Christianity and Islam
Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with approximately 2.3 billion and 2 billion adherents, respectively. Both are Abrahamic religions and monotheistic, originating in the Middle East.
Christianity developed out of Second Temple Judaism in the 1st century CE. It is founded on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those who follow it are called Christians. Islam developed in the 7th century CE. It is founded on the teachings of Muhammad, as an expression of surrendering to the will of God. Those who follow it are called Muslims.
Muslims view Christians to be People of the Book, but may also regard them as committing shirk because of the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Christians are traditionally classified as dhimmis paying jizya under Sharia law. Christians similarly possess a wide range of views about Islam. The majority of Christians view Islam as a false religion because its adherents reject the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.
Like Christianity, Islam considers Jesus to be al-Masih who was sent to guide the Banī Isrā'īl with a new revelation: al-Injīl. But while belief in Jesus is a fundamental tenet of both, a critical distinction far more central to most Christian faiths is that Jesus is the incarnated God, specifically, one of the hypostases of the Triune God, God the Son.
While Christianity and Islam hold their recollections of Jesus's teachings as gospel and share narratives from the first five books of the Old Testament, the sacred text of Christianity also includes the later additions to the Bible while the primary sacred text of Islam instead is the Quran. Muslims believe that al-Injīl was distorted or altered to form the Christian New Testament. Christians, on the contrary, do not have a univocal understanding of the Quran, though most believe that it is fabricated or apocryphal work. There are similarities in both texts, such as accounts of the life and works of Jesus and the virgin birth of Jesus through Mary; yet still, some Biblical and Quranic accounts of these events differ.
Similarities and differences
In the Islamic tradition, Christians and Jews are believed to worship the same God that Muslims worship. However there are many different opinions in the discussion of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God.Scriptures
The Christian Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written over a period of two millennia prior to the birth of Christ. The New Testament was written in the decades following the death of Christ. Historically, Christians universally believed that the entire Bible was the divinely inspired Word of God. However, the rise of harsher criticism during the Enlightenment has led to a diversity of views concerning the authority and inerrancy of the Bible in different denominations. Christians consider the Quran to be a non-divine set of texts.The Quran dates from the early 7th century or decades thereafter. Muslims believe it was revealed to Muhammad, gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. The Quran is written mostly in parable and not in form of a linear process of history. However, the stories often involve Biblical figures. By that, the Quran assumes that the audience is familiar with their associated narratives. Sometimes, stories featuring in the Bible are summarized, dwelled at length, and sometimes entirely different. Another difference in style is that the Bible offers a linear set of time, from the beginning of the narrative to its end, while the Quran implies a cyclical pattern, in which the main narrative of the Quran unfolds repeatedly at the time of each prophet.
Muslims believe that Jesus was given the Injil by God, however that parts or the entirety of these teachings were lost or distorted to produce the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. The majority of Muslims consider the Quran to be the only revealed book that has been protected by God from distortion or corruption.
Jesus
Muslims and Christians both believe that Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin. They both also believe that Jesus is the Messiah. However, they differ on other key issues regarding Jesus. Almost all Christians believe that Jesus was the incarnated Son of God, divine, and sinless. Islam teaches that Jesus was the penultimate and one of the most important prophets of God, but not the Son of God, not divine, and not part of the Trinity. Rather, Muslims believe the creation of Jesus was similar to the creation of Adam.Christianity and Islam also differ in their fundamental views related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, crucified, and after three days, resurrected. Islam teaches that Jesus was a human prophet who, like the other prophets, tried to bring his people to worship the one true God, termed Tawhid. Muslims also believe that Jesus was condemned to crucifixion and then miraculously saved from execution, and was raised to the heavens. In Islam, instead of Jesus being crucified, his lookalike was crucified.
Both Christians and Muslims believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. Christianity does not state where will Jesus return, while the Hadith in Islam states that Jesus will return at a white minaret at the east of Damascus, and will pray behind Mahdi. Christians believe that Jesus will return to kill the Antichrist and similarly Muslims believe that Jesus will return to kill Dajjal. Many Christians believe that Jesus would then rule for 1,000 years, while Muslims believe Jesus will rule for forty years, marry, have children and will be buried at the Green Dome.
Muhammad
Muslims believe that Muhammad was a prophet who received revelations by God through the angel Gabriel, gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood.Muslims revere Muhammad as the embodiment of the perfect believer and take his actions and sayings as a model of ideal conduct. Unlike Jesus, who Christians believe was God's son, Muhammad was a mortal, albeit with extraordinary qualities. Today many Muslims believe that it is wrong to represent Muhammad, but this was not always the case. At various times and places pious Muslims represented Muhammad although they never worshiped these images.
During the lifetime of Muhammad, he had many interactions with Christians. One of the first Christians who met Muhammad was Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian priest of ancient Arabia. He was one of the first hanifs to believe in the prophecy of Muhammad. Muhammad also met the Najrani Christians and made peace with them. One of the earliest recorded comments of a Christian reaction to Muhammad can be dated to only a few years after Muhammad's death. As stories of the Arab prophet spread to Christian Syria, an old man who was asked about the "prophet who has appeared with the Saracens" responded: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword."
God
In Christianity, the most common name of God is Yahweh. In Islam, the most common name of God is Allah, similar to Eloah in the Old Testament. The vast majority of the world's Christians adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity, which in creedal formulations states that God is three hypostases in one ousia. In Islam, this concept is deemed to be a denial of monotheism, and thus a sin of shirk, which is considered to be a major sin. The Quran itself refers to Trinity in Al-Ma'ida 5:73 which says "They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment." Islam has the concept of Tawhid which is the concept of a single, indivisible God, who has no partners.The Holy Spirit
Christians and Muslims have differing views about the Holy Spirit. Most Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is God, and the third member of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit is generally believed to be the angel Gabriel. Most Christians believe that the Paraclete referred to in the Gospel of John, who was manifested on the day of Pentecost, is the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, some Islamic scholars believe that the reference to the Paraclete is a prophecy of the coming of Muhammad.One of the key verses concerning the Paraclete is John 16:7:
Salvation
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official doctrine document released by the Roman Catholic Church, has this to say regarding Muslims:Protestant theology mostly emphasizes the necessity of faith in Jesus as a savior for salvation. Muslims may receive salvation in theologies relating to Universal reconciliation, but will not according to most Protestant theologies based on justification through faith:
Some modern Muslim scholars critique the doctrinal aspects of Christianity. For example, Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, in his work Christian Ethics: A Historical and Systematic Analysis of Its Dominant Ideas, argues that Christianity has incorporated various influences that diverge from Jesus' original teachings. He emphasizes the need for what he considers a rational and coherent ethical framework, contrasting Christian concepts like peccatism and saviorism with Islamic views. This perspective includes a critique of Christian theological paradoxes and advocates for a rational and coherent ethical framework.
The Quran explicitly promises salvation for all those righteous Christians who were there before the arrival of Muhammad:
The Quran also makes it clear that Christians will be nearest in love to those who follow the Quran and praises Christians for being humble and wise: