The Creation Story: Qur'an and Bible

Beliefs of Christianity: Bible

• The Bible is a Christian Creation Story.
• Christians believe that there is one God who has three aspects: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• They believe that God sent Jesus to tell people about God's love, and that Jesus died for our sins.
• Christians believe that God created the world and all living things.
• They believe that humans are the most important of God's creations.
• They also believe that God will create a new and better world where those who have tried to live as God wants, will live for ever.

Beliefs of Islam: Qur'an

• The Qur'an is a Muslim Creation Story.
• The religion of Islam is often thought of as beginning with Muhammad, who was born in Mecca in 5770 CE.
• Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last in a line of prophets and that the message given to him was the final one.
• They believe that God created the world.
• They believe that God's world is a good world, and when people obey or submit to God then life is good.
• Muslims believe that this means humans have been given everything on earth to care for and look after.
• The Qur'an teaches that Muslims should be thankful for all living things, for God is the creator of all life.

Similarities: Christianity and Islam

• Muslims and Christians worship only one God and believe all are children of Him.
• Both religions revere the early prophets including Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Joseph, John the Baptist and Jesus.
• Both Muslims and Christians believe that practicing their faith is good for them personally now, creates peace and harmony among people, and brings blessings in the life after mortality.
• Muslims accept the Bible insofar as it agrees with the Qur'an.
• People of both faiths believe in similar rules given by God for all people and obeying them keeps humankind in a right relationship with God.
• Islam and Christianity both ascribe that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah and did perform miracles.
• The two faiths believe Jesus will return from Heaven.
• Both religions believe a day of judgment will really happen and people will be judged for the lives they lead on Earth.

Purpose of the Bible

• The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to everyone.
• The Bible tells us who we are.
• It also tells us our sins and of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.
• It describes that people that follow what God has told them to do, will live a good and long life.

Purpose of the Qur'an

• The purpose of the Quran is to make people aware of the Creation plan of God.
• It is used to tell people why God created this world and what the purpose is of people settling on earth.
• It is also used to describe what a person is required to do in his life, and what he is going to confront after death.

Similarities: the Bible and Qur'an

• The purpose of the text in both of these creation stories is to reveal their belief in one true God.
• The purpose of the text is also to describe who created everything and how the universe was formed.

Literary structure: Bible

• Many writing styles were used in the Bible. Examples:
• Epistles - Personal correspondences written to a particular party.
• Genealogies - They are lists that document a family lineage.
• Historical narratives - Factual accounts, written in prose, of what happened at a certain time and place, and involve people, nations, and events.
• Law - Old Testament laws are worth understanding, as they show us what God required of His people.
• Parables - A unique style of communicating stories, and are used to illustrate a single point.
• Poetry - Some of the best poetry ever written is found in God’s Word.
• Prophecy - A prophetic utterance in the Bible means “to foretell or proclaim.”
• Proverbial and Wisdom literature - Proverbs and wisdom literature are short statements of truth for common and general rules of life

Literary structure: Bible

• There were also literary devices used in the Bible. Examples:
• Acrostic - This is a device found in Old Testament poetry in which the successive units of a poem begin with the consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
• Alliteration - This is the repetition of the same initial sounds of adjacent or nearby words, and is used for narrative effect.
• Apostrophe - This is an indirect type of personification, where the speaker addresses an inanimate object, or himself or herself, or others who cannot or do not respond to the statement or question.
• Chiasmus - This is a figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through the reversal of the lines of a poetic structure in order to make a larger point.
• Hyperbole - This is a use of exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect.
• Metaphor - This is a figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two seemingly unlike things.
• Metonymy - This is a type of metaphor in which something (either concrete or conceptual) is not identified by its own name, but by a name of something closely identified or associated with it.
• Synecdoche - This is a figure of speech in which: a part is used to represent the whole, or the whole for a part, or the specific for the general, or the general for the specific.
• Type - This is a literary foreshadowing, where one person or thing serves as a metaphorical prefigure (type) of another that is to come later.

Literary structure: Qur'an

• There were literary devices used in the Qur'an. Examples:
• Alliteration - This is the repetition of the same initial sounds of adjacent or nearby words, and is used for narrative effect.
• Antiphrases - This is a figure of speech that is used to mean the opposite of its usual sense, especially ironically.
• Chiasmus - Chiasmus is the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point.
• Equivoque - This is the use of a term with more than one meaning or sense.
• Hyperbole - A term for when statements that are deliberately exaggerated to underline a point.
• Metaphor - A metaphor is a term that concisely compares two things, saying that one is like the other.
• Metonymy - This device is used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.
• Synecdoche - A figure of speech that denotes a part of something but is used to refer to the whole thing.
• A writing style that was used in the Qur'an is a parable. A parable is a unique style of communicating stories, and are used to illustrate a single point.

Similarities: Literary structures

• There are a ton of similar literary devices used in both the Qur'an and the Bible such as alliteration, chiasmus, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche.
• They both also used parables to illustrate a point and to explain deep truths.

Citations

• https://carm.org/bible-writing-styles
• Christian Creation Story and Muslim Creation Story from the lessons
• https://carm.org/what-is-the-purpose-and-message-of-the-bible
• https://carm.org/bible-literary-techniques
• http://labs.globalquran.com/widgets/literarydevices.html
• http://lifepositive.com/purpose-quran/
• https://www.islamreligion.com/articles/335/style-of-quran/