The Cow in Bible vs. Quran

In the Bible, God says: 1) the lion will eat straw like the ox; 2) you will bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement, etc. In addition, The Lord God will use a razor hired from beyond the River.

On the other hand, the Quran talks about the Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite etc.

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The Cow is mentioned 34 in the Bible and four times in the Quran.

The Bible talks about 11 issues related to the cows; they are:

1) The lion will eat straw like the ox.

2) God will let you bake your bread over cow manure

3) God will use a hired razor

4) Do not slaughter a cow and its young on the same day.

5) Jacob’s gift to his brother was 40 cows

6) The Pharaoh’s dream of fat and lean cows.

7) The decoration of the Tent of Meeting and the Alter by Sea cows

8) Cheese from cows’ milk for David

9) Their cows calve and do not miscarry

10) The two cows did a good favor but they burnt them

11) The cows of Bashan is a symbol of Israel.

 

On the other hand, the Quran talks about three issues related to the cows; they are:

1) The Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite

2) What is forbidden to eat, the male, the female, or the newborn cow?

3) Joseph interpreted the Egyptian\s King’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows

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The Cow in the Bible

 

1) The lion will eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 11:7

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

 

2) The Lord God will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

Ezekiel 4:15

“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

 

3) The Lord God will use a razor hired from beyond the River

I wonder why the Lord uses a razor hired from beyond the River. Why He does not have a razor?

Isaiah 7:20 & 21

20- In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River the king of Assyria to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.

21- In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats.

 

4) Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

Leviticus 22:28

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

 

5) A part of Jacob’s gift to his brother was 40 cows

Genesis 32:15

Thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

If they (the cows) are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

In fact, this is not true from the scientific point of view

Genesis 33:13

But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

 

6) The Pharaoh’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows.

Genesis 41:2-4, 18-20, 26 and 27

2-When out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.

3-After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.

4-And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

18-When out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.

19-After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.

20-The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.

26-The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream.

27-The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

 

7) The decoration of the Tent of Meeting by Sea cows, acacia wood, shielding curtain, scarlet cloth, ram skins, the tent, goat hair, scarlet yarn and linen.

Exodus 25:5

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 26:14

Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 35:7

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 35:23

Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them.

Exodus 36:19

Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 39:34

The covering of ram skins dyed red, the covering of hides of sea cows and the shielding curtain;

Numbers 4:6

Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.

Numbers 4:8

Over these they are to spread a scarlet cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:10

Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of hides of sea cows and put it on a carrying frame.

Numbers 4:11

Over the gold altar, they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:12, 14 and 25

12-They are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put them on a carrying frame.

14-Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

25-They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

 

8) Cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat.

2 Samuel 17:29

honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert.”

 

9) Their cows calve and do not miscarry

Job 21:10

Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

 

10) The two cows did a good favor but the people sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

1 Samuel 6:7, 10, 12 and 14

7-“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

10-So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves.

12-Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

14-The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

 

11) The cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands” is a symbol of Israel?

Amos 4:1

[Israel Has Not Returned to God] Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”

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The Cow in the Quran

1) The Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite:

One Israelite was found killed. All the Israelites gathered around Moses asking him to find out who killed the man. Moses asked Allah. Allah commanded the Israelites to slaughter a cow, any cow. The Israelites yelled at Moses: are you fooling! Moses said this is Allah’s command. Then they ask about the cow age, color, marital status and they made it difficult to find out such a cow. Finally they did. Allah commanded Moses to lightly knock the killed man with a part of the slaughtered cow. The killed man woke up and told them who killed him.

This story has some deep theological significance; Allah showed up to the Israelites that

• The cow is a sign for Allah the Creator,
• The cow is by no means a god and
• Allah is able to woke-up the dead.

This is because the Israelites worshiped the cow and the ox and considered the cow a god.

Also, the Israelites deny the afterlife.

In addition, this story is not found in the Bible.

Surah 2: 67-73

67- and when Moses said to his people: surely Allah commands you that you should sacrifice a cow; they said: do you ridicule us? He said: I seek the protection of Allah from being one of the ignorant (fool)!”

