Acacia Wood

Bible Versus Quran Versus Sciences, (39) the Cow

The Cow is mentioned 34 in the Bible and four times in the Quran.

The Cow in the Bible:

The lion will eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 11:7

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."

Ezekiel 4:15

"Very well," he said, "I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement."

The Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River

I wonder why the Lord uses a razor hired from beyond the River. Why He does not have a razor?

Isaiah 7:20 & 21

20- In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River the king of Assyria to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.

21- In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats.

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

Leviticus 22:28

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

A part of Jacob's gift to his brother was 40 cows

Genesis 32:15

Thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

If they (the cows) are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

Scientifically, this is not true.

Genesis 33:13

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

The Pharaoh's dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows.

Genesis 41:2

When out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.

Genesis 41:3

After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.

Genesis 41:4

And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

Genesis 41:18

When out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.

Genesis 41:19

After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:20

The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.

Genesis 41:26

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream.

Genesis 41:27

The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

The decoration of the Tent of Meeting by Sea cows, acacia wood, shielding curtain, scarlet cloth, ram skins, the tent, goat hair, scarlet yarn and linen.

Exodus 25:5

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 26:14

Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 35:7

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 35:23

Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them.

Exodus 36:19

Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 39:34

the covering of ram skins dyed red, the covering of hides of sea cows and the shielding curtain;

Numbers 4:6

Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.

Numbers 4:8

Over these they are to spread a scarlet cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:10

Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of hides of sea cows and put it on a carrying frame.

Numbers 4:11

"Over the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:12

"They are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put them on a carrying frame.

Numbers 4:14

Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:25

They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

Cheese from cows' milk for David and his people to eat.

2 Samuel 17:29

honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows' milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, "The people have become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert."

Their cows calve and do not miscarry

Job 21:10

Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

The two cows did a good favor but the people sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

1 Samuel 6:7

"Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

1 Samuel 6:10

So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves.

1 Samuel 6:12

Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

1 Samuel 6:14

The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

"The cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands" is a symbol of Israel?

Amos 4:1

[Israel Has Not Returned to God] Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"

The Cow in the Quran:

The Story of revival of the killed Israelite:

One Israelite was found killed. All the Israelites gathered around Moses asking him to find out who killed the man. Moses asked Allah. Allah commanded the Israelites to slaughter a cow, any cow. The Israelites yelled at Moses: are you fooling! Moses said this is Allah's command. Then they ask about the cow age, color, marital status and they made it difficult to find out such a cow. Finally they did. Allah commanded Moses to lightly knock the killed man with a part of the slaughtered cow. The killed man woke up and told them who killed him.

This story has some deep theological significance; Allah showed up to the Israelites that 1) the cow is a sign for Allah the Creator, 2) the cow is by no means a god and 3) Allah is able to woke-up the dead. This is because the Israelites worshiped the cow and the ox and considered the cow a god. Also, the Israelites deny the afterlife.

In addition, this story is not found in the Bible.

Surah 2: 67-73

67- and when Moses said to his people: surely Allah commands you that you should sacrifice a cow; they said: do you ridicule us? He said: I seek the protection of Allah from being one of the ignorant (fool)!"

68- They said: call on your Lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she (the cow) is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow neither advanced in age nor too young, of middle age between that (and this); do therefore what you are commanded

69- They said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what her color is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a yellow cow; her color is intensely yellow, giving delight to the beholders

70- they said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she is, for surely to us the cows are all alike, and if Allah please we shall surely be guided aright

71- Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow not made submissive that she should plough the land, nor does she irrigate the tilth; sound, without a blemish in her. they said: now you have brought the truth; so they sacrificed her, though they had not the mind to do (it)

72- And when you killed a man, then you disagreed with respect to that, and Allah was to bring forth that which you were going to hide

73- so we said: strike the (dead body) with part of the (sacrificed cow), thus Allah brings the dead to life, and he shows you his signs so that you may understand

The faith of what is forbidden, the male or the female or the newborn cow?

Ignorant Arabs before Islam had some diverse religious traditions about the cows.

Some believed that the male cow (bull) is forbidden; other believed that it is the female that is forbidden. Another Arabs believed that the first newborn cow is forbidden.

The Quran warns anyone who is saying that this is Allah's commandments while he knows that his saying is forged.

This meaning is not found in the Bible.

Surah 6:144

And of camels a pair, and cows a pair cows. Say: has he forbidden the two males or the two females or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Or were you witnesses when Allah enjoined you this? Who, then, is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah that he should lead astray men without knowledge? Surely Allah does not guide the unjust people

The Pharaoh's dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows.

In the Bible it is said that the lean cows were ugly.

The Quran does not say that.

In order to know the difference between the story of Joseph in Bible versus Quran, I recommend you smart reader to read it ib both books.

Surah 12:43 and 46

43- The king (of Egypt) said: "i do see (in a vision) seven fat kine (cows), whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. o ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."

46- The chief cupbearer said "O Joseph! O man of truth! Expound to us (the dream) of seven fat kine (cows) whom seven lean ones devour, and of seven green ears of corn and (seven) others withered: that i may return to the people, and that they may understand."

Back to the main issue of my series of articles (1-39); this is my question to you smart readers: "Is the Quran quoted from the Bible "?

About the Author

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil
Prof. of Clinical and Chemical Pathology,
Head of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Control Unit,
Ain-Shams University. Cairo, Egypt.
And,
President of the Egyptian Society of Inventors.
Member of the Egyptian union of Writers