The Torah is written in a linear timeline. In the beginning there is Genesis, which tells of the beginning of the world and the happenings of the forefathers of the nation of Israel. It explains how they went to Egypt, which leads into the next book, Exodus. Exodus is the story of how the Children of Israel were released from their bondage in the land of Egypt. It includes the beginning of the giving of the Law. Leviticus is about the different laws that were given to Moses, who gave them to the Levites, keepers of the law and priests. The book of Numbers is basically a census of how many people there were in each tribe and how many men could fight. Deuteronomy is a summary of all that happened before. It summarizes how the law was given, and the law itself. It ends with the Children of Israel about to go into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua.

Koran means recitation. It is written in the order that the revelations were received. It was dictated by Mohammad, who was illiterate, to scribes. There are many different versions of the Koran. There are 114 sura, or chapters. Mohammad was forty years old when he received his first revelation. Whenever he went into a trance, scribes would write down what he said. The Koran was compiled after his death. It often seems unordered and disjointed.

As a mixture of Arabian paganism, Zoroastrianism, Jewish Mysticism, and Apocryphal Christian writings, the Koran contradicts itself several times. For instance, it says that Moses was at the time of Noah. It says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the sister of Aaron. Aaron did have a sister named Mary, or Miriam, but she was not the mother of Jesus. Descriptions are contradictory in how Mohammed was called to be a prophet. It says that Mohammed was called by God, that he was called by the Holy Spirit, that he was called by angels, and that Gabriel called him. In some places Muslims are called to love ‘people of the book’, Christians and Jews, and in other places called to kill them.

In the Koran Abraham goes against his father leaving idols and such. But in the Torah it is Terah, Abraham’s father, who leaves Ur and goes toward Canaan. According to Jewish tradition, Terah was an idol maker. After Terah died, God called Abraham, then called Abram, away from his family, home, and all that was familiar. A significant theological difference is in which son of Abraham receives the promise. The Koran claims Ishmael rather than Isaac, as the Torah reports, receives God's blessing and is nearly sacrificed by Abraham.

In the Koran when one sins one is not sinning against God, but sinning against oneself. There were lesser sins and greater sins, each of which had different punishments. In the Torah one is sinning against God and himself. In order to redeem himself he must make a sacrifice to God. No matter how big or small the sin was, although in the end the punishment was death. In the Torah sin was a big deal. Three of the five books of the Torah have to do with the Law, blessings for obedience, and curses (or punishment) for disobedience.

In both the Koran and the Torah, when a woman was found in adultery, she would be stoned. In the Koran there needed to be four male witnesses, and only the woman was punished. Also in the Koran, if two men were found together, they would be given the chance to repent. If they did not repent, they would be mildly punished. In the Torah, if adultery was discovered, both the woman and the man were to be stoned. According to the Torah, if two men were caught in improper relations, both were to be stoned.

In the Torah, there are many Messianic prophecies. The Messiah was to be our atonement for sin. The first Messianic prophecy is in Genesis 3:15, where the serpent’s head would be crushed by the seed of the woman, and the serpent would bruise the heel of her seed. In the Koran, Jesus is mostly referred to as a prophet, not the Messiah. In fact there is no messiah in the Koran, nor is there a stated need for one.

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is a different story with the same plot. Haman is mentioned as a sidekick of Pharaoh. Haman is not mentioned in the Torah; he is in the book of Esther. In the Koran, it is Pharaoh’s wife who draws Moses from the river. In the Torah it is Pharaoh’s daughter. The next dissimilarity (in the Koran) is when Moses comes across two men fighting, one of Moses’ religion, and the other, his enemy’s religion. Moses kills the foe. In the Torah, the Egyptian was beating the Hebrew slave when Moses kills the Egyptian. The next inconsistency is that when Moses flees to Midian. The Koran says that two women were watering their flock, while the Torah says there were seven women. According to the Koran, Jethro tells him that he can marry one of his daughters if he works for him for eight years. In the Torah, it simply says in Exodus 2:21, “Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.” The idea of eight years sounds somewhat like what Jacob did for Rachel in the Torah.

The Torah and the Koran have many similarities, but are almost totally different. They both are based on Middle Eastern cultures. But Torah is based on Monotheism, and Koran is a semi-monotheistic book. Although they involve some of the main characters, they are viewed differently. In the Koran the men who were prophets were portrayed as knowing with full knowledge what they were doing. They trusted in God knowing that in the end everything would go their way. In the Torah, the men God chose to carry out his will were sinful doubters. They trusted God, but trusted themselves more. Yet even through all that God used them.

Sources:

Dr. David R. Reagan, “The Truth About Islam,” Lamplighter, January-February 2002,
<http://www.lamblion.com/New08.php> (November 24, 2003)

Dr. Christine Schirrmacher, The Meaning of Sin in the Koran and the Bible, 1997,
<http://www.visi.com/%7Econtra_m/ab/cschirrmacher/sin.html> (November 24, 2003)

"Qur’an," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Tad Szulc, “Abraham: A Journey of Faith” National Geographic Magazine, December, 2001, <http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/12/01/html/ft_20011201.6.html> (November 24, 2003)

Paul Halsall, “Internet Islamic History Sourcebook,” February 25, 2001,
<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/The%20Pre-Islamic%20Arab%20World > (November 24, 2003)

"Muhammad (prophet)," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved

Mohammad, Koran translations Yusufali, Pickthal, Shakir, <http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ > (November 24, 2003)

Mordechai Housman, How Old is the Torah
<http://www.beingjewish.com/mesorah/ageoftorah.html> (November 24, 2003)

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