Biblical and Quranic narratives


The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, contains references to more than fifty people and events also found in the Bible. While the stories told in each book are generally comparable, there are also some notable differences. The versions written in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament predate the Quran's versions. As such, Christians regard the Quran's versions as being derived directly or indirectly from the earlier materials. Muslims understand the Quran's versions to be witness accounts from an omnipotent God. As such, Muslims generally hold that the earlier versions are distorted through flawed processes of transmission and interpretation over time, and consider the Quran's version to be more accurate.
Often, stories related in the Quran tend to concentrate on the moral or spiritual significance of events rather than the details. Biblical stories come from diverse sources and authors, so their attention to detail varies individually.

Torah narratives

Adam and Eve (Adam and Hawwaa)

According to one of the Genesis creation narratives, God initially created the first human, a man named Adam, from "the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life"; thereafter God created a woman named Eve from one of Adam's ribs. God placed them in the paradisiacal Garden of Eden, telling them to eat any food there they wished, except that from a single tree, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", warning that if they did eat from the tree, they would die. According to the story, a Serpent tempted them to partake of fruit from the tree, telling them that they would become like God themselves by doing so; both then ate from it. Immediately thereafter, they became ashamed and covered their nakedness with leaves. God questioned them concerning their actions, reminding them of His command to not eat of the tree. He next put enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between humans and the 'tempter', then forced Adam and Eve to leave the garden, following which these two humans then populated the earth.
According to the Islamic creation narrative in the Quran, before creating Adam from clay by uttering the simple word "Be", God informed the Angels of His divine plan to "create a vicegerent on earth". When they asked him "Will You place therein one who will do harm and shed blood, while we, we hymn Your praise and sanctify You?" He said: "Surely I know that which you know not." After creating Adam, God taught him the names of all things as well as those of the Angels, which Adam then repeated correctly after the Angels were unable to comply when God asked them to do so from their own knowledge. God next commanded all of the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam, to honour God's new creation and to display obedience to God. All of them did except for Iblis, was arrogant and refused to comply because he thought Adam was inferior to him because he was created from clay, while Iblis was created from fire. Subsequently Iblis swore to mislead mankind from the "straight path of God", and God responded to his arrogance and disobedience by expelling him from Heaven.
Among the many significant differences between the stories are:
See also: Bible: Book of Genesis:,, and Qur'an: Surah Al-Baqara:30-39, Surah Al-A'raf:19–27, and Surah Ta-Ha:115.

Cain and Abel (Qābīl and Hābīl)

See Genesis and Al-Ma'ida.
According to the Bible, Adam and Eve had two sons: Cain, the eldest, and Abel, his brother. Each made sacrifices to God, but God only accepted Abel's sacrifice and offering, and not Cain's because Abel gave the best of his flocks, indicating that God came first in his heart. Cain, on the other hand, gave a sacrifice from the fruit of his ground, which shows that he was more focused upon only making a sacrifice rather than pleasing the Lord.. Although God attempted to remonstrate with Cain about his attitude, Cain refused to listen and ultimately murdered his brother, Abel. Cain was subsequently called to account by God, who condemned him to a lifetime of wandering and fruitless toil, while promising to take vengeance upon any who tried to avenge his brother's blood upon him. Abel, on the other hand, was regarded by the Bible as righteous.
The Quran relates a slightly different version; as in the Bible, both offered sacrifice and Cain's was rejected; Cain threatens Abel, who points out that killing him would put Cain among the companions of the fire; Cain murders Abel, but regrets it. The Quran then draws a lesson: Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely'
Compare the last part with the Talmud Yerushalmi, Mishnah Sanhedrin Tractate 4:5, and Folia 23a, and in the Talmud Bavli Folia 37a.
לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי ללמדך שכל המאבד נפש אחת מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו איבד עולם מלא וכל'המקיים נפש אחת מישראל מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו קיים עולם
Therefore, humans were created singly, to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul , Scripture accounts it as if he had destroyed a full world; and whoever saves one soul of Israel, Scripture accounts it as if she had saved a full world.''

