What are the similarities and differences that exist in the creation
myths (Stories  of creation) of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ?
Using comparative text mostly from the Bible, Koran and the Torah.

Hi, 

Well first of all Genesis is the Bible and Torah, since they are the
same book for each. When people refer to the "Bible" generally
speaking they are referring to the New Testament or rather the
attachment of the new Testament and what the Christians refer to as
"The Bible". There are other differences as well, such as in the Torah
has several books included in it which the "Old Testament" in the
"Christian Bible" does not. But that's a different topic, let's stick
to this one.

So, for Genesis, there are really two creation myths in this first
chapter. Chapter 1 is divided into six well-ordered days, whereas in
Chapter 2 there is no such division. The story of Creation in Chapter
1 has a clear conclusion, while the narrative in Chapter 2 flows into
the story of the Garden of Eden. In Chapter 1, man is the last thing
created, comparable to a king who comes to the table after it has been
set, whereas man in chapter 2 is created at the beginning of the
narrative and sees the entire world being created before his eyes; and
so on and so forth.

Even a superficial reading of Genesis will reveal these two stories of
creation. The more familiar story found in Genesis chapter 1 is a
poetic description of a creation of increasing complexity, initiated
by God's words and punctuated by God's daily evaluations "and it was
good." Less familiar is the creation narrative in chapter 2 of Genesis
in which God first forms man alone, and then creates a Garden in which
to place him. Attempts to meld these two narratives into one story
stress the orientation of chapter one towards the entire universe,
contrasted to the specific focus on humanity in chapter 2 and
following. Orthodox Jewish scholars see no conflict between the
stories despite the myriad of differences on specifics details,
claiming it is a matter of perspective, a sort of Biblical he said/she
said. Modern Biblical scholars see the differences in language, style,
and in particular in the word used for God, as proof that these two
narratives emerged from different era's in Jewish history and reflect
two different traditions.

The 31 verses of the Genesis narrative describe with dramatic
precision the beginning of the universe and the beginning of life in
relation to three scientific fields: physics, chemistry and biology.
This has no precedent in any scientific article in any of these three
disciplines, even regarding the simplest of subjects. However the main
objective of this narrative focuses on transmitting the message
already stated in the very first verse: "In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth". Leaving the scientific explanations of the
beginning of the universe or the beginning of life to be what they
may, the Torah seeks to present the basic unit of belief, from which
all belief stems, and that is "the beginning of wisdom" (Heb. - Reshit
Chochmah). God created the world and He is the source of wisdom from
which all wisdom stems. Indeed, according to Maimonides the study of
the laws of nature which are the laws of God will draw us nearer to
Him. As he puts it: "Knowledge of the Divine can only be attained
after knowledge of nature..." The observation of, and search into, the
beginning of the universe through the laws of physics, and the
beginning of life through the laws of chemistry and biology, will
bring us closer to the source of wisdom -- to God.

Genesis provides a unified description of Creation; the Koran does
not. Instead, fragmented passages are scattered across many of its 114
chapters (‘Sura’). The Koran refers to the biblical creation story.
Sura 11 verse 6: "Throned above the waters, he made the heavens and
earth in six days." There are several references in the Koran to "God,
who made heaven and earth, and separated light from darkness." There
is also an admonition to "Israelites" to follow their holy book.
Devout Moslems believe every word of the Koran to have come directly
from the hand of God. The first words, after the introduction, are
"This is the book of which there is no doubt."

In the Koran, Man was created in Paradise (‘janna’), not on Earth
(first couple later banished to Earth, e.g. Koran 2:36). There is no
clear details of each creation day. Some vague clustering of the days
in 41:9–12 . Creation also in 6 ‘Days’, but could easily be
interpreted as ‘millions of years’

The Koran describes the creation: 

0 men. . . We [Allah] created you from dust; then from a drop of
semen; then from a clot; then from a lump of tissue either shape or
else shapeless, so We might explain [things] to you. We cause anything
We wish to rest in wombs for a stated period; then we bring you forth
as infants; eventually you reach full growth. Some of you will pass
away [early in life], while others of you will be sent back to the
feeblest age of all, so that he will not know a thing after once
having knowledge.

This, in some ways, reminds us of the Sumerian concept of the
incompleteness of the creation process unless a specific fate is
decreed. Here, people proceed from an unformed mass to an old age in
which they start losing the knowledge acquired during their formative
and adult years.

In many areas the Koran follows the lead of the Geneses book of the
Bible. There are not may differences except in the layout of the
information.

If you are seriously interested in this subject I recommend starting
to read Joseph Campbell as soon as possible. On of his works was a
collection, starting with creation myths, which covered most of the
religions of the world, including Native American and African
religions.

