Christianity And Islam: The Way These Religions Changed The World

Christianity is a strong religion that has been around for thousands of years. Many people in the world identify with what Christianity is and who it originated from. The Islamic religion is just as well recognized in the world. It has also stood the test of time, which is why it has expanded so far and lasted so long just like Christianity. Christianity and the Islamic religion are the two most commonly well-known religions and their impact have had lasting effects on the world we know today. For centuries these two religions have always been compared to each other. Most people have believed that the Islamic religion is very comparable to what the Christian faith is about. Although the Islamic religion has some unalike views and teachings compared to the bible and Christianity. The Islamic religion and Quran have some parallels to the Bible in its teachings, but the Bible was written by more than forty different authors and has a different view of how man relates to God and what they believe. It is commonly believed that the Quran was primarily written by Mohammad, although there is some debate about how the Quran was actually written. In these two very different religions you will see major resemblances and many differences and how they both impacted the world.

Christianity originated from Jesus and his teachings before he died. His disciples also helped to spread his teachings and what God wanted people to know. Unlike Jesus known as the messiah the Quran talks about how Mohammad is the prophet for God. For example in chapter 7 it speaks about the teachings of the Quran. Islam’s basic teachings to follow were “The Five Pillars of Islam: belief in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet; standard prayer five times a day and public prayer on Friday at midday to worship Allah; observance of the holy month of Ramadan, including fasting from dawn to sunset; making a pilgrimage—known as the hajj to Mecca at least once in one's lifetime, if possible.”Ch.7 These things are similar in a way to the bible because There are the ten commandments which tell people how to follow God and Jesus Christ. In chapter five you see the basics of what Christianity is like, “What was important was not strict adherence to the letter of the law but the transformation of the inner person: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” [Footnote] God's command was simply to love God and one another: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Footnote] In his teachings, Jesus presented the ethical concepts—humility, charity, and brotherly love—that would form the basis of the value system of medieval Western civilization.” Ch. 5

When discussing Islam and Christianity you have to look back at where it came from and how they came to be for example Muhammad felt confident enough to start preaching and spreading his word. He did so for about twenty years until he died in 632. To most of the people of Mecca they were opposed to what he was preaching and his revelations of what Gods message was to him. To the Muslim people he is now known as the last prophet to mankind. He claimed he was a prophet through God, (Allah). Who was sent to spread a message much like Jesus but not the same because Jesus is the son of God and known as the messiah the savior to mankind. Muhammad’s followers carried their faith throughout most of Asia, Africa, and Europe today. The Ottoman Empire also was influenced by Islam and Muhammad’s teachings. Islam “spread all across the Middle East. after the death of Islam's founder, Muhammad, Arab armies overran Christian states in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, and Turkish Muslims moved eastward onto the fringes of the Indian subcontinent”. Ch. 7 The Byzantine Empire also had spread a great deal in many countries and was at war with Christians for land and their opportunity to spread their religions. In this day and age there is now an estimated one billion people represent their faith as the Islamic religion. Christianity also has one of the biggest followings in the world.

The Quran and Bible have different lessons although they may seem similar to some people. Many people believe that the Quran is just a copied version of what the Bible is but in dissimilar ways of sorts. The Quran’s most simple beliefs are that there is one God making it a monotheistic religion like Christianity. “There is no God but Allah”, is recited a lot in the prayers of the Muslim people. They trust that angels are the go-betweens of man and God. Much like the Bible they believe that Gabriel is the chief angel above all others and that there is a fallen angel. In the Bible we know for a fact that there is a fallen angel who we know as Satan. In the Islamic religion Satan is known as “Shaitan”. Shaitans followers are known as jinn’s (demons). Muslims distinguish themselves as “people of the book”, Muslims believe that Allah showed himself through four different books. These books are known as the Torah, Zabur, Injil, and the Quran.

These religions have had their lasting effects on the world today for example Christianity is well known but there are many different churches of Christ. For example in Europe during the start of churches there were different conflicts about religion and how it should be taught. This was during the Byzantine era. Which widely came from countries such as Greece and and Rome. Where there is a Vatican and a pope. Islam however during the ottoman empires was ruled by a sultan sort of like a king during those eras of the Islamic people. A fundamental belief of Islam is that the Bible is not perfect because they believed it had been corrupted. Muslims have no way of proving what they believe to be true but they believe that the Quran supersedes the Bible and only Allah has the truth revealed to him.

Christianity and Islam agree on a final judgement day centered on the way you live your life and both agree that hell is a place you want to dodge and heaven is the place you want to end up. No matter what material you gather from either one of these two religions you follow you will find that they are quite paralleled to each other. Other parallels between the two religions are the belief that only God knows the day of judgement and anyone who ever lived will be judged. Every event in every person’s life is recorded and that’s what you are judged on. The way you get to heaven however is different, Islam teaches to reach heaven you must do good works and of course in Christianity you reach heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and having faith. Based on what I’ve learned these two religions will stand the test of time just like they have for many decades. This is because they are proven to have really impacted the people in which they wanted to influence and they have spread far beyond any one would have thought.