Thoughts of a Servant

I did some research on the Qur’an on Sunday because it just fascinated me.  I have had some great conversations with some of my friends that study Islam and its super crazy how similar they are to Christianity.  They have the same stories, Adam Eve, Abraham, Jesus, Crucifixion, etc.

Just a few things that stood out in these stories:

1. In Adam and Eve (Surah 20:120), eve was only introduced as Adam’s wife.  Adam was in fact the one who was seduced, fell, and Allah decided to give him grace.  Eve isn’t mentioned outside of that context, and I am interested to see if that is in fact a cultural effect on the holy writing? Or vice versa.

2. I am trying to find some information on what they refer to as the “People of the Book”… They refer to it in several places in the Qur’an and I don’t know what it means, maybe Book of Life? Maybe the Qur’an itself? Maybe a different one?

3. This is still vague to me, but the Qur’an states that Jesus wasn’t crucified, and he didn’t die.  That he might still be in human form and will reveal himself once again.

4. Surah 3:67. Abraham was not a Jew / nor yet a Christian; / but he was true in Faith, / and bowed (Which is Islam), / and he joined not gods with Allah. (Cf 2:135)

This is something that I admire, they have a full sense of “True Faith” rather than the half sense of “acquiring religion” as their faith.  They are fully devoted as that is their definition of faith.

5. One thing that caught me off guard was the commentator’s note stating that it is believed Christians invented / adopted the structure of Trinity from paganism… I am curious as to where he got that idea, and its worth looking into.

In the end, its really interesting to see the level of similarities in beliefs of Allah and God.  Sure there are the obvious differences, but looking deeper you can see the cultural effects on boundaries and motives between Christian and Islam.

The perspective of Allah, I believe, is more of an impersonal God who punishes, but also gives grace–not necessarily out of love? but more because he can?