Noah (Nūḥ)

See Genesis and mainly Hud as well as Al-A'raf, Yunus, Al-Muminun, Ash-Shu'ara, Al-Qamar, and all of Nuh
Noah is described in the Bible as a righteous man who lived among a "wicked people". God decided to kill all the people through a vast flood while saving the righteous Noah and his immediate family; so he commanded Noah to build an Ark, using God's own instructions. Noah did so and he, his family, seven pairs of birds and "clean" animals, and two of each other animal species board the Ark. Water gushes up from the ground and rains fall from the sky, flooding the earth and killing all the wicked.. All aboard the Ark are safe until the waters retreat. There is disagreement among Jews, Christians, and Muslims concerning whether the flood was local or global.
There are several differences between the biblical and Quranic versions of the story of Noah:

Promised a son

See Genesis, and Hud, Al-Hijr, As-Saaffat, and Adh-Dhariyat. Several messengers come to Abraham on their way to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham welcomes them into his tent and provides them with food. They then promise their host that Isaac will soon be born to Abraham's wife, Sarah. Sarah laughs at the idea because she is far too old to bear children. The Hebrew name יצחק means 'he laughs" and is one of the literary tropes in the biblical story. These literary connections are typically lost in Quranic versions of biblical stories.
The angels rebuke her, telling her that by God's will she can bear a son. A conversation ensues in which Abraham admits that he wished God to have mercy on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sacrifices his son

In another narrative, Abraham receives a command from God to sacrifice his son. Abraham agrees to this and prepares to carry out the sacrifice. Before he can do so, however, God tells him to stop and gives him a replacement sacrifice. Abraham is subsequently honoured for his faithfulness to God.
However, there are several differences between the biblical and Quranic accounts:
The Bible describes Abraham as in Iraq-Syria, then in Canaan, Paran, and Egypt, with his final days in Canaan and Hebron. Both Isaac and Ishmael attend Abraham's funeral.
The Quran mentions that Abraham left his wife and Ishmael in the land where present-day Mecca is, while he left to what was apparently Palestine.

Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah (Lūṭ and "The People of Lot")

