Abrahamic Religions Quotes

“In one sense, the Qur’an regards the Torah and the Gospel as older siblings— and looks on with dismay at the family feud tearing apart Abrahamic cohesion. In another sense, the Qur’an exists as an orphan. It presents the first Abrahamic scripture in Arabic, delivered by an Arabian prophet. Claiming a lineage back to the Torah yet revealed in a thoroughly pagan society, the Qur’an enjoys an insider-outsider status—one that empowers it to look lovingly yet critically at its ancestry. This complex inheritance means the Qur’an is aware of its roots yet free to develop its own identity without being confined by parental oversight.”
― Mohamad Jebara, The Life of the Qur'an: From Eternal Roots to Enduring Legacy

“To help inspire refined analysis of the Qur’an’s content, the second field was called Tafsir—literally, “separating strands of raw flax and weaving them into a garment.” Tafsir sought to become an oral tradition for preserving knowledge about how to understand and apply the Qur’an. The field covered the meaning of words (including their Semitic root concepts and the implication of grammatical structures); their context (when it was said, to whom, and why); and their application (initial purpose, lessons for other situations, and distilled wisdom). The field aimed to capture commentary by Muhammad, the historical insights of his companions, and knowledge of preexisting Abrahamic traditions.”
― Mohamad Jebara, The Life of the Qur'an: From Eternal Roots to Enduring Legacy

“In the Qur’an’s telling, Abraham after much reflection declares himself a Hanifam-Muslima (3:67). Typically translated as “a pure Muslim,” both words were archaic Arabic terms at the time of the Qur’an’s revelation and together constituted a dynamic new identity for young Abraham. The root Hanif (cited twelve times in the Qur’an) originally described a tree precariously balanced atop eroding soil in a volatile climate, forced to constantly adjust its roots and branches—and was also used to describe traversing a perilous lava formation. The term connoted the need to constantly rebalance in order to stay safe in unstable situations: remaining true to core roots while having the courage to confront reality. In essence, a Hanif is a healthy skeptic who honestly evaluates inherited traditions.
In Abraham’s formula, the Hanif interrogates reality not as a cynic but as a healer, diagnosing injuries in order to repair them. Indeed, Muslim derived from the ancient Semitic root S-L-M, literally “to repair cracks in city walls.” As the integrity of monotheism erodes over time, repairers need to assess the damage and then get to work restoring the fractures.”
― Mohamad Jebara, The Life of the Qur'an: From Eternal Roots to Enduring Legacy

“In Abraham’s formula, the Hanif interrogates reality not as a cynic but as a healer, diagnosing injuries in order to repair them. Indeed, Muslim derived from the ancient Semitic root S-L-M, literally “to repair cracks in city walls.” As the integrity of monotheism erodes over time, repairers need to assess the damage and then get to work restoring the fractures”
― Mohamad Jebara, The Life of the Qur'an: From Eternal Roots to Enduring Legacy

“The oldest of the three Abrahamic religions, and the clear ancestor of the other two, is Judaism: originally a tribal cult of a single fiercely unpleasant God, morbidly obsessed with sexual restrictions, with the smell of charred flesh, with his own superiority over rival gods and with the exclusiveness of his chosen desert tribe.”
― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

“Thabit ibn Qurra (AD 836-901, and also born in Harran), would have had little patience with loaded terms like "star idolatry" which seek to place the "paganism" of the Sabians on a lower level than the deadly, and often bigoted, narrow-minded and unscientific clerical monotheism of religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Thabit was well aware that, underlying the ancient Sabian practices misunderstood by these young religions as "star idolatry," were indeed exact sciences of great benefit to mankind, and thus he wrote: 'Who else have civilized the world, and built the cities, if not the nobles and kings of Paganism? Who else have set in order the harbors and rivers? And who else have taught the hidden wisdom? To whom else has the Deity revealed itself, given oracles, and told about the future, if not the famous men among the Pagans? The Pagans have made known all this. They have discovered the art of healing the soul; they have also made known the art of healing the body. They have filled the earth with settled forms of government, and with wisdom, which is the highest good. Without Paganism the world would be empty and miserable.”
― Graham Hancock, Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization

“Buddhism is more philosophical among the most widely practiced religions of the world, if Buddhism can be viewed as a religion in some context, because its questions are more open, but not strictly closed, as in Abrahamic religions, and therefore less dogmatic. Buddhists do not believe that their teachings are the words of a Supernatural Deity, which cannot be changed, modernized and adapted to new circumstances, but the words of the Buddha, who was just an enlightened person. The very fact of this enlightenment is a distinctive element between him and you.”
― Elmar Hussein

“Abrahamism is set up in such a way that God cannot punish anyone, only reward them with heaven. Someone else has to do the punishing, hence “Satan”. But if Satan is God’s sworn enemy why would he do God’s punishing for him? Why wouldn’t he reward those who rejected God, exactly as he’d done? They’re on his side. They’re allies, not souls to be punished. Abrahamism promotes a notion that the “good guys” can never punish anyone, but Abrahamism is also based on the eternal punishment of the “bad guys”. So, the logic, or rather illogic, of Abrahamism requires the bad guys to organise their own punishment. But why would they? What’s in it for them? Moreover, the bad guy head honcho is supposed to be the punisher in chief. But why would he punish people who had disobeyed God? Why wouldn’t he have a party with them? Abrahamism is wholly devoid of sense.”
― Mike Hockney, All the Rest is Propaganda

“For Nietzsche, woman was God's second mistake. But what then is the first? I don't know, even if I believed in the God of Abraham and Abrahamic religions, it would be a bit diffucult for me to answer it. However, based on the religious scriptures, one can assume that God was a bit disappointed with his masterpiece -- Adam, realised that life in Paradise seems a bit incomplete, uninteresting for him, he cannot find the meaning of his life, therefore God decided to correct his mistake by creating Eve to be Adam's love. As a result, with the help of Eve, eating fruit from the forbidden tree in Paradise, both of them had to abandon there. However, God couldn't do anything, because he had already made his second mistake -- he created such a charming and deceitful being for Adam's mind. Perhaps, this is just the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, nevertheless, I am convinced that the woman is a charming and deceitful being for male mind.”
― Elmar Hussein

“Belief in single origin of life from the Ultimate Creator brings humility that we are one of many creations in the universe and should not be proud as all creatures have single source of origin, no matter howsoever they differ in the chemical composition of their bodies and respective strengths.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“The intensity of this cultural shame demanded a poster boy who would deter ‘bestial’ human behaviours and presentation, and so to the genesis of Satan, ‘the beast’ – a carnal, hairy, lascivious, malevolent, stinking satyr capable of taking sexually suggestive serpentine form: the humanising of the mammalian self.”
― Antonella Gambotto-Burke, Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine

“The term "Abrahamic" did not appear in its original sense—"relating to, or characteristic of the biblical patriarch, Abraham"—until 1699. "Abrahamic" in this book means principally "belonging to the group of religions comprising Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which trace their origin to Abraham," a twentieth-century usage. This definition updates the commonplace observation that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—the "Abrahamic religions"—are somehow closely related. Not everyone likes this expression or its categorical implications. Some scholars object that the term "Abrahamic" can mislead, especially insofar as it may exaggerate the three religions' similarities and the likelihood that Jews, Christians, and Muslims can set their differences aside. Others regard the categorization itself as incoherent, given adherents' fundamental divisions over matters such as what scriptures they consider canonical and how they understand God's nature.”
― Charles L. Cohen

