Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. At first glance, these religions might not seem like they have very much in common, but when one takes a deeper look, some similarities become evident between these three different religions. Not only are these three of the world’s major religions, but they also all share a common characteristic, they are all monotheistic religions. “Monotheistic religions are those professing belief in one all-powerful and personal God and in no other gods,” meaning that these religions believe there is one and only one God unlike some of the other religions, like Hinduism, which have many gods (Ellwood 229). Similarly, all of these religions go back to a single similar source, “the experience of the one God of ancient Israel recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures,” (Ellwood 229). All of these religions are called The Abrahamic Faiths which means they have a common ancestor, Abraham. While other monotheistic faiths exist around the world, like Zoroastrianism and Sikhism, they are not the prominent monotheistic religions like the others, which are practiced by over half of the world’s population combined. Despite the correlations between these three religions, there are many deviations, which have emerged between them despite their common ancestor.
When diving deeper into the history of the Islamic faith, its origins can be found in Mecca during the beginnings of the 7th century. Islam is considered the youngest of the three previously mentioned monotheistic religions as the prophet Muhammad introduced Islam around 610 A.D. Muhammad came from a family of merchants who were part of a tribe, which served as custodians of the holy places within Mecca. It is believed that Muhammad experienced a vision in which an angel visited him and after that, Muhammad wrote the Qur’an which is the holy book of Islam. However, “until he [Muhammad] was about forty, his life was not outwardly much different from that of the other merchants of the sacred city,” but when Muhammad was around 40 years old, he began to meditate more frequently. It was during these times of meditation in the mountains when Gabriel, who recited words from Allah, visited Muhammad. However, while Muhammad is typically given credit for the origins of the Islamic faith, Islam was around prior to Muhammad being born. Within the texts of the Qur’an, it says that it was given to the angel Gabriel by God, who then gave it to Muhammad. Even though Islam is the youngest of the three religions, its history and origins might be the briefest and most convoluted of the three.
Christianity has its roots and foundations from the ministry of Jesus Christ from which the early Christian communities arose. Early Christianity and Judaism share many similarities due to Christianity growing during the Hellenistic world dominated by Roman and Greek culture during the first century. However, there was a gradually growing split between the two during the first century, which took many more centuries to finally break. The main difference between current-day Christianity and Judaism is that those of the Christian faith believe that Jesus is the resurrected Messiah and rose from the grave three days after being crucified. This belief in a resurrected Messiah is unacceptable in the Jewish faith and this belief has long been seen as the main reason for the split between Christianity and Judaism. Despite Christianity being so similar to Judaism, Christians today make up about a third of the entire world population with over two billion adherents worldwide. At the focal point of the Christian religion is Jesus Christ, who came down to Earth from Heaven, in human form, to live a perfect life full of teaching the gospel and performing miracles alongside his disciples.
The beginnings of Judaism are similar to those of Christianity because “Christianity and Islam are really Judaism’s offspring… Every religion is unique in its own way, but none is perhaps as distinctive or has as remarkable a history as that of the Jews” (Ellwood 240). Judaism is originally the religion of the Hebrew people, who were wandering herders that worked on the outskirts of Semitic civilizations. “But for themselves… they worshipped their own God, Yahweh, who was not tied to one place but could be served wherever the tribe wanted,” (Ellwood 241). Judaism was also a faith in which God was not pleased by the physical offerings made from the field but God “preferred the odor of roasting flesh from the herds of his own poor but free people…” (Ellwood 241). A common theme can be constantly seen between Yahweh and his people because God’s faith is always constant in relation to his people, but his people are the ones who are always less loyal and who are the ones deserving of punishment for disobedience.
These three religions, at surface level, might look to have nothing in common, however, upon a deeper investigation; there are multiple similarities, which emerge. “Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which together comprise about half the religious world, are a family having, like most families, a common ancestor. The common ancestor was the patriarch Abraham…” (Ellwood 231). Together, these three faiths are referred to as the Abrahamic religions which all claim descent from the Israelites and all praise the God of Abraham. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are the three main and largest of the Abrahamic faiths; however, there are other smaller religions, which fall into this category as well, like Samaritanism and Rastafari. Each of these religions places an importance on Abraham as a man and he plays a major role in each religion. In Islam, each Muslim who has reached a certain age is accountable to pray five times a day as one of the five pillars of Islam. During a certain part of each prayer, they ask God to bless the Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham and Ibrahim is also mentioned many times throughout the Islamic Holy Scripture, the Qur’an. In Judaism, Abraham is a key figure and a devout follower of God, going as far as to almost sacrifice his son Isaac because God told him to do so. Abraham is also seen as the spiritual father of those who convert to Judaism and anyone who converts is given a Hebrew name and called a child of Abraham. Finally, in Christianity, the generation of Jesus can be traced all the way back to Abraham. In the Bible, it is said that God gave Abraham a son through Hagar and then a second son, Isaac, through his barren wife, Sarah. It is from Abraham and Isaac that the lineage of Jesus Christ is taught in the Bible. As shown, all three religions hold Abraham in high standing and he is a pivotal character in each respective religious text.
Aside from all being classified as Abrahamic religions and being monotheistic, all three of these faiths have some other things in common. All three faiths have a book of scripture, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Bible and the Qur’an. They also all believe in angels and in Satan, who plays the role of the adversary of God. Each of these religions finds their origins in the ancient Middle East among the Semitic people and they all place importance on Jerusalem which is “the holiest city in Judaism and Christianity and the third most important in Islam,” (Ellwood 233). They all have an orientation to the desert as seen by God meeting Abraham in the desert and Jesus and Paul going to the desert prior to beginning their ministry and Muhammad receiving the Qur’an while in a cave in the desert. Each also places a heavy importance on the Sabbath which is seen as the day of worship in each religion and the importance of ethical law, especially seen in Judaism and Islam regarding certain provisions about food. “Some of these features, of course, are echoed in other religions, but they are prominent in a particular, family-resemblance way in the three Abrahamic faiths” (Ellwood 234). As said before, each of these religions is a monotheistic religion meaning they praise and worship only one God. It is said that “monotheisms arise or become socially important in periods of rapid cultural change… ancient Israel, the Arabs at the time of Muhammad, Christianity in the flux of the Roman world,” all show how these religions have formed in times of cultural change.
All in all, these three religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, at first look seem to be polar opposites with nothing in common, however, when diving deeper and looking at them from an intellectual level, many similarities become evident between them. All of these three religions are classified as Abrahamic religions, which means they are all religions whose followers believe in Abraham and his descendants and think they play an important role in the religion itself and in the spiritual development of the adherents. Along with being Abrahamic faiths, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all also monotheistic faiths meaning they recognize and worship one and only one God, unlike other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism which are polytheistic or worship multiple Gods. So, despite their differences seen at surface level, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are quite similar and have many characteristics that are alike to each other.