Interreligious Studies on the Qur'an and the Bible

The present study aims to examine the ethical and jurisprudential aspects of animal rights in the context of war according to Islamic and Christian doctrines. This topic holds a significant ethical and legal position within traditions, reflecting different historical and cultural backgrounds as well as varied approaches to the issue. The primary research question is to analyze and critically compare Islamic and Christian perspectives on respecting animal rights during armed conflict, while also examining the related intellectual developments. The study aims to delineate the theoretical and practical frameworks of both religions in this field and to extract their points of convergence and divergence. The research methodology is based on a content analysis of sacred texts, jurisprudential and theological literature, and a descriptive-analytical review of the viewpoints of prominent thinkers from both religious schools. The findings indicate that within Islam, the killing and abuse of animals during war are strictly limited and only permitted in cases of necessity, with adherence to ethical principles. These teachings have demonstrated remarkable stability and continuity from the inception of Islam to the present. In contrast, Christian teachings have historically legitimized and, at times, mandated the killing of animals during wartime. Until the late twentieth century, the dominant Christian stance was not strongly protective of animal rights. However, contemporary philosophical and cultural transformations within Christianity have led to a fundamental reassessment and orientation towards the preservation and protection of animal rights in armed conflict. This study demonstrates that while Islam maintains a consistent theoretical and practical position, Christianity has undergone a significant historical evolution in its attitude towards animal rights during wartime.

Prayer ( Ṣalāt ) is one of the pillars of Islam. This research aims to introduce prayer in Judaism and Islam, compare them, and articulate the similarities and differences. A descriptive-inductive method was employed, examining the Torah texts related to the features of prayer in Judaism. Furthermore, contemporary practices of prayer among Jews were collected and compared with the features of prayer in Islam. The findings show that prayer in Judaism does not derive its legitimacy from the Holy Scriptures but has undergone changes over time and remains subject to further modification. Also, the form of prayer in Judaism differs from that in Islam; Islam's prayer includes standing ( Qīyām ), bowing ( Rukūʻ ), prostration ( Sujūd ), ritual purity ( Ṭahārah ), and a direction of prayer ( Qiblah ), while Judaism has no fixed form. Although bowing is more common among Jews, it is entirely optional, and a condition like ritual purity before prayer, which is essential in Islam, does not exist in Judaism.

Thie present study aims to examine the concepts of contentment ( Riḍā ) and submission ( Taslīm ) within the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Employing an aesthetic-theological approach, it seeks to elucidate the role of these concepts in human spiritual experience. The research focuses on the analysis of sacred texts, commentaries, and relevant intellectual sources from these three religions, demonstrating that contentment and submission possess not only ethical and devotional dimensions but also shape an aesthetic and theological experience within human relationships with God and the world. The article explicates the commonalities and differences in the perspectives of these three religious traditions regarding contentment and submission, showing that an aesthetic understanding of these concepts can provide a deeper and more comprehensive comprehension of spiritual experience. The study's findings can provide a theoretical foundation for future interdisciplinary research in the field of aesthetic theology and demonstrate the intimate and reciprocal relationship between beauty and spiritual experience in the Abrahamic religions.

