The Quran, or Koran, is the central religious text of the Islamic faith. Its followers consider it to be a revelation from God. Many Muslims, or followers of Islam, refer to other religious texts, such as the Hadith, a collection of prophetic traditions. Quranists, a subset of Muslims, adhere only the Quran.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions. All three belief systems are based on the history of the same family, that of the prophet Abraham. What follows explains the basis of the three religions based on the story of Abraham as found in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is not an attempt to convert anyone to a particular faith and is meant to be purely descriptive.
The story begins in the Garden of Eden. Prior to the Creation, God had been bored and lonely. He made the Earth and everything in it with the intention of creating Man. His intention was for Man to procreate and multiply. This way, He would have an unlimited pool of individuals with whom he could form close relationships. He created Adam and Eve to be the father and mother of all mankind. God gave them only one rule, and that was not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
Satan, or Lucifer, as he was known before he was thrown out of Heaven, had been one of God's three senior archangels. He was insanely jealous of Man and had a burning hatred for Adam and Eve. He came across Eve in the Garden of Eden one day, and managed to talk her into eating the fruit off the forbidden tree and to share it with Adam.
Because the first couple had disobeyed God's one and only rule, he banished them from Eden. They, and all but a tiny handful of their descendants, descended into greater depths of sin. Devastated by the disappointing outcome of His creation, God sent a flood to destroy the earth and everything in it, apart from Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. He also spared the animals, making sure that two of everything survived the deluge.
Generations later, God noticed that Abraham, one of Noah's descendants, was a righteous man. God loved him so much, that he told Abraham and his wife, Sarah, that their children would outnumber the stars. They were getting on a bit and, childless, Sarah grew impatient that God might not fulfill His promise. She arranged for Abraham to have a child with her maid, Hagar. They had a boy named Ishmael.
Then Sarah and Abraham had a son of their own, Isaac, and Sarah lost interest in the 13 year-old Ishmael. She cast them onto the street. God sent an angel to Hagar to comfort her and assure her that her son, Ishmael, would be the father of a great nation. This nation became the arabs, who established Islam.
And that is the story of the three Abrahamic religions. All share a common ancestor, a common heritage and the same story. All three worship the same deity. One day, one way or another, they will live in harmony with one another.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is one of the three Abrahamic religions. All three belief systems are based on the history of the same family, that of the prophet Abraham. What follows explains the basis of the three religions based on the story of Abraham as found in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is not an attempt to convert anyone to a particular faith and is meant to be purely descriptive.
The story begins in the Garden of Eden. Prior to the Creation, God had been bored and lonely. He made the Earth and everything in it with the intention of creating Man. His intention was for Man to procreate and multiply. This way, He would have an unlimited pool of individuals with whom he could form close relationships. He created Adam and Eve to be the father and mother of all mankind. God gave them only one rule, and that was not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
Satan, or Lucifer, as he was known before he was thrown out of Heaven, had been one of God's three senior archangels. He was insanely jealous of Man and had a burning hatred for Adam and Eve. He came across Eve in the Garden of Eden one day, and managed to talk her into eating the fruit off the forbidden tree and to share it with Adam.
Because the first couple had disobeyed God's one and only rule, he banished them from Eden. They, and all but a tiny handful of their descendants, descended into greater depths of sin. Devastated by the disappointing outcome of His creation, God sent a flood to destroy the earth and everything in it, apart from Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. He also spared the animals, making sure that two of everything survived the deluge.
Generations later, God noticed that Abraham, one of Noah's descendants, was a righteous man. God loved him so much, that he told Abraham and his wife, Sarah, that their children would outnumber the stars. They were getting on a bit and, childless, Sarah grew impatient that God might not fulfill His promise. She arranged for Abraham to have a child with her maid, Hagar. They had a boy named Ishmael.
Then Sarah and Abraham had a son of their own, Isaac, and Sarah lost interest in the 13 year-old Ishmael. She cast them onto the street. God sent an angel to Hagar to comfort her and assure her that her son, Ishmael, would be the father of a great nation. This nation became the arabs, who established Islam.
And that is the story of the three Abrahamic religions. All share a common ancestor, a common heritage and the same story. All three worship the same deity. One day, one way or another, they will live in harmony with one another.
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