Bible vs. Koran

The inception of Christianity and Islam in the Roman and Byzantine empires, the African kingdoms, and the Arabian Peninsula influenced each civilization’s daily life, set of beliefs, government, and the Christians and Muslims who practiced. The two religions are similar in many aspects. Both religions are monotheistic, which means followers worship one all-powerful god. Both religions believe in the same god, but each have a different given name. The name of the Islamic god is Allah while the name of the Christian god is simply God, and sometimes is referred to as Yahweh. Christianity and Islam have religious laws that all righteous and devout followers obey. Muslims obey the Five Pillars of Islam and Christians obey the Ten Commandments. Both of these sets of laws are found in the religion’s holy book: the Islamic Koran and the Christian Bible. Each religion has a holy city. The Muslims regard Mecca, located on the Arabian Peninsula, as their holy city because it was the city where their prophet, Mohammad, was born. The Christians regard Jerusalem as their holy city because it was where their messiah, Jesus Christ, was crucified and resurrected. Jerusalem also is seen as God’s own city. The Muslims believe that the existing tea

The Koran consists of 114 chapters called surahs, which all begin with the words, “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”. Each surah consists of verses called ayahs and is ordered according to length, longest to shortest verses. The longest surah is 206 verses long while the shortest surah is only three verses long. The shorter verses are called the Meccan surahs because it is believed that Mohammed received them in the holy city Mecca. The longer chapters are called the Medinian chapters because it is believed that Mohammad received them in Medina. The Koran contains the Islamic law: the Five Pillars of Islam. The Five Pillars of Islam state guidelines on prayer, confession, faith, charity, fasting, and re-enacting the pilgrimage to Mecca. Each Muslim, unless prevented by some handicap, is expected to make a hajj, or pilgrimage, to the holy city of Mecca. The hajj is made two months and ten days after Ramadan, a month of fasting remembering Muhammad’s first revelation. The Koran teaches Muslims how to live life everyday and has the final say over any dispute.

The Muslim people do not believe one is born into sin so no messiah is needed to save God’s followers spiritually. The Islam religion also disagrees with the worship of both Jesus Christ and God. Islam stresses the belief in one all-powerful god, Allah, and sees Jesus Christ as another deity being worshipped. Islam respects prophets of both the Christian and Jewish faiths such as Jesus Christ, Moses, and Abraham, but do not believe that any of them should be worshipped. “And most certainly We gave Musa [Moses] the Book [Old Testament] and We sent apostles after him one after another; and We gave Isa [Jesus], the son of Marium [God], clear arguments and strengthened him with the holy spirit…” (Surah 2, Ayah 87). Muslims believe that all of the prophets received similar revelations to Mohammad, but that other people altered the meaning and words of these revelations for their personal gain. Mohammad, the founder of Islam and God’s prophet, specifically told his followers not to worship him because he is merely a chosen messenger to deliver the word of God, not God himself.

Despite the major difference in belief regarding Jesus and Mohammad, the basic message and some beliefs of both the Koran and the Bible are still very similar. Both holy books believe that God made the earth in six days: “Verily, your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days; then He made for the throne, to govern the affair” (Surah 10, Ayah 3) and “Then the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done…” (Genesis 1: 1-2). The Bible and the Koran share po