AeonLux: Abrahamic Religions Misconceptions

Nowhere in the Bible is the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden specified to be an apple. The fruit is called the "fruit of the tree" (that is, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), and neither the fruit nor the tree is identified by species. In Middle English, as late as the 17th century "apple" was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts.^[168] However, in continental European art from that period representing the Fall of Man the fruit is often depicted as an apple. The apple myth comes from a Latin word likeness: Latin mălus = "bad", mălum = "an evil", mālus = "apple tree" and "mast of a ship", mālum = "apple (fruit)". Other traditional claims for the fruit include grapes, figs, wheat and pomegranate.

The Bible does not state that God took a rib from Adam to make Eve. The Hebrew word used translates as "side."

Many people confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth of Jesus when in fact, they are two different things. Immaculate Conception is the belief that Mary was conceived without original sin and therefore her conception was immaculate. Virgin Birth is the belief that Mary gave birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin.^[169]

Nowhere in the Bible is Mary Magdalene ever referred to as a prostitute. Before her seeing the risen Jesus, the only other mention besides the listing of her name is the mentioning in Luke 8:2^[170] that she had been possessed by seven demons. In fact there are several sinful women mentioned in the gospels, one of whom is "caught in adultery". The earliest recorded mention of this connection was in a sermon of Pope Gregory.

The canon of the New Testament was not selected by Constantine at the First Council of Nicaea. Constantine did not personally have a vote on the council, and the canon had been settled mainly by common consent among the clergy from the early second century. Furthermore, the council did not consider the matter of canon in its proceedings. (See Development of the New Testament canon.)^{[citation needed]}

Nowhere in the Bible does it say exactly three wise men came from afar to visit "Baby Jesus", nor that they rode on camels. It was assumed that there were three Biblical Magi^[171]^[172]^[173] because three gifts are described. Additionally, the wise men did not visit on the day Jesus was born, but they saw Jesus as a child, in a house as much as two years afterward. (Matthew 2:11)
The Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth say nothing about a stable or an inn-keeper. The Greek word for an inn is pandocheion, while the word used to describe where Jesus was born is kataluma, which is better translated as "guestroom". ^[172]^[173] What is mentioned is that Jesus lay in a manger but nothing else (Luke 2:7). ^[172]

The Qur'an (surah 56 (Al-Waqia), verse 036 [4]) promises martyrs will be awarded bounties of heaven, including virgins - if one so prefers; the verse however, specifies no number. There is a Da'eef (weak) Hadith attributed to Muhammad^[174] stating that there will be 72.^[175]

The Niqāb veil (and by extension, Burqa) is not considered by all^[176] Islamic scholars to be obligatory. Some view it as a voluntary show of piety. The passage in the Quran instructing women to "…not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to…" is interpreted by some to require covering off the hair, while others say it simply calls for modesty of dress.^[177]
Allah does not refer to a Muslim, as opposed to a Christian, God. It is simply the Arabic word for "The God". Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as "Allah".^[178]
Jihad is not an "Islamic war on the western world" but rather a verb meaning to struggle or to strive. One can have an internal jihad, family jihad, or religious jihad, which may or may not include violence towards non-Muslims.^[179] A comparison may be made with the term "crusade", which is sometimes considered by Muslims to mean Western violence against Islam, when it is more often used as a metaphorical struggle; for example, "a crusade against drugs".^[180]
A fatwā is a religious opinion on Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar, not a death sentence. The popular misconception^[181] likely stems from the death sentence pronounced as a fatwā on the author Salman Rushdie in 1989 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran, when fatwās first gained widespread media attention in the west.

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