosen religion for you; do not die without being surrendered to you!” (2, 131-132).

Allah commands Abraham: “Obey!” And he obediently obeys. There is no talk of any freedom of choice. No free communication with God, as described for Abraham in chapters 15 or 18 of the book of Genesis, where, in particular, it is said that Abraham did not submit mindlessly, but voluntarily believed the Lord, And He counted it to him as righteousness(Gen. 15:6).

The Koran says nothing about the covenant that Allah would make with Muslims. Allah's relationship with humanity is modeled on the Koran. Allah sends down to the prophets and messengers each his own text. The messenger's task is to convey a text, which is essentially instructions for correct behavior. It is easy to see that with this understanding the text has a self-sufficient meaning. It must be transmitted without distortion, exactly.

So, the significant disagreement is the concept of the Covenant.

The Koran is not thought of in Islam as the Book of the Covenant; it is dominated by the exact opposite idea of ​​obedience and coercion, so much so that there is even an idea of ​​​​people who will be led to the Muslim paradise in chains - according to one hadith, Muhammad said, interpreting the verse “surrendered to Him those who are in heaven and on earth, willingly and unwillingly" (3, 83): “Those who surrendered to Allah involuntarily are captive peoples, who were brought to Islam in chains and shackles and who are led to paradise against their will.” .

There is another difference in the understanding of the Holy Scriptures in Islam and Christianity. Muslims are characterized by the idea of ​​mechanical memorization of a dictated sacred text, in which the role of the prophet is passive. According to their faith, Muhammad only conveyed word for word what he heard from Jibril, and he conveyed word for word what he read in the heavenly eternal Koran - the “kept tablet.”

But such an attitude towards prophecy is more characteristic of paganism, in which the soothsayer became a kind of passive instrument for the spirits who prophesy through him. Christians know that man, as a free and rational creation of God , called up to cooperation with God, who respects the freedom of His creation. Therefore, although all Scripture inspired by God(2 Tim. 3:16), but God's holy men spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21). That is, the prophet retains the ability to think and convey the words of Divine Revelation in the language of human speech, without distorting the meaning of Revelation, since the Holy Spirit assists the prophet in this. " />

The inspiration of the Holy Scriptures in Christianity is conceived not as belonging to every feature, every sign of God, dictating his revelations to the evangelist, who acts only as a passive instrument, but as cooperation, co-working of the Holy Spirit - God and man, in which the individual characteristics of the writer’s personality are not suppressed and his creative will, but are inspired by Divine inspiration, imbued with truth and blessed.

So, in strict accordance with the idea of ​​the covenant between God and man, two parties participate in the Holy Scriptures: the Lord Himself and the prophet of God who receives His Revelation. That is why the speech and style, the peculiarities of the construction of phrases and the presentation of prophecies differ among different prophets in the Old Testament, but the unity of faith and the essence of the prophecies are the same. Likewise, the evangelists could present the same events in different ways, but the essence of their gospel is the same. As St. Basil the Great said, “The Holy Spirit never deprives the one whom He inspires of reason, otherwise such an action would be demonic.” .

So, we have found out a significant difference in the understanding of what the Holy Scripture is for Christians and for Muslims. In the first case, it is a document of a contract between God and man, and in the second, it is a record of Divine orders to humanity.

Now is the time to move on to the question of how the truth of Scripture is substantiated in Christianity, and how in Islam. What criteria are proposed to determine that this text is not just a literary monument, but the word of God?

Yuri Maksimov, Alexander Lyulka

Since the ancient Arabic letter consisted only of consonant letters, everyone could pronounce it according to their own understanding, as they saw fit and as the grammar of the Arabic language allowed.

Haydar Ali. Course of lectures on the basics of Islam. Kazan, 1997. - pp. 21-22.

Al-Maududi Abu al-Aala. Principles of Islam. — P. 72.

St. John Chrysostom. Commentary on Saint Matthew the Evangelist. Book I, Conversation 1./ http://www.ispovednik.ru/zlatoust/Z07_1/Z07_1_01.htm

As-Suyuti Jalal ad-Din. Excellence in Qur'anic Sciences. M., 2000. - P. 116.

Quote by: Evdokimov P. Orthodoxy. M., 2002. - P. 272.

