The Talmudic Dilemma published this week by the Youtube channel Defending the Lion. This work, still in progress, backs our claim that, as revealed in the earliest accounts, todays Islam was originally a sect that broke away after their messiah failed to appear at the newly rebuild temple at the end of the 7th century after the birth or Christ.

The Talmudic Dilemma published

The Talmudic Dilemma

My YouTube Channel

Full Presentation Slides

Quick TL;DR version of the argument

The Quran claims it is God’s direct, unique revelation given only through prophets (Surah 42:51; Surah 4:163–165), and Mohammad is presented as the final prophet (33:40). Yet large, specific passages in the Quran closely parallel rabbinic Midrash and Talmudic material (Mishnah ~200 AD; Gemara 300–500 AD) that was circulating in late antiquity. That creates a dilemma: either God revealed truth through Jewish rabbis who were not prophets for centuries — which contradicts the Quran’s own doctrine — or Mohammad heard and incorporated human Jewish and Christian material and presented it as divine revelation. The simplest, historically coherent explanation is the latter: the Quran contains human-sourced material. Which undermines the claim that the Quran is wholly divine and inimitable.

Core logical framework (the dilemma in 6 steps)

Islamic Claim: Allah reveals only via prophets (Surah 42:51; Surah 4:163–165); Mohammad is the last prophet (Surah 33:40; Sahih al-Bukhari 3455); No prophets between Isa and Mohammad (Sahih al-Bukhari 3442).
Historical Fact: Rabbinic literature (Mishnah/Gemara—the Talmudic layer) was produced centuries before Mohammad and circulated orally in Near Eastern Jewish communities.
Textual Overlap: The Quran contains passages that closely parallel rabbinic/Midrashic stories, legal maxims, and phrasings (e.g., Surah 5:32 parallel to a Mishnah/Midrashic teaching about the value of life).
Transmission Gap: If no prophets existed between Jesus and Mohammad (fatrah), rabbis were not prophets — yet rabbinic material appears in the Quran.
Two options: (A) God used rabbis (non-prophets) as the vessels of revelation for centuries — which contradicts the Quran’s theology; or (B) Mohammad heard human material and integrated it into the Quran — which means the Quran is not purely divine.
Occam’s Razor: (B) is historically and explanatorily simpler. Making Islam false.

It’s not just that the Quran copies information from other sources (Jewish or otherwise). It’s that the Quran is copying false, manmade, contradictory information as if it was the word of God.

Long version of the argument

The Talmudic Dilemma Syllogism

Premise 1:
Islam teaches that wahy (divine revelation) is granted only through prophets, and that no prophets were sent between Isa (Jesus) and Mohammad.
– Supported by Sahih al-Bukhari 3442 which affirms the prophetic line ceased after Isa until Mohammad.

Premise 2:
Islam also holds that the Jews after Isa were a misguided people who corrupted revelation, followed man-made traditions, and thus were not rightly guided.
– Supported by Surah 2:79, 2:88, 2:91, 4:46, 5:13, 5:41-44, 9:30, Sahih Muslim 2669a, Sahih al-Bukhari 7320, Sunan Ibn Majah 3994, Sunan at-Tirmidhi Hadith 2954.

Premise 3:
The Talmud and Midrash were written and compiled after the prophetic period (roughly 200–500 AD), by rabbinic scholars—precisely during the era Islam calls a prophetic void (fatrah).

Premise 4:
Many Quranic stories and motifs (e.g., Abraham destroying idols, Solomon commanding animals and jinn, the cow narrative in Surah 2, Harut and Marut, Iblis and Adam and Eve, Cain’s Raven, 7 heavens, etc) closely parallel Talmudic and Midrashic accounts that have no biblical origin but do appear in these rabbinic writings, often times word for word.

Premise 5:
If the Talmudic and Midrashic materials were composed by post-biblical rabbis—who were not prophets, and who Islam says were misguided—then they cannot be a source of wahy (divine revelation).

Premise 6:
Yet, those same non-prophetic, “corrupted” rabbinic sources contain narratives and teachings that appear in the Quran centuries later.

Conclusion (The Dilemma):
Either:

(A) Mohammad or his contemporaries learned these stories from Jewish or Christian oral traditions, which means the Quran contains human-derived material and is not purely divine,
or
(B) Allah preserved and endorsed post-prophetic Jewish traditions, produced by a community Islam says was misguided, as wahy. Which contradicts the Quran’s own theology of revelation and its critique of Jewish tradition.

Corollary:
If truth and revelation (huda and wahy) exist only through prophets, then the presence of non-prophetic rabbinic material in the Quran demonstrates that its source must be human transmission, not divine revelation. Thus Islam is false.

Key Claims of the Talmudic Dilemma

The author of the Quran thought the Talmud was the Torah / the book given to Moses.
Talmud can’t be scripture islamically, nor should it contain wahy.
If you affirm the Rabbis and the Talmud, you are undermining the claims of the Quran.
It shows the Quran is man-made as it gets basic things wrong, but it gets them wrong because it misunderstood the actual prophetic source.
Every argument against it is circular reasoning.
The Talmud still isn’t entirely consistent with the Quran, so you run into an Islamic Dilemma type problem of confirmation and contradiction.

Talmudic History

1. Background:
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Jewish religious life shifted from Temple-based worship to study and interpretation of the Torah. The rabbis (teachers of the law) emerged as the new religious authorities, preserving Jewish tradition through oral teaching — what came to be called the Oral Torah (Torah shebe’al peh, ??????? ??????????????).

2. The Mishnah (c. 200 AD):
The first major written version of this Oral Torah was the Mishnah, compiled around 200 AD by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince) in the land of Israel.

It’s written in Hebrew.
It contains about 63 tractates (essays on specific subjects) covering Jewish law (halakhah), ethics, and ritual practice.
Its purpose was to codify and preserve oral teachings threatened by dispersion and persecution.

3. The Gemara (200–500 AD):
Over the next few centuries, Jewish scholars in two major centers — Israel and Babylonia (modern Iraq) — studied and debated the Mishnah.
Their discussions, interpretations, and expansions were recorded as the Gemara.
There are two versions:

Jerusalem Talmud – completed c. 400 AD.
Babylonian Talmud – completed c. 500 AD and far more authoritative.

4. The Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli):
Compiled by generations of rabbis known as the Amoraim (interpreters).

Written mostly in Aramaic, with Hebrew sections.
Consists of legal rulings (halakhah), moral teachings, parables, and folklore (aggadah).
Functions as both a law code and a theological-philosophical commentary on how Jews should live out the Torah.

5. Authority and Influence:
By the 6th century AD, the Babylonian Talmud became the central text of rabbinic Judaism, effectively replacing the Temple system and becoming the backbone of Jewish law and learning.

Later rabbis (the Geonim and Rishonim) codified and commented on it, further solidifying its authority.
It is not considered “scripture” (like the Torah) but is (sometimes) viewed as a divinely inspired interpretation and application of it — the living tradition of Sinai as preserved by the rabbis.

Summary:

Mishnah (c. 200 AD) = Written Oral Law.
Gemara (200–500 AD) = Rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah.
Together ? Talmud, the central text of post-biblical Judaism.
Authors: Hundreds (possibly thousands) of rabbis (Mishnah=Tannaim and Gemara=Amoraim), not prophets.
Nature: Human interpretation of divine law — part legal code, part theological reflection, part folklore

How the Talmud is Dated

By far, the two most common responses I hear from Muslims are: “The Quran is just reaffirming the earlier revelations given to the Jewish prophets” (which doesn’t really hold up, since the Talmud isn’t considered scripture) and “The Talmud copied from the Quran and came after it.” The latter claim, from a historical perspective, is simply untenable. But most Muslims engaging in these debates aren’t thinking like historians or textual scholars. So, in this section, I want to explain how historians date ancient texts, what evidence demonstrates that the Babylonian Talmud predates Islam, and why using manuscript dates alone leads to serious errors.

Historians don’t ask, “What’s the oldest PDF we have?” when dating a book. Instead, they rely on several independent lines of evidence:

Internal evidence — references to people, institutions, political conditions, loanwords, and the latest events presupposed by the text.
External evidence — quotations, allusions, and discussions of the text in other sources that assume its existence.
Material evidence — the physical manuscripts themselves, analyzed through paleography (handwriting), codicology (book production), and sometimes radiocarbon dating.

Paleography is a key method for undated manuscripts, but it only dates the specific copy—not the original composition. That distinction is crucial, because many ancient and medieval works circulated orally or in fluid written form for centuries before they crystallized into something resembling a “book.” The Talmud falls squarely into this category: scholars widely recognize that it developed through long oral transmission, gradual redaction, and later manuscript copying and printing that created the physical record we have now.

Mainstream scholarship places the Talmud’s compilation and redaction firmly in Late Antiquity, with completion around the 6th century CE. Encyclopaedia Britannica, for instance, notes that it was compiled up to this point, mentioning the amoraic and savoraic layers as part of that process. This timeline predates Islam by roughly a century, which means that anyone claiming the reverse—that the Talmud borrowed from the Quran—is not merely disagreeing with Jewish tradition but with the entire historical framework of Late Antique Judaism accepted by modern historians.

We also have the kind of external evidence historians value: testimonies from early Jewish communities that treat the Talmud as an established authority. The best-known example is the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon (c. 987 CE), which recounts the formation of the Mishnah and Talmud as received traditions in the Geonic academies—institutions that arose soon after the Talmud’s own redaction. Even if one doesn’t take every detail of Sherira’s account literally, it clearly shows that by the early Middle Ages, Jewish legal life across multiple regions already regarded the Talmud as an inherited foundational corpus. In other words, the idea that Jews created the Talmud under Islamic influence is historically backwards.

Another common rhetorical challenge is: “Show me a complete Talmud manuscript from the 600s, or it doesn’t count.” That’s not how ancient textual studies work. Fully intact manuscripts are rare luxuries—most texts survive through fragments, separate tractates, quotations, or later codices. Even for major works, the oldest complete copy can be many centuries younger than the text itself. The Munich 95 manuscript, for example, is a complete Talmud dated to 1342. That tells us only when that particular copy was made, not when the Talmud itself was composed.

What really matters is the network of evidence: earlier fragments, medieval Jewish communities across the Mediterranean transmitting tractates, and the distinct copying “families” that show the text had already circulated long enough to develop regional variations. Surveys of Talmud manuscripts consistently demonstrate evidence stretching back well before the printing age, including early medieval fragments—even if we don’t have a single “cover-to-cover” 7th-century volume. Demanding such a complete manuscript is simply a category error, like insisting that ancient history doesn’t count unless you have the author’s original signed hardback.

Could Jews have had true revelation in the Talmud (Wayh)?

There is theological inconsistency within Islamic categories of wahy (revelation), huda (guidance), and aql (reason).

1. What wahy means in Islam

Wahy (?????) is divine revelation — direct or mediated communication from Allah to His prophets. According to the Quran (16:43, 21:7) revelation is restricted to prophets:

“We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed (n??? ilayhim)”

Angels or dreams can transmit wahy, but never ordinary reasoning or communal tradition. The Quran claims all true divine knowledge, including scripture and wisdom, comes only through wahy (Surah 42:51):

“It is not fitting for any human that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration (wahy) or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger.”

So, within Islamic theology the truths of religion is wahy and wahy can only be given via a prophet.

2. Can truth exist outside wahy in Islam?

The short answer, no — not in a salvific or theological sense anyway.

Reason (?aql) in Islamic thought can recognize signs of God (fitra, natural intuition), but it cannot produce new revealed truth.
Classical theologians like al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyyah both affirm that ?aql supports wahy but never equals or replaces it. Al-Ghazali goes as far as to condemn those who try to reason and replace wahy as worthy of death since Allah is above the natural laws and logic.
Quran 2:213 says Allah sent prophets “with truth” because mankind “differed.” That means without revelation, humans stray.

3. The Fatrah and Hujjah problem

Islam holds that Jesus (Isa) was a prophet, Mohammad was the next prophet after him, and between them, there was a period of fatrah (“interval with no prophet”). This can be found in Sahih al-Bukhari 3442:

“I am the nearest of all the people to the son of Mary, and all the prophets are paternal brothers, and there has been no prophet between me and him (i.e. Jesus).”

Therefore, any “new truths” that arose among the Jews in that time cannot be revelation, by Islamic definition.

The Ahl al-Fatrah (People of the Interval) are those who lived during the time that there were no prophets on Earth. This is roughly the 600-year period between Jesus and Mohammad according to Muslim scholars. Since no prophet reached them, they cannot be judged by a revelation they never heard.

How Muslims understand this:

School	Typical View
Ash?ari / Maturidi (Sunni mainstream)	Such people are excused until a messenger reaches them (Q 17:15 – “We never punish until We have sent a messenger.”)
Ibn Taymiyya / Ibn Qayyim	They’ll be tested on Judgment Day; if they obey God’s command then, they enter Paradise.
Mu?tazili	Human reason alone can recognize God’s oneness, so denial of it still brings guilt even without a prophet.

This doctrine was created to deflect the question: “Why were there centuries without revelation?”

It asserts divine justice even in prophetic silence and makes people be judged based on their own Hujjah (“Proof / Evidence”). In theology and law, hujjah is the binding proof by which God holds humans accountable. A messenger or revelation establishes hujjah; without it, moral responsibility is incomplete and judgement couldn’t happen.

Surah 4:165 – “[Messengers were sent] so that people would have no hujjah against God after the messengers.”

Until a prophet delivers God’s message, no hujjah exists against that people — again reinforcing that divine punishment requires prior revelation.

From an Islamic-theological perspective:

The existence of Ahl al-Fatrah means Islam already acknowledges a prophetic silence after Jesus.
The concept of hujjah means no new divine proof reached people during that interval.
Therefore, if the Quran or Mohammad’s recitations show detailed knowledge of post-biblical Jewish material (like the Talmud), classical theology has to say one of two things:
1. That material was not revelation (just human stories) — so Mohammad’s knowledge of it came through ordinary means.
  Or
2. It somehow preserved divine truth from earlier prophets — which would complicate the doctrine of fatrah and hujjah by implying ongoing revelation without prophets.

Muslim theologians (Imams) typically choose (1): the rabbis were not prophets; their writings were human; revelation had indeed ceased until Mohammad. They do this to preserve the claim that Mohammad alone re-established divine revelation.

4. Were the Jews rightly guided according to Islam when the Talmud was written?

According to Islam, by the time the Talmud was being written and compiled, the Jews were already considered misguided and no longer on the path of true revelation.

Quran’s view of Jews post-Torah

The Quran constantly accuses Jews of altering scripture, following rabbis blindly, and corrupting revelation:

“So woe to those who write the Book with their own hands then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ to exchange it for a small price…” (Surah 2:79).

“They distort words from their proper usages…” (Surah 4:46).

These accusations clearly place rabbinic writings, like the Talmud, in the category of man-made, not divinely inspired. It is worth noting that these are from the Medinan period after Mohammad was already rejected and that Allah seems to affirm them in Surah 5:32.

No prophetic guidance after Jesus (Isa)

As we just covered, Islam teaches there were no prophets between Jesus and Mohammad. That means the rabbis who authored the Mishnah and Gemara (core of the Talmud) could not have been receiving divine guidance.

Prophet Mohammad’s statements about Jews
Sunan at-Tirmidhi Hadith 2954 has Mohammad saying:

“The Jews are those who Allah is wrath with, and the Christians have strayed.” (echoing Surah 1:7 the ghayr al-maghdubi ?alayhim often interpreted as Jews; ibn kathir, etc).

This shows that they knowingly rejected or distorted the truth. In Sahih Muslim 2669a (with similar accounts in Sahih al-Bukhari 7320 and Sunan Ibn Majah 3994):

Mohammad says: You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Allah’s Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians (by your words)” those before you”? He said: Who else (than those two religious groups)?

Surah 4:46; Surah 2:79; Surah 3:78; Surah 5:64; Surah 3:181, etc also show that the Quran thinks Jews are not rightly guided.

These statements show that Mohammad & the Quran treat Jewish religious leadership / community as having knowledge of earlier revelation but failing to implement or preserve it correctly. Then by Islamic standards, when the Talmud was being produced, the Jews were not rightly guided. They had no prophet, and their scholars were seen as corrupting God’s law rather than preserving revelation.

Thus the Quran contains ideas found in a body of literature (the Talmud) that Islam says came from a community already astray and outside prophetic guidance.

5. Possible outcomes from Islamic Logic

If the Quran contains detailed parallels or verbatim material from the Talmud (compiled roughly 200–500 AD — i.e., squarely in the fatrah), they’re left with four possibilities within Islamic theology:

Scenario	Consequence for Islamic theology
(A) The Talmud contains wahy (true revelation).	Contradicts 16:43, 21:7, 42:51 — because there was no prophet to receive it. That means Allah revealed after ?Isa but before Mohammad — breaking the fatrah doctrine.
(B) The Talmud is merely human reasoning.	Then how did later Quranic verses reproduce its content? If Mohammad quoted it, he’s echoing man-made reasoning, not divine revelation.
(C) The Jews preserved earlier Mosaic or prophetic truth orally.	Then Islam’s charge that Jews “corrupted or concealed” scripture (2:75, 2:79, 3:78, 5:13) is inconsistent; they would instead have transmitted genuine revelation.
(D) Allah allowed “some truths” to survive outside of revelation.	But that undermines the entire Quranic claim that guidance and knowledge come only through Allah’s direct sending of prophets and angels (e.g. 3:164, 62:2). It also contradicts the Islamic denial of independent human reasoning producing divine truths.

If Jews, while not ‘rightly guided’, independently generated Talmudic concepts later repeated in the Quran — it implies true theological content existed outside revelation.

That is impossible under Islamic ontology of truth.

6. The contradiction summarized

Islam says wahy only comes through prophets.
No prophet existed between Jesus and Mohammad.
The Talmud (written in that period) contains material found later in the Quran.
Therefore, either:
- the Jews somehow received revelation without a prophet (violates doctrine),
  Or
- Mohammad copied from man-made sources (violates the Quran’s claim of divine origin).

Either branch creates tension inside the Quranic framework.

How the Quran uses the Bible

There are 3 General categories of how the Quran uses the Bible:

It gets it right with no (or minimal) alterations
1. Zachariah and John the Baptist (Surah 19) – Luke 2
2. Announcement to Mary () – Luke
It gets it from the Talmud / Midrash / Targums
1. Abraham Smashing Idols
2. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
It gets it totally wrong by itself / Original Material
1. Mary and Mariam
2. Saul and Gideon
3. Haman and Pharaoh

How the Quran uses the Talmud

Accusations against Mohammad in Quran

The Quran constantly has Mohammad being accused of being a false prophet and just taking oral folklore and spinning it off as revelations from Allah. Relevant Quranic passages that create or acknowledge the accusation:

Q 16:103 — Quran records the accusation: “They say, ‘A human being teaches him.’” (defense that it’s ‘clear Arabic’).

Q 6:25, 8:31, 16:24, 23:83, 25:5, 27:68, 46:17, 68:15, 83:13 “These are nothing but fables of the ancients that he has had written down; they are dictated to him morning and evening.”

Q 21:5, 37:36, 52:33–34, 69:41–43 The Quran mentions accusations of fabrication, sorcery, or poetry.

They also show that the audience of Mohammad thought he was stealing from the Jews and Christians.

This brings up an obvious question, why did his audience accuse him of doing this so much if there is no truth to it? Let’s compare some passages from the Quran and from early Rabbinic Jewish sources.

In many cases, the Quranic wording mirrors rabbinic formulations more closely than it resembles Biblical Hebrew or Christian Gospel phrasing — indicating rabbinic (not biblical) influence. This is not vague moral overlap. This is the same story, in the same shape.

Most Common Books the Quran borrows from:

Sanhedrin (Babylon)
Midrash Rabbah (Jerusalem / Babylon)
Rosh Hashanah (Babylon)
Berakhot (Babylon)
Avodah Zarah (Babylon)

Mohammad was sincerely trying to copy from the Torah that he knew of. The only problem was that it was the wrong Torah.

Surah Al-Baqarah (2:41) – “And believe in what I have sent down confirming that which is [already] with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs for a small price, and fear [only] Me.”

Surah Al-Imran (3:3): “He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.”

Surah An-Nisa (4:47): “O you who were given the Scripture, believe in what We have sent down, confirming that which is with you, before We obliterate faces and turn them toward their backs or curse them as We cursed the sabbath-breakers. And ever is the decree of Allah accomplished.”

Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:46): “And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming what came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming what came before it of the Torah and as guidance and instruction for the righteous.”

[?? UNFINISHED WORK ??]

Layout of the following section:

Quran thinks Talmud is Scripture

Hadith

Tafsirs

What the Quran says about itself (exists before creation,

Similarities in content and style (magic letters, cognates, rhythms, names of Allah, plural names and words for God, Isnad chain)

Pillars of Islam

Mohammad’s prophethood and Revelation (Gabriel, doomsday/end times focused prophecy, Elijah vs gentile prophets)

Theology:

Judgement Day

Day of Judgement being ushered in via Trumpet (shofar) blasts (Rosh Hashanah 16b:12, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2)
Angels writing books of good deeds and bad deeds (Rosh Hashanah 16b:12-15, Chagigah 16a:17, Shabbat 119b:3, Kohelet Rabbah 12:14)
God using these books on judgement day on scales of justice (Rosh Hashanah 17a:3-8)
God tilts the scales artificially to make it easier for people to get into the Garden (Rosh Hashanah 17a:7-13)
Those who study / follow the Book will be saved (Avodah Zarah 2b)
Not enter into God’s presence as one group but as separate groups to be judged corporately but uniquely (Avodah Zarah 2a)
Idols as witnesses against Idolaters (Avodah Zarah 2a:6)
Those who deny the resurrection or who deny the Book (Torah/Quran) will go to Gehenna (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1)
Torah given to every people group to be judged by it (Avodah Zarah 2a)
Not a tyrant on the day of Judgement (Avodah Zarah 2a)
Test on judgement day for those who didn’t have the book (Avodah Zarah 3a)
Temporary hellfire punishments (Rosh Hashanah 17a:3-4, Avodah Zarah 2b)
Black faces for the people of Gehenna on Judgement day (Rosh Hashanah 17a:6-7)

Jannah

4 Rivers (2 Enoch 8-10)
Fruits in heaven (2 Enoch 8-10)
Garden of Eden being paradise (Eruvin 19a:5-10, Kallah Rabbati 2:1)
Garden of Eden being Heaven / not on Earth (Berakhot 16b)
Intercourse in the Garden of Eden (Berakhot 57b:10-14, Yevamot 63a:5, Bereshit Rabbah 18:6, Sanderin 38b:2)
Everyone born with two places. One in Paradise and one in Hell (Chagigah 16a)

Jahannam

Boiling Water / Fetid Water (Gittin 57a:2-4)
Eating “fruit” of a tree (Chagigah 12b:8, Avodah Zarah 3b:14)
the blaze

Resurrection (Sanhedrin 91a:4-5, Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1)

Sleep being Death (Bereshit Rabbah 17:5, Berakhot 60b:4-5)

Dreams being prophecy (Bereshit Rabbah 17:5, Berakhot 57b:10-14)

Jibril (Ascension of Isaiah 3:16, 7:23, 9:36, 11:4, 11:33, Yoma 21b:9)

Same 4 Arch angels

Jinn / Demons (Peschaim 109b-112a, Chagigah 16a:5-8, MANY more)

Iblis (Bava Barta 16a:8, Nedarim 32b:1, Sammael theology)

Quran / Torah

Created before the Universe (Bereshit Rabbah 8:2, Nedarim 39b)
Was used to create the universe (Bereshit Rabbah 1:1)
Contains all future events (Sanhedrin 38b:10)
Was given to all people groups in their language
Was delivered anew by successive prophets
Was given by Jibril (Yoma 77a:8, Sotah 36b:20, Menachot 29a:15)

Prophets

Sent to all nations
Prophecy was taken away but will return right before the End Times (Sotah 48b:6-8, Sanhedrin 11a:7, Tosefta Sotah 13:4, Bamidbar Rabbah 15:10)

Justice

Mercy

God having arbitrary Mercy (Deviram Rabbah 2:12, Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22)
Ar – Rahman (Rosh Hashanah 17b:5-7)
13 Attributes of Mercy (Rosh Hashanah 17b:5-7)

Qadar (Sotsh 2a:9, Pirkei Avot 3:15, Berakhot 33b:23, Rosh Hashanah 16b:12, Moed Katan 28a:13)

Sperm Drop (Niddah 16b:12)

Abrogation (Menachot 99b:1, Temurah 14b:5, Yevamot 89b:4-7)

Kaaba

Shirk (Sanhedrin 38a:13, Sanhedrin 63a:17, Sukkah 45b:7)

Kafir (Sanhedrin 90a:18)

Heretics

Apostate Laws (Sanhedrin 52b:10-12, Sanhedrin 67a:2-7)

Divine Council (Sanhedrin 38b:15)

God did not get weary from creating (Bereshit 10:9)

Stories:

Adam

Made androgynous with Eve (Bereshit Rabbah 8:1)
Super tall (Bereshit Rabbah 8:1, Sanhedrin 38b:8)
Naming Animals (Bereshit Rabbah 17:4)
Animals made in pairs (Bereshit Rabbah 17:4)
Angels rebuking God for making humans (Bereshit Rabbah 8:2-7, Sanhedrin 38b:5-6)
Iblis refusing to prostrate (Cave of Treasures 2:12-13, 22-25, 3:1-2)

Cain and Abel

Raven burying the dead (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 21:10, Tanchuma Bereshit 10:2, Bereshit Rabbah 22:8)

Noah

Preaching of Noah (Sanhedrin 108a:22)
Ham’s black skin and slavery (Sanhedrin 108b:15)
Flood waters boiling (Rosh Hashanah 12a:4, Sanhedrin 108b:3)

Abraham

Smashing Idols (Bereshit Rabbah 38:13)
Conversion from the stars (Book of Jubilees 12:16-22, Apocalypse of Abraham 4:5-6, 7:8-9)
Building the Kaaba

Lot

Sodom and Gomorrah sexual, abusing travelers, and doing immoral things in gatherings ala Surah 29:28-29 (Sanhedrin 109a:8-109b:9, Philo On Abraham 133-137, Josephus Antiquities of the Jews [Book 1, Chapter 11])

Job

Jacob

Knew Joseph was alive (Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22)
Sons enter through different gates (Bereshit Rabbah 91:6)

Joseph

Sold by Midianites (Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22)
Potiphar’s wife (Tanchuma Vayeshev 5:2, plus many others)
Joseph is sexy (Bereshit Rabbah 86:3, 87:3)

Moses

Mountain above Israel at Sinai (Avodah Zarah 2b:15)
The Cow (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 45:7-10)
Tablets of the Law (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 45:8)
Not suckled by Egpytians (Sotah 12b:19-20)
Moses saved in an “Ark” (Sotah 12b:4, 13)
Moses and the Fish (Song of Alexander recension 1, p. 26, II. 33-38; p.48-50, II. 182-192)
Moses and al Khidr (The spiritual meadow p. 220-222)

David

Solomon

Magic Ring (Gittin 68a:6-68b)
Flying Carpet
Controls Jinn (Gittin 68a:6-68b)
Has the Shamir (Gittin 68a:6-68b, Pirkei Avot 5:6)
Used the Jinn to make the temple (Gittin 68a:6-68b)
Body on Solomon’s throne (Gittin 68a:6-68b)
Queen of Sheba episode (Targum Sheni)

Korah’s wealth (Pesachim 119a:12)

Random beliefs:

Seven Heavens (Chagigah 12b:5)

Duration of Children Nursing (Ketubot 60a:4)

Embryology

Allah having two right hands (Shemot Rabbah 22:2, Shemot Rabbah 24:1, Tanchuma Shemot 18:2, Tanchuma Beshalach 15:3, Tanchuma Mishpatim 15:3, Tanchuma Ki Teizei 11)

Allah hates those who are wasteful (Shabbat 67b, Berakhot 52b:20)

Isa being Jesus

Messiah being a Spirit from God (Bereshit Rabbah 8:1)

Lote Tree

Be Ape (Sanhedrin 109a:1-5)

Even numbers bad (Pesachim 109b:4-5, Pesachim 110b:3)

Don’t enter into People’s houses (Niddah 16b:15-16)

Salt water and Fresh water mixing (Bereshit Rabbah 4:5)

God using plural pronouns and names (Sanhedrin 38b:13-15, Bereshit Rabbah 8:9)

Angels being around the Throne (Chagigah 12b:7)

Linking the name of God to something causes the earth to shake (Sanhedrin 63a:17, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 21, 33, Midrash Tehillim 18:8-9, Chagigah 12b, Sanhedrin 39a)

God keeps the sky from falling (Jacob of Sarugh 4:551, 3:96, 3:35)

Prophets being sinless (Shabbat 55b-56a)

Practices:

Shahada (Shema Israel, Berakhot 11b:16, Sahadutha)

Salah

3 Daily Prayers (Berakhot 26b:4, Devarim Rabbah 2)
Qibla (Berakhot 30a:1-14)
Prostration/Bowing (Megillah 22b:10-18, Yoma 66:11)
Ablution (Yoma 30a:6, Berakhot 15a:1-4, Berakhot 22a:13-19)
Clean Dirt (Berakhot 15a:4)
Zabiba (Menachot 36a:1, Rosh Hashanah 17a:10)

Zakat (Bava Barta 9a:12, Ketubot 50a:12)

Sawm (Yoma 81a, Festival fasting practices)

Hajj (Rosh Hashanah 16b:6, Chaigah 1:1-3)

Peeing /Pooping practices (Niddah 16b:15-16, plus many more)

Dressing practices

Halal food practices

4 Wives (Yevamot 44a:5, Yevamot 65a:7)

Temporary Marriage (Likely from the Persians/Pagans, Yevamot 37b:5-7)

Ramadan

Not revealing Sins of brothers

Masjid

Sex practices (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 21:7, Nedarim 20b:4-6, Bereshit Rabbah 18:5, Niddah 66a, Yevamot 34b:3-5)

Number of witnesses (Sanhedrin 9b:2)

Sages / Prophets being examples for people to follow

Other influences beyond the Talmud:

Pagan

Christian

Gnostic

Greek

Zoroastrian

Hebrew Cognates and Borrowed Theology

Din (Din) – Judgement

Iman (Aman) – Faith

Nabi (Navi) – Prophet

Rasul (Shaluach) – Messenger

Tawbah (Teshuvah) – Repentance

Taqwa (Yirat Elohim) – fear of God

Shari’ah (Torah) – Law

Ummah (Ummah) – people

Malak (Mal’akh) – Angel

Baraka (berakhah) – Blessing

‘Ilm (Da’at) – knowledge

‘Adl (Tzedek) – Judgement

Shaytan (Satan)

Jannah (Gan Eden)

Jahannam – Ge Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom)

Subhanallah (Sebachah) / Alhamdulilah (halleluyah)

Rabb al-Alamin (adon ha-olam)

Miqra / Quran (Qere) – recite

Mosque/Masjid (Masgid) – place of worship

There are many cognates between Arabic and Hebrew which isn’t necessarily a problem since it could just be grabbing it from the Bible. Which they are used in the same way the Bible does for many of them BUT there are ones used in ways which is only Talmudic and not from the Torah.

