Origins
The monotheistic meaning of religion is to worship one God while rejecting other gods’ existence, and Christianity and Islam easily fulfill this description. Both religions were founded in the Middle East and have a common origin. Christians believe that more than 2000 years ago, in Bethlehem, in the Middle East, Jesus, the son of God, was born (Kidd, 2018). Muslims believe that Mekkah, now known as Saudi Arabia, is where Islam is thought to have been formed more than 1400 years ago.
Core Beliefs
Muslims consider God the creator of all things, all-powerful and all-knowing (Kidd, 2018). God has no body, race, gender, or children and is undisturbed by human life’s characteristics.
Christians consider Jesus to be the founder of their faith, the Son of God, and God in human form (Kidd, 2018). Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead after being crucified. It is argued that acceptance of the Bible’s inerrancy is a core pillar of Christianity. If the Bible’s veracity is questioned, everything we know about God is also in question.
The Success of Both Faiths
Christians had great success when they collaborated with the Roman Empire. Empires follow Christianity as their religion. The Edict of Milan, issued by Emperor Constantine in 313 AD, recognized Christianity as the Roman Empire’s official religion ten years later (Kidd, 2018). The political unification of the empire and its extensive road network, as well as the belief among many Christians that anybody may accept the faith, regardless of area or religious background, all substantially encouraged its expansion.
The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Following the death of Muhammad, Muslim conquests resulted in the establishment of the caliphates, which covered a sizable portion of the world. As a result of Arab Muslim forces’ long-term conquest of enormous lands and construction of imperial structures, Islam’s spread was aided (Kidd, 2018). Islam was expanded via missionaries, trade, pilgrimage, and military conquest. Over time, Arab Muslim warriors expanded their empire and occupied large lands.
Similarities
Islam and Christianity believe in a great God who created the universe and everything in it. The almighty God is referred to be God by Christians, whereas Allah by Muslims (Kidd, 2018). The same God appears under several names. Additionally, they participate in the same prayer ritual. Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah, according to both Islam and Christianity, and he performed miracles. Both Muslims and Christians hold the view that Satan is a real, bad being who seeks to influence people to follow him rather than God.
Differences
One major difference is that Christians are individuals who adhere to Christianity, which is based on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Kidd, 2018). Muslims, on the other hand, hold that the prophet Muhammad shared both the word of God and the teachings of Islam. Muslims and Christians each worship a separate supreme god.
Interactions
The last 1400 years have seen several interactions between the Christian and Islamic religions. In the Middle Ages, there was a lot of destruction in the Muslim-Christian relationship. Due to their diverse theological beliefs, both sides sought to defeat one another (Kidd, 2018). Millions of people were massacred by Christians and Muslims as a result of their numerous conflicts, mutual betrayals, and violations of their agreements. A new stage of military, political, and social exchanges emerged in the interactions between Muslims and Christians.
A century later, when this type of interaction persisted along the already vast frontiers of the emerging Islamic empire spanning from Spain to the Indus, new patterns arose among both majority Christian and majority Muslim polities (Kidd, 2018). They reflected the weight of various theological and political circumstances on daily social life, resulting in a diversity of largely polemical and apologetic attitudes formed by Christians and Muslims toward one another.
References
Kidd, T. S. (2018). American Christians and Islam. In American Christians and Islam. Princeton University Press.