According to the Bible in the Book of Genesis, after visiting Abraham, two angels go to the city of Sodom in which Abraham's nephew Lot is a foreigner. They tell him God will soon destroy the city because of the wickedness of the people. The men of the city, upon hearing that Lot is entertaining male visitors, converge upon his house and demand that the men be brought out so that they can have sex with them. Lot offers his daughters in their place, but the men insist upon raping the angels instead. After blinding the city's inhabitants, the angels tell Lot and his family to flee by night and to not look back. The following morning, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with a shower of fiery stones from the sky. Lot's wife looked back to see the burning city and was turned into a pillar of salt.
The story continues further after the destruction of the twin cities, with Lot leaving Zoar with his two daughters to live in a cave. Fearing that all the men were dead, the daughters decided that in order to 'preserve the seed of their father' and procreate, they must have sexual intercourse with him; they decide to get him into a drunken stupor so as to be able to 'lie with him' and obtain his seed. And so they each sleep with their father, having intoxicated him to a point wherein he could 'perceive not', and thus get impregnated by him. The Bible then continues "And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day". The biblical story of Lot ends here.
According to the Quran, Lot was a Prophet. He was also a nephew of Prophet Ibrahim. A group of angels visited Ibrahim as guests and gave him glad tidings of a son "endowed with wisdom"; they told him that they had been sent by God to the "guilty people" of Sodom, to destroy them with "a shower of stones of clay " and deliver Lot and those who believed in him. However, Lot's wife was specifically excluded, with the angels saying "she is of those who lag behind". The Quran draws upon Lot's wife as an "example for the unbelievers", as she was married to a righteous man but refused to believe in his words; hence, she was condemned to the Hellfire; otherwise, the story of them leaving the city proceeds much as in the Bible. The story of Lot in the Quran ends after describing the destruction of the city.
There are several differences between the Quran and the Bible:
The narratives of Joseph can be found in and in the first 102 verses of Surah Yusuf
In both the Bible and the Quran, Joseph has a vision of eleven stars and the sun and the moon all bowing to him which he shares with his family.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
Behold! Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!"
Joseph's brothers became jealous that their father preferred Joseph over them, and so they form a plot to kill Joseph. However, one brother convinces them not to kill him but throw him down a well while they are alone. The brothers come to the father asking his permission to take Joseph out with them to enjoy and play with them. Jacob expresses his reservations against letting him go with them and expressing fear about a wild animal killing him while they were not careful about him. The sons assure the father of their being a mighty group against any threats to Joseph. The father eventually agrees to send Yusuf with them, while in the Bible, Jacob sends Joseph out of his own accord without sons trying to persuade him to let him go with them. They agree. They subsequently lie to their father as to Joseph's whereabouts, covering his clothing in blood and asserting that a wild animal had attacked him. A caravan passing the well inspires the brothers to pull Joseph out of the well and to sell him as a slave to traders in the caravan. Later the traders sell him to a wealthy Egyptian.
Joseph grows up in the house of the Egyptian. When Joseph is a grown man, his master's wife tries to seduce him. Joseph resists and runs away, but is caught by other servants and reported to his master. The wife lies to her husband, saying that Joseph tried to rape her. ; At this point, the two stories differ.
In the Bible, Joseph's master refuses to believe Joseph's denial and imprisons him.
In the Quran, Joseph's master accepts the suggestion of another wise person to check Joseph's tunic. If it is torn from the front, the wise person asserts, it will prove Joseph a liar; but if it is torn from the back, Joseph will be vindicated and the master's wife proven a liar and an adulteress. The Vizier reprimands his wife and permits Joseph to remain in his household. The Vizier's wife hosts a banquet for women who had been gossiping about her and Joseph providing them with knives; Joseph is commanded to appear before the wife and her ladyfriends; they cut their hands with knives. Although the Vizier again recognizes Joseph's innocence, he orders him imprisoned nevertheless.
In prison, Joseph meets two men. One has a dream of making wine and the other dreams of carrying a stack of bread that birds are eating. Joseph tells the first that he will serve the Pharaoh again and the second will be executed. Both things happen, precisely as Joseph foretold. Although Joseph asks the first man to bring his name and unjust imprisonment to the attention of the Pharaoh, the first man quickly forgets about him once restored to the royal favour.
Sometime thereafter, Pharaoh had a dream:
"17. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile, 18.when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. 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. 20. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. 21. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up." 22." In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. 23. After them, seven other heads sprouted – withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. 24. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me."
The king said: "I do see seven fat kine, whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn and seven withered. O ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions."
Pharaoh's cupbearer, who had been previously imprisoned with Joseph, suddenly remembers his promise and tells Pharaoh about the man who foretold his own restoration to favour. Pharaoh sent to the prison, asking Joseph to interpret his dream.
In the Quranic account, Joseph insists that the Vizier's wife vindicate him before the king before Joseph will agree to do so ; Pharaoh summons the Vizier's wife, who admits her lies about Joseph and proclaims his innocence. The Quran now rejoins the biblical narrative, where Joseph reveals the meaning of the king's dream: Egypt will have seven years of good crops followed by seven years of famine and the famine will be worse than the abundance. The king rewarded Joseph by giving him charge over the storehouses and the entire land of Egypt.
During the famine, Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy food, but the youngest was left with their father. While Joseph recognized them, they did not recognize him. He demanded that they return with the missing brother. The brothers return home and find that Joseph had hidden in their packs more than they paid for. They asked their father if they might return with the youngest brother. Reluctantly, their father allows this. They return, and after some further incidents, Joseph ultimately reveals himself to his brothers..
In both the Quran and the Bible, the missing brother is Benjamin, Joseph's only full blood brother. The others are half-brothers.
The Qur'an correctly does not refer to the king of Egypt during Joseph's time as the "Pharaoh." The titular word "Pharaoh" was given to the kings of Egypt during the New Kingdom period later historically. This distinction is not found in the Bible.