Magic Letters

The famous single letters at the start of Surahs, such as alif-lam-mim at the start of Baqarah, are universally explained by Muslims as being… unexplainable.

The individual letters in the beginning of some Surahs are among those things whose knowledge Allah has kept only for Himself.

-Ibn Kathir (Abridged)

Yet, these letter sequences are undeniably patterned after Talmudic mnemonic devices meant to support the memorization of specific object lessons. A great example can be found in the Passovers (Pesachim) tractate of the Babylonian Talmud. Pesachim demonstrates this mnemonic for memorizing specific object lessons:

Pesachim 119a:13 – Dalet, yod, alef, shin, alef, dalet, yod, shin, khaf, shin, dalet, khaf, mem, alef, vav, dalet, khaf is a mnemonic device for the following passage.

Pesachim 112b:11 – Parenthetically, the Gemara states that mem, kuf, shin is a mnemonic for the three statements, as it stands for mum, blemish, meka?, a purchase, and ishtekha, your wife. The first matter is: Do not inflict a blemish upon yourself.

Pesachim 68b:10 – And Rabbi Yehoshua holds that it is possible to fulfill both verses: Split the day into two, half of it for God and half of it for you. Ayin, beit, mem is a mnemonic consisting of the first letter of Atzeret, the middle letter of Shabbat and the final letter of Purim.

Just for some coverage of various tractates here is a list of them covering different topics, different authors, and different contexts. Yet they are all used in this same way as a mnemonic:

Sukkah 8b:4 – … The Sages taught: The booths represented by the mnemonic: Gimmel, nun, beit, kaf, which stands for a booth of gentiles [goyim], a booth of women [nashim], a booth of domesticated animals [behema], a booth of Samaritans [Kutim] …

Keritot 26a:12 – … The Gemara cites a mnemonic for these seven sins: Gimmel, gimmel, gimmel, shin, shin, lamed, tzadi. …

Chullin 5b:7 – The Gemara revisits the matter of slaughter by a Samaritan and cites a mnemonic for the names of the Sages that follow: Nun, for ?anan; kuf, for Ya’akov; lamed, for ben Levi; and peh, for bar Kappara.

Menachot 19a:11 – … the Gemara presents a mnemonic for the questions that follow: Nun, tav, tzadi; yod, kuf, mem, lamed. …

Zevachim 5b:7 – … The Gemara provides a mnemonic for the amora’im who participated in the two following discussions: Heh, nun, shin; beit, shin, reish …

Avodah Zarah 36b:12 – … He bears liability for four prohibitions represented by the mnemonic: Nun, shin, gimmel, zayin, which stands for: Menstruating woman [nidda], maidservant [shif?a], gentile [goya], and prostitute [zona]. …

Makkot 18b:3 – … Before proceeding, the Gemara provides a mnemonic for these statements: Kaf, vav, zayin, alef. …

Sanhedrin 27a:7 – … They are: In the cases represented by the mnemonic yod, ayin, lamed, kuf, gimmel, mem: Unknown despair [ye’ush]; conspiring witnesses [eidim] who are disqualified retroactively; a side post [le?i] standing alone; betrothal [kiddushin] that is not given to consummation; revealing intent with a bill of divorce [get]; and an apostate [mumar] who sins rebelliously.

Sanhedrin 6b:1-2 – Once the verdict of the judgment has been issued, it is not permitted for you to mediate a dispute. The Gemara presents a mnemonic device alluding to the names of tanna’im in the coming discussion: Samekh, reish, mem, shin; beit, nun, kuf, shin.

Bava Batra 41a:6 – The Gemara presents a mnemonic for the discussion that follows: Ayin, nun, bet.

Bava Metzia 21b:5 – … provides a mnemonic representing those proofs: Peh, mem, gimmel, shin; mem, mem, kuf, gimmel, tet, yod; kaf, kaf, samekh, ayin, zayin. …

Bava Kamma 73a:4 – … They are: In the cases represented by the mnemonic yod-ayin-lamed kuf-gimmel-mem …

Kiddushin 52a:4 – … as represented by the mnemonic yod, ayin, lamed, kuf, gimmel, mem …

Gittin 8a:10 – … The Gemara inserts a mnemonic device for the ways in which Syria is different than Eretz Yisrael and is similar to Eretz Yisrael: Ayin beit, beit reish, reish kuf. …

Nedarim 20b:8 – … The mnemonic for these nine traits is children of the acronym aleph, samekh, nun, tav, mem, shin, gimmel, ayin, ?et.

Ketubot 53b:8 – … The Gemara states a mnemonic device for the men, i.e., the Sages, who appear in the following discussion: Shin, kuf, zayin, reish, peh. …

Yevamot 74b:14 … It is reasonable to say that sacrificial food is subject to the more stringent condition, as it is already subject to many stringent elements represented by the acronym, peh, nun, kuf, ayin, kaf, samekh, which is a mnemonic for the following stringencies that apply to sacrificial food …

Moed Katan 24a:5 – … Shmuel offered a mnemonic device with regard to the observance of mourning rites on Shabbat, and said: Peh, ?et, zayin are obligatory. These letters combine to create a mnemonic standing for: Uncovering the head [periat rosh], reversing the torn garment [?azarat kera], and standing the bed upright [zekifat hamitta]. However, nun, tav, reish, which stand for: Wearing shoes [ne’ilat hasandal], marital relations [tashmish hamitta], and hand washing [re?itzat yadayim], are optional. …

Megillah 25a:18 – … The Hebrew acronym bet, lamed, tav; ayin, kuf, nun; nun, shin, peh, heh comprise a mnemonic for the sections included in this category, …

Rosh Hashanah 31a:9 – … They would recite in accordance with the mnemonic hei, zayin, yod, vav, lamed, kaf. …

Eruvin 97a:2 – … Shin, yod, tzadi, yod, ayin, tzadi, beit, yod is a mnemonic for the statements that follow. …

Shabbat 25a:6 – … Their Hebrew acronym is peh, nun, kuf, ayin, kaf, samekh, which is a mnemonic for the following terms. …

Tractate Soferim 12:8 – … For the Song of Ha’azinu not less than six persons are to be called up, and your mnemonic sign is h z y w l k, which stands for ha’azinu, zekor, yarkibehu, wayyishman, lu, ki yadin … ‘ammo. …

The Muqatta??t as Borrowed Rabbinic Mnemonics

One of the most striking literary features of the Qur’an is the appearance of the so-called hur?f al-muqa??a??t—combinations of one to five Arabic letters such as Alif-Lam-M?m, ??-H?, ??-M?m, which open 29 chapters of the Qur’an.¹ These seemingly cryptic letter-strings appear just after the basmala at the start of their respective surahs.² Classical Islamic commentary offers interpretations that these are codes, divine names, or oaths of God, but they also bear a striking similarity to the mnemonic devices used in rabbinic literature.³

In the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, as well as other rabbinic compilations, one finds acronyms and letter-based “signs” (simanim) employed to index and recall complex legal, narrative or exegetical units.? For example, the Talmud states: *“Make yourself simanim in the Torah and thereby acquire it.”*? The Jewish Encyclopedia describes how these mnemonic devices were formed from initial letters of keywords, to assist memorization in textual-oral traditions.? The technique could manifest as the initial letters of a list of teachings, names, or halakhot—e.g. an acronym of the ten plagues (??”? ??”? ???”?) in Hebrew.?

When we compare these rabbinic practices with the Qur’an’s muqatta??t, the parallels are compelling. The disjoined letters in the Qur’an appear at section heads, much like rabbinic mnemonics precede new halakhic or narrative units; they are composed of letters that do not themselves form a word in Arabic, and yet they perhaps serve as signals to the listener/reciter that “here begins a new thematic unit.” Moreover, a thematic classification of the surahs with these initials shows that the letters are not scattered at random, but cluster in groups that share content and tone (e.g. law-/revelation-surahs, narrative-surahs, sovereignty-surahs). This suggests that the muqatta??t may function as mnemonic category headings, rather than purely decorative or mystical signs.

From the historical vantage point, this correspondence is more than a coincidence. By the 6th and early 7th centuries CE the rabbinic academies of Babylonia and Palestine had long used letter-based mnemonic patterns in teaching, transmission, and codification of oral traditions.? The Arabian milieu in which the Qur’an emerged was not insulated from Jewish intellectual influence; Jewish communities in Arabia and the Near East employed such mnemonic forms, and it is plausible that Arabic-speaking reciters familiar with the rabbinic mnemonic tradition adapted the form when producing or transmitting Qur’anic revelation. In other words, the structure of the muqatta??t may reflect an inherited pedagogical device – transplanted into an Arabic prophetic corpus – rather than an entirely novel phenomenon.

Thus, the muqatta??t can be read as literary fossils of a rabbinic mnemonic tradition. In the Jewish context these letter-strings signalled lists of topics, halakhic categories or narrative units; in the Qur’anic context, they mark thematic clusters of revelation (such as law, narrative, prophecy, sovereignty) and perhaps aided memorization, delineation, and recitation of the text. That the Qur’an repurposed this device supports the broader thesis that early Qur’anic structure borrowed from late-antique Jewish scholastic forms. The simplest explanation for the presence of muqatta??t is therefore that the Qur’an adopted and adapted a memorization-and-organization technology inherited from the rabbinic world.

Footnotes

See “Muqatta?at (disconnected letters)” entry, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqatta%CA%BFat.
“The Qur’anic term hur?f al-muqa??a??t is used for certain Arabic letters that are found at the beginning of several chapters … There are thirteen different sets …” IslamicCenter.org, “Meaning of Qur’anic letters – huruf al-muqatta’at.” https://islamiccenter.org/meaning-of-quranic-letters-huruf-al-muqattaat.
Cf. same source; and Tajweed.us “Lesson 11: Al-Huroof Al-Muqatta’at.” https://tajweed.us/lesson/lesson-11-al-huroof-al-muqattaat/.
Elvira Martín-Contreras, “Two Atypical Rabbinic Mnemonic Signs Similar to Masoretic Mnemonics,” Henoch 42 (2020), pp. 137-152.
“Shabbat 25a-b: Mnemonic Devices in the Talmud,” Steinsaltz.org. https://steinsaltz.org/daf/shabbat25/.
“Mnemonics – JewishEncyclopedia.com” https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10897-mnemonics.
“Mnemonics or Memora Technica,” Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mnemonics-or-memora-technica.
“The Space of Rabbinic and Greco-Roman Mnemonics,” Avi Klein, Academia.edu (2018). https://www.academia.edu/35138630/Forget_the_Landscape_The_Space_of_Rabbinc_and_Greco_Roman_Mnemonics.

PILLARS OF ISLAM

Shahada

The most obvious parallel to the Islamic Shahada is the Shema Israel:

Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. – Deuteronomy 6:4

Recited twice daily

?????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ????? <-

-> Shma? Yisr???l Adon?i Eloh?nu Adon?i E??d.

Arabic Ahad means “one and only” akin to Yachid. Medieval Jews developed a theological framework around the Yachid of Ellah. The Shema belongs to a standard formula that is commonly recited and easily collected by The Ear.

The Arabic comes from the Aramaic Sahadutha (Genesis 31:47 ????????????).

Salah: 3 Daily Prayers

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 24:58 – O you who believe, let your slaves, and those of you who have not come to puberty, ask permission of you at three times, before the dawn prayer, and when you lay aside your clothing for the heat of noon, and after the night prayer. Three times of privacy for you. …

Berakhot 26b:4 – It was stated: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi ?anina, said: The practice of praying three times daily is ancient, albeit not in its present form; prayers were instituted by the Patriarchs. … Abraham instituted the morning prayer … Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer … Jacob instituted the evening prayer …

Devarim Rabbah 2 – So taught our Sages: If one was standing and praying, may he, perhaps, make his voice heard? Hannah already articulated this: “Hannah, she was speaking in her heart” (I Samuel 1:13). May he, perhaps, recite all three as one? This was already articulated in Daniel: “And three times a day he knelt on his knees, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God” … “Evening and morning and noon, I speak and cry aloud … this is praise of the Holy One blessed be He; “and prayer” – for a person’s needs (Du’a).

Salah: Facing Jerusalem for Prayer (Qibla)

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 2:144

We have seen the turning of your face to heaven. And now indeed we will

make you turn toward a qibla that is dear to you. So turn your face toward

the sacred mosque, and you, wherever you may be, turn your faces toward it.

Indeed, those who have received the book know this is the truth from their

Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what they do.

Sunan an-Nasa’i 3499

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas with regard to Allah’s saying: … “The first thing that was abrogated in the Qur’an was the Qiblah.”

Berakhot 30a:1-14

The mishna mentioned both a brief prayer recited in times of danger … he pray while riding, focusing his heart toward Jerusalem and the Holy of Holies … One who was riding on a donkey and the time for prayer arrived, if he has someone to hold onto the donkey, he should dismount and pray … A blind person and one who is unable to approximate the directions and, therefore, is unable to face Jerusalem in order to pray, may focus his heart towards his Father in Heaven … In either case, it is preferable to recite Shema and then pray …

Salah: Prostration in Prayer

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah Al-Hajj 22:77

“O you who have believed, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord and do good – that you may succeed”.

Surah Al-Alaq 96:19

“…But prostrate and draw near [to Allah]”.

Surah Al-A’raf 7:206

“Indeed, those who are near your Lord are not prevented by arrogance from His worship, and they exalt Him, and to Him they prostrate”.

Surah Al-Najm 53:62

“So, prostrate to Allah and worship [Him]”.

Yoma 66:11

…as it is written in the Torah of Moses Your servant, saying: “For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; before the Lord you shall be purified” (Leviticus 16:30). And the priests and the people standing in the Temple courtyard, when they would hear the Explicit Name emerging from the mouth of the High Priest, when the High Priest did not use one of the substitute names for God, they would kneel and prostrate themselves and fall on their faces, and say: Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.

Megillah 22b:10-18

… He stood and read from a Torah scroll. When he began to read, he recited a blessing, but when he concluded, he did not recite a blessing. Everyone else fell on their faces…

Salah: Ablution in Prayer

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 4:43

O you who believe, do not draw near to prayer when you are drunk, until you know what you are saying, nor when you are unclean, except when you are traveling on the road, until you have bathed. And if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you has just relieved himself, or you have had contact with women, and you find no water, then go to clean high ground and rub your faces and your hands. Indeed, Allah is benign, forgiving.

Berakhot 15a:1-4

Rabbi ?iyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yo?anan said: Anyone who relieves himself, washes his hands, dons phylacteries, recites Shema, and prays, the verse ascribes credit to him as if he built an altar and offered a sacrifice upon it, as it is written: “I will wash in purity my hands, and I will encircle the altar of the Lord” (Psalms 26:6). Rava said to him: Do you not maintain, Master, that one who does so, it is as if he immersed his entire body, as it is written: “I will wash in purity,” and it is not written: “I will wash my hands”? Ravina said to Rava: My Master, look at this Torah scholar [tzurva merabbanan] who came from Eretz Yisrael and said something astonishing: One who has no water with which to wash his hands, it is sufficient that he wipes his hands with earth, a rock, or a sliver of wood (tayammum).

Berakhot 22a:14-19

Yoma 30a:6

A person does not enter the Temple courtyard for the Temple service, even if he is pure, until he immerses. Five immersions and ten sanctifications the High Priest immerses and sanctifies his hands and feet, respectively, on the day of Yom Kippur.

Ablution is done for the same reasons in the Talmud. You must use pure (Tahor-Hebrew, Arabic-Tahur/Tahir) water must be used to wash the hands, feet, and full body (in case of priests). Jesus didn’t approve of this tradition. So, Muslims are affirming something Jesus outright denies since they are taking the Talmudic stance on it.

Salah: Zabiba

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 48:29

… You see them bowing and falling prostrate, seeking bounty from Allah and acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. That is their comparison in the Torah …

Menachot 36a:1

Rav ?isda says: If one spoke between donning the phylacteries of the arm and the phylacteries of the head, he must recite the blessing again when donning the phylacteries of the head.

Rosh Hashanah 17a:10

The Gemara asks: The rebellious Jews who have sinned with their bodies, who are they? Rav said: This is referring to the skull that did not ever don phylacteries.

Zakat

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:83

And when we made a covenant with the children of Israel, Worship no one except Allah, and be good to your parents and relatives and to orphans and the needy, and speak kindly to mankind, and establish prayer and give alms. Then, after that, you turned back, except for a few of you, as you are backsliders.

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:263-274

Bava Barta 9a:12
Rav Asi says: A person should never prevent himself from giving at least one-third of a shekel a year in charity, as it is stated: “And we also established mitzvot upon ourselves, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the House of our God” (Nehemiah 10:33). And Rav Asi says: Charity is equivalent to all the other mitzvot combined, as it is stated in that verse: “We also established mitzvot upon ourselves.” A mitzva is not written here, but rather mitzvot, in the plural, thereby teaching that this mitzva is equivalent to all the other mitzvot.

Ketubot 50a:12

Rabbi Ile’a said: In Usha the Sages instituted that one who dispenses his money to charity should not dispense more than one-fifth.

Zakat comes thematically (and phonetically) from tzedakah ???? – charity.

Sawm

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:183-187

183 O you who believe, fasting is required for you, even as it was required for those before you, that you may fear Allah, 184 A certain number of days, and he who is sick among you, or on a journey, a number of other days, and for those who can afford it there is a ransom, the feeding of a poor man, but whoever does good of his own accord, it is better for him, and it is better for you, if only you knew

185 The month of Ramadan, in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the furqan. And whoever among you is present, let him fast the month, and whoever of you is sick or on a journey, a number of other days. Allah desires ease for you, he does not desire hardship for you, and that you should complete the period, and that you should glorify Allah for having guided you, and that perhaps you may be thankful. …

Yoma 81a

Reish Lakish said: Why is there no warning stated about affliction; why did the Torah not state explicitly that it is prohibited to eat and drink on Yom Kippur? It is because it was not possible to write it that way. The Gemara explains: How could the Merciful One write it? Let the Merciful One write: One shall not eat on Yom Kippur. The term eat prohibits eating the amount of an olive-bulk, whereas on Yom Kippur the actual prohibited measure is a large date-bulk. Let the Merciful One write: Do not be afflicted. That indicates the opposite of affliction, and would mean: Get up and eat. Therefore, it is written: “For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted on that same day, he shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 23:29).

Sawm comes thematically (and phonetically) from??? tzom — fast, to abstain.

Hajj

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 2:197

The pilgrimage is the well-known months, and whoever has decided to perform the pilgrimage in them, there is no lewdness nor abuse nor angry conversation on the pilgrimage. And whatever good you do, Allah knows it. So make provision for yourselves, for the best provision is to fear Allah. Therefore keep your duty to me, O men of understanding.

Surah 22:27

And proclaim to mankind the pilgrimage. …

Rosh Hashanah 16b:6

Rabbi Yitz?ak said: A person’s sentence is torn up on account of four types of actions. These are: Giving charity, crying out in prayer, a change of one’s name, and a change of one’s deeds for the better. An allusion may be found in Scripture for all of them: … And some say: Also, a change of one’s place of residence cancels an evil judgment, …

Hajj, like the others, comes both thematically and phonetically from ?? chag — festival pilgrimage

There are three festivals that Jews are required to do a pilgrimage for: Passover (Pesach), Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Chagigah 1:1–3: defines the ‘aliyah la-regel – the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

THEOLOGY

Judgement Day: Being Ushered in via Trumpet Blast

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Judgment Day: Angels writing books of good and bad deeds

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 50:17-20

17 When the two receivers receive, seated on the right hand and on the left, 18 He utters no word except that there is with him a ready observer. 19 And the agony of death comes in truth. This is what you were inclined to avoid. 20 And the trumpet is blown. This is the threatened day.

Rosh Hashanah 16b:12-15

The Gemara goes back to discuss the Day of Judgment. Rabbi Kruspedai said that Rabbi Yo?anan said: Three books are opened on Rosh HaShana before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly wicked people, and one of wholly righteous people, and one of middling people whose good and bad deeds are equally balanced. Wholly righteous people are immediately written and sealed for life; wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death; and middling people are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh HaShana until Yom Kippur, their fate remaining undecided. If they merit, through the good deeds and mitzvot that they perform during this period, they are written for life; if they do not so merit, they are written for death. … Middling people will descend to Gehenna to be cleansed and to achieve atonement for their sins, …

Chagigah 16a:17

Rabbi Zerika said: The two ministering angels who accompany him, i.e., each individual, they testify against him, as it is stated: “For He will command His angels over you, to guard you in all your ways”

Shabbat 119b:3

Rav ?isda said that Mar Ukva said: One who prays on Shabbat evening and recites vaykhullu, the two ministering angels who accompany the person at all times place their hands on his head and say to him: “And your iniquity has passed, and your sin has been atoned” (Isaiah 6:7). It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yosei bar Yehuda says: Two ministering angels accompany a person on Shabbat evening from the synagogue to his home, one good angel and one evil angel. And when he reaches his home and finds a lamp burning and a table set and his bed made, the good angel says: May it be Your will that it shall be like this for another Shabbat. And the evil angel answers against his will: Amen. And if the person’s home is not prepared for Shabbat in that manner, the evil angel says: May it be Your will that it shall be so for another Shabbat, and the good angel answers against his will: Amen.

Kohelet Rabbah 12:14

Even matters that do not have substance or sin are written for Him in His ledger. Who writes them? “He who renders dawn, darkness … [the Lord, God of hosts, is His name]” (Amos 4:13)

Judgement Day: Scales of justice

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 101:6-11

6 Then, as for him whose scales are heavy, 7 He will live a pleasant life. 8 But as for him whose scales are light, 9 His mother will be hawiya (childless) 10 And what will convey to you what it is? 11 Raging fire.

Surah 7:8-9 – 8 The weighing on that day is true. As for those whose scale is heavy, they are the successful. 9 And as for those whose scale is light, they are the ones who lose their souls because they used to wrong our signs.

Sunan Abi Dawud 4799 – The Prophet said: There is nothing heavier than good character put in the scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection.

Ibn Kathir on Surah 7

As for what will be placed on the Balance on the Day of Resurrection, it has been said that the deeds will be placed on it, even though they are not material objects. Allah will give these deeds physical weight on the Day of Resurrection.

Surah 39:35

That Allah will remit from them the worst of what they did, and will pay them as reward the best of what they used to do.

Rosh Hashanah 17a:7-8

It stated that Beit Hillel say: He Who is “and abundant in kindness” (Exodus 34:6) tilts the scales in favor of kindness, so that middling people will not have to pass through Gehenna. The Gemara asks: But isn’t it written: “And I will bring the third part through the fire” (Zechariah 13:9), implying that there is a third group, which is sent to Gehenna temporarily? The Gemara answers: There, the verse is referring to the rebellious Jews who have sinned with their bodies. The Gemara asks: Can the verse be referring to the rebellious Jews who have sinned with their bodies? But didn’t you say that they have no rectification? The Gemara responds: When do they have no rectification? When in addition to their having sinned with their bodies, the majority of their actions are sins. But here, the verse is referring to people for whom half of their actions are sins and half are meritorious deeds, and those sins include the sin of the rebellious Jews who sin with their bodies. It is not sufficient that they not be subject to the verse: “And I will bring the third part through the fire.” However, if their sins and meritorious deeds are equally balanced, and they did not sin with their bodies, He Who is “abundant in kindness” tilts the scales in favor of kindness.

Rosh Hashanah 17a:12-13

It was taught in the baraita: Beit Hillel say: He who is “and abundant in kindness” (Exodus 34:6) tilts the scales in favor of kindness, so that middling people will not have to pass through Gehenna. The Gemara asks: How does He do this? Rabbi Eliezer says: He pushes down on the side of the merits, tipping the scale in their favor, as it is stated: “He will again have compassion upon us; He will push down our iniquities” (Micah 7:19). Rabbi Yosei bar ?anina said: He bears, i.e., raises, the side of the sins, as it is stated: “He bears [noseh] sin and forgives transgression” (Micah 7:18). A Sage from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught in a baraita: He overlooks each and every first transgression, and that is the attribute of mercy, that God forgives one’s first sin, and therefore He tips the scale in favor of the merits. Rava said: But that sin itself, which God overlooks, is not completely erased; if the individual’s actions are still mostly sins, God counts the overlooked sin with them and metes out punishment accordingly.

Judgement Day: Those who study the Book will be saved

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Judgement Day: Entering before God as separate groups

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Avodah Zarah 2a:7-3a

Rabbi ?anina bar Pappa taught, and some say that it was Rabbi Simlai who taught: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring a Torah scroll and place it in His lap and say: Anyone who engaged in its study should come and take his reward. … Immediately, the nations of the world will gather together and come intermingled with each other, as it is stated: “All the nations are gathered together and let the peoples be assembled.” The Holy One, Blessed be He, will say to them: Do not enter before Me intermingled; rather, let each and every nation enter … with their scholars, as it is stated: “And let the peoples [le’umim] be assembled” (Isaiah 43:9); and the term le’om means nothing other than kingdom, as it is stated: “And the one kingdom [ule’om] shall be stronger than the other kingdom [mile’om]” (Genesis 25:23). The Gemara asks: But is it possible for there to be intermingling before the Holy One, Blessed be He, that it should be necessary for each nation to stand and be addressed separately? Rather, the nations are instructed to stand separately so that they will not become intermingled with each other in order that they will each hear what He says to them.

Judgement Day: Idols as witnesses against Idolaters

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Surah 46:5-6

5 And who is further astray than those who, instead of Allah, pray to those who do not hear their prayer until the day of resurrection, and are unconscious of their prayer, 6 And when mankind is gathered will become enemies for them, and will become deniers of having been worshipped.

