Comparison between the Muslim and Christians Creation Stories - Essay Example

Comparison between the Muslim and Christian’s Creation Stories. The creation stories are unique from one culture to another. They further become interesting as one explores one culture to another. Though separated by vast area of both land and sea, the different cultures had a sense of belonging and some attributes are similar between different cultures. Therefore, the creation myths were the source of a culture’s pride because any culture could account for its genesis. For sure, the beginning of something is very important and that is why different cultures around had to try as much as possible explain their roots. It thus becomes of importance to recognize the different creation stories in the world and accept them as they are without bias. It thus becomes a fundamental issue for creation stories to be studied thoroughly and they can be compared and contrasted, and similarly be respected. The purpose of this study is to elaborate, compare and contrast the creation stories of Islam and creativity (Bramsen 2009). The Muslim creation story begins with a god and that if the god wants to create something, all he was to say was let it be and it became. He created the world and the heavens. He even created all forms of creatures to walk, crawl and fly all over the world. He also made the sun, moon, angels and stars to dwell in the universe in peace. The Quran continues and states that god poured down torrents of rain to break down the soil so that it could bring forth plants and the entire vegetation on the face of the earth. God commanded the angels to visit the earth so that they could pick up some types of soil so that man could be modeled. Then it was so and the first man was made and God named him Adam. God further went on and created the first woman and named her Eve so that they could live in paradise. Eve was made from the side of man. Adam was taught by God to give and name all creatures of the universe and the angel was ordered to bow down before Adam. However, Iblis one of God’s refused to follow the order and disobeyed God (Wolde 1997). Adam and eve were placed in a very beautiful garden which looked like a paradise and they were allowed to eat anything they wanted other than the fruits on the trees. Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s direct commands and ate the fruit. When God found out, Adam and Eve were sent to earth because of their disobedience. Therefore, the purpose of the earth was to provide food and shelter to all mankind. Light was provided by the moon and the sun. Furthermore, the human race was to serve God by obeying him and his will as the Quran teaches. The holy book of Quran stipulates that those who serve God and follow his will without demanding or asking for answers will be saved and taken to live in paradise for eternity. The Quran is the holy book that the entire Muslim race base their belief in. in addition, they believe that Muhammad the prophet would come to save the human race from evil as opposed to Christianity which believes that Jesus of Nazareth would be the savior of humanity (Hamilton & Moser 1988). On the contrary, the Christian myth of creation begins the God the Father, Son and God the Holy Spirit. In the beginning the world was with no shape and the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters as the book of Genesis in the bible states out. The Christians holy book is the bible. On the first day of creation, God created the light and divided day from night. He named the light day and the darkness night. On the second day, God created the heavens to separate the earth from the water. On the third day, God raised the dry land from the waters and below the heavens and ordered the earth to bear all plants and vegetation. On the fourth day, God made the moon as the lesser light to govern the night while the greater light named the sun to govern the day. On the fifth day God commanded the air to be filled with creatures of the air while the water was to be filled by the sea creatures and it was so. On the sixth day, God created man in his own image or likeness. Furthermore, God made man to fall in deep slumber and took one of his ribs to create woman as man’s companion. On the seventh day, God was proud of his achievements and after he saw everything was good, he rested. It was important to note that man was made out of soil whereby God blew his breath into the model and there henceforth, life was born (Bramsen 2009). God later placed the two couples in the Garden of Eden and they were to eat whatever they wanted except the fruit that was in the middle of the garden. Life was good for them and God commanded them to procreate and fill the earth. However, out of the crawling creatures created, Satan disguised himself as a serpent and appeared before Eve. The serpent tricked eve into eating the fruit and eve convinced Adam to eat from the fruit in the middle of the garden. After they ate, they gained knowledge about their sexuality. They realized that they were naked and hid their private parts. It did not take too long for God to notice what they did. They had disobeyed him and God was furious with them. He cursed them and commanded them to leave the Garden of Eden. Man was cursed that he would eat from his sweat thus he had to work hard to sustain himself. The woman was cursed with pain during childbirth while the serpent was cursed to eat the soil. Furthermore, man was commanded to kill the serpent by hitting its head hard while the serpent would bite the man’s ankle. Moreover, the entrance to the garden was guarded by two swords of fire (Wolde 1997). The two creation stories state the creation of Adam and Eve as the genesis of mankind. Both the creation stories clearly depict that man was made out of soil. The two myths also show or tell how Adam and Eve were placed in a good life. The Quran says that Adam and Eve were living in paradise. On the other hand, the bible says that Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden which was the biblical paradise. However, in the two myths, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit and were punished for their first sin. The universe was created by God in the two creation stories and God was the sole provider. Another common similarity is that Eve was made out of Adam. On the contrary, the two creation stories differ from one another. In the biblical creation myth, God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh day. The Quran does not stipulate how long it took to create the universe and humanity. Adam and Eve lived in paradise according to Islam while they lived in the Garden of Eden according to Christianity. Adam was told to name all the creatures of the earth by God in the biblical myth while in the Islamic myth, God taught Adam the names of all the world’s creatures. In addition, while the couple disobeyed God, they were sent to earth in the Muslim myth while in Christianity, they were sent out of the Garden of Eden (Hamilton & Moser 1988). In conclusion, the two myths of creation account for the genesis of the two religions as well as the universe. They state the beginning of humankind, animals and the entire universe. God existed before everything else. Though they contain differing views, they all account for the one true God. Therefore, despite one’s religion, it is of importance to appreciate one’s heritage and live to protect what you believe in. No religion is superior to the other because they hold similar ground which is they believe and serve God. Moreover, despite the different creation myths, Christians and Muslims should respect one another and live in harmony. Works Cited Bramsen. One God One Message. Chicago: Rock International, 2009. Print. Wolde, E. J. Van. Stories of the beginning. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1997. Print. Hamilton, Virginia and Barry Moser. "In the beginning: Creation stories from around the world."Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, (1988): Print. Read More