1. Origin of the scriptures

All religious systems of the world have sacred scriptures, written, according to their beliefs, at the inspiration of God (for monotheists), or gods (for polytheists). For Buddhists it is the Pitaka, for Zoroastrians it is the Avesta, for Hindus it is the Vedas. Monotheistic religions are represented by two books: the Bible (in Judaism and Christianity) and the Koran (in Islam).

Taking into account historical data, as well as the similarity of many characters and events in the Old Testament and the Koran, it follows that they come from a single ancient Semitic monotheistic tradition. At the origins of this tradition, according to these sacred writings, stood the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and his descendants. The books of the Old Testament (Hebrew Tanakh) originated among the Jews - his descendants from his youngest son Ishak (Ishak), and the Koran among the Arabs - the descendants of his eldest son Ismail (Ishmael). This circumstance explains the distinctive features of the Old Testament and the Koran.

The Koran, which arose in the Arab ethnic environment, is recognized by its followers (Muslims) as God's revelation given to Muhammad by the Creator in the 7th century AD. e. The Koran repeatedly states that Islam is not something completely new, but has existed at all times as the religion of the prophets. Thus, the continuity of faith and the truth of ancient prophecies are affirmed here. Muhammad's mission was only to reform the law, not to abolish it. The law had to be reformed due to the fact that:

The times of sending down revelations to individual peoples are over, and the need for a world religion has arisen.

The final reform of the faith was to be carried out by a messenger who came from among the descendants of Ismail, the eldest son of Ibrahim with whom the covenant of God was concluded.

There was a need to replace the previous texts of the sacred scriptures due to the fact that they were distorted and changed by human creativity.

Thus, the Koran claims that the presence of “difficult passages” in the Bible, which will be discussed below, stems from the systematic distortion of its meanings by the Jewish and Christian priesthood.

The Qur'an has 114 chapters (suras) regardless of where and when it was published. The originals of the Koran have survived to this day. They were compiled during the reign of the third righteous caliph Osman (644–656) by Muhammad's closest companions based on scrolls verified by the prophet himself. All subsequent editions of this book exactly repeat the text of the original. There are no lists of the Koran that diverge from the Ottoman edition.

None of the main branches of Islam questioned the number of suras in the Koran and never debated among themselves which of them should be included in the Scripture and which should not. According to the unanimous opinion of all Muslims, the Koran is the result of Divine revelation and is not subject to human judgment.

In recent decades, the Koran has been translated from Arabic into many languages ​​of the world. However, it is prohibited to make any judgments (fatwas) independent of the opinion of the Muslim community or to conduct services in the target language. It follows from this that the original language is mandatory, due to the fact that any translation is ultimately imperfect and, at least a little, distorts the true meaning of the Divine message. Therefore, no alternative canonized text of this scripture is known.

There are no semantic contradictions or inconsistencies with the data of modern sciences found in the Koran.

"Arthur Jeffery worked on the problem of critical edition of the Qur'an until the mid-50s. However, already the first approaches to solving it revealed significant difficulties that cast doubt on the very feasibility of the task, and since the end of the 50s, interest in the problem of critical edition among Western Islamic scholars has practically disappeared."

In this regard, the Koran has never been subject to any serious scientific criticism from opponents.

The holy book of Jews and Christians - the Bible is divided into 2 unequal parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament consists of the following books:

"Torah" (Law), which in turn consists of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Otherwise, these five books are called the Pentateuch.

"Nebiim" (Prophets) - consisting of the books of the senior prophets (Joshua, Judges of Israel, Ruth, I and II books of Samuel, I and II books of Kings), the books of the "younger" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and twelve "minor" prophets" (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi).

"Ksubim" (Sacred or hagiographical writings) consisting of the Psalms (Psalter), Proverbs of Solomon, the books of Job, Song of Songs, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, I and II books of Ezra and Nehemiah, I and II books of Chronicles (Chronicles) .

All these books were written at different times and were finally compiled only at the end of the 1st century. BC e.

Several more books were not recognized by the Jews because they were written in Greek. These are the books of Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, the prophet Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremiah, the prayer of Manasseh, I and II books of Maccabees. For the Jews of the Diaspora and the early Christians, they were the texts of the “secondary canon.” The Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include all of these books. The books of the “secondary canon” recognized by Catholicism and Orthodoxy also include the books of the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, II and III books of Ezra and III book of Maccabees. All these books are called non-canonical, but, nevertheless, are included in the scriptures of these faiths. Protestants reject these books.