Surah 6:22-24

22 And on the day we gather them together, we will say to those who ascribed partners, Where are those you claimed to be partners? 23 Then will they have no excuse except that they will say, By Allah, our Lord, we never were idolaters. 24 See how they lie against themselves, and the thing they devised has failed them.

Surah 10:28

On the day when we gather them all together, then we say to those who ascribed partners, Stand back, you and your partners. And we separate them, the one from the other, and their partners say, It was not us you worshipped.

Surah 29:25

He said, You have chosen only idols instead of Allah. The love between you is only in the life of this world. Then on the day of resurrection, you will deny each other and curse each other, and your dwelling will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers

Avodah Zarah 2a:6

Rather, Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: The one who says that the correct word is eideihen with an ayin derived this use of the term from here: “They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit; and their own witnesses [eideihem] see not, nor know” (Isaiah 44:9). This demonstrates that the objects of idol worship will serve as witnesses against their worshippers.

Judgement Day: Those who deny the resurrection or who deny the book will go to Gehenna

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Judgement Day: Torah given to every people group to be judged by

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The nations will say before God: Master of the Universe, did You give us the Torah and we did not accept it? Since we never received the Torah, why are we being judged for not fulfilling its mitzvot? The Gemara asks: And can one say that they were never offered the Torah? But isn’t it written in the description of the giving of the Torah: “And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them” (Deuteronomy 33:2), and it is written: “God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran” (Habakkuk 3:3). And the Sages asked: What did God require in Seir and what did He require in Paran? The Torah was not given in those locations.

And Rabbi Yo?anan says: This teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, took the Torah around to every nation and those who speak every language, such as the Edomites in Seir and the Ishmaelites in Paran, but they did not accept it, until He came to the Jewish people and they accepted it. If the other nations all rejected the Torah, how can they excuse themselves by claiming that it was never offered to them?

Rather, this is what they say: Did we accept the Torah and then not fulfill its mitzvot? The Gemara asks: But this itself serves as the refutation of their own claim, as one can respond: Why didn’t you accept it? Rather, this is what the nations of the world say before Him: Master of the Universe, did You overturn the mountain above us like a basin, and we still did not accept the Torah, as You did for the Jewish people?

Judgement Day: God not being a tyrant

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The Gemara explains: But even so, God gave the nations an opportunity to perform a mitzva, as The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not deal tyrannically [beteruneya] with His creations, but wants them to feel that they have been judged fairly. The Gemara asks: And why does God call the mitzva of sukka an easy mitzva to fulfill? Because performing the mitzva involves no monetary loss.

Judgement Day: Test for those who didn’t receive the Book

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Instead, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says to the nations: Let the witnesses come from among you and testify that the Jewish people fulfilled the Torah in its entirety. Let Nimrod come and testify about Abraham that he did not engage in idol worship. Let Laban come and testify about Jacob that he is not suspect with regard to robbery (see Genesis 31:36–42). Let the wife of Potiphar come and testify about Joseph that he is not suspect with regard to the sin of adultery (see Genesis 39:7–12).

The gentiles say before Him: Master of the Universe, give us the Torah afresh and we will perform its mitzvot. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says to them in response: Fools of the world! Do you think you can request this? One who takes pains on Shabbat eve will eat on Shabbat, but one who did not take pains on Shabbat eve, from where will he eat on Shabbat? The opportunity for performing mitzvot has already passed, and it is now too late to ask to perform them. But even so, I have an easy mitzva to fulfill, and its name is sukka; go and perform it.

The Gemara asks: And how can you say so, that it is possible to perform a mitzva after the end of this world? But doesn’t Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi say: What is the meaning of that which is written: “You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them” (Deuteronomy 7:11)? This verse teaches that today, in this world, is the time to do them, but tomorrow, in the World-to-Come, is not the time to do them. Furthermore, today is the time to do them, but today is not the time to receive one’s reward, which is granted in the World-to-Come.

Immediately, each and every gentile will take materials and go and construct a sukka on top of his roof. And the Holy One, Blessed be He, will set upon them the heat [makdir] of the sun in the season of Tammuz, i.e., the summer, and each and every one who is sitting in his sukka will be unable to stand the heat, and he will kick his sukka and leave, as it is stated: “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalms 2:3). The Gemara asks: Why does God heat the sun over them? But didn’t you say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not deal tyrannically with His creations? The Gemara answers: This is not considered dealing tyrannically with the gentiles, because for the Jewish people as well, there are times when the season of Tammuz extends until the festival of Sukkot, and in such years sitting in the sukka causes them suffering.

Judgement Day: Black faces of unbelievers

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Surah 39:60

And on the day of resurrection, you see those who lied about Allah with their faces blackened. Isn’t Gehenna the home of the scorners?

Rosh Hashanah 17a:6-7

Rabbi Yitz?ak bar Avin said: And their faces on the Day of Judgment will be black and sooty like the bottom of a pot. … and they shall be called the people of Gehenna.

Judgement Day: Temporary hellfire punishment

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Surah 2:80

And they say, The fire will not touch us except for a certain number of days. Say, Have you received a covenant from Allah? Indeed Allah will not break his covenant. Or are you talking about something you do not know about?

Rosh Hashanah 17a:3-4

The rebellious Jews who have sinned with their bodies and also the rebellious people of the nations of the world who have sinned with their bodies descend to Gehenna and are judged there for twelve months. After twelve months, their bodies are consumed, their souls are burned, and a wind scatters them under the soles of the feet of the righteous, as it is stated: “And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 3:21). But the heretics; and the informers; and the apostates [apikorsim]; and those who denied the Torah; and those who denied the resurrection of the dead; and those who separated from the ways of the Jewish community and refused to share the suffering; and those who cast their fear over the land of the living; and those who sinned and caused the masses to sin, for example, Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and his company; all of these people descend to Gehenna and are judged there for generations and generations

Does the bible say anywhere the Hellfire will only touch Jews for a certain period of time? Why does the Quran know about this passage if it’s only a continuation of previous scripture.

Garden of Eden: Eden not being on Earth

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Surah 2:35-38

And we said, O Adam, live in the garden, you and your wife, and eat freely of whatever you wish, but do not come near this tree or you will both become wrongdoers. 36 But Satan caused them to turn away from there and got them out of the state they were in, and we said, Go down, one of you an enemy to the other. There will be for you on earth a place to live and provision for a while. 37 Then Adam received words from his Lord, and he forgave him. Indeed, he is the forgiving, the merciful. 38 We said, Go down, all of you, from here, but indeed there is coming to you some guidance from me, and whoever follows my guidance, no fear will come upon them, nor will they grieve.

Surah 3:14-17

Seemly unto men is a life of lusts, of women, and children, and hoarded talents of gold and silver, and of horses well-bred, and cattle, and tilth;- that is the provision for the life of this world; but God, with Him is the best resort. Say, ‘But shall we tell you of a better thing than this?’ For those who fear are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow; they shall dwell therein for aye, and pure wives and grace from God; the Lord looks on His servants, who say, ‘Lord, we believe, pardon Thou our sins and keep us from the torment of the fire, ‘the patient, the truthful, the devout, and those who ask for pardon at the dawn.

Eruvin 19a:5-10

…say before Him: Master of the Universe, You have judged properly, You have acquitted properly, You have condemned properly, and it is befitting that You have prepared Gehenna for the wicked and the Garden of Eden for the righteous…So too, it is reasonable to say this…With regard to the sinners of the Jewish people, the fire of Gehenna has no power over them, as may be learned by a fortiori reasoning from the golden altar… the entrance to the Garden of Eden. Reish Lakish said: If it is in Eretz Yisrael, its entrance is Beit She’an, and if it is in Arabia, its entrance is Beit Garem …

Kallah Rabbati 2:1

Rabbai Judah said: The bold-faced are [destined] to Gehinnom and the shamefaced to the Garden of Eden …

Berakhot 16b:17-18

And if one does so, recites Shema and prays, the verse says about him: “As with fat and marrow, my soul will be satisfied” (Psalms 63:6). And not only does he receive this reward, but he inherits two worlds, this world and the World-to-Come,… May it be Your will… to dwell in our lot love and brotherhood, peace and friendship. And may You make our borders rich in disciples and cause us to ultimately succeed, that we will have a good end and hope. And may You set our portion in the Garden of Eden, and may You establish for us a good companion and a good inclination in Your world. And may we rise early and find the aspiration of our hearts to fear Your name, and may the satisfaction of our souls come before You, i.e., may You hear our prayers…

Garden of Eden: 4 Rivers

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Surah 47:15

A comparison of the garden which those who keep their duty are promised, in it are rivers of fresh water, and rivers of milk of which the flavor does not change, and rivers of wine that is delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of pure honey. There is every kind of fruit in it for them, with forgiveness from their Lord. Is this like those who live forever in the fire and are given boiling water to drink so that it tears their bowels?

2 Enoch 8-10

And those men took me from there, and they brought me up to the third heaven, and set me down |there|. Then I looked downward, and I saw Paradise. And that place is inconceivably pleasant. … And it covers the whole of Paradise. And it has something of every orchard tree and of every fruit. And its root is in Paradise at the exit that leads to the earth.

And paradise is in between the corruptible and the incorruptible. And two streams come forth, one a source of honey and milk, and a source which produces oil and wine. And it is divided into 4 parts, and they go around with a quiet movement. And they come out into the paradise of Edem … This place, Enoch, has been prepared for the righteous … for them this place has been prepared as an eternal inheritance.

The Apocalypse of Paul 23

And the angel answered and said unto me: Follow me, and I will bring thee into the city of Christ. And he stood by (upon) the lake Acherusa, and set me in a golden ship,[14] and angels as it were three thousand sang an hymn before me until I came even unto the city of Christ. And they that dwelt in the city of Christ rejoiced greatly over me as I came unto them, and I entered in and saw the city of Christ. And it was all of gold, and twelve walls compassed it about, and there were twelve towers within (a tower on each wall, Copt.; 12,000 towers, Syr.), and every wall had a furlong between them (i. e. the walls were a furlong apart, so Syr.; Copt. the circumference of each was 100 furlongs) round about; and I said unto the angel: Lord, how much is one furlong? The angel answered and said unto me: It is as much as there is betwixt the Lord God and the men that are on the earth, for the great city of Christ is alone.[15] And there were twelve gates in the circuit of the city, of great beauty, and four rivers that compassed it about. There was a river of honey, and a river of milk, and a river of wine, and a river of oil. And I said unto the angel: What are these rivers that compass this city about? And he saith to me: These are the four rivers which flow abundantly for them that are in this land of promise, whereof the names are these: the river of honey is called Phison, and the river of milk Euphrates, and the river of oil Geon, and the river of wine Tigris. Whereas therefore when the righteous were in the world they used not their power over these things, but hungered and afflicted themselves for the Lord God’s sake, therefore when they enter into this city, the Lord will give them these things without number (?) and without all measure.

Now it’s worth noting that the standard Rabbinic position is according to Rav:

Berakhot 17a:12

The World-to-Come is not like this world. In the World-to-Come there is no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no business negotiations, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence

Garden of Eden: Intercourse in the Garden

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Surah 76:12,15-16, 19-20

and their reward for their patience shall be Paradise and silk!… and they shall be served round with vessels of silver and goblets that are as flagons – flagons of silver which they shall mete out!… and there shall go round about them eternal boys; when thou seest them thou wilt think them scattered pearls; and when thou seest them thou shalt see pleasure and a great estate!

Surah 2:25

…for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow; whenever they are provided with fruit therefrom they say, ‘This is what we were provided with before,’ and they shall be provided with the like; and there are pure wives for them therein, and they shall dwell therein for aye.

Berekhot 57b:10-14

Three matters do not enter the body yet the body benefits from them, and they are: Washing, anointing, and usage [tashmish], commonly used as a euphemism for conjugal relations. Three matters are microcosms of the World-to-Come, and they are: Sabbath, the sun and usage. The Gemara asks: Usage of what benefits the body and is a microcosm of the World-to-Come? If you say that it refers to conjugal relations, doesn’t that weaken the body? Rather, it refers to usage of his orifices, relieving oneself. Three matters ease one’s mind, and they are: Voice, sight, and smell, when they are pleasant and aesthetic. Three matters give a person comfort, and they are: A beautiful abode, a beautiful wife, and beautiful vessels…

Yevamot 63a:5

Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23)? This teaches that Adam had intercourse with each animal and beast in his search for his mate, and his mind was not at ease, in accordance with the verse: “And for Adam, there was not found a helpmate for him” (Genesis 2:20), until he had intercourse with Eve.

Bereshit Rabbah 18:6

“The serpent was…cunning” – the verse [after this one] should have said only: “The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife [garments]… (Genesis 3:21)” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Kor?a said: It is to inform you what misdeed prompted that evil one [the serpent] to assail them. It is because it saw them engaging in the way of nature [in the open], and it lusted for her.

Sanhedrin 38b:2

Rabbi Yo?anan bar ?anina says: Daytime is twelve hours long, and the day Adam the first man was created was divided as follows: In the first hour of the day, his dust was gathered. In the second, an undefined figure was fashioned. In the third, his limbs were extended. In the fourth, a soul was cast into him. In the fifth, he stood on his legs. In the sixth, he called the creatures by the names he gave them. In the seventh, Eve was paired with him. In the eighth, they arose to the bed two, and descended four, i.e., Cain and Abel were immediately born.

Garden of Eden: Houris / Ghilman

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Surah 37:48-49

“Alongside them will be wide-eyed female beings (hur) who focus their gaze on them. They are as if they were hidden eggs (radiant with pure white-skin).”

Surah 44:54

“Thus, we will bring wide-eyed houris close to them (for service).”

Surah 52:20

“[Reclining upon ranged settees…] And we will bring wide-eyed houris close to them (for service).”

Surah 55:56, 72, 74

“Therein are female beings who focus their gaze (on those they serve). No human or jinn has contacted them before those (they serve).”

Surah 56:35-37

“We have created them (the houris) of special creation. We made them first ones (of their kind), cheerful and pure of heart, agemates”

Surah 78:31-33

“And with youthful maidens as companions, and full-breasted [companions] of equal age”

Ibn Kathir’s Commentary on Physical Development: The “Budding Breasts” Passage

“Kawa’ib means round breasts. They meant by this that the breasts of these girls will be fully rounded and not sagging, because they will be virgins, equal in age. This means that they will only have one age.”

“The purpose of the use of kawa’ib in verse Q.78:33 is to highlight the woman’s youthfulness; though she is an adult, she ‘has reached the age when she begins to menstruate’; and that she is of the age of ‘young girls when their breasts are beginning to appear.'”

Islamqa.info Do the words of Allah, “And full-breasted maidens of equal age (wa kawaa‘ib atraaban)” describe the breasts of al-hoor al-‘iyn?

Ibn Faaris

We may say something similar about describing a woman as kaa‘ib in Arabic; it is not intended as an erotic, physical description of any part of the woman’s body, as much as it is intended as a description of the girl in terms of the emergence of the signs of femininity in her, as an indication of her young age and youthfulness, so that men would be attracted to her. At this age the signs of femininity begin to appear in the girl. The point of using this word is not to describe the size of the breasts or to note their form or shape; rather the purpose is to highlight the woman’s youthfulness.

Ibn al-Jawzi said:

The woman is a tiflah (little girl) when she is small, waleedah when she begins to walk, then a kaa‘ib when her breasts begin to appear, then a naahid when they increase in size, then ma‘sar when she reaches the age of puberty, then khawd when she reaches the age of a young woman.

The Tanner scale defines stages as:

Stage 1 (Prepubertal): No breast development
Stage 2 (Early pubertal): Breast bud appears; areola enlarges
Stage 3 (Mid-pubertal): Breast and areola continue to enlarge
Stage 4 (Late pubertal): Areola and papilla project above the breast contour
Stage 5 (Postpubertal): Mature breast; areola returns to breast contour?

So the women of paradise would be roughly 9-11 year old girls. Which makes sense because that was Mohammad’s favorite age.

Ghilman

Surah 52:24

“There will circulate among them ghilman for them, as if they were pearls well-protected.”

The word “?????????” (ghilman) is the plural of “??????” (ghulam), meaning “boys” or “young male servants.”

Surah 56:17

“There will circulate among them young boys made eternal (wildan mukhallada)”

Surah 76:19

“And round about them will go youths, never altering in age; when thou seest them thou wilt think them to be scattered pearls.”

Hadhokht Nask 2:8-9

8. And it seems to the soul of the faithful one as if he were inhaling that wind with the nostrils, and he thinks: ‘Whence does that wind blow, the sweetest-scented wind I ever inhaled with my nostrils?’

9. And it seems to him as if his own conscience were advancing to him in that wind, in the shape of a maiden fair, bright, white-armed, strong, tall-formed, high-standing, thick-breasted, beautiful of body, noble, of a glorious seed, of the size of a maid in her fifteenth year, as fair as the fairest things in the world.

Arda Viraf Chapter 4:18-22

18. And there stood before him his own religion and his own deeds, in the graceful form of a damsel, as a beautiful appearance, that is, grown up in virtue; (19) with prominent breasts, that is, her breasts swelled downward, which is charming to the heart and soul; (20) whose form was as brilliant, as the sight of it was the more well-pleasing, the observation of it more desirable.

21. And the soul of the pious asked that damsel (22) thus: ‘Who art thou? and what person art thou? than whom, in the world of the living, any damsel more elegant, and of more beautiful body than thine, was never seen by me.

Ana Davitashvili’s research demonstrates that the Quranic descriptions of houris employ terminology that is “familiar from pre-Islamic Arabic poetry”. The terms used to describe the houris (kahala for dark eyes, full-breasted, pale-skinned) all appear in pre-Islamic poetry describing idealized beautiful women. Importantly, the pre-Islamic concept of hur al-ayn (beautiful wide-eyed women) was already established in Arabian poetry, though applied to earthly women and as metaphorical battle rewards

The innovation was blending the Enochian version of paradise with the zoroastrian version

Garden of Eden: Everyone is born with two places, one in Jannah, one in Jahannam

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Sahih Al Bukhari 6217

“We were with the Prophet (?) in a funeral procession, and he started scraping the ground with a small stick and said, “There is none amongst you but has been assigned a place (either) in Paradise and (or) in the Hell-Fire.” The people said (to him), “Should we not depend upon it?” He said: carry on doing (good) deeds, for everybody will find easy such deeds as will lead him to his destined place. He then recited: “As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah..” (92.5)”

Chagigah 15a:9

A?er said to him: Rabbi Akiva, your teacher, did not say so, but explained the verse as follows: Everything has its opposite: He created the righteous, He created the wicked; He created the Garden of Eden, He created Gehenna. Each and every person has two portions, one in the Garden of Eden and one in Gehenna. If he merits it, by becoming righteous, he takes his portion and the portion of his wicked colleague in the Garden of Eden; if he is found culpable by becoming wicked, he takes his portion and the portion of his colleague in Gehenna.

Gehenna: Boiling Water / Puss

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Ibn Kathir on Surah 37:62-67

According to another report, he said that this means a mixture made from boiling water. Someone else said that it means boiling water will be mixed with pus and offensive discharges that leak from their private parts and eyes.

Surah 14:16

Gehenna is before him, and he is made to drink fetid water,

Gittin 57a:2

Onkelos said to him: What is the punishment of that man, a euphemism for Balaam himself, in the next world? Balaam said to him: He is cooked in boiling semen, as he caused Israel to engage in licentious behavior with the daughters of Moab.

Gehenna: Eating the fruit of a tree

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Surah 37:62-67

62 Is this better as a welcome, or the tree of zaqqum? 63 Indeed, we have appointed it a torment for wrongdoers. 64 Indeed, it is a tree that springs up in the heart of the blaze. 65 Its fruit is like the heads of satans 66 And indeed, they indeed must eat of it, and fill bellies with it. 67 And afterward, indeed, on top of that they have a drink of boiling water

Chagigah 12b:8

Whoever occupies himself with Torah in this world, which is comparable to night, the Holy One, Blessed be He, extends a thread of kindness over him in the World-to-Come, which is comparable to day, as it is stated: “By day, the Lord will command His kindness, and in the night His song is with me.” With regard to the same matter, Rabbi Levi said: Anyone who pauses from words of Torah to occupy himself with mundane conversation will be fed with the coals of the broom tree… Avodah Zarah 3b:14

Gehenna: The Blaze

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Resurrection

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Surah 36:77

Has not man seen that we have created him from a drop of seed? Yet indeed, he is an open enemy. 78 And he has made a comparison for us, and has forgotten the fact of his creation, saying, Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away? 79 Say, He will revive them who produced them at the first, for he is the knower of every creation, also All of Surah 75

Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1

All of the Jewish people, even sinners and those who are liable to be executed with a court-imposed death penalty, have a share in the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “And your people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, for My name to be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21). And these are the exceptions, the people who have no share in the World-to-Come, even when they fulfilled many mitzvot: One who says: There is no resurrection of the dead derived from the Torah, and one who says: The Torah did not originate from Heaven, and an epikoros, who treats Torah scholars and the Torah that they teach with contempt. Rabbi Akiva says: Also included in the exceptions are one who reads external literature, and one who whispers invocations over a wound and says as an invocation for healing: “Every illness that I placed upon Egypt I will not place upon you, for I am the Lord, your Healer” (Exodus 15:26). By doing so, he shows contempt for the sanctity of the name of God and therefore has no share in the World-to-Come. Abba Shaul says: Also included in the exceptions is one who pronounces the ineffable name of God as it is written, with its letters.

Sanhedrin 91a:4-5

Similarly, concerning man, whom God created ex nihilo, all the more so will God be able to resurrect him from dust. And if you do not believe that a being can be created from dust, go out to the valley and see an akhbar, a creature that today is half flesh and half earth, and tomorrow the being will develop and all of it will become flesh. Lest you say that creation of living creatures is a matter that develops over an extended period, ascend a mountain and see that today there is only one snail there; then ascend tomorrow, after rain will have fallen, and see that it will be entirely filled with snails. The Gemara relates that a certain heretic said to Geviha ben Pesisa: Woe unto you, the wicked, as you say: The dead will come to life. The way of the world is that those who are alive die. How can you say that the dead will come to life? Geviha ben Pesisa said to him: Woe unto you, the wicked, as you say: The dead will not come to life.

Sleep being Death

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 39:41-42

Verily, we have sent down to thee the Book for men in truth; and whosoever is guided it is for his own soul: but whoso goes astray it is against them, and thou art not a guardian for them. God takes to Himself souls at the time of their death; and those which do not die (He takes) in their sleep; and He holds back those on whom He has decreed death, and sends others back till their appointed time;- verily, in that are signs unto a people who reflect.

Bereshit Rabbah 17:5

“The Lord God cast a deep slumber”… The beginning of downfall is sleep. When a person sleeps, he does not toil in Torah and does not do any work.

Berakhot 60b:4-5 – Save me from an evil mishap and evil diseases… Enlighten my eyes in the morning lest I sleep the sleep of death, never to awaken… When one awakens, he recites: My God, the soul You have placed within me is pure. You formed it within me, You breathed it into me, and You guard it while it is within me. One day You will take it from me and restore it within me in the time to come. As long as the soul is within me, I thank You, O Lord my God and God of my ancestors, Master of all worlds, Lord of all souls. Blessed are You, O Lord, who restores souls to lifeless bodies.

Dreams being Prophecy

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 45:16

And we did bring the children of Israel the Book and judgment and prophecy, and we provided them with good things, and preferred them above the worlds.

Sahih Bukhari 7017

Allah’s Messenger said, “When the Day of Resurrection approaches, the dreams of a believer will hardly fail to come true, and a dream of a believer is one of forty-six parts of prophetism, and whatever belongs to prothetism can never be false.”

Bereshit Rabbah 17:5

Rav said: There are three slumbers: the slumber of sleep, the slumber of prophecy, and the slumber of a trance.

Rabbi ?anina bar Yitz?ak said: There are three microcosms; sleep is a microcosm of death; a dream is a microcosm of prophecy; Shabbat is a microcosm of the World to Come. Rabbi Avin adds another two: The orb of the sun is a microcosm of the supernal light; Torah is a microcosm of the supernal wisdom.

Berekhot 57b:10-14

… The Gemara elaborates: Our fire is one-sixtieth of the fire of Gehenna; honey is one-sixtieth of manna; Shabbat is one-sixtieth of the World-to-Come; sleep is one-sixtieth of death; and a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy.

Jibril

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

The Ascension of Isaiah 3:16, 7:23, 9:36, 11:4, 11:33

3:16 And that (Gabriel) the angel of the Holy Spirit, and Michael, the chief of the holy angels, on the third day will open the sepulchre:

7:23 And I rejoiced with great joy, that those who love the Most High and His Beloved will afterwards ascend thither by the angel of the Holy Spirit.

9:36 And the second whom I saw was on he left of my Lord. And I asked: “Who is this?” and he said unto me: “Worship Him, for He is the angel of the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in thee and the rest of the righteous.“

11:4 But the angel of the Spirit appeared in this world, and after that Joseph did not put her away, but kept Mary and did not reveal this matter to any one.

11:32-34 And I saw how He (Jesus) ascended into the seventh heaven, and all the righteous and all the angels praised Him. And then I saw Him sit down on the right hand of that Great Glory whose glory I told you that I could not behold. And also the angel of the Holy Spirit I saw sitting on the left hand. And this angel said unto me: “Isaiah, son of Amoz, it is enough for thee;… for thou hast seen what no child of flesh has seen.

Yoma 77a:8

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Who is the one who teaches the virtue of My children? They said to Him: Master of the Universe, it is Gabriel.

Sotah 36b:20

They said to him: If that is so and he is a child of royalty, he should know the seventy languages that all kings’ children learn. The angel Gabriel then came and taught him the seventy languages, but he could not learn all of them. Gabriel then added one letter, the letter heh, to Joseph’s name from the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and then he was able to learn the languages

Menachot 29a:15

Rabbi ?iyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yo?anan says: The angel Gabriel was girded with a type of wide belt [pesikiyya] in the manner of artisans who tie up their clothes to prevent these clothes from hindering them in their work. And he showed the precise way to fashion the Candelabrum to Moses, as it is written: “And this is the work of the Candelabrum” (Numbers 8:4), and the term “this” indicates that an exact replica was shown to him.

Arch Angels

Quran

Surah

Talmud

4 Archangels in Islam: Jibril, Mika’il, Israfil, Azrael

4 Archangels in the Talmud: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael

Saraphiel vs Israfil

Jinn / Demons

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 15:27

And the jinn We created before from scorching fire.

Yoma 21b:9

There is fire that repels other fire; that is the fire of the angel Gabriel. The book of Daniel relates that Gabriel was an angel of fire

According to Reynolds, “The idea that God first created the Jinn from fire (v. 27) reflects Christian texts such as the Cave of Treasures that speak of the creation of the devil from fire (and have him already present at the creation of Adam).”

Chagigah 16a:5-8

The Sages taught: Six statements were said with regard to demons: In three ways they are like ministering angels, and in three ways they are like humans. The baraita specifies: In three ways they are like ministering angels: They have wings like ministering angels; and they fly from one end of the world to the other like ministering angels; and they know what will be in the future like ministering angels.

The Gemara is puzzled by this last statement: Should it enter your mind that they know this? Not even the angels are privy to the future. Rather, they hear from behind the curtain when God reveals something of the future, like ministering angels. …

And in three ways they are similar to humans: They eat and drink like humans; they multiply like humans; and they die like humans. …

In three ways humans are like animals: They eat and drink like animals; and they multiply like animals; and they emit excrement like animals.

Witches

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Iblis / Sammael / Satan

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

The Quranic Iblis has its origin in the legends surrounding Samael in Midrash and Aggadic material.

In broader Talmudic discussions, Samael is often implicitly associated with roles like the accuser (Satan), the evil inclination (yetzer hara), and the angel of death.

Bava Barta 16a:8

Reish Lakish says: Satan, the evil inclination, and the Angel of Death are one, that is, they are three aspects of the same essence. He is the Satan who seduces people and then accuses them, as it is written: “So the Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with vile sores” (Job 2:7). He is also the evil inclination, as it is written there: “The impulse of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously” (Genesis 6:5); and it is written here: “Only upon himself do not put forth your hand” (Job 1:12). The verbal analogy between the various uses of the word “only” teaches that the evil inclination is to be identified with the Satan. He is also the Angel of Death, as it is written: “Only spare his life” (Job 2:6); apparently Job’s life depends upon him, the Satan, and accordingly the Satan must also be the Angel of Death.