Moses (Mūsā)

In the Bible, the narratives of Moses are in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The narratives here are mostly in and. In the Quran, the Moses narratives are in the following passages: 2.49–61, 7.103–160, 10.75–93, 17.101–104, 20.9–97, 26.10–66, 27.7–14, 28.3–46, 40.23–30, 43.46–55, 44.17–31, and 79.15–25.
Pharaoh slew the young male children of the Israelites, and to avoid this fate, Moses' mother cast Moses as an infant into a small ark, where God protected him. Moses was found by the household of the Pharaoh, who adopted him. Moses' sister, Miriam, had followed Moses, and she recommended that his own mother serves as a nurse to him. When Moses became an adult, he saw an Egyptian fighting with an Israelite, and he interceded and killed the Egyptian. The next day, the Israelite asked whether Moses intended to kill him as well. The Pharaoh tried to have Moses killed and Moses fled to a watering place in Midian. He met some sisters and watered their herd. When the women's father, Jethro, learned of Moses, he invited him to stay and gave him a daughter, Zipporah, to marry.
In Midian, Moses saw a fire and approached it. God spoke to him and told him to remove his shoes. God said that he had chosen Moses. God said to throw down his staff and to stretch out his arm as signs. His staff turned into a serpent and then returned to the form of a staff. His arm became white although he was not sick. God commanded him to go to Pharaoh to deliver a message. Moses said that he could not speak well. So God provided Aaron, his brother, to help Moses speak.
God sent Moses to the court of Pharaoh. Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses. In response, Moses threw down his staff and it became a serpent. This prompted Pharaoh's magicians also threw down their staffs, which also turned into snakes. But the snakes of Pharaoh's magicians were swallowed by Moses' serpent.
God caused a famine. God sent plagues of locusts, frogs, blood, and destruction. God sent at least nine signs to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh ignored these signs. When he could ignore them no longer, he agreed to let the Israelites go. However, after God had allowed tranquility, Pharaoh went back on his word and refused to let the Israelites go. As punishment, God made every first-born Egyptian son die and spared every Israelite. Pharaoh became hysterical and demanded that Moses and the Israelites leave at once- only to pursue them with his army after their exit. Then God helped Moses lead the Israelites into a desert and across a sea. Moses struck the sea with his staff and the sea split in half exposing dry land for the Israelites to walk through. Pharaoh and his army were catching up to the Israelites but the water returned to its original state. Pharaoh and his army drowned.
Moses left the Hebrews for forty nights. He put his brother Aaron in charge of the people On a mountain, God gave Moses a revelation of precepts for Israel to follow. God made tablets with writing on them which Moses carried back to Israel.
Moses asked to see God. The people saw the fire and lightning and the mountain and were afraid. While Moses was gone, the Israelites demanded to worship an idol. They used the gold from their ornaments to construct a golden calf whom they said was the god who rescued them from Egypt. Aaron does not stop them. Then Moses returned and chastised them and Aaron. Many were killed for their actions. God sent down manna and quail to eat but the Hebrews still rebelled against God, and complained about the food. Moses asked God for water and God answered him. Moses struck a stone with his staff and water came forth. The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes.
God gave the Israelites a bountiful land, but this occurred at different times in the two scriptures. Besides that and the many additional details in the Torah, there are other differences:
See also Aaron, Islamic view of Aaron, and Islamic view of Pharaoh.

Destruction of Korah

The story of the destruction of Korah appears in in the Torah and in Al-Qasas 76–82 in the Quran. Korah was an Israelite living during the time of Moses. Because of his wickedness, God caused him to die by opening the ground and swallowing him and his home. In the Quran, Karon is simply a rich man who is too arrogant. In the Torah, he leads a minor rebellion against Moses. God also kills the others who rebel with him and destroys their homes.

