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The message Muhammad received told him that there was but one God which parallels what is written in the Ten Commandments. At that time most Arab’s believed in many gods. Gabriel also told Muhammad that God was creator of the world (In Christianity, It’s documented in Genesis Chapter 1 verse 1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth), and that He would one day Judge mankind (This is also true in Christianity: “The Lord will judge his people. ” Hebrews 10:30). Both of these religions share much of the same framework, but they also differ in many ways.
The word Islam means “surrender” or “submission,” submission to the will of Allah, the one God. Muslims are those who have submitted themselves. The basic creed of Islam is brief: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Islam teaches that there is one God, the creator and sustainer of the universe. This God, Allah, Is compassionate and Just. Because He is compassionate, He calls all people to believe in Him and worship Him. Because He is also just, on the Last Day He will Judge every person according to his deeds.
On the Last Day, all the dead will be curetted and either rewarded with heaven or punished with hell. In Christianity one of the Ten Commandments states that “l am the Lord your God….. You shall have no other gods before me”, also identical to Islam God is considered to be the creator of the universe, and he is also Just. On the last day, or judgment day, the same holds true as in Islam In the Christian beliefs, the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with heaven or punished with hell.
Mankind is regarded as the crown of creation, entrusted by God with management of the whole created order. In Christianity this was Adam, who had dominion over all he animals and beasts of the earth. Islam sees humanity as weak and prone to disbelief in God and to disobedience to His will. Humanity’s weakness is pride. In the Christian religion it was pride that caused the downfall of man, Eve thought that God had no right to tell them what they could and could not eat. In Islam, God sent prophets to communicate His will.
These prophets, all mortal men, were elected messengers to whom God spoke through an angel, identical to Christianity, an 1 OFF Islam, they also believe in forgiveness, another basic Christina principle, Islam caches that God is always ready to pardon the individual and restore him to the sinless state in which he started life. In Christianity this is called being “born again”. The life of each Muslim is always 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 establish social and economic justice. They are also expected to carry their message out to the rest of the world. In the early Islamic community, this meant the use of force in the form of Jihad, or holy ar. This also happened in the Christian faith, it was known as “Crusades”, where missionaries would go out and spread the word of God. The intent was not to force conversion on anyone; this was forbidden by both the Koran and the Bible.
The object of Jihad and the crusades was to gain political control over societies and run them in accordance with the principles of Islam or Christianity. Both took separate paths to accomplish their prospective goals, thus explaining the Islam influence in the Middle East and North Africa, and the Christian influence in Europe and North America. During the decades following the death of Muhammad certain essential principles were singled out from his teachings to serve as anchoring points for the Islamic community.
These have come to be called the “five pillars of Islam. ” Some early, and more fanatical, believer’s added Jihad as a sixth pillar, but it was never accepted by the whole community. Similar to the five pillars, the Ten Commandments are regarded as law in the Christian faith. The revelations that Muhammad received were collected into a new book, the Koran, directing his followers how to live (In the same manner, the Bible is a collection of ratings from prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, who are all referred to in the Koran as Muslim prophets. Many Muslims (the name for people who practice Islam) believe that everything Muhammad said and did was inspired by Allah, many reports of his sayings and deeds were collected. At first these were Just remembered and spread by word of mouth. Later they were captured in writing, to serve as an additional guide for believers, along with the Koran. The Koran relies heavily on Christian traditions. It was Muhammad contention that Christianity had departed from belief in God’s message as revealed in their Scriptures.
God had sent many prophets, among them Abraham, who is considered the founder of the faith for Islam, as well as the faith of Christianity. The Koran uses sources from the older Scriptures and relates the stories of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Jesus, and others, all of whom are declared to have been true prophets whose messages were largely ignored: Another similarity that both religions share is in the giving of money. In Islam, the Katz is an obligatory tax, a contribution made by Muslims to the state or to the contribution.
In Christianity this is known as tithe. Believers are expected to contribute 10% of there salary to God. As you can see Islam and Christianity are indeed woven from identical fabrics. In a sense, it was geography that separated these prodigal brothers. In recent years people (Christians) have come to view Islam as an “evil” religion, mainly because of the fanatics, but they must also look at the Christian fanatics who kill, and bomb in the name of God. Thus all the religions in the world have their faults and in many ways they are also somewhat intertwined.