The stories of the Prophets ( Qaṣaṣ al-Anbīyāʼ ) in the Qur'an and the Old Testament (OT), while seemingly narrating shared figures, reflect two distinct conceptual frameworks at the level of structure, function, and message. This article employs a comparative approach to examine the fundamental differences between these two texts in narrating the Prophets' stories. It demonstrates that the Qur'an presents these narratives as a tool for individual spiritual development, social reform, and the realization of Divine Laws (Sunan Ilahi) in history. In contrast, these stories in the OT are predominantly ethnocentric, historical, and confined to the fate of the Israelites. In the Qur'an, the Prophets are universal models for combating oppression, inviting to Monotheism, and establishing a Monotheistic Nation; whereas in the OT, they often function as tribal leaders or local advisors. These differences have profound implications in the educational, theological, and civilizational spheres, such that the Qur'anic stories have served as a civilizational and epistemic pillar of the Islamic world, shaping the Ummah system and its universal values. Conversely, the OT's perspective on these stories largely serves to establish ethnic and territorial identity. The present article uses a descriptive-analytical method, analyzing the content of the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament, to investigate this distinction and its functions across social, historical, and doctrinal dimensions. In the Qur’an, prophets are introduced as universal exemplars—leaders in the struggle against injustice, advocates of monotheism, and architects of a unified, God-conscious community. In the Hebrew Bible, however, prophets typically function as tribal leaders or local moral reformers. These divergent portrayals carry far-reaching implications in theological, educational, and civilizational domains. Qur’anic prophetic narratives, as a foundational epistemic and civilizational component of Islamic thought, have played a pivotal role in shaping the vision of a global ummah and its ethical values. In contrast, the Hebrew Bible’s rendering of prophetic stories serves predominantly to affirm national and territorial identity. This article employs a descriptive-analytical method, using content analysis of the Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible, to investigate this structural and functional divergence and its ramifications in the social, historical, and doctrinal dimensions.

The succession of humans from God is generally accepted in the Abrahamic religions. The present study aims to examine the thematic domain of human succession from God from the perspectives of the Qur'an and the Bible through a comparative approach; it also aims to understand and define the mission of humans as successors of God in the world based on the teachings of the Abrahamic religions, which can assist in reconciling the views of the followers of these religions in fulfilling human responsibilities in the contemporary world. To this aim was used a library-based approach for data collection and uses a descriptive-interpretive method with a comparative focus to address the issues. The findings indicate that the Qur'an explicitly affirms the principle of human succession from God, considering humans as successors of God in both existential and legislative matters, supported by evidence such as the generality of verse 30 of Surah Al-Baqarah in appointing humans as successors and the compatibility of the successor with the one succeeded upon in attributes. However, in the Bible, the succession of humans from God is implicitly mentioned. In the Old Testament , humans are introduced as representatives of God on earth, with the responsibility of cultivating the earth and governing its inhabitants. This indicates a form of succession in legislative matters. From the New Testament , a concept similar to the Qur'anic view (succession in all matters) can be inferred, which is certainly built around the centrality of the personality and succession of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him). 

(Genesis 11:6): "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do".Imagination for Bible as a gift permits us to see beyond the here and now and visualize a future shaped by faith. However, one might ask basically what the nature or conception of imagination is. I’ll focus on the vantage points of Farabi and Hegel as two avatars of the traditions of Christian thinkers and Muslim philosophers. Imagination, Farabi believes, may well be defined by its three most notable activities of preserving the sensible forms, combining and separating the sensible forms to make new images, and representing sensible beings as well as the intelligible affairs and beings by sensible forms of two former kinds of images, that is, preserved forms in imagination and the forms created by imagination via combining and separating the sensible forms. Imagination keeps forms of a horse, a stone, a wing, a smell, etc. Imagination also makes a horse with two wings, or a stone that is crying, or a wall that is singing. Imagination gets the image of the horse from nature, and the image of the wings from nature too, and then produces a new form by joining them. Imagination represents, for example, the vice of damaging environment by drawing a row of crying trees in a painting. Three stages of imagination according to Hegel include the first stage as reproductive imagination, the second stage as the productive and associative imagination, and third stage as the sign-making fantasy. Three stages mentioned by Hegel very well correspond three activities pointed out in Farabi’s theory of imagination.

