Research paper

Jose R Fumero

PID 3765436

Date 24/10/19

MOHAMMED AND JESUS

Introduction

Islam and Christians practice monotheism faith in their worship. Islam regards Allah as the creator of the world and the only one to be worshipped while Christians believe in the God as described in the Bible. The two religions have attracted many followers with some being converted from one religion to another out of convictions. It is noteworthy to mention that the two religions have had endless historical conflicts mainly during their expansion into each other’s territory. In recent years the relationship between the two religions has become increasingly polarized by labeling certain actions such as terror with an association of faith. Christianity and Islam share common similarities in their doctrines and differ a lot in the evaluation of each other’s beliefs. For instance, among the Muslims belief system, they consider Christianity as a polytheist religion by the fact that they regard the doctrine of the Trinity (Banerjee, Mou). On the other hand, Christians have traditionally viewed Muhammed as an imposter and Qur’an to be erroneous. Based on these claims, this paper shall seek to explore the greatest figures of these two religions; Muhammad and Jesus, their personality in the faith, their contrasts from the other religion perspective and their influence on these two religions.

The Origin of Islam Faith

The origin of Islam is intrinsically connected with the Prophet Muhammad. Mohammad is believed to be the last prophet of Allah in the long line of among them Jesus and Moses. In Islam, Muhammad is seen as the chosen messenger and recipient of Allah’s divine revelations, Muslims all over the world strive to follow his example in their practice of faith and obedience of the divine revelations as written in the Qur’an. History has it that Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D into the most powerful tribe of Quraish in Mecca (Gholi, Ahmad, 2016). The main economic activity of the Quraish being control of trade along Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, Muhammad was hired as a merchant by Khadija who was a widow at the time and later they married. At the age of forty, Muhammad began hearing unique voices and having extraordinary visions that he would meditate at Mount Hira. During these occasions, it is believed that the archangel would meet him and instruct him to recite in the name of the Lord. The recitation became an important basis of the Qur’an.

Muhammad revelations pointed on the existence of one God, Allah which was contradicting the former polytheistic beliefs in the Arabian Peninsula. This attracted many followers and he obtained great support from his wife. However, the strong monotheistic message angered the Meccan merchants who were afraid that they would lose their trade which they believed was protected by many gods. This led him to be shunned from Mecca and freed to Medina with his followers where he had the freedom to practice his religion (Abdullah, M. Amin 2016). In Medina, the prophet received more revelations, building a more expansive community of believer which later helped him to return to Mecca, destroy all the gods and spread their belief in Allah. Islamic believe that Muhammad had a journey, led by archangel Gabriel into paradise and hell, before his death in 632 A.D.

The Origin of Christian Faith

Jesus, on the other hand, was born of a virgin, Mary, as it had been prophesied by prophets earlier. The miraculous conception is believed by Christians to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus began his ministry at the age of 30 years of age, as the son of God, through miraculous activities of healing the sick, feeding the hungry by multiplication of bread, raising the dead and intensive teaching through parables. He developed a follower of twelve disciples who accompanied them wherever he went and wrote some of the books in the Bible. By claiming to be the son of God and the king of the Jews, he was summoned and thereafter crucified at Golgotha. His crucifixion is believed by Christians to be following the will of God the Father who through Jesus’s death forgave their trespasses those who believed in him. Jesus died and resurrected giving Christians hope after death. He later ascended to heaven making a promise to the disciples to hold fast the faith and he would return in majesty.

Jesus and Mohammad Similarities

Following the above narration, some similarities can be drawn from the two people in their contribution to Islamic and Christianity religion. To begin with, Prophet Mohammad and Jesus became the founders of these respective religions as they are known today. Mohammad's revelation and meditation became the foundation of the Islam belief and the Qur’an. Jesus's historical background, teaching and the work of his followers have become a foundation in the Christian faith. They also compare in their resilient in the defense of their faith (Johnston, David L, 2016). While Mohammad is ostracized from Mecca due to monotheism, Jesus, on the other hand, was persecuted. They both had followers who practiced their teachings after they were gone. In Islam, a religious leader had to selected after Mohammad's death while Jesus's disciples continued practicing faith after his ascension. They both had supernatural encounters. Right from birth Jesus was born and grew in a special way while in later ages of Mohammad life, he started experiencing divine revelations.

Jesus and Mohammad Differences

The contrast between the two can also be pointed out. While in Islam Mohammed is a prophet, Jesus in the Christianity religion is believed to be God incarnate. In Christian doctrine, he is referred to as to God with us, Emmanuel. Another difference is how they conducted their activities. Mohammed influenced Islam religion through revelations and their meditation which he addressed the people with while Jesus performed miracles drawing crowds to faith. Another difference comes in the presence of Jesus in the Qur’an as a prophet in the Islam religion while in the Bible, Mohammad is not featured anywhere or given regard in Christianity religion (Wilkins & Agnes Angela, 2018). Mohammad is recorded to have married while Jesus is believed to have purposefully abstained for the sake of ministry. Lastly, Jesus is recorded to have died and risen from the dead while Mohammad never resurrected.

Conclusion

The two religious divides always refute the claims raised by the other group concerning their characters and personality which has resulted in an endless argument. Whereas Christianity refers to prophet Mohammad as an imposter, the Muslims refer to Jesus as a mare prophet. The story of Jesus does also match in both religious narratives. It is very unlikely that the two religions shall ever come to a common ground to these persons who have shaped these religions.

References

Abdullah, M. Amin. "Divinity and Humanity in Islam and Christianity: A Post-acw Reading of the Qur’an." Exchange 45.2 (2016): 141-153. https://brill.com/view/journals/exch/45/2/article-p141_5.xml

Banerjee, Mou. "The Tale of the Tailor: Munshi Mohammad Meherullah and Muslim–Christian Apologetics in Bengal, 1885–1907." South Asian Studies 33.2 (2017): 122-136. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02666030.2017.1354483

Gholi, Ahmad. "Reiteration of Prophet Muhammad’s Myths in Biddulph and Cartwright’s Travelogues." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 7.1 S1 (2016): 251. https://www.mcser.org/journal/index.php/mjss/article/view/8743

Johnston, David L. "American evangelical Islamophobia: A history of continuity with a hope for change." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 51.2 (2016): 224-235. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/627333/summary

Wilkins, Agnes Angela. From Islam to Christianity: A Study in the Life and Thought of Hassan Dehqani-Tafti and Jean-Mohammed Abd-El-Jalil in the Ongoing Search for a Deeper Understanding Between Christianity and Islam. Diss. York St John University, 2018. http://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/3632/