The Christian and Islamic religions share much more in common than most people probably realize, especially regarding their core beliefs. Both of these faiths are considered Abrahamic religions, meaning that followers of either one revere Jesus Christ as a central figure in their devotion. It is common knowledge that individuals who adhere to the teachings of Christianity are referred to as Christians or Disciples of Christ (Lopez, A. C. (2018). These individuals embrace the existence of the Holy Trinity, which consists of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God’s son who came down to earth to dwell among us and then returned to heaven after his crucifixion and death. They also believe Christ ascended to heaven following his resurrection from the dead. At the end of the world, Christ will make his second coming.
Adherents of Islam acknowledge Jesus as a prophet sent by God and the only Messiah. On the contrary, Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet sent by God, and as such, he is credited with writing down the word of God in its entirety within the holy book known as the Quran (Lopez, A. C. (2018).
It is thought that the Islamic religion saw its golden period between 600 and 1250 CE, even though, from a European perspective, this was a time when religions multiplied and expanded. It was up to individuals to decide whether or not they wanted to follow the teachings of the Christian missionaries, who were responsible for spreading Christianity. Despite this, by that time, Islam was already being propagated “by the sword,” which indicates that it was already a military religion and included the expansion of the Arab territorial limit (Lopez, A. C. (2018). That every Arab was, consequently, to be presumed to be Islamic is the logical conclusion drawn from this fact. One element that was not observed in the religion of Christianity was an association with a specific race or group of ethnicity. This indicates that the religion of Christianity did not have anything to do with the expansion of an empire, as was the case with the religion of Islam.
However, Christianity and Islam spread in the early ages through the work of missionaries. In the case of Islam, however, the religion spread rapidly after the death of their last prophet of God, Muhammad, under the leadership of the first four caliphs with the assistance of Arabs who conquered service territory to expand its territory.
It was then immediately followed by coercive conversion regarding the strategy of jihad, which meant engaging in conflict according to the dictates of God. Jihad was also regarded as a method for converting people through various fights (Lopez, A. C. (2018). By using this novel strategy, Muslims were able to win over a sizable number of converts in Egypt, Syria, and Spain, more generally. Those who were not Muslims were subjected to extremely high tax rates, whereas Muslims paid lower rates. As a direct consequence, an increasing number of people decided to convert to Islam because nobody wanted to be taxed an excessive amount. Despite this, some people who converted to Islam continued to pay taxes because they believed that because Arabs were so successful in military endeavors, Islam and the God they served were true. They also believed that this God was watching over them and could quickly notice if they did not pay their taxes (Lopez, A. C. (2018). On the other hand, Christianity did not reach its zenith during this period since its followers were not affiliated with any particular people group, race, or empire. Therefore, going to war and occupying territory through military force was not a concern for them.
However, in subsequent years, Islam and Christianity adopted a method of propagation analogous to one another: missionary activity. The Sufis and the Islamic mystics worked together to play an extremely effective role in the missionary work. In this work, they pushed for having a personal relationship with God rather than adhering to particular cultural practices. In point of fact, the Sufis were successful in persuading the people to follow them because they demonstrated to them a method to get one with Allah in their own time and in their own style rather than adhering to certain rules that could bind them to some unwelcome practices (Lopez, A. C. (2018).
In addition to enabling individuals to form their own beliefs regarding who Allah was and what he meant to them, the Sufis were successful in persuading many individuals to convert to the Islamic religion as a result of their actions. (Armstrong, 136, Cracking the AP World History Exam 2011 Edition). [Citation needed] Many people, primarily hailing from Persia and the entirety of India, became believers as a result of the missionary’s activity. The Muslims had an advantage over their opponents due to the fact that they utilized preexisting trade channels that had already been established and were used by traders to propagate the message of Allah (Hautala, R. (2018).
Participating in missionary efforts, which were yielding very favorable outcomes, was the principal method by which Christians could spread their faith, and this was the primary way by which they could do so. In point of fact, they started preaching to the numerous monastic groups all over the place. Members of various religious orders, such as monks and nuns, contributed the majority of their time and energy to the propagation of the word of God across the world. The monks and nuns who dedicated their lives to the service of God were chiefly responsible for the propagation of Christianity over Europe (Hautala, R. (2018). At that point, the vast majority of those who had been exposed to the gospel of salvation had either become Christians or had started spreading the message of God on their own.
This message was mostly conveyed in English because that was the language most widely available. The concept that heaven and hell really do exist was absolutely necessary for Christianity to become the dominant religion in the world. The spiritual and moral understandings that can be gained via reading the Bible made the work of missionaries easier by increasing the likelihood that people would convert to Christianity. A tactic that was also successful was spreading a message of hope to the people. By the year 1050, as a direct result of the efforts of missionaries, a sizeable percentage of the population in Western Europe had become Catholic (Hautala, R. (2018).
Additional distinctions between Christianity and Islam include the following: While Christians instruct their followers about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that those who want to follow him must die in spirit with him, Muslims believe that he is the final prophet of peace and that peace will continue to be with him in his death. Christians teach that those who want to follow him must die in spirit with him.
Jesus is revered in Islam as the messiah, or the anointed one, who was chosen by God to lead his people, the Israelites, and serve as a message of God rather than as God’s own son. Christians, on the other hand, are of the opinion that Jesus is the unique son of God. Christians refer to their creator as God, while Muslims refer to him as Allah (Hautala, R. (2018).
Both Christianity and Islam adhere to distinct canons of text, each of which is the primary source of their own religious dogma.
Christians follow the Holy Bible, whereas Muslims adhere to the teachings of the Quran. Christians, in contrast to Muslims, have the belief that the Holy Spirit actually exists in the world.
References
Hautala, R. (2018). Comparing the Islamisation of the Jochid and Hülegüid Uluses: Muslim and Christian Perspectives. Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, (143), vol-143.
Lopez, A. C. (2018). Conversion and colonialism: Islam and Christianity in North Sulawesi, c. 1700-1900 (Doctoral dissertation, Leiden University).
Asefi, M., Khasraghi, S. S., & Roders, A. P. (2019). Art and technology interactions in Islamic and Christian context: Historical approach to architectural globalization. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 8(1), 66-79.
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