Sukkah 52a:2-3

Apropos the eulogy at the end of days, the Gemara asks: For what is the nature of this eulogy? The Gemara answers: Rabbi Dosa and the Rabbis disagree concerning this matter. One said that this eulogy is for Messiah ben Yosef who was killed in the war of Gog from the land of Magog prior to the ultimate redemption with the coming of Messiah ben David. And one said that this eulogy is for the evil inclination that was killed.

The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who said that the lament is for Messiah ben Yosef who was killed, this would be the meaning of that which is written in that context: “And they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son” (Zechariah 12:10). <- Jesus

Nedarim 32b:1

The letters of the term the Satan [haSatan] in numerical value is 364, which equals the number of days of the year, except for Yom Kippur, during which he has no power.

Quran/Torah: Created before the Universe

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 85:21-22

No, but it is a glorious Qur’an. On a preserved tablet.

Sahih Muslim 2653b

I heard Allah’s Messenger as saying: Allah ordained the measures (of quality) of the creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth, as His Throne was upon water.

Bereshit Rabbah 8:2

The Torah preceded the creation of the world by two thousand years.

Nedarim 39b

Seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and repentance, the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of the Messiah. The Gemara provides sources for each of these phenomena. Torah was created before the world was created, as it is written: “The Lord made me as the beginning of His way, the first of His works of old” (Proverbs 8:22). Based on the subsequent verses, this is referring to the Torah.

Quran/Torah: Used to create the universe

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Bereshit Rabbah 1:1

Another matter, amon means artisan [uman]. The Torah is saying: ‘I was the tool of craft of the Holy One blessed be He.’ The way of the world is that when a flesh-and-blood king builds a palace he does not build it based on his own knowledge, but rather based on the knowledge of an artisan. And the artisan does not build it based on his own knowledge, but rather, he has [plans on] sheets and tablets by which to ascertain how he should build its rooms, how he should build its doors. So too, the Holy One blessed be He looked in the Torah and created the world.

Quran/Torah: Contains all future events

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Sanhedrin 38b:10

What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is the book of the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1)? This verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, showed Adam every generation and its Torah interpreters, every generation and its wise ones. When he arrived at his vision of the generation of Rabbi Akiva, Adam was gladdened by his Torah, and saddened by his manner of death.

Quran/Torah: Was given to all people in their own language

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Quran/Torah: Was delivered by successive prophets

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Quran/Torah: Was given by Jibril

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Quran/Torah: Divine Dictation

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Bava Batra 15a:5

Rather, until this point the Holy One, Blessed be He, dictated and Moses repeated after Him and wrote the text. From this point forward, with respect to Moses’ death, the Holy One, Blessed be He, dictated and Moses wrote with tears.

Prophets: Sent to all nations

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Prophets: Prophecy was taken away but will return right before the End Times

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Sotah 48b:6

(also in Sanhedrin 11a:7; Tosefta Sotah 13:4)

From the time when Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died the Divine Spirit departed from the Jewish people, as these three were considered to be the last prophets. And even after the Urim VeTummim ceased to exist, they would nevertheless still make use of a Divine Voice to receive instructions from Above, even after this time.

For on one occasion the Sages were reclining in the upper story of the house of Gurya in Jericho. A Divine Voice from Heaven was issued to them, and it said: There is one person among you for whom it is fitting that the Divine Presence should rest upon him as a prophet, but his generation is not fit for it; they do not deserve to have a prophet among them. … And again, on another occasion several generations later, the Sages were reclining in an upper story of a house in Yavne, and a Divine Voice from Heaven was issued to them, and said: There is one person among you for whom it is fitting that the Divine Presence should rest upon him, but his generation is not fit for it.

Bamidbar Rabbah 15:10

This is one of the five items that was sequestered: The Ark, the candelabrum, the fire, the Divine Spirit, and the cherubs. When the Holy One blessed be He will, in His mercy, rebuild His Temple and His Sanctuary, He will restore them to their place to bring joy to Jerusalem

Justice

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Mercy: God having arbitrary Mercy

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Deviram Rabbah 2:12

… So said the Holy One blessed be He to Moses: “I will favor [ve?anoti] whom I favor” (Exodus 33:19). [God] said to him: ‘Upon one who has [credit] with Me, “I will have mercy” (Exodus 33:19); I will act with him with the attribute of mercy. One who does not have [credit] with Me, “ve?anoti” – I will act [mercifully] with him as a free [?inam] gift.’ …

Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22

… Rabbi Yehoshua ben Baitus in the name of Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon: It is written: “Why do you lead us astray, Lord, from Your ways?” (Isaiah 63:17) – when You wished, You placed in their heart to love, and when You wished, You placed in their heart to hate. …

Mercy: Ar-Rahman

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Rosh Hashanah 17b:5-7

Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order. Let the prayer leader wrap himself in a prayer shawl and publicly recite the thirteen attributes of mercy, and I will forgive them. The verse continues: “The Lord, the Lord,” and it should be understood as follows: I am He before a person sins, and I am He after a person sins and performs repentance, as God does not recall for him his first sins, since He is always “God, merciful and gracious” (Exodus 34:6). Rav Yehuda said: A covenant was made with the thirteen attributes that they will not return empty-handed, meaning that if one mentions them, he will certainly be answered, as it is stated in this regard: “Behold, I make a covenant” (Exodus 34:10).

???? ??? — ????? ???? ?????? ??????????? ???????, ??????? ???? ??????? ??????????? ??????? ?????????? ?????????? — ???? ?????? ??????????

Mercy: 13 Attributes of Mercy

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Qadar / Predestination

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Sotah 2a:9

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Forty days before an embryo is formed a Divine Voice issues forth and says: The daughter of so-and-so is destined to marry so-and-so; such and such a house is destined to be inhabited by so-and-so; such and such a field is destined to be farmed by so-and-so. This clearly states that these matters, including marriage, are decreed for a person even before he is formed.

Pirkei Avot 3:15

Everything is foreseen yet freedom of choice is granted, And the world is judged with goodness; And everything is in accordance with the preponderance of works.

Berakhot 33b:23

Rabbi ?anina said: Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except for fear of Heaven.

Rosh Hashanah 16b:12

wholly wicked people are immediately written and sealed for death; and middling people are left with their judgment suspended from Rosh HaShana until Yom Kippur, their fate remaining undecided. If they merit, through the good deeds and mitzvot that they perform during this period, they are written for life; if they do not so merit, they are written for death

Moed Katan 28a:13

Rava said: Length of life, children, and sustenance do not depend on one’s merit, but rather they depend upon fate

Sperm Drops

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Niddah 16b:12

As Rabbi ?anina bar Pappa interpreted that verse in the following manner: That angel that is appointed over conception is called: Night. And that angel takes the drop of semen from which a person will be formed and presents it before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will be of this drop? Will the person fashioned from it be mighty or weak? Will he be clever or stupid? Will he be wealthy or poor?

Abrogation

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Menachot 99b:1

The abrogation (bitulah – ??????) of the Torah is its foundation, as it is written (Exodus 34:1), which you have broken, the Blessed One said to Moses, “Your strength is justified, which you have broken.”

Temurah 14b:5

They said it is better to uproot (la’akor – ?????) a single halakha of the Torah, i.e., the prohibition of writing down the Oral Torah, and thereby ensure that the Torah is not forgotten from the Jewish people entirely.

Yevamot 89b:4,7

However, is there anything that by Torah law is teruma (priestly/sacred gift), as stated by Rabbi Elai, and yet due to the concern: Perhaps he will be negligent, the Sages removed its status as sacred and gave to it the status of non-sacred food? And can the court stipulate and enact a decree to uproot something that applies by Torah law?

Rav ?isda sent a proof to Rabba, in the hand of Rav A?a bar Rav Huna: And can the court not stipulate to uproot something prohibited by Torah law?

Kaaba

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Kafir (????)
Root: K-F-R (? ? ?) — literally means to cover, conceal, or deny.
In Qur’anic usage, kafir means one who “covers up” the truth or denies God’s revelation — not necessarily an atheist, but someone who rejects what they know or have heard as divine truth.

Comes from the Hebrew Kofer ???? — from the Hebrew root K-P-R (kafar), meaning to deny or disbelieve in later rabbinic Hebrew, though in Biblical Hebrew it primarily means to atone, to cover over (sin) (as in Yom Kippur).

By the rabbinic period, “kofer ba-ikkar” (???? ?????) = “one who denies the principle (of faith)” — i.e., a heretic or apostate.

Heretic

Several different words for this:

????? (minim) — heretics, sectarians (often referring to early Christians or Gnostics).

????????? (apikorosim) — Epicureans, deniers of divine providence or resurrection.

?????? (kofrim) — deniers of God or Torah (literally “kafirs” in Hebrew).

????? ????? ??? (ovdei avodah zarah) — idolaters, those who worship foreign gods.

Shirk

Arabic: ??? (shirk) = to share, partner, or associate.

Theological meaning: attributing partners, equals, or intermediaries to Allah in divinity, worship, or attributes.

“Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him.” – Surah 4:48

It’s described as the gravest sin — an unforgivable breach of taw??d (divine unity).

Hebrew: ???????? (shituf) = partnership, combination.

In rabbinic discussions, shituf refers to acknowledging God while also associating another being or power with Him — precisely what Islam calls shirk.

Sanhedrin 38a:13

???????? ????? ??? ???????????? ???????? ???? ??????????? ??????????. ?????? ?????

The Sages taught in a baraita (Tosefta 8:7): Adam the first man was created on Shabbat eve at the close of the six days of Creation. And for what reason was this so? So that the heretics will not be able to say that the Holy One, Blessed be He, had a partner (Shutaf), i.e., Adam, in the acts of Creation.

Sanhedrin 63a:17

????? ??? ?????? ????????? ???? ???????: ??????? ???? ??????????? ???? ???????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ????????

Rabbi Shimon ben Yo?ai said to him: But isn’t anyone who links the name of Heaven and something else, a euphemism for an idol, uprooted from the world? As it is stated: “He who sacrifices to the gods, save to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed”

Heretics

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

????? minim — heretics, sectarians (often referring to early Christians or Gnostics).

????????? apikorosim — Epicureans, deniers of divine providence or resurrection.

?????? kofrim — deniers of God or Torah (literally “kafirs” in Hebrew).

????? ????? ??? ovdei avodah zarah — idolaters, those who worship foreign gods.

Apostate Laws

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Sanhedrin 52b:10-12

The Gemara asks: And how do the Rabbis respond to this claim? The Gemara answers: Since decapitation by the sword is written in the Torah, it is not from the gentiles that we learn it. … These transgressors are those who are killed by decapitation: The murderer and the people of an idolatrous city (???? ??????????? – Ir Ha Nidachat), there is a difficulty. Granted, the people of an idolatrous city are executed in this manner, as it is written concerning them: “You shall smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword”

Sanhedrin 67a:2-7

MISHNA: With regard to the case of an inciter (mesit, may be related to mufsid), listed among those liable to be executed by stoning, this is an ordinary person, not a prophet. And it is referring to one who incites an ordinary person and not a multitude of people. What does the inciter do? He says: There is an idol in such and such a place, which eats like this, drinks like this, does good for its worshippers like this, and harms those who do not worship it like this. … The mishna states a principle with regard to the halakha of an inciter: With regard to all of those mentioned in the Torah who are liable to receive the death penalty, if there are no witnesses to their transgressions, the court does not hide witnesses in order to ensnare and punish them, except for this case of an inciter. … The mishna continues: If the inciter is cunning, and he knows that he cannot speak in front of two men, the court hides witnesses for him behind the fence so that he will not see them, and the man whom the inciter had previously tried to incite says to him: Say what you said to me when we were in seclusion. And the other person, the inciter, says to him again that he should worship the idol. And he says to the inciter: How can we forsake our God in Heaven and go and worship wood and stones? If the inciter retracts his suggestion, that is good. But if he says: This idol worship is our duty; this is what suits us, then those standing behind the fence bring him to court and have him stoned.

Sanhedrin 53a:2

Rava said: The four types of the death penalty are learned as a tradition. There is no question as to the types of capital punishment that exist in halakha.

Strangulation

Burning with Fire

Beheading

Stoning

Divine Council

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 37:8

They cannot listen to the highest chiefs, for they are pelted from every side,

Surah 38:69-70

69 I had no knowledge of the highest chiefs when they argued, 70 It is revealed to me only so that I might be a plain warner.

Surah 40:7-8, 69:17, 72:8-9; 79:5, 51:4

Sanhedrin 38b:15

Why do I need these instances of plural words? Why does the verse employ the plural at all when referring to God? The Gemara explains: This is in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Yo?anan, as Rabbi Yo?anan says: The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not act unless He consults with the entourage of Above, i.e., the angels, as it is stated: “The matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones”

God did not get weary from Creation

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 50:38

And indeed we created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days, and no weariness touched us.

Bereshit Rabbah 10:9

… “His labor” – did Rabbi Berekhya not say this in the name of Rabbi Simon: It was not with toil and not with exertion that the Holy One blessed be He created His world. …

STORIES

Adam: Angels rebuking God for making humans

Quran

Talmud

Surah 2:30-34

30 And when your Lord said to the angels, Indeed, I am about to place a caliph on the earth, they said, Will you place on it one who will spread corruption there and shed blood, while we, we sing your praise and extol you? He said, Surely I know what you do not know.

31 And he taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying, Tell me the names of these, if you are truthful.

32 They said, Glory to you, we know nothing except what you have taught us. Indeed, you and only you are the knower, the wise.

33 He said, O Adam, tell them their names, and when he had told them their names, he said, Didn’t I tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you hide.

34 And when we said to the angels, Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all except Iblis. He refused because of pride, and so became a disbeliever.

Sanhedrin 38b:5-6

At the time that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to create a person, He created one group of ministering angels. He said to them: If you agree, let us fashion a person in our image. The angels said before him: Master of the Universe, what are the actions of this person You suggest to create? God said to them: His actions are such and such, according to human nature. The angels said before him: Master of the Universe: “What is man that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You think of him?” (Psalms 8:5), i.e., a creature such as this is not worth creating. God outstretched His small finger among them and burned them with fire. And the same occurred with a second group of angels. The third group of angels that He asked said before Him: Master of the Universe, the first two groups who spoke their mind before You, what did they accomplish? The entire world is Yours; whatever You wish to do in Your world, do. God then created the first person. When history arrived at the time of the people of the generation of the flood and the people of the generation of the dispersion, i.e., the Tower of Babel, whose actions were ruinous, the angels said before God: Master of the Universe, didn’t the first set of angels speak appropriately before You, that human beings are not worthy of having been created?

Bereshit Rabbah 8:2-7

Adam: Adam Naming Animals

Quran

Midrash

Surah 2:30-34

30 And when your Lord said to the angels, Indeed, I am about to place a caliph on the earth, they said, Will you place on it one who will spread corruption there and shed blood, while we, we sing your praise and extol you? He said, Surely I know what you do not know.

31 And he taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying, Tell me the names of these, if you are truthful.

32 They said, Glory to you, we know nothing except what you have taught us. Indeed, you and only you are the knower, the wise.

33 He said, O Adam, tell them their names, and when he had told them their names, he said, Didn’t I tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you hide.

34 And when we said to the angels, Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all except Iblis. He refused because of pride, and so became a disbeliever.

Bereshit Rabbah 17:4

Rabbi A?a said: When the Holy One blessed be He came to create man, He consulted with the ministering angels. He said to them: “Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26). They said to Him: ‘This man, what is his nature?’ He said to them: ‘His wisdom is greater than yours.’ He brought the animals, the beasts, and the birds before them and said to them: ‘What is its name of this one?’ And they did not know. He passed them before Adam and said to him: ‘What is the name of this one?’ He said: ‘This is an ox; this is a donkey; this is a horse; this is a camel.’ [He then asked:] ‘And you, what is your name?’ He said to Him: ‘It is appropriate that I be called Adam, as I was created from the ground [adama].’ [He asked further:] ‘And I, what is My name?’ He said to Him: ‘It is appropriate to call you my Lord [adonai], as You are the Lord [adon] over all your creatures.’ Rabbi A?a said: “I am the Lord, that is My name” (Isaiah 42:8) – that is My name that Adam the first man called Me. …

Adam: Animals made in pairs

Quran

Midrash

Surah 36:36

Glory be to him who created all the pairs, of what the earth grows, and of themselves, and of what they do not know.

Surah 78:8

And we have created you in pairs, …

Bereshit Rabbah 17:4

He then passed them [the animals] before him in pairs. He [Adam] said: All of them have partners, but I do not have a partner – “and for the man, he did not find a helper to be alongside him” (Genesis 2:20). This is bewildering; why, in fact, did He not create her for him at the outset? The explanation is that the Holy One blessed be He foresaw that he [Adam] would complain about her in the future; therefore, He did not create her until he requested her explicitly. After that, “the Lord God cast a deep slumber…”

Adam: Iblis Refusing to Prostrate

Quran

Midrash

Surah 2:34

34 And when we said to the angels, Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all except Iblis. He refused because of pride, and so became a disbeliever.

Cave of Treasures 2:12-13, 22-25, and 3:1-2

God formed Adam in his holy hands, in His image and in His likeness. When the angels saw the image and the glorious appearance of Adam, they trembled at the beauty of his figure {Adam being a 90ft statue?}…Moreover, the angels and celestial powers heard the voice of God saying to Adam, “See, I have made you a king, priest and prophet, Lord, leader and director of all those made and created. To you alone have I given these and I give to you authority over everything I have created.” When the angels and archangels, the thrones and dominions, the cherubims and seraphins, that is when all of the celestial powers heard this voice, all of the orders bent their knees and prostrated before him. … When the leader of the lesser order saw the greatness given to Adam, he became jealous of him and did not want to prostrate before him with the angels. He said to his hosts, ‘Do not worship him and do not praise him with the angels. It is proper that you should worship me, for I am fire and spirit, not that I worship something made from dirt.

Life of Adam and Eve

“‘And Michael went out and called all the angels saying: “Worship the image of God as the Lord hath commanded.”

“‘And Michael himself worshipped first; then he called me and said: “Worship the image of God the Lord.” And I answered, “I have no (need) to worship Adam.” And since Michael kept urging me to worship, I said to him, “Why dost thou urge me? I will not worship an inferior and younger being (than I). I am his senior in the Creation, before he was made was I already made. It is his duty to worship me.” … And God the Lord was wroth with me and banished me and my angels from our glory; and on thy account were we expelled from our abodes into this world and hurled n the earth

Adam: Adam and Eve Androgynous

Quran

Surah 39:6

Midrash

Bereshit Rabbah 8:1

Surah 39:6 – He created you from one being (???????? nafsin, soul), then from that he made its mate, and he has provided for you eight kinds of cattle.

… Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: When the Holy One blessed be He created Adam the first man, He created him androgynous. …

The idea of a single soul being split only comes from the Rabbis and not from the Bible itself. The tafsir interpret this passage as well with the Rabbinic understanding.

Adam: Adam’s height

Hadith

Sahih al-Bukhari 3326

Midrash

Bereshit Rabbah 8:1

The Prophet said, “Allah created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall. … People have been decreasing in stature since Adam’s creation.

When the Holy One blessed be He created Adam the first man, He created him in an unformed state and he was situated from one end of the world to the other. That is what is written: “Your eyes saw my unformed parts…” (Psalms 139:16).
Rabbi Yehoshua bar Ne?emya and Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon in the name of Rabbi Elazar said: He created him filling the whole world. From east to west, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Back [a?or] and front [kedem], You shaped me…” (Psalms 139:5). From north to south, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “[From the day God made Adam on the earth,] and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens” (Deuteronomy 4:32). From where is it derived that he even filled the empty space of the world? It is as it is stated: “You placed Your palm on me” (Psalms 139:5) just as it says: “Distance Your palm from me” (Job 13: 21).

Talmud

Sanhedrin 38b:8

Rabbi Elazar says: The height of Adam the first man was from the ground until the firmament, as it is stated: “Since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other.” Adam stood “upon the earth” and rose to the end of the heavens. Once Adam sinned, the Holy One, Blessed be He, placed His hand on him and diminished him

Cain and Abel: Burying the Dead

Quran

Surah 5:30-31

Midrash

30 But his mind imposed on him the killing of his brother, so he killed him and became one of the losers. 31 Then Allah sent a raven scratching the ground, to show him how to hide his brother’s naked corpse. He said, Woe to me, am I not able to be like this raven and so hide my brother’s naked corpse? And he became repentant.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 21:10

… Adam and his helpmate were sitting and weeping and mourning for him, and they did not know what to do (with Abel), for they were unaccustomed to burial. A raven (came), one of its fellow birds was dead (at its side). (The raven) said: I will teach this man what to do. It took its fellow and dug in the earth, hid it and buried it before them. Adam said: Like this raven will I act. He took || the corpse of Abel and dug in the earth and buried it. …

Tanchuma Bereshit 10:2

After Cain slew Abel, the body lay outstretched upon the earth, since Cain did not know how to dispose of it. Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, selected two clean birds and caused one of them to kill the other. The surviving bird dug the earth with its talons and buried its victim. Cain learned from this what to do. He dug a grave and buried his brother. It is because of this that birds are privileged to cover their blood. …

Bereshit Rabbah 22:8

Cain looked from where his father had slaughtered that bull in whose regard it is stated: “And may it be pleasing to the Lord like an ox and bull” (Psalms 69:32), and he killed him from there, from the place of the neck, from the place of the signs.

Who buried him? Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat said: The birds of the heavens and the kosher beasts buried him, and the Holy One blessed be He rewarded them with the two blessings that one recites over them – one for slaughter and one for covering the blood.

Noah: The preaching of Noah

Quran

Surah 71:1-28

Talmud

Sanhedrin 108a:22

1 Indeed, we sent Noah to his people, Warn your people before the painful doom comes to them. 2 He said, O my people, indeed, I am a plain warner to you 3 Serve Allah and keep your duty to him and obey me, 4 So that he may forgive you some of your sins and give you a respite for an appointed term. Indeed, the term of Allah, when it comes, cannot be delayed, if only you knew. 5 He said, My Lord, indeed, I have called to my people night and day 6 But all my calling only makes them flee farther from me, 7 And indeed, whenever I call to them so that you might forgive them, they thrust their fingers in their ears and cover themselves with their clothes and persist and magnify themselves in pride. 8 And indeed, I have called to them aloud, 9 And indeed, I have made public proclamation to them, and I have appealed to them in private. 10 And I have said, Ask forgiveness from your Lord. Indeed, he has always been forgiving. 11 He will let loose the sky for you in abundant rain, 12 And will help you with wealth and sons, and will assign gardens to you and will assign rivers to you. 13 What ails you that you do not hope for dignity toward Allah 14 When he created you by stages? 15 Don’t you see how Allah has created seven heavens in harmony, 16 And has made the moon a light in it, and made the sun a lamp? 17 And Allah has caused you to grow as a growth from the earth, 18 And afterward he makes you return to it, and he will bring you forth again, a bringing forth. 19 And Allah has made the earth a wide expanse for you 20 That you may go around in it on broad roads. 21 Noah said, My Lord, indeed, they have disobeyed me and followed one whose wealth and children increase him in nothing except ruin, 22 And they have plotted a mighty plot, 23 And they have said, Do not forsake your gods. Do not forsake Wadd, or Suwa, or Yaghuth and Ya’uq and Nasr. 24 And they have led many astray, and you increase the wrongdoers in nothing except error. 25 Because of their sins they were drowned, then made to enter a fire. And they found they had no helpers in place of Allah. 26 And Noah said, My Lord, do not leave one of the unbelievers in the land. 27 If you leave them, they will mislead your slaves and will breed only lewd ingrates. 28 My Lord, forgive me and my parents and him who enters my house believing, and believing men and believing women, and do not increase the wrongdoers in anything except ruin.

Rabbi Yosei from Caesarea taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “He is swift upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he turns not by way of the vineyards” (Job 24:18)? This teaches that Noah the righteous would rebuke the people of his generation and say to them: Repent. And if you do not, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring a flood upon you and float your corpses on the water like wineskins filled with air that float on water, as it is stated: “He is swift upon the face of the waters.” Moreover, a curse is taken from them to all who enter the world, as people will curse others, saying: They shall be like the generation of the flood. As it is stated: “Their portion is cursed in the earth.”

Noah: Flood waters boil

Quran

Talmud

Surah 11:40

Until, when our commandment came to pass and the oven gushed forth water, we said, Load in it two of every kind, a pair, and your family, except him against whom the word has already gone forth, and those who believe. And there were only a few who believed with him.

Surah 23:27

Then we inspired him, saying, Build the ship under our eyes and our inspiration. Then, when our command comes and the oven boils over, introduce into it two spouses of every kind, and your family except him against whom the word has already gone forth. And do not plead with me on behalf of those who have done wrong. Indeed, they will be drowned.

Rosh Hashanah 12a:4

The Gemara answers: Even according to Rabbi Eliezer a change was made, in accordance with the statement of Rav ?isda, as Rav ?isda said: They sinned with boiling heat, and they were punished with boiling heat; they sinned with the boiling heat of the sin of forbidden sexual relations, and they were punished with the boiling heat of scalding waters. This is derived from a verbal analogy. It is written here, with regard to the flood: “And the waters abated” (Genesis 8:1), and it is written elsewhere, with regard to King Ahasuerus: “And the heated anger of the king abated” (Esther 7:10), which implies that the word “abated” means cooled. This indicates that at first the waters of the flood had been scalding hot.

Sanhedrin 108b:3

Noah said to them: If He wishes He will bring the water from between your feet and you can do nothing to prevent it, as it is stated: “For them whose foot slips.” It is taught in a baraita: The waters of the flood were as hard and thick as semen, as it is stated: “For them whose foot slips”; foot is a euphemism. Rav ?isda says: With hot semen they sinned, and with hot water they were punished. As it is written here, at the conclusion of the flood: “And the waters assuaged” (Genesis 8:1), and it is written there: “Then the king’s wrath was assuaged” (Esther 7:10). Just as the term “assuaged” there is referring to the heat of Ahasuerus’s wrath, so too, “assuaged” with regard to the flood is referring to the heat of the waters.

Bereshit Rabbah 28:9

Rabbi Yo?anan said: The sentence of the generation of the Flood lasted over the course of twelve months – they received their [full] punishment, and they will have a share in the World to Come. It is as Rabbi Yo?anan said: Each and every drop that the Holy One blessed be He rained down upon them, He would boil it in Gehenna and take it out and rain it down upon them. That is what is written: “When scorched, they disappear [nitzmatu]” (Job 6:17). Their scorching was absolute [la?lutanit].

Noah: 4th Son drowns

Quran

Talmud

Surah 11:42-49

42 And it sailed with them amid waves like mountains, and Noah called out to his son, and he was standing aloof, O my son, come ride with us, and do not be with the unbelievers. 43 He said, I will go to some mountain that will save me from the water. He said, Today there are none who will be saved from the commandment of Allah except him on whom he has had mercy. And the wave came in between them, so he was among the drowned. 44 And it was said, O earth, swallow your water and, O sky, be cleared of clouds. And the water was made to subside. And the commandment was fulfilled. And it came to rest upon al-Judi and it was said, A far removal for wrongdoing people. 45 And Noah called out to his Lord and said, My Lord, indeed, my son is of my family. Surely your promise is the truth and you are the most just of judges. 46 He said, O Noah, indeed, he is not of your family, indeed, he is of evil conduct, so do not ask me about what you have no knowledge of. I warn you so that you will not be among the ignorant. 47 He said, My Lord, indeed, in you do I seek refuge that I would ask you about something I have no knowledge of. Unless you forgive me and have mercy on me, I will be among the lost. 48 It was said, O Noah, go down with peace from us and blessings upon you and some nations from those with you. Nations to whom we will give enjoyment for a long while, and then a painful doom from us will overtake them. 49 This is among the news of the unseen which we inspire within you. You yourself did not know it, nor did your people before this. Then have patience. Indeed, the ending is for those who fear Allah.

Yam / Canaan

Ibn Kathir on Surah 11:42

(and your family — except him against whom the Word has already gone forth) This means, “Load your family upon the ship.” This is referring to the members of his household and his relatives, except him against whom the Word has already gone forth, for they did not believe in Allah. Among them was the son of Nuh, Yam, who went in hermitage. Among them was the wife of Nuh who was a disbeliever in Allah and His Messenger.

(And none believed with him, except a few.) This means that only a very small number believed, even after the long period of time that he (Nuh) was among them — nine hundred and fifty years. It is reported from Ibn `Abbas that he said, “They were eighty people including their women.”

Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on Surah 11:42

And it sailed with them amid waves like mountains in terms of their height and size and Noah called out to his son Canaan who was standing away from the ship ‘O my son embark with us and do not be with the disbelievers!’

Tafsir al-Qurtubi on Surah 11:42

Noah called out to his son. It is said that he was an unbeliever and his name was Canaan. It is also said that his name was Yam.

????? ??? ???? ??? : ??? ????? ????? ????? . ???? : ??? .

Sanhedrin 70a:18-20

Having cited the passage discussing Noah, the Gemara enters into a discussion about what was actually done to him by his younger son, Ham. Rav and Shmuel disagreed: One says that Ham castrated Noah and one says that Ham sodomized him.

The Gemara explains: The one who says that Ham castrated Noah adduces the following proof: Since he injured Noah with respect to the possibility of conceiving a fourth son, which Noah wanted but could no longer have, therefore Noah cursed him by means of Ham’s fourth son. … And the one who says that Ham sodomized Noah learned this from a verbal analogy between the words “and he saw” and “and he saw.” Here it is written: “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father”; and there it is written: “And Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, and he took her, and lay with her, and afflicted her” (Genesis 34:2). This indicates that the term “saw” alludes to sexual intercourse.

The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who says that Ham castrated Noah, it is due to that reason that Noah cursed Ham by means of Ham’s fourth son. But according to the one who says that Ham sodomized him, what is different about his fourth son? He should have cursed Ham directly. The Gemara answers: This Sage holds that both this offense and that offense were committed. All agree that Ham castrated Noah, and some say that Ham also sodomized him.

Bereshit Rabbah 36:4-7

Rav Huna said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili: When Noah emerged from the ark, a lion struck him and mutilated him. When he came to engage in relations his seed scattered and he was humiliated. …

“?am, father of Canaan, saw [and told [vayaged]]” – he said it to them and spoke persuasively to them; he said to them: Adam the first man had [only] two sons and one of them arose and killed the other. This one [Noah] has three sons and he seeks to make them four?…

“He said: Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves he shall be to his brothers” – ?am committed the sin and Canaan was cursed? This is astonishing. Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Ne?emya, Rabbi Yehuda said: Because it is written: “God blessed Noah and his sons” (Genesis 9:1), and a curse cannot be in a place where there is blessing. That is why he said: “Cursed is Canaan.” Rabbi Ne?emya says: Canaan saw and told ?am; therefore, one ascribes the curse to the corrupt one.

Rabbi Berekhya said: Noah endured much suffering in the ark due to the fact that he did not have a young son to attend to him. He said: ‘When I emerge, I will produce a young son for myself to attend to me.’ After ?am performed that act [to Noah], he said: ‘You prevented me from producing a young son to attend to me; therefore, that man [your son Canaan] will be a slave to his brothers, who are servants to me.’ Rav Huna said in the name of Rav Yosef: [Noah said:] ‘You prevented me from performing an act that is done in darkness; therefore, that man [Canaan] will be ugly and darkened.’ Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yosef: He said to him: ‘You prevented me from producing a fourth son; therefore, I am cursing your fourth son.’

Rabbi ?iyya bar Abba said: Both ?am and the dog engaged in sexual relations in the ark. That is why ?am emerged darkened, and the dog is exposed when mating. Rabbi Levi said: This is analogous to one who imprinted his own coinage [with his image] inside the king’s tent. The king said: ‘I decree that his face should be blackened and his image defaced.’ So, ?am and the dog engaged in sexual relations in the ark, and that is why ?am emerged darkened, and the dog is exposed when mating.

Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 23:12-13

Noah found a vine… the vine still had grapes upon it…he planted a vineyard from this vine…and on that very day fruit grew…he drank wine from it [the vine] and he revealed himself in his tent. Canaan came in, saw his father’s nakedness, tied a string to his penis and castrated him, then he went out to tell his brothers…Ham came in, saw his father’s nakedness and neglecting the commandment to honor one’s father, reported it to his two brothers as though he were in the market and laughing at his father. His brothers rebuked him, they took a cover, and walking backwards covered their father’s nakedness…Noah arose from his stupor, discovered what his youngest son had done to him, and cursed him, as it says, “Cursed is Canaan”.

Cave of Treasures p.33 Nimrod the fire-worshipper, and Yonton, son of Noah

And in the days of Nimrod, the mighty man (or giant), a fire appeared which ascended from the earth, and Nimrod went down, and looked at it, and worshipped it, and he established priests to minister there, and to cast incense into it. From that day the Persians began to worship fire, [and they do so] to this day. …

And Nimrod went to Yokdora of Nodh, and when he arrived at the Lake (or Sea) of Atras, he found there Yonton, the son of Noah. [A marginal note in the Syriac MS. adds, “Noah begot this Yonton after the Flood, and he honoured him in many things, and sent him to the east to dwell there.”] And Nimrod went down and bathed in the Lake, and he came to Yonton and did homage unto him. And Yonton said, “Thou art a king; doest thou homage unto me?” And Nimrod said unto him, “It is because of thee that I have come down here”; and he remained with him for three years. And Yonton taught Nimrod wisdom, and the art of revelation (divining ?), and he said unto him, “Come not back again to me.”

And when Nimrod went up from the east, and began to practise the art of divining, very many men marvelled at him. And when Idhashir (Ardeshir ?), the priest who ministered to the fire that ascended from the earth, saw that Nimrod was practising these exalted courses, he entreated the devil, who appeared in connection with that fire, to teach him [Fol. 24b, col. 2] the wisdom of Nimrod. And as the devils were in the habit of destroying those who came nigh unto them by sin, the devil said unto the priest, p. 144 “A man cannot become a priest and a Magian until he hath known carnally his mother, and his daughter, and his sister.” And Idhashir the priest did this, and from that time the priests, and the Magians, and the Persians take their mothers, and their sisters, and their daughters [to wife]. And this Idhashir, the Magian, was the first to begin to study the Signs of the Zodiac, and [omens concerning] luck, and fate, and happenings, and motions of the eyes and eyelids, as well as all the other arts of the learning of the Chaldees. Now, all this learning is the error of devils, and those who practise it shall receive, together with the devils, the doom of the Judgment. And because this art of divination, which was employed by Nimrod, was taught to him [Fol. 34 25a, col. 1] by Yonton, none of the orthodox doctors have suppressed it; nay, they have even practised it. Now the Persians call it “Gelyana ” (i.e. “Revelation”) and the Romans “Estromion” (i.e. “Astronomy”). But that [knowledge] which the Magians have, viz. astrology, is sorcery and the teaching of devils. There are some who say that it doth indeed [teach concerning] luck, and happenings (i.e. future events), and fate, but these are in error

Book of Jubilees 7:10-13

And Noah awoke from his sleep and knew all that his younger son had done unto him, and he cursed his son and said: ‘Cursed be Canaan; an enslaved servant shall he be unto his brethren.’

And he blessed Shem, and said: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.

God shall enlarge Japheth, and God shall dwell in the dwelling of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.’

And Ham knew that his father had cursed his younger son, and he was displeased that he had cursed his son. and he parted from his father, he and his sons with him, Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

Noah: Ham’s black skin and slavery

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Sanhedrin 108b:15

Temp

The Sages taught: Three violated that directive and engaged in intercourse while in the ark, and all of them were punished for doing so. They are: The dog, and the raven, and Ham, son of Noah. The dog was punished in that it is bound; the raven was punished in that it spits, and Ham was afflicted in that his skin turned black.

Job

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Abraham: Abraham Smashing Idols

Quran

Midrash

Surah 21:51-70

51 And we indeed gave Abraham of old his proper course, and we were aware of him, 52 When he said to his father and his people, What are these images to which you are devoted? 53 They said, We found our fathers worshippers of them. 54 He said, Indeed you and your fathers were in plain error. 55 They said, Do you bring us the truth, or are you some joker? 56 He said, No, but your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, who created them, and I am among those who testify to that. 57 And by Allah, I will circumvent your idols after you have gone away and turned your backs. 58 Then he reduced them to fragments, all except the chief of them, so that perhaps they might have recourse to it. 59 They said, Who has done this to our gods? Surely it must be some evildoer. 60 They said, We heard a youth mention them, who is called Abraham. 61 They said, Then bring him before the people’s eyes so that they may testify. 62 They said, Is it you who have done this to our gods, O Abraham? 63 He said, But this, their chief has done it. So question them, if they can speak. 64 Then they gathered together in a different place and said, Indeed, you yourselves are the wrongdoers. 65 And they reversed themselves, and they said, You know well that these do not speak. 66 He said, Do you then worship instead of Allah what cannot benefit you at all, nor harm you? 67 Shame on you and all that you worship instead of Allah. Have you then no sense? 68 They called out, Burn him and stand by your gods, if you are going to act. 69 We said, O fire, be coolness and peace for Abraham, 70 And they wished to set a trap for him, but we made them the greater losers.

Surah 37:83-98

83 And indeed, of his persuasion indeed was Abraham 84 When he came to his Lord with a whole heart, 85 When he said to his father and his people, What is it that you worship? 86 Is it a falsehood, gods besides Allah, that you desire? 87 What then is your opinion of the Lord of the worlds? 88 And he glanced a glance at the stars 89 Then said, Indeed, I feel sick. 90 And they turned their backs and went away from him. 91 Then he turned to their gods and said, Will you not eat? 92 What ails you that you do not speak? 93 Then he attacked them, striking with his right hand. 94 And they came toward him, hastening. 95 He said, Do you worship what you yourselves carve 96 When Allah has created you and what you make? 97 They said, Build for him a building and fling him in the red hot fire. 98 And they designed a trap for him, but we made them inferior.

Bereshit Rabbah 38:13

“Haran died during the lifetime of Tera? his father” – Rabbi ?iyya grandson of Rav Ada of Yafo: Tera? was an idol worshipper [and a seller of idols]. One time, he went away to some place, and he installed Abraham as salesman in his stead. A person would come seeking to buy. He [Abraham] would say to him: ‘How old are you?’ He would say to him: ‘Fifty or sixty years old.’ He would say to him: ‘Woe to this man who is sixty years old and seeks to prostrate himself before something that is one day old.’ He would be ashamed and leave. One time, a certain woman came, carrying a dish of fine flour in her hand. She said to him: ‘Here, offer it before them.’ He arose, took a club in his hand, shattered all the idols, and placed the club in the hand of the largest among them. When his father came, he said to him: ‘Who did this to them?’ He said to him: ‘I will not lie to you, a certain woman came, carrying a dish of fine flour in her hand. She said to me: Here, offer it before them. I offered it before them. This one [idol] said: I shall eat first, and another one said: I shall eat first. This big idol, who was standing among them, got up and took the club and shattered them.’ He [Tera?] said to him: ‘’ What, are you mocking me? Are they sentient at all?’ He said to him: ‘Do your ears not hear what your mouth is saying?
He [Tera?] took him and handed him over to Nimrod. He [Nimrod] said to him [Abraham]: ‘Let us bow down to fire.’ Abraham said to him: ‘Let us better bow down to water, that extinguishes fire.’ Nimrod said to him: ‘[All right,] let us bow down to water.’ He said to him: ‘If so, let us bow down to the clouds, that bear the water.’ He said to him: ‘[All right,] let us bow down to the clouds.’ He said to him: ‘If so, let us bow down to the wind, that scatters the clouds.’ He said to him: ‘[All right,] let us bow down to the wind.’ He said to him: ‘Better let us bow down to a person, who can withstand the wind.’ He said to him: ‘You are saying mere words. I bow down only to fire. I will cast you into it, and let that God to whom you bow down come and rescue you from it.’ Haran was there and he was conflicted. He said: ‘Either way [I will know what to do]; If Abraham is victorious, I will say: I am with Abraham, and if Nimrod is victorious, I will say: I am with Nimrod.’ When Abraham descended into the fiery furnace and was rescued, they said to him [Haran]: ‘With whom are you?’ He said to them: ‘I am with Abraham.’ They took him and cast him into the fire and his innards were scorched. He emerged and died in the presence of Tera? his father.

Abraham: Conversion with Stars

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 6:74-83

74 When Abraham said to his father Azar, Do you take idols for gods? Indeed, I see you and your people in manifest error. 75 In this way we showed Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, so that he might be among those who possess certainty, 76 When the night grew dark upon him, he saw a star. He said, This is my Lord. But when it set, he said, I do not love things that set. 77 And when he saw the moon rising, he exclaimed, This is my Lord. But when it set, he said, Unless my Lord guides me, I surely will become one of the people who are astray. 78 And when he saw the sun rising, he cried, This is my Lord. This is greater. And when it set, he exclaimed, O my people, indeed, I am free from all that you associate. 79 Indeed, I have turned my face toward him who created the heavens and the earth as a hanif , and I am not among the idolaters. 80 His people argued with him. He said, Do you disagree with me about Allah when he has guided me? I don’t fear what you set up beside him at all, unless my Lord wills anything. My Lord includes all things in his knowledge. Will you not then remember? 81 How should I fear what you set up beside him, when you don’t fear to set up besides Allah something for which he has not revealed to you any justification? Which of the two factions has more right to safety, if you have knowledge? 82 Those who believe and do not obscure their belief by wrongdoing, theirs is safety, and they are rightly guided. 83 That is our argument. We gave it to Abraham against his people. We raise to degrees of wisdom those whom we will. Indeed, your Lord is wise, aware.

“Tafs?r Ibn ?Abb?s”

al-?abar?

al-Qur?ub?

al-Baghaw?

al-Tha?lab?

Venus

Cave

Book of Jubilees 12:16-22

and Abram, dwelt with Terah his father in Haran two weeks of years.

And in the sixth week, in the fifth year thereof, Abram sat up throughout the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from the evening to the morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains,

and he was alone as he sat and observed.
And a word came into his heart and he said: “All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord.

Why do I search (them) out? If He desireth, He causeth it to rain, morning and evening; And if He desireth, He withholdeth it, And all things are in His hand.”

And he prayed that night and said “My God, God Most High, Thou alone art my God, And Thee and Thy dominion have I chosen. And Thou hast created all things, And all things that are are the work of Thy hands.

Deliver me from the hands of evil spirits who have sway over the thoughts of men’s hearts, And let them not lead me astray from Thee, my God.

And stablish Thou me and my seed for ever That we go not astray from henceforth and for evermore.”

Apocalypse of Abraham 4:3-6; 7:8-9

4:3 And I declared and said to him, “Hear, Terah, [my] father! It is the gods who are blessed by you, since you are a god to them, since you have made them; since their blessing is perdition, and their power is vain. 4:4 They could not help themselves, how [then] will they help you or bless me? 4:5 [In fact] I was for you a kind god of this gain, since it was through my cleverness that I brought you the money for the smashed [gods].” 4:6 And when he heard my word, his anger was kindled against me, since I had spoken harsh words against his gods.

7:8 [So] I would call the sun nobler than the earth, since with its rays it illumines the inhabited world and the various airs. 7:9 But I would not make it into a god either, since its course is obscured [both] at night [and] by the clouds. 7:10 Nor, again, would I call the moon and the stars gods, since they too in their times at night can darken their light.

Bava Barta 16b:10

Rabbi Elazar HaModa’i says: Abraham our forefather was so knowledgeable in astrology [itztagninut] that all the kings of the East and the West would come early to his door due to his wisdom. This is the blessing of bakkol, that he possessed knowledge that everybody needed. Rabbi Shimon ben Yo?ai says: A precious stone hung around the neck of Abraham our forefather; any sick person who looked at it would immediately be healed. When Abraham our forefather died, the Holy One, Blessed be He, hung this stone from the sphere of the sun, which from that point on brought healing to the sick. Abaye said: This explains the adage that people say: As the day progresses, sickness is lifted.

In Bava Barta 91a:17 has the entire world sad when Abraham died due to his ability to do astrology

Abraham: Building the Kaaba

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 2:127

And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the house, Our Lord, accept this from us. Indeed, you, only you, are the hearer, the knower

Joseph Witztum, The Foundations of the House:

Joseph argues that the Quranic scene reflects a number of post-Biblical traditions building on Genesis 22 where Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac. In later exegetical traditions, Abraham builds an altar for the sacrifice and Isaac willingly offers himself for slaughter. By the time of Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews 1:227 (1st century CE), Isaac even helps in its construction. In the 4th to 5th centuries several (mostly Syriac) Christian homilies take up this motif. Then a 6th century CE Syriac homily by Jacob of Serugh on Genesis 22 describes them as building not just an altar but a “house” (Syriac: bayta), like in the Quran (Arabic: bayt), which replaces Isaac here with Ishmael. Witztum also argues that the Quran transfers this imagery, originally associated with Jerusalem, to Mecca.

Abraham: The Three Visitors

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 11:69-70

“And surely Our messenger-angels came to Abraham with good news. They greeted, “Peace!” And he replied, “Peace!” Then it was not long before he brought a roasted calf.

Al-Tabari’s tafsir on Surah 11:69

God Almighty says: Our messengers came from among the angels, and they, as has been mentioned, were Gabriel and two other angels. It has also been said that the other two angels were Michael and Israfil with him.

In Ibn Mas’ud’s reading, it is: “So when he brought it near to them, he said, ‘Will you not eat?'” They said: “O Abraham, we do not eat food except for a price.” He said: “Then this has a price.” They said: “What is its price?” He said: You mention God’s name at the beginning and praise Him at the end. Then Gabriel looked at Michael and said: This one deserves to be chosen by his Lord as a friend.

Ibn Kathir on Surah 11:69-73

He slaughtered it (the calf), roasted it on hot stones and brought it to them. Then, he sat down with them. when he placed it before them. (saying): `Will you not eat’ They said, `O Ibrahim! Verily, we do not eat food without a price.’ Ibrahim then said, `Verily, this food has a price.’ They said, `What is its price’ He said, `You must mention the Name of Allah over it before eating it and praise Allah upon finishing it.’ Jibril then looked at Mika’il and said, `This man has the right that his Lord should take him as an intimate friend.’

Bava Metzia 86b

“The Gemara continues: Who are these three men? They are the angels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.”

Lot

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Sodom and Gomorrah

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Jacob: Knew Joseph was alive

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 12:17-18

17 Saying, O our father, we went racing one with another, and left Joseph by our things, and the wolf devoured him, and you do not believe what we are saying even when we speak the truth. 18 And they came with false blood on his shirt. He said, No, but your minds have seduced you into something. Patience is appropriate. And Allah it is whose help is to be sought in what you describe.

Surah 12:93-96

93 Go with this shirt of mine and lay it on my father’s face, he will become a

seer, and come to me with all your people.

94 When the caravan departed, their father had said, Indeed I am conscious

of the breath of Joseph, though you call me senile.

95 They said, By Allah, indeed, you are in your old delusion.

96 Then, when the bearer of good news came, he laid it on his face and he

became a seer once more. He said, Did I not say to you that I know from

Allah what you do not know?

Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22

…

“He identified it and said: My son’s tunic” – he said: I do not know what I am seeing. “My son’s tunic! A savage beast devoured him…” – Rav Huna said: The Divine Spirit flashed in him: “A savage beast devoured him” – this is Potifar’s wife. … Joseph Witzum, Syriac Milleu p 209

Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Simon said: When [Jacob] was with him he would weep, but when he would leave him, he would go, bathe, and anoint himself with oil. Why did he not reveal it to him? He said: The Holy One blessed be He did not reveal it to him and I will reveal it to him? Rabbi Simon said: This was based on: Anyone for whom one mourns, one mourns with him.

Israel: Jacob tells his sons to not enter through one gate

Quran

Surah 12:67

Midrash

Bereshit Rabbah 91:6

And he said, O my sons, do not go in by one gate, go in by different gates. I cannot help you in any way against Allah. Indeed, the decision rests with Allah alone. In him do I put my trust, and in him let all the trusting put their trust.

… he foresaw that his hope was in Egypt. What was that? That was Joseph.
“Jacob said to his sons: Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?” Jacob said to his sons: ‘You are mighty, you are handsome, do not enter through one gate and do not stand in one place, so that the evil eye will not have dominion over you.’
“Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there.” … When Jacob’s sons came, each and every one entered through his own gate, and they wrote their names. … ‘“We are sincere”; however, this is what our father commanded us: Do not enter through one gate…’

Joseph: Joseph being sold

Quran

Surah 12:19

Midrash

Bereshit Rabbah 84:18-22

And there came a caravan, and they sent their water-drawer. He let down his pail. He said, What a stroke of good fortune! Here is a young man. And they hid him as a treasure, and Allah was aware of what they did.

“Midianite men, merchants, passed, and they pulled and lifted Joseph from the pit; they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and they brought Joseph to Egypt” (Genesis 37:28).
“Midianite [midyanim] men, merchants, passed” – their contentiousness [hadayyanim] passed.

Joseph: Joseph’s Beauty

Quran

Midrash

Surah 12:30-32

30 And women in the city said, The ruler’s wife is asking an evil deed of her slave boy. Indeed, he has smitten her to the heart with love. We see that she is clearly mistaken. 31 And when she heard about their sly talk, she sent to them and prepared a cushioned couch for them and gave every one of them a knife and said, Come out to them. And when they saw him, they praised him and cut their hands, exclaiming, Allah is blameless! This is not a human being. This is nothing other than some gracious angel. 32 She said, This is he because of whom you blamed me. I asked an evil act of him, but he abstained, but if he does not do my bidding he indeed will be imprisoned, and indeed will be among those who are brought low.

Bereshit Rabbah 86:3

“The official of [seris] Pharaoh” – he was castrated [nistares]. This teaches that [Potiphar] purchased [Joseph] only for intercourse, but the Holy One blessed be He castrated him. This is analogous to a she-bear that was killing its master’s children. He said: ‘Break its teeth.’ So, it teaches that [Potiphar] purchased him only for intercourse, and the Holy One blessed be He castrated him. …

Bereshit Rabbah 87:3

“His master’s wife cast her eyes” – what is written prior to this matter? “Joseph was of fine form and of fair appearance” (Genesis 39:6). This is analogous to a mighty man who was standing in the street grooming his eyes, curling his hair, and lifting his heels. He said: ‘This is appropriate for me, becoming for me, [as I am] fair and mighty.’ They said to him: ‘If you are mighty, if you are fair, there is a she-bear before you, arise and attack it.’ …

Midrash Tanchuma Vayeshev 5:2

Our sages inform us that on one occasion Potiphar’s wife assembled a number of Egyptian women so that they might see how very handsome Joseph was. But before she summoned Joseph she gave each of them an ethrog and a knife. When they saw Joseph’s handsome countenance, they cut their hands. She said to them: “If this can happen to you, who see him only once, how much more so does it happen to me, who must look at him constantly.” Each day she strove to entice him with words, but he suppressed his evil inclination. …

Moses: Mountain above Israel at Sinai

Quran

Surah 2:63

Talmud

Avodah Zarah 2b:15

And when we made a covenant with you and caused the mountain to tower above you, hold fast to what we have given you, and remember what is in it, so that you may fear Allah.

As it is written: “And they stood at the nether part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17), and Rav Dimi bar ?ama says: The verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain, i.e., Mount Sinai, above the Jews like a basin, and He said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there, under the mountain, will be your burial.

Moses: Moses not suckled by Egyptians

Quran

Surah 28:12-13

Talmud

Sotah 12b:19-20

12 And we had previously forbidden foster-mothers for him, so she said, Shall I show you a family that will raise him for you and take care of him? 13 So we restored him to his mother, so that she might be comforted and not grieve, and so that she might know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of them do not know.

The Gemara now discusses the next verse in Exodus: “Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter: Shall I go and call you a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? … The Gemara answers: This teaches that prior to this, they took Moses around to all the Egyptian wet nurses and he did not agree to nurse from any of them, as he said: Shall a mouth that in the future will speak with the Divine Presence actually nurse something impure?

Moses: The Golden (Saffron) Cow, Samael/Samiri, and Tablets of all things

Quran

Midrash

Pirkei DeRabbi

Eliezer 45:4-11

Surah 20:85-97

85 He said, Indeed, we have tested your people in your absence, and AsSamiri has misled them.

87 They said, We did not break our promise with you of our own will, but we were laden with the burdens of the ornaments of the people, then threw them, for that was what As-Samiri proposed.

88 Then he produced for them a calf, of saffron color, which gave forth a lowing sound. And they called out, This is your god and the god of Moses, but he has forgotten.

94 He said, O son of my mother, do not clutch my beard or my head. I was afraid that you would say, You have caused division among the children of Israel, and have not waited for my word.

95 He said, And what do you have to say, O Samiri?

96 He said, I perceived what they did not perceive, so I seized a handful from the footsteps of the messenger, and then threw it in. In this way my soul prompted me.

97 He said, Then go. And indeed, in this life it is for you to say, Do not touch me. And indeed, there is for you an appointment that you cannot break. Now look upon your god to which you have remained devoted. Indeed we will burn it and will scatter its dust over the sea.

Surah 7:145-150

145 And we wrote for him upon the tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation of all things, then, Hold it fast, and command your people, Take what is better in it. I will show you the abode of transgressors.

146 I will turn away from my signs those who exalt themselves wrongfully on earth, and if they see each sign do not believe it, and if they see the way of righteousness do not choose it for a way, and if they see the way of error, choose it for a way. That is because they deny our signs and used to disregard them.

147 Those who deny our signs and the meeting of the hereafter, their works are fruitless. Are they repaid for anything except what they used to do?

148 And the people of Moses, afterward chose a calf out of their ornaments, which made a lowing sound. Didn’t they see that it did not speak to them or guide them to any path? They chose it and became wrongdoers.

149 And when they feared the consequences of this and saw that they had gone astray, they said, Unless our Lord has mercy on us and forgives us, we are indeed among the lost.

150 And when Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said, What you did after I left you is evil. Would you hasten the judgment of your Lord? And he threw down the tablets, and he seized his brother by the head, dragging him toward him. He said, Son of my mother, indeed, the people judged me weak and almost killed me. Oh, do not make my enemies triumph over me and do not place me among the evildoers.

Aaron argued with himself, saying: If I say to Israel, Give ye to me gold and silver, they will bring it immediately; but behold I will say to them, Give ye to me the earrings of your wives, and of your sons, and forthwith the matter will fail, as it is said, “And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings” (Ex. 32:2). The women heard (this), but they were unwilling to give their earrings to their husbands; but they said to them: Ye desire to make a graven image and a molten image without any power in it to deliver. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the women their reward in this world and in the world to come.

…

Aaron found among the earrings one plate of gold upon which the Holy Name was written, and engraven thereon was the figure of a calf, and that (plate) alone did he cast into the fiery furnace, as it is said, “So they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf”

The calf came out lowing, and the Israelites saw it, and they went astray after it.

Rabbi Jehudah said: Sammael entered into it, and he was lowing to mislead Israel, as it is said, “The ox knoweth his owner”

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Israel has forgotten the might of My power, which I wrought for them in Egypt and at the Reed Sea, and they have made an idol for themselves. He said to Moses: Go, get thee down from thy greatness. Moses spake before the Holy One, blessed be He: Sovereign of all the worlds!

Moses took || the tables (of the law), and he descended, and the tables carried their own weight and Moses with them; but when they beheld the calf and the dances, the writing fled from off the tables, and they became heavy in his hands, and Moses was not able to carry himself and the tables, and he cast them from his hand, and they were broken beneath the mount, as it is said, “And Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount”

Moses said to Aaron: What hast thou done to this people? Thou hast made them unruly, like a woman who is unchecked owing to immorality. He said to Moses: I saw what they did to Hur, and I feared very greatly.

Moses saw that the tribe of Levi was with him. He became strengthened with his might, and he burnt the calf with fire, and powdered it, like the dust of the earth, and he cast its dust upon the face of the waters, as it is said, “And he took the || calf which they had made”

The word for Tablets is alwah and is in the plural form. Arabic has not only singular and plural but also a dual form, that is used when two of something are referred to. The plural is used when three or more are in view. Had the author of the Quran spoken of two tablets, he would have used the form al-lawhayni (the two tablets) in all three verses.

