Comparison of Quranic and Biblical Depictions of Noah - Essay Example

Order: 321384 Topic: Comparative Paper: Qur’anic and Biblical Depictions of Noah (Nuh) Title Not tolerance, but willing acceptances need to govern the inter-religious relationships. Introduction: The differences are not in the revelations. They relate to the understanding of the revelations. As many minds so many opinions and contradictions! Every argument has a counter-argument. The very nature of the mind is to argue and confuse the human being. Realized souls have transcended the mind-barrier. In that realm, differences cease and supreme bliss reigns. The Noah of the Bible and the Noah of the Quran, at the transcendental level are one and the same. The Immutable Power was there, even in the beginning, before all God’s creation; before earth, before living beings, before all bodily life, before the invention of any language. The Bible declares: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1)All the great messengers of Truth have always revealed the same Eternal Path, the same profound Knowledge to mankind from time to time. For, the Supreme Knowledge is One and it is Immutable. It is not subject to the laws of nature. It is eternal. The above introduction is provided, to enable one to understand stories in Quran or Bible, in their correct perspective. To think and argue whether issues about Noah are correct or not will only serve academic interest. No religious conflicts have ever been solved as such; it is just wastage of time. One needs to arrive at bold and forthright conclusions by decisions with a right frame of mind. Come out of Bible or Quran or for that matter any religious text for a while and think with a free, un-biased mind. Did this cosmos not exist before the Holy Prophet arrived on his Planet Earth about 1400 years ago? Or whether Lord Jesus Christ came to enlighten the mankind to lead humanity to Godhood 2009 years ago? Everything was orderly, is orderly and will remain orderly in the cosmos. There can never be chaos in the working of the Nature. Everything is happening as it should! The chaotic conditions and restlessness are only in the minds of human beings. The pages of human history daubed in bloodshed in the name of religious conflicts, ask the crying question. How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and straight forward. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses conflicts—enough, these alone are enough! How to solve the generated controversy by mind-level thinkers on issues like Noah’s story? The solution lies in faith and keenness to understand the revelations of the Realized souls and founders of two faiths-- Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed. The points of agreements and contentions between Bible and Quran are: Bible: Noah did according unto all that the (Genesis 7:5) lord commanded him. In the Genesis narration, Noah saves his family and representatives of all animal species in groups of two or seven from the flood. (Gen: 6:19) “References to Noah’s Ark are found in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. Christians believe, the Christian Church to be Noah’s Arc. Noah, as mentioned in Genesis lives for a total of 950 years and the flood comes in his six hundredth year.”(Genesis 6:11-12) “The flood story in Genesis contains the element of Noah’s drunkenness.” (6:9-8:22) Quran: The Qur’anic version of the story mentions about a group of 72 others (even though none reproduces after the flood.) He receives the mandate from God, and his sons re-populate the earth. The Quran has 43 references to Noah, in 28 suras (chapters). It has description about flood. (Sura 11) Sura 71 of 28 verses relates to a divine injunction to Noah to preach and the issue is idolatry. “As per Quran, Noah is 950 years old at the time of the flood and he has spent all those years preaching about one God. The tradition maintains that 83 people are willing to become Muslim and seek peace with God. These 83 are saved with Noah. Mankind’s stubbornness and refusal to change ultimately brings the wrath of God on the unbelievers. The theme of the story in Quran is the unity of All-merciful Allah and the duty of the man to seek peace with him.”