In the history of world, religion has always played a vital role in the lives of humans. Even in the olden ages, people used to worship idols and refer them as their gods.
Religion has been a factor of the way through which people live, interact and perform so many activities. It is the key through which one grows and achieves his or her moral values depending on the type of religion. In regard to history and also the belief of so many people, these religions are taught or learned from the messenger (one who reveals the messages from God).There are so many religions practiced all over the world but Islam and Christianity has more dominance over the other religions like Buddhism, Judaism etc. even though some of them evolved from them. These two religions have so many things in common between them and they are revealed by two different persons or rather, the two most influential people the world has ever witnessed.
This document talks about the comparison attributes between Prophet Muhammad and Jesus as well as their religions Islam and Christianity respectively.According to both of them Jesus and Muhammad, they worship the same God and they are conveying message from this God to the people. Phipps has described the beginning of the situations where Islam and Christianity started having different beliefs and disbeliefs. He said, “Islam regarded Qur’an as God’s inlibraration, that is, as the divide world becoming a book, Christians regarded Jesus as God’s incarnation, that is, the divine world becoming flesh and blood person. ” (Phipps 01) This is when the followers of these religions started disagreeing to one another.
There is a great respect that exist between these two people, in Islam Jesus is regarded in the highest office of human both an-nabi and rasul. (Phipps 2) There are many similarities and differences that exist between Muhammad and Jesus. Such similarities are the worshipping of one God, both have moral values, they are the highest level of human beings in their respective religions and there are also many differences between them, but it surrounds mainly on Jesus. Among these differences are the differences in characters, claims, credentials, messages and some complicated reasons that would be discussed later in this document.
Under normal circumstances, you will see that no leader would have followers if he or she did not have moral values or show examples. We should not bring about Tutankhamen, Hitler, Idi Amin or some of the leaders that showed power during their time. Here, we are talking about those who used their own self as examples and try to convince people to follow them and what they worship. According to my understanding, this is the major reason why they have such a huge number of followers and that is why they are very similar in these situations.Some of the biggest similarities based on their religions include the worshipping of one God, believe in angels, and believe in the Day of Judgment and that the God is sovereign. (Jackson) From the similarities above, both Muhammad and Jesus believe that only one God exists, he (this one GOD) rules over history and time, angels also exist; they have prophets in their respective religions and also the day after death which is the day of resurrection and judgment.
As to their respective believes, their religions determine their comparison.The difference in them is the center of interest to us because there are many sources that agree to one thing and other defy or neglect what others say. First of all, there is this disagreement about the identity of Jesus as “GOD” in Islam. In Bible (John 1:1 and 14), it is described that Jesus was once a GOD before he, himself became a human being; while Islam, described Jesus in the Qur’an (An-nisa 4:172) as a servant and also a messenger of GOD. (Jackson) Another major difference was about the crucifixion of Jesus.
Islam rejected the belief of Jesus’s death. Islam has notified that Judas was the one who was crucified, in Qur’an chapter 4 and verse 157, this verse indicated that Jesus was not killed neither was he crucified and that the person that was killed was only his likeness who was assumed to be Judas by Muslims. On the hand, Christianity gave reference to many sources about the belief of Jesus’s crucifixion. Among these big sources is John 12:30-32, Luke 18:31, 32 and Matthew 16:21.
(Silas) Where do people go after life on earth?Muhammad and Jesus explained the life after life on earth, both according to their religions. In Islam, Muhammad described the life after death as a reward to weather you have done good deeds more than evil deeds; or if GOD decides to have mercy on you. This simply means devotion to Allah and follows the teachings of Qur’an and Muhammad as his messenger. In short terms, you enter heaven or hell fire depending on your deeds or if GOD should decide to offer any of them.However, Christianity explained the life after death as dependency in your faith i.
. as long as you have faith in Jesus and nobody deserved God’s heaven by his deeds, because you… (Jackson) In Christianity, Jesus has revealed so many prophecies which were agreed to be from God himself because he was regarded as one. According to Masood Ali Khan and Sheikh Azhar Iqbal, Jesus was given laws to make his followers believe and worship God, their lord. (235) Jesus is known for his moral values and he lived his life just like other people.
He never sinned and he was always traveling and passing his messages to the people.On the other hand, Muhammad thought his people only obedience to Allah (God). He called upon his people to worship Allah and accept Qur’an as the words of Allah; which means the Qur’an guards you on how to live a perfect life. From Cliff Leitch’s point of view, Jesus has preached about these three points: kingdom of God, repentance and love for all people. (6) From these three points, many examples and definition have been giving.
In other words, the correct way to live a Christian life is to follow these three points and their contents.You can become a member of God’s kingdom if you serve him and you will be rewarded with an eternal life and that each and every one of you can grow to be part of the kingdom by doing everything right. Referring to Jesus’s explanations, you need three things to become part of the kingdom which are simply your devotion, commitment, and understanding the words of God. (Leitch 11) Repentance simply means the ability to feel bad for a past action. Under this teaching, it means to seek God for forgiveness for known and unknown sins and also set your mine free of sins and intend not to sin again.While the love for all people was simply meaning your actions and attitude towards other people or your neighbors, which means that you should treat, respond and talk politely to people as how you would like to be treated and responded.
On the other hand, under Muhammad's teaching on your obedience to God, one can become a Muslim when he or she recites the Shahada and perform your rituals such as taking a shower as purification so you can start praying, accepting five pillars of Islam and also practicing of the teachings of Muhammad based on his life, hadith and also reciting the Qur’an. Shahada is testifying and believe in Allah.It means that I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger. It is what welcomes you to Islam and also place you as part of Islam; therefore it means that you are a member. The five pillars of Islam are the elements through which Islam was built upon, said by Muhammad.
(Hassaballa and Helminski 31) They are Shahada, Salah, Fasting, Zakat and Hajj. The Shahada is recited like this, “La illaha il Allah, Muhammadan Rasulullah”. (2) Salah is simply worship or praying five times every day. Its essence is to show your devotion to God and it has many rules attached to performing it.Fasting is exempting yourself from eating; from morning to evening and it is normally done on the month of Ramadan to celebrate the month which the Qur’an started to be revealed to Muhammad in the cave of Hira in Mecca.
Zakat is the giving of 2. 5 percent of your wealth every year, this portion you are giving must not be used for a whole year. The final pillar was Hajj which is compulsory and it is done at least once in your lifetime. (31-51) Despite their very interesting figures and influence on the world, Muhammad and Jesus lived very different lives.
