Islam And Christianity

ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY:

Introduction:

There exist many similarities and differences between the Islam religion and Christianity, the two religions have different religious teachings which lead to the difference in the two religions, the Islam religion uses the Qur’an while the Christians use the holy bible which are both different in their contents despite having some similarities. This paper discusses the similarities and difference of these two religions.

Similarities in Islam and Christianity:

The similarities will be analyzed in terms of their religious practices, code of conduct and basic concepts in Islam and Christianity.

Creation:

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Both Islam and Christianity believe that God created the earth and the heavens in six days, the Qur’an and the Holy Bible both have the same sequence of the creation of earth and all the animals and man, the two holy books also are similar in that they agree that God created the heaven in the beginning.

The story of Adam and Eve is also similar in both holy books and also the story of Moses and the Israelites, this include the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the holy bible the story of creation is in the book of Genesis 1:14 while the story of creation is Qur’an 35:13 according to the holy book of the Islam.

Commandments:

The Bible has its ten commandments which were given to Moses, the Qur’an also has similar commandments which they acknowledge were given to Moses, the ten commandments are similar to those of the holy bible, therefore the two are similar in that their two holy books have the ten commandments given by God to Moses. In the Qur’an the story of Moses is in Qur’an 7:145 while in the bible the same is in the book of Exodus 24:12.

Incest and marriage:

The two holy books also prohibit marriages to members of the same family, the bible prohibits the marriage of close relatives including your mother or father and your sister or brother, the

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Qur’an also prohibits such marriages of close relatives, and therefore they both are against marriages of close relatives. In Qur’an 4:24 we find the prohibition of such marriages while in the bible this is in the book of Leviticus 18:6 of the holy bible.

Monotheism and believes:

Both Islam and Christianity believe that there is only one God; they believe that God is omniscient and omnipotent and he is the creator of the universe. The Qur’an and the Bible also analyze a history where man and God made covenants with god this covenants were agreements between God and man. The two religions also believe that there is satan who at the end of the world will be defeated by God and that there are two destinies for man either hell or heaven which will depend on the deeds of person in the world. Both Christianity and Islam believe that man has a soul which remains of the person even after death.

The two also believe that there are angles that are in heaven with God, the angels are servants who act as massagers of God, and they also believe that satan is evil and an enemy to human beings who has evil spirits that follow him. This is the Qur’an 15:29 where it describes the existence of satan.

Both Islam and Christianity believe that Jesus who the Islam refer to as Muhammad was born by the Virgin Mary and that he died and he will come again at the end of the world, however the Islam religion refer to Jesus as a prophet of Allah while the Christians refer to Jesus as the son of God and also acknowledge the existence of prophets such as Elijah and Jeremiah, therefore the two religions believe that there existed prophets whose work was to communicate to the people what God had said to them.

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Islam and Christianity

Faith:

The two religions believe that there is need to believe and have faith because proclaiming that you believe is not faith, one has to have faith so that things will work out, they also believe that human beings have rights and therefore they prohibit such actions as murder, theft and violence, the two religions also forbid adultery and fornication, and that parents have special rights and they deserve to be respected and obeyed. Also the laws of the society must be obeyed.

The two religions also believe that one will receive rewards from God for doing charity work and also helping those in needs, they also believe in fasting and deprivation of oneself as a way to get rewards from God.

The church and the mosque:

The two both believe that the holy place i.e. mosque and church are holy and this is the place to

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meet once per week to pray and worship God, players are ways in which man communicates with God for both religions, according to the Muslim they must attend the salat on Friday and to the Christians a church service is held on Sunday. Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on 25th December while the Muslims celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad on 12th Rabi awwal which is the Islam calendar, therefore the two religions believe in the birth of Jesus although the time of the year they celebrate his birth is different.