Later Hebrew Bible narratives

Gideon/Talut

In the Quran and the Bible, there are stories about smaller armies winning victory over larger ones. One story in the Quran and the Bible share strong resemblances, although they are placed at different times and attributed to different characters. The Bible story features Gideon from the Book of Judges and the Quran story features Talut.
In the Book of Judges of the Bible, Gideon receives commands from God to take the Israelites to war against the Midianites. Gideon is reluctant, but accedes after making God prove Himself with three different tests. As they are heading to fight, God tells Gideon to send away those who are homesick or afraid of dying. Because the army is still large enough to credit its own strength for victory, God tells Gideon to observe the drinking habits of his troops at the river. God says to send those who do not drink with their hands, but lap the water directly like a dog, back to their homes. The remaining Israelites go on to victory.
In 2:246-248 of the Quran, God chooses Talut to lead the Israelites into battle against the army of Goliath. On their way, God tells Talut to warn the men that they will be tested by God, and that they must not drink from the next river in order to pass the test. Despite this warning, most of the men disobey and drink from the river. God tells Talut to leave the disobedient members behind, unless they only drank one handful so that the army will consist of only faithful members. The army then goes on to defeat General Goliath's army.

Saul, David and Goliath (Tālūt, Dāwūd and Jalut)

The story appears in 1 Samuel and. The Prophet Samuel is petitioned by the Israelites for a king. God sends Samuel to appoint Saul as the king, although with the warning that kings only take from their people. At least a few people are not happy with Samuel's choice, but Saul then prophecizes and wins some victories, so the people embrace him. Later Saul falls out of God's favour and God promises to appoint someone else as king. The Philistines attack and are bolstered by the fear engendered by their champion Goliath, a giant. God sends Samuel to recruit David, who kills Goliath. David eventually goes on to become Israel's new king.
A similar story appears in the Qu'ran 2:246–251. The Israelites demand of their prophet to appoint a king, and so God appoints the man Talut. The people respond poorly to the selection, upset that Talut does not seem special. God gives the Ark of the Covenant back to the Israelites in order to verify His choice. Talut leads the men to battle against an army led by the General Goliath. The Israelite army is small and doubtful, but a few men trust that God can still give them victory. David then kills Goliath and becomes king of Israel. The account also bears similarity to when Gideon led an army. See the above Gideon/Talut subsection.

The Queen of Sheba

The story appears in and and in verses Surah 27 20–44. The two stories have almost nothing in common. In each, the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon and is impressed by his wisdom and riches. In the Bible, the visit is only diplomatic. In the Quran, the Queen becomes monotheist and peace is established in the kingdoms. Although not part of the Quran, Islamic tradition holds that the name of the Queen of Sheba is Bilqis or Balqis.

Jonah (Yunus) and the big fish

In both the Bible and the Quran, Jonah is swallowed by a "big fish", usually inferred to be a whale. The Book of Jonah in the Bible consists of four chapters about Jonah's mission to Nineveh. Jonah is referenced three times in the Quran: in verses 139–148 of Sura 37 , verses 87–88 of Sura 21: al-Anbiya' and verses 48–50 of Sura 68: al-Qalam /Nun. It is mentioned in verse 98 of Sura 10: Yunus and verse 86 of Sura 6: al-An'am.
In the Quran, Jonah gets frustrated by his own people and abandons them to God's mercy, however without asking permission from God and thus going against his given responsibility. In the Quran, it is also mentioned that if Jonah had not prayed inside the belly of the fish he would have stayed in there until the Judgement day. In the Bible, Jonah pays a fare to sail to Tarshish. In both stories, he boards the ship loaded with passengers, lots are cast and Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a large fish. After praying, he is cast out of the fish and washed ashore, and God causes a gourd to grow or weeds. In the Bible, Jonah continues into Nineveh, and the city is spared by God. In the Quran, God causes the gourd to grow to comfort Jonah after he lies on the shore in a sickly state, in the Bible the gourd plant grows up to provide shade for Jonah while he waits for Nineveh to be destroyed. According to an Islamic tradition however, the big fish gets frightened at first, fearing it might have swallowed a holy person as it heard prayers and supplications read in a wonderful voice from her stomach, hearing which numerous sea creatures had surrounded it. But she comforts herself later since it was God's order to swallow Jonah. After two days the fish casts him out the beach of an island and he is very weak. The gastric juices with the hot sunlight burned his skin till the point he was about to scream of pain. God causes a vine to grow over him and provide him fruit and shade. He recovers and goes back to his people who had become good after he left. According to the Bible, Ninevah was a great city, with more than one hundred twenty thousand people and much livestock. In the Quran, the number of people he was sent towards as a prophet exceeded a hundred thousand. They believed in his message and God granted them prosperity for a long time.. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Ninevites repenting at the preaching of Jonah.

