World Religions Report

Buddhism originated in the early Fifth century BCE, from the teachings of Siddhartha Buddha (Fisher, 2005). Plagued by the desire to help end human suffering, Buddha reached a state of pure enlightenment showing him the way to end earthly suffering. Through meditation, people can control the desires of their human nature. By gaining control of our desires we can end our suffering. He taught his wisdom to all that wanted to learn. After his death, three main forms of Buddhism emerged; there was the Theravada’s, the Mahayana’s, and the Zen Buddhists (Fisher, 2005). For the sake of this report, the local Buddhist

According to traditional Old Testament historians, Abraham became the first human to establish a covenant with God and with his second son Isaac and grandson Jacob they became the first of three Patriarchs of Judaism and Christianity. Abraham, original name Abram or Avram, along with his wife Sarah, original name Sarai, became the "Father of the Multitudes and Father of the Israelites." Sarah's hand-maiden Hagar, gave birth to Abraham's first son Ishmael who later became a prominent prophet and patriarch of the Islamic faith.

Islam, a major world religion, founded in Arabia and based on the teachings of Muhammad, who is called the Prophet. One who practices Islam is a Muslim. Muslims follow the Koran, the written revelation brought by Muhammad. The Muslim world population is estimated at more than 1 billion. Islam is the quickest growing religion.

Christianity and Islam both grew from the teachings of Judaism, Christianity, most of all, was born from within the Jewish tradition and community, while Judaism came from the same region, taking teachings from both Christianity and Judaism. “Christianity was born from within the Jewish community and tradition. Hundreds of years later, Islam developed in the same region, drawing from both Christianity and Judaism” (The Holy Land: Birthplace of Three Religious Traditions).The patriarch Abraham gives a certain importance to all three of the religions, each religion sees Abraham as something different; the Jews see him as the forefather of the Jewish people, the importance of Abraham to the Christians is more theological than genealogical, meaning Abraham is more of a God and religious belief rather than a line of descent traced from an ancestor. “All three faiths give particular importance to the patriarch Abraham. For Jews, Abraham is not only he who first expounded the faith, but also the forefather of the Jewish people, through his son by Sarah, Isaac. For Christians, Abraham's importance is more theological than genealogical” (The Holy Land: Birthplace of Three Religious Traditions). Muslims see Abraham as a prophet that carries God’s message and is the builder of the Ka’ba, which is the sacred structure that is the geographical center of Islam on earth and is located in Mecca. “For Muslims, Abraham is both an important prophet carrying God's message and the builder of the Ka'ba, the sacred structure in Mecca that is the geographical center of Islam on earth” (The Holy Land: Birthplace of Three Religious

Islam is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based around the text of the Quran. Followers of Islam believe that Muhammad is the last prophet of god. Islam has five pillars; (a) testimony of faith, (b) prayer, (c) Supporting the needy (d) fasting the month

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all monotheistic religions. However, Islam originated as traveling, polytheistic, Arabs that later converted to worshiping one God, Allah. All three religions originated in the Middle East and all believed Abraham to be the first prophet. They all regard the Hebrew Bible but each have their own recorded versions of prayers, rituals, holy days and commandments. The Christians added the New Testament based on the life and messages from Jesus, the son of God. The 5 books of Moses, called Torah, outlined Jewish law. Jews did not believe that Jesus was a prophet; he was believed to be a false prophet. Islamists view the Qur’an as sacred text and words from God. Muhammad is said to have shared messages with

Their goal is to serve as a community and a religious hub for the Muslims around the area, offering space for prayers, community events, and community services such as funeral, marriage, recitation of the Quran, and teaching of Islamic studies. For the other Mosque, ‘DC Musalla’, they are new to the area, where there they opened their Mosque last year. They created this mosque to spread the awareness and for different communities to come together to study and practice the teaching of the religion Islam. Both Mosques gets their funding from the community, who donate their time and money to keep the Mosque running. These Mosque invites everyone from all different religious and cultural background to join them in their activities and to learn about Islam.