(Sura 71) Bible: The Curse of Ham, reference is about son of Noah’s father Noah placed on Ham’s son Cannan. The Biblical reference is about his seeing father’s nakedness on account of drunkenness in Noah’s tent. The modern scientific mind will not accept anything without proof—and it is not the wrong attitude. The main challenge comes from Darwinian geology and biology as for the truth of Genesis and the divinity of the Bible. The length of time required for evolution of the earth, universe remains unexplained in Bible as it speaks about the period of six days. The Bible is labeled as a ‘myth’ as the day of creation ends with the words, “And the evening and the morning were the first day"(Gen. 1:5).The story of Noah’s flood, viewed in the light of modern scientific knowledge can not be accepted as truth. The reasons are: “The Old Testament explains the flood as an event that covered the entire world. The flood mentioned in the Bible could have been an international flood.” (Genesis 7:19) The Sacerdotal description mentions precisely that the flood took place when Noah was 600 years old. The genealogies in Chapter 5 of Genesis mention this. On an analysis of this to the age of Adam with the age of Abraham (Genesis 11:10-32), the calculations lead to the fact that the Flood would be around in the 21st -22nd century B. C. Reverting to the history of this time, one is told about the prosperous civilizations like Egyptian’s Eleventh Dynasty and Babylonia’s Third Dynasty at Ur, with out any break and any natural calamity being mentioned. The claim in the Bible (Genesis 7:21) finds no support. The Bible describes a universal flood meant to punish ungodly humanity as a whole. Quran: There is no reference about the nakedness of father in Quran. As mentioned in Quran, Noah has two sons, not three, and the son does not accompany his father notwithstanding Noah’s pleas to be saved. His actual utterance is, “O my son! Come ride with us, and be not with the disbelievers!” (11: 42) The son does not obey this command and he flees to the mountains, and God reveals to Noah that his action is because he is an evildoer. (11:43) Later Islamic tradition is known to refer him by the name Canaan. The reference to time-period in Quran is substantially different from Bible. It mentions “in six periods of time” in seven different passages on creation. The periods are certainly not the evening and the morning. The details about the flood mentioned in the Quran do not run in conflict with the historical viewpoint. In The Quran 11:25-49, Sura 71, and 26: 105-115, mentions “God inflicted punishments on communities guilty of grossly violating His Commandments. Quran also mentions many types of punishments on certain well defined communities.” (Sura 25:35-39) Religious misunderstanding and fights are generally over silly issues; for example whether Noah had two sons of three sons can be a matter for the historian to research; but it is certainly not an issue over which the Christian Fathers and Muslim Mullahs need to fight. Nor the followers of these religions need to be at daggers-drawn and engage in blood bath. Similarly whether the floods came 900 yeas ago or 800 years ago is a research matter for the geologists to investigate and come to conclusions on the basis of evidence they are able to gather. It is certainly not an issue for the two communities for enmity. The lifestyle of the present generation of both of Muslims or Christians is not going to be affected in anyway, by Noah’s story. The Gospel of Luke of the New Testament, narrates the life of Jesus of Nazareth equates Noah’s Flood with coming Day of Judgment (Luke 17:26) In Noah’s Ark, those who were in it were saved. These narrations give lots of scope for the later day intellectuals and mind-level thinkers to continue with their arguments. “St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), demonstrated in The City of God that the dimensions of the Ark correspond to the dimensions of the human body, which corresponds to the body of Christ;(Genesis 6:14) the equation of Ark and Church is still found in the Anglican rite of baptism, which asks God, "who of thy great mercy didst save Noah," to receive into the Church the infant about to be baptized.” So, Noah’s story is all important from the Christian perspectives. Muslims believe the Koran exists as a literal book in heaven and was dictated to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Quran and Bible are at loggerheads with many other important issues. Conclusion: The differences and contentions about Noah’s flood etc. may not be a major issue as for the relationship between two faiths, but as we all know a tiny spark on religious contention may lead to a wild fire. The mind-level human sentiments are easily inflamed. This story about the flood and Noah and the ark is one of the most read stories in the Bible. It involves tragedy and it is a story of salvation. The story of destruction of mankind and its re-growth kindles deep curiosity and gives the grim reminder as to what could have been the conditions and sufferings of all those affected, when a gigantic flood drowns them all. It raises serious question about the then prevailing conditions as to warrant such a calamitous action by God! Works Cited: New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC The Holy Quran, Arabic Text, Arabic Pronunciation, English text by A. Yusuf Ali Read More