The Creation Story Narrated in Genesis - Research Paper Example

Introduction The creation story narrated in Genesis is the most celebrated creationist account in the world. The Old Testament’s stories are not only well-known because they are the foundation of doctrines of Quranic, Judaic, and Christian religions but also because their remarkable features transform quite impressively into artistic images (Johnson & Stephens 2007). The beginning of the creation story is narrated in the Bible in the start of the Genesis only and is illustrated in the Quran in several ‘Surahs’ or chapters. Both the Quran and the Bible are in agreement in claiming that Adam was originally formed from the mud, that transforming a bunch of mud into an alive being is performed by God, that the formation of Adam took place before the formation of his companion Eva and that she was formed from the ribs of Adams (Von Rad 1973). But the Quran recounted that Eva was formed from the body of Adam only not identifying if it was from his ribs. It was recounted in the Bible that God gave Adam the ‘breath of life’, whereas in the Quran it is narrated that God gave Adam a ‘heavenly spiritual breath’ (Barto 2009, 88). This essay thus compares the Biblical and Qur’anic account of the Creation and the Fall of Man. The Creation Story and the First Couple as Narrated by the Bible and Quran The Bible begins with the beginning of time, the Creation. It is a complicated narrative that dominates the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, fittingly referred to as Genesis, and expands into the later chapter, where the story progresses and trails the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve. According to Katheer and Kamal-ad-Din (2001), obviously, the Christians read a similar Bible even if they referred to it as the Old Testament, and they usually understand it in a different way from its Jewish authors. However, the Muslims—the third group of Monotheists—have their own distinct rendition of such prehistoric episodes in a matching Scripture, the Quran, which they similarly worship as the Word of God. The description of the Quran of the absolute beginning of time, even though the same with that of the Bible in several points and meaning, both stipulate a supreme creation from naught, for instance, and on the Grand Designer’s crafting of humankind, is not specified in the continuous storyline of Genesis. The Quran is an anthology of God’s revelations to Muhammad over the final two decades of his existence (Sawma 2006). They are partitioned into 114 Surahs, but several of these Suras in all likelihood enclose multiple revelations. The Quran, therefore, is a compilation of ‘sporadic’ revelations instead of a solitary description or plot, and thus the episodes of the creation of God are narrated in the Quran at different apposite levels, apposite to God’s intention of admonition and teaching— rather than in the beginning on the continuous plot of Genesis (Lodahl 2010). As stated by Sawma (2006), where episodes of the Creation are mentioned in the Quran, they are commonly in the form of a curriculum vitae and shown as moral epitomes, to highlight the power of God, for example, or his righteousness. Adam and Eve are granted a fairly distinct treatment in the Quran. The Bible narrates a neatly formed narrative of the temptation, fall, and eviction of the first couple from Eden, a story from which Augustine and other Christian clerics afterward crafted the great dogma of Original Sin. The Quran is greatly informed of that back account, even though no statement about the part of Eve in the fall is cited (McGuckin 2009). Instead, according to Ikpatt (2001), the enemy of the story is Iblis, the angel who declined to give respect to Adam at God’s order and was driven out from paradise with whomever of the angels decide to bow before him. Afterward, as Shaytan, he tempts Eve and Adam to eat from the tree of life. Almost all parts of our story, as much as the Bible is concerned, are situated in Genesis 2. Nevertheless, so as to understand completely the mechanisms of such wordings, we should start with the prelude of Genesis. God, in verse 26, proclaims the divine plan to craft humankind, female and male, in God’s own image (Von Rad 1973). Obviously, numerous texts have been produced in the history of Christian and Jewish understanding about the purpose of humankind’s having been crafted in divine image or portrait. It should be emphasized right away that the Quran and later Muslim doctrines have shunned this language, most apparently because it may instantly result in the assumption that God is a mortal or physical entity and hence have an ‘image’ that human beings may embody (Abdul-Rahman 2009). The value of existing biblical study indicates that the expression “in our image, according to our likeness” (Johnson & Stephens 2007, Chap 8 para 2) reveals the tradition of ancient political leaders’ building monuments of their image in the distant expanses of their kingdoms—specifically as a memento to the residents of who was responsible. Johnson and Stephens (2007) further stated that Genesis 1’s language seems to illustrate general idea of this tradition so as to depict humankind as the working image of God within the domain of creation itself, embodying or representing their Creator. Therefore, it is evident that in Genesis 1 the intention of crafting Adam, female and male, is that such beings could ‘portray God,’ or represent the Maker, toward and within