The Quran and the Bible have some similarities as well as differences. However, in the recent years, believers of the two religions have focused on the differences more than the similarities. These differences have brought about enmity and misunderstanding among believers of the two religions. The rivalry between Christians and Muslims began during the Crusader Era (1095-1291). This was a period when the Crusaders were trying to free their “Holy Land” from the yoke of Islam (Trautman and Peterson). To understand the genesis of these differences, which have highly been exaggerated in the contemporary society, it is important to have a look at the portrayal of Christianity in the Quran.
The Quran and Hadith portray negative views on Christians. The Muslims complain of how the Christians view their religion, Islam, as the enemy, yet they tolerate and accept Christians without any prejudice. Up until the proclamation of Islam by Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century AD, the Bible had not made any judgments about the religion. The Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians worshipped in the city of Jerusalem. In fact, the Muslims had a shrine which had a similar design as the Church of the Holy Sepulture. However, when the Christians rejected the teachings of the prophet, and religious cooperation, the Muslims withdrew their support and shifted their center of prayer to Mecca (“The Muslim Period”, n.p). This was even before the Crusader Era. The judgment came out of the Christian understanding of the Scriptures, which contributed to several positions and opinions about Islam. Muslims have always believed that Christians were not open for interrelation dialogues with other religions hence it was difficult for them to discover any truth and revelation in Islam.
The statements made in the Quran after the revelation of Christ to the Christians contributed to the convictions the Muslims have about Christians. Therefore, the mentality the Muslims had on Christians was fixed as compared to Christians who had to make their stand concerning the religion as it was not covered in the Bible. The Muslim traditions found in Hadith confirmed the beliefs of Muslims. The mentality still existed during the Crusader Era, and it saw most of the Muslim leaders strive to wipe out the Christians in their regions. In 1095, Emperor Alexius sought to get help from the crusades to fight the spread of Islam in his town, carried out by the Muslim Turks. This showed that there was total resistance by the two religions and most especially the Muslims, who strived to convert the Christians (The Hashemiie kingdom of Jordan, n.p).
The Quran portrayed a complex picture when it came to Christians and their faith. When Muhammad began his work as a prophet, he was hoping that the Christians, including the Jews, would accept him as a prophet of God. He started the conversion in Mecca, his own hometown, but after the Christians there rejected him, he moved to Medina in the year 622 CE, where he was somewhat successful. He later went back to Mecca eight years later and this time round, he was successful (The Hashemiie kingdom of Jordan, n.p). According to him, the two religions were much more advanced as compared to those that were practiced by the Arabs. His hope was that the people would readily accept him as a prophet for the Arabs. To prove his union, he initially preached of a similar form of fasting and viewed Jerusalem as the right place for ritual prayers. He, however, abolished the practices later among the Muslims after various revelations (Schirrmacher, pg.2). This led to the prophet leading a destruction of more than two thousand churches throughout the region especially in 1009AD (“The Muslim Period”,n.p). This destruction continued even during the Crusader Era. The “Holy Wars” started in 1096 CE resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Christian troops. The interest of the crusaders was to protect Jerusalem, and this led to the building of a line of fortress by Baldwin I, a crusader king. The victory was however not long lasting since Commander Salah Eddin al-Ayyubi won the battle against the crusades in 1187 CE. As a result, a way for the Muslim troops was found, in their quest to liberate Jerusalem (The Hashemiie kingdom of Jordan, n.p).
The Quran too in various chapters viewed Christians as believers who had deep respect for God and the last day. However, the Quran confirms that most of these Christians are blasphemous and for this reason, they are condemned. The Quran claimed that the Muslims were the best community ever among mankind because they totally believe in God and practice decency. This calls to show that the Quran views Christians as evil-livers, unlike how the Bible expects them to live.
According to the Quran and the whole nation of Muslims, Christians were viewed as falsifiers of the scriptures to fit their agenda. During the era of Prophet Muhammad, the relationship between the Christians and the Muslims came to a standstill as none was ready to give in to the other. As Christians failed to accept the prophet as another prophet sent to them to interpret the scriptures, he opposed the Christian dogmas as they deviated from his message.
The prophet also reproached Christians for the Trinity for he believed it was the greatest unforgivable sin. The prophet misunderstood the Trinity quoting it as having the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. He went further to condemn the Christians for believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins. Jesus, according to the Quran, was just a prophet and a human being just like any prophet who had come before him.
The Quran has quotes that portrayed Christians as evil-livers or evil-doers and even went further to warn Muslims not to make Christian friends. In case one was to do so, they would also become as evil. Some of these statements (by the Quran) were caused by the fact that the Christians usually insisted on their false theological positions hence made them turn away from the rightful path. The Quran states that Allah fought against them as they were very perverse. According to the Quran, it was wrong for the Christians to insist on the sonship of Jesus Christ to God the Father.
The Quran insists on the destruction of the Christians as they are non-believers (Hart, pg. 72). That explains the disdain expressed by some believers towards Christians. They believe that because the Quran teaches them so, they must distance themselves from Christians. Various exhortations insist on the killing of the non-believers who would also abide in the fires of hell (2: 191; 4: 89). Although it is not clear whether the non-believers in this context refer to the Christians, the Quran has at several instances regarded Christians as evil-livers and for this reason, they are condemned to die. At this point, it is important to note that most of the Quran texts were somewhat complex and therefore in need of a personal attitude from the individual to interpret them and their consequences.