68- They said: call on your Lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she (the cow) is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow neither advanced in age nor too young, of middle age between that (and this); do therefore what you are commanded

69- They said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what her color is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a yellow cow; her color is intensely yellow, giving delight to the beholders

70- they said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she is, for surely to us the cows are all alike, and if Allah please we shall surely be guided aright

71- Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow not made submissive that she should plough the land, nor does she irrigate the tilth; sound, without a blemish in her. they said: now you have brought the truth; so they sacrificed her, though they had not the mind to do (it)

72- And when you killed a man, then you disagreed with respect to that, and Allah was to bring forth that which you were going to hide

73- so we said: strike the (dead body) with part of the (sacrificed cow), thus Allah brings the dead to life, and he shows you his signs so that you may understand

 

2) What is forbidden to eat, the male, the female, or the newborn cow?

The idolater Ignorant Arabs before Islam had some diverse religious traditions about the cows.

Some believed that it is eating the male cow (bull) is forbidden

Others believed that eating the female cow is forbidden.

Another Ignorant idolater Arabs believed that eating the first newborn cow is forbidden.

The Quran warns anyone who is saying that; the Quran says:

• Is this Allah’s commandments or a forged invented lie?
• Were you witnesses when Allah enjoined you this?

This issue is not found in the Bible.

Surah 6:144

And of camels a pair, and cows a pair cows. Say: has he forbidden the two males or the two females or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Or were you witnesses when Allah enjoined you this? Who, then, is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah that he should lead astray men without knowledge? Surely, Allah does not guide the unjust people

 

3) Joseph interpreted the Egyptian\s King’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows

The Bible says that the lean cows were ugly.

The Quran does not say that.

In order to know the difference between the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Bible vs. Quran, I recommend you smart reader to read the Story of the Prophet Joseph, the son of the Prophet Jacob it in both books.

Surah 12:43 and 46

43- The king (of Egypt) said: “i do see (in a vision) seven fat kine (cows), whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. o ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions.”

46- The chief cupbearer said “O Joseph! O man of truth! Expound to us (the dream) of seven fat kine (cows) whom seven lean ones devour, and of seven green ears of corn and (seven) others withered: that i may return to the people, and that they may understand.”

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Back to the main issue of my series of articles (1-39); this is my question to you smart readers: “Is the Quran quoted from the Bible “?

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil wrote this article

http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/the-cow-in-bible-and-quran-128385.html

This is Allah (51) Allah Expounds the Quran for People Who Believe

Allah Will Revive the Dead From their Graves Just As He Revives the Dead Land. Remember

The Winds, Clouds and Rains Are Types of Allah‘s Mercy

The Believers are similar to the good land of rich soil

The Miserable Product of the Bad Soil is the Similitude of the Disbeliever

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This series is an attempt to help the people to know Allah, their Creator. 

The Verses 7:57-58 of the Noble Quran talk about:

1) The Winds, Clouds and Rains Are Types of Allah‘s Mercy,

2) Allah Will Revive the Dead From their Graves Just As He Revives the Dead Land; Remember,

3) The Believer is similar to the good land of rich soil,

4) The Miserable Product of the Bad Soil is the Similitude of the Disbeliever and

5) Allah expounds the Quran for people who believe.

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The meaning of verse 7:57

It is Allah Who sends the winds, unfolding with His mercy, that is, dispersing before the rains with which He is bearing good tidings heralding His mercy; until, when they, the winds, bear heavy clouds, with rain, We lead it, that is, Allah leads the clouds to a dead land, one devoid of any vegetation, in other words, Allah leads the clouds there in order to revive it, and then Allah sends down thereon, on that land, and bring forth thereby, by this water, fruits of every kind. Like that, bringing forth, Allah shall bring forth the dead, from their graves, through revivification, so that you might remember, and believe.

In other words, just as Allah revives the earth with vegetation, Allah shall revive and bring forth the dead from their graves. Haply you may remember, haply you may take heed.

 

The meaning of verse 7:58

As for the good land, the one of rich soil, its vegetation comes forth, wholesomely, by permission of its Lord — this is a similitude of the believer who, when he hears an admonition, he heeds it and benefits from it. While as for the, one whose soil is, bad — the vegetation in, it comes forth only miserably, laboriously and with difficulty — this is the similitude of the disbeliever. Even, as Allah has made clear what has been mentioned, so He dispenses, He makes clear, the signs for a people who are thankful, to Allah and so believe.

In other words, the verse says: As for the good land which is not a swamp, its vegetation comes forth by permission of its Lord, by the will of its Lord without toil or effort, just as the sincere believer fulfils that which Allah commands him to do voluntarily and with the good disposition of his soul; while as for that which is bad, the bad, swampy land, only the useless comes forth from it, its vegetation comes forth only with toil and great effort. The hypocrite does not perform that which Allah commands him to do except when compelled and without a good disposition of the soul. Thus does Allah recount the tokens, He expounds the Quran by giving the simile of the believer and the disbeliever for people who give thanks, for people who believe.