the entire design. Humankind is given the duty to practice divine principle and watch over all of the other creations. This means that the ‘image of God’ does not imply human beings giving a physical likeness of the Maker; instead, ‘image of God’ means a responsibility, an art, of embodying God or characterizing God in the crafted design (Lodahl 2010). This becomes greatly apparent in Psalm 8, a song rejoicing the part of human beings in God’s design (Lodahl 2010, 82): You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. According to Jones (2011), to use ‘dominion’ is to carry out the divine mission of governing as God’s representatives, of improving the structure of God’s crafted design. When the biblical expression ‘God’s image’ is understood in this manner, it becomes apparent that it is almost similar to the teaching of Quran: “the human is a ‘vicegerent’ or designated representative (khalifa, or caliph) for the Creator (Have you not seen how Allah has subjected to you whatever is in heavens and on earth…?) (Q 31:20)” (Lodahl 2010, 83). The Qur’anic and Biblical doctrines, for that reason, stress the dignifying but serious obligation of humankind to embody the principle and present of God toward His entire creation. According to McGuckin (2009), although these doctrines, particularly the Biblical one, have commonly been disparaged for having granted permission to people to govern all other creations with tyranny, namely, to deal with earth and its wealth greedily and violently, there definitely is no valid rationale to assume that either the Quran or the Bible should be understood in this manner. Thus, the Bible and the Quran are alike in basic points, but dissimilar on several major aspects. Some of the similar basic accounts are that Adam and Eve were put in a paradise. God ordered them to pick a fruit from any tree with the exception of one particular tree. Sooner or later, they were misled and lured into picking a fruit from the forbidden tree and their nudity and bareness became perceptible to them (Sawma 2006). God afterward banished them from paradise. Yet, these similarities in basic points are overshadowed by several dissimilarities in important points. Neither the Quran nor the Bible identifies the fruit, but the latter names it the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ (Barto 2009, 214). On the other hand, the Quran does not name it that way, but preaches that human beings are already enthused with the understanding of good and evil at the beginning so as to allow them to make a decision between right and wrong. This understanding did not emerge as an outcome of picking a fruit from the forbidden tree (Barto 2009). The Quran states the tempter was Satan, but the Bible states it was a serpent. As stated in the Quran (Ali 2000, 116): Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them (as a temptation), in order to reveal to them their shame that was hidden from them (before): he sad: “Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live forever.” The Bible claims that only Eve was misled, not Adam; it claims that Eve afterward offered the fruit to Adam and tempted him to eat it. In contrast, several Qur’anic quotes declared that both Adam and Eve were misled. One Qur’anic quote particularly claims that recounts that Satan went to Adam and tricked him. The Quran does not isolate Eve for culpability in any quote. The Bible states that when Adam and Eve noticed God ambling in the garden, they immediately hid from God’s view. Thus God summoned Adam and asked him if he disobeyed the order not to eat from the forbidden tree (Katheer & Kamal-ad-Din 2001). In contrast, the Quran does not describe God in flawed or restricted human shape. Both books preach that God is omnipotent and all-knowing at all times. As stated in the Bible, when Adam and Eve was reprimanded for their transgression, they held each other responsible, and Adam even condemned God for giving him Eve who offered him the forbidden tree’s fruit. But as stated in the Qu’ran they did not blame each other. Rather, Adam and Eve asked for forgiveness (Katheer & Kamal-ad-Din 2001). As narrated in the Bible, God condemned the couple. But as stated in the Quran, God absolved them and led them. The Quran recounted that God educated Adam how to repent in the following passage (Sawma 2006, 137): “Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration (for repenting), and his Lord turned towards him (forgave him); for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful”. Nevertheless, the Bible did not narrate how God absolved the first man and first woman for their sin. Yet, both the Quran and the Bible mentions that the couple was sent into the world, their lifelong fate. They were advised that on Earth they must endure labor and hardships (Jones 2011). It was also mentioned in the Quran that Adam’s difficult life will be under God’s assistance through His prophets. Adam was informed of this divination before his existence on earth, for Adam was the first messenger to humankind. The Quran cites these divinations in the following passages (Ali 2000, 261): Get ye down, both of you, all together, from the Garden, with enmity one to another: but if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall into misery. But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment. The Bible recounted that Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise because God feared that they might eat from the forbidden tree and