Differences between Islam and Christianity:

Christianity believe in the trinity while the Islam do not, Christians believe in the existence of God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, Christians also believe that Jesus is the son of God and therefore he himself is God, for the Islam’s Jesus was a prophet and the do not believe in the trinity. Therefore the Islam religion believes that Jesus was never crucified but was taken by God while the Christians believe that Jesus who was the son of God was crucified by the Jews.

Jesus crucified:

The Christians believe that Jesus Christ was crucified by the Jews while the Islam religion does not believe that Jesus was crucified, the Islam believe that Jesus was taken up by God and was never crucified by the Jews. Islam’s believe that Jesus was Allah’s prophet while the Christians believe that Jesus was God’s son born of the Virgin Mary who was to be crucified to save human so that their sins would be forgiven. The story of Jesus being taken up by God is in the Qur’an 4:157 while the book of Luke in the holy bible describes the life and death of Jesus.

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Resurrection:

The Christians believe that Jesus was crucified and on the third day he resurrected from the dead and after rose to heaven to sit on the right side of Gods throne, the Islam do not believe that Jesus was crucified and they believe that Jesus was taken up by God. This is in the book of Luke and Mathew of the holy bible which describe the life of Jesus Christ.

Sins:

The Islam’s believe that man is born pure of no sin and that a person is responsible for the sins he commits, however to the Christians man is born in the original sin which was committed by Adam and Eve, the original sin is forgiven once a person is baptized and takes the sacrament of baptism.

Holy book:

The Christians believe that the Holy bible was written by writers who were inspired by the Devine wind, the Islam believe that the Qur’an is free of any mistakes and that it is accurate, it

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was written by writers for over a period of 23 years and contains what God has spoken and angle Gabriel was sent to give messages to the writers of the Qur’an. The Islam believes that the Qur’an is as it was originally written and no changes were made on words, however to Christians the holy bible has under went some changes in 324 AD where there was the introduction of the New Testament and also the Old Testament. This is according to the book by Ulfat Aziz Samad (1970) which describes the difference between Islam and Christianity page 14.

Further there exist many differences in the stories narrated by the Qur’an and the holy bible, the only similar stories include the Adam and Eve story and the story of Moses and the Israelites, and the others are different in both holy books.

Moral codes of Islam and Christians:

Christians consume the fresh of pigs while for the Islam the religious teachings prohibit the consumption of pigs, the consumption of alcohol in Islam is completely prohibited but Christians do not prohibit alcohol consumption, other prohibitions in Islam religion include the free mixing with the opposite sex, however Christians do not prohibit mixing with the opposite sex. Therefore the two religions are different in that the Islam has more prohibitions to what the people consume but to Christians nothing is prohibited to consume. This is according to the book by Hans Kochler (2000) named The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and Christianity page 23.

Governance and religion:

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According to the book by Hans Kochler (2000) page 41 The Islam religion believes that there should be no difference between governance and religion, this is because they believe that the Qur’an was written without any errors and provides a guideline to leadership, however for Christians their governance is by secular governance, this means that there are attachments of governance with religion. Other differences include daily rituals where Islam religion has their daily rituals well written down while for Christian there are no such daily rituals.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion there are many differences and similarities that exist between Christianity and Islam, Islam have their holy place of player and worship which is referred to as the mosque while Christians go to church, the Islam community prohibits the consumption of pig fresh while the Christians do not prohibit the consumption of any animal fresh. Other differences include their reference to Jesus Christ, to Christians Jesus Christ was the son of god while to the Islam Jesus Christ was a prophet who was never crucified but was taken by god to heaven.

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References:

Muslim Canada organization (2007) differences between Islam and Christianity, retrieved on 18t

h

August, available at

www.muslim-canada.org/islam_christianity.html

Ulfat Aziz Samad (1970) Islam and Christianity, Ahmadiyyah Anjuman publishers, Michigan

Hans Kochler (2000) The Concept of Monotheism in Islam and Christianity, McGraw hill, New York

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