The Morality and Ethics of the Bible and the Qur'an

By Mohammad Mandurah

Any scripture must contain the proofs to its own divinity and authenticity. The morality system embedded in any scripture can be used to evaluate and scrutinize scriptures. The book compares the morality of the Bible with the morality of the Qur'an. Twenty four moral issues are examined in these scriptures. In doing so, surprising answers were obtained to important moral questions, such as: Who ate first from the Forbidden Tree, Adam or Eve? Was Noah's Flood universal or local? Did Lot offer his daughters to be raped? Did he commit incest with them?

 

Other moral issues discussed in the book include: Defamation of the Prophets, The Generational Curses, Punishing One for Crimes Committed by Others, Wars of Conquest and Extermination, Stories of Adultery and Rape, Racism and Slavery, and much more.

 

The book also reviews some recent biblical scholarship studies regarding the authorship, authenticity and reliability of the Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mohammad Mandurah
• Release date: Aug 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393507734

Book preview

The Morality and Ethics of the Bible and the Qur’an

Updated & Revised Edition

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Mohammad Mandurah

Copyright © 2021 by Mohammad M. Mandurah

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Originally published under the title: The Morality of The Bible vs. The Morality of The Qur’an

Updated & Revised Edition, 2021

In the Name of Allah,

the Merciful,

the Compassionate

Other Books by: Mohammad Mandurah

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25 Testimonies Against the Bible (2020).

Biblical Creation vs. Qur’anic Creation (2020)

Note

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All of the Biblical references are taken from King James Version (KJV).

The  translations of the Qur’anic verses are mainly taken from: M.T. Al-Hilali & M.M. Khan - Translation of the Meanings of The Noble Qur'an in the English Language, (2004).

Other translations of the Qur’an, however, are consulted, in which case, the source is identified. These translations are:

Asad, M - The Message of Islam (1980).

Maududi, S.A. - Tafhim-ul-Qur'an (1972).

Abbreviations

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Chron. Chronicles

Col. Colossians

Cor. Corinthians

Dan. Daniel

Deut. Deuteronomy

Eccles. Ecclesiastes

Eph. Ephesians

Ex. Exodus

Ez. Ezekiel

Gal. Galatians

Gen. Genesis

Hab. Habakkuk

Heb. Hebrews

Hos. Hosea

Isa. Isaiah

Jer. Jeremiah

Josh. Joshua

Judg. Judges

Lam. Lamentations

Lev. Leviticus

Mal. Malachi

Matt. Matthew

Num. Numbers

NT New Testament

OT Old Testament

PBUH Peace Be Upon Him

Philip. Philippians

Prov. Proverbs

Ps. Psalms

Rev. Revelation

Rom. Romans

Sam. Samuel

Song. Song of Solomon

Thess. Thessalonians

Tim. Timothy

Zech. Zechariah

Zeph. Zephaniah

Preface of the Updated & Revised Edition

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This is an updated and revised second edition. The following changes are incorpo­rated:

Originally, the book was published under the title: The Morality of the Bible vs. the Morality of the Qur’an. In response to the suggestion of some readers, the title of the book is changed to: The Morality and Ethics of the Bible and the Qur’an.

King James Version (KJV) is used as the main source to the references from the Bible. (NIV was used in the previous edition.)

The verses of the Qur’an in Arabic are included in addition to their meanings in English.

Some chapters are revised and expanded.

Correction of typographical errors.

Preface

Sears & Zemansky University Physics is the name of a physics textbook that is probably the best and most widely used introductory physics textbook in the world. The first edition of this textbook was published in 1949. I studied this textbook when I was in college in the early seventies of the last century. The textbook I used was probably the 4th or the 5th edition. Now it is in its 15th edition. It has different authors; It is called Young & Freedman University Physics.

During the seventy years since the first appearance of that textbook, physics has witnessed many changes and developments, especially, in the fields of what is called Modern Physics and Cosmology. Many of the theories that were taught in the fifties of the last century are now obsolete, and were substituted by new theories based on new scientific findings and discoveries. A new branch of physics called Quantum Mechanics evolved and is added to the textbook.

A textbook is an essential element in the educational process. It has to be updated and error-free. Suppose a test in physics is going to be held next week (in year 2020), and two students are entering this test; one of them is using the 1949, 1st edition of Sears & Zemansky University Physics textbook, and the other is using the latest 2020, 15th edition; Who do think would have the best chance to pass the test?

Scriptures in a religion, is similar to the textbook of an educational course. Scriptures contains God’s teachings and instructions to us. In the Day of Judgement each person will be judged based on how much he abode by these teachings when he was in this life.

Scriptures, therefore, has to be authentic and error-free. Authenticity of scripture means that it has to be proven beyond doubt that it came from God. Error-free means that it should be proven beyond doubt that it did not suffer any corruptions or mutilations as it was transmitted to us. These requirements, however cannot be ascertained easily. Whereas the age of a certain science textbook might be 50 or 100 years at most, the age of a scripture is measured in thousands of years.

Deciding a scripture is authentic or not, or, error-free or not, is not an easy task. Only specialized scholars can make these kind of judgements. A layperson has to rely on other means to be able to make these decisions.

