The Differences Between The 10 Commandments and the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel - Part 1

(Commands in The 10 Commandments That Do Not Appear in the Quranic List)

Having examined the principal similarities in the previous section, we must now turn to the differences. This part is crucial because not every difference carries the same implication. Some differences show that a matter cannot simply be accepted as it stands. Others point to the possibility that parts of the original framework have been lost, reduced, left unexplained, or no longer preserved faithfully in the form available today.

That is why this section cannot be read carelessly. Some differences compel us to re-evaluate what appears in The 10 Commandments through the criterion of the Quran. Others raise far more serious questions about what may actually have happened to the original form of that covenant.

For clarity, we will divide this discussion of differences into two main parts.

First, we will look at matters found in The 10 Commandments that do not appear in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel. This will show us which elements cannot simply be accepted as a primary basis for this discussion unless they are first filtered through the Quran.

Second, we will then examine matters found in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel that do not appear in The 10 Commandments. It is there that we will begin to see more clearly that important parts of the original covenantal structure no longer remain plainly visible in the form that has been handed down today.

With that structure in place, the direction of the discussion becomes much clearer, and the continuity of the argument we have been building can be followed without disruption.

1. Matters in The 10 Commandments That Do Not Appear in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel

Let us now turn directly to what does not appear in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel, yet does appear in the well-known form of The 10 Commandments in the Old Testament.

At the level of the comparison we are making here, two matters stand out very clearly. They do not appear in the Quranic list, yet they do appear in the Old Testament.

1. First, the prohibition against taking the name of God in vain.
2. Second, the command to remember and sanctify the Sabbath.

These two matters are indeed well known as part of The 10 Commandments. The problem is that when we lay out the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel in Surah al-Isra’, verses 22 to 39, these two matters are absent.

This is not a minor issue. Nor is it something we can casually overlook and still pretend that everything remains the same. That would make no sense. If Allah Himself reopens a framework of commands to Bani Israel in the Quran, yet these two elements do not appear in that same block, then we are obliged to stop and examine the matter carefully.

What follows is the process of examining each of these two matters in turn.

The Prohibition Against Taking the Name of God in Vain

In the form of The 10 Commandments known today, this prohibition is highly prominent. It affirms that the name of God must not be toyed with, used casually, or invoked falsely.

At a general level, all of us can understand why such a prohibition is weighty. The name of Allah is not a plaything. It is not a means of deception, false oaths, the shielding of injustice, or the beautifying of falsehood with religious language.

The issue here, however, is this. When we look at the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel in Surah al-Isra’, Allah does not restate that prohibition in the same form. What Allah reopens instead are tawhid, excellence toward parents, the rights of relatives and the poor, the prohibition of wastefulness, the prohibition of killing children, the prohibition of zina, the prohibition of taking life without right, the prohibition of approaching the wealth of the orphan, the obligation to fulfill covenants, justice in measure and weight, the prohibition of following without knowledge, and the prohibition of walking in arrogance.

All of these are stated one by one. But the prohibition against taking the name of God in vain is not reopened here in that same form.

So what follows from that?

The implication is that we cannot simply take that matter and assume that it forms part of the framework Allah is emphasizing in Surah al-Isra’ here. It may well be true in another setting. It may once have formed part of the religious discipline of Bani Israel. Its meaning may even be carried indirectly within other prohibitions such as falsehood, shirk, or following without knowledge. But for the specific section under discussion here, that matter is simply not restated in Surah al-Isra’, verses 22 to 39.

This also does not mean that the name of Allah holds a small place in Islam. The opposite is true. Many acts of life begin with the name of Allah. Bismillah alone is enough to show that the name of Allah is not a trivial matter. But within the covenantal framework being reopened in this block of verses, it is not among the elements specifically restated.

So we need to be clear here. We are not saying that it is false merely because it does not appear in this block. But neither can we automatically elevate it into a primary interpretive key for reading the covenant reopened in Surah al-Isra’. In other words, it must be filtered again through the Quran. What determines the priorities of the covenant in this discussion is what Allah reopens, not what later became popularized by men.

The Command to Remember and Sanctify the Sabbath

The second matter is the Sabbath.

Before going any further, we need to understand what the Sabbath is. In Malay usage, it is associated with Saturday. Simply put, the Sabbath is a particular day in the tradition of Bani Israel regarded as a sacred day, a day of rest, and a day separated from ordinary affairs. On that day, they were commanded to cease from certain kinds of work and preserve it as a sign of obedience to God. So when we speak of the Sabbath here, we are not merely speaking about the name of a day. We are speaking about a weekly ritual that came to function as a distinctive marker of that community.

