The Raven in Bible and Quran

One of the expanded dogmas of mankind is that the Quran is quoted or borrowed from the Bible. This creed is established upon studies of many prejudiced intellectual scholars

In this series of articles (1-17), it is obvious that the Quran is quite different from the Bible. It is also very clear that the Noble Quran preceded the sciences in many aspects while the Bible contradicts with the sciences.

In the present topic of Raven, one may ask this: Is the Quran quoted from the Bible? The Bible which says that the Raven should be detested, the Ravens feed man, and the Raven will peck out the eye that mocks a father.

Or the Quran which says that the Raven is the genuine professor of the man in the field of HOW TO BURRY THE DEAD!

Before dealing with the topic of the Raven in Quran versus Bible versus sciences, it is essential to remember that the total words of the Bible are 788,280 while total words of the Quran are 77,473. In addition, Raven is mentioned 12 times in the Bible and once in the Quran. It follows that, the Bible has the potential of more than 10 times the Quran to talk about the Raven word-wise and/or has the prospective of 12 times the Quran to talk about the Raven topic-wise.

The Raven in the Bible:

Noah sent out a Raven

Genesis 8:7

and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

We have to detest the Raven and those:

Leviticus 11:13-19

13 " 'These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,

14 the red kite, any kind of black kite,

15 any kind of raven,

16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,

17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,

18 the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

Deuteronomy 14:14

any kind of raven,

The same as in Leviticus 11 (We have to detest the Raven and those).

Sometimes, the Raven could feed the man:

1 Kings 17:1

[ Elijah Fed by Ravens ] Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."

1 Kings 17:4

You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."

1 Kings 17:6

The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

Also, God provides food for the Raven:

Job 38:41

Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Psalm 147:9

He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

The Raven will peck out the eyes of those:

Proverbs 30:17

"The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

However, we have never heard about that!

The Beloved and the Raven:

Song of Solomon 5:11

His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

A beautiful meaning from the God Love:

Luke 12:24

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Finally, I wonder why the God Love has said the following:

Isaiah 34:9-11 (New International Version)

9 Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!

10 It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.

11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation.

- Pitch, burning sulfur, blazing pitch, desolate

- Will not be quenched night and day

- Its smoke will rise forever from generation to generation

- No one will ever pass through it again.

- However, You the smart reader can easily realize that this prophecy about Edom never happened.

- Could you see or hear about the smoke that will rise forever From generation to generation?

- Also, many thousands of people pass through it everyday!

The Raven in the Quran:

Surah 5:27-31

[27] Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to Allah): it was accepted from one, but not from the other. Said the latter: "Be sure I will slay thee." "Surely," said the former, "Allah doth accept of the sacrifice of those who are righteous.

[28] "If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds.

[29] "For me, I intend to let thee draw on thyself my sin as well as thine, for thou wilt be among the Companions of the Fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong."

[30] The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones.

[31] Then Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. "Woe is me!" said he; "Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?" Then he became full of regrets.

Theses verses give the story of the First Burial on the Earth.

The reason for the first murder on Earth was related to the inter-marriage of the male of one pregnancy with the female of another that had been in practice among Adam's children. Abel wished to marry Cain's sister, but Cain wanted her for himself because she was very beautiful. Adam commanded him to give her in marriage to his brother but he refused. So Adam prearranged both of them to offer a sacrifice, Abel offered a big lamb, while Cain offered a bundle of worst grain. Fire descended and devoured Abel's sacrifice, leaving that of Cain so he became mad and said: "I will surely kill you so that you will not marry my sister." Abel replied, "Allah accepts from those who fear Him."

Adam was watching their offering and was sure that Abel's sacrifice would be accepted. Cain complained to Adam that the acceptance was due to his prayer for Abel and that he had not done the same for him, so he assured his father to settle the matter between himself and his brother. One night, Abel was late returning from tending his flock. Adam sent Cain to see what happened to him. When he found him, he looked angrily at him saying: "yours was accepted, and mine was not." Abel replied, "Allah only accepts from the Allah -fearing." Cain became annoyed on hearing this and hit him with a rock and killed Abel.

Meanwhile Cain did not know what to do with his brother's corpse. He carried it on his back wandering from place to place trying to hide it. His anger had now subsided and his conscience was saddled with guilt. He was tiring under the burden of the corpse which had started to have a stench. As a mercy, and to show that dignity could be retained even in death, Allah sent two ravens that began fighting, causing the death of one. The victorious bird used its beak and claws to dig a hole in the ground, rolled its victim into it and covered it with sand.

When Cain saw that, he was overcome with shame and repentance. "Woe unto me!" he exclaimed. "I was unable to do what this raven has done, that is to hide my brother's corpse." Cain then buried his brother.

This was the history of the first burial of man.

This historical implication for the first murder and the first burial of man is not found in the Bible.

According to this story, man knew how to burry the dead from the Raven which is the genuine professor of the man in the field of HOW TO BURRY!

On the other hand, the first two burial mentioned in the Bible were for Sarah and Abraham

Genesis 23:19

Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 25:9

His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.

Before Sarah and Abraham, many thousands had been died but the Bible does not tell us how they had been buried and who taught man how to bury his dead.

Then the prejudiced intellectual scholars claim that the Quran is quoted, misquoted or borrowed from the Bible. I will let the smart reader to answer back such a claim.