Links of interest

Bereshit -- Torah Chapter Genesis
http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Eparasha/bereshit/bar.html

Creation Science, myths of the Bible
http://www.awitness.org/contrabib/torah/creation.html

Full Text Documents - Judaica Resources on the Web
http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/kiev/judaica/fulltext.html

Mything links
http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct~creation.html

Science in the Quran
http://www.submission.org/universe.html

Creation Stories
http://www.cesame-nm.org/Viewpoint/contributions/bible/CREATIONSTORIES.html

The Koran
http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/browse.html

Wayne State University Library Sysetm
http://www.lib.wayne.edu/imagine/etext/index.php

Online Full Text Books.
http://www.sru.edu/pages/574.asp


Thanks, 

webadept-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by natal-ga on 04 Nov 2002 09:23 PST

I need more of a comparison of the exact verses in both the
Torah/Bible and the Quraan.

---

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 04 Nov 2002 10:10 PST

T/B. Man was created on Earth, in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8). 
K. Man was created in Paradise (‘janna’), not on Earth (first couple
later banished to Earth, e.g. Koran 2:36).

T/B. The Bible describes clearly what was made on each day of Creation
Week. The ‘Big Bang’ is excluded by this sequence (E.g. Earth before
Sun).
K. No clear details of each creation day. Some vague clustering of the
days in 41:9–12
*Note the Koran follows the second chapter of Genesis rather than the
first. It's almost a melding of the two inside the Koran, but not
quite, at least it doesn't appear that this was the goal.

T/B. Creation in 6 Days which are clearly Earth-rotation days (c. 24
hours).
K. Creation also in 6 ‘Days’ as well but could easily be interpreted
as ‘millions of years’
*Note there is also a change of "Day" value in the Tohra, where it is
said that a thousand years are but a day to God.
*Note, the 6 day value is only in the first chapter of Genesis, the
second has no value for how long it took to create the world.


T/B. Man and the animals were created vegetarian (Genesis 1:29–30). 
K. Carnivore lifestyle, apparently integral to life on the created
Earth from the first. The Koran (6:142, 16:5, 40:79) says that cattle
were created for man to eat.

T/B. Man was created naked (but not ashamed—Genesis 2:25). 
K. The Koran speaks of Adam’s (and his wife’s) nakedness becoming
apparent to them after they sinned (20:121; also implied by 7:22), yet
also implies that they were wearing some kind of raiment prior to the
Fall (Koran 7:273 ).

The Koran or Quran is much more detailed in several areas regarding
the creation and other thing such as birth and death and the universe
itself. At this time the people of this area are much more scientific
than they are now, and in this area, much more advanced than other
regions. This link below may be of interest to you. There are few
areas of the bible that can be directly related to the topics at that
link, and the comparison would be stretched past what I would be
comfortable in presenting.

SCIENCE IN THE QURAN 
http://www.submission.org/universe.html

Thanks again, 

webadept-ga

Very nice summary, webadept.  I enjoyed reading it, and hope natal will as well.

paf

As was mentioned, Judaism and Christianity both refer to the accounts
in Genesis, so we are comparing therefore the account of creation in
the Bible found in Genesis and the account found in the Qur'an.
Similarities and differences can be found in several aspects of how
the two texts approach the creation story.

Firstly, some general comments about the treatment that the story gets
in the two texts: In the Bible, Genesis is set as the first chapter of
the first book. The story of creation thus sets the tone and purpose
of the entire Bible. The Bible is mostly a set of historical accounts
and stories used as with Genesis to explain the history of the Jews
and subsequently the history and development of Christian beliefs and
traditions up to the point of codification. In contrast to this the
beginning of the Qur'an is a chapter (surah) which is a prayer
fundamental to the rituals of Islam. This is a prayer for guidance to
which the remainder of the Qur'an is the answer, as can be seen from 
the beginning of the second chapter. It declares that the Qur'an is
"the book, without doubt, in it is guidance for the 'mutaqin' (those
conscious of God and constraining their actions in order to obey Him).
This mean that the focus of the Qur'an is not on historical
justifications but on giving moral guidance, which may use historical
stories but where those references are not given in unnecessary
detail. The Qur'an is a recital book for prayers, not an historical
narration. I will go through the Biblical narration and look for
relevant Qur'anic verses. Sometimes the account in the Qur'an
specifically refutes parts of the Genesis narration sometimes it
confirms it.

