Introduction: Islam’s Claim of Revelation Versus the Evidence of Borrowing
Islam presents itself as the final revelation of the one true God. The Qur’an declares that it is not the work of human invention but a message delivered directly from heaven, intended to correct the errors and corruptions of earlier scriptures. According to Muslim belief, the Torah of the Jews and the Gospel of the Christians were originally authentic but later altered, and therefore God revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad as the pure and definitive word. Yet when the Qur’an is compared carefully with the Jewish Tanach, a different picture emerges. The Qur’an is not an independent revelation at all, but a book that borrows extensively from the Hebrew Bible. Its most important narratives are retellings of biblical stories, copied almost word for word in places, but often altered, confused, or contradictory. Far from being new revelations, these passages are dependent on earlier Jewish texts, which had existed for more than a thousand years before Muhammad. This dependence is not limited to a handful of scattered references. The very framework of the Qur’an is built upon material from the Tanach. The creation of Adam, the flood of Noah, the call of Abraham, the life of Joseph, the mission of Moses, the reigns of David and Solomon, and the warnings of the prophets are all central to Judaism, and in Islam they reappear, though frequently in distorted or inconsistent form.
The borrowing extends beyond stories. Islamic law, ritual, and culture follow patterns already established in Judaism. The uncompromising belief in one God was first proclaimed in the Shema of Deuteronomy; the dietary restrictions and purity laws echo Jewish practice; the custom of beards, head coverings, and modest clothing mirrors Jewish religious appearance; the rite of circumcision is lifted directly from the covenant with Abraham; and even the vast body of commentary known as the Sunnah and Hadith is clearly modeled on the rabbinic Talmud. The evidence leads to one conclusion. Islam is not a fresh revelation from heaven but a religion constructed on the foundation of Judaism. Muhammad used the Tanach as his primary source, retold its stories in ways favorable to his people, and then presented this reshaped material as divine truth.
In what follows, we will examine each of these points in detail: how the Qur’an repeats the Jewish doctrine of one God without originality; how it copies and alters biblical stories, often with glaring errors, how it built its commentaries on the Jewish model; and how it adopted Jewish practices of clothing and circumcision. These comparisons will show clearly that the Qur’an is not revelation, but imitation.
Monotheism, comparing the Tanach and the Qur’an
Judaism was the first religion in history to proclaim with absolute clarity that there is only one God. The central declaration of Jewish faith, known as the Shema, appears in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” This short but powerful confession became the foundation of Jewish worship and identity. Unlike the surrounding pagan nations with their countless idols and deities, Israel testified to the uniqueness of the Creator. The Shema is not simply a statement of belief; it is a command to love God alone, to reject all other powers, and to order life entirely under His sovereignty.
By the time of Muhammad, this teaching was already more than a thousand years old. Jewish communities across the Middle East had lived by it for centuries, and even Christianity, which grew from Jewish soil, had preserved the same conviction: one God, Creator of heaven and earth, not to be divided or shared. Thus, when Muhammad began to preach in seventh-century Arabia, he was not revealing something new when he insisted that “there is no god but God.” He was repeating what Israel had already proclaimed long before.
The Qur’an’s profession of faith, the Shahada, declares: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.” At first sight, it appears identical to the Shema’s proclamation of divine unity. Yet on closer examination, the difference is telling. The Jewish Shema focuses purely on God Himself: His unity, His uniqueness, His holiness. The Islamic Shahada, by contrast, adds Muhammad into the formula. It is not enough to confess God’s oneness; one must also acknowledge Muhammad as His prophet. The result is that Islam’s most basic declaration is not a pure monotheistic creed but a theological statement that ties belief in God to obedience to Muhammad.
This addition exposes the derivative character of Islam. The proclamation of one God was not discovered by Muhammad; it was already well established by the Tanach and firmly embedded in Jewish life. What Islam did was to adopt that ancient Jewish doctrine and then reshape it so that Muhammad’s authority was inseparable from the very definition of faith. Where Judaism declares God alone, Islam declares God and Muhammad. The monotheism of the Qur’an therefore is not original revelation but borrowed truth, altered to serve the new prophet’s claim.
Narratives from the Tanach Rewritten in the Qur’an: Contradictions and Historical Errors
Many of the Qur’an’s stories are taken directly from the Tanach, but they are retold with distortions, contradictions, or historical mistakes. Some clear examples can be noted. In Genesis, Abraham is commanded to offer Isaac, yet the Qur’an changes the son to Ishmael, altering the covenant line. The test of soldiers described in Judges with Gideon is given in the Qur’an to Saul, confusing two very different figures. In Exodus, it is Pharaoh’s daughter who finds the infant Moses, while the Qur’an claims it was Pharaoh’s wife. In the Book of Esther, Haman serves a Persian king, but the Qur’an places him in Egypt as Pharaoh’s minister, centuries out of time. When the Bible describes the making of the golden calf, it says Aaron fashioned it at Sinai, but the Qur’an blames a Samaritan, though Samaritans did not even exist until many centuries later. These errors show that the Qur’an did not simply preserve biblical stories but altered them, often with contradictions and historical impossibilities.
The Structure of Interpretation: Talmud and Sunnah/Hadith
One of the strongest parallels between Judaism and Islam is the way each religion developed a body of interpretation alongside its primary scripture. In Judaism, this is the Talmud; in Islam, it is the Sunnah and Hadith. The resemblance is so close that it cannot be accidental. Muhammad saw how the rabbis preserved, explained, and expanded the Torah, and Islam followed the same model in relation to the Qur’an. The Jewish Talmud is not a single book but an immense collection of writings, combining the Mishnah and the Gemara. It records the debates of rabbis across centuries, discussing law, morality, customs, and even imaginative stories that illustrate the Torah. Its structure shows that Judaism does not rely only on the written word of the Tanach but also on an oral tradition of explanation. In this way, the Torah is kept alive, applied, and interpreted for every generation.
