Home > Torah - Genesis Stories in the Quran
In Genesis 1, God is referred to as Elohim (the Transcendent Creator). But in Genesis 2:4, the text shifts to Yahweh Elohim (the Covenantal Presence) which is used to show a Relational Being who binds Himself to humanity, contrasting sharply with the rigidly remote monad deity of the Quranic text.
Exodus 3:15:
This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
The name of God is a main topic in the Bible. He is known predominantly by the name Yahweh, which is a scholarly attempt to restore the ancient, original pronunciation of God's name. This is not an interchangeable title; it is God’s unique, incommunicable, personal covenant name revealed to Israel.
When the Quran addresses God, it lacks the specific covenantal history tied to the burning bush where Yahweh declared:
Genesis 2:4 - These are births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God’s making earth and heavens.
Allah is a contraction of Al-Ilah ("The God"). It functions as a definite title rather than a distinct personal name.
While Genesis 2:4-7 portrays Yahweh as a "hands-on" Potter who breathes life directly into man, the Quranic verses emphasize a Deity who creates by decree and remains ontologically separate from His creation.
Surah 36:82: "His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, 'Be,' and it is."
Surah 2:117: "Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is."
In the Quran, the word for God in Arabic is “Allah” and in the Hadith, he has 99 names.
Sahih al-Bukhari 7392 Book 97, Hadith 21 - “Allah's Messenger said, "Allah has ninety-nine Names, one-hundred less one; and he who memorised them all by heart will enter Paradise." To count something means to know it by heart.”
The relationship with Allah is one of master-slave. Allah is completely transcendent and remote from creation. If God has 99 names but none of them is "Father," and none of them allow Him to walk in a garden with man, then the 99 Names serve as a barrier, not a bridge. The 100th name that would bridge the gap: Immanuel (God with us) is missing! (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23).
Islam has embarrassing literal anthropomorphisms within their own texts.
In Surah 68:42, the Quran states that on the Day of Judgment, "The Shin shall be laid bare." According to the explicit commentary of the Prophet in Sahih al-Bukhari 4744, this is not a metaphor. Muhammad states that Allah will literally uncover His physical shin, and every true Muslim will fall prostrate before it.
Sahih Muslim 1827 explicitly states that Allah has physical hands, and both of his hands are right hands: "Those who are just will be in the presence of Allah on thrones of light... at the right hand of the Merciful, and both of His hands are right hands."
Muslims often mock the Bible for describing Yahweh as a loving potter shaping mankind, yet their own highest scriptures teach that your deity possesses a literal shin and two right hands that he displays on Judgment Day.
The difference is that Yahweh’s anthropomorphisms are used to draw near to man in love; the Islamic text's anthropomorphisms provide a bizarre, detached anatomy that serves no relational purpose whatsoever!
Yahweh in Genesis 2:4 is the name of a God who prepares Himself for a relationship. Allah in the Quranic verses is the name of a God who prepares creation for His recognition. One is a God of Covenantal Love who stoops to the dirt; the other is a God of Absolute Power who remains on the Throne.
The relationship with Yahweh is often described as a covenant or a father-child relationship. Yahweh loves His creation so much that He became incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ, to save humanity from sin. Immanuel (God with us) prophesised in Isaiah 7:14 has come to bridge the gap as Matthew tells us in Matthew 1:22-23.