In Bible versus Quran: The characters of the land of the shadow of death
Monday, November 30th, 2009Death in the Bible versus Quran: Job and the Shadow of death (1)
- In the Quran, Death is mentioned 34 times, and the Shadow of death is not found therein.
It is interesting that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses etc. did not talk about the Shadow of death and it is Job who was the first one ever who talks about the Shadow of death.
A Biblical verse (Job 1:1) talks about Job’s Character, it says that Job was perfect, blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned (turned away from) evil.
However, Job cursed the day of his birth; and he said: Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it as the most bitter of days.
Job, the perfect man, said unto God: Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me. I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy; let me alone before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death.
On the other hand, the Quran says that Job called to his lord: ‘affliction has befallen me, and you are the most merciful of the merciful.’
Then Allah heard his prayer and removed that adversity from which he suffered, and Allah gave him his household (that he had lost) and the like thereof along with them, a mercy from Allah, and a reminder to the worshippers.
The Quran says that none of Allah’s Prophets including Job could say anything like Turn away from me or let me alone unto their Lord. So, Muslims’ faith is that Job never ever said that.
According to the teaching of Quran, it is unforgivable sin to say or to believe that Job said that unto the Lord God.
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Death in the Bible: Job and the Shadow of death (1)
In the Bible, Job said that the Lord God: 1) leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established, 2) silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders, 3) pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty, 4) reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light, 5) makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them and He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste and they grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.
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Job 3:5 (King James Version)
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it (claim it); let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it (as the most bitter of days).
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Job 10:18-22 (American Standard Version)
18 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me.
19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22 The land dark as midnight, the land of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as midnight.
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Job 12:19-25 (English Standard Version)
19He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
20He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
23He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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Death in the Quran: Job and the Shadow of death (1)
The Shadow of death is not mentioned in the Quran.
Job was a great Prophet. He had been afflicted with the loss of all of his possessions and children, the laceration of his body, his being shunned by all except his wife, for a period of about eighteen years, as well as the affliction of enduring a straitened means of livelihood.
Verses 21:83-84 talk about Job suffering, and his prayer to Allah and how Allah did respond to him; the wisdom of Job’ story is given by the Quran.
The verses say:
And, mention, Job when he prayed and called out to his Lord: ‘Indeed harm, adversity, has befallen me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful’. Then Allah heard his prayer and removed that adversity
So Allah responded to him, in his call, and removed the harm that had befallen him; He healed the laceration of his body and Allah restored his people to him, and doubled their number; Allah is the most open-handed one.
But what is the wisdom of Job’ story in these two verses?
The Quran says that Allah has done that (removed the harm etc.) as a mercy from Him and a reminder to the believers and the worshippers that they have be patient and thus they will be rewarded by Allah.
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Verses 21:83-84 (Yusuf Ali Translation)
83) And (remember) Job, when he cried to his lord, “truly distress has seized me, but thou art the most merciful of those that are merciful.”
84) So We listened to him: we removed the distress that was on him, and We restored his people to him, and doubled their number, – as a grace from Ourselves, and a thing for commemoration, for all who serve us.
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Back to my question to the smart and interested reader: Are the Scholars truthful when they claim that the Quran is quoted from the Bible?