Christianity And Islam: Jesus’s And Muhammad’s Life Paths

This essay will showcase three significant differences and similarities between Islam and Christianity. Christianity and Islam are the most popular religions today. they are both Abrahamic religions, both religions originate from the Middle East, so in a lot of ways these religions are very similar but at the same time they have differences. For example Jesus never par took in any war or condoned it, while Muhammad did. Christianity puts a lot of emphases on their prophet Jesus While Islam puts their main focus on God rather than their prophet Muhammad. Christianity doesn’t believe Muhammad is a prophet, naturally because Islam came 600 years later after Christianity but this creates tension with Islam Though Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet. The three points that will be discussed in this essay is the life of Jesus and Muhammad, what both religions believe in after death and the similarities and differences of both the religion’s prayer.

Now we’ll be discussing Jesus life then Muhammad then compare the two. Jesus’s and Muhammad’s life are both quite fascinating. Even though Jesus and Muhammad where both born and raised in the Middle East, They both ended up being quite different people and living quite different lives. Jesus was born in Bethlehem 8 B.C. (biography.com editors 6/24/19) on his birth there was a special radiant star in the sky that was said to be only present when a prophet was to be born. Caesar Augustus was the Roman ruler at the time which ruled Bethlehem and most of the land there. Caesar was afraid of this prophecy of a new prophet because this meant a threat to his throne. So what he did was he ordered all the infants under 2 years old to be killed. Jesus’s father was warned of this by the angel Gabriel (biography.com editors 6/24/19) so they fled to Egypt with his wife Mary and son Jesus and lived there till Caesar Augustus died. After Caesar died Jesus and his parents moved to a small obscure town named Nazareth where Jesus lived and grew up to be an adult. As a child Jesus was very spiritually inclined, one time Jesus was on pilgrimage with his parents and ended up getting separated from them. Two days later they found 12 year old Jesus in the temple, the elders where very impressed of the little boys depth, knowledge, and understanding of the philosophy. (Luke 2:41-52) Jesus started his journey of preaching at around 30 years old. He travelled around the Middle East performing miracles and gathering followers. Jesus started to get a big following and started to be called and recognised as the messiah. This made the high Chief Jews uneasy so they articulated a plan to arrest Jesus and get him killed. Jesus had supper with his 12 main followers (the 12 gospels) this event is famously known as “the last supper.” This was the last time Jesus would be with his followers having supper. In this supper Jesus predicted 1 of his gospels Judas would betray him for 30 pieces of silver. And that is exactly what happened, Judas betrayed Jesus. When Jesus was arrested one of his followers pulled out his sword and cut off the soldiers, but Jesus admonished him and healed the soldier’s ear. (Biography.com editors 6/24/19) after Jesus’s arrest he was beaten, spat on, humiliated and then finally crucified. When Jesus was on the cross his last words where ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Jesus was clearly an amazing personality. Muhammad was born in mecca 570 ad almost 600 years after Jesus. At this time most people where polytheistic worshipping many gods in the holy city of mecca. Muhammad’s early life was spent as a merchant and he got the nickname “al-Amin” meaning trustworthy (Biography.com Editors 2/4/14). Muhammad would occasionally take pilgrimages to mecca when he was a merchant. One of these times in 612 A.D. He was meditating in a cave and the angel Gabriel came to him and gave him his first revelation which was to read. So Muhammad, an illiterate man learnt how to read and write. From this time on till his death he kept getting revelations randomly at different times, and these revelations is what the Quran is. Muhammad first started preaching to his family about the revelations which they accepted, then outside the family and then soon he had a small following in mecca. At first there was no opposition to the group but then when it was known Islam condemned idol worship, the merchants in mecca didn’t like that because it was a big tourist attraction for the idol worshipers. So they asked Muhammad to stop, which he didn’t do so they drove Muhammad out of mecca. Muhammad then went to Medina and grew a large following, partly due to him helping the city a lot like ending a long lasting civil war. Muhammad gathered a whole lot of troops and marched in Mecca, and took it over. They then destroyed all the pagan statues in and around Mecca, and most of the people in Mecca converted to Islam including past enemies of Muhammad. Muhammad then did his last pilgrimage in Mecca and gave a sermon which gave a lot of the fundamental rules of Islam. Muhammad then went back to medina where he fell ill and died. The main differences between Muhammad and Jesus are is that Jesus is more of a man detached from this world and he is known to be an incarnation of god while Muhammad is just a prophet who still has sin. They are similar in the fact they both forgive e.g. Muhammad forgave his enemies and Jesus forgave the people hanging him which is a bit more extreme.

Both religions believe very similar things about the afterlife. Both believe that you have one life and when you die you either go to hell or heaven. Both hell and heaven are basically described the same for Christianity and Islam .The only difference of the afterlife is the process getting there. For Islam when you die your soul gets taken to the first sky by two angles then the second, then your soul is returned to your body in the grave where you will be asked three questions who is your lord, what is your religion and who is this man who was sent among . (One Islam Productions 12/6/19). You will then rest till judgment day which will happen when the world ends. For Christianity you go straight to hell or heaven without wait. You will go to god as a spirit and be given judgment and depending on your actions you will either go to hell or heaven.

Prayer for Islam and Christianity, Christian pray singing songs praising God Jesus and the saints while Muslim prayer is a lot about talking to god asking for direction.

In conclusion, they are both are very similar in a lot of ways and different in a lot of ways.