The Quran, as well as the Muslims, openly criticized the Bible and the Christian faith. To the Quran, the Christians condemn anyone who is not of their faith as stated earlier. The jealousy of the Christian soul was also described in the Quran and also described how the Muslims would be expected to forgive them once the truth was revealed at the end of time. The texts in the Quran, however, advised the Muslims to treat these people with patience and forgive them while at the same time treat them as if they were not enlightened. All in all, Islam viewed the religion as physically and morally wrong (Schirrmacher, pg.5).
According to Islam, Christianity was less tolerant of different opinions. While Islam embraced Jesus as a prophet of God, Christians believed that the only and last prophet of God was Jesus and not Muhammad. Christianity was also less tolerant to the women, unlike the Muslims whose women had a lot of rights as written in the Quran. Because of the tolerance, Islam spread more quickly especially in the Peninsula region as compared to other religions more so that of Christianity.
Quran promotes the idea of oneness in that the last day would be experienced by all (whether Jewish or Christian). For this reason, the Quran displayed Christians as a group that was capable of seeing heaven. For this to happen, they were to respect and coexist with other faiths rather than strive to convert them without the will. The God of the Christians and Allah of the Muslims had similar characteristics according to the Quran as they created the universe and therefore, more need for tolerance (Dew, n.p).
Another teaching of the Christians that the Quran rejects is the idea that God had a son. Unlike in the Bible that declared that there was a son sent down from heaven by God, for example, in “Thou at my Son. This day have I begotten you” (Hebrews 5:5; cp. Psalms 2:7), the Quran does not depict Allah as having sons. In Koran 4:171, “Allah forbids that he should have sons”. In another verse, Koran 19.92, “it is not meet for God to have children”. This means that the Quran highly contradicted the beliefs of the Christians and their failure to listen to the last prophet of God would lead to their condemnation (Dew, n.p).
Theology, as brought out in the Quran, seemed to have a real problem with Christianity. Christianity embraced three idols and for this reason, they were labeled as “kafir” a name that meant non-believers. Some Muslim scholars were even caught advocating for the ending of the Christian mission as there were a lot of contrary beliefs such as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity as mentioned earlier. Muslims believed that it was only the Islam religion that had a right to proselytize (Schirrmacher, pg.6).
The Quran also expressed concerns when it came to matters of morality of the Christians. The latter were adulterers and fornicators and for this reason, they were a Zina-society. Adultery in the Quran is the gravest sin, and it prescribed hadd, “death,” as the ultimate punishment. For this reason, the Muslims were to stay away from the Christians, for the fear of getting defiled.
The culture of the Muslims also varied from that of the Christians. While the Quran prohibited the intake of alcohol, the use of pork and various products, the Christian religion embraced the practices openly. To Muslims, the products were unlawful, and any contact with them would defile them. It would make any of their worship invalid; also, they were not allowed to pray nor touch the Quran. Other practices that differentiated the Christians from the Muslims as seen in the Quran and other Islamic writings included issues to do with marriage, divorce, the freedom to be free during the Islamic holidays, the habitual slaughter of animals and the physical separation of boys and girls during education (Schirrmacher, pg.6).
The Quran paints a multi-faceted image of the Christians and their faith. In the start, the last prophet of the Muslims himself embraced some of the teachings but later rejected them due to various revelations from Allah. God the creator himself (Allah) approved Christianity due to their religious devotion as seen in Sura 5: 82, and their faith and therefore, Christians were regarded as “people of the book.”
The probable reason for Prophet Muhammad viewing the Christians in this light was because he hoped that they would believe in his divine mission. Their rejection, however, made him term them as a group that did not conform to the stipulated standards. The utterances in the Quran henceforth distanced themselves from the Christians and condemned any of the Muslims who claimed any relationship with the “non-believers.”
An overall ambivalence characterized the relationship between the Christians and the Muslims. Most of these believers held onto to Prophet’s Muhammad beliefs in matters to do with Christians especially in the contemporary society. For this reason, there are insurmountable barriers that completely divert the two religions although there are those Muslims, who appreciate some of the Christian practices (Schirrmacher, pg.7).
In conclusion, although Christians are regarded as “people of the book” in the Quran, various scholars disapproved and therefore asked the entire Muslim community to distance themselves from them. Due to various writings of the Quran, devout Muslims developed negative feelings, and this is evident in the way Christians are mistreated in most of the Islamic nations particularly in Asia and the Arabic world today. Muslims have always been more knowledgeable in their theology and also the Bible, and it is probably this reason that makes their comments towards the Christians unapologetic for they follow in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad.
Works Cited
Dew, Diane S. "Islam and Christianity." 2001. DianeDew. Web. 19 April 2016 <http://www.dianedew.com/islam.htm>.
Hart, Howard Phillips. A Life for A Life: A Memoir: My Career in Espionage Working for the Central Intelligence Agency. Raleigh, NC: Lulu Publishing Services, 2015. Print.
Schirrmacher, Christine. "The Islamic view of Christians: Qur’an and Hadith ." n.d. World Evangelicals . Web. 19 April 2016 <http://www.worldevangelicals.org/resources/pdf/The_Islamic_view_of_Christians_-_Qur'an_and_Hadith.pdf>.
The Hashemiie kingdom of Jordan. The Islamic Periiods and the Crusades. n.d. Web. 22 April 2016 <http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_islam_crusades.html>.
The Muslim Period. n.d. Web. 21 April 2016 <http://www1.american.edu/ted/hpages/jeruselum/muslim.htm>.
Trautman, Robin and John Peterson. The Crusdading Era 1095-1291. 1998 December 1998. Web. 21 April 2016 <http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/WestEurope/CrusadeEra.html>.