Thus, the number of texts included in the Holy Scriptures is different in all three main denominations of Christianity.

The New Testament consists of 27 books across all denominations of Christianity.

Historical and philological studies of Bible texts show the presence of late insertions and compilations in them. For example, in the Hebrew version of the Old Testament, God is called differently. In the first chapter of Genesis He is called Elohim. From the fourth verse of the second chapter of this book He is called Yahweh. In subsequent verses both the name Yahweh and the name Elohim appear, and even both names together. Moreover, Elohim is literally translated as “gods,” that is, in the plural. As a result of the research, it turned out that if you write out these and other verses separately, you will get two consecutive and independent stories. This can be seen, in particular, in the example of the story of Joseph, where it speaks either of Yahweh or of Elohim. The same thing is especially clear in the story of the Flood. This has given rise to some scholars to suggest that two texts are combined in the Torah. One of them is about Elohim, the other is about Yahweh. According to Jewish tradition, both names belong to one God. But even so, the sequence of the written accounts of Yahweh and Elohim indicates that these texts were originally different and only later were connected.

All these facts were discovered and formulated in the 18th century by biblical scholars J. Astruc and G. B. Witter. J. Astruc believed that all contradictions in the Torah stem from a mechanical and unedited combination of two sources by unknown compilers of the Old Testament books.

One of these sources was later called the Yahwist. It is designated in scientific literature by the symbol J (Jahwe). The second source was called Elohist and is designated by the symbol E (Elohim). They both arose, presumably, during the period of the collapse of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah after King Solomon (X-IX centuries BC).

It further turned out that the Elohist consists of two parts. This was stated by G. Gupfelt. The second part, most likely dating back to the period of the “Babylonian captivity,” is called the Priestly Code and is designated by the letter P (Priestercodex). The Priestly Code is based on the book of Leviticus, as well as some other verses of the Torah. Priestercodex contains the rules of worship, rituals, lifestyle of priests, as well as the entire Jewish community.

The final source for the Pentateuch is Deuteronomy. It is designated by the letter D (Deuteronomium). It reflects the reformist tendencies undertaken by the Jewish priesthood to strengthen the ancient religion at a later stage of history. This source appeared in the 7th–6th centuries BC.

It is believed that all parts of the Pentateuch, i.e. sources J, E, D and P, were put together in the middle of the 6th century BC. e.

Due to these discoveries, the authorship of the Torah was called into question. According to ancient Jewish tradition, Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai as a result of a revelation from God. Archimandrite Nikifor wrote: “The Pentateuch of Moses consists of five books written by the prophet and God-seer Moses.”

However, research begun by biblical scholars since the 18th century has refuted this church doctrine.

"Back in the 19th century, it was proven that the first five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch or Torah) could not belong directly to Moses, as the official church claims. Based on the research mentioned above, it was established that one of these books, which is called "Deuteronomy" was created on the basis of some older text during the reign of King Josiah (7th century BC), while Moses lived a full seven hundred years earlier than this date, presumably in the 13th century BC. The authorship of Moses is also indicated by the semantic analysis of some verses of the Pentateuch. For example, verses 5–7 of chapter 34 of the book of Deuteronomy - “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord; and he was buried in a valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-zegor, and no one knows the place of his burial even to this day. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died" - could not have been written by Moses, since the author of these lines could never describe his own death, nor indicate the place of his burial. There is no doubt that the author of this verse was some another person who lived after all these events. Recently, some Christian theologians have recognized this fact (Pismo Swiete Starego: Nowego Testamentu. Poznan 1965). The modern Catholic Dictionary of Biblical Theology (p. XVIII) says that the Pentateuch, like other biblical books “could have been formed only in a relatively late era, after the establishment of the Davidic monarchy. All earlier eras - the times of the patriarchs, the establishment of the Jews of Israel in Canaan (Palestine), the Judges and the reign of Saul - belong to the period of oral narration."

