Proposal
The world had always been full of different religious beliefs, because there is probably no universal explanation of the origins of human creation. Since the ancient times, we all needed a symbol of faith and of the existence of the judge, who sees everything, thus, is always eager to price, or to punish. Depending to the extent to which we’ve followed his commandments. The two religions: Islam and Christianity are highly different, and their followers are people, whose worldview differs from the other. It makes the two different religions mystically connected, and creates a view of the existence of one God, who has the different names, but, in reality, is unique for all the people. . . . . . . . . . . .
Religion is suggested to be the central phenomenon of the social consciousness, as well as the main point of discussion in the context of philosophical discourse. The religion as the phenomenon occurred at the beginning of civilization as the form of mythology. The notion of the myth proclaimed itself in the kind of knowledge or explanation about the laws of the surrounding world. The myth was the first ancient form of the religion. It can be stated that religion in all the countries is the backbone of the world view. That is why religion is such an important issue for the research. The discussion can take place about the mutual influence of religion and culture, as far as it is still n opened question, whether the national religion makes its impact on art or ethnical culture implements peculiarities in the system of religious belief. It is more popular and more discovered idea about the impact of religion on the culture. Such an idea can be supported by the range of analysis and historical facts. The religion HS been the form of human power for centuries. Even in the modern world the question can be arisen whether the religion and religious establishments do not take part in governmental processes. On if the issues in the context of power discourse is the conflict between the two most popular religions in the modern world - Christianity and Islam. Actually, the basis of those two religions is very similar, as far as both of religions are monotheistic, proclaiming only one God. But still there is a huge difference between Christianity and Islam in the questions of general belief system and in the system of traditions and practices. That is why it is very essential to compare and contrast these two religions, as they have a lot in common but still there are plenty of differences. It is possible to say that all religions in our world are the same and different simultaneously. I hope that with the help of this research, one would clearly and more distinctly understand these two religions, see its differences and similarities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Christianity and Islam are the most common on the earth religions. Christianity – is faith in God of the third of the world's population, based on the doctrine of the unity of the Holy Trinity, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ - the Savior of the world. Christian worship is based on Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition.
Islam – is the religion of a large part of the world's population, mostly inhabitants of the East, literally means “submission to God”. Founder of the religion – is the Prophet Muhammad. The main principles are contained in the Koran. The main tenets of this religion - is worship to Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
The inner nature of God in Christianity is adopted by the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Three persons of God are inseparable. In Islam, the inner, spiritual nature of God remains undisclosed. Christian beliefs are described in the Creed. Faith in Islam has five pillars - the announcement of faith, daily prayer five times a day, help the needy in the form of donations, the annual fasting and pilgrimage to Mecca.
The main source of the Christian faith – is the Holy Scriptures (the Bible), in historic churches as the basis of doctrine is also the Holy Tradition. Basic Christian doctrines are: the dogma of the Trinity of God, the dogma of the Incarnation and the dogma of redemption.
The essence of the Trinitarian dogma: God is not only a personal being, but also the spiritual essence. He acts in three persons (hypostases) - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All three persons constitute a single Holy Trinity, undivided in essence, hypostasis of which are equal in divine dignity. God the Father is not born and does not come from another person. He created the world from nothing visible and invisible, the first man - Adam and from his rib, the first woman - Eve. Created man, God extended to him His disposal. Creator saves people, directs them to the path of goodness, to restrain evil, prevents dereliction of duty. God has predestined to save people through his Son, in the incarnation and the Advent of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son spawned spiritual life of man, has inspired people the fear of God, piety and gave inspiration, ability to learn and gain wisdom. Christian faith also contains the dogma of creation, purpose and the end of the world, of man and his sinful nature, God's grace.
