Shining God’s Light on the Koran

This article is part of an on-going series contrasting the Judeo-Christian Bible with the Koran on a variety of topics. Previous articles include: "Was Abraham a Jew or a Christian?", Idolatry 101, 102, 103, Oneness, Unbelievers, God's Character, The Resurrection, The Proclamation, The Judgment, The Creation of Man, The Creation of Woman, and The Fall of Man: Part 1-The Command, Part 2 – The Disobedience.

The Fall of Man – Part 3 – The Consequence

The Holy Bible and the Koran agree that God was not pleased with the conduct of Adam and Eve in eating the forbidden fruit.

THE KORANIC ACCOUNT

The Koran states the situation in this way:

“Their Lord called out to them, saying. ‘Did I not forbid you to approach that tree, and did I not say to you that Satan was your inveterate foe? They replied, ‘Lord, we have wronged our souls. Pardon us and have mercy on us, or we shall surely be among the lost!” (1)

“Then Adam received commandments from his Lord, and his Lord relented towards him. He is the Relenting One, the Merciful. (2) He said: Get down hence, and may your descendants be enemies to each other. The earth will for a while provide your dwelling and your comforts. There you shall live and there shall you die, and thence shall you be raised to life.” (3)

“Then His Lord had mercy on him; He relented towards him and rightly guided him. ‘Get you down, both;’ He said, ‘and may your offspring be enemies to each other”. When My guidance is revealed to you, he that follows it shall neither err nor grieve; but he that rejects My warning shall live in woe and come before Us blind on the Day of Resurrection. “Lord,” he will say, “why have You brought me blind before You when I had once been clear-sighted?”’ He will answer: ‘Just as Our revelations were declared to you and you forgot them, so on this day you are yourself forgotten.’ Thus shall We reward the transgressor who denies the revelations of his Lord. But the scourge of the life to come is more terrible and more lasting. (4)

“Children of Adam: We have given you clothes to cover your shameful parts, and garments pleasing to the eye; but the finest of all these is the robe of piety.” (5)

THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT

The Holy Scripture records the account of Gods displeasure in this way:

They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him. “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” The Lord God said unto the woman. “What is this that you have done?” The woman replied, “The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.” (6)

The Lord God said unto the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel, unto the woman he said I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In sorrow you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you. To Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and eaten of the tree which I commanded you saying, “you shall not eat of it; cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return unto the ground. For out of it you were taken: for dust you are and to dust you shall return.” (7)

The Lord God then made them coats of skins and clothed them. (8)

The Lord God said, “Look, The man has become as one of us to know good and evil. Now, to make sure he doesn’t eat of the tree of life and live forever.” Therefore the Lord God sent him away from the Garden of Eden to till the ground. So He drove out the man and placed at the east of the Garden of Eden a Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life. (9)

COMMENTARY ON THE CONSEQUENCES

The god of the Koran approaches Adam and Eve in a scolding way, while the God of the Holy Bible in an authoritarian way asks questions. In the Koran god says, ‘Did I not forbid you to approach that tree, and did I not say to you that Satan was your inveterate foe?’ In the Holy Scripture God asks questions of Adam and Eve but never the serpent. God asks, “Adam where are you?” “Who told you that you were naked?” “Have you eaten of the fruit I commanded you not to eat?” To Eve God said,”What is this that you have done?”

In both the Koran and in Holy Scripture God pronounces judgment. The Koran states that the descendants of Adam and Eve would be enemies of each other, that the earth would provide their dwelling and comforts where they would live and die. In Holy Scripture God begins his judgment by cursing the serpent above all the animals of field and forest. Upon his belly the serpent is to travel and eat dust all the days of its life. He puts hatred between the descendants of the woman and the descendants of the serpent. The woman is given sorrow in childbirth, her desire would be for her husband, and he would rule over her. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake and in sorrow he would eat of it all the days of his life. Thorns and thistles would grow for him and he would sweat to eat his food and return to dust at the end of life. Adam lost his position as caretaker of the Garden of Eden and was driven from it to practice agronomy else where.

In the Koran Adam and Eve are given a promise of hope for obedience and a promise of disaster for disobedience. In the Holy Scripture Adam and Eve are given the promise of hope. The Koran says that though Adam and Eve die yet they will be raised from the dead. On the Day of Resurrection those who have followed the guidance in the Koran will not err nor grieve but those who do not will live in terrible woe. In the Scripture God says that the woman would have a descendant crush the head of the serpent (Satan) but the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman’s descendant. This passage, Genesis 3:15, is the first promise in Scripture of the Messiah.

In the Koran and in the Holy Bible Adam and Eve are provided clothes by God. In the Koran the children are addressed by telling them what fine and lovely clothes they were provided. In the Holy Bible God killed animals and took their skins and made clothes for Adam and Eve. Thus, God is the first furrier, and it came as a necessity resulting from man’s disobedience to God. This also shows there is nothing wrong in conducting the furrier business (contrary to what the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) may say).

The Koran states that piety is the finest clothes one can wear. Presumably this is what Adam and Eve wore while they were naked. Scripture says they were not ashamed.

The Koran records Adam and Eve as begging for mercy and god relented and was merciful. He told them they would rise from the dead. In Holy Scripture no record is made of Adam and Eve begging for mercy. But, they do try to pass the buck. Adam claims it is God’s fault and the woman’s fault. Adam claimed manufacture liability and product deficiency. He said, “This woman whom YOU gave to be with me did give me and I did eat.” Ironically, God does not strike Adam dead on the spot. He is already dead spiritually; separated from God forever. The woman, Eve, says she was deceived by the serpent. She was also spiritually dead; separated from God forever. Likewise, all of Adam’s descendants were then born spiritually dead; separated from God. God then promises them a savior and through faith in that promise they looked forward to being reunited to God. From this point on the descendants of Adam and Eve had hope in this promise and looked forward to the coming Messiah. Thus, God took full responsibility for the conduct of His creation.

That promise was fulfilled with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you are spiritually dead you can receive eternal life by confessing to God you are a sinner and inviting Jesus into your heart. A sample prayer you can pray is: “Lord Jesus Christ, please forgive me of my sin and come into my heart.”

References:

1. The Koran Page 110 Paragraph 7:22,23
2. The Koran Page 13 Paragraph 2:37
3. The Koran Page 110 Paragraph 7:24
4. The Koran Page 226 Paragraph 20:124,125,126,127
5. The Koran Page 110 Paragraph 7:25
6. The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:8-13
7. The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:14-19
8. The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:21
9. The Holy Bible, Genesis 3:22-24