The lack of clarity regarding the authorship of the Tanakh and the presence of several source texts in its origins appears to have been the reason for the emergence of several versions of the scriptures in the subsequent era. This is especially clearly seen in the example of comparing the texts of the Jewish canonical Tanakh with its translation into Greek - the Septuagint. This translation is one of the canonized editions. It was carried out in Egypt in the 3rd century BC. e., for Diaspora Jews. Jewish tradition claims that the translation was carried out by seventy Jewish sages who did the job without error.

However, nevertheless, this translation in many ways does not agree with the canonical text of the Old Testament accepted by modern Judaism. This discrepancy means that it was translated from some other text of this scripture other than the modern Jewish canon. This is clearly recognized even in the commentary to the synodal edition of the Bible: “The Septuagint differs in some details from the Masoretic text, since the Masorites and translators into Greek used different manuscripts (lists) of the ancient text.”

I.Sh. Shifman gives a comparative description of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the Septuagint:

	MASORETIC TEXT		SEPTUAGINT
Book title	Heads	Poems according to the marks of the Masoretes	Heads		poems
				Nikifor	Claromontan manuscript	Mommsen list
Being	50	1534	50	4300	4500	3700
Exodus	40	1209	40	2800	3700	3000
Leviticus	27	859	27	2700	2800	2300
Numbers	36	1288	36	3530	3650	3000
Deuteronomy	34	955	34	3100	3300	2700
Joshua	24	656	24	2100	2000	1750
Judges	21	618	21	2450 (+ Ruth)	2000	1750
Samuel I–II	31+24	1506	31+24	2240	4500	4500
Kings I–II	22+25	1534	22+25	2203	5000	4800
Isaiah	66	1291	66	3800	3600	3580
Jeremiah	52	1362	52	4000	4070	4450
Ezekiel	48	1273	48	4000	3600	3340
Hosea	14	197	14		530
Joel	4	73	3		90
Amos	9	146	9		410
Ovadiah	1	21	1		70
And she	3	48	4		150
Micah	7	105	7		310
Nahum	3	47	3		140
Habakkuk	3	56	3		160
Zephaniah	3	53	3		140
Haggai	2	38	2		110
Zechariah	14	211	14		660
Malachi	3	55	4		200
12 prophets				3000		3800
Psalms	150	2517	151	5100	5000	5000
Job	42	1070	42	1800	1600	1700
Proverbs	31	915	29	1700	1600
Ruth	4	85	4		250	250
Song of Songs	8	117	8	280	300
Ecclesiastes	12	222	12	750
Cry	5	154	5
Esther	10	168	16	350	1000	700
Daniel	12	357	13	2000	1600
Ezra-Nehemiah	10+13	685	10+13	5500	1500
Chronicles I–II	29+36	1765	29+36	5500		2040+2100

In addition to those indicated in the table, the Septuagint includes the following books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, Maccabees I–III, Ezra.

Thus, from all this it follows that in III–I BC. e. There were several different texts of the Old Testament in circulation at once. Moreover, discrepancies in these texts of scripture exist not only in the titles or in the narratives, but also in the canonical text itself. For example, Isaiah's prophecy about Tire (23:1-10) in the Septuagint and Jewish (Masoretic) Canon are stated respectively as follows:

JUDICA CANON	SEPTUAGINT
A Word about Tire	A Word about Tire
Weep, O ships of Tarshish, for it is destroyed, there are no houses, no gates. From the land of Kitti it was announced to them. Be silent, inhabitants of the island! The Sidonian merchants and seafarers filled you and along the great waters the seeds of Shihor and the harvest of Tire were delivered to him, and the peoples traded there. Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea, the power of the sea, speaks like this: “I did not suffer, and did not give birth, and did not raise young men, did not raise maidens. When the rumor reaches Egypt, they will tremble at what they hear about Tire. Go to Tarshish, "Weep the inhabitants of the island! Is this your arrogant city, which began from ancient times? Its feet lead away into the distance to settle there. Who decided this about Tyre, who distributes crowns, whose merchants are rulers, merchants - the noble people of the earth? Yahweh of Armies decided about him, to disgrace the arrogance of all glory, to disgrace all the noble people of the earth. Cross over to your land, like a river, daughter of Tarshish, there is no more obstacle.	Weep, O Carthaginian ships, for he is lost, and no one will come again from the land of Kitti: he has been taken away captive. Who were the inhabitants of the island, the Phoenician traders who crossed the sea across many waters, the descendants of merchants, like? Like the reaped harvest, so are the merchants of the nations. Be ashamed, Sidon says the sea, and the power of the sea says: I did not suffer, and I did not give birth, I did not raise young men, I did not raise maidens. When it is heard in Egypt, they will be overcome with sorrow for Tyre. Go to Carthage, weep, you who live on this island! Wasn't that your arrogance at first, before he was betrayed? Who decided this about Tyr? Is he weakened, is he not powerful? Its merchants are noble, rulers of the land. The Lord of hosts decided to destroy all the arrogance of the nobles and deprive the honor of all the nobles on earth. Work your land, for ships will no longer come from Carthage.

