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Artwork is from "Genesis According to Muhammad"
The Creation of Man
According to both the Holy Bible and the Koran, Adam was created. The account of the creation from the Koran is as follows.
“When He (God) decrees a thing He needs only to say ‘Be’ and it is (1).” “Jesus is like Adam in the sight of God. He created him from dust and then said to him: “Be”, and he was (2).” “We created man from dry clay, from back moulded loam, and before him Satan from smokeless fire. Your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am creating man from dry clay, from black molded loam. When I have fashioned him and breathed of My spirit into hm, kneel down and prostrate yourselves before him (3).” “The angels, one and all, prostrated themselves except Satan. He refused to prostrate himself as the others did (4).” “’Satan’, said God ‘Why do you not prostrate yourself?’ He replied: ‘I will not bow to a mortal whom You created of dry clay, of black moulded loam (5).’”
“We made every living thing from water (6).” “He created man from a little germ (7).” “We first created you from dust, then from a living germ, then from a clot of blood, and then from a half formed lump of flesh (8).
THE FLAWED KORANIC ACCOUNT OF CREATION
Considering the Koran’s account of creation of man, there are many inconsistencies.
First, every living thing is made from water, but Adam is created out of dry clay. So, which is it? Adam, a living being, was he made out of water or was he created out of dry clay. There is a conflict here.
Second, man was created from dry clay; black loam. Clay consists of very small pieces of minerals (9) and it lies under the topsoil. Black loam is made up of clay, sand, and organic matter (10). Loam is topsoil. There is a conflict here as well, since clay and loam are not the same material.
Third, compare the following two Koran statements. Look at this verse, "After God fashioned man He breathed into him His spirit." Now examine, "He created him from dust and then said to him “be” and he was." The two ideas obviously are saying two different things. They conflict.
Fourth, God first created man from dust and then from a living germ. How many creations of man are there? First there was a creation from clay and then there was a creation from a living germ. The dry clay wasn’t alive when God fashioned man out of clay. He then breathed His spirit into the clay. A living germ is already alive. The question here is was man created out of something alive or was he created out of something inanimate?
Fifth, when God decrees a thing He needs only to say "Be" and it is. Well, God decreed a thing: Telling the angels, "Kneel down and prostrate yourselves, before him (Adam)." All the angels bowed except Satan. He was able to defy God's decree. Thus, when God says "be" it is not always done. [What does this say about the United States of America? The Ayatollah Khomeini declared the USA to be the Great Satan. I did not hear ANY Muslim say he was wrong. Considering if he is correct, then the United States of America is greater than any decree of Islam's god! Is the USA Satan, or was the Ayatollah wrong? Is the USA greater than the decree of the god of Islam? ]
Sixth, a clot of blood requires a living body to start with. Again, here is another conflict the blood clot is not dry clay, nor is it water.
Seventh, a half-formed lump of flesh is not dry clay, or water and it already has life in it. Here's another conflict, God doesn’t need to breathe His spirit into it.
Eighth, if God said “be” and it is, then why would he breathe His spirit into the clay? It's one more conflict saying “be," is not the same as breathing one's spirit into something.
There is also the faulty assertion that God created man mortal.
THE INSPIRED SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF CREATION
In the Holy Scriptures we see in creation that God (Elohim) uses more than one method of creating. In the Koran God is locked into “be” and “it is.” The Holy Bible teaches that the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. God (Elohim) said, “‘Let there be light’ and there was light (11).” This is a situation of let it be written in the Koran. However, the Holy Bible does not limit God to let it “be” for each thing created.
On the third day, God (Elohim) said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit. And the earth brought forth grass and herb, and trees yielding fruit (12).” Please notice that God calls into being grass, herb and tree from the earth. From this there was a huge abundance of variety and quantity of grasses, herbs and trees, all spontaneously coming from the earth.
On the fifth day God (Elohim) said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and the fowl that may fly above the earth. God created great sea creatures and every living creature in them. The waters brought forth abundantly (13). Again God did not speak each sea creature and fowl into being separately, but named the general name and an abundant variety and quantity of sea life and fowl SPONTANEOUSLY emerged from the waters.
On the sixth day God (Elohim) said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and the beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so (14).”
God (Elohim) (15) before creating man had a conference meeting. He said, “Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness, and let them have dominance over the fish of the sea, and even the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them (16).”
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (17).”
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (18).”
Notice that in the creation of man God did not say “be” and man come into being. First He formed the man, a full size man, of the dust of the ground and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The fact the man had nostrils shows he was a complete physical being needing life. The life came from the breath of God.
The Lord God took the man, and placed him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die (19).
The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man made He a woman, and brought her to the man (20).
The serpent deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and she gave to Adam and he also ate. God went to commune with them in the Garden and discovered they had eaten the forbidden fruit. God cursed the ground for Adam’s sake and in service you will eat of the ground. With your sweat you will eat bread until you return to the ground. Dust you are and to dust you shall return (21).