(You can find the Bible account at
http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=GEN+1&language=english&version=KJV
and the Qur'an can be explored at
http://aspnet.lamaan.com/exampleApp/QuranSearch.aspx )

General differences:

The biblical account mentions six specific days on which events
happen. This doesn't happen in the Qur'an where the account is much
more general. The word for "day" is also used in the Qur'an. However,
we are told in the Qur'an that "a day in the sight of thy Lord is like
a thousand years of your reckoning (22:47)" and "angels and the spirit
ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand
years(70:4)". These verses make it clear that the word "day" in the
Arabic Qur'an can mean a very long time indeed. This makes the
Qur'anic account much easier to relate to science which declares that
the creation of the Earth and Mankind's appearance on Earth took
billions of years. Indeed the Qur'an even explicitly refers to the
time when man was not around: "Has there not been over Man a long
period of Time, when he was nothing - (not even) mentioned? (76:1)".

While the Hebrew word for day is closely related to the Arabic word
and so could also mean a long period of time, the text of Genesis
makes this very difficult because of the repeated phrase "And there
was evening, and there was morning-the first (second/third...) day".
It is also difficult because of the clear function the story has as a
justification of the Sabbath where after 6 days of work God had to
take a rest: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had
made.(Gen 2:1)". This justification is specifically contradicted in
the Qur'an where such an idea is contrary to God's omnipotence: "God!
There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No
slumber can seize Him nor sleep. .... His Throne doth extend over the
heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and
preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).
(2:255)"

Creation of the heavens and the earth:

The creation of the heavens and the earth, according to Genesis was
done first, on the first day of the week. In the Qur'an, it is the
whole creation of the heavens and the earth that took the six "days"/
long periods of time: "We created the heavens and the earth and all
between them in six days....(50:38)".

Creation of the plants and life forms:

The Qur'an refers to the creation of plants and life forms but doesn't
tie them to any time. There are many verses concerning this scattered
throughout the Qur'an. It is perhaps worth noting that, in the Qur'an,
God's creative acts continue throughout time and for example God
"creates" human beings in the wombs today. "Divorced women shall wait
concerning themselves for three monthly periods. Nor is it lawful for
them to hide what God Hath created in their wombs,...(2:228)"

The Garden of Eden:

The Qur'an refers simply to "al janna" literally "the garden" for both
the life to come, after death, in paradise and for where Adam and Ever
were. Whether this latter reference should be understood as heaven
rather than an earthly garden is not clear. However there are several
clues that suggest it refers to an earthly garden, including another
reference to "al janna" in a story in the Qur'an about the destruction
of an earthly garden which uses the term.

Creation of Man

The biblical account emphasizes that creation is made for man, not
that man is only a part, albeit an important one, of God's creation.
This attitude is refuted in the Qur'an: "Assuredly the creation of the
heavens and the earth is a greater (matter) than the creation of men:
Yet most men understand not. (40:57)". The actual creation of Adam as
the first man is not described in the Qur'an as it is in the Bible and
much more is left up to the imagination  - or for science to find.
(See "Did humans evolve from animals or were they created?" 
http://islamonline.net/askaboutislam/display.asp?hquestionID=2830  for
more on this topic)

Fall of Man, The Position of Eve, Salvation and Justification. 

In the biblical account, the story is used as the background to
justify, at least for Christians, ideas of original sin. The
conclusion at the end of the 3rd chapter is God cursing Adam and Eve
and sending them out of the garden. Eve is blamed for tempting Adam
and Adam is blamed for following Eve. Eve is then the real cause of
entry of sin into the world. For her sin she is condemned to have pain
bearing children and to always obey her husband because of her desire
for him. This shows how sin enters the world and sets the tone for the
position of man on Earth – and for the position of woman. The Qur'an
makes no such troublesome claim about Eve being the start of the
problems (see "Eve's Sin
http://islamonline.net/askaboutislam/display.asp?hquestionID=2931),
nor does the Qur'an say that man is in a condemned state. In the
Qur'anic account Adam repents after the sin and is forgiven by God.
Then God tells Adam what he is to do in his new state as a being
knowing what it is to sin:

"Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord
Turned towards him; for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. We said:
"Get ye down all from here; and if, as is sure, there comes to you
Guidance from me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no
fear, nor shall they grieve. But those who reject Faith and belie Our
Signs, they shall be companions of the Fire; they shall abide therein
(2:37-39) "

This then is the conclusion of the Qur'anic account, it spells out the
position of all human beings, down on earth, in broad terms of what is
needed for salvation: Following God's guidance when it reaches you.

correction: I meant "cannonization" not "codification" in my earlier comment.

Out of curiousity quran1st, I was wondering what the relationship
between the Quran and the Torah are?  It is my understanding that
historically the Torah is much older.  Why are the translations so
different?  And, is it possible that one could find clarification of
one in the other?
I'm pretty up on my Judeo / Christian history / philosophy, but not on
that of Islam.