Download document 8614855

Religions of the Middle East
Three Major Religions
• Three of the world’s major religions were
born in the Middle East.
• They are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• They are all linked together.
• Christianity was born from within the
Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from
both Christianity and Judaism.
• All three religions refer to Adam and Eve.
• All are called Abrahamic religions.
Monotheism
• Monotheism is the belief in one god.
• Each of these religions has a monotheistic
tradition.
• While there have been differences among
these religions, there was a rich cultural
interchange between Jews, Christians,
and Muslims.
Judaism
• Judaism is the oldest surviving
monotheistic religion.
• Abraham is traditionally considered to be
the first Jew and to have a made a
covenant with God.
• Their place of worship is a synagogue.
• Saturday is their holy day.
What Jews believe!
• Jews believe in one god and his prophets.
• Special respect is given to Moses as the
prophet to whom god gave the law.
• Jewish law is embodied in the Torah.
• Judaism is more concerned with actions
than dogma (beliefs).
• Jewish law includes 613 commandments
given by God in the Torah.
Jewish Law
•
•
•
Jewish laws cover matters such as:
Prayer and ritual, diet, rules regulating
marriage, divorce, birth, death,
inheritance, and holidays.
Jewish holidays include: Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement; and Passover, the
feast celebrating the exodus of the Jews
from slavery in Egypt.
Jewish Beliefs
• Jews believe others besides Jews will go
to Heaven.
• Jews do not believe in the prophets after
the Jewish prophets, including Jesus and
Muhammad.
• They do not subscribe to the idea that
Jesus was the Messiah and the son of
God, nor do they believe in the teachings
of Islam.
Christianity
• Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism.
• The Orthodox Church and its patriarch split away from
the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope in 1054
because of political and doctrinal differences.
• Martin Luther, upset at the corruption of the Catholic
papacy, spearheaded a reformation movement that led
to the development of Protestantism.
• Christian missionaries traveled all over the world, and
there are large populations of Christians on every
continent.
• The holy scriptures are the Old Testament (the Jewish
Torah) and the New Testament (written by followers of
Jesus).
What Christians believe!
• Christians believe that God is revealed through three
dimensions: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the
Holy Spirit.
• Jesus is considered the son of God, born to the virgin
Mary and come to Earth to offer redemption for
mankind’s sins.
• After Jesus was crucified and executed by the Romans,
he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.
• This event is celebrated at Easter, while the birth of
Jesus is celebrated at Christmas.
• Christians believe in an afterlife where some will reside
in heaven with God, and some will be punished in hell.
• Their day of worship is Sunday and their place of
worship is a church.
What Christians believe!
• Christians do not believe in Jewish law.
• They believe that the law was fulfilled by the
gospel and that you should, “Love thy neighbor
as thyself.”
• Christians and Jews have often had a violent
relationship.
• Christianity has also had a problematic
relationship with Islam.
• Christians do not accept Muhammad as a
prophet.
Islam
• Islam began in the desert community of
Mecca (Makkah).
• It developed from both the Judeo-Christian
tradition and the cultural values of the
nomadic Bedouin tribes of Arabia.
• Islam has expanded into other areas:
North Africa, Europe, and Asia.
What Muslims believe!
• Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) sent his
revelation, the Quran (Koran), to the prophet Muhammad.
• Muhammad was born in Mecca.
• He was a prophet that received the message from the Angel Gabriel.
• This message was collected in the Quran.
• The Quran tells Muslims to worship one god, and explains how to
treat others properly.
• The central message is “There is no god but God!”
• Muhammad died in 632 AD.
• Another text, the Hadith, written by scholars after the death of
Muhammad, describes Muhammad’s life and proscribes laws for the
community, and explains how certain rituals should be performed.
The Five Principles (Pillars) of
Islam
1. Orally declaring their faith (shahadah).
2. Praying five times a day (salat).
3. Fasting in the daylight hours during the month of
Ramadan (sawm). They must abstain from food, water,
cigarettes, gossip, anger, and anything else perceived
as negative behavior.
4. Giving a share of their income for charity (zakat)
usually 2.5%.
5. Making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their
lifetime (hajj). Many Muslims also observe dietary rules
that forbid pork, outlaw alcohol, and dictate how
animals should be slaughtered for food. Friday is their
holy day.
What Muslims believe!
• Muslims believe in a Day of Judgment (by
Allah, who will call up those still alive and
all those who have died, present them with
a record of their deeds, and weigh their
obedience to God and actions toward
human beings.
• The faithful with righteous souls will go to
heaven and wrongdoers will go to hell.
• The place of worship is a mosque.
What Muslims believe!
• Islam sees Judaism and Christianity as earlier versions of Islam,
revelations given within the same tradition by Allah but misunderstood
over time.
• Muslims see Islam as the final, complete, and correct revelation in the
monotheistic tradition of the three faiths.
• Muslims 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.
• Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of
the Book.
• The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and Christians to
maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in Islamic
lands.
• The Islamic religion recognizes the Torah and the Bible as sacred books.
Summary
• The majority of the people in the Middle East are
Arabs. 90% of all people are Muslim who
practice the Islamic religion.
• Constant fighting among countries, different
religious sects, etc. keeps tension high.
• Primarily the fighting between the Israelis and
the Arabs has been over “who has the right to
land.” Both sets of people believe they have the
right to the areas because of religious reasons.
Right in the middle of this area is Jerusalem.
• All three religions view Jerusalem as a sacred
city.
The End