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How is Islam similar to Christianity and
Judaism?
The following article was excerpted from What
Everyone Needs To Know About ISLAM by John L.
Esposito (Answers to Frequently Asked Questions)
How is Islam similar to Christianity and
Judaism?
Judaism Christianity, and Islam, in contrast to
Hinduism and Buddhism, are all monotheistic faiths that
worship the God of Adam, Abraham, and Moses-creator,
sustainer, and lord of the universe. They share a
common belief in the oneness of God (monotheism),
sacred history (history as the theater of God's activity
and the encounter of God and humankind), prophets
and divine revelation, angels, and Satan. All stress moral
responsibility and accountability, Judgment Day, and
eternal reward and punishment.
All three faiths emphasize their special covenant with
God, for Judaism through Moses, Christianity through
Jesus, and Islam through Muhammad. Christianity
accepts God's covenant with and revelation to the Jews
but traditionally has seen itself as superseding Judaism
with the coming of Jesus. Thus Christianity speaks of its
new covenant and New Testament. So, too, Islam and
Muslims recognize Judaism and Christianity: their
biblical prophets (among them Adam, Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus) and their revelations (the Torah and the New
Testament, or Message of Jesus). Muslim respect for all
the biblical prophets is reflected in the custom of saying
"Peace and blessings be upon him" after naming any of
the prophets and in the common usage of the names
Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Daoud (David),
Sulayman (Solomon), and Issa (Jesus) for Muslims. In
addition, Islam makes frequent reference to Jesus and to
the Virgin Mary, who is cited more times in the Quran
than in the New Testament.
However, Muslims believe that Islam supersedes
Judaism and Christianity-that the Quran is the final and
complete word of God and that Muhammad is the last of
the prophets. In contrast to Christianity, which accepts
much of the Hebrew Bible, Muslims believe that what is
written in the Old and New Testaments is a corrupted
version of the original revelation to Moses and Jesus.
Moreover, Christianity's development of "new" dogmas
such as the belief that Jesus is the Son of God and the
doctrines of redemption and atonement is seen as
admixing God's revelation with human fabrication.
Peace is central to all three faiths. This is reflected
historically in their use of similar greetings meaning
"peace be upon you": shalom aleichem in Judaism, pax
vobiscum in Christianity, and salaam alaikum in Islam.
Often, however, the greeting of peace has been meant
primarily for members of one's own faith community.
Leaders of each religion, from Joshua and King David to
Constantine and Richard the Lion-Hearted to
Muhammad and Saladin, have engaged in holy wars to
spread or defend their communities or empires. The
joining of faith and politics continues to exist in modern
times, though manifested in differing ways, as seen in
Northern Ireland, South Africa, America, Israel, and the
Middle East.
Islam is similar to Judaism in its emphasis on practice
rather than belief, on law rather than dogma. The
primary religious discipline in Judaism and Islam has
been religious law; for Christianity it has been theology.
Historically, in Judaism and Islam the major debates
and disagreements have been among scholars of
religious law over matters of religious practice, whereas
in Christianity the early disputes and cleavages in the
community were over theological beliefs: the nature of
the Trinity or the relationship of Jesus' human and
divine natures.
How do Muslims view Judaism? Christianity?
Both Jews and Christians hold a special status within
Islam because of the Muslim belief that God revealed His
will through His prophets, including Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus.
Say, We believe in God, and in what has been revealed to
us, and in what has been sent down to Abraham and
Ismail and Isaac and Jacob and their offspring, and what
has been revealed to Moses and Jesus and to all the
prophets of our Lord. We make no distinction between
them and we submit to Him and obey. (Quran 3:84)
The Quran and Islam regard Jews and Christians as
children of Abraham and refer to them as "People of the
Book," since all three monotheistic faiths descend from
the same patrilineage of Abraham. Jews and Christians
trace themselves back to Abraham and his wife Sarah;
Muslims, to Abraham and his servant Hagar. Muslims
believe that God sent his revelation (Torah) first to the
Jews through the prophet Moses and then to Christians
through the prophet Jesus. They recognize many of the
biblical prophets, in particular Moses and Jesus, and
those are common Muslim names. Another common
Muslim name is Mary. In fact, the Virgin Mary's name
occurs more times in the Quran than in the New
Testament; Muslims also believe in the virgin birth of
Jesus. However, they believe that over time the original
revelations to Moses and Jesus became corrupted. The
Old Testament is seen as a mixture of God's revelation
and human fabrication. The same is true for the New
Testament and what Muslims see as Christianity's
development of "new" and erroneous doctrines such as
that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus' death
redeemed and atoned for humankind's original sin.
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