Fortunately, there is other means that enable a layperson to evaluate and scrutinize a scripture. Humanity has gained substantial knowledge and experience that enable her to distinguish between good and bad, and right and wrong. Hence, the morality system embedded in any scripture, that tells us what is good and what is bad, and what is right and what is wrong, can be used to evaluate and scrutinize the scripture.

For example, can a scripture that sanctions murder and genocide, or glorifies rape and incest be authentic? Can God, the Creator of all humans, be a racist, and favors some of his people over other people based on race? Is it moral for a scripture to include a law that punishes a person for a crime committed by another?

These kind of moral questions and issues are the tools that we will use in this book to study and evaluate scriptures...

Contents

Introduction:

The Abrahamic Faiths:

Judging Religion & Scripture by Its Moral System:

1- Was Eve Responsible for Adam’s Sin (The Original Sin)?

2- The Flood of Noah: Universal or Local?

3- Did Lot Offer His Daughters to Be Raped?

4- Did Lot Commit Incest with His Daughters?

5- Defamation of the Prophets:

6- Punishing One for the Sins of Another:

7- The Generational Curses:

8- Murder:

9- War of Conquest and Extermination:

10- Punishment with Death:

11- Usury Is Allowed with Non-Jews:

12- Falsehood and Deception:

13- Cheating:

14- Adultery and Prostitution:

15- Rape and Obscenity:

16- Intolerance and Persecution:

17- Treatment of Women:

18- Slavery:

19- Racism and Discrimination:

20- Intemperance:

21- Ignorance and Idiocy:

22- How to Treat Your Parents?

23- Unkindness to Children:

24- Treatment of Strangers and Foreigners:

Epilogue

Appendix A: Authorship and Corruption of the Bible

Appendix B: Transmission and Authenticity of the Qur’an:

Further Reading:

I- Morality of the Bible:

II- Criticism of the Bible:

III- The Qur’an:

Internet Resources:

Index:

About the Author:

Introduction:

The Abrahamic Faiths:

Both of Christianity and Islam belong to the monotheistic Abrahamic religions. This means that the followers of these religions believe in the God of Abraham as the creator of the universe and everything in the universe living and unliving.

The Abrahamic faiths share common basic beliefs. To begin with, one basic belief is that humans comprise a unique species. All humans are descendants of Adam and Eve. God created Adam and Eve in a garden and they were given the knowledge that God created them and that they were supposed to obey and worship their creator. God instructed them to live in the garden and eat from whatever they like except from one tree.

Secondly, Adam and Eve were also given the capability to choose between right and wrong. Because of this capability, humans are superior to all creatures, even superior to angels. Angels are creatures who only do good; they cannot choose. Satan was one of the angels but he became envious of Adam and Eve because God created them superior to him. Satan rebelled and vowed to become an enemy of humans and made his mission to persuade Adam and Eve and their human descendants to choose the wrong instead of what is right.

Satan then persuaded Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden tree. Adam and Eve followed Satan, disobeyed their God, and ate from the tree. As a result, God descended them to earth. This marked the beginning of the journey of humanity on earth.

Thirdly, as humans started populating the earth, they formed groups of people and societies in different places on earth. Satan and his descendants were always there persuading the humans to forget their God (the Creator), to worship other gods and idols, and to do wrong things. To remind the humans of their purpose of creation, God chose prophets and messengers from the people of each group or society. Those prophets and messengers were chosen from among the good, wise, respected and trustworthy. Their mission was to guide the people to the correct path, which is to worship God only, follow His orders, and stop doing the wrong. Since the time of Adam, the number of prophets and messengers who were sent to people was in hundreds of thousands. Examples of those prophets and messengers are: Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Hud (Eber), Saleh, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Lot, Job, Jethro, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David, Solomon, Ezra, Elijah (Elias), Elisha, Jonah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Muhammad.

Forth, the prophets and messengers needed to be instructed with the message (teachings) that they were supposed to convey to their people. God communicated with His prophets and messengers via the archangel Gabriel who conveyed God’s teachings to the prophets. Those communications between Gabriel and the prophets were called revelations. Very often, the teachings revealed to the prophet were recorded in each religion’s scripture.

Most of the scriptures of the ancient prophets and messengers were lost. It is believed that the only scriptures that survived are:

(1)  The Bible which includes:

The Old Testament which contains what was revealed to Moses (the Pentateuch), in addition to what was revealed to the other Israelite prophets, and,

The New Testament which contains what was revealed to Jesus and taught by him, and,

(2)  The Qur’an that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

The Abrahamic faiths, (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) believe in the same God. The teachings of God (especially, concerning who is God, His attributes and morality) ought to be the same in the different faiths. But, as we shall see in this book, there are clear differences between the Bible teachings and what the Qur’an teaches.