Islam imitated this pattern with the Hadith and the Sunnah. The Qur’an alone is not sufficient to answer every question of law or life, so Muslims collected reports of what Muhammad said and did. These reports were then used to explain, expand, and sometimes even correct the Qur’an. Islamic jurists created whole systems of law, called sharia, built on the Qur’an in combination with Hadith and Sunnah, exactly as Jewish rabbis had built halakha from the Torah and Talmud.
This parallel reveals something important. The Qur’an presents itself as a perfectly clear revelation, “easy to understand” and complete in itself. But in practice, Muslims had to create another body of writings to interpret it, just as Jews did with the Torah. The difference is that the Talmud grew naturally out of centuries of debate and scholarship, while the Hadith collections were shaped to preserve and enforce Muhammad’s authority. Both systems aim to provide guidance beyond scripture, but the Islamic version is clearly a later imitation of the Jewish model. The existence of the Sunnah and Hadith proves that the Qur’an was not sufficient on its own. Just as Muhammad borrowed stories from the Tanach, he borrowed the very idea of a second body of law and commentary from Judaism. Once again, Islam appears less as a new revelation than as a copy of what Judaism had already established.
Cultural Imitation: Dress, Beards, and Head Covering
Another area where Islam shows dependence on Judaism is in the outward signs of religious identity. Both religions developed recognizable forms of dress and grooming, not only as matters of modesty but also as visible markers of belonging. When one compares these customs, it becomes clear that Islam did not invent them but followed the Jewish example already in place.
In Judaism, men traditionally wear beards, a sign of respect for the divine image in which man was created. The Torah itself contains prohibitions against shaving certain parts of the beard, and rabbinic tradition developed this into a religious requirement. Alongside the beard, Jewish men cover their heads with the kippah, a symbol of humility before God, and in more traditional circles with hats or turbans. These practices serve to remind the wearer, and to signal to others, that life is lived under the authority of the Lord.
Islam mirrors these very customs. Muslim men are encouraged to grow beards as a mark of piety and obedience to the prophet’s example. They also cover their heads with the taqiyah cap or the turban, garments that serve the same symbolic purpose as the Jewish head covering. The overall appearance — a man with a beard and a covered head, modest in dress — is strikingly similar across both traditions.
This is not coincidence. Muhammad lived in contact with Jewish tribes in Arabia and observed their ways. He saw how a religious community distinguished itself outwardly, and he adopted the same forms for his followers. The result was a visible imitation of Jewish practice, reshaped to fit an Islamic context but clearly borrowed in its essence. Thus, in clothing and grooming as in doctrine and law, Islam shows itself to be a derivative faith. Where Judaism established the form, Islam repeated it, presenting the imitation as if it were a divine command.
Circumcision: Jewish Covenant and Islamic Borrowing
Among the most striking examples of Islam borrowing directly from Judaism is the practice of circumcision. In the Tanach, circumcision is introduced in Genesis 17 as the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. Every male child is to be circumcised on the eighth day, and this physical mark becomes the visible proof of belonging to the chosen people. From that moment onward, circumcision is inseparable from Jewish identity. It is not merely a cultural custom but a divine command, binding Israel to God through an everlasting covenant. Islam adopted the very same rite, calling it khitan. Muslim boys are circumcised, though not necessarily on the eighth day, and the practice is justified as a continuation of Abraham’s obedience. Yet the Qur’an itself never clearly commands circumcision. The authority for the practice comes instead from the Hadith and Sunnah, which present Muhammad as upholding the custom. In this way, Islam took a central Jewish law and absorbed it into its own system, even while lacking a direct scriptural foundation for it.
Conclusion: Islam as Imitation, not Revelation
When the evidence is gathered, the pattern is unmistakable. The Qur’an and the religion that grew around it did not emerge as a fresh and independent revelation. They rest almost entirely on foundations already laid by Judaism. The central doctrine of one God was first proclaimed in the Shema of the Tanach, and Islam merely repeated it, adding Muhammad’s name to secure his authority. The stories of the patriarchs and prophets were retold, but in the process distorted, with contradictions, historical errors, and careless alterations that betray human borrowing rather than divine truth. Even the very structure of interpretation in Islam reflects imitation. Just as Judaism had its Talmud to expand the Torah, so Islam developed the Hadith and Sunnah to supplement the Qur’an. Outward signs of religious identity, such as beards, head coverings, and modest clothing, were likewise copied from Jewish customs and reshaped for a new community. The covenantal rite of circumcision, commanded by God to Abraham and central to Jewish identity, was taken over by Islam without a direct Qur’anic basis, presented as an inherited tradition rather than as a true revelation.
Taken together, these parallels show a consistent dependence. What is presented in Islam as heavenly revelation is in fact an imitation of Judaism, adapted to serve Muhammad’s claim to prophecy and to give his followers a sense of ancient legitimacy. The Qur’an may call itself a book of clarity and truth, but its roots lie not in heaven but in the scriptures it borrowed from. In the end, Islam stands not as a revelation that corrects the past, but as a human construction built upon the texts, laws, and customs of the Jewish people. Where the Tanach spoke with originality and authority, the Qur’an followed after, echoing the words of others while reshaping them to its own purpose. The difference is not between old and final revelation, but between genuine origin and later imitation.