There are many religions in our society today but there are two that really stand out and almost seem to want to destroy each other. This is pretty insane to me because they both have very similar history and their major leaders have very similar almost messages. Jesus is the main prophet of Christianity and Mohammed is the main prophet of Islam.Jesus and Mohammad have many followers, but the Muslims considered Mohammad as one of the greatest prophets ever, while others would consider Mohammed totally inferior to Jesus.
Jesus was born the son of Mary of the virgin birth. It is said that Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus’s birth and that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ’s birth is celebrated around the world on the 25th of December also know as Christmas but Jesus was not actually born on the 25th of December. Christians adopted this date by A.
D.336, and it is said that Jesus Christ was born “when shepherds watched their flocks by night.” This means that he was most likely born in the spring. The Bible explains to us that Herod the Great ruled Palestine when Jesus was born, and Herod died in 4 B.
C. This is a good indication that Jesus may have been born a little before Herod died. Mohammed originally called Halabi was said to be born around 570, A.D. at what is known as Mecca.Muhammad was said to have received revelations or secrets from God, who Muhammad refers to as Allah in Islam, and Muhammad and Allah were recorded in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an is basically the Bible of the Islamic religion. Abraham had an illegitimate son by an Egyptian slave named Hagar. The son was named Ishmael. Abraham took Ishmael to Mecca to protect him from the jealousy of his wife. There they built the holiest sanctuary in Islam the Ka’bah; this is believed to be the Adam’s original place of worship (Fisher, 2005).
Adam is said to be the first man created by God.Muhammad was born into a poor family but he was also born into the most powerful tribe around. Muhammad’s father died before he was born, and soon later his mother and grandfather passed away. Muhammad had no other choice but to live with his uncle. His uncle put him to work for him as a shepherd. He later married a wealthy woman by the name of Khadijah.
When Muhammad turned forty he met the angel Gabriel.Gabriel is brought up in the Old Testament. Muhammad was provoked for preaching many of the messages that he received. It became so bad that people would throw things such as stones at him. He experienced a night of ascension in which he received blessings in the Divine Presence.
During the ascension he met with prophets including Jesus. He was a warrior leader eventually conquering Mecca. He died at the age of sixty-two (Fisher, 2005).Muhammad had seven children and four wives. When Muhammad died his cousin Ali became the new leader of his religion. The death of Jesus and the belief in the resurrection are the basics around which salvation is based in the Christian religion.
The death of Muhammad was a passing of the torch from him to his successor. The tomb of Muhammad can be visited today a religious shrine. Christians do not honor the dead body of Jesus as he is considered alive and there is no tomb to which they can go to pay homage.In Israel you can visit the empty tomb where he was supposed to have been laid until his resurrection. Both leaders are a historical part of their religions.
Both religions trace their lineage to Abraham, also the father of the Jewish religion (Fisher, 2005). Both religions benefit from the covenant of God with Abraham. They also share the burden of the sins of Abraham and his disobedience to God due to impatience.The disagreements between the two religions could be traced back to the children of Abraham and the broken home that he created.
We know that the Ishmael and Isaac were both present at the burial of their father. The life of Jesus was short compared to that of Muhammad. The Romans executed Jesus. In contrast Muhammad formed a strong army that would help him to defeat his enemies and in return this would allow him a long life.From this information we can determine that Jesus was opposed to using violence as a means of settling disputes and Mohammed was known to do the the opposite.
Muhammad actually advocated violence to settle disputes. Muhammad was viewed as an enlightened prophet who received instructions from Allah. Jesus on the other hand was considered to be the Son of God and a deity himself.The followers of Islam worship the teaching of Muhammad but not the man himself. Although extremely important he is not considered a deity.
On the other hand Christians worship Jesus as their savior and believe that salvation comes from the sacrifice that he made for them. The messages of these two men have been spread all over the world. On the positive side missionary and humanitarian work around the world is carried out every day in the name of the religions that Jesus and Muhammad helped found.The examples of a giving back a portion of your blessings to the work of God is also a common theme between the two and their teachings. The lives of both Jesus and Mohammad have shaped their perspective religions. The religions are intertwined in there shared past.
The lives of the leaders were one of persecution for the messages that they were chosen to deliver.The death of one created a God and fulfilled a prophecy. The death of the other left a religion that has been changed forever While the spans of their lives differed by almost thirty years they both were able to transform the religions so greatly that the effects of their teachings can still be felt and seen today. The one thing that we can be certain of is that the world as we know it would be completely different if not for the lives of Jesus and Muhammad.
