How much Christians know about Bible? What about Muslims?

[Muslim Woman]

I seek refuge in Allah (The One God) from the Satan (devil) the cursed, the rejected

With the name of ALLAH (swt) -The Bestower Of Unlimited Mercy, The Continously Merciful


Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh (May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you)


&&

Is there any survey that showed how ignorant/knowledgeable Muslims are about Islam/Quran ? If anyone knows , pl. post it here.

I just saw a ' funny'(??) or pathetic survey about Americans on religion /holy books. U may visit the links to read the full report.



few funny lines: More than 10 percent think that Noah's wife was Joan of Arc. Only half can name even one of the four Gospels, and -- a finding that will surprise many -- evangelical Christians are only slightly more knowledgeable than their non-evangelical counterparts.





Widespread Ignorance About Religion Among Americans

USA Today


http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/ 2007-03-07-teaching-religion-cover_N.htm



Sometimes dumb sounds cute: Sixty percent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married.


Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, isn't laughing. Americans' deep ignorance of world religions — their own, their neighbors' or the combatants in Iraq, Darfur or Kashmir — is dangerous, he says.


His new book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know — and Doesn't, argues that everyone needs to grasp Bible basics, as well as the core beliefs, stories, symbols and heroes of other faiths...


New Book Examines American Ignorance About Religion
The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030102073.html


The United States is the most religious nation in the developed world if religiosity is measured by belief in all things supernatural, from God and the Virgin Birth to the humbler workings of angels and demons.


Americans are also the most religiously ignorant people in the Western world. Fewer than half of us can identify Genesis as the first book of the Bible, and only one-third know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.


These are just two of the depressing statistics in Stephen Prothero's provocative and timely Religious Literacy.


Americans get an 'F' in religion


TEST YOUR RELIGIOUS LITERACY


DIRECTIONS: Scroll over the question to see the answer. Tally your points and multiply by two to get your score out of 100.


1 point each: Name the Four Gospels.


MORE 1 POINT EACH

Answer: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John


Close X


1 point: Name a sacred text of Hinduism


MORE 1 POINT
Answer: Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Yoga Sutras, Laws of Manu, or Kama Sutra


Close X


1 point: What is the name of the holy book of Islam?
MORE 1 POINT
Answer: Quran


Close X


1 point: Where according to the Bible was Jesus born?


1 point: President George W. Bush spoke in his first inaugural address of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?


1 point each: What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?
1 point: What is the Golden Rule?


2 points: "God helps those who help themselves." Is this in the Bible? If so, where?



2 points: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Does this appear in the Bible?


10 points: Name the Ten Commandments.


4 points: Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.


7 points: What are the Seven Sacraments of Catholicism?


1 point each: The First Amendment says two things about religion, each in its own "clause." What are its two religion clauses?



2 points: What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?


7 points: Match the Bible characters with the stories in which they appear. Some characters may be matched with more than one story or vice versa.



CHARACTERS: Adam and Eve, Noah, Paul, Moses, Jesus, Abraham, Serpent. STORIES: Exodus, Binding of Isaac, Olive Branch, Garden of Eden, Parting of the Red Sea, Road to Damascus, Garden of Gethsemane



MORE 7 POINTS


Answer: Adam and Eve + Garden of Eden; Serpent + Garden of Eden; Abraham + Binding of Isaac; Moses + Exodus or Parting of the Red Sea; Noah + Olive Branch; Jesus + Garden of Gethsemane; Paul + Road to Damascus



Close X
SOURCE: 'Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know' by Stephen Prothero, published by HarperSanFrancisco, March 2007.

[Woodrow]

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.

[Trumble]

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!

[Keltoi]

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.

[Student1]

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!

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

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!

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.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

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

---wooooww. how come they did not include u in the survey ? Poor Americans could have got D or E grade instead of F

[don532]

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.

[dougmusr]

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.

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?

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

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?

-- 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.


As it is a must to recite few lines from Quran in our daily prayers, we memorised few lines since childhood.

There are many poor Muslims who never went to school & don't know how to read & write in their mother tonge but they can read Quran. We believe that to pronouce each alphabet of Quran , we will get rewards


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.


Normally in a Muslim majority country , TV & Radio start with Quran recitation & meaning , regular programmes are there on religion , once a week (min) daily papers publish special page on religion.....so , willingly or unwillingly Muslims come to know about many religious issues in their daily lives.

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

[dougmusr]

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

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.

[dougmusr]

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.

-- 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.

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.

[dougmusr]

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.

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.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

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.

---i agree. I m 100 % sure that many if not most Muslims don't know that Quran orders us to escort enemies if they want to hear the words of God. I came to know about this wonderful teaching only few days back when listening to Dr. Zakir Naik.

I m happy that now a days , Muslims are becoming couscious to know what is in Quran & they have started reading the Quran with translation.

here is a fatwa:

Q. some say reciting the Qur'an without understanding the meaning is pointless. Can this be true?

Ans: Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqui
Profession President: Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)


The Qur’an is a book of ‘Ibadah (worship) and its reading, memorization, and listening is all worship. It should be done whether one understands the meaning or not. The Qur’an is also a book of guidance (hidayah). And you cannot get guidance without understanding it.


Therefore, it is very important that we understand the Qur’an. It is better to read a few verses with understanding rather than reading a lot without any understanding and reflection. However, it is important that you read the Qur’an in Arabic because the “Qur’an” is only in Arabic.

The translations of the Qur’an are basically interpretations. These interpretations are not The Qur’an. So, for the purpose of ‘Ibadah the Qur’an must be reciting in its original language in which Allah revealed it.

http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa...GuestID=HSLPUg

[MustafaMc]

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.

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.

[Hemoo]

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.

[MustafaMc]

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).

[Pygoscelis]

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]

Salaam/peace;

........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.

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

I always heard criticism from media that Quran is a book of war , allowed polygamy ,slavery etc , etc. I never knew that or got any single hint from media that Bible has a lot of verses on war , allowed polygamy , slavery etc , etc.

I had no slightest idea about the story of Prophet Lot (p)......very shocking.

[Pygoscelis]

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

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).

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

There is more wrong than right with the Old testaent....here the average Christian whose never read it before first turns, yup, Genesis......The Noah story.....

well , Quranic stories are different from the Bible. But that discussion will be off topic here.


but the question is why Christians don't read Bible ???