Here, first of all, attention is drawn to the difference in the geographical names of the events described. So the Septuagint speaks of Carthage (North Africa), and the Jewish canon speaks of Tarshish (Tarsis), which was located in Spain.

In addition to the above example, several versions of the Old Testament (Tanakh) are currently known that have discrepancies with the official text. These are the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Peshitta. As a result of archaeological discoveries made at Qumran, fragments of the Essene Bible came into the hands of scientists, which also differed from the modern canonical text.

Another canonized translation of the Bible, but into Latin, is the Vulgate. It was carried out at the end of the 4th century. n. e. Jerome. She was canonized at the Council of Trent of the Catholic Church in the 16th century, but a large number of changes and corrections were made to the traditional text of Jerome. This text became official for the Roman Catholic Church. The official texts for Orthodox and Protestants are translations of the Bible into the languages ​​of those peoples who profess these faiths. They were also declared to be the inspired followers of these churches.

The presence of different, sometimes contradictory lists of the Bible, ambiguity in the question of the authorship of various books of the Holy Scriptures, and much more, undoubtedly damages the Bible as a revealed or God-given scripture. Traditionally established dogmas on these issues were eventually overturned. This situation is further aggravated by the fact that the biblical texts reveal a huge number of internal contradictions and inconsistencies with the data of progressive science. Ancient thinkers were the first to draw attention to this circumstance. The ancient criticism of Christianity is especially clearly presented in the work of Celsus “The Truthful Word”.

The foundation for scientific criticism of the Bible was laid in the Middle Ages. The undoubted merit in this belongs to Benedict Spinoza, who for the first time reasonedly criticized biblical teaching in his work Theological-Political Treatise. Subsequently, fundamental work in this area belonged to J. Astruc, M. De Wette, K. Graf, J. Wellhausen.

The rapid development of science during the same period called into question many of the dogmas of the Christian religion, especially about the creation and structure of the universe. Later, already in the 18th–19th centuries, as a result of archaeological excavations, it was proven that some historical data in the Bible did not correspond to reality. For example,

“The Bible does not have a definite date for the origin of the universe. But it contains many separate indications regarding the life time of certain characters, the duration of certain events and episodes, as well as some other data. Based on these instructions, exegetes and theologians in general tried to establish the date of the creation of the world, from which it is already possible to trace the chronology of other events of biblical history, as well as the history of mankind in general within the limits covered by the Bible.But the basis of such calculations turned out to be so shaky that, both in general and in particular, the chronological systems developed by various authors are not enough, in which they agree with each other. In general, there were about 200 such systems back in the 18th century. We will point out only two of them. The first was developed by the English theologians Uscher and Lightfoot. It proceeds from the fact that the world was created by God in 4004 BC . BC The second version is recognized by the Orthodox Church and dates the creation of the world to 5008 BC." .

The same applies to the Biblical story of the Flood and Noah's Ark. Here's what the Bible says about this:

“Every creature that was on the surface of the earth was destroyed; from man to cattle, creeping things and birds of the air... only Noah remained, and what was with him in the ark.”

According to this quote, it follows that the flood was worldwide and destroyed all life on earth, with the exception of Noah, his family and everything that was with him in the ark. However, this contradicts scientific data.

