By Editorial Staff
How a big difference between the Quran and the other scriptures!
There is no denying that for the time being there are several religions on earth, including Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic religions. Just as the Abrahamic religions have supposedly heavenly scriptures, other non-Abrahamic religions also have scriptures mostly attributed to God.
As a matter of fact, there is a big difference between the Quran on the one hand and all other scriptures on the other hand, which themselves involve evidence that they are false, fabricated and manmade.
Please find below a brief discussion of the most well-known scriptures as well as their religions, ranking in terms of the number of followers, and salient features. Please note that all of those scriptures are available in downloadable versions.
Quran
Holy Quran
Religion: Islam
Ranking: second in terms of the worldwide Muslim population
Quran’s Salient Features:
Its name is revealed by God and given in it (e.g. An-Nisaa’ 4:28)
It contains only the words of God rather than those of any human being (e.g. Al-An`am 6:19)
It kept going down to Prophet Muhammad throughout 23 years (e.g. Yunus 10:15)
It was revealed by only one God to only one prophet, namely Muhammad (e.g. Yunus 10:37)
It was fully memorized but partially written down in Prophet Muhammad’s lifetime and then fully written down about two years after his demise (e.g. Al-Qiyamah 75:16-19)
Each verse and chapter of it can be used for worship (Al-Israa’ 17:106)
It was revealed and is still kept in Arabic. Its translation is not a quran in a foreign language but just an interpretation of some of its meanings (e.g. Yusuf 12:2)
Its rhythm is rhetorically miraculous with which God challenged the greatest Arab eloquent orators (e.g. Al-Baqarah 2:23)
It is concise and easy for recitation and memorization (e.g. Al-Qamar 54:17)
It corroborates and upholds the previous sacred scriptures, namely the Torah, the Enjeel (Gospel) and Zabor (Psalms) but only in their original form without corruption (e.g. Al-Baqarah 2:89)
God pledged to preserve it from distortion from its revelation time up to the Judgment Day (Al-Hijr 15:9)
Download: English Translation of Some of the Meanings of Qur’an by Pickthall (Plain Text)
Bible
Holy Bible
Religion: Christianity
Ranking: first in terms of the worldwide Christian population
Bible’s Salient Features:
Its name is neither revealed by God nor given in it
It is mostly the words of man. It may be partially the words of God, but the words of God cannot be differentiated from the words of man (e.g. 21:24-25)
God did not pledge to preserve it from distortion
It is composed of ancient writings about the period from Prophet Moses’ times to the times of Jesus Christ and even his disciples
It was neither compiled nor written down in the lifetime of any prophet. Rather, it was compiled and written down centuries after Jesus’ ascension
It cannot be used for worship in its entirety except for some parts given the corruption and distortion it experienced (e.g. Genesis 9:20-21)
Its Old Testament was written down in Hebrew and its New Testament in Greek though Hebrew was not the language of all the Old Testament prophets and Jesus’ language was Aramaic
Its text is not rhetorically miraculous and the language of some parts of it are lower than that of the words of man (e.g. Genesis 19:30-32)
It is too long to be recited or memorized
Download: Bible in English (King James Version)
Vedas
Hindu Vedas
Religion: Hinduism
Ranking: third in terms of the worldwide Hindu population
Vedas’ Salient Features:
Vedas are the plural of a Veda. A Veda is a Hindu scripture. Hindus do not have one scripture. They rather have several scriptures
Vedas’ names are neither revealed by God nor given in them
Vedas are the words of man
Hinduism does not have a prophet so that Vedas would have been revealed to him by God
Vedas continued to be compiled throughout 1000 or purportedly 3000 years and their compilers are anonymous
Worship is handled in only one Veda, namely Upanishads
Vedas are too long to be recited or memorized
Download: Hindu Vedas
Tipitaka (Three Baskets)
Buddhist Tipitaka
Religion: Buddhism
Ranking: fourth or fifth in terms of the worldwide Buddhist population
Tipitaka’s Salient Features:
Tipitaka means the three baskets which are the three main categories of the Buddhist scriptures since Buddhism does not have only one scripture
Tipitaka’s names are neither revealed by God nor given in them
Tipitaka are the words of man
Buddhism does not have a prophet so that the Tipitaka would have been revealed to him by God. Buddha was not a prophet. Supposing that Buddha was a prophet, only Sutta writings out of the Tipitaka can be ascribed to Buddha. They are Buddha’s sermons which were written down only after Buddha’s death
In general, the Tipitaka were written down over centuries after Buddha’s death
The Sutta writings constituting Buddha’s original teachings were written down in old Pali, but the rest of the Tipitaka writings were mostly written down in Sanskrit
The Tipitaka writings are too long to be recited or memorized
Download: Buddhist Tipitaka
Guru Granth Sahib
Guru Granth Sahib
Religion: Sikhism
Ranking: an Indian religion having about 27 million followers
Guru Granth Sahib’s Salient Features:
Its name is neither revealed by God nor given in it
It is the word of man
Sikhism does not have a prophet so that the Guru Granth Sahib would have been revealed to him by God. Rather, the first rendition was compiled by the fifth Guru Arjan, whereas the rest of the second rendition was compiled by the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
Download: Guru Granth Sahib
Mishnah
Jewish Mishnah
Religion: Judaism
Ranking: a religion having about 13.4 million followers
Mishnah’s Salient Features:
Its name is neither revealed by God nor given in it
It is mostly the words of man. It may be partially the words of God, but the words of God cannot be differentiated from the words of man
God did not pledge to preserve it from distortion
It is the study redaction of the oral traditions known as the “Oral Torah”. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah the Prince at the beginning of the third century CE
Worship is only handled in only one Seder, namely Kodashim
Its text is not rhetorically miraculous and the language of some parts of it are lower than that of the words of man
Download: Mishnah in English by Danby
Avesta
Zoroastrian Avesta
Religion: Zoroastrianism
Ranking: an Asian religion having about 2.6 million followers
Avesta’s Salient Features:
Its name is neither revealed by God nor given in it
It is the word of man
It contains such writings compiled by Zoroaster’s followers after his death
It was compiled a long time after Zoroaster’s death and was lost more than once
Download: The Zend Avesta
Ginza Rba
Ginza Rba
Religion: Sabianism
Ranking: an old Iraqi religion having about 70 thousand followers
Ginza Rba’s Salient Features:
Its name is neither revealed by God nor given in it
It is mostly the words of man. It may be partially the words of God, but the words of God cannot be differentiated from the words of man
God did not pledge to preserve it from distortion
It is composed of old writings allegedly revealed from the times of Adam up to the times of Yahya ibn Zachariah (John son of Zechariah)
Its text is not rhetorically miraculous and the language of some parts of it are lower than that of the words of man
Download: Ginza Rba (in Arabic)
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Read Also:
Comparison between the Bible & Qur’an (1/3)
Comparison between the Bible & Quran (2/3)
Comparison between the Bible & Quran (3/3)
Between Divine Revelation and Non-Divine Revelation in Islam and Christianity (1/2)
Between Divine Revelation and Non-Divine Revelation in Islam and Christianity (2/2)
Glossary of Sexual Terminology in Bible and their Counterparts in Qur’an