Noah’s Attitude toward His Son in Judaism and Islam: A Comparative Analysis between Old Testament and the Qurʾān

Abstract

The Torah or Pentateuch is one of the holy books believed by Jews and Muslims. However, Muslims believe that the Torah has been changed by its own followers, the Jews. There are many similarities between the stories found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) with Muslim accounts, namely the Qurʾān and Ḥadīth, which include the story of Noah. The descriptions of Noah’s attitude towards his son portrayed in the Old Testament and the Qurʾān respectively exhibit significant differences. Therefore, this article compares Noah’s attitude towards his son according to Judaism and Islamic perspectives. Through a comparative method, this study refers to the Old Testament (Book of Genesis) and the Qurʾān (Sūrat Hūd). Data were collected from Jewish scholars’ interpretations of the Torah as well as from the interpretations of the Qurʾān as representatives of Judaism and Islam respectively. The data are then compared to highlight the differences in Noah’s attitude towards his son between the holy scriptures of the two religions. In general, the Torah describes him both positively and negatively. His negative attitude raised some doubts which remain unresolved. On the other hand, in the Islamic account, Noah is depicted as being entirely virtuous and did not exhibit any vices towards his son.