The Bible, Qur’an, and Hadith

The Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, contains 114 chapters, or surahs, that embody codes governing religious, civil, commercial, and military affairs. Since it was the first Arabic book of consequence, it has incalculable social, cultural, educational, and religious value. It was codified into one text by Muhammad’s followers shortly after his death (632 A.D.). Muhammad could neither read nor write. No translation is considered a genuine Qur’an.

In addition, Muslims also revere a book called Hadith, meaning “sayings.” Toward the end of his life, Muhammad’s followers also wrote his sayings and compiled them into this massive work meant to be a record of what the prophet said, did, or approved.

Here are a few of the monumental differences between Islam and Christianity.

Concerning God’s Nature
Bible—God is immutable:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (Jas. 1:17).

Qur’an—Allah changes:

Whatever message We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or one like it. (surah 2:106).

Bible—God loves us:

But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).

Qur’an—Allah is fickle and hates sinners:

And if We had pleased, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me was just; I will certainly fill hell with the jinn [devil or demons] and men together (surah 32:13).

For Allah loves not transgressors (surah 2:190).

Bible—Jehovah is a compound unity. He is one God composed of three distinct persons consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

Come near unto me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord GOD [the Father], and his Spirit [the Holy Spirit], hath sent me [the Son]. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 48:16–17).

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14:9).
For in him [Jesus} dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, . . . Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Acts 5:3–4).
Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19).

Qur’an—The Triunity is blasphemous and consists of three separate gods—the Father, Mother (Mary), and Son (Jesus):

Certainly they disbelieve [i.e. blaspheme] who say: Allah is the third of the three. There is no God but One God (surah 5:73).

And behold! God will say: O Jesus the son of Mary didst say unto men, “worship me and my mother as gods” in derogation of Allah? (surah 5:116).

Bible—God cannot lie:

In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began (Ti. 1:2).

Qur’an—Allah is a deceiver:

And when those who disbelieved devised plans against thee that they might confine thee or slay thee or drive thee away—and they devised plans and Allah, too, had arranged a plan; and Allah is the best of the planners [the word planners means “deceivers”] (surah 8:30).

Concerning Jesus Christ
Bible—Jesus is Lord and the only way to the Father:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (Jn. 14:6).

Qur’an—Jesus was merely one of Allah’s prophets:

O people of the book, commit no excess of your religion: nor say of Allah aught but truth, Christ Isa [Jesus] the son of Mary was an apostle of Allah (surah 4:171).

Bible—Jesus is the Eternal God and Creator:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Col. 1:17). Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. 2:6).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1).

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14).

Qur’an—Jesus (also identified as Isa) is a created human:

The likeness of Jesus with Allah is truly the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was (surah 3:58).

And to warn those who say: Allah has taken to Himself a son. They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grievous is the word that comes out of their mouths. They speak nothing but a lie (surah) 18:4–5.

Bible—Jesus’ crucifixion was
a sacrificial death to atone for sin:

For I determined not to know any thing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Eph. 1:7).

Qur’an—Jesus only appeared to be crucified:

And for their saying: We have killed Christ Isa [Jesus] the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, they killed him not, nor did they cause his death on the cross, but he was made to appear to them as such. And certainly those who differ therein are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge about it, but only follow conjecture, and they killed him not for certain (surah 4:157).

Bible—Jesus teaches forgiveness:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also (Mt. 5:38-39).

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven(Mt. 18:21–22). Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Lk. 23:34).

Qur’an—It teaches revenge:

The sacred month for the sacred month, and retaliation (is allowed) in sacred things. Whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you and keep your duty to Allah, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (surah 2:194).

Concerning Salvation
Bible—Salvation is a gift of God’s grace:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God—Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8–9).

Qur’an—Salvation is based on works:

And keep up prayer at the two ends of the day and in the first hours of the night. Surely good deeds take away evil deeds. This is a reminder for the mindful (surah 11:114).

Bible—Jesus paid for our sins,
and He is the only way to salvation:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:4–6).

Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father (Phil. 2:10–11).

Qur’an—Muslims can receive forgiveness if they fight in jihad:

Those who have left their homes, or been driven out therefrom, or suffered harm in My Cause, or fought or been slain, — Verily, I will blot out from them their iniquities, and admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing beneath; —A reward from His Presence is the best of rewards (surah 3:195).

The Hadith

In both the Qur’an and Hadith, Jesus is called “the son of Mary”—never “the son of God,” since that is considered blasphemous. In fact, it is a serious inconsistency that Islam even considers Jesus a prophet because His claims to be God and the Son of God warrant His execution.

The following is from the Hadith:

Abu Harirah said, The Messenger of Allah, said: “How would you feel when the son of Mary makes his appearance among you. And he is your imam from among yourselves.
An explanation comes from a commentary by Maulana

Muhammad Ali in A Manual of Hadith (pp. 209–10), published by AhmadiyyaAnjumanIshaat Islam Lahore Inc., of Columbus, Ohio. The Messiah, evidently Jesus, is a Muslim who will help spread Islam among the Christian nations to “break the Cross and kill the swine”:

This is a further prophecy relating to the ascendancy of Islam. The son of Mary is the Messiah, and Muslims are told that a Messiah would appear among them. This Messiah is called imamu-kum min-kum i.e., your imam from among yourselves. . . . he (the Messiah) shall be your imam from among yourselves, leaving no doubt that a member of the Muslim community would be raised to the dignity of the Messiah. . . .

The appearance of the Messiah among Muslims thus meant only the appearance of a mujaddid[literally, “one who receives”] “in the spirit and power” of the Messiah. The Messiah’s work is thus described in the Bukhari: “The son of Mary will appear among you as a judge, doing justice (between people), and he will break the Cross and kill the swine” (B.60:49). This clearly shows that the Messiah would come when the religion of the Cross will be in the ascendant, and that his work will be to spread Islam among the Christian nations of the world in particular, which in other hadith is described as the rising of the sun in the West, the sun standing for the Sun of Islam and the West for the Western nations. Thus this prophecy speaks in fact of the final ascendancy of Islam in the world.