The Bible, as a whole, is not mentioned in the Bible.
The Qur'an, as a whole, is mentioned often in the Qur'an.
The Bible is not mentioned in the Bible. The books of Matthew, Luke and John mention "the law" or "the law of Moses", for example, but the Old Testament as a whole is not mentioned, nor the New Testament as a whole. Where it is written, "This is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1), this is a reference to, at most, the Book of Genesis. There are similar references in other books of the Bible. In addition, mention is made of books before the Bible — the books of laws (Deut. 17:18; 31:24), the book of Jasher (Josh. 10:13), the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah (1 Chr. 9:1). Many books have been lost forever.
If the Bible, as a whole, were mentioned in the pages of the Bible, which Bible would it be? The Samaritan Bible of five books? The Hebrew Bible of 24 books? The King James Version of 66 books? The Catholic Bible of 73 books? The Ethiopian Bible of 81 books? Would it be a Bible that included the books mentioned in the Old Testament and now lost?
The Qur'an is mentioned often in the Qur'an. The Qur'an refers to itself as "qur'an" dozens of times. "Qur'an" means something to be read or recited. The Qur'an also refers to itself as "al-Kitaab" (the Book), "al-Furqaan" (the Criterion), "adh-Dhikraa" and "at-Tadhkirah" (the Reminder), "ash-Shifaa" (the Healer), "ar-Rahmah" (the Mercy), among many other names. "Blessed is He who revealed the Criterion to His servant so that he will be a warner to the nations" (the first verse of the chapter of the Qur'an called "al-Furqaan"). "This book, there is no doubt in it, guidance to the righteous" ("al-Baqarah" — The Heifer — second verse). "These are the verses of the Qur'an" ("an-Naml" — The Ant — first verse).
According to the Qur'an, Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was the "Seal of the Prophets," the last prophet, and with the completion of his mission, the revelation was complete. Muslims expect no additional revelations. No individual or group of Muslims exists or can exist who have the authority to "canonize" some writing and add it to the Qur'an. The Qur'an is complete. No part of it has been lost. When the Qur'an refers to the Qur'an, there is only one Qur'an to which it could possibly refer.
The Bible does not claim to be literal revelation.
The Qur'an claims to be literal revelation.
The Bible does not claim to be literal revelation. A cursory glance at the title pages of the books of the Bible will show that the Bible identifies itself as a work of human authors.
According to the Oxford Companion to the Bible:
"With regard to the Bible, inspiration denotes the doctrine that human authors and editors of canonical scriptures were led or influenced by the Deity, with the result that their writings may be designated in some sense the word of God." (emphasis added) [Metzger, "Inspiration and Inerrancy"]
There are a few places in the Bible where God (Allah) seems to be quoted directly. "And God spake these words saying, I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Ex. 20:1-2). Even in these cases, the fact of human authorship is made clear, whether a prophet or other author, who says in his own words what God said. He is quoting God; God is not quoting himself.
According to both the Catholic Encyclopedia and Harper's Bible Dictionary, the scriptures are a "record" of revelation, not revelation itself. [Catholic Encyclopedia, "Bible and Liturgy"; Miller, "revelation"]
The Qur'an claims to be literal revelation. There are several places in the Qur'an where it seems to say that the Qur'an was revealed "letter-by-letter."
"Haa Meem. `Ain Seen Qaaf. Thus Allah, the Mighty, the Knower, inspired you (Muhammad) and those before you." Qur'an, chapter 42, "ash-Shooraa" ("Counsel"), verses 1-3. (Verses 1 and 2 are letters of the Arabic alphabet; 29 chapters of the Qur'an begin with one or more such letters.)
In fact, the Qur'an challenges doubters to write something similar; according to the words of the Qur'an itself, it is not possible for any human being, or group of human beings, to write even a few verses like those of the Qur'an. The Qur'an claims that every word in the Qur'an is revealed directly from the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Not paraphrased. Not "divinely inspired." Literal revelation.
The Bible is reconstructed from lost originals.
The Qur'an has been preserved in its original form.
The original text of every part of the Bible has been lost. Much of biblical research is concerned with restoring texts as closely as possible to the original autographs, establishing the most original or most authoritative text, and attempting to trace the development of the oral traditions that preceded written texts. These attempts to find original texts, restore texts, and trace oral traditions are based on the fact that the originals — whether oral or written — have been lost. The importance of finding the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 is that these 2,000-year-old documents contain some of the oldest written texts available of materials which are centuries older, such as the book of Isaiah.
