What are the Abrahamic religions?

Judaism, Christianity and Islam — the three monotheistic faiths that trace their spiritual ancestry to the patriarch Abraham. Together they account for just over half of the world's population.

Do the Bible and the Qur'an tell the same stories?

Many of the same stories: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and others appear in both, and the Qur'an also honours Jesus and Mary. The narratives often differ in detail, and the meaning drawn from them differs fundamentally between the two faiths.

Which came first, the Tanakh, the Bible or the Qur'an?

In order: the Tanakh reached its final shape by the 2nd century BC; the Christian Bible was complete by the end of the 1st century AD; the Qur'an was revealed 610–632 AD and standardised shortly after.

Where can I read all three Abrahamic scriptures online for free?

All three are free at FourFaiths: the Tanakh, the Bible and the Qur'an — every chapter in public domain translations, no account required.

Abrahamic Scriptures Compared: The Tanakh, the Bible and the Qur'an Side by Side

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all trace their faith to Abraham — and each has a scripture. A neutral overview of the three Abrahamic holy books and how they relate to each other.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam — together over half of humanity — call themselves the Abrahamic faiths, because each traces its covenant to Abraham. Each also has a scripture at its centre. Understanding the three books, and how they see each other, is the shortest route to understanding the three traditions themselves.

The three scriptures

	Tanakh	Bible	Qur'an
Faith	Judaism	Christianity	Islam
Final form	By the 2nd century BC in its tripartite shape	By the late 1st century AD, with the New Testament	632 AD, standardised under Caliph Uthman
Core content	Creation, the patriarchs, the Exodus, the law, the prophets, the writings	All of the above (as Old Testament) plus the life, death and resurrection of Jesus	Retellings of many biblical stories plus direct addresses on faith, law, ethics and the Last Day
Central figure(s)	God's covenant with Israel, through Moses and the prophets	Jesus Christ, Son of God	Muhammad, the final prophet
View of Abraham	Israel's founding patriarch, tested and blessed	Model of faith "justified by believing"	A hanif, a pure monotheist and Muslim in the generic sense, who built the Kaaba with Ishmael

How the scriptures view each other

The Bible and the Tanakh

Christianity absorbed the entire Hebrew Bible as its Old Testament and reads it as preparation for Christ — so Christians and Jews share a large common text with a permanently contested interpretation. The shared books are read in both traditions every day.

The Qur'an and the earlier books

The Qur'an names the Torah (Tawrat), the Psalms (Zabur) and the Gospel (Injil) as genuine divine revelations and calls Jews and Christians "People of the Book". It retells the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus — honouring all of them as prophets — while differing from the Bible on major points, above all on the identity of Jesus and the crucifixion.

Five stories told by all three

Creation — one God creates the world; humanity falls through disobedience. (Genesis 1–3; Qur'an 2, 7, 20)
Noah — a flood destroyed the violent world; one righteous family was saved. (Genesis 6–9; Qur'an 11)
Abraham — called from idolatry, tested, made father of nations. (Genesis 12–22; Qur'an 2, 6, 37, 51)
Moses — the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of divine law. (Exodus; mentioned more than any other figure in the Qur'an)
David — the shepherd king who received the Psalms. (1 Samuel, Psalms; Qur'an 4, 17, 21, 34, 38)

Read all three for yourself

All three scriptures are free to read in full at FourFaiths, in respected public domain translations: the Tanakh in JPS 1917, the Bible in the King James Version, and the Qur'an in Pickthall.

The Tanakh (JPS 1917) The Bible (KJV) The Qur'an (Pickthall) Bible vs Qur'an in detail

Written as neutral educational content for readers of any or no faith.