How much Christians know about Bible? What about Muslims?

Naturally as Muslims we are much more knowledgeable in the Qur'an, than most Christians are in the Bible. The majority of us will read the Qur'an at least once a month. I believe most of us read at least one Juz a day, so in 30 days we have read the entire Qur'an and we read it 12 times a year. Even those of us who are too buzy to read a Juz a day will read 1 or 2 Surahs each day. We all recite at least one surah (al-Fatihah) 5 times a day. The Qur'an is a much more important part of our daily worship, then the Bible is for Christian Worship.


I would also say that more Muslims are knowledgeable in the Bible than the number of Christians. Several reasons for me to say that, because we are commanded to read and learn, many Muslims have read the Bible several times. Here in the US I would say that most Muslims do have at least one Bible in their home and many have several versions. One reason is because we know that at various times we will be appraoched by Evangelicals and we choose to understand what they are talking about. Also many Muslims in the US are reverts and have had exposure to the Bible. I would say that a Christian with good knowledge of the Bible is more likely to revert, than a person with little knowledge. Often You will hear Christian reverts say they met Jesus(as) in the Bible, but did not know or really Love him the way he should be loved, until they came to Islam. Many Muslim reverts will say that they are more of a true Christian in Islam than they were in Christianity.

Many reverts from Christianity were very devout Christians at one time, many were Evangelicals or ministers. But many of them will say that they never really understood the Bible until they accepted Islam.

So I would say more Muslims, have knowledge of the Bible than the number of Christians do. At least for here in the US.

Hehe.. if that sums up the average level of knowledge regarding the Bible I wonder how much Americans know about Buddhism? They probably think the Buddha is alive and well in Nepal somewhere teaching movie and rock stars how to levitate!

I should add that I doubt my own country is any different. I should also add, in fairness, that a great many Christians are as just familiar with the Bible as devout muslims are with the Qur'an, and that as I discovered when I first started learning classical Greek there are many learning that language just to read the New Testament. You can never generalize.


P.S I'm delighted to say the only one I didn't know was the one about Dubya's speech! :statisfie

I remember my grandmother had a 60 year routine. She woke up at 5:30 every morning and read a large amount of the Bible for about 2 hours before the rest of us woke up. While it might be true that many Christians do not read the Bible on a routine basis, I think it would be a mistake to generalize. As for those with knowledge of Christianity being more likely to convert to Islam....don't know about that claim. All the devout Christians I've known during my life stayed Christian...that is sort of the point of being a Christian. Islam is not Christianity, obviously, and no true Christian would convert to Islam to have a better understanding of Jesus Christ. Just my opinion of course.

Trumble said:

Hehe.. if that sums up the average level of knowledge regarding the Bible I wonder how much Americans know about Buddhism? They probably think the Buddha is alive and well in Nepal somewhere teaching movie and rock stars how to levitate!

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You mean he isn't is Nepal teaching. Someone has been lieing to me. Just kidding BTW

Trumble said:

I should add that I doubt my own country is any different. I should also add, in fairness, that a great many Christians are as just familiar with the Bible as devout muslims are with the Qur'an, and that as I discovered when I first started learning classical Greek there are many learning that language just to read the New Testament. You can never generalize.


P.S I'm delighted to say the only one I didn't know was the one about Dubya's speech! :statisfie

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I will admit that I am not very knowleadgable about the bible right now, however lately I have been trying to learn and understand more. Will I get it overnight. Abosolutely not. But I will get there eventually. :thumbs_up

Please keep in mind "Americans" does not mean "Christians".

Many Americans are sadly lacking in many parts of a good education. It's sad when the puritans came to this country, they quickly founded colleges in which the curricula included philosophy, music and the sciences and now it no longer seems to mean much to so many. Specialization in a higher education can produce people extremely knowledgeable in one subject, but lacking in many basics of living.

Yes, also some Christians do not know much about what they believe. In some churches, there is much emphasis on the emotional parts of the Christian walk. The conversion of the mind, that was such a concern in earlier times is neglected in many churches. Church history, apologetics and other subjects can be lacking. Many Christians can be easy pickings for ideas and cults that preach enough truth to tickle the ears, but hidden inside is falsehood.

