Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and, as one Koranic passage
lists them, ‘‘David and Solomon, Job and Joseph and Moses
and Aaron . . . ; Zacharias and John, Jesus and Elias . . . ;
and Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah and Lot’’ (Sura 6:84–87). As we
shall soon see in greater detail, Jesus here is mentioned as a
merely human member of this roster of prophets, not as the
Son of God.
Along with the biblical prophets, the Koran is full of
Bible stories — mainly Old Testament tales along with a few
taken from heretical Christian gospels. For example, the
twelfth story tells of Joseph and his brothers, although it is
shorn of its significance for Israel as a nation; Noah’s ark
appears in Sura 10; Jonah and his whale appear in Sura 37;
and Moses figures prominently throughout the Koran. All
this gave rise to charges against Muhammad during his
lifetime that he was passing off warmed over Bible stories as
revelations from Allah. This suspicion persists, despite
Allah’s apparent denials: ‘‘But the misbelievers say:
‘Naught is this but a lie which he has forged, and others
have helped him at it.’ In truth it is they who have put
forward an iniquity and a falsehood. . . . Say: ‘The [Qur’an]
was sent down by Him who knows the mystery [that is] in
the heavens and the earth: verily He is Oft Forgiving, Most
Merciful’’’ (Sura 25:4–6).