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Verses 7:57-58in different English translations of the meanings of Arabic Quran:

QARIB:

57) He sends forth the winds as carriers of the glad tidings between the hands of his mercy, and when they have carried up a heavy cloud, we drive it on to some dead land and therewith send down water bringing forth all manner of fruit. as such we will raise the dead, in order that you remember.

58) Good land yields its vegetation by the permission of its Lord. while the corrupted yields only the scanty. so we make plain the verses to those who are thankful.

SHAKIR:

57) And he it is who sends forth the winds bearing good news before his mercy, until, when they bring up a laden cloud, we drive it to a dead land, then we send down water on it, then bring forth with it of fruits of all kinds; thus shall we bring forth the dead that you may be mindful

58) And as for the good land, its vegetation springs forth (abundantly) by the permission of its Lord, and (as for) that which is inferior (its herbage) comes forth but scantily; thus do we repeat the communications for a people who give thanks

PICKTHAL:

57) And he it is who sendeth the winds as tidings heralding his mercy, till, when they bear a cloud heavy (with rain), we lead it to a dead land, and then cause water to descend thereon and thereby bring forth fruits of every kind. thus bring we forth the dead. haply ye may remember.

58) As for the good land, its vegetation cometh forth by permission of its Lord; while as for that which is bad, only the useless cometh forth (from it). thus do we recount the tokens for people who give thanks.

YUSUFALI:

57) It is he who sendeth the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before his mercy: when they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, we drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith: thus shall we raise up the dead: perchance ye may remember.

58) From the land that is clean and good, by the will of its cherisher, springs up produce, (rich) after its kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up nothing but that which is niggardly: thus do we explain the signs by various (symbols) to those who are grateful.

Chapter 6 of the Quran (101) Satan and Sheep and Goats

The Quran describes some Satan’s footsteps that the pre-Islamic Arabs used to follow as rules in respect to eating cattle. The Quran says: Is it the two males, of the sheep and goats, Allah have forbidden you to eat? Or is it the two females, of the sheep and goats, Allah have forbidden you to eat?

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In the previous article, the Quran commands you to eat of that which Allah has provided you of crops and cattle, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan of of forbidding lawful food and of deeming unlawful food as lawful.

Ayah 6:143 describes some Satan’s footsteps that the pre-Islamic Arabs used to follow as rules; it says:

Allah has created eight pairs of cattle, eight types, some for burdens to bear loads and some for light support and food.

For example, Allah has created two pairs of sheep, a male and a female; and two pairs of goats a male and a female too.

Say O Muhammad to the unbelievers among the Arabs who on one occasion deem male cattle forbidden, and on another occasion deem the female cattle forbidden, and then they ascribe such rules to Allah.

Ask them O Muhammad:

Is it the two males, of the sheep and goats, Allah have forbidden you to eat?

Is it the two females, of the sheep and goats, Allah have forbidden you to eat? Or

Have Allah forbidden that which the wombs of the two females contain, be they male or female?

Inform me with knowledge, of the details of such prohibitions, if you speak truly.

Expound to me with knowledge, if you were truthful that Allah has made unlawful that which you claim.

On what basis has the prohibition been made?

If it is on the basis of maleness, then all males were forbidden;

If it is on the basis of femaleness, then all females were so forbidden;

If it is on the basis of what the womb may contain, then both genders were prohibited.

So, on what basis were such specifications made?

This form of interrogative is meant as repudiation.

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The verse 6:143 in different translations

QARIB:

(He has given you) eight couples, a pair of sheep and a pair of goats. say: ‘of these, has he forbidden you the males, the females, or what the wombs of the two females contain? Tell me with knowledge, if you were truthful. ‘

SHAKIR:

Eight in pairs– two of sheep and two of goats. Say: has he forbidden the two males or the two females or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Inform me with knowledge if you were truthful

PICKTHAL:

Eight pairs: of the sheep twain, and of the goats twain. say: hath he forbidden the two males or the two females, or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Expound to me (the case) with knowledge, if ye were truthful.

YUSUFALI:

(Take) eight (head of cattle) in (four) pairs: of sheep a pair, and of goats a pair; say, hath he forbidden the two males, or the two females, or (the young) which the wombs of the two females enclose? tell me with knowledge if ye were truthful: