Quranic Punishment: Surah 5:45

While reading Surah 5, I noticed a pair of verses in the Quran that both agree with and deeply contradict the Bible.  I will quote both verses below and examine them after.


Surah 5:44-45--"We revealed the Torah with guidance and light, and the prophets, who had submitted to God, judged according to it for the Jews.  So did the rabbis and the scholars in accordance with that part of God's Scripture which they were entrusted to preserve, and to which they were witnesses.  So [rabbis and scholars] do not fear people, fear Me; do not barter away My messages for a small price; those who do not judge according to what God has sent down are rejecting [God's teachings].  In the Torah We prescribed for them a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, an equal wound for an equal wound: if anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement for his bad deeds.  Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are doing grave wrong."


First, I'll focus on the contradictory aspect of this passage I alluded to above.  The Quran here restates its explicit teaching that Yahweh/Allah did indeed give accurate moral revelation to Moses in the Old Testament (Surah 2:53), adding that to disregard what God has revealed is a serious error.  How ironic, considering that multiple times the Quran prescribes totally different penalties for certain crimes than the Bible does, meaning that the Quran contradicts the very Torah it itself claims is true and binding on multiple occasions!  I recently wrote on the disparity in the punishment for theft, the Bible prescribing restitution to the victim, while the Quran prescribes the amputation of the thief's hand [1].

As for Lex Talionis, though, the Quran and the Bible do not disagree.  This is where Surah 5:44-45 actually concurs with the Bible.  Surah 5:45 is one of the Quranic verses where preserving Jewish moral theology does win out over the tendency for Mohammed to make revisions while still claiming consistency with the Old Testament.  Whereas Mohammed drastically deviated from some Biblical penalties, here he upholds one of them, and for that I will give him credit.

I've clarified before that the Biblical Lex Talionis laws apply only to permanent physical injuries/mutilations, not to sexual assault, nonpermanent physical injuries, or certain forms of torture like flogging [2].  Likewise, in Sharia Law, for instance, rape is not punished by rape, but by death, as in Deuteronomy 22:25-27.  As long as Islamic law reserves Lex Talionis for only permanent injuries or mutilations, there is no difference between the Lex Talionis of Islam and of Christianity.  Still, the words immediately surrounding the Quranic affirmation of Lex Talionis in Surah 5 only highlight the differences between other Biblical and Quranic punishments!

The Quran does not totally disregard or deny what the Torah and the rest of the Bible teach.  But when it does do so is rather blatant and significant.  I aim to explore the Quran, bit by bit, making observations, identifying what the text does and does not say, and describing my findings here on my blog, as I've already done twice before this month.  Expect more posts about ways that the Quran either affirms Biblical teachings or contradicts the Bible to be periodically posted in the future!


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/03/quranic-punishment-surah-538.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/12/bible-on-torture-part-2.html