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Christianity and Islam are two of the most significant religions since their
creation. Islam means “submission” in Arabic, and a Muslim is one who submits to
the will of God (Islam page 223). Christians were called so because of Jesus’
title Christos, which is Greek for Messiah (Christianity page 198). Both
religions are very similar with only some of the beliefs and teachings being
different. They also give separate messages to outsiders as to what their
religions stand for. Both religions are monotheistic with a holy text and they
both strive to conquer evil.
Islam has a set of rules (5 Pillars of Islam) set forth to reach
enlightenment while Christians basically just sin, repent, and then are forgiven
for their sins. Christianity is a much easier religion to belong to because it
is a lot more lenient to what you can and cannot do as well as when and where
you can do it. Islam is also more closed doors because the do not really send
out missionaries looking for people to convert to Islam. For Christianity, Jesus
of Nazareth was the Messiah (the anointed one) – God’s deliverer, whose coming
the prophets had foretold (Christianity page 198).
Jesus taught the good Word of the Lord, as was his duty as the Son of God. He
is also said to have performed miracles such as curing leprosy and blindness as
well walking on water. Roman and Jewish authorities were disquieted by the
threat to the establishment that Jesus and his followers seemed to offer, and
they conspired successfully to execute him by crucifixion (Christianity page
198). After Jesus was crucified for the sins of all men, he was believed by
Christians to have risen from the dead and then ascended to Heaven. After the
death of Jesus, his life and teachings were written with many “tall tales” (as I
like to call them) about the great battles and accomplishments of Christians as
well as success stories about the followers of Gods’ Word.
All of these stories and some historical facts are written in the Bible,
which is the holy text of the Christians. It explains how God created the Earth
the creation of the Earth and man and it teaches how to be righteous. The
founder of Islam was the Prophet Mohammed who was an orphan from the city of
Mecca. Mohammed claimed to be visited by the Angel Gabriel who gave him the
basis for this new religion. The Five Pillars of Islam are the basic laws to be
a good Muslim. Declaring that there is no God but Allah, praying five times a
day facing Mecca, fasting during set times, tithing for needy, and a journey to
Mecca at least once in your lifetime. Some Muslims have a sixth pillar, jihad,
which is translated into “holy war” (Variety page 234). Mohammed’s teachings
were not written until his death because there was no compelling reason to set
his words down in some definite form. After the sudden death of Mohammed in 632,
Caliph Abu Bakr ordered one of the prophets companions to collect, from oral and
written sources, all of Mohammed’s utterances (Qur’an page 225). They were
written in the Qur’an which is basically the “Muslim Bible”.
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