Christianity and Islam, Research Paper Example

Christianity and Islam: Shared and Contrasting Foundations

Introduction

To either the average practicing Christian or Islam adherent, or Muslim, there is likely nothing relating the two faiths beyond the monotheism of each. They appear, certainly on the surface, to be as widely disparate as two vastly influential religions may be, if only by virtue of the traditions of origin and how each has been so identified with the races embracing them. Moreover, that same gulf of race, and even geography, has formed a barrier to mutual understanding. Today, typically, the Christian views the Muslim with deep suspicion, as the converse is equally true.

Strikingly, however, there are many similarities between the faiths, as pronounced as the inherent differences between them. Many American Christians would, in fact, be startled to learn that the Koran of slam is largely peopled with Old Testament prophets, as the birth and life of Jesus Christ is revered in its pages. In examining the many similarities between Christianity and Islam, it becomes apparent that even religions generally held to be antithetical to one another share, when their histories are lengthy and their bases of worship so massive, common elements which must resonate with any spiritual needs of mankind.

Similarities of the Faiths

In terms of numbers and actual presence, Christianity is the world’s dominant faith, with adherents estimated at over 2.2 billion. While Christianity itself is a broad grouping that encompasses Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy, and dozens of other denominations, all are united in one founding precept: that Jesus Christ was the son of God and is the savior. As each church and sect have evolved over many centuries to move in varying directions, these trajectories nevertheless are founded upon that single compositional element. The largest denomination to break off from Catholicism, Protestantism, was in fact born from what were perceived as failures in the Catholic church to truly follow Christ’s doctrines. Quite simply, without Christ, there is no Christianity, and an absolute belief in His existence is a prerequisite.

So, too, does Islam trace its roots back to a single founder, Mohammed. As with Jesus Christ, he is both mortal and, upon receiving enlightenment, divine. “That Mohammed really lived cannot be disputed. The development of Islam…presents us with yet another proof that the prophetic personality is the original source of the new religious creation” (Andre 11). This is clearly a pivotal similarity between Christianity and Islam, no matter that the prophet component is evident within virtually all major religions; as history confirms, these faiths have grown to global proportions with only a single, semi-divine founder as the core.

Christianity and Islam are united in yet another crucial element: both faiths, and in whatever variations they are practiced, rely upon the teaching and precepts as laid down in sacred volumes. For the Christian, the Bible is the absolute and ultimate reference of man’s history with God, and the injunctions of Jesus Christ to those whom he saved. Islam’s core volume is the Koran. “For Muslims it is the infallible Word of God, a transcript of a tablet preserved in heaven, revealed to the Prophet Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel” (Dawood 1).

In this lies perhaps the most outstanding, and often ignored, similarity between Islam and Christianity, for the acknowledged reality is that Islam doctrine is drawn heavily from Judeo-Christian foundations and beliefs. There are one-hundred and fourteen suras, or sections, to the Koran, and “….they abound in references to God, creation, the Jewish prophets and the forthcoming judgment and resurrection” (Robinson 3). There is no mistaking the shared sources; biblical identities and parables figure prominently in the Koran. Jesus Christ figures within it as one of the great prophets, as do Moses and Abraham.

Not unexpectedly, then, the basic precepts of Islam and Christianity reveal nearly identical ideologies. Complete acceptance of God, with either Jesus or Mohammed as His agent, is central to both, as is a focus upon a life lived in acknowledgment of God and each man’s purpose in serving Him through service to mankind. There are in the Koran, as in the Bible, specific sins which, unless properly absolved, doom the sinner to hell. Both religions revolve around an identical purpose, that of instilling in man the conviction that he must live his life in a faithful and reverent manner, if he is to attain grace with God.

Moreover, beyond these shared ideological precepts lies a nearly identical insistence upon a day of ultimate judgment as preordained by God, and unknown to man. For the Muslim, this is the Qiyamah, or “last hour”; for the Christian, it is the Second Coming of Christ. Both predicted occasions reflect the same impact; this is when God will render His verdict as to mankind’s worthiness.

Contrasts

In examining how Islam and Christianity differ, it is perhaps essential to revisit their views of their founding prophets. Here, extraordinary parallels aside, is where fundamental differences between the faiths may be first identified as having lasting influence with other dissimilarities.

Most evident is the divine aspect of Jesus Christ, as opposed to Mohammed. In Christian faith, it is essential that Jesus be known as the true son of God, fathered by Him in an immaculate conception with Mary. It is understood that Jesus was to walk the world as a man, and was as well imbued with mortal weaknesses. Nonetheless, a great factor within His life is in the conflict Christ endured as both man and God. He begged His father for mercy on mankind, even as He suffered under mankind’s rule. Nonetheless, Christ had powers clearly of divine origin, from the raising of Lazarus to His own resurrection following the crucifixion: “Not only did Jesus have power over His own death, but He also had the freedom to relinquish that power to the Father so that in His death it would be a loving sacrifice for all mankind” (Gauss 47).