But Christianity cannot in principle be reduced to dogma, to morality, to the tradition, because in essence it is originally not faith in doctrine but in person, in a unique divine-human person of Jesus Christ. It is believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary assumed human nature in everything but sin, and lived on Earth in the human body. Not illusory, but the reality of the human nature of Jesus Christ has been repeatedly emphasized in the New Testament biblical texts (1 Tim. 2: 5; Acts. 17:31; Jn. 8:40; Rom. 5:15, 19). When incarnation the Son of God took not only the body but also the fullness of human nature in the unity of its spiritual and emotional sides. The Gospel says that Christ by his physical nature was subject to its laws: it developed and grew up, eat, happy, tired, experiencing fear, suffering, and suffered death on the cross. According to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ is the God-man, combines the divine and the human origin (the Second Person of the Trinity - God the Son). The Atonement of Jesus Christ of the human race is a major tenet of the Christian religion, in close connection with the prefix its dogma of the Incarnation and its final tenet of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
According to the New Testament, there are two conditions for salvation: the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (John 3:16, John 5:24) and repentance before God for their sins (Mark 1:15, Matthew 18: 3; Acts. 3: 19). By his own powers man cannot achieve salvation (Matt. 19:26, Mk. 10:27, Lk. 18:27, Eph. 2: 8-9).
The main focus of Christian eschatology is the Second Coming of Christ, after which will take place Judgement and determining the fate of all mankind - the righteous in paradise, and unrepentant sinners in hell. In the Second Coming of Jesus Christ all the dead will be resurrected to appear on Judgment Day before God.
The main difference between Islamic and Christian religion proclaims itself in the attitude towards Jesus Christ. For Christians Jesus is the central figure of the belief. Christ is considered to be the son of God, as far as he was born from the female human and God. Even the name of the religion has its roots in the name of God. Jesus Christ is believed to be the guard of human souls, because he came to the earth to save people, who had sins. Christians have the number of traditions and celebrations, which are based on the story of Jesus Christ. The birth and the death of Christ are celebrated by Christians all over the world. In contrast, people who has their major religion Islam believe only in one God as the central person of the religious paradigm. Jesus Christ is considered to be by Islamist belief system One of the prophets.
Even the story about Jesus Christ in Islamic writings differs much from the myth about Jesus in Christianity story telling." That they (the Children of Israel) rejected Faith; that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise" ( Qur`an). Also as the prophet Jesus Christ in Islamic religion does not have the separate outstanding place. In contrast to Islam, Christianity proclaims Jesus Christ to be the creator of the new morality nd the modern Christianity paradigm.
All the new principles of behavior for Christians were worked out by the pattern of Jesus Christ's life and precisely described in Christ's stories. In Christianity all the dogmas by Jesus. Christ wererewritten by his adherents I the holly book, Bible. Nowadays words by Christ are widely and continuously learned by the majority of Christians. Jesus Christ's study is suggested to be the basis of the modern Christian belief. At the same time, the old writings in Bible are not of great impotence to the contemporary Christians. Still for Islamic believers the ancient writings are the basis for religious ideology and for the system of traditions and customs. In such a context, it should be also mentioned that Islam religion is older than Christianity.
Jesus in Islam – is the Messenger of Allah, “Isa”, particularly revered prophet, the last before Muhammad. Name of Isa occupies a special place in the Quran. In the Qur'an, Jesus' name is mentioned 25 times, and to his mother Mary the 19th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an is dedicated. According to Islam, He was lifted up to God in heaven, and the likeness of Adam, because also created by God. Finally, it is particularly linked to Muhammad, because foretold his appearance. Like Muhammad, came to him ruh al-Kudus (“Holy Spirit”), identified usually with Jibril (Christian archangel Gabriel). However, the Qur'an emphasizes that Isa - a man, a servant of God, and not his son and not a deity. Specifically rejected the idea of the Trinity in the Qur'an, which refers to the three deities - God, Jesus and the “Holy Spirit”, rejected divine birth of God or of his mother Mary (Kung, 1994). The Qur'an denies the death of Isa on the cross, assuring that, contrary to the assertions of his enemies, “and not they killed him and not they crucified him but it was made to appear to them”. Isa was taken up to heaven, where he abides before the Court. In the day of judgment he will appear before Allah, like other prophets, and will testify against unbelievers. Hint at the second coming of Isa is considered an indication that he would be “a sign of” the coming Court (Dirks, 2001).
But one more difference between Christianity and Islam is the implementation o changes and innovation in the belief system. On the basis of historical analysis, it can be stated that Islam is more stable and traditional religion. In contrast, Christianity has changed through the flow of time much. First of all, Christian religion is likely to have separate branches, which differ much in the ideological base and in the system of traditions. For example, Christianity involves Orthodoxy, Catholic belief, Baptism and Protestant religion long with the great number of other religious groups, which are based on Christian principles. Even the main branches of Christianity haemorrhage changed much. Traditions and principles of the modern Christianity are not as strict, as in the past centuries. Furthermore, one more point of difference between Islam and Christianity proclaims itself in the fact that modern Christian dogmas are not as strict as in Islam belief system.
The great difference of the Islamic beliefs is the existence of the notion of !pureness' and 'clean'. Believers of Islam are really concerned whether they eat clean food, drink good water and spend their time in clean places. Christians do not have such a peculiarity of pureness. Such a fact can be explained by the philosophical paradigm of Islamist and Christians, as far as adherents of Islam religion do believe that a human body is the temple of the soul, and that is why it should be clean and healthy in order to preserve the pureness of the human soul. In contrast, Christianity, is the religion, which tries to decrease the importance of he human physical covering.
For Christians the body is ugly, because it is considered to be source of sin and evil, Christians often promote the idea of body sufferings, because they believe that in such a way a Christian can achieve the enlistment of his soul. So the difference between Islam and Christianity can be observed even in the paradigm concerning the attitude towards human body. Also the difference in views concerning human body can be observed in the context of iconography of Christians and Islamists. It is the wide spread phenomenon in Christian religion to depict prophets, Jesus Christ, saints and angels in churches and on separate icons. In contrast, Islam religion does not use images of God and saints at all. In such a way Islam imply the subordination between the God and human beings.
Appointment of fasting among Christians and Muslims about the same: a test of will for the triumph of the spirit over the desires of the flesh, to focus on their inner world to identify and destroy the evil inclination and repentance for sins, the struggle with his pride (“nafs”) for the sake of humility with the will of the Creator. Fasting reduced or canceled for those who are not physically able to observe it with no apparent harm to the body. It is also prohibited condemnation of those who failed to comply with the post on the relevant reasons (Peters, 1990).
Initially, the Christians, as always Muslims, fasting is not perceived as sad state or punishment, but as a spiritual joy. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew says: “And when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. And when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that fasting appear not unto men, but unto thy Father [God] which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6: 16 - 18).
Gradually, however, in the first Christian communities, representatives of Gnostics poured (later followers of Zoroastrianism - dualism), who considered all the material - the bearer of evil, which must be avoided. Thus, began to increase the number of posts, gradually introduce bans on marriage for priests, there was a monk (separate accommodation of men separated from women and women from the men at the oath of celibacy for life and strict fasting) (Robinson, 1990).
The people began to be revered above all ascetics, sweltering flesh particularly strict fasting, or what some feats of asceticism - for example, standing on a pole for a year or several years (hence the names of saints such as “Simeon Stylites”, for example). Many examples of this kind of holiness, people tried to spread the life and married people who have come to see the natural marital cohabitation as allowed by weakness, in comparison with which a monk - the highest act of faith.
Fasting played a key role in making a person to commit a sacrament - without fasting cannot partake of the body and blood of God. Moreover, the fasting is the beginning of the sacraments, as it man to imitate Jesus and how to empathize with him. Thus, the number of fast days in people who do not live in secluded monasteries, and in everyday life, reached a half days a year.
And in the understanding of the fasting, a new quality, which is not the Muslims: the mystery, mystery acts - man strives to imitate Jesus Christ in order to mystically join him in “one body of the Church”, so diligence in self-restraint was unlimited, so causing direct harm was justified high purposes of imitation “heaven” and the saints of the past. In this is the difference of fasting in Christianity from Islam (Peters, 1990).
The Prophet Muhammad, according to legend, unsympathetic attitude toward asceticism, and in the hadith (stories about the life and deeds of the Prophet) passed his words: “In Islam there is no asceticism” (Dar Abdul, 2007). Nevertheless, the Muslim fast of Ramadan by the same Muhammad and entered. In the period of fasting Muslims daily from sunrise to sunset and refuse from eating, drinking, sexual intercourse, and so on. Specificity of fasting in Islam lies in the fact that is not limited by the composition of the food and the time of its adoption (as in early Christianity). Note, however, that, according to the norms of Islam, alcohol is prohibited at all times, not only for consumption but also for production and distribution. The ban also applies to the consumption of pork and blood.
