Download Religions in the Middle East Judaism, Christianity, Islam Three of the

Religions in the Middle
East
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Three of the world’s major religions—the monotheist
traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam were all born
in the Middle East and are all linked to one another.
Christianity was born from within the Jewish
tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and
Judaism.
Judaism
Brief History:
Judaism is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion, arising in the eastern
Mediterranean in the second millennium B.C.E Abraham is traditionally
considered to the first Jew and to have made an agreement with God.
While there was always a small community of Jews in history Palestine, in 73 C.E
the Roman Empire dispersed the Jews after there was a rebellion against Roman
authority. Most Jews then lived in Diaspora, as minorities in their communities,
until the founding of Israel in 1948.
When Jews from all over the world came to settle in modern Israel, they found that
various subcultures had developed in different areas with distinctive histories,
languages, religious practices, customs and cookery.
Cultural Groups:
Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe were known as Ashkenazim (Hebrew
word for Germany) Yiddish, a fusion of German and Hebrew, was the spoken
language of Ashkenazim.
Jews tended to be segregated, voluntarily or not, from the Christian population.
From the late 19th and through the first half of the 20th century, many Ashkenazim
came to Palestine to escape discrimination they faced.
Judaism in Israel:
There is difference of opinion among Israeli Jews over the role Jewish religious
law should play in the state, Until recently, Orthodox Judaism was the only form of
religion formally and legally recognized in Israel. Although less conservative
branches of Judaism now have partial recognition, Orthodox remains dominant
politically and legally.
Many Israeli Jews describe themselves in terms of their degree of observance of
Jewish law. About half call themselves secular; about 15 to 20 percent see
themselves as Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox; and the rest describe themselves as
traditionally observant, but not as strict.
What Jews Believe?
Jews believe in one god and his prophets, with special respect for Moses as the
prophet to whom God gave the law. Jewish law is embodied in the Torah.
Judaism is more concerned with actions than belief. In other words, the observance
of rules regulating human behavior has been of more concern than debates over
beliefs in the Jewish tradition. Jewish law covers matters such as prayer, ritual,
diet, rules regulating personal status (marriage, divorce, birth death, etc.) and
observance of holidays ( Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Passover etc.)
Christianity
Brief History:
Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism. In 324 C.E emperor Constantine
converted to Christianity in 324. Early Christian communities were often
persecuted. It was then the Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire. The
development of Christian groups derived from the major and minor splits.
Christian missionaries proselytize all over the world, and there large populations of
Christians on every continent on Earth, although the forms of Christianity
practiced vary.
In the Middle East:
Christians in the Middle East today include Copts, Maronites, Russian Orthodox,
Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics,
Assyrians and Protestants. These groups have different liturgical languages, rituals,
and customs, and different leaders who direct their faith.
The Coptic Church, the dominant form of Christianity in Egypt, arose from a
doctrinal split in the church at the council of Caledon in 451. The Maronite Church
was started in the fifth century by followers of the Syrian priest named Maroun.
The Maronite Patriarch, based in Lebanon, guides his followers in the teachings of
Maroun and other saints.
There are also Christian communities of different sects living today in Syria (10%),
Jordan (6%), West Bank (8%), and Iraq (3%), with smaller percentages in other
Middle East today, more than 75 percent of Americans of Arab descent are
Christian.
What Christians believe?
Christianity developed out of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism. Jesus is its
founder; he was a member of the Jewish community in Roman Palestine. Its holy
scriptures are the Old Testament, and the New Testament.
Christians believe that God is revealed though three dimensions: the father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Christians believe in an afterlife where those who have lived a good life will reside
in heaven with God, and those who have lived an unrepentant life of sin will be
punished in hell.
Views of Judaism and Islam:
Although Christianity developed out of Judaic texts, Christians do not follow
Jewish law. Instead, they believe that the ritualistic Jewish law was abrogated
in favor of a universal gospel for all of humanity and the Christian teaching,
"Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Christianity has also had a problematic relationship with Islam. Christians do
not accept Muhammad as a prophet. While many Christians in the Middle East
converted to Islam during and after the seventh century, the Church hierarchy
in Rome and Constantinople considered Islam to be both a political and
theological threat. The Crusades were an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the
Islamic conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and the holy places of all three
monotheistic religions.
Islam
Brief History:
Islam arose in the early seventh century C.E. in the settled desert community of
Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia). It developed from both the Judeo-Christian