Moses: Moses and the Fish

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 18:60-64

And [mention] when Moses said to his servant, “I will not cease [traveling] until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long period.” But when they reached the junction between them, they forgot their fish, and it took its course into the sea, slipping away. So when they had passed beyond it, [Moses] said to his boy, “Bring us our morning meal. We have certainly suffered in this, our journey, [much] fatigue.” He said, “Did you see when we retired to the rock? Indeed, I forgot [there] the fish. And none made me forget it except Satan – that I should mention it. And it took its course into the sea amazingly”. [Moses] said, “That is what we were seeking.” So they returned, following their footprints.

Song of Alexander, recension 1, p. 26, ll. 33–38

The Macedonian king, the son of Philip spoke: / “I have determined to follow a great quest to reach the lands, / even the furthest lands, / to reach the seas, and the coasts, and the borders as they are; / Above all to enter and to see the land of darkness / if it is truly as I heard it is.”

Song of Alexander, recension 1, pp. 48–50, ll. 182–92
Then [Alexander’s cook] came to the spring, which contained the lifegiving water / he came close to it, in order to wash the fish in water, but it came alive and escaped; The poor man was afraid that the king would blame him / that he give back the [value of the] fish, which had come to life and which he did not stop. So he got down into the water, in order to catch it, but was unable / then he climbed out from there in order to tell the king that he had found [the spring] He called, but no one heard him, and so he went to a mountain from where they heard him / the king was glad when he heard about the spring. The king turned around in order to bathe [in the spring] as he had sought to do / and they went from the mountain in the middle of darkness, but they could not reach it.

Gabriel Said Reynolds,”The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary”

Moses: Saved in an “Ark”

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 20:38-39

38 When we inspired in your mother what is inspired, 39 Saying, Throw him into the ark, and throw it into the river, then the river will throw it on to the bank, and there an enemy to me and an enemy to him will take him. And I filled you with love from me so that you might be trained according to my will,

Sotah 12b:13, 4

The verse continues: “And she saw the ark (tebat Hebrew, tabut Arabic) among the willows” … The Gemara applies this to Pharaoh: Pharaoh’s astrologers saw that the savior of the Jewish people would be stricken by water. Therefore, they arose and decreed: “Every son that is born you shall cast into the river” (Exodus 1:22); they thought that their vision indicated that Moses would be killed in the water. Once Jochebed cast Moses into the water, although he was protected in an ark, the astrologers said: We no longer see in the stars anything like that sign we saw as to the downfall of the leader of the Jews by water, and therefore at that moment they canceled their decree.

This is the same word in Exodus 2 and Genesis 6 (with the actual Ark of Noah) but the way it is used in the rest of the Quran is different. It is only ever used of the coffin of the Ark of the Covenant. The word for the Ark of Noah is fulk Nun.

Moses: Moses and al Khidr

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 18:65-82

And they found a servant from among Our servants to whom we had given mercy from us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge. Moses said to him, “May I follow you on [the condition] that you teach me from what you have been taught of sound judgement?” He said, “Indeed, with me you will never be able to have patience. And how can you have patience for what you do not encompass in knowledge?” [Moses] said, “You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in [any] order.” He said, “Then if you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I make to you about it mention.” So they set out, until when they had embarked on the ship, al-Khidh r tore it open. [Moses] said, “Have you torn it open to drown its people? You have certainly done a grave thing.” [Al-Khidh r] said, “Did I not say that with me you would never be able to have patience?” [Moses] said, “Do not blame me for what I forgot and do not cover me in my matter with difficulty.” So they set out, until when they met a boy, al-Khidh r killed him. [Moses] said, “Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing.” [Al-Khidh r] said, “Did I not tell you that with me you would never be able to have patience?” [Moses] said, “If I should ask you about anything after this, then do not keep me as a companion. You have obtained from me an excuse.” So they set out, until when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. And they found therein a wall about to collapse, so al-Khidh r restored it. [Moses] said, “If you wished, you could have taken for it a payment.” [Al-Khidh r] said, “This is parting between me and you. I will inform you of the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience. As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea. So I intended to cause defect in it as there was after them a king who seized every [good] ship by force. And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy. And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a treasure for them, and their father had been righteous. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of that about which you could not have patience.”

The spiritual meadow by John Moschos (also known as John Eviratus) pp. 220-222

There was a virtuous anchorite who called upon God saying: ‘Lord, make known to me what your judgements are’. He demonstrated frequent <acts of> asceticism in support of this prayer, but God made it known to him that, for men, this was not possible. He still continued beseeching God by an ascetic mode of life; and as God wished to inform the elder, he allowed the idea to come to him to go visit an anchorite who was settled not a few miles away. He got his sheepskin coat ready and set off. God sent an angel disguised as a monk who met the elder and said to him: ‘Where are you going, good elder?’ The elder said ‘To so-and-so the anchorite’. The angel who was pretending to be a monk said: ‘I am going to <see> him too; we will travel together’. When they had travelled the first day, they came to a place in which there dwelt a man who loved Christ. He received them <as guests> and put them up. Whilst they were eating, the man produced a silver dish <patella> and when they had eaten, the angel took the dish and made it disappear into thin air. The elder was disturbed when he saw this. Then going out together, they travelled the next day and in due course encountered another man who loved Christ and monks, in the place where he dwelt. He received them as his guests, washed their feet and embraced them. Early next morning, he brought his son, the only child he had, to be blessed by them. The angel seized it by the throat and strangled it. The elder was flabbergasted, but he said not a word. The third day, although they travelled a great distance, they found nobody who would offer them hospitality. Then they found a long-deserted dwelling where, sitting down in the shade of a wall, they partook of the dried-out crusts the elder had. And, as they were eating, the angel saw a wall about to collapse. Leaping up to safety, he began to take down the masonry and to rebuild <it>. The elder could bear it no longer; he swore at him, saying: ‘Are you an angel? Are you a demon? Tell me what you are; the things you do are not the sort of things a man does’. The angel said: ‘What did I do?’ The elder said: ‘Yesterday and the day before, those friends of Christ put us up. You not only made the first one’s dish disappear; you also strangled the son of the other. And yet here, where we have found no rest, you stand doing the work of a labourer’. Then the angel said to him: ‘Listen, and I will tell you. The first man who received us is one who loves God and manages his possessions in a godly way. That dish was left to him as the inheritance of an unjust man. I made that dish disappear, you see, so that he would not lose the reward of his other good <deeds> on account of it, and <now> his record is clean. And the other man who made us his guests, he is virtuous. Had that small child lived, it would have <grown up> to be an instrument of Satan, so that the good works of his father would pass into oblivion. So I strangled him whilst he was tender to ensure the salvation of the father, and that his record remain unassailable before God’. The elder said: ‘And what about here?’ The angel said: ‘The owner of this dwelling is a plague who seeks to harm many people; it grieves him that he cannot succeed in doing so. When his grandfather built this house, he put money into the masonry he was building. I restored the masonry, you see, so that he would not be able to harm those he intended to harm by means of the cash he would have found when the building collapsed; I deprived him of the means. Now go to <your> cell, for as the Holy Spirit says: Your judgements are like the great deep <Ps 35:6>.’ Having said this to him, the angel of God disappeared. Then the elder returned to his senses; he went back to his cell, glorifying God.

David

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Solomon: Magic Ring

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Solomon: Flying Carpet

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Solomon: Controls Jinn

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Solomon: Controls the Shamir

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Gittin 68a:6-68b

Rabbi Yo?anan says: There were three hundred types of demons in a place named Shi?in, but I do not know what the form or nature of a demon itself is.

The Master said: Here they interpreted it: Male demons and female demons. The Gemara asks: Why was it necessary for Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, to have male demons and female demons? The Gemara answers: As it is written with regard to the building of the Temple: “For the house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built” (I Kings 6:7). Solomon said to the sages: How shall I make it so that the stone will be precisely cut without using iron? They said to him: There is a creature called a shamir that can cut the stones, which Moses brought and used to cut the stones of the ephod.

Solomon said to them: Where is it found? They said to him: Bring a male demon and a female demon and torment them together. It is possible that they know where, and due to the suffering they will reveal the place to you. Solomon brought a male demon and a female demon and tormented them together, and they said: We do not know where to find the shamir. Perhaps Ashmedai, king of the demons, knows.

Solomon said to them: Where is Ashmedai? They said to him: He is on such-and-such a mountain. He has dug a pit for himself there, and filled it with water, and covered it with a rock, and sealed it with his seal. And every day he ascends to Heaven and studies in the heavenly study hall and he descends to the earth and studies in the earthly study hall. And he comes and checks his seal to ensure that nobody has entered his pit, and then he uncovers it and drinks from the water in the pit. And then he covers it and seals it again and goes.

Solomon sent for Benayahu, son of Jehoiada, a member of the royal entourage, and gave him a chain onto which a sacred name of God was carved, and a ring onto which a sacred name of God was carved … When Ashmedai arrived there, in Jerusalem, they did not bring him before Solomon until three days had passed. … Solomon said to him: I need nothing from you. I want to build the Temple and I need the shamir for this. Ashmedai said to him: The shamir was not given to me, but it was given to the angelic minister of the sea. And he gives it only to the wild rooster, also known as the dukhifat or the hoopoe, whom he trusts by the force of his oath to return it. And what does the wild rooster do with it? He brings it to mountains that are not fit for habitation, and he places the shamir on the craggy rock and the mountain splits. And he takes and brings seeds of trees, throws them there, and it becomes fit for habitation. They investigated and found the nest of a wild rooster in which there were chicks, and he covered its nest with translucent glass. When the rooster came it wanted to enter the nest but was unable to do so. It went and brought the shamir and placed it on top to crack the glass. Solomon’s servant threw a clump of dirt at the rooster and the rooster knocked over the shamir. The man took it and the wild rooster went and strangled itself over the fact that it had not kept its oath, by not returning the shamir.

Solomon: Used the Jinn to make the temple

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Solomon kept Ashmedai with him until he completed building the Temple. One day he stood with Ashmedai alone. He said to Ashmedai: It is written: “For him like the lofty horns of the wild ox” (Numbers 24:8), and the Sages say in explanation of the verse: “Like the lofty horns”; these are the ministering angels. “The wild ox”; these are the demons. In what way are you greater than us? Why does the verse praise your abilities and powers over those of human beings?

Ashmedai said to him: Take the chain engraved with God’s name off me and give me your ring with God’s name engraved on it, and I will show you my strength. Solomon took the chain off him and he gave him his ring. Ashmedai swallowed the ring and grew until he placed one wing in the heaven and one wing on the earth. He threw Solomon a distance of four hundred parasangs. With regard to that moment Solomon said: “What profit is there for a person through all of his toil under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). With Solomon deposed from the throne, Ashmedai took his place.

Solomon: Body on Solomon’s Throne

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 38:34-39 – 34 And indeed we tested Solomon, and set upon his throne a lifeless body. Then he repented. 35 He said, My Lord, forgive me and bestow dominion on me such as shall not belong to any after me. Indeed, you are the bestower. 36 So we made the wind subservient to him, to flow gently by his command wherever he intended. 37 And the unruly, every builder and diver, 38 And others linked together in chains, 39 This is our gift, so bestow it, or withhold, without reckoning.

With regard to the verse: “And this was my portion from all of my toil” (Ecclesiastes 2:10), the Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the expression: “And this”? This expression is always an allusion to an item that is actually in his hand or can be shown. Rav and Shmuel disagree with regard to the meaning of this phrase. One said: This is referring to Solomon’s staff that remained in his hand. And one said: This is referring to his cloak. Solomon circulated from door to door collecting charity, and wherever he arrived he would say: “I, Ecclesiastes, was king over Israel in Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 1:12). When he finally arrived at the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem the sages said: Now, an imbecile does not fixate on one matter all of the time, so what is this matter? Is this man perhaps telling the truth that he is Solomon?

The sages said to Benayahu: Does the king require you to be with him? Benayahu said to them: No. They sent to the queens and asked: Does the king come to be with you? The queens sent a response to them: Yes, he comes. They sent a request to the queens: Check his feet to see if they are human feet. The queens sent a response to the sages: He always comes in socks [bemokei], and it is not possible to see his feet.

The queens continued discussing the king’s behavior: And he demands of them, i.e., the queens, to engage in sexual intercourse when they are menstruating. And he also demands that Bathsheba his mother engage in sexual intercourse with him. Once the Sanhedrin heard this they understood that this was an imposter and not actually Solomon. They brought Solomon, gave him a ring and the chain on which the name of God was carved. When Solomon entered, Ashmedai saw him and fled.

Solomon: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Quran

Surah 27

Targum Sheni

15 And we indeed gave knowledge to David and Solomon, and they said, Praise be to Allah, who has preferred us above many of his believing slaves.

16 And Solomon was David’s heir. And he said, O mankind, indeed, we have been taught the language of birds, and have been given of all things. This surely is obvious favor.

17 And there were gathered together to Solomon his armies of the jinn and mankind, and of the birds, and they were set in battle order,

18 Until, when they reached the valley of the ants, an ant exclaimed, O ants, enter your dwellings so that Solomon and his armies do not crush you without realizing.

19 And he smiled, laughing at her speech, and said, My Lord, make me thankful for your favor with which you have favored me and my parents, and to do good that will be pleasing to you, and include me among your righteous slaves.

20 And he searched among the birds and said, How is it that I do not see the hoopoe, or is he among the absent?

21 I indeed will punish him with hard punishment or I indeed will kill him, or he indeed will bring me a clear excuse.

22 But he was not long in coming, and he said, I have found out what you do not understand, and I come to you from Sheba with sure news.

23 Indeed, I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given of all things, and hers is a mighty throne.

24 I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Satan makes their works seem good to them, and bars them from the way, so that they are not guided,

25 So that they do not worship Allah, who brings forth the hidden in the heavens and the earth, and knows what you conceal and what you proclaim,

26 Allah, there is no God except him, the Lord of the mighty throne.

27 He said, We will see whether you speak truth or whether you are among the liars.

28 Go with this my letter and throw it down to them, then turn away and see what they return,

29 She said, O chieftains, indeed, there has been thrown to me a noble letter.

30 Indeed, it is from Solomon, and indeed, it is in the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful,

31 Do not exalt yourselves against me, but come to me as Muslims.

32 She said, O chieftains, pronounce for me in my case. I decide no case until you are present with me.

33 They said, We are lords of might and lords of great prowess, but it is for you to command, so consider what you will command.

34 She said, Indeed, kings, when they enter a township, ruin it and make the honor of its people shame. They will do this.

35 But indeed, I am going to send a present to them, and to see with what the messengers return.

36 So when he came to Solomon, he said, What? Would you help me with wealth? But what Allah has given me is better than what he has given you. No, it is you who rejoice in your gift.

37 Return to them. We indeed will come to them with armies that they cannot resist, and we will drive them out from there with shame, and they will be humiliated.

38 He said, O chiefs, which of you will bring me her throne before they come to me as Muslims? 39 An ifrit among the jinn said, I will bring it you before you can rise from your place. Indeed, I truly am strong and trusty for such work.

40 One with whom was knowledge of the book said, I will bring it you before your gaze returns to you. And when he saw it set in his presence, he said, This is of the bounty of my Lord, that he may test me whether I give thanks or am ungrateful. Whoever gives thanks only gives thanks for his own soul, and whoever is ungrateful, indeed, my Lord is absolute in independence, bountiful.

41 He said, Disguise her throne for her so that we may see whether she will be guided or be among those who are not rightly guided.

42 So when she came, it was said, Is your throne like this? She said, As if it were the very one. And, We were given the knowledge before her and we became Muslims.

43 And what she was inclined to worship instead of Allah hindered her, for she came among disbelieving people.

44 It was said to her, Enter the hall. And when she saw it, she thought it was a pool and bared her legs. He said, Indeed, it is a hall, made smooth, of glass. She said, My Lord, indeed, I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

(51) Solomon, it must be remembered, bore rule not only over men, but also over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, demons, spirits, and the spectres of the night. He knew the language of all of them and they understood his language.

(52) When Solomon was of good cheer by reason of wine, he summoned the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the creeping reptiles, the shades, the spectres, and the ghosts, to perform their dances before the kings, his neighbors, whom he invited to witness his power and greatness. The king’s scribes called the animals and the spirits by name, one by one, and they all assembled of their own accord, without fetters or bonds, with no human hand to guide them.

(53) On one occasion the hoopoe was missed from among the birds. He could not be found anywhere. The king, full of wrath, ordered him to be produced and chastised for his tardiness. The hoopoe appeared and said: “O lord, king of the world, incline thine ear and hearken to my words. Three months have gone by since I began to take counsel with myself and resolve upon a course of action. I have eaten no food and drunk no water, in order to fly about in the whole world and see whether there is a domain anywhere which is not subject to my lord the king. and I found a city, the city of Kitor, in the East. Dust is more valuable than gold there, and silver is like the mud of the streets. Its trees are from the beginning of all time, and they suck up water that flows from the Garden of Eden. The city is crowded with men. On their heads they wear garlands wreathed in Paradise. They know not how to fight, nor how to shoot with bow and arrow. Their ruler is a woman, she is called the Queen of Sheba. If, now, it please thee, O lord and king, I shall gird my loins like a hero, and journey to the city of Kitor in the land of Sheba. Its kings I shall fetter with chains and its rulers with iron bands, and bring them all before my lord the king.”

(54) The hoopoe’s speech pleased the king. The clerks of his land were summoned, and they wrote a letter and bound it to the hoopoe’s wing. The bird rose skyward, uttered his cry, and flew away, followed by all the other birds.

(55) And they came to Kitor in the land of Sheba. It was morning, and the queen had gone forth to pay worship to the sun. Suddenly the birds darkened his light. The queen raised her hand, and rent her garment, and was sore astonished. Then the hoopoe alighted near her. Seeing that a letter was tied to his wing, she loosed it and read it. And what was written in the letter? “From me, King Solomon! Peace be with thee, peace with the nobles of thy realm! Know that God has appointed me king over the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the demons, the spirits, and the spectres. All the kings of the East and the West come to bring me greetings. If thou wilt come and salute me, I shall show thee great honor, more than to any of the kings that attend me. But if thou wilt not pay homage to me, I shall send out kings, legions, and riders against thee. Thou askest, who are these kings, legions, and riders of King Solomon? The beasts of the field are my kings, the birds my riders, the demons, spirit, and shades of the night my legions. The demons will throttle you in your beds at night, while the beasts will slay you in the field, and the birds will consume your flesh.”

(56) When the Queen of Sheba had read the contents of the letter, she again rent her garment, and sent word to her elders and her princes: “Know you not what Solomon has written to me?” They answered: “We know nothing of King Solomon, and his dominion we regard as naught.” But their words did not reassure the queen. She assembled all the ships of the sea, and loaded them with the finest kinds of wood, and with pearls and precious stones. Together with these she sent Solomon six thousand youths and maidens, born in the same year, in the same month, on the same day, in the same hour all of equal stature and size, all clothed in purple garments. They bore a letter to King Solomon as follows: “From the city of Kitor to the land of Israel is a journey of seven years. As it is thy wish and behest that I visit thee, I shall hasten and be in Jerusalem at the end of three years.”

(58) Benaiah conducted the queen to Solomon, who had gone to sit in a house of glass to receive her. The queen was deceived by an illusion. She thought the king was sitting in water, and as she stepped across to him she raised her garment to keep it dry. On her bared feet the king noticed hair, and he said to her: “Thy beauty is the beauty of a woman, but thy hair is masculine; hair is an ornament to a man, but it disfigures a woman.”

Many things can be said about this passage but I do want to point out a single error which makes the copying so much more obvious. That is the fact that both the Quran and Rabbis say that the Queen of Sheba worshiped the sun. This is a factual error but was inspired by the knowledge Mohammad would of had of Yemen pagan practices.

Korah’s Wealth

Quran

Surah 28:76

Talmud
Pesachim 119a:12

Now Korah was among Moses’ people, but he oppressed them, and we gave him so much treasure that the keys of it would indeed have been a burden for a troop of mighty men. When his own people said to him, Do not boast, indeed, Allah does not love those who boast, …

Rabbi Elazar said: This is referring to a person’s money that stands him upon his own two feet. Rabbi Levi said: The keys to Korah’s treasuries were a load of three hundred strong white mules, and they were all keys [aklidei] and locks made of leather.

What number of keys would this be per view? Let’s go through the Quranic position then the Rabbinic view and see how ridiculous this statement is.

First question, is the Quran and/or the Talmud being literal with this story? The answer for the Talmud is a strong no. Rashbam interprets the number 300 as hyperbolic in the Talmudic sources. Such as Chullin 90b:9 with “…There was a circular mound of ashes in the center of the altar, and sometimes there was as much as three hundred kor of ashes upon it…”. This would be around 66,000 liters (18,000 gallons) of ash. This is obvious hyperbole.

The answer for the Quran however is a strong YES. In every early and authoritative tafsir, they interpret the keys as literal and the men carrying them as literal:

Jalalayn – Indeed Korah belonged to the people of Moses — being his paternal and maternal cousin and he had believed in him in Moses — but he became insolent towards them through his disdain, haughtiness and great wealth. For We had given him so many treasures that the number of their keys would verily have burdened a group of strong men in other words they would have been too heavy for such men the b?’ of bi’l-‘usbati ‘a group’ is to render transitive the intransitive verb; the number of such men required is estimated to be 70 40 or 10; other estimates are also given. Mention when his people the believers among the Children of Israel said to him ‘Do not be exultant in your great wealth an exultation of insolence; truly God does not love the exultant in such things;

Ibn Kathir – ( that of which the keys would have been a burden to a body of strong men. ) Groups of strong men would not have been able to carry them because they were so many. Al-A`mash narrated from Khaythamah, “The keys of Qarun’s treasure were made of leather, each key like a finger, and each key was for a separate storeroom. When he rode anywhere, the keys would be carried on sixty mules with white blazes on their foreheads and white feet.” Other views were also given, and Allah knows best.

At-Tabari 19:617 – Al-Amash narrated from Khaythamah, “The keys of Qarun’s treasure were made of leather, each key like a finger, and each key was for a separate storeroom. When he rode anywhere, the keys would be carried on sixty mules with white blazes on their foreheads and white feet.”

tafsir Dawat Ul Quran by Shams Pirzada Surah 28:76; 144. – The keys of the treasures of Qaroon should not be compared with the keys of the modern times, which are small in size and light in weight. In the ancient days there were no safes and cupboards where riches could be stored, but the wealth used to be buried in the ground or kept in a safe place and very big locks used to be placed on the doors, These locks required very big and heavy keys to open them. Allah had given so much wealth to Qaroon that he needed a lot of strong labourers to carry the keys of his treasures from one place to another place. Possibly these keys might have been rods and their being heavy would not have been an exaggeration, but the expression of a fact. It may also be noted that in the ancient days treasures comprised of noble metals like gold and silver and valuable stones, and not like today’s currency notes, which are the inventions of the modern times.

This shows that the classical scholarly interpretation of this verse is that it is literal but the keys were large and heavy (although, ibn kathir says they were small). We also get the number of men carrying the keys being either 10, 40, or 70. We can work with these numbers and ancient versions of hoards and treasure storerooms to get a sense of how much wealth this would be and if it is possible to describe them.

Let’s do the math with the best case scenario and the worst case scenario.

Assumptions: A strong, trained man can easily carry 35-45 kg of weight in distance marches (I used to carry 35 kg of gear in marches, it’s really not that hard). So let’s use a conservative value of 35 kg of weight per man (even though they were described as strong men).

Each chest will be based upon ancient real hoards discovered such as the Hoxne hoard in England from 450 AD which contained ~ 3.5kg of gold and ~24 kg of silver plus some loose assorted jewels and artifacts. The finger keys which opened such chests were around ~100g in weight. A modern finger key is only around 8g for comparison.

Each storeroom will be based upon ancient Egyptian pharaoh treasury storehouses such as the one from Tutankhamun’s innermost coffin with 110.4 kg of solid gold. Roman and Greek storehouses such as the House of the Menander in Pompeii had 24 kg of silver plates plus some jewels, heirlooms, and gold/silver coins. Boscoreale treasury had 30 kg of silver in total but not gold. An “average” value then would be around 20-60 kg of precious metals per container/storeroom (mostly silver but some gold). Will we assume 1 kg of gold and 20 kg of silver per key as an underestimate to be as fair as possible to the Quran’s statement.

The key used for the Egyptian coffin / storehouse would be a wooden 3 pin-tumbler lock rod. These on average were ~25–60 cm (10–24 inches), ~2–4 cm thick, and weighed around 800-1,000 grams. This type of key is found in the tomb of Pharaoh Khorsabad.

Egyptian keys of bronze or iron have also been found, consisting of a straight shank approximately 13 cm (5 in.) long, with three or more projecting teeth at the end around 200g each. These keys were used for chests and houses, although most chests were sealed and not locked.

We will use a common value of 5 kg of just gold per chest for simplicity (but these numbers can be run with just 30 kg of silver and achieve similar results). We will also use 30 kg of gold per storeroom (assuming 6 chests per storeroom based on the size of various ancient storerooms and pharaoh’s treasuries and tombs). Again, this analysis can be done with just silver, mixed silver and gold, and even just jewels and heirlooms. It would still be damning of the Quran.

Worst case scenario:

70 men carrying Egyptian style finger keys made of leather.

Each man can carry 175 200g keys

70 men x 175 keys would be 12,250 keys

12,250 chests with 5 kg of gold each = 61,250 kg of gold. In modern USD that would be ~10 billion $.

Best case scenario:

10 men carrying Egyptian tomb style, large pin lock keys.

Each man can carry 35 1 kg keys

10 men x 35 keys would be 350 keys

350 storerooms with 30 kg of gold each = 10,500 kg of gold. In modern USD that would be ~1.7 billion $.

This is an UNDERESTIMATE by a ton. Egypt’s pharaoh’s coffin had 110kg of just gold items. If we increase these models to be entire coffin values rather than chests/storerooms these numbers get inflated by a lot (nearly 4 times more).

There was only around 1,000 tons of gold in the Roman empire. By 1835 there was only 20,000 tons of gold mined. It is estimated that only around 500-1000 tons of gold were mined at the time of 1400 BC. Most of the gold we have in the ancient world was mined during the Roman era so even 500 may be an overestimate of how much was actually available. In just Egypt in the new kingdom period (1550-1070BC), there was around 18 tons of gold mined mostly by slaves and criminals. So, we will assume 18 tons of gold in Egypt and 500 tons of gold in the world.

If we take the average number of men, 40, and do actual storehouses more comparable to Pharaoh’s tomb rather than just a single chest/small storehouse, we see something interesting:

40 men carrying heavy storeroom keys

40 men x 35 keys = 1,400

1,400 storerooms with 50 kg of gold each = 70,000 kg of gold. Roughly 11 billion $ in modern USD.

No matter how you calculate these numbers, this would make Korah the richest man in the world by a TON. He would be richer than entire nations. He would be ~4x more wealthy than all of Egypt. Why would Allah give an unbeliever this much wealth? HOW did Allah give him this much wealth? If he was just taking it from Egypt, how did he get more than 4x their total wealth? Where did all the gold for the golden calf come from if Korah had this much?

Now, if we do this with the Tafsir’s version and use leather to make the keys lighter (and make them finger keys) you would then multiply each figure by 10-20x (as leather keys of this size would only be around 50-100g instead of 1 kg). This would put Korah’s wealth above the entire world.

The Rabbinic version is even funnier if you assume he is taking it from the Rabbis “because it was true”. In the Talmud it is 300 mules carrying the keys and locks made out of leather. Because there are both keys and locks we can assume these are finger keys and NOT the large bulky wooden ones. Let’s assume 50g per key (slightly lighter than some roman iron keys), mules can carry around 20-30% of their body size in weight (we’ll assume 25% at 112.5 kg), and we’ll use the Hoxne chest as reference with 3.5 kg of gold.

300 mules at 2,250 keys per mule (112.5 kg / 50g) = 675,000 keys

675,000 chests at 3.5 kg of gold = 2,362,500 kg of gold. That is twice the amount of gold than the entire Roman empire had in his height. That is a staggering amount of gold (not even counting the silver, jewels, or other valuables found within these hoards). This is more gold than the entire world had at the time by 4x.

This is obviously hyperbole being used, but the Quran seems to be treating it at face value. Why? Because it’s stolen from the Jews without understanding why they used that figure to begin with. This shows not only copying, but a wealth feat which is unreasonable if not impossible to have actually happened in history.

RANDOM BELIEFS

Seven Heavens

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 65:12

It is Allah who has created seven heavens, and of the earth the like of them. The commandment comes down among them slowly, so that you may know that Allah is able to do all things, and that Allah encompasses all things in knowledge.

