Where Did Islam Come From (Islam, Part 2)

So these three 'Western' religions all worship the God of Abraham, and trace themselves back to the great Patriarch who became a 'wandering Aramean'.  How did each of the three come into existence?

Judaism began as 12 tribes of Hebrew slaves (who in turn traced themselves back to the 12 sons of Abraham's grandson Jacob) escaped from Egypt under the leadership of Moses around the 13th century BCE.  They made a covenant with God in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai and received the Law there, and before long they made their new home in the promised land of Canaan, which soon became Israel.

Christianity began some 1200 years later in Judea, when Jesus of Nazareth, a 30-year old Jewish itinerant rabbi and spiritual healer, was baptized by John and began preaching a message of the nearness of God's Kingdom and repentance, in the Roman province of Judea.  After he was crucified by the Jewish and Roman authorities, his followers proclaimed him alive again, that he was the prophesied Messiah and Lord, and that everyone should be baptized in his name.  Christianity was spread around the Roman Empire by apostles and missionaries (the most famous of whom was Paul of Tarsus) and within 300 years had become the official religion of the Empire.

Islam began about 600 years after Jesus lived, in the 7th Century CE/AD.  As the story goes, a young Arab named Muhammad began to have visions of the angel Gabriel (who had also appeared to Virgin Mary), who gave him messages ('angel' means messenger) that were first memorized and then written down as the Koran.  The messages had to do with the one sovereign God ('Allah' in the Arabic language) who desired the submission of human beings to Him ('Islam' means submission).  Muhammad went forth and began to prophesy/proclaim this message to his pagan neighbors, who worshipped many gods.  He saw himself in the line of Old and New Testament prophets, bringing a message of repentance and obedience to God.  And over time, the people responded.  Islam grew and expanded (sometimes at the point of a sword) until it had become the religion of a huge part of the world, including the Middle East, Central and South Asia, Northern Africa, and even parts of Europe.

The similarities in message and content between these three religions are obvious and multiple, while the differences mostly have to do with chronology and personalities.  Repentance and obedience to the One True God, first worshipped by Abraham, was the common message.  The Jews formed their holy scriptures over 1,000 years.  The Christians adopted the Jewish scriptures and added their own.  The Muslims in turn approved the Jewish and Christian scriptures and then added their own.

Now, all of this is not to say that a Jew can easily become a Christian (or vice versa), or a Christian or Jew can become a Muslim (or vice versa).  There are too many differences of language, culture, history, and doctrine for that to be the case.  Yet it is simply much easier for us to understand each other, and even accept each other--with all our differences--than it is between the far different religions of the West and the Orient.

(To be continued)