Comparison of the story of Adam and Eve

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Comparison of the story of Adam and Eve
Abstract
Many people have had a skewed thought that the Bible and the Quran are so different they do not contain any similar story. Contrary to this, the Bible and the Quran have many similar stories although they are told in somehow different fashions. One of these similar stories is the story of the couple in the Garden of Eden. This is a similar story in both the bible and the Quran. However it has its differences here and there. This paper analyses this story of the couple (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden in the view of the similarities and the differences.
Similarities
Both the Bible and the Quran contain the story of the couple in the Garden of Eden. In both of the stories, Adam is portrayed as the first man on earth. This gives a similar view in the origin of human beings because, in the focus of this, all people originated from this first man. Therefore, both stories recognize God as the creator of people and Adam as the first man to be created.
Kaltner (2009) note that; both the Bible and the Quran recognize that the first couple were first placed in the Garden of Eden where they lived eating the fruits that were available in plenty. They both recognize the essence of the couple eating the forbidden fruit. Both of these religious books have record of the couple eating a fruit from a tree which they had been forbidden to eat. The two books recognize this as an offence to God, the creator of the couple and ultimately the creator of the nations of people. They view this as a sin that was committed by the first couple to God.
Kaltner (2009) acknowledges that; following the eating of this forbidden fruit, both the Bible and the Quran record the punishment that follows. The Bible records the punishment in form of the man having to do hard tasks throughout his life to sustain his wife and offspring. Adam, and the subsequent women, would have difficulties during child birth as a punishment for eating the forbidden fruit. God told Adam in Genesis 3:17 “Given that you listened to Eve and ate fruit from the tree, the ground is cursed because of you; all the days of your life you will eat of this ground through painful toil.” In Genesis 3:16, God told Eve “I would increase your childbearing pains considerably; you will bear children with pain. Your desire will be for your husband, a man that will rule over you.” The Quran also has a record of punishment for this first couple for eating the forbidden fruit. As a punishment, the Quran records that God chased Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and were placed on the earth as representatives of God.
In both of the books, the couple attempt to ask for forgiveness from God. In the Quran, while the couple is in the earth, they ask God to forgive them. In the Quran Adam and Eve say “God, we have wronged our souls and if you do not forgive us and not bestow your mercy upon us, we will definitely be lost” (Al-A `raf 7:22-23). They eventually received the forgiveness. In the Bible, the asking for forgiveness is not directly stipulated but there are records of the couple trying to justify the eating of the forbidden fruit. Adam says that it was Eve ...