Surah 41:12

So He ordained them seven heavens in two days and inspired in every heaven its commands. We adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and guarded it …

Chagigah 12b:5

There are seven firmaments, and they are as follows: Vilon, Rakia, She?akim, Zevul, Ma’on, Makhon, and Aravot. The Gemara proceeds to explain the role of each firmament: Vilon, curtain, is the firmament that does not contain anything, but enters at morning and departs in the evening, and renews the act of Creation daily, as it is stated: “Who stretches out the heavens as a curtain [Vilon], and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in” (Isaiah 40:22). Rakia, firmament, is the one in which the sun, moon, stars, and zodiac signs are fixed …

Children Nursing for 24 Months

Quran

Talmud

Surah 31:14

And we have commanded man regarding his parents, his mother bears him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Give thanks to me and to your parents. To me is the journeying.

Surah 46:15

And we have enjoined on man doing good to his parents. His mother bears him with reluctance, and brings him forth with reluctance, and the bearing of him and the weaning of him is thirty months, until, when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says, My Lord, enable me to give thanks for the favor with which you have favored me and my parents, and that I may work righteousness that is acceptable to you. And be favorable to me in the matter of my descendants. Indeed, I have turned to you repentant, and indeed, I am one of the Muslims.

Ketubot 60a:4

The Sages taught in a baraita: A child may continue to nurse until the age of twenty-four months, and from this point forward, if he continues to nurse, he is like one who nurses from a non-kosher animal, as a woman’s milk is forbidden to anyone other than a small child; this is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says: A child may continue to nurse even for four or five years, and this is permitted. However, if he ceased, i.e., was weaned, after twenty-four months and then resumed nursing, he is like one who nurses from a non-kosher animal.

This is also quite a problem as if you do the math, the Quran contains a contradiction here. In Surah 31 the duration is 24 months for nursing. In Surah 46 it is 30 months for pregnancy plus the time of nursing. That would be 30 – 9 = 21 months of nursing. That is an obvious error or if you say the nursing is till 24 months and not 21 months then you end up with 6 months of pregnancy. Which is biologically impossible at this time (and barely possible now). So here is both Talmudic copying and a contradiction within the Quran all in one passage!

Embryology

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Allah having two right hands

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Sunan an-Nasa’i 5379

The Prophet [SAW] said: “Those who are just and fair will be with Allah, Most High, on thrones of light, at the right hand of the Most Merciful, those who are just in their rulings and in their dealings with their families and those of whom they are in charge.” Muhammad (one of the narrators) said in his Hadith: “And both of His hands are right hands.”

Shemot Rabbah 22:2

So too, Israel said to the Holy One blessed be He: ‘Let there be peace upon your two hands; one that rescues us from the sea, and one that would toss the Egyptians,’ as it is stated: “Your right hand, Lord, glorious in power, Your right hand, Lord, [shatters the enemy]” (Exodus 15:6).

Tanchuma Shemot 18:2

… But is there actually a left hand on high? No …

Tanchuma Beshalach 15:3

Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, Thy right hand dasheth in pieces the enemy (Exod. 15:6). Why is Thy right hand repeated in these verses? To indicate that when the Israelites do the will of the Omnipresent, they make His left hand to act as His right hand, but if they fail to do His will, as though that were possible, they make His right hand to become his left, as it is said: He hath drawn back His right hand …

Tanchuma Mishpatim 15:3

Is there a left hand on High, since it is written: Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power; Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces the enemy (Exod. 15:16), and also: The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly (Ps. 118:16)? …

Tanchuma Ki Teitzei 11

… The Holy One, blessed be He, swore an oath and said, “[By] My right hand, [by] My right hand, [by] My throne, [by] My throne, [I swear that] if gentiles come from any of the peoples, them I will accept …

Shemot Rabbah 24:1

… He submerged the Egyptians into the sea, and one of His hands was submerging them and one of His hands was rescuing you, as it is stated: “Your right hand, Lord, is glorious in strength; Your right hand, Lord, [smashes an enemy]”

Allah hates the wasteful

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Surah 6:141

It is he who produces gardens trellised and untrellised, and the datepalm, and crops of different flavors, and the olive and the pomegranate, like and unlike. Eat of the fruit of it when it bears fruit, and pay what is due for it on harvest day, and do not be wasteful. Indeed, Allah does not love the wasteful.

Surah 7:31

O children of Adam, be mindful of your clothing at every place of prayer, and eat and drink, but do not be wasteful. Indeed, he does not love the wasteful

Surah 17:27

Indeed, the wasteful have always been brothers of the satans, and Satan has always been ungrateful to his Lord.

bal tashchit (do not destroy)

Shabbat 67b

Rav Zutra said: He who covers an oil lamp or who uncovers a kerosene lamp for no purpose violates the prohibition: Do not destroy, since by doing so the fuel burns more quickly.

Berakhot 52b:20

This supports the opinion of Rabbi Yo?anan, as Rabbi Yo?anan said: Crumbs that are less than an olive-bulk in size, one may destroy them with his hand without violating the prohibition against ruining food.

Rambam

One who breaks vessels, tears clothing, demolishes a building, stops up a spring, or destroys food transgresses the prohibition of bal tashchit.

Isa being Jesus

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Messiah: Jesus is a Spirit from God

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Midrash

Surah 4:171

O people of the book, do not exaggerate in your religion or say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word that he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and his messengers, and do not say Three, Stop, it is better for you. Allah is only one God. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. Everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on the earth is his. And Allah is sufficient as defender.

Bereshit Rabbah 8:1

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: [The creation of Adam was] last [a?or] among the acts of creation on the last day, and first [kedem] among the acts of creation on the first day. This is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, as Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: “And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water” (Genesis 1:2) – this is the spirit of the messianic king, as it says: “The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him”

Lote Tree

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Become Ape

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Surah 2:65

And you know about those among you who broke the Sabbath, how we said to them, Be apes, despised and hated.

Surah 5:60

Shall I tell you of a worse case than theirs for retribution with Allah? He whom Allah has cursed, on whom his wrath has fallen, and of whose sort, Allah has turned some into apes and pigs, and slaves of taghut.

Sanhedrin 109a:1

What did they do? … ‘Let us build a tower, ascend to heaven, and cleave it with axes that its waters might gush forth.’ … They split up into three parties. One said, ‘Let us ascend and dwell there’; the second, ‘Let us ascend and worship the gods (lit., serve the stars)’; and the third said, ‘Let us ascend and wage war [with God].’ … The one that said, ‘Let us ascend and wage war,’ were turned to apes, spirits, devils, and night-demons.

Sanhedrin 109a:5

And that faction that said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and wage war, became apes, and spirits, and demons, and female demons.

Even numbers are bad / dangerous

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Surah

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Sahih Muslim 1300

Odd number of stones are to be used for cleaning (the private parts after answering the call of nature), and casting of pebbles at the Jamras is to be done by odd numbers (seven), and (the number) of circuits between al-Safa’ and al-Marwa is also odd (seven), and the number of circuits (around the Ka’ba) is also odd (seven). Whenever any one of you is required to use stones (for cleaning the private parts) he should use odd number of stones (three, five or seven).

Pesachim 109b:4-5

… A person should not eat pairs, i.e., an even number of food items; and he should not drink pairs of cups; and he should not wipe himself with pairs; and he should not attend to his sexual needs in pairs. The concern was that one who uses pairs exposes himself to sorcery or demons. … Rav Na?man said that the verse said: “It was a night of watching to the Lord” (Exodus 12:42), which indicates that Passover night is a night that remains guarded from demons and harmful spirits of all kinds. Therefore, there is no cause for concern about this form of danger on this particular night. …

Pesachim 110b:3

… With regard to two eggs, two nuts, two cucumbers, and another matter, there is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai that they are dangerous in pairs. But the Sages are uncertain about what the other matter is, and therefore the Sages decreed that all pairs are prohibited due to that other matter. …

Not entering people’s houses / improper peeing

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Surah

Talmud

Surah 24:62

…But when you enter houses, greet one another with a greeting from God, blessed and good….

Surah 33:53

O ye who believe! do not enter the houses of the prophet, unless leave be given you, for a meal,- not watching till it is cooked! But when ye are invited, then enter; and when ye have fed, disperse, not engaging in familiar discourse. Verily, that would annoy the prophet and he would be ashamed for your sake, but God is not ashamed of the truth.…

Sahih al-Bukhari 135

Allah’s Messenger said, “The prayer of a person who does Hadath (passes urine, stool, or wind) is not accepted till he preforms the abulation.”…

Niddah 16b:15-16

Three people I have hated, and a fourth I have not loved: A minister who frequents drinking houses, as he disgraces himself and leads himself to ruin and death…That is the first that he hated. And the others are one who dwells at the highest point of the city, where everyone sees him; and one who holds his penis and urinates. And the fourth, whom he has not loved, is one who enters the house of another suddenly, without warning. Rabbi Yo?anan says: And this includes even one who comes into his own house without prior warning, as the members of his household might be engaged in private activities.

Salt Water and Fresh Water Mixing

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Surah 25:53

“And He is the One Who merges the two bodies of water: one fresh and palatable and the other salty and bitter, placing between them a barrier they cannot cross.”

Bereshit Rabbah 4:5

The firmament is similar to a pool of water and above the pool is a dome. Because of the pool there is condensation of thick drops, and they descend into the salt water but do not intermingle. Rabbi Yona said: Do not wonder; the Jordan passes through the Sea of Tiberias but does not intermingle [with its water].
There is miraculous process involved in this matter.

God’s Plural names / pronouns

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Sanhedrin 38b: 15

… The Gemara asks: Why do I need these instances of plural words? Why does the verse employ the plural at all when referring to God? …

Bereshit Rabbah 8:9

The heretics once asked Rabbi Samlai: ‘How many deities created the world?’ He said to them: ‘Let you and I inquire into the early days.’ That is what is written: “For inquire now into the early days that were before you, from the day that God created [bara] man” (Deuteronomy 4:32) – “that [God] baru” is not written here, but rather, “that [God] bara.” They said to him: ‘What is this that is written: “In the beginning God [Elohim] created”?’ He said to them: “Baru Elohim” is not written here, but rather, “bara Elohim.”

Angels being around the Throne of God

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Surah 39:75

And you see the angels thronging around the throne, singing the praises of their Lord. And they are judged rightly. And it is said, Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Surah 40:7

Those who carry the throne, and all who are around it, sing the praises of their Lord and believe in him and ask forgiveness for those who believe, Our Lord, you comprehend all things in mercy and knowledge, therefore forgive those who repent and follow Your way. Ward off from them the punishment of the blaze.

Chagigah 12b:7

Ma’on, habitation, is where there are groups of ministering angels who recite song at night and are silent during the day out of respect for Israel, in order not to compete with their songs

Linking the Name of God to something

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Surah 19:88-91

“They say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’
You have uttered a monstrous thing
the heavens nearly burst, the earth splits, and the mountains fall down in ruin.”

Sanhedrin 63a:17

Rabbi Shimon ben Yo?ai said to him: But isn’t anyone who links the name of Heaven and something else, a euphemism for an idol, uprooted from the world? As it is stated: “He who sacrifices to the gods, save to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed”

Sanhedrin 39a

When a man blasphemes, “the heavens and earth tremble.”

Hagigah 12b

The universe stands upon the word of God. If His word were withdrawn, all would return to chaos.

Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 21 & 33

These chapters describe:

When the nations provoke God or worship idols, “the heavens quake and the earth shakes beneath them.”

Midrash Tehillim (Psalm 18:8–9)

“When Israel sinned, the foundations of the earth quaked; the mountains melted like wax.”

God keeps the sky from falling

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Surah 16:79

Do they not look at the birds, held poised in the midst of (the air and) the sky? Nothing holds them up but (the power of) Allah. Verily in this are signs for those who believe

Surah 67:19

Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing.

Surah 22:65

Do you not see that Allah has subjected to you whatever is on the earth and the ships which run through the sea by His command? And He restrains the sky from falling upon the earth, unless by His permission. Indeed Allah, to the people, is Kind and Merciful.

Jacob of Sarugh (6th century) 4:551

See! They are suspended and stand like a bird who is suspended in the air with nothing on which it rests except the remz? (word of God).

Ibid 3:96 – Look at the bird when it is standing erect and relaxed and its feathers are spread out and it is standing on nothing, and it is not heavy for that nothing on which it is set, but its wing is stable and rests as if on something, and its feet and wings are spread to and it stands there and that empty space where it is please is like the earth for it, and when it is not leaning nor resting, hanging in the air and imagining the earth hanging on nothing. The hidden force [?ayl? kasy?] of the Divinity, that is that something on which all the creation hangs and with which it is held.

Jacob of Sarugh 3:35

[The firmament] became like an arch hanging and standing without foundation [d-l? šat?s?], borne not by columns [law ?am?d?], but by the remz.

Prophets are Sinless

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Shabbat 55b-56b

“Anyone who says that Reuben sinned is mistaken…”

“Anyone who says that the sons of Eli sinned is mistaken…”

“Anyone who says that the sons of Samuel sinned is mistaken…”

“Anyone who says that David sinned is mistaken…”

“Anyone who says that Solomon sinned is mistaken…”

“Anyone who says that Josiah sinned is mistaken”

PRACTICES

Peeing and Pooping

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Sunan Ibn Majah 325

“The Messenger of Allah forbade facing the Qiblah when urinating. But I saw him, one year before he died, facing the Qiblah (while urinating).”

Berakhot 62a:4-5

The Gemara asks: Why must one not wipe himself with his right hand, but with his left? Rava said: Because the Torah was given with the right hand, as it is stated: “At His right hand was a fiery law unto them” (Deuteronomy 33:2). Rabba bar bar ?ana said: Because the right hand is close to the mouth, i.e., people eat with the right hand. And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Because one ties the phylacteries onto his left hand with his right hand. Rav Na?man bar Yitz?ak said: Because one points to the cantillation notes of the Torah with his right hand. The Gemara notes that this is parallel to a tannaitic dispute: Rabbi Eliezer says: One is forbidden to wipe himself with his right hand because he eats with it. Rabbi Yehoshua says: Because he writes with it. Rabbi Akiva says: Because he points to the notes of the Torah with it.

Berakhot 61b:12,14

In this context, the Sages taught: One who defecates in Judea should not defecate when facing east and west, for then he is facing Jerusalem; rather he should do so facing north and south. But in the Galilee which is north of Jerusalem, one should only defecate facing east and west. Rabbi Yosei permits doing so, as Rabbi Yosei was wont to say: They only prohibited doing so when one can see the Temple, where there is no fence, and when the Divine Presence is resting there. And the Rabbis prohibit doing so.

It was taught in another baraita: One who defecates in Judea should not defecate when facing east and west; rather, he should only do so facing north and south. And in the Galilee, defecating while facing north and south is prohibited, while east and west is permitted. And Rabbi Yosei permitted doing so, as Rabbi Yosei was wont to say: They only prohibited doing so when one can see the Temple. Rabbi Yehuda says: When the Temple is standing, it is prohibited, but when the Temple is not standing, it is permitted. The Gemara adds that Rabbi Akiva prohibits defecating anywhere while facing east and west.

Dressing Practices

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Halal / Kosher Food

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4 Wives

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Surah 4:3

And if you fear that you will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry the women who seem good to you, two or three or four, and if you fear that you cannot do justice, then one, or those that your right hands possess. In this way it is more likely that you will not do injustice.

Yevamot 44a:5

The Gemara qualifies the mishna’s case: No, it is necessary to teach that he has permission to consummate the levirate marriage with all of his yevamot in the case where it is possible for him to provide for all four women… But if there are any more than that, no, he should not, in order that he will be able to meet the conjugal rights of each woman at least once in each month. A Torah scholar is expected to provide conjugal relations once a week.

Yevamot 65a:7

Conversely, Rava said that a man may marry several women in addition to his first wife, and there is nothing wrong with this practice as long as he has enough to support them all.

Both systems tie the permissibility of multiple marriages to the husband’s financial ability and capacity for equal treatment, not merely to sexual desire. This is a strikingly parallel ethical principle not found in pre-Islamic Arabian tribal custom, where polygyny was largely unrestricted by financial or treatment requirements.

Temporary Marriage

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Surah 4:24

and married women, save such as your right hands possess,- God’s Book against you! – but lawful for you is all besides this, for you to seek them with your wealth, marrying them and not fornicating; but such of them as ye have enjoyed, give them their hire as a lawful due; for there is no crime in you about what ye agree between you after such lawful due, verily, God is knowing and wise.

Surah 2:236 – It is no crime in you if ye divorce your women ere you have yet touched them, or settled for them a settlement. But provide maintenance for them; the wealthy according to his power, and the straitened in circumstances according to his power, must provide, in reason;- a duty this upon the kind.

Yevamot 37b:5-7

Therefore, a man should not marry a woman in this country and then go and marry another woman in a different country, lest a son from one marriage and a daughter from the other, … unite with one another, … Is that so; is there really such a prohibition?… Since his wife did not accompany him to Dardeshir, he wished to be married to another woman while he was there, in order to avoid a situation that could lead him to having forbidden thoughts…. Which woman will be my wife for the day? It would appear, from the fact that both Sages married wives in two different places, that there is no prohibition in doing so. The Gemara rejects the proof: Sages are different, as their names are renowned, and therefore their children are always identified by their connection to their father.

Ramadan

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Not revealing sins of brothers

Hadith

Talmud

Sahih al-Bukhari 6069

I heard Allah’s Messenger (?) saying. “All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujahirin (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people). An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night and though Allah screens it from the public, then he comes in the morning, and says, ‘O so-and-so, I did such-and-such (evil) deed yesterday,’ though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin) and in the morning he removes Allah’s screen from himself.”

Sahih Muslim 2990

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (?) as saying:

All the people of my Ummah would get pardon for their sins except those who publicise them. And (it means) that a servant should do a deed during the night and tell the people in the morning that he has done so and so, whereas Allah has concealed it. And he does a deed during the day and when it is night he tells the people, whereas Allah has concealed it. Zuhair has used the word hijar for publicising.

Masjids

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Sex Practices

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Surah 2:223

Your women are a field for you, so go to your field as you will, and send before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that you will meet him. …

Sunan Abi Dawud 2164

… The people of the Book (i.e. the Jews) used to have intercourse with their women on one side alone (i.e. lying on their backs). This was the most concealing position for (the vagina of) the women. This clan of the Ansar adopted this practice from them. But this tribe of the Quraysh used to uncover their women completely, and seek pleasure with them from in front and behind and laying them on their backs.

…

So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Qur’anic verse: “Your wives are a tilth to you, so come to your tilth however you will,” i.e. from in front, from behind or lying on the back. But this verse meant the place of the delivery of the child, i.e. the vagina.

Sunan Abi Dawud 3904

The Prophet said: If anyone resorts to a diviner and believes in what he says (according to the version of Musa), or has intercourse with his wife (according to the agreed version) when she is menstruating, or has intercourse with his wife through her anus, he has nothing to do with what has been sent down to Muhammad.

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 21:7

I will slay Abel my brother, and I will take his twin-sister from him, as it is said, “And it came to pass when they were in the field” (Gen. 4:8). “In the field” means woman, who is compared to a field.

Nedarim 20b:4

…Rather, whatever a man wishes to do with his wife he may do. He may engage in sexual intercourse with her in any manner that he wishes, and need not concern himself with these restrictions. As an allegory, it is like meat that comes from the butcher. If he wants to eat it with salt, he may eat it that way. If he wants to eat it roasted, he may eat it roasted. If he wants to eat it cooked, he may eat it cooked. If he wants to eat it boiled, he may eat it boiled. And likewise with regard to fish that come from the fisherman.

Nedarim 20b:6

The Gemara relates: A certain woman, who came before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi to complain about her husband, said to him: My teacher, I set him a table, using a euphemism to say that she lay before him during intimacy, and he turned it over. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to her: My daughter, the Torah permitted him to engage in sexual intercourse with you even in an atypical manner, and what can I do for you if he does so?

Bereshit Rabbah 18:5

A Noahide who has unnatural intercourse with his wife incurs liability for the death penalty… How does one arrive at this? “And he shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” – in the place that they can produce one flesh [a child].

Niddah 66a (all of it) bans intercourse during menstruation or via any form of bleeding. Among other places in the Talmud.

Yevamot 34b:3-5

The Gemara responds: Er and Onan engaged in sexual intercourse in an atypical manner, i.e., anal intercourse … This indicates that he, too, died the same death for performing the same transgression as his brother…

Number of witnesses

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Surah 4:15

Against those of your women who commit adultery, call witnesses four in number from among yourselves; and if these bear witness, then keep the women in houses until death release them, or God shall make for them a way.

Surah 2:282

…O ye who believed when ye debt one another by a debt unto a named term then write it…seek the witnessing of two witnesses from your men so if the two were not men then a man and two gentlewomen from who satisfies you of witnesses lest one them errs so the other would remind her and the witnesses should not refuse when they are evoked.…

Sanhedrin 9b:2

… Rabbi Yosei says: A defendant is never executed unless the mouths of his two witnesses are those who warn him, as it is stated: “At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death” …

Prophets being examples for people to follow

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Berakhot 62a:1-3

Rabbi Akiva said: I once entered the bathroom after my teacher Rabbi Yehoshua, and I learned three things from observing his behavior: I learned that one should not defecate while facing east and west, but rather while facing north and south; I learned that one should not uncover himself while standing, but while sitting, in the interest of modesty; and I learned that one should not wipe with his right hand, but with his left. Ben Azzai, a student of Rabbi Akiva, said to him: You were impertinent to your teacher to that extent that you observed that much? He replied: It is Torah, and I must learn. Similarly, we learned in a baraita: Ben Azzai said: I once entered a bathroom after Rabbi Akiva, and I learned three things from observing his behavior: I learned that one should not defecate while facing east and west, but rather while facing north and south; I learned that one should not uncover himself while standing, but while sitting; and I learned that one should not wipe with his right hand, but with his left. Rabbi Yehuda said to him: You were impertinent to your teacher to that extent? He replied: It is Torah, and I must learn. On a similar note, the Gemara relates that Rav Kahana entered and lay beneath Rav’s bed. He heard Rav chatting and laughing with his wife, and seeing to his needs, i.e., having relations with her. Rav Kahana said to Rav: The mouth of Abba, Rav, is like one whom has never eaten a cooked dish, i.e., his behavior was lustful. Rav said to him: Kahana, you are here? Leave, as this is an undesirable mode of behavior. Rav Kahana said to him: It is Torah, and I must learn.

HADITHS

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TAFSIR

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WHAT IS STOLEN FROM OTHERS

Sleepers of the Cave

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9 Or do you think that the companions of the cave and the inscription are a

wonder among our signs? 10 When the young men fled for refuge to the cave and said, Our Lord, give us mercy from your presence, and show us right conduct in our ordeal. 11 Then we sealed up their hearing in the cave for a number of years. 12 And afterward we raised them up so that we might know which of the two groups would best calculate the time that they had remained. 13 We narrate their story to you with truth. Indeed, they were young men who believed in their Lord, and we increased them in guidance. 14 And we made their hearts firm when they stood forth and said, Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We call upon no God besides him, for then we would utter an untruth. 15 These, our people, have chosen gods besides him, although they bring no clear justification to them. And who does greater wrong than he who fabricates a lie about Allah? 16 And when you withdraw from them and what they worship besides Allah, then seek refuge in the cave, your Lord will spread out his mercy for you and will prepare a pillow for you in your ordeal. 17 And you might have seen the sun when it rose move away from their cave to the right, and when it set go past them on the left, and they were in the cleft of it. That was among the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides, he indeed is led rightly, and he whom he leads astray, for him you will not find a guiding friend. 18 And you would have thought them awake although they were asleep, and we caused them to turn over to the right and the left, and their dog stretching out his paws on the threshold. If you had observed them closely, you would surely have turned away from them and fled, and would have been filled with awe of them. 19 And in the same way we awakened them so that they might question one another. A speaker from among them said, How long have you remained? They said, We have remained a day or some part of a day. They said, Your Lord knows best how long you have remained. Now send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city, and let him see what food is purest there and bring you a supply of it. Let him be courteous and let no man know about you. 20 For they, if they come to know about you, will stone you or turn you back to their religion, then you will never prosper. 21 And in the same way we revealed them, so that they might know that the promise of Allah is true, and that, as for the hour, there is no doubt about it. When they disagreed about their case among themselves, they said, Build over them a building, their Lord knows best about them. Those who won their point said, We indeed will build a mosque over them. 22 They will say, There were three of them, their dog the fourth, and they say, Five, their dog the sixth, guessing at random, and they say, Seven, and their dog the eighth. Say, My Lord is best aware of their number. No one knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except on a clear matter, and do not ask anyone among them to speak about them. 23 And do not say about anything, Indeed, I will do that tomorrow, 24 Except if Allah wills. And remember your Lord when you forget, and say, It may be that my Lord will guide me to a nearer way of truth than this. 25 And they remained in their cave three hundred years, and nine additional. 26 Say, Allah is best aware of how long they remained. His is the invisible one of the heavens and the earth. How clear of sight he is, and keen of hearing! They have no protecting friend besides him, and he allows no one to share in his government.

1. During Decius’ Persecutions

Sons of God whose door lies open to the one who calls on him, open your door for me: I compose a hymn of the sons of light. He who separates his own flock for himself is the good shepherd, and he makes those who will conquer congregate with him in lofty abodes. Let the Farmer who picks the seed for his own grain from the weeds be blessed, he has sown these things in the field of life which is in the kingdom. My speech about the Boys from Ephesus, sons of the noble ones, must be said to people listening. Hear me you laborers, and you sons sing the praise of their bedroom. The Emperor Decius left from his own place to another, to see the towns and cities of his empire. He left Ephesus and struck it with a great cause for fear, and he held a celebration for Jove and Apollo and Artemis, and he wrote a letter to the lords of his empire that they should all come together and burn incense for the gods. Chiefs, old men, young men and boys convened and offered incense to the silent images made by hand.

2. Some Young Men from Ephesus Are Brought to the Emperor

Also there were the lovable Boys, sons of the nobles, who looked down on the command, and in order that they not be those people’s companions, they humbled themselves; and after entering the house of Jesu, they hid themselves from that wrath so that the stench of unclean incense not come up to them. Their associates saw them and leveled a charge against them before the Emperor: “Because see here are the Boys who resist your command.” The Emperor heard and burned with anger against the gentle and ordered the Boys to be brought there so he might see them. The wolves ran forth and seized the Lambs from the midst of the flock, and with a quickness they brought them to the Emperor’s sight. The Emperor saw their lovable dignity and spoke with them seductively, saying: “Tell me, Boys, why have you violated my order? Come and offer sacrifice and I will make you nobles.”

3. They Refuse to Sacrifice to Idols and Are Given Time to Think It Over

The son of the officer opened his mouth and so did his seven Companions: “We do not worship things mute and made by hand,” he said; “that Lord of heaven is present for us and he will help us, and we worship him and offer purity of heart to him: and you certainly have Jove as a king and Apollo and Artemis; but we have the Father and Son and holy Spirit.” The Emperor gave the order and they struck them with rods; again he ordered them saying: “Dismiss them until I come.” He hastened, of course, to see the towns and cities, and was for that reason thinking about return, and in such a mind he entered into Ephesus. The Emperor withdrew from Ephesus to his business; but the lovable Boys took council among themselves: “Let’s depart and flee from this city of the Ephesians, before the accursed Emperor comes and tortures us.”

4. They Flee to A Neighboring Cave

There was in that area a hollowed out cave on a cliff at the top of a mountain, and the lovable Boys decided to hide in it. They took some of their fathers’ money with them: certainly it was to be that they would have been seized from that place and praised. They brought neither chosen clothes nor oldest with them: since there was no need of nice clothes, as they saw it. And out of the coinage of the pagans’ Emperor they brought with them some silver: for he who has [not] money from a coin holds a sign by which he may be seized and bound. They climbed the mountain and having entered the cave right there they spent the night, and they called on the Lord with a voice of groaning and spoke like this: “We seek you, good Shepherd, who have picked out his own sheep, guard your flock against that wolf which is thirsting for our blood.”