Judging Religion & Scripture by Its Moral System:

What is Morality? One may ask. Well, here is the definition of Morality in the different English dictionaries:

Collins: Morality is: 1) the belief that some behavior is right and acceptable and that other behavior is wrong; 2) a system of principles and values concerning people’s behavior, which is generally accepted by a society or by a particular group of people.[1]

Cambridge: Morality is: 1) a set of personal or social standards for good or bad behavior and character; 2) the quality of being right, honest, or acceptable.[2]

Merriam-Webster: Morality is: a) a moral discourse, statement, or lesson; b) a doctrine or system of moral conduct; c) conformity to ideals of right human conduct.[3]

Wikipedia: Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of conduct from a particular philosophy, religion or culture, or it can derive from a standard that a person believes should be universal. Morality may also be specifically synonymous with goodness or rightness.[4]

It is not the aim of this book to indulge into an analysis of which definition of Morality is best or more accurate. But, from the host of the different definitions above, we can identify two issues: 1) the definition of Morality, and 2) the source of Morality.

As for the first issue, it is sufficient for our purpose to extract from the different definitions the following working definition: Morality is the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad.

The second issue, however, is more problematic. In general, the source of Morality could be many things: the individual, a small group of people, the society, the culture, the state, religion, a national organization, an international organization, .. etc.

Since the purpose of the Morality system is for all the people to accept, adopt, and use in dealing with each other, this system has to be as universal as possible; and hence its source should be acceptable and trusted by the majority of the people. This condition eliminates many of the possible sources of Morality. It can’t be the individual, a small group of people, a state, or a national organization.

Most people look at religion to be the source of Morality for several reasons. To begin with, religion transcends the borders of states or local societies; it has the characteristics of universalism. Secondly, religion teaches that there exists a deity, or a God, whom we have to worship and obey, and most people believe in God.

Each religion has a scripture that contains the teachings of its deity (god); and hence, it contains its moral system. Nowadays, there exists many religions and many scriptures. Judaism and Christianity have the Bible that is claimed to be the authentic revelation from God. Islam has the Qur’an that is claimed to be the authentic revelation from God.

The objective of this book is to compare between the Bible and the Qur’an through their Morality systems.

It should be noted here that the Sunnah – which is the words, deeds and approvals that are attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – is one of the two parts of divine Revelation that were revealed to the Prophet. The other part of the Revelation is the Holy Qur’an. In other words, scripture in Islam is composed of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Hence, the Sunnah will be included in the comparisons.

This book is intended for the general reader. It is composed of this Introduction in addition to 24 chapters that discuss 24 moral issues, an Epilogue, and 2 Appendices. All the quotations from the Bible and the Qur’an are given in detail so that the reader does not need to refer to external texts.

1- Was Eve Responsible for Adam’s Sin (The Original Sin)?

The Bible:

The Bible puts the blame on Eve for the original sin. This is probably the main reason why the Bible discriminates against the female gender.

In the Old Testament (OT) we read in Genesis, Chapter 3 the story about how Adam and Eve disobeyed their God and ate from the forbidden tree. In this account, the devil took the form of a serpent and deceived Eve to eat from the tree; she ate from it first, and then persuaded Adam to do the same:

1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen. 3:1-6).

And few verses later, Adam himself puts the blame on Eve. God accepted Adam version of the incident, and He puts additional punishment on Eve:

11. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

12. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

13. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

14. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

15. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

16. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen. 3:11-17)

Similarly, in the New Testament (NT) we read:

13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

14. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1 Tim. 2:13–14).

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Cor. 11:3).

We see from the above that both the OT and the NT put the blame on Eve for the Original Sin. This is a significant habit of the authors of the Bible. We shall see in the following chapters that whenever a sinful act involving a man and a woman took place, the Bible always put the blame on the woman.

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The Qur’an:

The story of Adam, Eve and the tree is mentioned in several Surahs in the Qur’an. In Verses 2:35-37, we read the following:

وقلنا يا آدم اسكن أنت وزوجك الجنة وكلا منها رغدا حيث شئتما ولا تقربا هذه الشجرة فتكونا من الظالمين (35) فأزلهما الشيطان عنها فأخرجهما مما كانا فيه وقلنا اهبطوا بعضكم لبعض عدو ولكم في الأرض مستقر ومتاع إلى حين (36) فتلقى آدم من ربه كلمات فتاب عليه إنه هو التواب الرحيم (37). (البقرة 35-37).

35. And We said: O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimun (wrong-doers).

36. Then the Shaitan (Satan) made them slip therefrom (the Paradise), and got them out from that in which they were. We said: Get you down, all, with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment for a time.

37. Then Adam received from his Lord Words . And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance). Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful. (Al-Baqarah 35-37).

From the above we can see that the devil deceived both of Adam and Eve; he did not start with Eve. Actually, in verse#37 above there is a hint that the fault was Adam’s fault because the verse tells us that God pardoned Adam and accepted his repentance (Adam realized his fault, and repented and asked God for forgiveness.)

The story is then repeated in Verses 7:19-23. Again the blame is shared by both of Adam and Eve for they were both deceived by the devil and they both ate from the forbidden tree:

ويا آدم اسكن أنت وزوجك الجنة فكلا من حيث شئتما ولا تقربا هذه الشجرة فتكونا من الظالمين (19) فوسوس لهما الشيطان