Christianity Vs. Islam Essay, Research Paper
Christianity and Islam — Are They Truly That Different? There are 100s of faiths in this universe. Of the many faiths two of the most outstanding are Islam and Christianity. It is averaged that there are 750 million people practising Islam and another 1 billion practising Christianity. The roots of Islam are really in Christianity. History books indicate that one dark ; God by manner of the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad ( In Christianity this is the same Angel that brings the intelligence of Jesus ’ birth. ) . The message Muhammad received was that there was but one God, non many Gods, as most Arabs believed. This God was Godhead of the universe ( In Christianity, it ’ s documented in Genesis Chapter 1 poetry 1, In the beginning God created the celestial spheres and the Earth ) , and He would one twenty-four hours justice. Both of these faiths portion about the same model, but they besides differ in many ways. The word Islam means “ resignation ” or “ entry, ” entry to the will of Allah, the one God. Moslems are those who have submitted themselves. The basic credo of Islam is brief but of import ; there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Islam teaches that there is one God, the Godhead and upholder of the existence. This God, Allah, is compassionate and merely. Because He is compassionate, He calls wholly people to believe in Him and worship Him. Because He is besides merely, on the Last Day He will judge every individual harmonizing to his workss. On the Last Day, all the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with Eden or punished with snake pit. In Christianity one of the Ten Commandments states that “ I am the Lord you God … you shall hold no other Gods before me ” , besides indistinguishable to Islam God is considered the Godhead of the existence, and he is besides merely. On the last twenty-four hours, or judgement twenty-four hours, the same holds true as in Islam in the Christian beliefs, the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with Eden or punished with snake pit. Mankind is regarded as the Crown of creative activity, entrusted by God with direction of Earth and its many admirations. In Christianity this was Adam, who had rule over all the animate beings and animals of the Earth. Islam sees humanity as weak and prone to incredulity in God and to disobedience to His will. Humanity ’ s failing is pride. In the Christian faith it was pride that caused the ruin of adult male, Eve thought that God had no right to state them what they could and could non eat after the snake propagated her. In Islam, God sent Prophetss to pass on His will. These Prophetss, all mortal work forces, were elected couriers to whom God spoke through an angel or by inspiration. Identical to Christianity, an illustration of this was God directing Moses to liberate his people out of Pharaohs land in the narrative of the Exodus. In Islam, they besides believe in forgiveness, another basic Christian rule, Islam teaches that God is ever ready to excuse the person and reconstruct him to the sinless province in which he started life. In Christianity this is called being “ born once more ” . The life of each Muslim is ever within the community of the faithful: All are declared to be “ brothers to each other, ” with the mission to “ enjoin good and forbid evil. ” Within the community, Muslims are expected to set up societal and economic justness. They are besides expected to transport their message out to the remainder of the universe. In the early Islamic community, this meant the usage of force in the signifier of jehad, or holy war. This besides happened in the Christian religion, it was known as “ Crusades ” , where missionaries would travel out and distribute the word of God. The purpose was non to coerce transition on anyone ; the Koran and the Bible forbade this. The object of jehad and the campaigns was to derive political control over societies and run them in conformity with the rules of Islam and Christianity. Both took separate waies to carry through their prospective ends, therefore explicating the Islam influence in the Middle East and North Africa, and the Christian influence in Europe and North America. During the decennaries following the decease of Muhammad certain indispensable rules were singled out from his instructions to function as grounding points for the Islamic community. These have come to be called the “ five pillars of Islam. ” Similar to the five pillars, the Ten Commandments are regarded as jurisprudence in the Christian religion. The Koran, the Islamic “ Holy Scrip
ture” , relies to a great extent on Christian traditions. It was Muhammad’s contention that Christianity had departed from belief in God’s message every bit revealed in their Bibles. God had sent many Prophetss, among them Abraham, who is considered the laminitis of the religion for Islam, as he is besides for and Christianity. The Koran, utilizing beginnings in the older Bibles and ulterior traditions, relates the narratives of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Aaron, David, Solomon, Jesus, and others, all of whom are declared to hold been true Prophetss whose messages were mostly ignored: “We sent forth Noah and Abraham, and bestowed on their progeny prophethood and the Scriptures. . .. After them we sent other apostles, and after those, Jesus the boy of Mary.” The deficiency of success these Prophetss had was reflected in Muhammad’s ain experience, as he preached the unity of God to the Arabs in Mecca. The deduction was that he was the last in the series of Prophetss, the last reveller of Godhead truth.
After Muhammad ’ s decease in AD 632, it was feared that the content of the disclosures might be lost, as those who had originally memorized it began to decease. It was hence decided to roll up all the disclosures, from whatever beginning, and do a digest. Even at this early day of the month, fluctuations in the Koranic disclosures were going common in different parts of the new Islamic Empire. So that there would be a unequivocal version, the Caliph ( the calif were replacements of Muhammad ) created an Authorized Version. This is similar to the Holy Bible and its many different interlingual renditions … the most used, but hardest to read, being the King James Version. Islam recognizes two signifiers of supplication. One is the personal, devotional, and self-generated type, non bound by any rites or expressions. The other is ritual, frequently congregational, supplication, with specific words and positions, to be offered five times a twenty-four hours: at dawn, noon, midafternoon, sundown, and before traveling to bed. Similar to Christianity, which requires you to prayer separately, but besides jointly. Congregational supplication is started with the imaum, the supplication leader, standing at the forepart of the mosque confronting Mecca, the holy metropolis of Islam being the decease topographic point of Muhammad ) . The fold is lined up in rows behind him. ( There are no seats in a mosque. ) Each supplication consists of several units, during which the person is standing, kneeling, or prostrate. At every alteration in position, “ God is great ” is recited. The main twenty-four hours of communal worship is Friday. Believer ’ s gathers at the mosque to pray, and listen to parts of the Koran, and hear a discourse based on the text. The discourse may hold moral, societal, or political content. Islam has no ordained clergy such as Christian churches who are considered “ holy work forces ” , but there are work forces specially trained in faith, tradition, and jurisprudence that are community leaders.The hadj, “ pilgrim’s journey, ” is an one-year Muslim rite that every truster is expected to take portion in at least one time in his life-time. The pilgrim’s journey is intended to reenact the Hegira, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. Most travellers will see both metropoliss, in add-on to executing a figure of other ritual observations. The pilgrim’s journey culminates with the banquet of forfeit, one of the two major festivals that are celebrated during the Islamic twelvemonth. Christianity does non necessitate such a pilgrim’s journey, but most Christians indirectly have the demand to see Jerusalem, the place of birth of Jesus. Most Christians consider it an award to see it. Islam and Christianity are so woven from indistinguishable cloths. In a sense, it was geographics that separated these extravagant brothers. In recent old ages people ( Christians ) have come to see Islam as an “ evil ” faith, chiefly because of the fiends, but they must besides look at the Christian fiends who kill, and bomb in the name of God. I believe that all faiths are traveling to hold their overzealous protagonists that believe that what they are making is in God ’ s Will. I merely hope that one twenty-four hours that one twenty-four hours that all people realize that we are all here to work together for the good of human sort. No affair what we call the male parent of our being, God or Allah, that we are a common people with a common end. Even though faith is helpful for support, it besides creates perturbations. Therefore all the faiths in the universe have their mistakes and their assets, but in short they are all intertwined
