From our standpoint, truth is determined by evidence. When two things are in dispute, by nature one must be true, and the other either mistaken, misunderstood or false. The Bible and the Koran contain many contradictory teachings, but the issue of incompatibility can be quickly resolved concerning only one fact: the Bible presents Jesus Christ as the Resurrected God Incarnate and the Koran, without question, denies the Deity of Jesus and His Unique Claim of Salvation through Him. This contradiction alone demands the honest seeker to accept that both texts cannot “truth’. If you believe in one, the other is necessarily false.
Islam considers the Bible a “holy” book, to be read, learned from and followed;
“And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which we reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture that was before thee (i.e. the Bible).” Sura (chapter) 10.95. “0 ye people of the Book! Ye are not grounded upon anything until ye observe the Taurat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospel), and that which has been revealed unto you from your Lord.” Sura 5.68
… but rejected where in disagreement with the Koran. The Bible does not acknowledge the Koran in any manner.
What follows is a brief comparison of the Bible and Koran in these areas: origin, uniqueness and influence.
Origins
The Koran
“In this Book, the Holy Prophet’s life, the history of the Arabs and the events which occurred during the period of the revelation of the Quran have not been mingled with the Divine Verses, as is the case with the Bible. The Quran is the pure word of God. Not one word therein is not divine. Not a single word has been deleted from its text. The Book has been handed down to our age in its complete and original form since the time of Prophet Muhammad. From the time the Book began to be revealed, the Holy Prophet had dictated its text to the scribes. Whenever some Divine Message was revealed, the Holy Prophet would call a scribe and dictate its words to him. The written text was then read out to the Holy Prophet, who, having satisfied himself that the scribe has committed no error of recording, would put the manuscript in safe custody. The Holy Prophet used to instruct the scribe about the sequence in which a revealed message was to be placed in a particular Surah (chapter). In this manner, the Holy Prophet continued to arrange the text of the Quran in systematic order till the end of the chain of revelations. Again, it was ordained from the beginning of Islam that a recitation of the Holy Quran must be an integral part of worship. Hence the illustrious Companions would commit the Divine verses to memory as soon as they were revealed. Many of them learned the whole text and a far larger number had memorized different portions of it.” (emphasis mine)
This is taken from part of a speech “Message of Prophet’s (saw) Seerah”, given by Syed Abul ‘Aala Muadoodi. He compares the history and authenticity of three scriptures, Torah, Injeel and Quran.
The Bible
The Bible is not one book, but 66, written over a span of some 1,400 years, by some forty men of widely varying occupations. It was written on three different continents, in three different languages…yet when these texts are brought together there is complete agreement—not only in its central theme (God’s redemptive activity in the lives of men), but on issues in the hundreds, it reveals one consistent view!
The Bible is unique among all ancient books in the sheer quantity of its historical attestation. Homer’s Iliad, which ranks second to the Bible in number of existing historical manuscripts, has 643 copies, while the New Testament has over 24,000.
The Bible claims to be the divinely inspired Word of God, complete, inerrant, and sufficient for all purposes for which God has divinely ordained it. It claims sole and absolute authority, accuracy and uniqueness.
In light of both book’s claim to be inerrant, complete and unchangeable, let’s look at scriptures in both concerning changing the text:
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The Bible The Bible teaches that God does not change His word. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” 18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19 |
The Koran The Koran teaches that abrogation, or “anulling”, of verses in the Koran by Allah is acceptable. If We abrogate any verse or cause it to be forgotten We will replace it by a better one or similar. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things? When We change one verse for another (Allah knows best what He reveals), they say: ‘You are an imposter.’ Indeed most of them are ignorant men. Every age has its scripture. Allah confirms or abrogates what He pleases. His is the Eternal Book. |
Uniqueness
The Koran is a compilation of teachings that were revealed, transcribed, memorized and recompiled over the years. Sadly its main claim to uniqueness has been one of conversion by the sword, wars, militancy, terrorism, poverty, and at best, oppression of freedom, both religious and speech.
