1.14 What is the difference between the Bible and the Qur’an?
Muslims believe that the Qur’an was literally dictated to Mohamed by God in Arabic. The Qur’anic texts are holy to Muslims. This also holds true for the Bible: as Christians we believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit (without God dictating the text). This same Holy Spirit helps readers to interpret the Bible correctly. The words in the Bible are dead until they are read.
Regarding the contents, the Qur’an denies that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died and rose from the dead. This means that the truth that God became incarnate in Jesus because of his love for us is not acknowledged.
What role does Sacred Scripture play in the life of the Church?
Sacred Scripture gives support and vigor to the life of the Church. For the children of the Church, it is a confirmation of the faith, food for the soul and the fount of the spiritual life. Sacred Scripture is the soul of theology and of pastoral preaching. The Psalmist says that it is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). The Church, therefore, exhorts all to read Sacred Scripture frequently because “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Saint Jerome). [CCCC 24]
Faith in God, professed by the spiritual descendants of Abraham–Christians, Muslims and Jews–when it is lived sincerely, when it penetrates life, is a certain foundation of the dignity, brotherhood and freedom of men and a principle of uprightness for moral conduct and life in society. And there is more: as a result of this faith in God the Creator and transcendent, one man finds himself at the summit of creation. He was created, the Bible teaches, ‘in the image and likeness of God’ (Gn 1:27); for the Qur’an, the sacred book of the Muslims, although man is made of dust, ‘God breathed into him his spirit and endowed him with hearing, sight and heart,’ that is, intelligence (Surah 32.8). [Pope John Paul II, Ankara 29 Nov. 1979]