BIG DIFFERENCES
In the Koran there appear various accounts of the creation of man. There are numerous inconsistencies in its account. One very significant aspect of the Koran’s account is that it portrays man’s creation as being mortal.
By contrast, in the Holy Bible a sequence of events takes place in which man and woman are created. Man and woman disobeyed God, which triggered their mortality. Their disobedience brought death on themselves and on their descendants. Therefore, God created them immortal. However, man choose to disobey and continues to do so today.
AN OPPORTUNITY
Based on my analysis of the two distinct creation accounts, one obviously contrived and the other accurate, how does this affect you, personally, or does it?
God speaking through the Apostle Paul writes, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (22)." Think then, my friend, how have you sinned in your own life! Forgiveness of sin is only available to any and to all human being exclusively through Jesus Christ. Why not invite Him into your heart today? You can do it by means of a simple prayer. Pray something like, "Lord Jesus Christ forgive me of my sin and come into my heart today."
References:
(1) Koran p. 47, paragraph 3:98
(2) Koran p. 47, paragraph 3:59
(3) Koran p. 184, paragraph 15:25
(4) Koran p. 184, paragraph 15:30
(5) Koran p. 184-185, paragraph 15:32-33
(6) Koran p. 229, paragraph 21:28
(7) Koran p. 189, paragraph 16:4
(8) Koran p. 234, paragraph 22:5,6
(9) Webster’s New World College Dictionary, p. 272
(10) Webster’s New World College Dictionary, p. 272
(11) The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:2, 3
(12) The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:11, 12
(13) The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:20, 21
(14) The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:24
(15) The Liberty Annotated Study Bible, KJV, p. 8; Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, p. 397, 398; and Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, p. 12
(16) The Holy Bible, Genesis 1:26, 27
(17) The Holy Bible, Genesis 2:7
(18) The Holy Bible, Genesis 2:8, 9
(19) The Holy Bible, Genesis 2:15-17
(20) The Holy Bible, Genesis 2:21, 22
(21) The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:9-24
(22) The Holy Bible, Romans 3:23
I don't see how it is a contrdiction to say that God created man and living things out of water and of clay. There is a Biblical basis for saying that God made the entire earth out of water (II Peter 3:5). This may be why Genesis 1:2 says that the earth was "without form". God then could have made the rest of the elements of the earth from this water. So that is how man and animals could be formed out of both dirt and water. Even without this teaching, wouldn't there be water in the clay with which God used to create Adam?
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, the other creation acts from the germ, clot, and lump of flesh could be considered stages of God’s creation. I can’t see how God saying, “Be.” is a contradiction to breathing His spirit into him.
ReplyDeleteYou point about God creating man mortal is very important, however. If the Qur’an really does teach this, then it trivializes sin. If man was created already mortal, then it is God who authored death and it is not fully a consequence of man’s sin. However, I must point out that my version of the Qur’an does not have the word “mortal” in this verse. It just says, “I am not one to prostrate myself to man…” and then the stuff about the clay and mud (Al Hijr 33). Furthermore, this verse is a quotation of Iblis (Satan). We can hardly infer that this is Islamic teaching based on something that the Qur’an says that Satan said.
I do, of course, agree with you that salvation is only found in Jesus Christ, rather than living up to some standard of human righteousness, which is the main difference between the Bible and the Qur’an. Rather than pointing out apparent inconsistencies in the Qur’an, the best way to witness to a Muslim (or anyone else for that matter) is to talk about specific sins like lying, theft, disobeying parents, adultery (which includes lust, the adultery of the heart). Then that will show them their need for the Savior, which is absent from Islamic teachings. It is good, in my opinion, to build off of similarities, rather than differences.
Hello Matt -
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
You write, "Water and clay,” the Koran does not say this. It says "every living thing was created "Out of water." It does not say it was added to clay. The Koran says man was created out of DRY clay. That means no water was added. It seems you overlooked "dry."
Giving a Biblical basis for "of water and of clay” is combining scripture with he Koran. Each are two separate books. Each must stand alone. Do you believe in evolution? Doesn't the germ, the clot and the lump of flesh show stages of God's creation? This sounds like evolution to me.
You question man being created mortal. I give a direct quote from the Koran and you say its not in the Koran. I don't care who is reported as saying it. It is written in the Koran and as far as I know God (in the Koran) did not refute it.
You want to build on similarities. Try this: the Koran says, "God forbid that He should beget a son." The Holy Bible says, “We beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father." What similarities are there on matters of substance? On the other hand, the Koran says, “Who are the unbelievers but those who believe the Messiah is the Son of God?” Unbelievers must have their heads cut off. The Holy Bible says that Saul preached Christ in the synagogues of Damascus that He (Jesus) is the Son of God. Wasn’t Saul (Paul) beheaded?
Islam is based on lies! God’s Word, the Holy Bible is truth. How can you have similarities between essential untruth and truth?