Qur’an and Bible: Persons in Common
For Christians the bible is made up of two unequal parts.
The Old (or First) Testament: Pentateuch, Historical Books, Wisdom Books, Prophets.
The New Testament: Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Letters of St Paul, Letters to All Christians, Revelation.
Belief in the Scriptures forms an essential part of the faith of Muslims. This is stated clearly in the Qur’an:
Anyone who does not believe in God, His angels, His Scriptures, His messengers and the Last Day has gone far, far astray (Q 4:136).
In the previous sura it was written:
He has sent the Scripture down to you [Prophet] with the Truth, confirming what went before (Q 3:3).
The ‘Scripture’ (in the singular) obviously refers to the Qur’an, its role being to confirm the Scriptures given before. What are these Scriptures? The Qur’an mentions the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel.
Nevertheless, there is a fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam in the approach to previous Scriptures. Whereas readings from the Old Testament are used in Christian worship, texts from the Old Testament or the New Testament would never form part of ṣalât, the Islamic ritual prayer.
There are a number of persons who figure in both the Bible and the Qur’an, though they are not always presented in the same way. It is these common figures that will be the focus of the posts on the parish Facebook this year.