There are those of us though, that recognize this shortcoming.

Naturally as Muslims we are much more knowledgeable in the Qur'an, than most Christians are in the Bible. The majority of us will read the Qur'an at least once a month. I believe most of us read at least one Juz a day, so in 30 days we have read the entire Qur'an and we read it 12 times a year. Even those of us who are too buzy to read a Juz a day will read 1 or 2 Surahs each day. We all recite at least one surah (al-Fatihah) 5 times a day. The Qur'an is a much more important part of our daily worship, then the Bible is for Christian Worship.

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Do you feel that the majority of Muslims you speak of could read the Quran in Arabic and give a reasonable translation of its meaning in their primary language?

A question came in to mind now , In the west , do newspapers publish religion page ?

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Many newspapers have a religion page, and at times they may include an editorial, but in most cases they are advertisments by local churches pertaining to upcoming events, service times, etc.

Naturally as Muslims we are much more knowledgeable in the Qur'an, than most Christians are in the Bible. The majority of us will read the Qur'an at least once a month. I believe most of us read at least one Juz a day, so in 30 days we have read the entire Qur'an and we read it 12 times a year. Even those of us who are too buzy to read a Juz a day will read 1 or 2 Surahs each day. We all recite at least one surah (al-Fatihah) 5 times a day. The Qur'an is a much more important part of our daily worship, then the Bible is for Christian Worship.

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-- if u mean read Quran & understand the Arabic language , then no , as most Muslims are non-Arabs , they won't be able to understand the meaning unless s/he reads the translation.

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I would find these two statements to be contradictory if one takes knowledge to be understanding. If I am in an educational setting and a professor assigns readings from a textbook which he is unable to understand, I would question his knowledge of the material.

Many people are there who spent their lives without understanding the meaning of Quran but can recite verbatim from Quran . Some people think , it's not good to read the Quran in other languages as Quran came in to Arabic language.

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I don't know how to say this without raising anger, but perhaps the fact that much of the world associates Islam with terrorism is due to the fact that a majority of Muslims don't speak Arabic and therefore don't have a clue what the Quran teaches. This makes them easy prey for teachers who freely twist the scriptures to support a radical agenda.

dougmusr said:

I would find these two statements to be contradictory if one takes knowledge to be understanding. If I am in an educational setting and a professor assigns readings from a textbook which he is unable to understand, I would question his knowledge of the material.

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As in every religion, Muslims vary in their devotion to studying their holy book(s) - in this case the Holy Quran. I would say there is a continuum from those who read the Quran daily in Arabic with full understanding to those who have never read it all the way through (and some who can't read). I would expect a "bell-shaped curve" with most people being somewhere in the middle. For myself, I have read the English translation of the Quran only 3 times - perhaps on the low end of the curve.

Muslims learn to recite portions of the Quran in Arabic for their prayers. I believe that most Muslims know the meaning of the portions of the Quran they have memorized. There are some Muslims who have memorized the entire Quran in Arabic even though they don't speak the language. I venture to guess that some of these respected Muslims may not know the meaning of every verse they have memorized in Arabic. If you were to ask me to recite the English meaning of the Fatiha (that I recite in Arabic at least 17 times a day in my prayers) - well, I couldn't. However, I could recite each of the 7 verses in Arabic and then provide a rough translation of each in English. During my prayers, I recite in Arabic, but I think in English terms at the same time to maintain presence of mind.

Allah has willed that I have recently learned the rudiments of the Arabic language such that I can sound out a fair portion of the Quran in Arabic - albeit without understanding. Nearly all translations of the Quran have the corresponding Arabic right beside the translation. I have 5 translations of the Quran and each is a little bit different, but the Arabic is identical down to the last vowel stroke. Those more knowledgeable may correct me, but as far as I know there is only one Arabic version of the Quran.

