Encyclopedia of Islam

covenant

A covenant is a contractual agreement or com-

mitment that states the mutual duties and obliga-

tions of the parties involved. In the Abrahamic 

religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, it 

has considerable theological significance because 

it expresses the relation between God and humans 

at specific moments in sacred history. Sometimes 

it is understood as a bilateral agreement involving 

mutual concord between God and his people, and 

in other cases, it is given by God alone. Accord-

ing to the doctrines of these religions, God will 

reward humans for heeding his commands and 

punish them for forgetting or disobeying them. 

The  t

orah

 of Judaism expresses the covenants 

between God, humankind, and the people of 

i

srael

 that occurred in the times of Noah, a

bra

-

ham

, Isaac, Jacob, and d

avid

. The most impor-

tant such agreement in Judaism is the covenant 

established at Sinai, which m

oses

 conveyed to the 

Israelites from God. Christians have regarded this 

as the old covenant, or “testament,” which has 

been succeeded by a new one given by J

esUs

 in 

the g

ospel

s.

In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, God 

is believed to have established covenants with 

both humankind and with sacred individuals (the 

prophets) and their followers. The covenant men-

tioned most often in the q

Uran

 is the one between 

God and the people of Israel, which they are 

blamed for breaking (for example, Q 2:83). The 

key division expressed in the quranic agreements 

is between those who honor God’s commands as 

believers and those who do not—the forgetful and 

the disbelievers. The most universal covenant is 

the primordial one God established on the Day of 

Alastu, when he brought forth all of Adam’s future 

progeny and they acknowledged his oneness and 

sovereignty (Q 7:172). Muslims are told that if 

they remember to keep God’s covenant and fulfill 

other conditions, they can return in the 

aFter

-

liFe

 to the 

paradise

 from which Adam had been 

expelled for violating his agreement with God 

(Q 2:35–36, 13:20–23). Those who do not will 

face God’s curse and the fires of hell (Q 13:25). 

Aside from Adam, other prophets who were party 

to covenants with God were Abraham, m

oses

, 

J

esUs

, and m

Uhammad

. In regard to Muhammad, 

the Quran states that the prophets have all agreed 

with God to believe in and help his future mes-

senger, the prophet of Islam (Q 3:81). In s

hiism

,

the idea of covenant has been shaped to promote 

belief in its doctrines concerning Muhammad’s 

holy family (the 

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

) and the 

imams

.

See also  a

dam

 

and

  e

ve

;  c

hrisitianity

 

and

i

slam

; 

holy

 

books

; J

Udaism

 

and

 i

slam

; 

sharia

.