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Hans Küng on the basic common ethics of Islam, Christianity and Judaism

Hans Küng on the common ethics of Islam, Christianity and Judaism

In Christianity: Essence, History, Future, Hans Küng provides two full page charts comparing famous ethical codes from Judaism, Christianity and Islam to demonstrate that these Abrahamic religions share the same "basic common ethic" [1]: the first compares the Ten Commandments (i.e. the Decalogue in Exodus 20:1-21 RSV, c.f. Deuteronomy 5:4-21) to the Sermon on the Mount (e.g. Matthew 5-7, 12 RSV), and second compares the Ten Commandments to the Islamic Code of Duties (Surah 17:22-28 trans. Kenneth Cragg). I've merged both charts into one table that has all three in parallel. 

Hans Kung compares the ethics of Islam and Judaism

In the header to Night Journey in Qur'an 17,  M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (translator of the Qur'an) provides background to the Night Journay: "Towards the end of the Meccan period, God caused Muhammad, in the space of a single night, to journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and from there to heaven and back again" [2] and it is a "Meccan sura framed by references to the Children of Israel at the beginning and Pharaoh at the end . . . and it gives a series of commandments (verses 22-39)" [3]. Muhammad's miraculous Night Journey into Jerusalem and Heaven are comparable to Moses seeing the backside of god and receiving the stone tablets. Also, the Qur'ans references to Pharaoh and the Children of Israel also brings the Islamic Code of Duties into close kinship with the Decalogue due to their similar situations in life (sitz im leben) and background narratives. 

At first glance at Hans Kung's chart "The Common Basic Ethics"[4], the contents of "The Islamic Code of Duties" (Qur'an 17:22-28) as Hans Küng labeled the right column has striking similarities to "The Jewish-Christian Decalogue" (Exodus 20:1-21 RSV) in the left column. The Qur'an has ten ethical commands like the Ten Commandments (i.e. Decalogue), and the textual structure including the word phrasing is parallels it too, indicating that the Qur'an has somehow derived these legal codes from the Decalogue (that is somehow harmonized with Islam's view of inspiration of the Qur'an similar to the rest of the common material with the Bible). The primarily delta is the absence of the Sabbath from the Qur'an. 

Christianity in contrast to Islam and Judaism

In the chart labeled "The Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount" [5], Hans Küng sets the Sermon on the Mount in the right column in besides the Ten Commandments in the left column. Most Christians worldwide assume a similar view of inspiration to the Hebrew Bible as the New Testament, and the Ten Commandments, and also the Decalogue is not repeated in the New Testament, the same basic common ethic is identifiable throughout its New Testament.  Küng select the Sermon on the Mount (according to Matthew) as basic ethic of Christianity, and many theologians have done this throughout history (e. g. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship). In Christianity: Essence, History, Future, Küng explains that the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) was formed from the oldest logia (i.e. Q) by author of Matthew in a similar way as the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6) was assembled by the author of Luke, so it is natural to divide up the individual logia in the Sermon on the Mount to show how it is consistent with the Decalogue (there are plenty of books that show this in minutia).  In this comparison, the primary delta against is the absence of the Sabbath from the Sermon on the Mount (and logia). There are Christian Sabbatarians, but there are also famous theologians like John Calvin who have called Sabbatarians "monsters". So, Christianity's common basic ethic in some ways are closer to the Qur'an than the Decalogue, but all three in essence share the same basic common ethic. 

Judaism, Christianity and Islam [6]

# The Jewish-Christian Decalogue The Sermon on the Mount The Islamic Code of Duties
1 I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods besides me.

You shall have no other gods besides me.

No one can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and mammon (Mt 6:24) In the Name of God, the merciful Lord of mercy.

Set up no other deity alongside (the one) God.

2 You shall not make for yourself a graven image. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. But I say to you. Do not swear at all, either by heaven or by the earth... or by Jerusalem.' (Matt 5:34f) Your Lord has commanded that you serve no one but Him.
3 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath. (Matt 12:11f) n/a
4 Honour your father and mother. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me (Matt 5:22) Show kindness to your parents. Give to the kinsman his due and to the needy and the wayfarer.
5 You shall not kill. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment (Matt 5:22) Do not kill your children for fear of poverty. Do not kill any man -- a deed God forbids.
6 You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt 5:22) Do not come near to adultery.
7 You shall not steal. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other one (Matt 5:39) Handle the property of the orphan with integrity.
8 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Let what you say be simply "Yes" or "No"; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matt 5:37) Keep your bond. For you are accountable.
9 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt 7:12) Give full measure when you measure and weigh with just scales. Do not pursue things of which you have no knowledge.
10 You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's. But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress (Matt 5:32) Do not strut proud on the earth.

Sources:

1. Hans Küng. Christianity: Essence, History, Future, "The Common Basic Ethics". Continuum, 1996. p. 30. [chart]

2. Qur'an: a new translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford World Classics), "17. The Night Journey" p. 175ff. [online text]

3. Qur'an. Ibid.

4. Hans Kung. Ibid. "The Common Basic Ethics", p. 30. [chart]

5. Hans Küng. Christianity: Essence, History, Future, "The Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount". Continuum, 1996. p. 53. [chart]

6. Hans Küng. Ibid. [First and third columns are from "The Common Basic Ethics" and the center column is from "The Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount"]

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