Haman

In the Bible, Haman was an Agagite noble and vizier of the empire under Persian King Ahasuerus who desires to persecute the Jews. In the Quran, Haman is an adviser and builder under a Firaun of ancient Egypt whose narrative relationship with Moses is recounted in the Quran.
The structure which Firaun commands Haman to build is similar to the Tower of Babel in Genesis, unrelated to the narrative of Haman in the Bible. Both structures are made from burnt bricks for the purpose of ascending to the heavens.
However, it's also been suggested that these two are different individuals. The name "Haman" was in fact mentioned in old Egyptian tablets which now stand in the Hof Museum, Vienna.

New Testament narratives

Zechariah (Zakariya) and John (Yahya)

The story of Zechariah is told in the Gospel of Luke and and in the Quran 3.37-41 and 19.2–15. In both accounts, Zechariah and his wife reached an old age without bearing children. Zechariah is told his wife would conceive, despite her barrenness, and his name would be John. As a sign that this would happen, Zechariah becomes mute. John grows to be a devout man. Both accounts mention John's death.
Each account also contains unique elements and differ regarding Zechariah's muteness. In the Bible, Gabriel appears to Zechariah, a priest, on the right side of the altar telling him that his wife will conceive. Zechariah questions how his wife could conceive when he is an old man and his wife is barren, and is struck mute because of his disbelief. Later, Elizabeth conceives. After Elizabeth gives birth and they went to circumcise the child, Zechariah confirms that the son's name is John and receives his speech back.
In the Quran, God promises Zechariah a child and Zechariah similarly questions God. God replies that it is easy, just as he created Zechariah from nothing. Zechariah then asks for a sign, and God responds that he will not speak to anyone for three nights, except by gesture. This may imply he simply would not find an occasion to speak to anyone. Zechariah comes out from his prayer chamber and gestures to praise God in the morning and afternoon.

Mary (Maryam)

Mary's life is told in several books of the New Testament and the Quran.

Bible

In the Bible, in the sixth month after the conception of John the Baptist by Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary, at Nazareth. Mary was of the house of David, and was betrothed to Joseph, of the same royal family. And the angel had taken the figure and the form of man, came into the house and said to her: 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.' Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak; she was troubled in spirit, since she knew not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation. And the angel continued and said: 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.' Not doubting the word of God, unlike Zachariah, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I have not known a man?'
The angel, to remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity would be spared, answered: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' In token of the truth of his word he made known to her the conception of John, the miraculous pregnancy of her relative now old and sterile: 'And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God.' Mary may not yet have fully understood the meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the omnipotence of God she said: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.'
In Luke, Mary is betrothed to Joseph but the Quran never mentions any man. In the Quran, 'her people' have a conversation with Mary accusing her of fornication. In the Bible, no such conversation happens but Joseph knows that people are thinking this.

Quran

"Maryam", a Quranic chapter is named for Mary and The Quran mentions Maryam by name in numerous verses, starting with her birth.
Q3:36-37: Then when she had given birth to her she said:
Then her lord accepted her with a comely acceptance and caused her to grow with a comely growth And placed her under the care of Zakariyyā. Whenever Zakariyyā entered upon her in the sanctuary he found with her provision. He said:
She said: It is from the presence of God. God gives provision to whom he wills without reckoning.
Her final mention is in the final verse of Chapter 66 "Prohibition".