Even in the case of the New Testament, documents written during a well-recorded historical period — at the height of Imperial Rome — the original documents, written in Greek, have been lost:
"The text of the Greek New Testament has come down to us in various manuscripts. . . . The study of the various manuscript copies, and the assessment of their individual value in attempting to reconstruct the original as nearly as possible, constitutes the science of Textual Criticism." (emphasis added) [Marshall, Introduction, page v]
The original text of the entire Qur'an has been preserved. The Qur'an has been preserved both in its written form and by oral tradition — literal memorization, in fact. Less than one generation after the death of Prophet Muhammad, an official copy of the Qur'an was assembled in consultation with those who had learned the Qur'an by memory from the Prophet himself, and based on the written copy left by one of the Prophet’s scribes. No change was made. The Qur'an was passed on as the Prophet had given it. Further copies of the official copy were made and distributed throughout the Muslim state (Arabia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt) and all other copies were burned. Every Qur'an in the world today is a copy of the Qur'an dictated by the Prophet to his scribes 14 centuries ago and double-checked by those who had memorized it. One of the official copies distributed almost 14 centuries ago is preserved in a museum in Istanbul. Another is in Tashkent.
There are several versions of the Bible.
There is one version of the Qur'an.
There are several versions of the Bible. Even in the original Hebrew language, there have always been several versions of the Scriptures. By the time standard lists of the sacred books came to be made, there were already at least three different groups descended from the old Israelites: (1) the Samaritans, who were descended from the inhabitants of the northern kingdom of Israel before the Assyrian conquest in the eight century before Christ; (2) those returning from Babylonian Exile, now called Jews for the first time, in the fifth century before Christ; and (3) those Jews left behind in Palestine during the Babylonian conquest and also dispersed as far afield as Egypt. Each of these groups came to have its own version of the Scriptures.
"So the question whether our Old Testament is an accurate copy of an ancient Hebrew original is no longer relevant; it seems that there never was a single original of the Holy Writings." [Romer, p. 142]
The current Hebrew Bible, known as the Masoretic version, is based on the Scriptures compiled and accepted by the Jewish community which returned from Babylonian exile. The Christian version of the Old Testament is based on the Septuagint, a version of the Scriptures translated into Greek by the Greek-speaking Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt during the third century BC.
Before the modern era, not only were there different translations of the same version, but different translations of different versions as well. In recent centuries, translations of the Bible have proliferated, creating dozens of versions of the Bible in the English language alone.
There is one version of the Qur'an. Because the Qur'an is preserved in its original form, there is only one version. Anyone can compare, editions of the Qur'an published in India or Pakistan with editions published in Egypt or Iran or Turkey or West Africa. The type of script may vary, but the text is always the same. Anyone can compare editions of the Qur'an published today with editions published centuries ago. Again, the type of script may vary, but the text is always the same.
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| -- Nine -- | ||||
| The Bible is read in translation. The Qur'an is read in its original language. The King James Bible is a translation. Almost nobody in America even thinks of reading the Bible in Hebrew or Greek. In fact, many people do not even realize that the King James Bible, like every other English-language Bible, is a translation; they seem to think that Jesus Christ and all of the ancient prophets spoke King James English. Many Americans are unaware that the English language did not exist 700 years ago, and that many modern European languages, along with some languages in other parts of the world, are new. Languages come and go like nations and tribes. People have been reading the Bible in translation for more than 2,000 years. But the number of different languages into which the Scriptures have been translated did not expand much until the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. By 1450 there were 33 translations of the Bible. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were 71 translations. Today, the Bible is available in translations into hundreds of languages. Translation changes the message. The Italians say: "Traduttori traditori" — Translators are traitors. You cannot translate from one language to another without changing the meaning. Benjamin Lee Whorf, an unusually perceptive scholar of languages, observed that "all higher levels of thinking are dependent on language." "The structure of the language one habitually uses influences the manner in which one understands his environment. The picture of the universe shifts from tongue to tongue." [Whorf, Forward by Stuart Chase, page vi] Muslims read the Qur'an in its original language. It is stated repeatedly in the Qur'an that it is "an Arabic Qur'an" — so that reading the Qur'an in any other language leads to a contradictory statement: "This is Arabic" and you are reading English or some other language. It says in the Qur'an: "Surely we have made the Qur’an easy to understand and remember" ("al-Qamar" – "The Moon" – verses 17, 22, 23, and 40). Millions of Muslims have discovered that learning to read the Arabic Qur'an is not difficult. It is not just for the scholars. | ||||
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| -- Ten -- | ||||
| The Bible is read in different languages around the world. The Qur'an is read in one language worldwide. Most people read the Bible in their own language. In English-speaking countries, we read the Bible in English. In German-speaking countries, they read the Bible in German. The Bible has been translated into Arabic for Christian Arabs. The Bible has been translated into many of the languages of Africa and Asia so that people all over the world can read the Bible in their own languages. Even in Ethiopia, the Bible has been translated from the sacred Ge'ez language of Scripture into the Amharic language of everyday speech. One result of this has been the formation of national or regional churches, national denominations, even national religions. Muslims read the Qur'an in Arabic everywhere. Although the Qur'an has been translated into many languages, in every country where there are Muslims the Qur'an is read in Arabic. For one thing, the prayers must be recited in Arabic and consist of passages from the Qur'an. Since Muslims never know when they might be called on to lead prayer, most Muslims learn at least a few verses of the Qur'an in Arabic, even if they never learn to read it. But many Muslims all over the world learn to read the Qur'an in Arabic. As a result, the Muslim community has not splintered into denominations. Even the schism between so-called Sunni and so-called Shi'ite Muslims is not as great as the schism between one Christian denomination and another; here in America, we pray together in the same mosques and read the same Arabic Qur'an. I usually don’t know who is Shi'ite and who is Sunni; we are all Muslims. This is a benefit of reading the Scriptures in the same language. | ||||
Many people read the Qur'an from beginning to end, often.