tradition and the cultural values of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of Arabia.
Islam expanded into areas controlled by the Byzantine Empire (largely Greekspeaking and Orthodox Christian, but with a diverse population) By the mid-eighth
century, Islam had spread west into North Africa and Europe, and east into Central
Asia. Over the centuries, Islam continued to grow in sub-Saharan Africa, South
Asia, and Southeast Asia.
As Islam expanded, the new Islamic societies adapted and synthesized many of the
customs they encountered. As a result, Muslims in different areas of the world
created for themselves a wide array of cultural traditions.
Islamic Communities:
Within Islam, there are many different communities. Many of these divisions, like
the Sunnis, Shi’ites, Ismailis, Alevis/Alawites, and Druze, originate in political and
doctrinal differences in the community. Adherents of Islam may be more or less
observant, conservative or liberal.
What Muslims believe?
Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) sent his revelation, the
Quran, to the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C.E. to proclaim it to
mankind. The Quran contains verses (surahs) in Arabic that tell Muslims to
worship one god, and explains how they should treat others properly.
Observant Muslims practice five principles (pillars) of Islam: orally declaring their
faith (shahadah); praying five times a day (salat); fasting in the daylight hours
during the month of Ramadan (sawm); giving a share of their income for charity
(zakat); and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can
afford it (hajj). Many Muslims also observe dietary rules, in origin similar to those
of Judaism, that forbid certain foods (like pork), outlaw alcohol, and dictate how
animals should be slaughtered for food.
Major Muslim festivals include Id al-Fitr (the Fast-Breaking Festival, celebrated at
the end of Ramadan) and Id al-Adha (the Festival of Sacrifice, the commemoration
of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Ishmail which takes place during the month
of pilgrimage).
Muslims believe in a Day of Judgment, when righteous souls will go to heaven and
wrongdoers will go to hell.
Islam’s views:
Islam sees Judaism and Christianity as earlier versions of Islam, revelations given
within the same tradition by Allah but misunderstood over time by their followers.
Muslims see Islam as the final, complete, and correct revelation in the
monotheistic tradition of the three faiths.
The Islamic tradition recognizes many of the Jewish and Christian prophets,
including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (although he is not considered to be the son
of God). Many non-Muslims mistakenly believe that Muhammad is the equivalent
of Jesus in the Islamic tradition; in fact, it is the Quran that stands in the same
central position in Islam as Jesus does in Christianity. Muhammad himself is not
divine, but a prophet chosen by God to deliver his message and an example of
piety to emulate.
Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of the Book,
reinforcing their spiritual connection to Islam by virtue of having been given
revelations from God. The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and
Christians to maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in
Islamic lands, and this policy of tolerance has generally been upheld.
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Five Pillars of Islam
1. Iman or Faith
2. Salah or Prayer
3. Zakah or The financial obligation upon Muslims
4. Sawm or Fasting
5. Hajj or Pilgrimage
Iman:
 The belief that the only purpose in life is to serve and obey God, and this
is achieved through the teachings and practices of the last prophet,
Muhammad.
Salah:
 Salah is the name for the obligatory prayers that are performed five times
a day, and are a direct link between the worshipper and God.
 Prayers are led by a learned person who knows the Quran.
 Prayers are said at dawn, mid-day, late-afternoon, sunset and nightfall.
 The prayers are said in Arabic ( the language of the revelation)
Zakah:
 Muslims believe in a principle that everything belongs to God, and that
wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust.
 Zakah translates to “purification” and “growth”
o Our possessions are purified by setting aside a portion for those in
need and for the society in general.
Sawn:
 Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from dawn until
sundown.
o They don’t have food or drinks.
 Children fast from puberty on, although many start earlier.
 It is a method for self-purification and self-restraint.
 By cutting oneself from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting
person focuses on his or her purpose in life by constantly being aware of the
presence of God.
Hajj:
 Pilgrimage to Mecca is an obligation only for those who are physically and
financially able to do so.
 Over 2 million people travel to Mecca each year from every corner of the
globe.
 Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments that strip away distinctions
of class and structure.
5 Pillars of Islam
Iman/ Faith
Salah/ Prayer
Zakah/ financial obligation
Sawn/ Fasting
Hajj/ Pilgrimage
Conflicts/ Relations
An element that has provoked conflict is the fact that three major religions emerged in this region
and their centers, which are considered to be holy, are located in the Middle East.
The dynamics of conflict also emerge from the overlap of the existing and the claimed boarders
of these groups. They are based not only on the differences among three major religions, but also
on relationships among different groups within a single religion. These conflicts all influence
political processes.
Religion-based conflicts in the Middle East need to be examined within the context of the
interactions among three religions: Muslims and Jews, Muslims and Christians, and differences
among Muslims.
Relations:

Muslim- Jewish relations:
o Conflicts between Muslims and Jews can go under several titles including,
geopolitical, ethnic, and religious
o Jews in theory and a few in reality believe that Middle East lands, including those
they are living on now, were given to them by Jehovah and need to be recovered
from others.

Muslims have no intentions on sharing it with them.
o Jews perceive Arabs as second class and do not accept them as equals in
interpersonal relations.

Their belief that any religion after Judaism is seen as deviating.
o Historical events that have occurred between Jews and Muslims also form
grounds for conflict.


The prophet Muhammad expelled the Jews from Medina, had one of the
three Jewish tribes massacred and deported all the Jews from Saudi
Arabia. The Koran also contains anti-Semitic statements.
Muslim- Christian relations:
o From a Christian perspective, religions were born in the Middle East.

Jesus and his apostles lived in Jerusalem. These lands were considered for
700 years as the center of Christendom and were perceived as a region that
needed to be rescued from the unbelievers.
o The crusades emerged due to religion.


Christians who perceived the Muslims as usurpers took on a mission to
free these lands from the unbelievers.

However, the Christian population was never strong enough to control the
region.
Muslims-Muslim relations:
o The Middle East is perceived as the first region where Islam began to spread, and
as its first cultural center.
o Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, Damascus, Baghdad, Jerusalem and Cairo are
very important cultural and settlement centers.
o Due to oppressive totalitarian regimes that united with religion, these regions
never had the opportunity to display their own religious identities.

Currently they have been transformed by the emergence of a political and
radical Islam under the influence of Wahhabism.

The ruling class in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf has accepted
Wahhabism as the official ideology.

There are distorted relations between the ruling class and the
governed.
o Saddam Hussein was a Sunni leader ruling a Shi’ite
majority.
o Hafez Asad was a Shi’ite leader ruling a Sunni majority.
o Difference between Sunni & Shi’ite Muslims

The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs--Mohammed's
successors--rightfully took his place as the leaders of Muslims. They
recognize the heirs of the four caliphs as legitimate religious leaders.

Sunni are 90% or the population and Shi’ite are 10% of the population.

Sunnis pray to a human form of God and the Shi’ites pray to a
manifestation of God and perfect interpreters of the Qaran..

Shi’ites, in contrast, believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliph, Ali,
are the legitimate successors of Mohammed.

Holy Cities:

Sunni: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem

Shi’ite: Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Najaf, Karbala
In conclusion, it does not seem possible that religion-centered conflicts will come to an end any
time soon. These problems make a durable peace difficult. In the Middle East war, like peace, is
a process. Peace, like war, will be difficult and painful.
Discussion Questions on Conflicts/Relations
1. How does the history and background of the Judaism and Islamic religion
play into their recent conflicts?
2. Explain the crusades.
3. Compare and contrast the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.
Vocabulary on Middle East Religions
Diaspora
The scattering of the Jews to
countries outside of Palestine
Mecca
City in Saudi Arabia; birthplace of Muhammad; spiritual
center of Islam.
Missionaries
A person strongly in favor of a program, set of principles,
etc., who attempts to persuade or convert others.
Monotheism
Doctrine or belief that there is only one God
Wahhabi
The most conservative and strict Muslim group and are
today found mainly in Saudi Arabia.
 Write a sentence for each word and draw a picture for each
word.