In the form of The 10 Commandments known today, the Sabbath is placed among the major commands. So this is no small matter. Once a particular day is made a special day that must be remembered, guarded, and sanctified, it is no longer merely about worship. It becomes a mechanism for binding a body of followers to a special ritual. If you pay attention, it is from there that a clear boundary emerges between those counted as obedient and those treated as outsiders.

This is where we need to think more carefully. Once a ritual is elevated until it becomes one of the main pillars, it can very easily function as a mechanism for enclosing a group within a closed system. Every week they are bound again to the same ritual. Every week they are separated again from ordinary life. Every week they are reminded that they are a special group holding a special marker. Over time, such a ritual is no longer merely a practice. It becomes a tool for the construction of identity, a mechanism of group discipline, and a marker that distinguishes “our people” from “outsiders.” Can you now see why Jews may come to feel that they are elite?

But when we look at the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel in Surah al-Isra’, verses 22 to 39, the Sabbath is entirely absent in that form. Allah does not reopen the Sabbath command in this block. There is no command here saying remember the Sabbath. There is no command here saying sanctify the Sabbath. There is no command here saying preserve the Sabbath. What Allah restates instead are tawhid, excellence toward parents, the rights of relatives and the poor, the prohibition of wastefulness, the prohibition of killing children, the prohibition of zina, the prohibition of killing without right, the prohibition of approaching the wealth of the orphan, the obligation to fulfill covenants, justice in measure and weight, the prohibition of following without knowledge, and the prohibition of walking in arrogance.

That means that in the framework of commands Allah reopens for us in the Quran, the focus is not on a weekly ritual that binds group identity. The focus is on far more dangerous forms of corruption, namely corruption of creed, character, property, blood, trust, knowledge, and arrogance.

It may look simple, but its effect is enormous, and this is where the real danger lies. A people can be fully occupied with guarding elite symbols that distinguish them from others, while at the same time becoming corrupted in the most inward and inhumane ways toward those outside their group.

It begins with something that appears to be merely the Sabbath, but the consequences spread far wider. Creed begins to bend. Blood becomes easier to spill. Wealth and assets begin to be betrayed. Trust becomes cheap. Knowledge is abandoned. Arrogance rises. And once that happens, a people are in fact walking toward punishment without realizing it.

That is why the Quran shifts our attention away from outward or physical markers that can build a sense of exclusivity, and directs it instead toward the real roots of corruption that open the door to Allah’s punishment. Praise be to Allah that we uphold tawhid correctly, and that it is the Jews alone who remain in distortion.

What We Must Understand From These Two Differences

From these two examples alone, one major truth should already be clear. Not everything famous in The 10 Commandments deserves to stand as the focus of the covenant that Allah reopens in the Quran. Some matters are indeed prominent in the older form handed down today, but when we open Surah al-Isra’, verses 22 to 39, Allah does not restate them within the same framework. This is not a trivial matter. It is a warning not to be deceived by what has become famous on people’s tongues until we lose sight of what Allah Himself chose to emphasize.

The meaning is straightforward. The Quran did not come merely to tell us that Bani Israel once received commandments. The Quran came to show again where that covenant actually lies. So when Allah reopens a block of commands without including these two elements, we need to understand that the real standard is what Allah Himself states in the Quran.

This becomes even clearer when we look again at the issue of the Sabbath. Even in the Sunnah, Muslims were not placed upon Saturday like the Jews. The Prophet SAW himself explained that the Jews took Saturday, the Christians took Sunday, and Allah guided the Muslim community to Friday.

This means that Islam itself is not built upon Sabbath identity as they are. It shows that what is magnified in their tradition is not necessarily what Allah truly intended. That is why we must remain careful. We must not magnify what human transmission has preserved while, at the same time, overlooking what Allah Himself chose to reopen for all of us.

Conclusion

So as for this first section, the conclusion is very clear. There are matters in The 10 Commandments that do not appear in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel.

What aligns with the Quran, we accept. What the Quran does not reopen within this framework, we cannot hold automatically, and we must reject it from serving as a primary basis for this discussion.

Recall the larger focus of our discussion. We are not merely arranging differences between two lists of commandments. We are in fact seeking the reason why there will be those who attack Bani Israel in our land. That is why we cannot afford to misplace the center of the covenant upon matters that Allah Himself did not establish as facts in Surah al-Isra’, verses 22 to 39.

After this, we will turn to the other direction, namely the matters found in the Quranic List of Commands to Bani Israel that do not appear in The 10 Commandments. God willing, it is there that we will begin to see more clearly that important parts of the original covenantal framework no longer remain plainly visible in the form handed down today.