5:72 Pagans indeed are those who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah himself said, “ O Children of Israel, you shall worship God; my Lord and your Lord.” Anyone who sets up any idol beside God, God has forbidden Paradise for him, and his destiny is Hell. The wicked have no helpers.
5:78 Condemned are those who disbelieved among the Children of Israel, by the tongue of David and Jesus, the son of Mary. This is because they disobeyed and transgressed.
God will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My blessings upon you and your mother. I supported you with the Holy Spirit, to enable you to speak to the people from the crib, as well as an adult. I taught you the scripture, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. Recall that you created from clay the shape of a bird by My leave, then blew into it, and it became a live bird by My leave. You healed the blind and the leprous by My leave, and revived the dead by My leave. Recall that I protected you from the Children of Israel who wanted to hurt you, despite the profound miracles you had shown them. The disbelievers among them said, `This is obviously magic.’
17:104 O Children of Israel, remember My favor, which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your part of the covenant, that I fulfill My part of the covenant, and reverence Me.
7:134 Whenever a plague afflicted them, they said, “O Moses, implore your Lord – you are close to Him. If you relieve this plague, we will believe with you, and will send the Children of Israel with you.”
7:137 We let the oppressed people inherit the land, east and west, and we blessed it. The blessed commands of your Lord were thus fulfilled for the Children of Israel, to reward them for their steadfastness, and we annihilated the works of Pharaoh and his people and everything they harvested.
وَأَورَثنَا القَومَ الَّذينَ كانوا يُستَضعَفونَ مَشٰرِقَ الأَرضِ وَمَغٰرِبَهَا الَّتى بٰرَكنا فيها وَتَمَّت كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الحُسنىٰ عَلىٰ بَنى إِسرٰءيلَ بِما صَبَروا وَدَمَّرنا ما كانَ يَصنَعُ فِرعَونُ وَقَومُهُ وَما كانوا يَعرِشونَ
7:138 We delivered the Children of Israel across the sea. When they passed by people who were worshiping statues, they said, “O Moses, make a god for us, like the gods they have.” He said, “Indeed, you are ignorant people.
10:90 We delivered the Children of Israel across the sea. Pharaoh and his troops pursued them, aggressively and sinfully. When drowning became a reality for him, he said, “I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel have believed; I am a submitter.”
10:93 We have endowed the Children of Israel with a position of honor, and blessed them with good provisions. Yet, they disputed when this knowledge came to them. Your Lord will judge them on the Day of Resurrection regarding everything they disputed.
17:2 Similarly, we gave Moses the scripture, and rendered it a beacon for the Children of Israel that: “You shall not set up any idol as a Lord and Master beside Me.”
17:4 We addressed the Children of Israel in the scripture: “You will commit gross evil on earth, twice. You are destined to fall into great heights of arrogance.
17:101 We supported Moses with nine profound miracles – ask the Children of Israel. When he went to them, Pharaoh said to him, “I think that you, Moses, are bewitched.”
17:104 And we said to the Children of Israel afterwards, “Go live in this land. When the final prophecy comes to pass, we will summon you all in one group.”
20:47 “Go to him and say, `We are two messengers from your Lord. Let the Children of Israel go. You must refrain from persecuting them. We bring a sign from your Lord, and peace is the lot of those who heed the guidance.
In the Quran, the Children of Israel ( بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ) represent a broader and deeper category than either the Yahūd ( ٱلْيَهُودُ) or those who hādū ( هَادُوا). The Children of Israel are defined primarily by their lineage — they are the descendants of Jacob (Israel) — and by their historical covenant with God. This group spans centuries, covering all the descendants of Israel from the time of the patriarchs through Moses, David, Solomon, and beyond. Their identity is ethnic, historical, and covenantal: they are a people whom God favored, delivered, and entrusted with His revelations, irrespective of the later religious divisions that arose among them.
In contrast, Yahūd refers to a specific, narrower religious group — the Jews as they existed at the time of the Prophet Muhammad — and the term carries a critical tone in the Quran, often highlighting their lack of concern for theology, emphasis towards sectarian pride, and hostility towards messengers. Similarly, hādū describes those who “became Jewish” or professed Judaism, emphasizing a religious claim or historical transformation rather than an ancestral or ethnic reality. Hādū is used grammatically with expressions like “those who” ( ٱلَّذِينَ) or “they were” ( كَانُوا۟), indicating that becoming Jewish was an adopted religious identity, not an intrinsic, unchanging one.
Thus, while the Yahūd and those who hādū refer to specific religious communities associated with later Judaism, often viewed critically for their failures to uphold God’s guidance, the Children of Israel encompass the entire lineage, including those among them who were faithful and those who strayed. The Quran praises the Children of Israel for receiving God’s favor, miracles, and prophets, but also warns them against arrogance and forgetfulness. Importantly, the Children of Israel are not described purely in sectarian terms; their story serves as a universal lesson for all humanity about the blessings of divine favor and the responsibilities that come with it.
In short, the Children of Israel constitute a wider, deeper ethnic category that includes both the righteous and the corrupt among their ranks, whereas Yahūd and hādū refer to narrower, religiously defined subgroups associated with particular claims, behaviors, and theological deviations.