Introduction
Islam and Christianity are the world’s two main religions. Many people in the universe belong to either of the two religions, mainly by birth. Christianity is a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in the 1st century CE, who the believers hold dear as Christ and the anointed Son of God (Kuru, 2019). It is one of the world’s diffused faith geographically in the world, with over two billion believers. Christianity has groups, three being some of the largest religions, namely Roman Catholic Church, Protestant Church, and Eastern Orthodox Church. On the other hand, Islam is a religion based on the teachings of Prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century CE in Arabia (Kuru, 2019).
Discussion
According to believers, Islam is based on their total and absolute surrender to the one true God, Allah, who is the sustainer, restorer, and creator of the whole world. The religion has over 1.6 billion believers globally and is reportedly one of the world’s fastest-growing religions. Allah’s will is contained in the Holy Scriptures, the Koran, to which human beings submit as revealed to Allah’s messenger Muhammad. The religion holds families together and makes people’s ties stronger.
There are many differences in both religions’ belief systems, starting from the core of who he is and whether he is Holy. Christians believe that he is God’s Son and was sent to earth to rescue and save the world and thus, be worshiped for He is God, while Islam disagrees. In Islam, Muhammad is a prophet and not the Son of God. The trinity concept where there is God, the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is a subscription of Christianity that Islam believes in Allah’s monotheistic nature. Christians read the Bible, which is their guiding scripture, whereas Muslims read the Koran (Dag, 2017). The Muslims do not believe in the crucifixion and consequently resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the basis and root of salvation in Christianity. In Christianity, sin’s view is that it grieves God because it is a rebellion against him. In Islam, sin is disobedience against the laws established by earthly people and therefore does not grieve Allah.
There are numerous similarities between Christianity and Islam, the first being the worship of one true God who is the Creator of everything in the world. The second similarity is that in both religions, early prophets like Noah, Moses or Musa, David or Daudi, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Joseph or Yusufu are revered as they say ‘peace be upon them’ (Dag, 2017). Islam and Christianity believe that practicing their religion will grow people personally and bring them into society by creating peace and blessings in one’s life even after death. There are commandments in both religions which help believers stay connected in the right relationship with God.
The most significant conflict between Islam and Christianity is Christians’ belief that Islam gives its believers the right to be violent and justifies it through scriptures (Doe, 2018). Christianity believes solely in religion being peaceful. The view that Islam chooses violence every time they have to decide is the central conflict. The conflict has existed for a long time because no one wants to see that the Muslims who choose violence are extremist, and therefore one cannot blame the whole religion on the errors of a few people.
Conclusion
All religions are different and it is important to appreciate each other’s uniqueness. Co-existence of all religions is fundamental to the peace in the world because the church leads people and the universe follows it. Looking at all religions closely, one can say that there are so many similarities between them and it is only wise to focus on that instead of promoting the differences and possible conflicts.
References
Dag, E. A. (2017). Christian and Islamic theology of religions: A critical appraisal (Vol. 56). Taylor & Francis.
Doe, N. (2018). Comparative religious law: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Cambridge University Press.
Kuru, A. T. (2019). Islam, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment: A global and historical comparison. Cambridge University Press.