The Middle East: The Birthplace of Three Major World Religions

Turn on the news. Most likely, one of the top stories will be an update on a conflict occurring in the Middle East. Throughout history, the Middle East has been a land of conflict and violence. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the source of all of this strife, one could argue that because the Middle East, especially Jerusalem, is a place of importance for three major world religions, this region is bound to have strained relationships. However, in order to fully understand this region, it is necessary to have an understanding of the three religions that lay claims to the Middle East. Those religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although on the surface, these three religions seem quite unrelated, they are actually intricately bound together and very similar. No matter how different the practices and beliefs of Jews, Christians, and Muslims may seem, these three religions are similar because they all began in the same region and built upon similar beliefs. Since the Middle East is the birthplace of three related major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, these religions share similarities that bind them together, such as monotheism, prophets and teachings, similarities that are very important in Middle Eastern politics today.

Judaism grew out of the beliefs of the ancient Hebrew people. “The Hebrews believed that God had made a covenant, or binding agreement, with Moses. Under this agreement, the Hebrews accepted God as the ruler of heaven and Earth. In return, God made the Hebrews the chosen people on Earth (Ahmad 563).” This covenant reinforced the monotheism of the Hebrews; they fully accepted the idea that there was only one God (564). “The Hebrews recorded their early history as well as the moral ...

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...ps the most important commonality between these three religions is the ethical world view they all profess. These moral standards could help to unite the people of these religions; this unity could help to ease some of the tensions in the Middle East as well. “Muslims believe that Allah is the same God as the God of the Jews and the Christians (Ahmad 571).” The similarities between these three religions that worship the very same God have origins in the Middle East, commonalities in prophets and teachings, and could very well be an essential part of the solution to alleviating some of the tensions in the Middle East.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Iftikhar. World Cultures: A Global Mosaic. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,

2004.

Blackadar, Andy, ed. "Part I: The Middle East in the World." The Middle East in Transition:

Questions for U.S. Policy (2013): 2-18. Print.