5. Where They Slept In

God saw the faith of his lovable Lambs and came in order to give good reward of their payback. He took up their spirits and lifted them up high into the sky, and he left a guard to protect their limbs. The Emperor went back and, after entering Ephesus, he asked: “Where are the Boys who have been rebels to command?” They responded to him, saying: “Look, they hid at the top of the mountain in a cave.” He even ordered them, and the craftsmen came with their devices, and they made stones roll down with their siege-engines and placed them at the entrance. There were present two sophists, the sons of noblemen; and it occurred to them it was to come about that the Lord would wake them: and they made lead tablets and put them in their midst and wrote the names of the Sons of light upon them, and for what reason the Boys, having entered the cave, hid themselves there — and where they fled for quite a time from the face of Decius.

6. Having Woken Up After Many Years They Send One of Them to Ephesus

The age of the pagan emperors passed, and at the same time their rule departed; and God willed to awaken the Sons of light. There was in that same place a rich man in Ephesus, and he wanted to build a place for his flock at the mountain’s top, and he collected rocks and built an enclosure in that place for his flock: and he saw the hewn stones and removed them. Light entered and awoke the Sons of light, and they shook sleep from off of themselves and sat up on the ground (miraculous to state!) and the lovable Boys began to deliberate amongst themselves: “Now who will go down and see whether the Emperor has come; who will learn and look into what his command is regarding us? Certainly, whether he will have missed us or no, and will report back to us?” One who was from their number, and called Iamlicus, himself said: “I will go down and find out, and in the guise of a beggar I will enter inside the palace, and I will learn and look into what he will have instructed regarding us.” They responded to him, saying: “Take the money and bring back some bread; because, look, since night we have had no bread and haven’t eaten.”

7. He Thought He Had Slept Only A Single Night

The Boy hurried from the mountaintop, and came into the city, and called on the Lord with a groan, saying: “We seek you, good Shepherd, who have picked out his own sheep, guard your flock against that wolf which is thirsting for our blood.” And with eyes lifted he saw the cross above the gate and turned his head, and with a cry he worshipped it: and he began to look around, if by chance one of the pagans might see him; he began to speak in his thinking: ‘What is over there? Because, behold, at evening the cross was hidden from the pagans, and look!, today it is set openly above the gate?’ The Boy went on and came to another gate, and lifting his eyes he saw likewise the cross placed above the gate, and he began to say: “Out of my mind, I’ve become mad and am insane. Do you think this is that city Ephesus in which I was raised?” He looked at a man sitting in the forum, approached him and asked: “Tell me, kind sir; what city is this?” “This city,” he replied, “is called Ephesus.” But he stood astounded thinking in his mind about what had happened to it.

8. All New Things Are Marveled at

He continued to run about the cross-roads and did not turn aside from the path, until he came to the palace and saw that the gates were closed to him. He turned away to the forum so he could buy some bread and bring it back with him. He gave the money pulled out from his money-pouch. The man who was selling bread took it and looked at it closely, and nodded to his companion so that he would both come and look at it. That money went through the hands of five men who, having considered it, began to mutter among themselves about it. And the Boy saw them murmuring between them, and said replying: “Hand me the bread, if you hand it over, or I will go away.” The man who was selling bread approached and laid hold of him, saying: “Tell me, Boy; where are you from, and what land is yours? And hand over the treasure trove which you have found so that we may all have a share of it. But if you refuse to tell me, I will have you arrested.” The Boy replied, [saying] “I have never seen any treasure, and I don’t know anything about it at all.”

9. & He Was Found Out Because of The Ancient Money from A Treasure-Trove Uncovered

A clamor of voices fell over the Ephesians’ forum, because, look!, the Boy found treasure: and they immediately grabbed him. Word went to the holy church, to the bishop: and he sent for that they should take him with their hands; and he questioned him. “Tell me, Boy, where are you from, and what land is yours, and what place is yours, and where is the hoard of treasure which they say you have found?” The Boy said: “I am from Ephesus itself, and I’m the son of Rufus the choice, who is one of the nobles.” And Iamlichus began to look around at the crowd, to see if by chance he might recognize someone from his house or family, or of his brothers, or kin, or people he knew who would visit his father, and that might take him from their hands. And when he saw no one from his clan or family, tears burst out from his eyes and he began to weep.

10. He Reveals the Unusual Story of his Companions

There was a sophist present there in the holy church who grabbed the Boy and asked him discerningly, “Tell me the truth, son: why do you come to not? Reveal and it and explain where you’re from, and don’t hide yourself from me.” The Boy said: “I will tell you the truth; but you reveal and show to me which things I ask you sincerely. Respond to me and tell me: where is the emperor Decius? Seriously, I will then disclose to you my affairs in turn.” Hearing this, the sophist was mightily amazed, and grew incensed towards the Boy who demonstrated deep things to him. “You worthless, unspeakable…”, [he said], “you’re deserving of death, do you mock me? Do I seem to you like a two-year old boy? That man of whom you spoke died the longest time ago, and according to number and count of Greeks three hundred and seventy two years are thought to have passed by from that emperor.” The Boy said: “Certainly I and my Associates have fled from that emperor, and behold I slept at the top of the mountain as did my seven Companions.”

11. Many Citizens of Ephesus Came to See Them with Their Bishop

The aristocrats and old men and nobles and even boys congregated to go up and see the treasure of life which had been revealed to them. A voice fell over the entire vicinity of the Ephesians, saying: “Come and see that treasure which has been made manifest to us.” The Boys who were in the cave heard, and they were moved and afraid, thinking that the emperor had sent followers to seize them; and the son of the officer comforted them, saying: “Rise and be comforted, and put on the armor of faith, and let us trust in God, since he helps us and strengthens us and guides according to his will.” And when he was encouraging them, the Boy entered and stood in their midst, and the bishop and aristocrats came in at once with him: they saw the Boys sitting on the ground, and they greeted them, saying: “Peace be with you.” And they immediately wrote a letter to the emperor Theodosius, and they said: “Come lord, and see the treasure of life which has been revealed to us.”

12. & They Went to The Emperor Theodosius

The Emperor hurried and came down and saw them: he greeted them, saying: “Peace be with you.” He took the lead tablet and started to read on account of what reason the Boys entered into the cave and were shut up there. But then the Emperor invited them to come down to Ephesus with him, for he was planning to build a temple over their bones. They replied, saying: “We will be in this place, because we love this spot. The Shepherd of his own flock himself commanded us to be in this place. Because of you, behold, Christ our lord awakened us, as you see and make proof of, because truly resurrection exists[…] And he left them, and they rested in that eternal sleep. Let the Shepherd be praised who separates his own flock, and made them heirs of the marriage and paradise and the eternal kingdom.

Two Semens Theory

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Having sex with boys to mature them

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Queen of Sheba Worshiping the Sun

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Jesus’ Birth

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Jesus speaking from the cradle

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Jesus making clay birds

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Mary and Zechariah

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Embryology

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Hubal / Allah / Ar-Rahman

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Crescent Moon

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

As Samad

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

19 Angels over Hell

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Gabriel as the Holy Spirit

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Jinn made of Fire

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Mutah / Misyar marriages

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Gog and Magog

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Alexander the Great

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

Three layers to the womb

Quran

Surah

Talmud

Temp

What was Original to Mohammad

God not being a father to anyone
Child Marriage (might have been a misunderstanding of the Talmud)
Complete obedience to prophets?
Eyes being the leather straps of the anus
Yawning is from satan
Finger licking
Bismillah before sex
Remarriage to first wife after having sex with second second husband (might be a misunderstanding of the torah/talmud)
Sex with your own children born out of wedlock
Killing dogs
Sex slavery (seen as a wicked thing in the Talmud but is discussed) – possibly linked to the pagan practices of Arabs from the hums tribe. Reverse of previous prohibition from pagans.
Severing Aorta of false prophets (might have Rabbinic influence but not explicit)
Gharqad Tree (with some caveats)
Jizya
Micro penis stuff
Satanic verses and iblis casting in falsehood with truth
Saul and Gideon Mixup
Mary and Mariam mixup
Jews worship Ezra as the Son of God
Sahih al-Bukhari 3404 story
4 year pregnancy of Mo – life of mohammad

Harut and Marut (cf. Midrash of Shamir, Surah 2:102)

Passages that only make sense from a Jewish framework:

The fresh water and salt water seas

Seeing the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah

[?? UNFINISHED WORK ??]

Phase 1: Early Meccan (610–614 CE)

Stories of Adam, Noah, Mary, and Abraham already showing midrashic influence.
Limited contact with Jews — material likely came through oral storytelling in Arabia or from Christian Syriac/Jewish converts.

Phase 2: Mid–Late Meccan (615–620 CE)

Heavily midrashic stories of Moses, Solomon, Abraham’s sacrifice.
These require exposure to rabbinic compilations or to oral traditions transmitted from them.

Phase 3: Medinan (622–632 CE)

Tone shifts from narrative to polemic (against Jews and Christians).
Fewer new midrashic borrowings, but reinterpretation of earlier ones.

Tone Shift – In Mecca, the Quran retells Jewish stories; in Medina, it argues with Jewish beliefs.

Jewish Knowledge Level – The Medinan surahs show far deeper familiarity with halakhic and midrashic debates.

This together shows a theological shift in his approach to the Jewish material and the Jews in general. Which lines up with them denying him as a prophet and showing him all the errors in his theology, history, and use of the Talmud. By Medina, Muhammad had direct contact with Jews (Banu Qurayza, Nadir, Qaynuqa‘), which could explain how later Talmudic material entered the Quran — undermining divine origin claims.

This change in understanding trajectory is exactly what we’d expect from a man progressively learning about Jewish lore, not receiving timeless revelation.

How would Mohammad have gotten the Talmudic Material?

I. Context

The Talmud and Midrash were transmitted mainly orally among Jewish communities in Israel and Babylonia, and circulated widely throughout the Near East in both oral and partial written form. By Muhammad’s lifetime (6th–7th century AD), Jewish tribes and Christian sects across Arabia were already familiar with many of these rabbinic stories (aggadah), teaching them orally in markets, synagogues, and public discussions.

There also existed complete written forms of both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds although these were very expensive, slow to create, and centralized to Babylon and Israel. The likelihood of these complete documents being in the Hijaz less than 100 years after they were compiled is extremely unlikely.

II. Timeline of Muhammad’s Possible Access to These Traditions

1. Pre-610 CE — Before the First Revelation

a. Trade and Caravan Exposure (Most Likely Early Influence)
Before proclaiming prophethood, Muhammad worked in the Meccan caravan trade, traveling north into Byzantine Syria and south into Yemen. These routes were lined with Jewish and Christian communities, where rabbinic and apocryphal stories were commonplace. Arabia’s oral culture made it easy to hear, memorize, and later retell such stories without literacy.

b. Waraqah ibn Nawfal (Direct Scriptural Influence)
Hadith sources (e.g., Sahih al-Bukhari) describe Waraqah ibn Nawfal, Khadijah’s cousin, as a Christian who “read the Gospel in Arabic”. Immediately after Muhammad’s first experience in the cave with the demon angel, Khadijah brought him to Waraqah, who affirmed the experience as a divine calling.

Waraqah’s literacy and theological background make him the first known scripturally literate figure to validate Muhammad’s experiences and possibly introduce him to Judeo-Christian traditions.

c. Meccan Environment and Slaves
Mecca had contact with foreign slaves and clients, including a Christian blacksmith mentioned in early sirah and tafsir literature. The Quran itself records accusations that Muhammad learned from a foreigner:

Surah 16:103 – “We know they say, ‘It is only a human being who teaches him.’ The tongue of the one they allude to is foreign, but this is clear Arabic speech.”

This indicates that even his contemporaries noticed the influence of non-Arab religious ideas on Muhammad’s recitations. The rebuttal to this inside of the Quran is that it is “written in Arabic”, thus it can’t be the work of foreigners.

2. 610–622 CE — Meccan Period

During this phase, the revelations are shorter, poetic, moralistic, but heavily Talmudic. Surahs 21 (al-Anbiya) and 27 (an-Naml) are Meccan, dated to roughly 610–620 CE, before the Hijrah. Yet both contain strong Talmudic/Midrashic parallels (among many others):

Abraham breaking idols — Midrash Rabbah Genesis 38 ? Q 21:51–68
Solomon and the talking ant/bird — Targum Sheni ? Q 27:17–19

That means this material entered the Quran before Muhammad’s Medina period. In Mecca, Muhammad’s circle was small and overwhelmingly pagan Quraysh. There’s no record of large Jewish communities there.

So any Jewish-derived content must have come through:

Traveling storytellers or traders familiar with Near-Eastern folklore (including “Isr?’?liyy?t”).
Arab monotheists (?an?fs) who had picked up Jewish and Christian tales.
Syriac Christian informants — some of whom used apocryphal stories closely resembling midrashic forms.
Physical Possession of Talmudic Material — unlikely, but a possibility nonetheless. Especially considering his work as a trader, he could have obtained a copy of some parts of the babylonian Talmud.

This supports a folk-transmission model, not divine revelation. Mohammad also may have gotten his hands on papyrus/codex fragments of the Talmud (such as Sanhedrin, Genesis Rabbah, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Rosh Hashanah, etc) either through trades, conversion of Jews, or through robbery of Jews.

3. 622–632 CE — Medinan Period (Major Influx of Rabbinic Content)

After the Hijrah (migration) to Medina, Muhammad entered direct contact with Jewish tribes—Banu Qurayza, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qaynuqa—who had rabbis, teachers, and storytellers well-versed in Midrashic lore.

Many of the Quranic stories with clear and specific Talmudic or Midrashic parallels also appear in this period. But this period does not contain more per capita Talmudic stories than the Meccan period. Indicating that his source of Jewish knowledge was available before his interactions with the Jews. This may increase the likelihood of him getting his hands on a physical Talmud but not understanding any of it and thus was using it like you would expect a child to to gain credibility.

Salman the Persian also entered Muhammad’s circle in Medina. He had studied under Christian monks and was familiar with Biblical and apocryphal texts. His influence likely affected later surahs incorporating Christian-Jewish themes, including the names ‘Tawrat’ and ‘Injil’ which was only used once each before Medina in Surah 7 (which itself may be a later insertion).

III. Methods of Transmission (Ranked by Likelihood)

Rank	Transmission Route	Description
1. Oral contact with Jewish tribes	Direct exposure to rabbis and storytellers in Medina; most Talmudic parallels appear in Medinan surahs.	622–632 CE
2. Trade routes and markets	Merchants and pilgrims exchanged stories along caravan routes; ideal for oral transmission.	Pre-610 to 632 CE
3. Waraqah ibn Nawfal	Literate Christian confirming Muhammad’s first experiences; early exposure to Abrahamic lore.	c. 610 CE
4. Converts and clients (mawali)	Jews and Christians who converted or interacted with Muslims carried oral traditions into the early Muslim community.	622–632 CE
5. Poets and reciters	Arabia’s oral culture preserved moral and religious tales; such material easily integrated into the Quranic narrative style.	Entire career
6. Written or translated materials	Possible but least likely; books were rare, expensive, and the Talmud wasn’t widely written in Arabic.	Minimal evidence

Abdullah Ibn Salam, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, Ka?b al-A?b?r, Wahb ibn Munabbih,

IV. Practical Implications

The oral route explains why Quranic parallels are close in meaning and phrasing but rarely verbatim: they’re retellings of familiar religious lore, not copied text.
The Quran’s own acknowledgment of accusations that Muhammad was taught by others (Surah 16:103, Surah 25:4–6) reinforces that even his audience recognized external influence.
Illiteracy is irrelevant: in a memorization-based culture, oral retelling was the norm for transmitting both scripture and folklore.

V. Mohammad’s Own Ability to Understand It

Muhammad was almost certainly multilingual. In the 5th–7th centuries CE, traders in Arabia commonly used Arabic, Aramaic/Syriac, Greek, and Persian, with South Arabian dialects like Sabaic, Himyaritic, or Ge?ez also were prevalent along the Yemeni routes. As a merchant who traded in those regions, Muhammad would have interacted with speakers of all these languages, making it highly plausible that he had at least a working knowledge of several.

Given that Gnostic, Christian, and Jewish writings circulated in Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic, this linguistic diversity would not have prevented exposure to their ideas. It’s reasonable to assume that Muhammad could have encountered these religious stories and teachings directly or through bilingual intermediaries, then rephrased or adapted them into Arabic for his death cult audience to follow later as evidence of his prophethood. Thus, linguistic barriers alone do not rule out the transmission of preexisting Judeo-Christian and Gnostic material into the Qur’anic narrative.

VI. Summary

Muhammad most plausibly encountered Talmudic and Midrashic material through oral transmission — first via Meccan trade and contacts like Waraqah ibn Nawfal, and later, far more directly, through Jewish tribes and converts in Medina. These oral traditions, already circulating widely across Arabia, were recast into Quranic form and presented as revelation. This model explains the Quran’s parallels with rabbinic literature without requiring literacy, manuscripts, or implausible coincidence.

Important points that make oral transmission more likely

Talmudic material was full of short, memorable vignettes and moral maxims — ideal for oral spread.
Arabic society was overwhelmingly oral and memorization-based, which makes hearing ? memorizing ? incorporating trivial.
Mohammad spent years in hubs (Mecca markets, later Medina) where Jews, Christians, Syriac speakers and traders converged — maximum exposure.
The illiteracy argument (Mohammad ummi) is irrelevant — you don’t need to read to learn stories or sayings; you only need to hear them.

Further Problems the Talmudic Dilemma Creates for Muslims

The Talmudic Dilemma is a massive problem of Muslims to solve but it also opens up a wide range of other related problems that make it far too much to bear. Here are some more problems that fall out of this dilemma:

Allah’s Preservation Promise (15:9)
Islam says Allah guards His revelation, but if genuine divine truths had to survive in the Talmud until Mohammad, that means Allah preserved them outside the line of prophets and scriptures He supposedly protects.

The “Unlettered Prophet” Claim
Islam defends Mohammad against plagiarism by calling him ummi (illiterate), but if the Quran really contains detailed rabbinic material, then literacy isn’t the issue — oral borrowing suffices. This undercuts the apologetic.

Chain of Transmission Problem (Isnad)
Islam prides itself on isnad (chains of transmission). Yet the Quran’s use of Talmudic content implies Allah relied on the rabbis’ isnad (chains of rabbinic debate) to pass His words along. That grants Jewish oral tradition the very reliability Islam denies it. This gives Judaism isnad chains that are valid and superior to Allah’s.

The Problem of Selectivity
If the Quran selectively repeats Talmudic content, how do Muslims know which parts are divine? The only answer is: “the parts that match the Quran.” That’s circular.

Moral Derivation vs. Revelation
If the Talmud already had certain moral maxims (e.g., value of life, fasting, prayer laws), then the Quran is derivative rather than revelatory. That reduces Mohammad to a transmitter of existing traditions, not a prophet with unique revelation.

Transmission Without Prophets
The Quran insists revelation only comes through prophets (42:51, 4:163–165), but if Talmudic material really was divine truth preserved until Mohammad, then rabbis functioned as vessels of revelation — even though Islam denies them that role.

Borrowing from the “Corrupted”
Islam repeatedly says Jews corrupted their scripture (2:79, 4:46). If the Quran contains Talmudic material, it’s borrowing from people it also condemns as corrupt. That undermines the Quran’s polemics.

Gap of Silence
Islam teaches ~600 years passed without prophets (Jesus ? Mohammad). If genuine revelation was preserved in the Talmud in this gap, then “no prophets” doesn’t mean “no guidance” — which contradicts Islam’s theology of continuous prophetic mediation.

Uniqueness Challenge
The Quran claims it’s inimitable (17:88), but if chunks of its moral/legal content appear earlier in rabbinic writings, the uniqueness challenge collapses.

Authority of Jewish Oral Law
By echoing Talmudic teachings (e.g., Surah 5:32 ? Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5), the Quran indirectly acknowledges the authority of Jewish oral tradition as the word of God. Yet Mohammad condemned Jews for following rabbis instead of God’s word. This is incoherent. Also, much of the content of the Quran contradicts with the Talmud.

The Talmudic dilemma doesn’t just raise one question (“did Mohammad copy?”). It blows holes in multiple Islamic claims:

Revelation only through prophets ? contradicted.
Jews corrupted revelation ? contradicted.
Quran is unique ? contradicted.
Allah preserves revelation ? contradicted.
Mohammad’s illiteracy proves divine origin ? contradicted.
Rabbis had no divine authority ? contradicted.

This argument tears down the very foundations of EVERY aspect of the Quran and Islam.

If Allah alone reveals through prophets, then either Allah let non-prophets (the rabbis) carry revelation for 600 years, or Mohammad simply heard and reused their material. Both scenarios contradict Islam’s theology.

If the Jews were corrupt, why does the Quran echo their “corrupt” oral law? That implies Mohammad learned from Jews, not from God.

If the Quran is unique and inimitable, how can it contain maxims and stories already written in rabbinic works centuries earlier? That makes it derivative, not unique.

If the Quran was divinely preserved, why does Allah need to “borrow” from human rabbis instead of preserving the truth Himself? That undermines the claim of divine preservation (15:9).

Why is the Talmud useful for a cult leader to brainwash his followers?

Rabbinic literature specializes in short, memorable legal maxims, parables, and aggadic tales — exactly the kinds of items that travel orally and would have been easy to memorize and translate.

Jewish tribes in Hijaz and northern Arabia preserved and told these stories; merchants and converts carried them; Christian Syriac traditions also circulated overlapping motifs. Making them familiar enough that he can pass off divine revelation and sound authentic for credibility without having to have much understanding of the text itself or the implications of his theology.

If Mohammad’s original audience was unfamiliar with this material, then it would have made it easier to persuade them and trick them. This also explains the hostility he gets after the Cow since the Jews called him out on his lies and he got caught then gaslit his followers even more. The exact thing you would expect from a cult leader.

Muslim Rebuttals

1. “Both come from the same ancient revelation.”

Claim: The Talmud and Quran share truths because both descend from revelation given to earlier prophets.
Rebuttal:

The Talmud is not presented as prophetic speech — it is layered rabbinic debate compiled centuries after prophecy ceased, not direct prophetic transmission. This could only work if you assume the oral traditions go back to Sinai and survived verbatim into the Talmud without corruption. For the overlap to come from a common revelation, you must assume those rabbinic discussions preserved divine wording verbatim for 1,000+ years — something Islam denies when accusing Jews of corrupting revelation.
You cannot claim corruption and perfect preservation simultaneously.

2. “The Jews retained fragments of truth.”

Claim: Despite their errors, Jews accidentally kept a few genuine teachings that God later confirmed through Muhammad.
Rebuttal:

This creates the selection problem — how do you know which parts were true? The only answer given is “the parts that match the Quran,” which is circular reasoning.
If the Jews were astray, the Quran’s wholesale repetition of their phrasing (e.g., Surah 5:32 ? Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5) means the “corrupted” material is being treated as revelation.
Possible in principle (truth can survive in corrupted traditions), but it creates the contradiction: if Jews were astray, how do you distinguish which parts of their writings were still divine and which were corruption, especially when the Quran lifts passages wholesale (like Surah 5:32 ? Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5)? If your answer is “what agrees with the Quran” that is circular reasoning and a logical fallacy.

3. “The Quran corrects Jewish errors.”

Claim: Allah reused Jewish stories but purified or corrected them.
Rebuttal:

Then you must show the correction. In most parallels, the Quran repeats midrashic details almost verbatim.
The text doesn’t say, “they claim this but…” It states the material as revelation from God.

4. “The Quran quotes Jewish ideas to debate with them.”

Claim: Muhammad used Jewish sources rhetorically — citing their own lore back at them.
Rebuttal:

The Quran never frames these as quotations; it speaks in God’s voice declaring the content as divine law.
Polemical citation requires attribution (“you say”), which the Quran lacks. It asserts, not argues.

5. “These are universal truths or coincidences.”

Claim: Shared moral truths appear in all religions; overlap doesn’t imply copying.
Rebuttal:

Generic morality can be universal, but unique rabbinic phrasings (legal formulae, story motifs) are not.
If the Quran’s wording mirrors rabbinic idioms, coincidence is statistically implausible.
Moreover, the Quran’s claim to inimitable style collapses if it mirrors pre-existing phrasing.

6. “Muhammad learned it orally, and God confirmed it.”

Claim: He heard Jewish lore through oral tradition, and Allah validated the truthful parts.
Rebuttal:

Historically plausible, theologically fatal. It concedes human mediation — the very thing the Quran denies.
Revelation becomes retrospective approval of whatever Muhammad happened to hear.

7. “The Quran doesn’t copy — the Talmud copied from earlier prophets.”

Claim: Jewish rabbis stole, distorted, or invented stories based on prophetic material that predated the Talmud. So when the Quran echoes those passages, it isn’t borrowing; it’s reclaiming what was originally divine.
Rebuttal:

This reverses chronology. The Talmudic passages pre-date Islam by centuries; there’s no evidence of pre-Talmudic prophetic originals containing those same expansions.
The Quran is 600+ years after Jesus, and the Talmud is traceable to rabbinic debates in late antiquity. The “they copied us” move is a historical reversal without evidence.
The burden is on the Muslim claimant to produce that lost source. None exists.

8. “Allah can reveal the same message multiple times, even without prophets.”

Claim: God can re-reveal truths to anyone He chooses.
Rebuttal:

Quran 42:51 and 4:165 explicitly state Allah only reveals through prophets.
Between Jesus and Muhammad, Islam says there were no prophets.
Thus, if the Talmud contains “wahy,” Islamic theology collapses.

9. “Muhammad was illiterate, so he couldn’t copy.”

Claim: Being “ummi,” he couldn’t have read Jewish texts.
Rebuttal:

Illiteracy doesn’t prevent oral borrowing; the Talmud was transmitted orally for centuries.
“Ummi” likely means “unlettered in Scripture,” not unable to hear, memorize, and retell stories.
He didn’t need a printing press — oral culture and roadside rabbis did the job.

10. “Similar stories prove common origin, not dependence.”

Claim: If two texts share themes, it doesn’t mean one copied the other — both draw on a broader oral Near Eastern folklore pool.

Works for vague parallels, but fails with very specific verbal overlaps (e.g., Surah 5:32 ? Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5).
Also the ‘folklore pool’ is still made up of manmade folklore which is FALSE. Why is Allah containing false folklore into his eternal speech?

11. “Mohammad was taught by God directly.”
Claim: Allah taught Mohammad directly, thus removing the need of copying. It is a new revelation from Allah that just so happens to line up with older Jewish usage.

Then why does God echo rabbinic wording and midrashic detail rather than produce wholly new phrasing?

Underlying Logical Flaws

Argument Type	Logical Problem	Summary of Circularity
“Both share revelation.”	Assumes what it must prove	The Quran is true because it restores revelation; we know it’s revelation because it matches the Quran.
“Jews preserved fragments.”	Selection fallacy	The “true” fragments are defined by what agrees with Islam.
“It’s correction / polemic.”	Category error	The Quran never identifies these as citations; it presents them as Allah’s speech.
“Universal truths.”	Category conflation	Applies moral universality to specific phrasing.
“Oral confirmation.”	Ad hoc theology	Whatever Muhammad knew is declared revelation retroactively.

The Core Problem

Every defense returns to a single unprovable assumption:

“It’s revelation because it’s in the Quran.”

That’s a closed epistemic loop. Once you remove that assumption, the evidence fits the simpler explanation:

Muhammad encountered Jewish oral traditions, absorbed them into his message, and repackaged them as divine revelation.

That fits the timeline, historical contact, and the literary data. No miracles, no contradictions, no circular reasoning. The Quran is a manmade document mostly based on Jewish source material alongside Greek, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Gnostic writings.

The Talmudic dilemma forces Islam into a corner: accept an incoherent theology of revelation, or admit that Mohammad’s revelations drew substantially on human Jewish and Christian material. Historically and logically, the latter is overwhelmingly likely — which means the Quran contains human-sourced content and is not purely a unique divine text. Thus nullifying the truthfulness of the Quran and making Islam false.

The Talmudic Dilemma published

The Talmudic Dilemma

Quick TL;DR version of the argument

Core logical framework (the dilemma in 6 steps)

Long version of the argument

The Talmudic Dilemma Syllogism

Talmudic History

How the Talmud is Dated

Could Jews have had true revelation in the Talmud (Wayh)?

How the Quran uses the Bible

How the Quran uses the Talmud

PILLARS OF ISLAM

THEOLOGY

STORIES

RANDOM BELIEFS

PRACTICES

HADITHS

TAFSIR

WHAT IS STOLEN FROM OTHERS

What was Original to Mohammad

How would Mohammad have gotten the Talmudic Material?

Further Problems the Talmudic Dilemma Creates for Muslims

Muslim Rebuttals

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