Comparative analysis: Creation in the Bible, Quran and Native American - Essay Example

The Bible is more structured as the creation is clearly organized in the chronology of the Genesis whereby the Creation was narrated to a great detail compared to the Quran. Quran on the other hand is quite unstructured on the beginnings of man and his universe. Unlike the Bible where the account of creation is written, the story of creation is dispersed in the various sections of the Quran such as Sura’ Al-Baqarah, Sura’ As-Sajdah, Sura’ Yassin etch. The Quran is similar with the Genesis of the Bible on the account of the number of days that man and the universe were created in six days (Al-Sajdah: 4, Al-A’raf: 54).

The difference however was that the Bible was specific what God created in six days. The account of creation of the heaven and the earth, the light and the darkness, the animals that roam the earth, the birds that fly and the fishes that occupy our seabed until the creation of man himself was silent in Quran. Instead, it was summarized as giving life to a dead earth contained in the passage “A sign for them is the earth that is dead: We do give it life, and produce grain therefrom, of which ye do eat” (36: 33).

With regard to the creation of man, the two books of faith agreed about the existence of Adam and Eve and that man would be created in His image and likeness. In the Christian text however, man was created naked and innocent (Genesis 2:25) and did not feel shame until they were driven out of Eden but the Quran was more conservative to state that both Adam and Eve were already wearing some kind of raiment before their fall (Quran 7:27) attesting the conservatism of Islam since its very beginning.

Both Scriptures recognized the Garden of Eden but differed in treating the Forbidden Tree as the source of evil. In Genesis, God only commanded not to eat its fruit but the Quran prohibited man not to even go near it. Both also recognized the fall of man when they were tempted by the Forbidden Tree. The Quran however is more forgiving than the Bible in terms of Adam’s sin. When Adam ate or touched the fruit of the Forbidden Tree at Eden (of which the both text agreed), he was forgiven when he repented unlike the Bible who took it as an original sin that would be inherited by man in the future generations that he needs to be saved.

From this precedence in the creation also rooted the major difference between the theology of Islam and Christianity. In Islam, Adam was forgiven when he repented and consequently, no longer bore any original sin that needs redemption. Christian Bible however condemned Adam with an original sin hence the coming of Jesus Christ as a savior. In Islam, since man does not need to be redeemed, Jesus Christ is taken as a mere prophet in the Quran instead of being a Son of God and a savior. He may be good and to a certain point holy, but still a man.

Regardless how each religion treated Jesus Christ, both texts required absolute faith and obedience to their God which is a common characteristic of monotheistic religion such as Christianity and Islam. As mentioned earlier, these two religions are monotheists, meaning they treat their Deity as only One God who demands unequivocal faith which partly explains why these two religions are always in conflict. Unlike other faith that are polytheist or faith that has several gods, it does not claim supremacy over any other religion nor credit the creation of