survive eternally. On the other hand, as narrated in the Quran, the plan of God was to guide the couple, then release them into the world for a specific period of time to stand firm against the adversary, Satan (Catchpoole 2002). According to Catchpoole (2002), Adam and Eve were allowed to live on earth because it was God’s will for them; not as a means to stop them from eating from the forbidden tree, but as a trial to tell apart those worthy of eternal happiness in God’s glory. The Bible narrated that God had declared that when Adam eats from the forbidden tree he would certainly breathe his last, and the serpent declared they will not certainly pass away. The serpent was correct. In the Quran, in contrast to the Bible, God declared that if the couple eats from the forbidden tree they will turn out to be sinners, and then they will be forced to vacate paradise and go to a place where they will need to toil and struggle (Ikpatt 2001). Yet, Satan assured them that if they eat from the forbidden tree they will live for eternity. The enemy was mistaken; Adam and Eve did not live for eternity. Due to God’s conviction, as stated in the Bible, men have to work hard for a living, women have to endure the difficulties of pregnancy and pain of childbirth, and serpents have to live and exist in the dust. As proclaimed by the Quran, this cursing did not happen (Ikpatt 2001). Life’s hardships on earth are what distinguish it from life’s joy and rapture in paradise. The following passages from the Bible and the Quran summarize some of the important differences between the Biblical and Qur’anic accounts of Creation: First, the Bible states “Man was created on Earth, in the Garden of Eden” (American Bible Society 1838 4), whereas the Quran states “Man was created in Paradise, not on Earth” (Rad 1973, 73). Second, the Bible states “Man was created naked (but not ashamed)” (American Bible Society 1838, 822) whereas the Quran states “The Koran speaks of Adam’s nakedness becoming apparent to them after they sinned, yet also implies that they were wearing some kind of raiment prior to the Fall” (Catchpoole 2002, para 33). Third, the Bible states “All things were created through Christ and for Christ. He was pre-existent to Creation” (McGuckin 2009, 77) whereas the Quran states “Jesus Christ was a created being. The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; he created him from dust…” (Ikpatt 2001, 67). The following passages from the Bible and the Quran summarize some of the important differences between the Biblical and Qur’anic accounts of the Fall of Man: First, the Bible states “Prior to sin, Adam and Eve given free access to fruit of the ‘Tree of Life’” (Jones 2011, 607) whereas the Quran states “The ‘Tree of Eternity’ was the Forbidden Tree” (Abdul-Rahman 2009, 226). Second, in the Bible the serpent lured Eve, refuting she would die, “You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (American Bible Society 1838, 871). On the other hand, in the Quran, Satan tempted Adam and Eve, “But Satan whispered evil to him: He said, “O Adam! Shall I lead thee to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays? Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live forever” (Katheer & Kamal-ad-Din 2001, 8). Third, according to the Bible, after the Fall the couple remained on Earth, but prohibited from the garden (Eden), whereas in the Quran the couple were transferred from Paradise to Earth. Lastly, as stated in the Bible, “Ground now ‘cursed’; the whole creation now ‘groaning’, in ‘bondage to decay’ (American Bible Society 1838, 8), whereas the Quran states that the ‘hardships’ on earth are not an outcome of the Fall, but vital to the God’s Grand Design or Creation. Conclusions The dissimilarities between the Bible and the Quran are huge, starting from Genesis or the Creation account. This proof is in agreement with the Christian assertion that the Bible is the straightforward, exclusive revelation, and that the Quran, in spite of several apparent similarities, is a major deviation from its principles. Works Cited Abdul-Rahman, M. The Meaning and Explanation of the Glorious Quran. New York: MSA Publication Limited, 2009. Print. American Bible Society. The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments. American Bible Society, 1838. Print. Barto, L. The Bible and the Quran at the Edge of Renaissance: A Judeo-Christian-Muslim Compass to a World of Peace. New York: Hillcrest Publishing Group, 2009. Print. Catchpoole, D. “How does the Quran compare to the Book of Genesis on the great events of history?” Creation Ex Nihilo 24.2 (2002): para 1-62. Ikpatt, V. The Unity of the Faith. West Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA: Buy Books, 2001. Print. Johnson, I. & L. Stephens. Our Oneness in Christ. Baltimore: Publish America, 2007. Print. Jones, P. Revelations from Revelation. New York: Teach Services, Inc, 2011. Print. Katheer, I. & N. Kamal-ad-Din. Stories of the prophets: from Adam to Muhammad. Islamic Books, 2001. Print. Lodahl, M. Claiming Abraham: Reading the Bible and the Quran Side by Side. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010. Print. McGuckin, J.A. We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009. Print. Sawma, G. The Quran: Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, and Misread: The Aramaic Language of the Quran. Plainsboro, NJ: Gabriel Sawma, 2006. Print. Von Rad, G. Genesis: A Commentary. Pennsylvania: Westminster John Knox Press, 1973. Print. Read More