The Forbidden Tree in Jewish and Islamic Texts

A doctrine which has played a significant role in the beliefs of the Jews, the Christians and the Moslems is the issue of the Garden of Eden and the renowned tree in it (one tree in Islam, and two trees in the Judaism and Christianity, i.e. the tree of life and the tree of knowledge). This essay deals with a comparative study of the forbidden tree in Judaism and Islam, and for this sake we have compared a number of Jewish and Islamic texts, to detect what are the resemblances and differences between them; what ideas are exclusive to Islamic texts or to Jewish texts, and probably what ideas have been conveyed from Jewish texts and folklore to Islamic traditions and literature. The outcome of this essay is the removal of ambiguity from some traditions in both religions and the detection of the Israelite origin of some of so called Islamic traditions.