Islam, in fact, documents the path of Jesus, as well as his divine origin, merely altering the account to one in which Allah, the Islam name of God, orchestrates the birth of His Son. Mohammed, conversely, was very much a human man. Born of mortal parents and reared by an uncle in the Arab city of Mecca, his life was rather ordinary. He was a merchant, a shepherd, and he married at the age of twenty-five. Only in his middle-age, after meditation in isolation, was God’s word revealed to him. Mohammed was selected by God for this role, yet that alone removes him from the status of Jesus Christ, rendering him more on the order of the Christian prophet Moses. He was an instrument for divine will, and not God’s own issue. Muslims of the past and of today revere Mohammed, but the reverence is not the same as that which Christians accord Jesus. Both men are viewed as saviors, yet Christ carries a divine parentage that compels from Christians an awe beyond the deep respect bestowed upon a prophet. Moreover, conspicuously absent in the career of Mohammed was the sacrificial action of Christ.

It is difficult to overestimate the impact of these disparities between the two founders of the religions. In a very real sense, the enduring quality of Christianity relies upon the certainty that Christ is the son of God. A mere prophet may be disputed, certainly as eras pass and new societies demand different focuses of worship. The manifestation of God Himself through the teacher, however, is not lightly set aside.

This relates to the power of Islam, in a contrary way. As Mohammed was indisputably human, the teachings as revealed to him in his enlightened state required a power beyond what any mortal man could enforce, and consequently another marked difference between Christianity and Islam becomes evident. Namely, the Muslim is obliged to adhere to practices and rituals far more rigorous than any observed within any of the Christian denominations. The living presence of God was not directly responsible for the spreading of the Word, as it was with Christianity; the Word, therefore, was rendered all the more emphatic.

Both the Koran and the Bible serves as the penultimate sources for each faith’s injunctions and prescriptions. Both are also authoritative in an intentionally forbidding way, continually acting as reminders of God’s might, and how His displeasure is a thing to be avoided at all costs. This notwithstanding, the Bible’s severity allows for a great deal of human frailty, both in the absolution of sinning and in how reverence must be expressed. As often as the terribleness of God’s disfavor is brought to light, so too are reassurances of His grace, provided all are penitent and possessed of true faith. There are, additionally, relatively few demands regarding actual worship.

Not so with the Koran. It is an unforgiving volume, certainly in terms of practicality and daily life. “The Koran contains, in contrast to the ambiguities of the New Testament, many prescriptions for daily life and political and economic matters. It is the only hierarchy of sources of Islamic law…” (Pattaro, et al  51). Quite simply, the practicing Muslim must follow and completely conform to a set of actual behaviors in everyday living. It is both spiritual guide and rulebook, and adhering to the Five Pillars of Wisdom within it is an Islam requisite. Daily prayers are mandated, as is fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Moreover, there are innumerable laws and commandments which deal with income, trade, spousal relations, and many other aspects of ordinary life. While the Bible is not without many of the same injunctions, there is a crucial difference: the Christian may atone for lapses far more easily than the Muslim can achieve forgiveness. There is an absolute quality to the strictures of the Koran far more evident than that of the Bible. These are laws in place severely, and it seems likely the severity may be traced back to their origins; the deliverer of them to the people, Mohammed, had no divine power of his own on which to fall back, and give more substance to his God’s orders.

Conclusion

It is to be expected that, the more lasting and widespread the faith, the more subject to interpretation it may be, in addition to the variations within denominations arising from it. Cultural and political changes over centuries change the landscape of all human affairs, and both Christianity and Islam are seized upon to suit the needs of each epoch.

Radical factions and actual perversions of each faith, moreover, have never not been extant. There are always those who will seek to exploit a faith as a motivation for violations of that faith, and within any religion. This unfortunate aspect of theology obfuscates the little known point made earlier; Islam and Christianity are far more alike than they are not. Both reflect, and in no uncertain terms, God’s creation of life and of man, and through the ascendency of Jesus Christ. Both unmistakeably convey a coming judgment day, and both exhaustively exhort mankind to abide by the laws and principles God has laid down for it.

In examining Christianity and Islam, a fact likely surprising to modern worshipers becomes apparent. These two Western religions, generally held to be antithetical to one another, share a vast array of common elements which must resonate with any spiritual needs of mankind.

Works Cited

Andre, T.  Mohammed: The Man and His Faith. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000. Print.

Dawood, N.J.  The Koran. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1990. Print.

Gauss, J. F., Dr.  Islam and Christianity: A Revealing Contrast. Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishing, 2009. Print.

Pattaro, E.,  Rottleuthner, H., Shiner, R. A., Peczenik, A., and Sartor, G.  Treatise of Legal Philosophy and General Jurisprudence. New York, NY: Springer, 2005. Print.

Robinson, N.  Christ in Islam and Christianity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991. Print.