To the contrary, the Bible represents a unique legacy that is both undeniable and always life giving.
Unique in its Unity and Continuity
Despite its diverse origin and authorship, the Bible presents and complete and unified theme. Its continuity and harmony are unrivaled and truly remarkable. The Koran contains many hundreds of mistakes, contradictions, inaccuracies and textual problems that are widely documented and available to any honest seeker.
No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles lettres of classical or modern times has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? with such venom and skepticism? with such thoroughness and erudition? upon every chapter, line, and tenet?
Bernard Ram
Professor of theology at American Baptist Theological Seminary of the West
Unique in its Availability
The Bible has long been the most widely sold, printed, read, memorized, written about, discussed, debated, taught and disseminated text in the history of mankind.
The Bible is unique in its circulation. No other book in History has sold more copies than the Bible. Bestsellers usually sell a few hundred thousand copies; even fewer sell into the millions. It is staggering to consider that the Bible has sold into the billions.
The World Service Center of the United Bible Societies (UBS) reports that 627 million Scriptures were distributed last year alone.
The Bible, or portions of it, have been translated into 22,2000 languages, representing approximately one-third of the world’s 65,000 known languages. These 22,000 represent well over 90% of all the languages of the world.
By comparison, the Koran is primarily available in Arabic and a rough English translation.
Unique in its Fulfillment of its Prophecies
Unique to the Bible in the writings of man is its prophetic accuracy. The Old Testament alone makes 322 specific, detailed predictions about the coming Messiah, all of which were fulfilled to the minutest detail.
No other book in history has ever had more than a small number of vague predictions that were fulfilled. Not only does the Bible give hundreds of predictions centuries before their fulfillment, but it has never been demonstrated that even one prophecy was “false”.
If any other book in history could claim a fraction of the Bible’s prophetic accuracy, it would be hailed as “divine” by the entire world.
Influence
Both books claim to be inspired by the one true God, a God of love, a God of reward, a God of blessing. Such a God would surely have a remarkable positive influence on the world.
It can be generally stated with accuracy that Islam has ruled by force, converted by the sword and practiced oppression of both religious and speech freedoms. While many Muslims are moral, hard working, modest and respectful, it cannot be shown historically that the overall influence and result of Islam leads to greater freedom, prosperity, blessing or progress.
In contrast, the historical fact of the life changing effect of the Bible is clear for any who are interested.
The influence of the Bible and its teaching in the Western world is clear for all who study history. And the influential role of the West in the course of world events is equally clear, Civilization has been influenced more by the Judeo-Christian Scriptures than by any other book or series of books in the world. Indeed, no greater moral or religious work in the world exceeds the depth of morality in the priniciple of Christian love, and none has a more lofty spiritual concept than the biblical view of God. The Bible presents the highest ideals known to men, ideals that have molded civilization.
Norman Geisler, former professor of systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary
Two professors, Donald S. Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman, reviewed an estimated 15,000 items, closely analyzing 2,200 books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, and monographs with explicitly political content printed between 1760 and 1805. They reduced this number to 916 items, encompassing about one-third of all public political writings longer than 2,000 words. (www.thescriptures.org)
America, built on a foundation of Biblical principles, produced a country of unprecedented benevolence, influence and material blessing. This was a direct result of the promised blessing of obeying the Scriptures and building a nation on Godly terms. The truth of the Bible can be equally demonstrated in the moral demise of American culture and its resulting consequences.
Conclusion
The Bible and Koran claim divine authority and truth. Even a cursory study of evidence concerning the two will reveal the Bible as standing alone in its uniqueness, accuracy and influence. The Bible is the most influential, perfectly accurate, harmonious, prophetically detailed and remarkable book in the history of man. The Bible alone is the true Word of God, complete, inerrant and divine.