Ramadan is considered, in contrast to Lent of the Christians, not the tribulation and great holiday. For Ramadan, Muslims around the world are preparing long before its occurrence: women are collection products and various food, while their husbands buy various gifts. Muslims believe that Allah may forgive the sins of man, if he spends time in reading prayers and performs charitable deeds, such as helping the needy, donating money to charity. Every single Muslim has to contribute even a little, as it is his duty - Zakat-ul-Fitr before the end of Ramadan. During Ramadan, many believers are making the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In today's Christianity prayers are divided into two types: mental and verbal. Mental prayer - is a climb of the human mind to God, climbing, expressed in the form of active work of thoughts and feelings. In Catholicism and Orthodoxy verbal prayer is a verbal appeal to God in the form developed by church leaders and church consecrated verbal formulations. But after reading the text of the prayer people can add their requests, expectations and praise. In Protestantism form of prayer and the order pronouncing the words in the text fade into the background. Protestant prayer is a form of improvisation, which in the opinion of the Protestant doctrine should promote personal self-fulfillment and to emphasize the intimacy of turning to God. In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the main sources for the compilation of texts of prayers is the Psalms, the Holy Gospel and prayer, written by God 'man. By their nature, prayers are: repentance, pleading praise and thanksgiving. Since man is a sinner before God, so before you turn to God with a request, you must first repent, and then ask God to satisfy our needs. Therefore penitential prayer must always come before pleading prayers (Robinson, 1990).
In Islam, the word usually implies prayer as ritual prayer (namaz) and arbitrary prayer (dua), which is also called a prayer. Prayer - prayer ritual includes the commission of a strictly defined order gestures (bowing, prostrations, and so on. D.), Reading the brief prayer formulas and read verses from the Koran. The inside of the prayer is mental concentration on that reads prayer, as well as the feeling of being watched praying for Allah. Prayer can be both mandatory (fard, wajib) and desirable (Nafl salat, Sunnat). Prayers differ commit time, the number of rak'at s intention and that is praying says. Dua (Arab. دعاء - prayer, prayer) - is arbitrary prayer has no specific time conditions, the state of purity, and so on. D. The Muslims often use certain prayers in different situations, after the ritual prayers and during the dhikr (remembrance of Allah). Some prayers contain the words and the meaning as defined Prophet Muhammad during his prophetic mission. The texts of these prayers are canonical and changing them is not highly desirable. Likewise, there are verses in the Quran that can be called a prayer. Their peculiarity is that they begin with the words “Our Lord!” And turned to Allah, despite the fact that according to Islamic teachings Qur'an itself is the direct speech of Allah. When reading dua Muslims usually raise their hands at shoulder level, palms to face, and wiped them on completion of the face (Arnaldez, 1994).The Christian who is even slightly acquainted with Islam sees a lot of similarities and commonalities between the two religions: one God; rejection of idolatry; God reveals to man through prophets and scripture; revelation of the moral law; commandment to observe all His commandments and repent when these commandments are violated. Christians can also think about the ease with which Muslims agree with the description of God, according to Paul in Athens: God is the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator who holds all the word of truth, the lord of the whole world and just judge. Some Muslims even agree with the fact that “we are also his offspring” (Acts. 16-29). However, there is a deep gulf between the Christian and Muslim views on both these religions associated with the understanding of the individual and the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah. For Muslims, Jesus is important only as one of the chosen messengers of God. As we have seen, all Muslims believe that he was only a prophet and herald of Islam. It follows that His importance is relative, since neither his identity nor the mission are no different from other messengers and their revelations. In other words, Jesus affects the theology of Islam any more than any other messenger of God. However, for Christians Islamic denial of the New Testament view of Jesus is totally unacceptable because rejects the uniqueness of his personality, as well as the purpose of his life, death and resurrection.
Work Cited
Arnaldez, Roger. Three Messengers for One God. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994. Print.
Dar Abdul, Rahman. Jesus and Christianity In the Perspective of Islam. Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'wah and Guidance Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. First Edition, 2007. Print.
Dirks, Jerald. The Cross & the Crescent: An Interfaith Dialogue between Christianity and Islam. Beltsville, Md: Amana Publications, 2001. Print.
Kung, Hans. Islam: a challenge for Christianity. SCM Press, 1994. Print.
McAuliffe, J.D. Qur'anic Christians: an Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991. Print.
Peters, F.E. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Classical Texts and Their Interpretation, Volume III: The Works of the Spirit. Princeton, 1990.
Robinson, Neal. Christ in Islam and Christianity. SUNY Press, 1990. Print.
