The most widely read books in the world- the Bible and the Qur’an have so much in common, yet they have as much differences. Part of the similarity lies in the fact that some personalities are mentioned in both books, albeit with slightly different names. For instance, Adam appears in both texts, Abel appears in the Qur’an as Habil; Aaron as Harun, David as Dawud while Abraham appears as Ibrahim in the Qur’an.
Abraham’s life is well highlighted in the Bible as well as in the Qur’an (as Ibrahim). Nevertheless, there is a difference in the two versions of the story right from the beginning. For instance, Genesis 11:26 shows that Abraham’s father was Terah, which contradicts the Qur’an version (Surah 6:74), that Abraham’s father was Azar. Secondly, while in the Bible Abraham lived in Hebron (Genesis 13:18), in the Qur’an he lived in the valley of Mecca (Surah 14:37).
Furthermore, the Bible says that Abraham had three wives while the Qur’an says that he had two. The Bible depicts Abraham as a very faithful man and very obedient to God. It gives a scene where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son from his wife Sarah, which he indeed obeyed and was about to when God provided a sheep for the sacrifice (Genesis 22). In contradistinction, the Qur’an gives an account of the sacrifice of Ibrahim’s son called Ishmael (Surah 37:100-112). In the Bible, Ishmael was Abraham’s son whom Abraham bore with his maidservant, Hagar (Genesis16:1-16). In the Bible, Abraham had eight sons, but the Qur’an says that he had two.
Surah 21:51-70 of the Qur’an depicts Abraham as man who embraced idols. In fact, he could question Allah. Yet in the Bible, Abraham was very obedient to God and his wife and even agreed to have his son Ishmael sent away. Therefore, the Qur’an’s version of Abraham depicts him as a man who was not so faithful to God.
References
Al Araby, Abdullah. 2007. Web.
Holy Qur’an. 2007. Web.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2007. Web.