Every ethical system possesses at least six core elements: a theory of moral value, fundamental moral principles, rules of inference, incentives for adhering to ethical principles and rules, enforcement mechanisms for those principles and rules, and a justification for the necessity of being moral and for the validity of the said ethical system. This system is constructed and refined based on sources of moral knowledge and ethical foundations and is presented to its target society. Within this system, the theory of moral value is recognized as the principal element, upon which all other elements rely in some manner. Within Jewish ethical systems, two distinct theories are observed concerning the theory of moral value: "A deontological perspective and a teleological perspective. Some scholars currently argue that Jewish ethics is deontological and present reasoning for this position." This paper, with reference to the Tanakh (the Old Testament) and the foundations of ethics in Judaism, emphasizes the teleological viewpoint and critiques the arguments put forth by deontologists. The difference between these two perspectives has been notably evident in the conduct of the Zionist regime and its supporters over the past two years. From a deontological viewpoint, it is sufficient for a religious scholar to justify, based on their own interpretation, the massacre of the people of Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran by citing a divine command; in this scenario, no rational, empirical or even emotional argument can prevent such crimes.

The story of Joseph and Zulaikha is one of the most frequent stories in Muslim culture, and to a lesser extent, among Jews and Christians. This article uses a comparative analysis method, first presenting the story as narrated in the Old Testament, then examining the additions and embellishments made by Jews. Following that, it reviews the Quranic narrative and subsequent retellings by authors of the Qaṣaṣ al-Quran (Stories of the Quran) and some commentators. The two narratives, specifically the Torah and Quranic versions, and more broadly, the Jewish and Islamic ones, are then briefly compared. Next, the representation of Zulaikha's character and her adventures with Joseph in Jewish-Christian and Muslim art are analyzed comparatively using an iconological approach. In the works of Western painters, the focus is primarily on Joseph's rejection of Zulaikha's advances, and the inspiration from the Torah narrative is clearly evident. In Muslim miniatures, two events, Joseph's escape from Zulaikha and Zulaikha's banquet to change the judgment of the Egyptian women, have received more attention than other events. Although other events, such as the reunion of Joseph and Zulaikha, have also been a focus for some Islamic artists, these events are inspired by the poems of Persian poets, especially Jami. In the works of Western painters, mainly, the part related to the rejection of the request of illegitimate relationship by Yusuf is taken into consideration and the inspiration of the Torah narrative is clearly evident. Among the works of Muslim artists, the two themes of Yusuf's escape from Zuleikha and the establishment of the famous Zuleikha party to change the judgment of Egyptian women have received more attention than other events.

The Noble Quran and the Testaments share the common feature of being composed of various parts or chapters. These chapters are called "Surahs" in the Quran and "Books" in the Testaments. Unlike the Testaments, whose content mostly possesses a linear order similar to human books, with each book usually centered on a specific or general topic, the Surahs of the Quran—with the exception of the shorter Surahs and some collectively-revealed ones—typically lack a specific topic and order, appearing as if diverse and varied subjects are scattered throughout them (the "Scattered" nature of the Quran). Some believe the human-like order of the Testaments indicates their human origin, while the non-human order of the verses in the Quran's Surahs is a sign of its divine origin. However, according to this research, conducted using library resources and critical analysis method, neither the structure of the Testaments and their similarity to human books is proof of their non-divine origin, nor is the scattered structure of most long Quranic Surahs and their dissimilarity to the order found in most human books proof of its divine origin.

The theology of health is a nascent field that emerged from Western academia a few decades ago and has since entered the Islamic and Eastern worlds. While this area of knowledge primarily focuses on the relationship between religion and the various dimensions of human health, it has deep roots in celestial religions and is not confined to contemporary research. A historical review spanning many centuries reveals a widespread belief in the strong connection between religion and human well-being, as well as the use of religious guidance to seek healing from illnesses. Moreover, healing was often considered one of the roles and duties of religious scholars, and in their view, recovery was dependent on supernatural forces. This study provides a brief historical account of the interaction between the three religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—and the dimensions of health from their beginnings to the present. The aim is to make the legacy of the past accessible to contemporaries and to serve as a guide for deeper, future research. Using a descriptive-analytical method and drawing on library resources, this study demonstrates that the theology of health in the Abrahamic religions shared a relatively common historical background. Religious guidance was used to maintain and improve health, and religious figures were engaged in healing matters. However, this connection was severed during the Renaissance and was only re-established in the last half-century.