Islam is one of the three major monotheistic religions and is the second largest in terms of followers. Muslims share some of the same beliefs as other main monotheistic religions including heaven, hell, angels, and devils. In Islam, God or Allah is believed to be all powerful, seeing, hearing, and knowing. Muslims, followers of Islam believe there is a day of judgement as well as predestination by god. Muslims also believe in the prophets of god and believe in Muhammad as the prophet that brought Islam to this world. Muslims believe in their book, the Quran was sent down from God. The prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. and introduced Islam in 610 A.D making it one of the youngest religions, after experiencing an angelic visitation from

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are three of the most recognized monotheistic religions worldwide. These religions are often referred to as the Abrahamic religions because of their history to the founding father, Abraham. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are closely related with varying differences. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism. We take a look at some of the major similarities and major differences of these widely practiced and often times controversial religions.

Arguably, religion is largely integrated into the culture in the Middle East. Islam is presumably the highest practiced religion in the Middle East. Two prime figures of Islam is the Quran which is an Islamic holy book and their God which is known as Allah. The people of the Middle East have many significant buildings to represent their religious beliefs such as Dome of the Rock which is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount that resides in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is considered to be one of the most important religious place in the Middle East. Next there is the Kaaba which is a building that is in the center of Islam’s most sacred mosque which is located in Mecca.

Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion that minus a few practices and beliefs is similar to Judaism and Christianity which preceded the revelation of Allah’s final teachings to the prophet Muhammad revealed by God. Smith states that despite Islam’s close ideology and stemming from the Abrahamic family of religions, the religion, culture and geography of Islam remains hopelessly misunderstood by the West. (Smith, 1991, p. 221) The first divergence between Islam and Judaism occurs when Abraham wife Sarah demanded he banish Ismael and Hagar their servant who bore a son to Abraham when Sarah was barren, the two sons Abraham had with these two women would began the lineage for these two world religion, Isaac-remains in Palestine were Hebrews became Jews and Ishmael would settle in Arab and give rise to Mecca and Islam. (Smith, 1991, p. 223) Similar to

There are many different religions around the world today. We all have our own opinions on whether or not we believe in God or not, but what makes every religion different from the other could be because of traditions or rituals, the way we dress based on our religion or the place we worship. However the one thing we all have in common is we turn to religion to guide us in one way or another for greater depth or to set us down the right path in life.

Upon arrival to the Mosques it looks like it was covered in snow because it was all white with just a little of silver trimming on the edges. It is nothing spectacular there are no bright windows or a big cross to signify what it is like most churches I have seen. The inside was just as simple, out of respect there are no shoes worn in the Mosque praying areas and there were also separate room for prayer based on gender. There was also a common area with books for learning. Although it was simple the Mosques was very pretty and it was very refreshing to see a place where all that seems to matter was praise and worship and not who has the best what. After having a tour of the Mosque I sat down with a young Muslim by the name of Asja Jackson, she is twenty-four year old and had converted from being a Baptist and here is a summary of the interview.

Islam is the religion of the Muslims, a monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah. The origin of Islam is dated back to 622 A.D. in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad experienced an angelic visitation. This is how the secular world views the start of Islam, but according to Islam there are much deeper roots. According the the Quran, it did not originate with Muhammad, but it was given by Gabriel to Muhammad. Surah 26:192-195 says, “This is a revelation from the Lord of the universe. The Honest Spirit (Gabriel) came down with it, to reveal it into your heart that you may be one of the warners, in a perfect Arabic tongue.” Muslims trace their faith back to Abraham, but they rather follow the family line of Ishmael to be traced to Muhammad. As Christians we focus on the family line of Isaac and trace it to Jesus. They say that Abraham and Ishmael established the rites of Hajj, or pilgrimage, which Muslims still practice today. Those are the basic origins of the Islamic faith. We can relate Christianity, Judaism, and Islam based on the fact that they trace their roots back to Abraham. Although, we can see many differences between these religions in different beliefs. Islam is the youngest of the major World Religions. Although, it is already the second youngest, and by 2020 it is planned for there to be about 2.2 billions Muslims which is how many Christians there are now. There are many well know Muslims that include Dr. Oz, Shaq, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,

Islam , [Arab.,=submission to God], world religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad. Founded in the 7th cent., Islam is the youngest of the three monotheistic world religions (with Judaism and Christianity). An adherent to Islam is a Muslim [Arab.,=one who submits].