Core9 Essay Research Paper A Comparison of

Core9 Essay, Research Paper

A Comparison of Islam and Christianity There are hundreds of religions in this world. Of them two are the mostprominent. Islam and Christianity. It is averaged that there are 750 million peoplepracticing Islam, and another 1 billion practicing Christianity. The start of Islam isactually derived form Christianity, history books indicates that one night in theyear 610, the first of many revelations came to Muhammad from God by way ofthe angel Gabriel (In Christianity this is the same Angel which brings the news ofJesus’ birth, Jesus of course is the founder of Christianity). The messageMuhammad received told him that there was but one God (Identical to theinception of the Ten Commandments), not many gods, as most Arabs believed. This God was creator of the world (In Christianity, it’s documented in GenesisChapter 1 verse 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth), andHe would one day judge mankind (This is also true in Christianity: “The Lord willjudge his people.” Hebrews 10:30). Both of these religions share almost the sameframework, but they also differ in many ways. The word Islam means “surrender” or “submission,” submission to the willof Allah, the one God. Muslims are those who have submitted themselves. Thebasic creed of Islam is brief: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is theProphet of Allah. Islam teaches that there is one God, the creator and sustainerof the universe. This God, Allah, is compassionate and just. Because He iscompassionate, He calls all people to believe in Him and worship Him. BecauseHe is also just, on the Last Day He will judge every person according to hisdeeds. On the Last Day, all the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded withheaven or punished with hell. In Christianity one of the Ten Commandmentsstates that “I am the Lord you God…..you shall have no other gods before me”,also identical to Islam God is considered the creator of the universe, and he isalso just. On the last day, or judgment day, the same holds true as in Islam in theChristian beliefs, the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with heaven orpunished with hell. Mankind is regarded as the crown of creation, entrusted by God withmanagement of the whole created order. In Christianity this was Adam, who haddominion over all the animals and beasts of the earth. Islam sees humanity asweak and prone to disbelief in God and to disobedience to His will. Humanity’sweakness is pride. In the Christian religion it was pride that caused the downfallof man, Eve thought that God had no right to tell them what they could and couldnot eat. In Islam, God sent prophets to communicate His will. These prophets, allmortal men, were elected messengers to whom God spoke through an angel orby inspiration., identical to Christianity, an example of that was God sendingMoses to free his people out of Pharaohs hands. In Islam, they also believe inforgiveness, another basic Christina principle, Islam teaches that God is alwaysready to pardon the individual and restore him to the sinless state in which hestarted life. In Christianity this is called being “born again”. The life of each Muslim is always within the community of the faithful: Allare declared to be “brothers to each other,” with the mission to “enjoin good andforbid evil.” Within the community, Muslims are expected to establish social andeconomic justice. They are also expected to carry their message out to the rest ofthe world. In the early Islamic community, this meant the use of force in the formof jihad, or holy war. This also happened in the Christian faith, it was known as”Crusades”, where missionaries would go out and spread the word of God. Theintent was not to force conversion on anyone; this was forbidden by the Koranand the Bible. The object of jihad and the crusades was to gain political controlover societies and run them in accordance with the principles of Islam andChristianity. Both took separate paths to accomplish their prospective goals, thusexplaining the Islam influence in the Middle East and North Africa, and theChristian influence in Europe and North America. During the decades following the death of Muhammad certain essentialprinciples were singled out from his teachings to serve as anchoring points for theIslamic community. These have come to be called the “five pillars of Islam.”Some early, and more fanatical, believers added jihad as a sixth pillar, but it wasnever accepted by the whole community. Similar to the five pillars, the TenCommandments are regarded as law in the Christian faith. The revelations that Muhammad received were collected into a new book,the Koran, directing his followers what to believe and how to live (In the samemanner, the Bible is a collection of writings from prophets, including Abraham,Moses, Elijiah, etc. Identical to the Muslim prophets.) Many Muslims (the namefor people who practice Islam) believed that everything Muhammad said and didwas inspired by Allah, many reports of his sayings and deeds were collected. Atfirst these were just remembered and spread by word of mouth. Later they werecaptured in writing, to serve as an additional guide for believers, along with theKoran. The Koran relies heavily on Christian traditions. It was Muhammad’scontention that Christianity had departed from belief in God’s message asrevealed in their Scriptures. God had sent many prophets, among them Abraham,who is considered the founder of the faith for Islam, a