In this post, I want to provide a summary of some of the major points I've made in the previous ten posts on Islam, especially as compared to Judaism and Christianity.
Shalom/Salam/Eirene/Pax/Peace.• Islam sees itself as the completion of Judaism and Christianity, which Islam views as based in genuine revelations of God that were subsequently corrupted. It views Judaism and Christianity with a mixture of respect and contempt.
• All three religions developed over time complex historical and literary traditions that give them strength, stability, and identity.• The three religions all trace themselves back to Abraham, and this is a major point of coherence.
• Islam agrees with Judaism and Christianity that the same God created the world, which displays his glory and gives sufficient evidence for God’s existence, power, and sovereignty.
• All three religions believe in the grace of God, though they see it very differently. For Judaism, God’s grace was given in the gift of creation, covenant of election, liberation from slavery in Egypt, the Promised land, and Torah. For Christians, God’s grace comes primarily through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the salvation granted through these events. For Muslims, God’s grace is primarily through the gifts of creation, as well as the guidance through the prophets and especially Muhammad, the gift of umma, and finally the promise of heaven for those who are good and faithful servants of Allah.
• Islam reveres the Hebrew figures of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, and Jonah as great, godly leaders and prophets, thus aligning itself in a major way with the Jewish tradition.
• Islam reveres Jesus as a Jewish prophet and messenger of God. It refused, however, to look upon Jesus as anything but fully human. This puts Islam at major odds with Christianity, which came to see Jesus as fully God and fully human.
• Islam (as well as Judaism) rejects the Christian doctrines of Incarnation, Atonement, and Trinity. Muslims do not even believe that Jesus died on the cross, whereas Jews believe he died but that it proved that he wasn’t the Messiah. Only Christians believe that Jesus’ death on the cross has redemptive power and was the way that he was victorious over sin and death. Only Christians believe in the Resurrection of Jesus. Surprisingly, Muslims believe that Jesus will return again some day to do battle with the Anti-Christ.
• All three religions believe in the (Holy) Spirit in some way, as God’s means of inspiring his prophets, and in Judaism and Christianity especially, as God’s means of being present with us now.
• All three religions believe in the existence of angels as God’s messengers.
• Traditional Christianity and Islam believe strongly in the existence and power of Satan, whereas Judaism has always been less inclined to this belief.
• All three Western religions, in their traditional form, accept the notion of a Day of Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Many modern Christians and Jews question these doctrines however. The Koran stresses much more than the other two scriptures the importance of heaven/hell as eternal reward/punishment for human behavior. The Koran’s stress on the Day of Judgment has strong resonance with fundamentalist Christianity and its reading of the book of Revelation.
• Jews, Christians Muslims all share a strong moral perspective. Jews and Muslims center their morality on a version of the Ten Commandments. Christians believe that the Ten Commandments are best summarized in the Law of Love, love for God and neighbor. All three religions agree that it is important to help the poor and needy as a religious duty.
• With regards to war, Islam is ready to engage in war in defense of Islam. The Israelites also readily went to war in the Old Testament, but being a small nation, and after 70 AD not a nation at all in any real sense, the Jews didn’t have much opportunity to go to war until the founding of Israel in 1948. Since then they have readily gone to war to defend (and expand) their nation. Christianity, on the other hand, was originally pacifist, because of Jesus’ teachings and life. It opposed war for about 3 centuries, after which it officially believed in ‘just war’ (though few if any actual wars have ever been declared unjust).
• Each of the three religions has its fundamentalist expression, which tends to be intolerant of the other traditions. Each has its ‘liberal’ expression which leans towards toleration and trying to find the commonalities, especially those which also accommodate modern cultural and scientific knowledge. And then there is everyone who hugs the center of their traditions, often confused and unsure of what to think yet continuing to believe and practice their religious traditions.• Orthodox Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. Christians, especially those in North Carolina, love pork!
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