Other Religions Atheism and Agnosticism Belief Systems Do Muslims Follow the Ten Commandments? Religious Issues in the Ten Commandments Print RapidEye/E+/Getty Images Atheism and Agnosticism Belief Systems Ethics Key Figures in Atheism By Austin Cline Austin Cline Atheism Expert M.A., Princeton University B.A., University of Pennsylvania Austin Cline, a former regional director for the Council for Secular Humanism, writes and lectures extensively about atheism and agnosticism. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on August 31, 2024 Islam does not accept the absolute authority of the Bible and instead teaches that it has become corrupted over the years. As a result, it does not accept the authority of the listing of the Ten Commandments that appears in the Bible. Islam does, however, accept the status of both Moses and Jesus as prophets, which means that the commandments are not completely ignored, either. The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (found in the book of Exodus in the Torah and known as the “Decalogue”) are a central part of Judaism and Christianity. They occur in three places in the Old Testament of the Bible: Exodus 20:1–17, Exodus 34:14–38, and Deuteronomy 5:5–21. According to those passages, the commandments were divinely revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two tablets of stone. In effect, the Ten Commandments are a summary statement of the covenant between God and the Israelites, and they are arguably the founding principles for those two religions, the tablets on which the faiths were erected. But what does Islam think? Islam and Authenticity When Muhammed and the Islamic scholars carved out their pieces of the Abrahamic religions, they argued that Islam was not a repudiation of Christianity or Judaism, but a reformation of those faiths. The Islamic reformation of the Abrahamic faith, they said, took it back to the authentic monotheism that both Christians and Jews had neglected over time. The primary issue brought up by the meteoric rise of the Islamic faith in the seventh and eighth centuries C.E., that of the authenticity of the theology, had been a serious problem studied by Jewish and Christian scholars for generations before Muhammad. In particular, scholars felt that Paul’s version of Christianity had strayed too far away from the original monotheism: an extreme view said that the Pauline theology was approaching paganism. The rise of Islam led to the reoccurrence of those discussions, and to the appearance of new sects, such as Karaism, an Arabic-Jewish sect that emerged in the second half of the eighth century C.E. One question that Islam provoked was: How old were the 10 Commandments? Did the Patriarchs before Moses practice God’s commandments and was the Torah of the Patriarchs different from the Torah of Moses? The Ten Commandments in the Quran The Quran refers to the Ten Commandments twice. Quran Book 7:142–5 describes how Moses received the divine tablets. but doesn’t describe what was on them. “And We ordained laws for him in the tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things, (and said): ‘Take and hold these with firmness and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts’…” (Quran 7:142–5) The other, in Book 2, says: “Remember when we made a covenant with the children of Israel: You shall not serve any save God, and to be good to parents, and the near kinsman, and to orphans, and the needy, and speak good to all people, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms.” (Quran 2:83–4) Comparisons of Islamic and Judaic Rules of Behavior Early and classic Muslim commentators discussed the belief that the Israelites broke the Covenant made at Sinai and conjectured what the tablets were made of, but in the end, to Muslims, it doesn’t matter what was written on those tablets because the Quran is the perfect iteration of divine law. The Quran’s commandments are found in (Quran 6:151–153), and although they are not completely in concordance with the Jewish Ten Commandments, there are some parallels. Similar Commandments in Islam and Christianity Islam (Quran 6:151–153) Christianity (Bible Exodus 20:2–17) Say, come, I will recite what God has made a sacred duty for you: Ascribe nothing as equal with God. You shall have no other gods before or besides me.You shall not make for yourself a carved image, and bow down to them or serve them. Be good to your parents. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not kill your children on a plea of want; we provide sustenance for you and for them. — You shall not approach lewd behavior whether open or in secret. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not take life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus does God command you, that you may learn wisdom. You shall not kill. And you shall not approach the property of the orphan, except to improve it, until he attains the age of maturity. Thou shalt not steal.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s. Give full measure and weight, in justice; no burden should be placed on any soul but that which it can bear. — And if you give your word, do it justice, even if a near relative is concerned; and fulfill your obligations before God. Thus does God command you, that you may remember. You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. — Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. — You shall not not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Thus, while Islam doesn’t exactly have its own “Ten Commandments,” it does have its own versions of many of the basic prohibitions given in the Ten Commandments. Because they accept the Bible as an earlier revelation of God they don’t object to things like displays of the commandments in public spaces. At the same time, though, they aren’t likely to see such displays as a religious duty or necessity because as described above they don’t accept the absolute authority of the Bible. View Article Sources Ali, Abbas J., Manton Gibbs, and Robert C. Camp. “Human Resource Strategy: The Ten Commandments Perspective.” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 20.5/6 (2000): 114–32. Print. Erder, Yoram. “Early Karaite Conceptions About Commandments Given before the Revelation of the Torah.” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 60 (1994): 101–40. Print. GĂĽnther, Sebastian. “O People of the Scripture! Come to a Word Common to You and Us (Q. 3:64): The Ten Commandments and the Qur’an.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 9.1 (2007): 28–58. Print. Kadivar, Mohsen. “From Traditional Islam to Islam as an End in Itself.” Die Welt des Islams 51.3/4 (2011): 459–84. Print. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Cline, Austin. “Do Muslims Follow the Ten Commandments?” Learn Religions, Aug. 31, 2024, learnreligions.com/muslim-view-of-the-ten-commandments-250914. Cline, Austin. (2024, August 31). Do Muslims Follow the Ten Commandments? Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/muslim-view-of-the-ten-commandments-250914 Cline, Austin. “Do Muslims Follow the Ten Commandments?” Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/muslim-view-of-the-ten-commandments-250914 (accessed January 24, 2026). copy citation