Albert Einstein quotes “True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness”, which is indeed very true but the fact is that there are more than one religions that exist and the controversies on these faiths make the debate even more interesting over this topic. There might be numerous religions but the most believed followed and spreading faiths are Christianity and Islam. They do have similarities that they share and it is said by most of the scholars that the differences between these two religions should not be over emphasized because the origin of these two faiths is primarily the same, but because of the existence of conservatism in the world, differences are still not believed to be compromised.
Interestingly, for three religions who claim to worship the same god, the wars and other breaches of human rights throughout history have been colossal. They fall mainly on the Christian side, who were are the main protagonists in the wars, and have targetted both Jews and Muslims in “Cruisades” in the name of their branch of the faith.
Christians share their origins in the Abrahamic tradition, as does Judaism. Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith – sometimes with differences in interpretation – but rejects other aspects. Muslims consider Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham, to be the “Father of the Arabs” and Abraham’s second son, Isaac, is called “Father of the Hebrews”. Muslims commonly refer to Christians and Jews as “People of the Book.”
The Comparison is Between Islam vs. Christianity
Religion stemming from the teachings of Jesus in the 1st century AD. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its principal tenets are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God’s love for the world is the essential component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity was originally a movement of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah, but the movement quickly became predominantly Gentile.
While Islam dates back to the age of Adam and its message has been conveyed to man by God’s prophets and messengers, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam’s message has been restored and enforced in the last stage of the religious evolution by God’s last prophet and messenger, Muhammad. Islam is derived from the Arabic root “Salema”: peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law and who ever does that becomes a Muslim.
Many people wonder what the comparison is between Islam vs. Christianity. While there are a few similarities between Islam and Christianity, such as a belief in moral living and doing good to others, nevertheless, Muslims and Christians have vastly different views on major points of ideology and theology. First and foremost are the differing perceptions of Jesus, the Christ. Islam readily accepts that Jesus of Nazareth existed and that He was born of the virgin, Mary. Islam teaches that Jesus was merely another prophet, equal to and following in the line of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the final messenger, superior to all previous prophets, the ultimate. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, which as the Jews accused of old, makes Him equal to God. He is accepted as the Second Person of the Trinity, God Himself come to earth in the flesh (Maucarry, 2001).
Although these two faiths may have similarities in origin ,however they possess many differences that keeps them apart from each other. There are legions of differences, far too many to begin listing. The foremost fundamental difference is their respective beliefs concerning the identity of God and the person of Jesus Christ. Such as the Christians believe in One God in Three persons: The Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit whereas Muslims believe in One God in One person. No worship, prayer, or praise of Jesus or the Holy Spirit .The Holy Spirit dwells inside every believer in Christianity and in Islam there is no concept of the Holy Spirit.
Islam teaches that the Bible was originally the inspired word of God but to them bible was only for the people of that particular era in which it was revealed whereas Holy Quran is believed to be the final and the only word of God, Islam also claims that the bible became corrupted over the centuries .Christians believe that People are born sinful and separated from God whereas in Islam People are born good, but babies are touched by Satan. They believe Jesus died as the sacrifice for their sins while in Islam People can get their sins forgiven by praying at the right time.. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross and the versus from bible says If one does not believe Jesus died and rose for our sins, their faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:1-7) Jesus bodily rose from the dead and presented Himself as such (Luke 24:37-43, John20:20-27) . However, Muslims believe that Jesus was resurrected and that Jesus eventually died and will not rise until the general resurrection. Islam and Christianity differ in their fundamental views in regard to the crucifixion and resurrection. Christians believe that Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, physically crucified and resurrected. Muslims believe that Jesus was condemned to crucifixion and then miraculously saved: “That they rejected Faith; that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; That they said in boast, “We killed Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no certain knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise”[4:156–158] (Jolly, 1996).
Islam teaches that Jesus (Isa) was one of the most important prophets, but Muslims do not believe that he was the Son of God, nor that he is divine or part of a triune God as Christians believe. According to Muslims, Jesus was a human prophet who brought to mankind a closer relationship with God and each other. Muslims believe that Jesus was miraculously born of the Virgin Mary, but disagree on the nature of Jesus’ paternity in relation to the conception. Muslims believe the creation of Jesus was like the creation of Adam, they were both created by God without human fathers, but neither are seen as being the “sons of God” in the literal sense. but what we can establish as a similarity is the inclination of both of the religions towards peace of the humankind and the obligations and duties towards a moral well-being. Religion, no matter, with different concepts and beliefs, and origins, created or formed, nonetheless, for the betterment of the human race, so that they do not go astray during their lives and know very well right from wrong (Dickinson, 2005).
Although the Bible was written hundreds of years before Muhammad was born. Muslims claim that the Parakeet (comforter, helper) referred to in the Gospel of John is a prophecy of the coming of Mohammed.
Of the three Islam Judaism and Christianity Islam is the only religion which regards the other two as equally valid, as Mohammed recognized that they all worshipped the same god (YHWH, aka Yahweh, aka Jehovah, and various other aliases) (Amstrong, 2001).
However the similarities that can be highlighted are that there is only One True God and that they are not to worship any other gods. The Christians also believe that many Old Testament prophets were from God and that Jesus was also from God It appeared to all that Jesus died on the cross, God gave the Torah, the prophets, and Gospel. They are all supposed to obey God’s words and surrender/sacrifice themselves to God. Both believe that Jesus will return as well as some of the believes from the judgment day that God will resurrect all for judgment. Believers who die will go to heaven and live forever and Disbelievers will go to hell to be punished forever .It is important for both to pray to God, they both believe in helping the poor and that Christians, Jews, and Muslims should not be killed for their faith. Other Christian terms are also present in Islam, although their meanings are not always the same. These include the Second Coming, Antichrist and The Beast.