“One can classify Judaism, Christianity, and Islam variously. From one perspective, they are monotheisms, religions that uphold God's singularity. Islam itself provides another view, linking them by a tradition of continued divine revelation disclosed in scripture and culminating in the Quran. Muslims regard Jews and Christians as "People of the Book"—a name that outside observers occasionally apply to Muslims too. As apt as these designations may be, however, they do not entirely differentiate these three religions from others. Sikhism and ancient Egyptian Atenism, for example, also qualify as monotheisms, and Muslims came to include Zoroastrians and Hindus as other "People of the Book." The most useful term for collating Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a single category is "Abrhamic," which distinguishes them by stressing the significance they accord to Abraham: Israel's founding patriarch for Jews, guarantor of the covenant for Christians, and a prophet for Muslims. These Abrahamic identities unite the religions conceptually, even while frequently polarizing their adherents.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“The term "Abrahamic religions" is itself embedded in politics. The phrase gained currency during and after the 1990s, as conflicts around the world subjected the relationships between them to intense scrutiny. One line of analysis has posited that Judaism and Christianity belong to one civilization, and Islam belongs to another, and that antagonism between the two sides is endemic, perhaps inevitable. This characterization may seem natural given global political alignments in the early twenty-first century, yet, when viewed historically, the idea that Judaism and Christianity belong to a single cultural complex looks rather odd.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“For virtually all of their mutual existence, Christians and Jews considered themselves separate groups and wanted little interaction. The idea of a Judeo-Christian civilization is a twentieth-century creation, one result of which has been a massive reconsideration of Christianity's Jewish origins. The phrase "Abrahamic religions" connotes a category founded on the three traditions' practice of invoking Abraham, but this book further deploys it to consider Islam as being less alien to the Jewish and Christian worldviews than one might suppose. Any conclusion that Islam belongs to a different civilization than do Judaism and Christianity should emerge (if at all) only after long consideration about their intertwined pasts, rather than be asserted as an axiom.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“Ever since Christians and then Muslims joined Jews in asserting the primacy of Abraham's One God, they have lived within one another's gravitational fields. The varying political contexts in which they have operated have had much to do with their trajectories, both individual and collective. Setting these traditions in dynamic juxtaposition emphasizes their identities as changing historical phenomena, however much each may claim singular possession of eternal truth. There may be one God, but there is no single Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.”
― Charles L Cohen, The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction

“The word “Islam” means “submission to the will of God.” Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims are monotheistic and worship one, all-knowing God, who in Arabic is known as Allah.”
― Islam

“It is its sanctification of the base human instincts that makes Islam the menace of all mankind”
― B.S. Murthy

“It is clear that God had chosen one people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah and the time having come, the Messiah, prepared for by the prophets, was rejected by His own people, who even crucified Him. It is clear that we, the Christians, are heirs to what the prophets announced and to what our Lord Jesus Christ has brought.

We have the faith of Abraham. He is really our father, We have the same faith: Abraham believed in the future Redeemer, we believe in the same Redeemer who has come: the same Redeemer, the same faith.”
― Franz Schmidberger, Time Bombs of the Second Vatican Council

“If you read three books, you can become a school teacher. If you read ten books, you can become a university professor. If you read just one book, you can become an agent of God.”
― Sadhguru

“But the man of the improved age will speak thus: Whichever way I direct my observation, I see the power and goodness of my Maker. What multitudes of animals do I behold! All variations of myself! Every one appearing to be the work of the same inimitable Artist! All created with powers to enjoy their own existence; though none so great as myself, and most of them incapable of establishing and maintaining their own well-being. But I, being the head, I will direct them; this is my office: and how much do I consider myself honoured, to second these important works which God hath made! It was partly for this that I was formed superior; otherwise I should have been unfit for the charge. This will constitute much of my amusement, instead of hunting, shooting, bull-baiting, etc., but which I had used to think that I spent my time innocently. Still, might is right, when judgement is might, though not when might is judgement.”
― Lewis Gompertz, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes

“What an irony in that the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims remain doctrinally sundered by their self-same Semitic God and the diverse pantheon of Hindu deities render their respective devotees into the social fold of sanatana dharma!”
― B.S. Murthy

“What an irony in that their self-same God turns Jews, Christians and Muslims religiously antagonistic to each other and the pantheon of diverse Hindu deities unifies their respective devotees in sanatana dharma’s social fold!”
― BS Murthy