Pluriel

University platform for research on Islam

Initiated by
the Federation
of European
Catholic
Universities

Supported by
the International
Federation
of Catholic
Universities

English

2020

Original Sin and the Qur’an

The present article addresses the common view that the Qur’an has no doctrine of original sin. It begins by defining original sin with attention to the Bible and Christian tradition. Thereafter the author addresses Qur’anic language on “bearing the burden of another” and the Qur’an’s generally pessimistic anthropology. Finally the author examines the Qur’anic material on the fall of the devil, the permission which God grants the devil to lead humans astray, and the descent of Adam and his wife to the world with its adornments after their sin. The subsequent history of the humanity in the Qur’an is punctuated with punishment stories. All of this leads to the conclusion that humanity’s tendency to sin (and God’s tendency to punish humans for their sin) is connected to this proto-history. Accordingly, while is it right that the Qur’an does not embrace much of Christian teaching on original sin, it is nevertheless the case that in the Qur’an Adam’s sin has serious consequences for his progeny.

Titre original : “The Original Sin and the Qur’an”

Résumé : Le présent article traite de l’opinion courante selon laquelle le Coran n’aurait pas de doctrine du péché originel. Il commence par définir le péché originel en se référant à la Bible et à la tradition chrétienne. Ensuite, l’auteur aborde le langage coranique sur le fait de “porter le fardeau d’un autre” et l’anthropologie généralement pessimiste du Coran. Enfin, l’auteur examine le matériel coranique sur la chute à cause du diable, la permission que Dieu accorde au diable d’égarer les humains, et la chute d’Adam et de sa femme dans le monde avec ses conséquences après leur péché. L’histoire ultérieure de l’humanité dans le Coran est ponctuée de châtiments. Tout ceci conduit à la conclusion que la tendance de l’humanité à pécher (et la tendance de Dieu à punir les humains pour leur péché) est liée à cette protohistoire. En conséquence, s’il est vrai que le Coran ne reprend pas une grande partie de l’enseignement chrétien sur le péché originel, il n’en demeure pas moins que, dans le Coran, le péché d’Adam a de graves conséquences pour sa progéniture.

Resources related toMuslim-Christian Dialogue

publication

Not without others: recognition of others and unity in Christ – on the relationship between mission and dialogue

  • Tobias Specker

Article published in the missiology journal ZMR 106 (2022/1-4), double issue: “Evangelisation and Fraternity in the Plural World

publication

Normativity of Holy Scriptures in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

  • Klaus von Stosch
  • Zishan Ahmad Ghaffar

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the orientation towards “holy texts” is central. While in the past it was undisputed that these texts could be understood as directly given by God an...

publication

Luther and Mohammed. Western European Protestantism and Islam (16th-18th centuries)

  • Pierre-Olivier Léchot

Publisher’s presentation Autumn 1611: while visiting France, a young Dutch Protestant student refines his knowledge of Arabic with a Muslim of Castilian origin he met in the Paris region. Tho...

article

Original Sin and the Qur’an

  • Gabriel Said Reynolds

The present article addresses the common view that the Qur’an has no doctrine of original sin. It begins by defining original sin with attention to the Bible and Christian tradition. Thereafter the...

videos

Education And Otherness: What are the Issues in a Context of Diversity?

  • Salim Daccache

In the era of the continuous call for the adoption of citizenship and living together (al Azhar declaration March 2017) and human brotherhood and common coexistence (Abu Dhabi document February 201...

videos

Islam and Christianity: mutual views and challenges of otherness

  • Michel Younès

In his book Soi-même comme un autre (Seuil 1990), the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005) builds his reflection on this 'as' which, according to him, allows us to escape from two harmful te...

videos

Thinking Islam in Europe

  • Alberto Fabio Ambrosio

Interview with Alberto F. Ambrosio, dominican friar, professor of Theology and Histpry of Religions at the Luxembourg School of Religion & Society. Reporter : Raphaël Georgy With the collabor...

videos

Muslim-Christian Dialogue : the approach of the White Fathers

  • Rémi Caucanas

Involved in the Muslim world since its foundation by Bishop Charles Lavigerie in 1868, the Society of Missionaries of Africa, whose members are known as the White Fathers, has contributed to the em...