The story of creation

Basic Beliefs of Christianity

• There is only 1 God
• God is all-knowing
• Jesus is the son of God
• There is final judgment
• The Bible contains the teachings/stories of God

Basic Beliefs of Islam

• There is only one God(Allah)
• God is all knowing and controls all
• There is judgment after death
• 5-pillars of faith to abide by
• Qur'an contains the sacred text, and it is described by Mohammad

Purpose of the creation stories

• Christianity- to describe how the world/universe erupted from the void.
• Islam- describe ow the heavens were created, and how the universe came into being.

Literary structure of texts (Christianity)

• The Bible-contains 66 scriptures (Old/New testaments)
• Creation story-Chronologically split up into 6 days , contained in the first chapter of the Bible

Literary structure of texts (Islam)

• Qur'an- Poetic and Prose, interpreted by Mohammad, originally written in Arabic
• Creation story- Also takes place in 6 periods. Qur'an does not specifically state what happens each day, but gives an outline.

Christianity Creation Story

Days of creation

• On the first day God identified what day and night were. He separated light from dark.
• Next, God made the skies
• Third, God made the land, seas, and vegetation

Days of creation continued

• 4. On the fourth day God made the Sun, the stars, and the moon.
• 5. God then made the creatures to fill the sea.
• 6. Next made all the animals to fill Earth including humans
• 7. On the final day God rested, and blessed all of his creation.

Islam Creation story

Periods of creation

• On day one God took the throne, and affirmed his position as the creator
• Next God created the tangible earth we live in
• On the third day God created the Barzakh/world of lower ressurection/world of the grave

Periods of creation

• 4. On the fourth day God created the world of greater ressurection/ the world to realize the soul
• 5. Next,the world of paradise was created
• 6. Lastly, God made the world above paradise.

Similarities between the two texts

Common traits in the texts

• Before creation was a void of darkness
• There is one all knowing God who created everything
• Creation took place in 6 days
• We all are responsible to take care of what God created.

Differences

Differences in the stories of creation

• In Chrisitianity we were created in God's image, but Islam does not see it that way because God is better than us.
• In Islam God continued to create after the sixth day, but for Christianity the universe was perfect by the seventh day.

Differences in the stories of creation cont.

• In the Bible it states that there is only 1 heaven. In the Qur'an God created seven.
• We own what God created for us in Christianity, but in Islam we do not own what God created, but we have the right to do what we want.

Thank You