The Week in Review

Minister Jewel D. Williams

World Religions and Cults (part 2 of 2)

Written on June 4, 2007

The Bible and The Koran: Are They the Same Truth?

They also do not believe that Jesus died therefore he was never raised. “What matters is that people thought that Jesus died, when he didn’t” (Emerick, 232). The Koran teaches that it is a falsehood against Mary, to say that Jesus has been put to death. The truth of Scripture does state that Jesus was crucified and was raised from the dead. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him” (Romans 6:9).



Muslims and Christians also differ in their belief about eternal judgment. Emerick states, “Will there be Christians and Jews in Paradise? According to Islam the answer is yes. The Qur’an states that any follower of those religions who ‘believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right will have nothing to fear or regret.’ Does this mean that Islam accepts Christianity and Judaism as valid paths to salvation? Yes and no. The Islamic principle is that you will be judged by what you knew. If a person only knew about Christianity or Judaism or whatever and never heard of Islam, then God will take that into account on Judgment Day and judge the person fairly by it. If a person finds out about Islam, then it becomes incumbent upon him or her to accept it and leave behind the former religion. This is because Islam is considered to be God’s last and, therefore, most complete message to the world” (233-234).



It is also stated in this writing by the author, Abu-Hamdiyyah, “God instructs Muhammad in the Qur’an: Say: [Thus speaks God] O you creatures (servants) of Mine who committed excesses against your own selves, do not despair of God’s mercy, for God forgives all sins. It is He who is the forgiving One, the Merciful. Hence, turn towards your Lord and submit [your faces, direction] unto Him before the suffering [of death and resurrection] comes upon you, for then you will not be helped. (Surah 39: 53– 54) Reading the Qur’an, one gets the certainty that God will not wrong human beings on Judgment Day, but other than that we cannot circumscribe God’s actions; after all, He is Sovereign Subjectivity, as is clear from Surah 21: 23: ‘He is not accountable [to any one] for what He does, but He questions others for what they do.’” (120).



It is also stated by Fisher this way, “Basically, Islam says that what we experience in the afterlife is a revealing of our tendencies in this life. Our thoughts, actions, and moral qualities are turned into our outer reality. We awaken to our true nature, for it is displayed before us. For the just and merciful, the state after death is a Garden of Bliss. Those who say, ‘Our Lord is God…shall have all that your souls shall desire…A hospitable gift from One Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful!’ (Sura 41:30-32) (346).


This belief regarding judgment is vastly different from the Christian belief. While there is a time of judgment where all will stand before God, it is not based solely on self. Scripture does not agree that men that have done good deeds will receive a good reward. Salvation and its rewards are only given to those that have accepted Jesus Christ as savior and not by works, lest any one should boast. Those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and submit their lives to him will enjoy the benefit of heaven; where there is no more sickness, sorrow, disease or death.


Scripture gives Jesus’ own words on his purpose in this world, “Doest thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and they that which see might be made blind…Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should not have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:35b-39, 41). Jesus was speaking here of his purpose to offer mankind lost to sin, the free gift of salvation. Yet, if one refused his offer, they would remain in their state of sinfulness and would be found guilty in the judgment. It is not based on one’s own trying to do what is right. These are simply a few areas of difference between the Muslim and Christian faith, to do a fuller comparison would call for more than can be covered in this short paper.


“Although Muslims also accept the Bible as a holy book, they believe that the Koran is the ultimate source of divine instruction and information. Many familiar biblical events and people, such as the creation, the flood, the Exodus, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus, are also found in the Koran” (Bashir, 346-347). This would make one ask, why are they so different, after reading the last quote? There is a vital point to understand and it is stated, “The caveat is that all other religious books have had their integrity compromised, and therefore the job of the Qur’an is to correct the mistakes of previous scriptures. ‘These are the verses of the Book that make things clear.’ (Qur’an 12: 1) Islam does not accept the Bible that was created in the fourth century as being authentic revelation. The Qur’an accuses Christians and Jews of inventing their own scriptures and mixing them with the authentic words of the prophets” (Emerick, 214).


While Muslims accept some of the prophets, they do not accept that the Bible is accurate and therefore, it is rejected as the true word of God. This is what creates the greatest difference between the Muslim and the Christian, the accuracy of the Bible. It is what the Christian faith is founded on. So when the Muslim takes from the Word of God and adds to it or takes away from it, they are in fact calling down the curse of God. Revelation 22:18 reads, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book”.


The Muslim and the Christian agree that there is one God, but it is in the application of faith that the differences are evident. Muslims believe they have the true word of Allah and that Christians are in error. Yet, as a believer, I am confident that God’s word is without error. When man is no more, God’s word will still endure. I end with this statement on inerrancy from the word of God, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24-25).

Cited Work

Abu-Hamdiyyah, Mohammad. Qur’an: An Introduction to its Message. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000.

Bashir, Shahzad. The New Book of Knowledge: Islam. Danbury, CT: Scholastic Library Publishing, Inc., 2006.

Emerick, Yahiya. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books, 2001.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1997.

Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., PH.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 5th ed. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc., 1988.