Christianity And Islam Compare And Contrast

Christianity and Islam are the 2 largest religions in the world, with a combined 3.4 billion followers. Since they are both Abrahamic faiths, they have a lot of similarities, they are monotheistic, meaning they believe in one God, they were founded in the Middle East, they were founded by descendants of Abraham, they were all founded by prophets being close to God, but they also have some differences. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, but Muslims don’t. Also, Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last prophet, but Christians disagree. Also in the past, Christianity and Islam have had quite the rivalry, with multiple conflicts in their history. This leads me to my point; The views Christians and Muslims have over Muhammad and Jesus have many similarities and differences.

First, let's start with who Muhammad and Jesus were.

Jesus was born around 6-4 B.C.E. in Bethlehem. He was originally a Jew but had a different idea of God. He soon moved to Jerusalem and started his preaching about God, but his idea of God. A more loving and forgiving God. He quickly gained a lot of attention from his message and other acts, like magically healing people and turning water into wine. His life was cut short by the Roman empire, who crucified him in 30 C.E. His message was definitely not forgotten though, And it was spread throughout the world by his followers. Now Muhammad came a lot later, born around 570 C.E. in Mecca. He was born into a polytheistic society, but his beliefs did not align with the beliefs of Mecca. He starting preaching about a single one all-powerful God, and no other God. He was kicked out of Mecca with his small band of followers and moved to Yathrib, which was later called. He gained a large band/army of 10,000 followers in Medina and later took over Mecca, spreading his ideas

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Now, Christians have a very defined view of Jesus. They think he is the son of God, or the Messiah. They believe he died to save us from our sins, and that 3 days after he was resurrected. They also believe that sometime in the future he will return to judge the living and the dead, and establish a never-ending kingdom. So essentially he is the most important figure in the Christian religion. Now their views on Muhammad are fairly different. They don’t disregard the fact that he was a great political and military leader, or the fact that he was the main founder of Islam. They also understand his huge impact on history, but they make sure it is known that he is nowhere close to the level of importance of Jesus. For example, some Christians call Muhammad “Muhammad the Prophet” and that can be controversial for Christians, because in the Bible it claims that Jesus is the lord of the prophets, and saying “Muhammad The Prophet” can deny that. So basically Christians believe that Muhammad was a smart, important figure in history, but he is nothing more than mortal, and is no challenger to the position of Jesus in Christianity.