Biblical and Quranic narratives

The Quran 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. Knowing that versions of these stories written in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament did exist before the Quran, scholars consider similarities between these Islamic, Jewish and Christian texts. Muslims believe the Quran to be direct knowledge from the Creator of existence. As such, some Muslims believe 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.

The Islamic methodology of tafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Kitab (Arabic: تفسير القرآن بالكتاب) refers to interpreting the Qur'an with/through the Bible. This approach adopts canonical Arabic versions of the Bible, including the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospel), both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur'an. Notable Muslim mufassirun (commentators) of the Bible and Qur'an who weaved biblical texts together with Qur'anic ones include Abu al-Hakam Abd al-Salam bin al-Isbili of Al-Andalus and Ibrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al-Biqa'i.