Jesus (Isa)

Jesus's ministry takes up the whole of the four Gospels in the Bible, as well as being the focus of the subsequent books of the New Testament. Some stories common to all four Gospels include that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, subsequently travelled as an itinerant preacher and healer, took on twelve apostles, miraculously fed 5000 people at least once, entered Jerusalem on a donkey, drove merchants from the Second Temple, predicted his betrayal by one of his disciples, was crucified, but resurrected from death. Each gospel represents a different perspective, with some different information and emphases than each of the other gospels. Christians accept all four books as part of the canon of Scripture.
Jesus directly appears several times in the Quran: Al-Imran 35–59; An-Nisa' 156–158; Al-Ma'idah 109–120; Maryam 16–35, Al-Mu'minun 50; Az-Zukhruf 57–65; As-Saff 6 and 14. He is also indirectly referred to in other locations.
The Quran contains few narratives from Jesus' life, but does include many brief descriptions in common with the Bible:
The details of Jesus's birth differ from those offered in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Other accounts in the Quran do not exist in the Bible. Two such stories, one in which infant Jesus verbally testifies to Mary's virginity and another in which young Jesus forms and breathes life into clay birds, have counterparts in non-canonical Christian literature.
The Quran rejects that Jesus ever expected to be interpreted as divine and that he only taught strictly tawhid. It also denies the crucifixion.

Other figures

The Quran and the Bible have over 50 characters in common, typically in the same narratives. The Quran identifies Enoch and Ishmael as prophets, but they are never given a story. In the Bible, all these men are identified as righteous people but not prophets — except Ishmael who is blessed by God.
There is also one person mentioned in the Quran, Dhul-Qarnayn, who is not mentioned in the Bible by that name but whose story is similar to stories about Alexander the Great as mentioned in other Alexander romances and legends of its time.

Mixed similarities

In several cases, the Quran and the Bible have common events but occur in different narrations.

Idol calf and Samaritan

In the Bible, in Moses' absence, certain people who went out of Egypt with the Hebrews worship a golden calf saying "This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." Hundreds of years later, Samaria was founded and became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. King Jeroboam, its first king, also made two golden calves and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
The Quran tells the story of a calf while Moses is gone. A man called "the Samari" Yusuf Ali or "the Samaritan" is blamed for protagonizing their idolatry.
A verse in Hosea 8:5–6 contains the same content as Ta-Ha 20.97 where Hosea refers to the Jeroboam calf and the Quran refers to the earlier calf. Both feature a prophet speaking to the Samaritan/Samaria promising to destroy the calf.
In the Quran, Moses' punishment that the Samari cannot be touched is the same as the modern Samaritan's punishment where no Jew was allowed to touch them because of their idolatry. In his commentary, Yusuf Ali claims that the Samari is not a Samaritan.

Miriam and Mary

In Arabic, both the names Mary and Miriam are called Maryam. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the only female to have her name mentioned in the Quran. While speaking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Quran also refers to her as the sister of Aaron, who in the bible also had a sister Miriam. According to James K. Walker, “critics have noted that the Qur’an appears to confuse Mary … in the New Testament with Miram of the Old Testament, who … lived some 1400 years earlier”.
However, according to Muslim interpreters, this Aaron is different from the brother of Moses. It was a tradition to give people the names of prophets and pious persons who lived before them as mentioned in the following hadeeth:
Mughira b. Shu'ba reported: When I came to Najran, they asked me: You read" O sister of Harun" in the Quran, whereas Moses was born much before Jesus. When I came back to Allah's Messenger I asked him about that, whereupon he said: The used to give names after the names of Apostles and pious persons who had gone before them.

Hannah and Hannah

In the Books of Samuel, Hannah is grateful that God gave her a son, Samuel. She dedicated him to God by letting him live with Eli the prophet and priest.
In the Quran, Mary's mother is grateful to God for Mary and dedicates her to God. Mary then lives in the household of Zechariah the prophet.
In the Bible, Zechariah is also a priest. Mary's mother is unnamed in the Quran.