The confusion is that the Quran was revealed in Arabic and, technically speaking, to read the Quran means to read it in Arabic. When one reads a translation, he is reading a "rendition of the meaning" of the Quran. In other words, I could coarsely read the Arabic without understanding and then read the English translation of the same passage and gather the meaning.

i wanted to add also

the fact that the Quran is being preserved by Allah (SW) from alteration as it's mentioned in the Quran

(three translations)
015.009
YUSUFALI: We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).
PICKTHAL: Lo! We, even We, reveal the Reminder, and lo! We verily are its Guardian.
SHAKIR: Surely We have revealed the Reminder and We will most surely be its guardian.

and this saving can be understood clearly when:

1 - when any one learn how did the Quran been transmited to us now he will realize the brilliant thinking of those early muslims.

the early muslims invented many kind of sciences for preserving any kind of text from being alterated through time and used this sciences with Quran and Hadith .

the most important science is named the Hadith and "Sanad" science.

2- also there are many non-arab muslims who memorize the whole Quran ,all the 114 chapter (for example i have seen a video of a young Persian girl from iran and also there are many others in canada and in arab countries also) and this is also as Allah has told us in the Quran

here is three translation :

054.017
YUSUFALI: And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition?
PICKTHAL: And in truth We have made the Qur'an easy to remember; but is there any that remembereth?
SHAKIR: And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind?

so those two verses in the Quran is proving their truth every day.

Yes, brother this is the enduring miracle of Islam that in the early days of Islam when there was no typewriter, printing press, computer word processor, or Xerox copy machine the Quran was preserved to this day intact. I might add that we Muslims believe that every word in the Quran is now verbatim as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and literally the very Words of Allah that he spoke as revealed through the Angel Jibrael (Gabriel).

Before a young christian opens the bible to read it for themself (intead of listening about what it says from a preacher, like most do) they should be given some kind of warning that it may be dangerous to their faith to do so.

Most ex-christian atheists I know started on their trip to atheism because they opened that book and were shocked at what they found within.

Muslim Woman said:

---I don't know what Christians found offensive in Bible. I can tell my experience as a Muslim.

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There is more wrong than right with the Old testaent, to start. And since they put it at the front of the bible, guess where the average Christian whose never read it before first turns, yup, Genesis. Reads about Adam and Eve, the actual text, which is far less friendly than the stories they've been told re Adam and Eve.

Then they go on to muddle through a whole massive volume of "was born untos", they skip past that and then find themselves reading about all sorts of horrendous things people were commanded to do in the name of God and horrible things God did.

On a surface level reading, ie just reading the words and not having any kind of interpretation provided to you, you get some pretty sickening stuff.

Abraham agreeng to kill his child. God demanding it and then at the last moment changing his mind, like a mobster who tests your loyalty by commanding you t kill your brother with an unloaded gun (unbeknownst you you).

The Noah story. It truly is horrid if you think about it beyond children's songs. THe entire population of the earth, drowned. Notice those kids songs never talk about all the floating corpses and rotting flesh that would be all over the place after the flood. You also rarely hear the part about Noah naked in his tent after the flood and his son seeing him nude and being flogged for it.

And it goes on and on and on. I seriously can't think of more than a couple of old testament bible stories that are NOT horrible tales of immorality. God is depicted as a cruel tyrant, no way around it.

Many Christians reading this for the first time have become ex-Christians by the time they get to the new testament. Which is unfortunate, because that is where God seems to mellow out and where all the more positive messages are in the Bible.

If they manage to read beyond the gospels they then get right back into some of the horrendous stuff, just like the old testament stories. Nasty stuff abounds once more.

The vast majority of casual Christians have absolutely NO IDEA of the horrible things in the book they think is all about love and compassion (rather than murder, genocide, war, incest, slavery, genital mutilation (i don't think there's a more common theme in the bible than God's obession with foreskins), and the list goes on and on)

Casual Christians rarely read the bible theselves, instead listening to what a preacher tells them it says, and many of those who DO decide to read the actual book quickly become atheists.

I can think of no more common way a Christian becomes an Atheist than due to reading the Bible. I have seen countless examples of it (though I myself am not one of them - i was never a Christian to begin with).