Home > Torah - Exodus Stories in the Quran
The core of Exodus's legal code is the Ten Commandments, which serve as the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant. Exodus 20:8 commands the Israelites to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." The Sabbath is a central pillar of Jewish and Christian law. The Exodus 20 commandments are presented as a direct, unified revelation from God to the entire Israelite nation at Mount Sinai.
Exodus 20:1–18: And God spake all these words, saying,
I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.
And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.
While the Quran mentions that God gave Moses "Tablets of the Law," it doesn't list the commandments in the same way as Exodus.
Surah 7:154: "And when the anger subsided in Moses, he took up the tablets; and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for those who are fearful of their Lord."
The Quranic version of these laws is scattered across different surahs and often rephrased.
The Quran says in two verses, that Allah turned Jewish Sabbath breakers into apes!
Surah 2:65 - "And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the Sabbath, and We said to them, 'Be apes, despised.'"
Surah 7:166 "So when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, 'Be apes, despised.'"
There is something unique in the Quran that is not found in any Jewish literature. The Quran literally believes that they became apes as punishment! The Torah says their punishment is to be stoned to death.