“If the flood had destroyed all of humanity, it would have been impossible for Abraham, who came three centuries later, to find humanity divided into different nations and races, especially if this humanity came from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, Japheth and their Moreover, Abraham is placed in the period 1800-1850 BC, in which case the flood would have occurred sometime in the 21st or 22nd centuries BC, but modern historical science argues that civilizations existed at that time in various parts of the world, and we have their remains to prove their existence.In Egypt, for example, it was the period preceding the Middle Kingdom (2100 BC), as an intervening period of the Eleventh Dynasty.In Babylon, it was the Third Dynasty of Ur. "We can say with confidence that there were no turning points in the history of these states during that period. Thus, this period was not a time of general destruction."

English archaeologist Leonard Woolley in the 30s. XX century discovered the remains of a certain civilization in Mesopotamia, which was destroyed by a flood. And it is very likely that it was here that the event described in the Bible as the Great Flood took place. However, this flood did not occur at the time given in the Bible, but much earlier than that.

“It is estimated that with such a water level, the whole of Mesopotamia could become a victim of the raging elements. This means that a catastrophe occurred here on a scale rarely seen in history, and, nevertheless, the catastrophe was still of a local nature. But in the minds of the inhabitants of Western Asia, space, on which it occurred, covered the whole world, and for them the flood was a universal flood. Tales of the catastrophe passed from century to century - from the Sumerians to the Akkadians and Babylonians. From Mesopotamia, these legends migrated to Canaan, here the ancient Jews remade them in their own way and their version was recorded in the Old Testament."

In conclusion, it should be noted that some radical critics of the Bible, based on this set of data, tried to prove the non-historicity of many persons mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, and even to refute the presence of God above the world to justify an atheistic worldview. This approach was practiced, in particular, during times of dominance of communist ideology. However, all such attempts were subsequently refuted from both philosophical and scientific positions.

However, questions remain. The main ones are the following: How are there contradictions in the Holy Scriptures? How did it happen that dogmas about the origin of biblical books turned out to be untenable? Why does God's word have very different meanings in different lists of both canonical and apocryphal books? After all, if the Bible is truly a Divine revelation, then God could not have been mistaken, confused or ignorant of the achievements of science after the Middle Ages.

If we reject the atheistic point of view as untenable, then there is only one answer left. Bible verses were once indeed transmitted to the prophets as a result of Divine revelation, but due to various circumstances they were replaced or distorted by people. All these "difficult passages" in scripture are the result of such activity. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that certain parts of the Bible really represent revealed covenants.

This is exactly how this problem is addressed in the Qur'an. Concerning the Bible, it gives ambiguous information. On the one hand, it speaks of its Divine origin (Koran, 2:51–53; 3:48; 4:163), and on the other hand, it is argued that Jews and Christians distorted some of its meanings (Koran, 4:46; 5:41– 43;5:110) . Due to the fact that biblical studies have established undoubted facts of late compilations and insertions into the texts of the Bible, the Quranic statement about the Divine origin and further distortion of scripture by people seems worthy of attention.

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The Bible and the Koran - what is the fundamental difference between them? Can we consider that both books are revelations given from the Almighty?

The word "Bible" in Greek means a book written on papyrus (which was produced in the ancient city of Byblos). In Judaism and Christianity, a canonical collection of sacred texts. As for the word “Koran”, it is taken from Arabic expressions - “reading aloud”, “edification”. The current edition of this book is a compilation of records that were collected and compiled by the Muslim college under the leadership of Zeid ibn Thabit (Mahomet's scribe).

The “warriors of Islam” also use the concept of the “holy Koran.” But the main difference between Muslim teaching and Christianity is that Islam does not preach the truth and, of course, does not even claim to have it. For comparison: Mohammed called himself a teacher seeking the truth, while Christ clearly said: “I am the Truth.”

Of course, you can talk a lot about the topic: the Bible and...

Aydin Arif oglu Ali-zade
THE BIBLE AND THE QURAN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
(WORLDVIEW ASPECT)

Introduction

The three world religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - have common features in their origins and in this sense are related. All this is clearly visible when comparing the primary sources of these religions: the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Koran and the Sunnah. However, it is precisely these comparative aspects that have been little explored. For the most part, the works of scientists were aimed at studying problems related to Judaism, Christianity, Islam and their primary sources separately.

The scientific study of the biblical worldview dates back to ancient times. The ancient Roman philosophers Porphyry, Celsus and Emperor Julian devoted their works to this topic. The foundations of modern biblical studies were laid by the outstanding scientist and philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Over the next centuries, this problem was dealt with...

OLD TESTAMENT AND QURAN

God, His creation of the world and the first people

As is known, the problems of the essential characteristics of God, the creation of the world, cosmology, cosmogony and the origin of life and man occupy a significant place in the creed of any religion. The Jewish Christian and Islamic religions claim that these problems are based on the will of the One God. However, the Bible and the Koran, despite some similarities, have significant doctrinal differences on these issues.

According to the Koran, after Adam was cast down to earth, he, his wife, and then his descendants were ordered to worship one God. However, after several generations, a significant part of humanity, having personified divine attributes and deified the righteous, believed that the world was ruled by a pantheon of gods, which led to idolatry. God many times sent his messengers to the lost peoples of antiquity, whose main task was to promote monotheism and deny paganism.

In Islam...

To live in LOVE, HONESTY, JUSTICE, WISDOM - do we really need scriptures for this? Moreover, TRUTH is transmitted from HEART to HEART, and not through paper and books.

The spirit of slavery is hidden in the idol and the Kaaba,
The ringing of bells is the tongue of a slave,
And the black seal of slavery still lies
On the rosary and the cross, on the church and the mihrab.

Raging in cells, mosques and churches
Hope to enter heaven and fear of hell.
Only in the soul who understands the secret of the world,
The juice of these weeds has dried up and withered.

Hear the story of the drunkard mufti!
I'm drunk a hundred times more sober than you:
The blood of the vine is for me, the blood of people is for you.
So who is the most bloodthirsty of us?

Slaves of frozen formulas want to comprehend life;
Their spores reek of carrion and mold.
You drink wine! leave them unripe grapes,
The set of judgments set on edge, the dry raisins of quotations.

Neglect the law, prayer and fasting,
But share what you can with the hungry poor:
Be kind... Yours...

A. A. ALI-ZADE (ABDULLAH ALI)

BIBLE AND QURAN:
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
(WORLDVIEW ASPECT)

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.
OLD TESTAMENT AND QURAN

ORIGIN OF THE SCRIPTURES
GOD, THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THE FIRST PEOPLE
OLD TESTAMENT AND QURANIC ETHICS
MUHAMMAD AND THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES

CHAPTER II.
NEW TESTAMENT AND QURAN

ISA IN THE QURAN
MUHAMMAD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
QUMRAN COMMUNITY, CHRISTIANITY AND THE QURAN
ESCHATOLOGY OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM
ANCIENT CRITICISM OF CHRISTIANITY AND DATA OF THE QURAN

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The three world religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - have common features in their origins and in this sense are related. All this is clearly visible when comparing the primary sources of these religions: the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Koran and the Sunnah. However, it is precisely these comparative aspects that have been little explored. Most of the scientists' works were...

The discussion about faith between a Christian and a Muslim has been going on for a long time and necessarily concerns the question of what is the true Word of God - the Koran, or the Bible, and what is not.

In the understanding of Muslims, the Koran is the direct speech of Allah addressed to people. And Muhammad is only a transmitter, an intermediary through whom the word of Allah was brought to people. Therefore, speech almost always comes from the person of Allah.

The content of the book covers the retelling of biblical stories, the stories of pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient world, moral and legal institutions, polemics with non-Muslims, descriptions of the Last Judgment and posthumous retribution, etc. Most suras combine passages spoken at different times and on different occasions. The composition of the book looks formal, the names of the suras are arbitrary, sharp semantic and thematic transitions, ambiguities, repetitions, and incoherent narration are characteristic. Most of the Qur'an is rhymed prose, without a constant meter and...

Meskin. It can be stated that the texts relate to the same event, but there is no need to say that they are similar, and even more so the Koranic text is copied from the Gospel.

Most likely, this means that all books have the same source.

1. Considering the influence of Jews and Christians on the Koran, the New Catholic Encyclopedia writes: “Judaism and Christianity must have had a major, but not exclusive, influence on Muhammad... it is very possible that Muhammad heard improvised translations of Jewish and Christian scriptures.”
The difficulty in presenting the life of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is his illiteracy. As the Quran says, if Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had been literate, many critics might have doubted the veracity of the statements (29:48), but since. he was illiterate, it is incredible that he could collect materials from Christians and Jews and then create a new one...

