Story of Abraham plays role in all three faiths
 |
|
||||||||||
Question: Why are Judaism, Christianity and Islam called the three Abrahamic faiths?
Answer: The story of Abraham, considered by Jews and Christians to be the first Hebrew patriarch, can be found in the holy books of all three religions. Each religion traces its roots to Abraham, with Jews tracing their lineage to his son Isaac and Muslims to his son Ishmael. Because Christianity evolved out of Judaism, Christians trace their lineage to Abraham as well.
Q: How and when did Judaism emerge?
A: Judaism emerged some 2000 years before the Common Era (B.C.E.), tracing its roots to a covenant between God and Abraham. According to Hebrew Scriptures, God promised Abraham that in return for his exclusive obedience, he would become the patriarch of a great nation. Isaac's son Jacob is thought to have had 12 sons whose families formed the 12 tribes of Israel.
Q: How and when did Christianity emerge?
A: Christianity focuses on Jesus of Nazareth, who was born around 6 B.C.E. and was understood by a small group of Jews to be the Messiah. Christianity was established by the followers of Jesus. Christians recognize the authority of the Hebrew Bible, calling it the Old Testament, but tend to emphasize the New Testament, which they believe describes a new covenant with God.
Q: How and when did Islam emerge?
A: Islam dates to 622 A.D., when the prophet Mohammed and his followers migrated from his birthplace of Mecca to Medina. Muslims believe that Mohammed was the last of a long line of prophets, including Abraham and Jesus, and that Mohammed received the direct message of God from the angel Jibril, or Gabriel.
Q: What do the three faiths have in common?
A: There are many similarities:
• Each believes in one creator God who is both lawgiver and redeemer; in submitting to, trusting and respecting that God; and in repenting and preventing sin by discovering the love and mercy of God.
• Each places great importance on good works and social concerns, and each worships in congregational rituals and stresses the importance of prayer and scriptural studies.
• Further, the Hebrew scriptures are part of the Christian Bible, and people and stories from Jewish and Christian scriptures figure prominently in the Koran. Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, for instance, are seen as great prophets by Muslims.
• Judaism and Christianity in particular share many similarities. Because they share the same biblical roots, many prayer services and liturgies use the same language and form. The importance of mealtime in the Jewish tradition is carried through in the Christian tradition and reinterpreted as well in Christian sacraments such as the Eucharist, with its Last Supper imagery.
• Islam and Christianity also have similarities. Jesus, for instance, is mentioned often in the Koran, which also has a chapter titled after Mary. Islam and Christianity both see the birth of Jesus as miraculous. And Muslims believe Jesus revered the same God that they do.
• Islam and Judaism have strict lifestyle rules, with which many Muslims and Jews comply. For example, some foods that are kosher — that is, slaughtered or prepared a certain way and allowed under Jewish law — are also halal, allowed under Muslim law. Both faiths emphasize the importance of reading their holy texts in the original languages: Hebrew and Arabic.
Q: Where do the three faiths differ?
A: There are many differences. For example:
• Neither Jews nor Muslims believe in the Christian concept of the Trinity, which says that in the one God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine is central to Christianity.
• Muslims believe that the Koran is the direct word of God, preserved in the original Arabic, and that Jewish and Christian holy texts, written through mediators, have been distorted through the years.
• The three faiths also differ on conversion to the faith. Judaism requires a period of study, typically under a rabbi's supervision, and then an appearance before a Bet Din, or religious court, which oversees the formal conversion. Some rabbis may also require the convert's immersion in a ritual bath called the mikveh.
The historic Christian churches, such as Roman Catholic and mainline Protestants, also require a period of study and then a ritual process (which normally involves baptism) through which a person is formally received into the church.
Islam, in contrast, requires only that people say, with intent, the words: "I testify that there is no god but God, and that Mohammed is his messenger."
• The three religions also differ somewhat on afterlife concepts. In Judaism, there historically has been a range of positions on whether there is an afterlife and what constitutes an afterlife. It is not essential to believe in an afterlife to be a good Jew.
But in Christianity, an afterlife, with heaven and hell, has come to be a major tenet of the faith.
Likewise for Muslims, belief in heaven and hell is central to the faith.