The Same God?
Comparing the Bible with the Koran
(Dr. Dibble's Home Web Site)
The basic objective of this book is to present
to Christians, Muslims and Jews a comparison of passages from the entire
Koran with passages from the Bible that match, either agreeing or
disagreeing. Many studies have been done, but all are limited in scope,
comparing only one or more passages, or one or two subjects, or perhaps
comparing the way the Koran and the Bible tell the stories
of the people common to
both books.
So this book does something that has never been done before -- to compare in meticulous detail the entire Koran with the Bible. If the reader doubts this let him/her go to the library or onto the internet and check it out. Furthermore, many of these published writings are polemics against Islam by Christians or against Christianity by Muslims. But nowhere in this book do I "take sides." I do not editorialize, nor make critical comments about passages from either the Koran or the Bible. I have merely juxtaposed passages from both books that clearly show what Muslims, Christians and Jews believe about a given subject. In a few cases there is some ambiguity about whether the passages agree or disagree with each other and the reader can make his/her own judgment. But in most cases there is clear agreement or disagreement. (To see a short excerpt that demonstrates my technique, click on passages above.)
In preparing to write this book, I started with Sura #1 and proceeded verse by verse to Sura #114. I collected passages under eighteen headings and passages dealing with nineteen individuals. (See the Table of Contents below.) Then I started all over again, matching the selected Koranic verses with the Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments.
I used two translations of the Koran. One is from Everyman's Library, translated by Rev. J.M. Rodwell, M. A. and published by E. P. Dutton and Company. The suras are arranged in chronological order, that is, in the order in which they were revealed to Mohammed. It is written in Jacobean English, like the King James Version of the Bible.
The other translation is from Penguin Classics, translated by N. J. Dawood. The suras are arranged in the classic manner, that is, in the order in which they were arranged shortly after Mohammed's death. This is the translation used by Salman Rushdie in his controversial book, The Satanic Verses. It is written in modern English; therefore the passages quoted in this work were taken from it unless otherwise noted.
To find comparable biblical passages I called primarily on my own extensive knowledge of the Bible. But to fill in the gaps in my knowledge I used Strong's Concordance extensively. I used The New American Bible for most of the quotations, but also occasionally used The New Revised Standard Version and the King James Version. I also used a few passages from apocryphal books such as the Book of Enoch, The Protevangelium (Infancy Gospel) of James, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NOTES ON THE TEXT
INTRODUCTION
1) A brief biography of Mohammed. 2) The origin of the Koran, its
infallibility and why it was written in Arabic. 3) Why the Koran came to
Mohammed and how he should testify to his people.
1 -- THERE IS ONE GOD and GOD CANNOT HAVE A SON
2 -- PRAISE BE TO GOD
3 -- THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
4 -- FURTHER DUTIES OF BELIEVERS
5 -- PROVERBS, APHORISMS, ETC.
6 -- PREDESTINATION
7 -- GOD GUIDES WHOMEVER HE CHOOSES
8 -- TOLERANCE OF UNBELIEVERS
9 -- REGARDING JEWS AND CHRISTIANS
10 -- REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS
11 - ANGELS
12 -- ATTITUDES TOWARDS FEMALES
13 -- DIVORCE
14 -- WAR
15 -- THE CREATION STORIES
16 -- THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK: BEFORE THE EGYPTIAN CAPTIVITY
SATAN, ADAM
AND EVE
NOAH
ABRAHAM
LOT
JOSEPH, SON
OF JACOB
17 -- PEOPLE OF THE BOOK AFTER THE CAPTIVITY: MOSES
18 -- PEOPLE OF THE BOOK: MONARCHIAL PERIOD
SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, ELIJAH
19 -- PEOPLE OF THE BOOK: POST-MONARCHIAL PERIOD
JONAH
JOB
EZRA
20 -- PEOPLE OF THE BOOK , JESUS, SON OF MARY
21 -- PEOPLE OF THE BOOK: THE THREE APOSTLES,
& THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
22 -- HEAVEN AND HELL
23 -- THE RESURRECTION
24 -- THE FINAL DAY
25 -- MOHAMMED’S PRAYER
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