The Religious Beliefs of Muslims and Christians: A Comparative Analysis

Christianity and Islam are most dominant religions worldwide. Statistics show that thirty-three percent of the population is Christian and twenty-one percent is Muslim. Thought they share many similarities in origin and mirrored images in their sacred texts, the two beliefs hold several key differences.

Many people in the United States don’t realize how different all the religions around the world are however, there are also the same in many ways as well. The religions that are going to be talked about, are two religions that are commonly known across the world. Christianity has over 2 billion followers across the world. The Islamic religion has about 1.6 billion followers around the world. The word followers is referred to the people who believe in the certain religion, it does not mean that these people are huge followers, however. There are many facts about the Christianity and the Islamic religion, but each one has differences and similarities that are worth mentioning.

Various individuals have different reasons as to why they exist and what they are supposed to fulfil. The Christian worldview of the meaning and purpose of life is to build and maintain a steady relationship with God. Christians believe in getting salvation as it is the key factor that links them with God. Every person has a different purpose in this world, but the common one is exemplifying and worshiping the Lord (Weider and Gutierrez, 2011).

According to Lawler (2008) Identity derives from the difficulties of defining it adequately and it is not possible to provide a single definition of what it is, how it is develop and how it works. I agree with Lawler. I choose my religion as my identity because growing up as a reverends daughter the most important things was being involved in everything that has to do with church. This plays a huge role in my identity as a reverends daughter. Viewing other people’s thoughts and opinions’ also changed my understanding of identity. We all share similarities and we are all individual and that showed in others photo

"Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths." This quote was said by the famous boxer Muhammad Ali. What he meant was that no matter what religion people are, each and every religion believe in a God or gods. Nevertheless, religions tell the different truths about the Creator of the world. Catholics believe that there is one God that is always looking up for everyone. In the other hand, the Muslim religion believes there is one God which they call Allah, which means surrender and submission. Both of this religions have a similar church government were the main authority is the Pope (in Catholicism) and Muhammad (in Muslims). Each and every religion is unique, but the most important thing is that they both worship our same Creator.

The Question of Identity is answered by the Hinduism Worldview as everything is spiritual or sacred in life. It's also believed "that man's soul is eternal and when she or he reaches a state of Nirvana, their soul(Atman) will become one with Brahman(Hinduism's concept of eternal

Since the main idea of Islam is to believe in God, who created all human beings. Therefore, the first point that I should start to look into is the existence of God in

Sometimes, the Middle Ages are referred to as the Age of Faith because “religion was so pervasive in European society… [in which] villages were organized around local churches, and larger towns would devote generations of labor and resources to build large cathedrals” (Thompson) as well as citizens following God’s words through thoughts and actions. Durning the medieval time, both Christianity and Islam regions follow the concept of faith and God’s orders but each have their own limits and approaches to the idea. From roughly 1000 AD until modern day time, faith has been considered an important element of Christianity and Muslim in which each individual has a specific faith that is unique to them and no one else. The development of faith and the changes that the idea has went through have allowed historians to examined what faith is really about and how one can view their own faith through actions from their Father’s demands.

Muslims most commonly originate from Africa, and Middle Eastern countries. The religion of this group of people, Islam, developed in the seventh century. Islam helps put life into perspective and gives hope to the hopeless . The beliefs of Islam revolve around the Quran, which was written by the prophet Mohammad (Rippin, 2012 p. 5). As stated by Armstrong (2012), the formation of Islam can be summarized as, “a narrative that tells of the revelations given to the Prophet, the migration to Medina, the battles of the early community, the return to Mecca and the subsequent conquests under the Rightly Guided caliphs p. 88”. The religion of Islam that Muslims identify with is fairly new as compared to other religious such as Judaism and Christianity.

of chivalry. Close to the end of the 11th century was the time in which the First Crusade had begun. The Islamic and Christian faith had similar views toward Jerusalem as their Holy Land. In 1095, Pope Urban II called for the first crusade to then later claim the land of Jerusalem from the Muslims. As time went on, the Saracens rebelled against the Crusaders in defense of their culture and rights. The theme of crusades is vividly discussed in literature with a various number of viewpoints in regards to the reasoning and background of these historical events. The thought process behind the Crusades and the motive to push this war into action was originally believed that it was for the sake of preserving sacredness of religions, but in reality, the reasoning is much further from the truth than one would think and the terrible outcomes of it are even greater.

The Question of Identity – “The Islamic Identity is taken to mean the way of life of the Muslim, a comprehensive set of beliefs, practices, and ideologies as derived from the Quran and the example of Muhammad (BPUH). Islamic identity is that which separates us from non-Muslims. Robust Islamic Identity is also what

Islam is a widespread religion that is represented in over fifty-seven countries around the world. Muslims primarily originated from the Middle East with great populations in Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. This dominant religion around the globe makes up the second largest religion behind Christianity. Much of this prevalence is due to the diversity of Islamic practices under Sunni and Shii, which vary in different parts of the world. Just as Judaism and Christianity, Islamic religion also has many common aspects in which they worship only one God who they believe is the creator of the universe, their almighty provider, and powerful leader. They believe that God created a heaven and hell to which Muslims will depart to when the world is destroyed on the Day of Judgment. The holy text of Islamic religion is the Quran, which keeps record of the revelations that God sent to his people through the prophets, the angel Gabriel, and Muhammad.

“Surely God is my Lord and your Lord; so serve him. This is a straight path” (Sura 3:38-64, pg.107, Reader), as said promoted a sense of togetherness within the Islamic community. Muslims are faithful believer by being the one who submits him/herself to the will of God. “There is no god but God, and assuredly God is the All-mighty, the All- wise”(Sura 3:38-64, pg.108, Reader), explains that god is the only one worthy for worship. The purpose for their existence as a Muslim attains to be their search for peace and space during their lifetime, and achievement of eternal salvation in their afterlife. “But as for the believers, who do deeds of righteousness, He will pay them in full their wages”(Sura 3:38-64, pg.108, Reader), promise of salvation for followers.

Islam is a monotheistic religion that is the second largest religion in the world. The followers of this religion are called Muslims and they worship Allah. The Quran is their bible. In this paper, I will explain the origin and beliefs of this religion.

They believe the good and evil are in Allah’s responsibility, but if you accomplish good things in life you attain heaven and if you do bad things you will attain hell; this also means that Allah is the knower and creator of all things, and nothing exist outside of his will and decree according to the Islam worlview.