Few people read the Bible from beginning to end. The various different types of books in the Bible are intended for different uses. The songs of rejoicing in the Book of Psalms are not intended to be used in the same way as the lists of commandments in Deuteronomy, or the histories of kings, or the extended genealogies.
Nowadays, the Catholic Church encourages its adherents to read the entire Bible, and there is a growing Bible study movement among Catholics. In previous centuries, however, active measures were taken to prevent reading of the Bible. John Wycliffe, a fourteenth-century translator of the Bible into English — the first such translator — is still listed in the Catholic Encyclopedia as a "heretic" and following his death his writings were condemned, his books were burned, his bones were dug up and removed from consecrated ground, and laws were passed against translating the Bible without permission and against reading it in public.
One of the most significant developments of the Reformation was Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German so that the average person could read it, or understand it when it is read.
Many people read the Qur'an from beginning to end, often. The Arabic word "qur'aan" means "reading material" — from the root "qara'a" ("he read" or "he recited"). The first word of the revelation was "iqra'" — the command, "Read!" From the beginning, the Qur'an was recited from memory and written down, then read and memorized and recited from memory.
It was the practice of the Prophet to recite the entire Qur'an from memory during Ramadan, the month of fasting, so that Gabriel, who brought him the revelations, could check its accuracy. (In the Qur'an, Gabriel — Jibreel, in Arabic — who also came to Mary, as Christians know, is also called the "Holy Spirit" and the "Spirit of Truth.")
It is still the custom of Muslims worldwide to hear the entire Qur'an recited during special evening prayers, called "taraaweeh," in the month of Ramadan, every year. Many Muslims read the entire Qur'an several times a year, throughout their lives.
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| -- Twelve -- | ||||
| Only a few parts of the Bible are used in prayer. The entire Qur'an is used in prayer. Only a few parts of the Bible are used in prayer. The earliest forms of worship among the ancient Hebrews consisted of sacrifices and ritual purifications; this emphasis on purification and sacrifice continued until the total destruction by the Romans of the massive and spectacular Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. The prophets, coming in succession, seemed to be evolving the Children of Israel toward a more heartfelt form of worship and away from empty ritual. The development of synagogues and the eventual establishment of Rabbinic Judaism, after the destruction of the Temple, continued this evolution and increased the importance of the Scriptures in the worship services. Nevertheless, only parts of the Hebrew Bible are actually used in worship services. The Eucharist, or Communion — based on the Last Supper — is the focus of Christian worship, and only a few parts of the Bible Scripture are used in the service. In the Catholic Church and in other Christian churches, the Bible text has only a small role in prayer. The entire Qur'an is used in prayer. The Qur'an is central to the Muslim worship service, called "salaah" — which is performed five times a day by each Muslim, preferably in congregation. Salaah consists primarily of reciting the Qur'an. Each salaah consists of two, three or four segments. The 7-verse first chapter of the Qur'an, "al-Faatihah," must be recited once in each segment for salaah to be valid. After al-Faatihah, a short chapter of three or four verses, or several verses from a longer chapter, or long chapters may be recited. Muslims occasionally recite one thirtieth or more of the Qur'an during salaah. It is neither unusual nor difficult for Muslims to hear the entire Qur'an recited during salaah at least once a year, in the month of Ramadan; it takes approximately one hour each evening. Every Muslim must memorize some of the Qur'an in order to perform salaah. Many Muslims have memorized the entire Qur'an. The Qur'an — this one book, the literal word of Allah, preserved in its original form, in its original language — is central to the worship of our Creator, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. | ||||
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