Now you can read the Quran with Biblical references - a unique and interesting version prepared by a Christian and a Muslim who seek to promote "understanding" between the two groups.
A Muslim businessman named Safi Kaskas and a Christian orthopedic surgeon named David Hungerford embarked on a project to write the Quran with references to Bible verses holding similar meaning.
"What our hope is is that Christians will read it and the eyes of their misunderstanding and the depth of their ignorance will be dispelled so they can now look upon Muslims as part of the Abrahamic tradition," Hungerford said.
Hungerford revealed in a podcast that the project had been in the mind of Kaskas even before they met, and when they discussed it, the "collaboration just became so obvious to us and we've been working on it together ever since."
Kaskas' passion for putting the book together stemmed from his experience when he transferred to the U.S. He said he was treated well by his American neighbors and would not have made it without their help.
Looking at many Americans' perception of Muslims right now and how the relationship had been damaged by different events, Kaskas said he wanted to "repair the relationship."
"The best way to do this is from our holy books," Kaskas explained.
As the two men explored these books, they discovered that the Quran has about 3,000 verses that are similar with Bible verses. They placed these Bible verses at the bottom of the page in the Quran where parallel verses were found and complied the work in a book, "The Quran with References to the Bible."
By showing these similarities, Kaskas and Hungerford hope to abolish stereotypes that Muslims and Christians have about each other.
However, they are quick to say that the book is not meant to merge Christian and Islamic beliefs or to blur the line between the two faiths.
"I am a practicing Muslim, David is a practicing Christian. I want him to have the freedom to practice worshipping God his way and I want him to give me the freedom to worship God my way," Kaskas said.
The controversial new version of the Quran gave rise to the commonly asked question of whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
In an article published at the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi answered the question "Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?"
His answer was a clear "no." One of his explanations cites the Christian belief that Jesus is God, which is contrary to what Muslims believe. He said the Quran is very much against this teaching "that it condemns Jesus worshipers to Hell (5.72)."
"The Christian God, both in terms of what he is (Triune) and who he is (Father, Son, and Spirit) is not just different from the Muslim God; He is fundamentally incompatible," Qureshi said. "According to Islam, worshiping the Christian God is not just wrong; it sends you to Hell. They are not the same God."
Nevertheless, Qureshi reminded Christ followers to "stop demonizing" those who do not share the Christian faith.
