Home > Surah 51 - The Winnowing Winds
1. Shift from the Genesis Record:
Surah 51:24–28 describes Abraham presenting a roasted calf to his celestial guests and experiencing fear when they refuse to eat. This departs from the foundational biblical narrative in Genesis 18:8, where the visitors explicitly consume the physical meal prepared for them.
2. Reliance on Extra-Biblical Rabbinic Traditions:
The Quranic revision—where the angels abstain from physical food—mirrors later Jewish legendary developments and rabbinic commentaries (such as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Talmudic discussions in Baba Metzia) rather than early historical scripture. This indicates a reliance on circulating Late Antique oral traditions rather than confirming prior canonical texts.
The surah details Abraham receiving mysterious guests, bringing them a roasted calf, and becoming frightened when they do not eat:
Surah 51:27-28:
And he brought near it to them; he said, 'Will you not eat?' And he felt from them an apprehension...
The Textual Contradiction: In the original Biblical account in Genesis 18:8, the visitors—who are explicitly identified as Yahweh and two angels—do eat the food ("and he stood by them under the tree while they ate"). The guests explicitly eat the meat and curds!
The Quranic version changes this detail, reflecting a later Jewish folklore tradition (found in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and the Talmud) which argued that angels only appeared to eat because spiritual beings cannot consume physical food.
The Quran is not confirming the actual historical Scripture given to the prophets (as claimed in Surah 25:35), but is instead repeating later, uncanonical human traditions and rabbinic debates.