The Koran for Muslims and the Bible for Christians are the most important religious shrines. And they are equally called the Word of God. To a superficial glance, it may seem that the understanding of Muslims and Christians is the same. That is, as the Bible is for Christians, the Koran is for Muslims. But this is not so, and there are fewer similarities than differences.

What is the Bible? To understand this, just read the title of this Book.

Old Testament.

New Testament.

The Bible is a Covenant, a contract made between God and people. The prisoner is voluntarily entered into by both parties. Moreover, under this agreement both parties undertake mutual obligations!

The God of the Bible is the Creator, the Creator of the Universe, Who has no need for it. And this is His greatest condescension and mercy towards creation, that He, without ceasing to be God and Lord, raises relations with man to such a height that He does not command, but proposes to conclude an agreement...

With Abraham and Moses, through the forefathers...

Bible and Koran. Comparative analysis

Therefore, in parallel with this, the process of gradual deification of the “new” Jesus and his identification with the ancient “Logos” (word), the mediator between the infinitely distant transcendental God and the material world, began. This tendency is clearly evident in the Gospel of John. Archimandrite Nicephorus wrote in the Biblical Encyclopedia that “the word “Logos” (in John 1:1, 14; John 1:14; 1 John 1:1, etc.) means the second person of the Holy Trinity as eternal and hypostatic the word of God, which was with the Father from eternity and then became incarnate for us humans and for our salvation.” A brilliant expert on Christian theology, antiquity and ancient languages, Professor A.A. Daoud (formerly Catholic priest D.B. Keldani) wrote on this matter: “The authorship and authenticity of the Gospel of John raise many questions, and biblical criticism deals with this. However, it is impossible to believe that an apostle of Jesus could write this book in the form and content that they...

1. Origin of the scriptures

All religious systems of the world have sacred scriptures, written, according to their beliefs, at the inspiration of God (for monotheists), or gods (for polytheists). For Buddhists it is the Pitaka, for Zoroastrians it is the Avesta, for Hindus it is the Vedas. Monotheistic religions are represented by two books: the Bible (in Judaism and Christianity) and the Koran (in Islam).

Taking into account historical data, as well as the similarity of many characters and events in the Old Testament and the Koran, it follows that they come from a single ancient Semitic monotheistic tradition. At the origins of this tradition, according to these sacred writings, stood the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and his descendants. The books of the Old Testament (Hebrew Tanakh) originated among the Jews - his descendants from his youngest son Ishak (Ishak), and the Koran among the Arabs - the descendants of his eldest son Ismail (Ishmael). This circumstance explains the distinctive features of the Old Testament and the Koran.

The Koran, which originated in Arabic...

Jewish truth
a couple of modest excerpts from the Kitsur Shulchan Aruch

“It is forbidden to save them [akumas] when they are close to death. For example, when you see that one of them has fallen into the sea, do not rescue him, even if he wants to pay. According to this, they cannot be treated, even for money, except in cases where one may fear hostility... And it is also allowed to test medicine on Akuma - is it useful? (Iore de'a 158-1).

“His [Akum’s] seed is considered as the seed of cattle” (Tosefta-addition to the Talmud Ketubot, 3 b).

“For the sake of [dead] servants and maids... they do not speak words of consolation to those left behind, but one must say to him [the owner]: “May God compensate you for your loss,” in exactly the same way as they say to a man when his ox or donkey dies.” (Iore de'a 377-1).

“When someone buys tableware from Akum... even if it is new, then he must wash it in a water container or in a well containing 40 measures.” “The Jew who sold the dishes to Akum and bought...

The essential difference between Christianity and Islam is the difference between Jesus and Muhammad. Jesus was a spiritual leader who gave His life to save the world. Muhammad was a spiritual leader who became a political leader and then a powerful military leader. Jesus fulfilled His mission by dying on the cross. Muhammad accomplished his mission (at least most of it) by ruling with the sword.

Of course, there are great similarities between these two most widespread world religions. Both point to a supposedly inspired holy book in matters of faith and practice. Both speak of high moral standards and serious personal commitment. These religions share common traditions, as Muhammad studied with both Jews and Christians. And both religions have a vision of spreading their faith throughout the world.

But here the two religions diverge. One of them follows the example of the crucified and risen Savior. And the other follows the example of the prophet and...