Islam and Christianity are two of the world's biggest religions. Their histories begin in exactly the same place, starting in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Also, Islam and Christianity, along with Judaism, are known as Abrahamic faiths, meaning that they all believe that the Biblical prophet, Abraham, was one of the original fathers of having these faiths delivered to humanity.
However, there are several key differences between these two religions.
When we first look at Christianity, Christianity consists of people who believe in the deity, Jesus Christ. Christians, generally speaking, believe Christ is the Son of God أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ and walked on Earth as the incarnate form of God. So, in other words, they believe that Jesus was god أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ in the flesh.
Islam is made up of individuals who believe in the deity, Allah, which is just the Arabic word for God. They believe that Allah's teachings were recorded word for word by God's last Prophet named Muhammad ﷺ.
Currently, Islam is the second-largest religion in the entire world, after Christianity. And based on the latest estimates, the current global population of Christianity sits at 2.3 billion followers, which is 31% of the total population of the world. Islam follows behind at 1.8 billion followers which works out to be approximately 24% of the entire global population.
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So, as you can see, these two religions, of course, have played a huge role in shaping what we know to be human history. Because, look at this, this is half of the population here falling between these two religions.
Now, when we look at when these two religions were formed as organized religions, Islam takes us back to 610 - 622 BC. Christianity on the other hand was established as an organized religion in 28 - 33 BC, which was centuries before Islam. So, we hear the terms Christian, Christianity, and all of that. So, what does Christian actually mean?
If someone calls himself a Christian, what are they saying? Well, Christian simply means, a believer in Christianity, which is someone that follows the teachings of Christ. Very simple. Now, Islam means "submission to the will of God (ALLAH)." And those who submit to the will of God, are called Muslims.
When it comes to the place of worship where do Christians go to worship? Well, of course, we know of churches. There are also chapels, cathedrals, and basilicas, as well as, Christians are allowed to worship in homes and any other living spaces. Muslims, worship at mosques (Masjids), and any other place considered clean by Islamic standards.
So, it's pretty open. There's not necessarily a specific place that you have to go to worship. Both these religions are pretty open. One of the main differences between these religions is the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity, or the Godhead, is one of the core beliefs of Christianity. And it states that there is one God who has three manifestations - the father, the son, as well as the holy spirit.
Muslims however, believe that they are the ones that practice true monotheism, which means that they do not accept the doctrine of the trinity because, how can three be one? And the core belief of Islam is that there is no God worthy of worship but Allah. And it's a simple concept. There's just Allah, that's it.
When it comes to the differences between the scriptures in Christianity and Islam, the holy book in Christianity of course is the Bible. And it's said to be the inspired word of God. This means different things to different people, but pretty much, it means that Christians believe that the books of the Bible are written by many people over a span of 1,500 years.
And those people were guided by the spirit of God through divine inspiration. And these writings came through various different forms, you know? In the Bible, there are songs, there's poetry, there are stories, and there are genealogies. And in these writings, we see personal expressions of human beings working side by side with God.
Now, when we look at the holy book of Islam, the Quran, it is said to be the word of God, and it was dictated to Muhammadﷺ, and it was written down word for word, without any sort of personal expression or any other human-ness, if you will, added to the writings. The truest reading of the Quran has to be in its original Arabic language. Because translating it into other languages can also take away from the interpretation of the Quran.
So, that's where a lot of times, you get a little bit of confusion When it comes to the scriptures of the Quran. People are like, "No, but in the original Arabic, it means this - but if you translate it in English or another language, there's not necessarily a direct translation, so some of the contexts may be lost.
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So, that's what they say - if you want to get the most out of reading the Quran, learn some Arabic! Or, at least find somebody that knows Arabic, and is very versed in the Quran, to help you out.
So, in the Quran, the prophet Abraham was known as the beloved servant of God. And, because of Abraham's devotion to God, God made many of Abraham's descendants, prophets. Now, the story of the prophet Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his own son Isaac is known in both Christianity and Islam.
In Islam, that son, however, who God told Abraham to sacrifice is, Ishmael. And it was through his lineage that Islam was established through the prophet Muhammadﷺ. In Christianity, the son that Abraham was told to sacrifice, was his son Isaac. And through the line of Isaac comes many prophets like Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, King Solomon, and of course, Jesus Christ.
Now, I want to talk a little bit more about the differences in the beliefs of Jesus Christ in both of their religions. In Islam, Muslims accept that Jesus exists and that he was born of the Virgin Mary. But Islam also believes that Jesus was simply another prophet, equal to other prophets before him. Muslims believe that Muhammad ﷺ is a final messenger and is superior to all other previous prophets that came before him.
In the Christian faith, they believe that Jesus is the son of God أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ , which makes him equal to God أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ . And before he came to Earth as a man, he was accepted as a second person of the Trinity. And another title that Jesus is given in Christianity before he came to live on the Earth as a man, is the word of God. And then the word of God, came down to live on Earth in human flesh.
Islam doesn't believe in the idea that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. They believe that God spared him from that. In the Christian faith, God, sacrificing his son أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللّٰهَ Jesus on the cross, is actually the focal point of the faith. Because without that, the world would remain hopeless, just doomed. Humanity done.
So, that leads me to the next difference I want to highlight. What are the differences between the ideas of salvation in both of these religions? Well, Islam teaches that salvation is based on working to achieve it. So, how it works is like this - A Muslim must keep the 5 Pillars of Islam. They have to confess the Shahadah, which is that there is no God but Allah, as well as, Muhammad ﷺ is his Prophet.
And generally speaking, when Muslims pray, they are to pray toward Mecca five times a day. They must also fast during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan. They're also required to give money to the poor, help out people who are in need, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their life.
Islam teaches that the day of judgment will involve people's good deeds and bad deeds being weighed side by side to see, "Okay did the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds?" Christianity has a much different concept of salvation. And it teaches that a person is saved by the gift of God, which is through accepting the death of Jesus Christ, through faith in him.
So, therefore, you're no longer required to do a bunch of different good works to be accepted by God and be saved, but rather, you're just saved through faith in Jesus. And, because you're saved, you just naturally want to now do good work. Because, yeah. Who doesn't want to help out their fellow man? And just be a good person in general?
There are a couple things that I want to take a look at. First of all, is the clergy. The different clergy in the two religions. Islam has Imams, and they are the ones that lead the congregational prayers in the mosques. They also have Sheikhs, Mawlānās, Mullahs, and Mufti in their religion.
In Christianity, there are Priests, Bishops, Ministers, Monks, as well as Nuns, as seen as official clergy. And what are some of the holy days that these religions recognize? Christianity recognizes probably the biggest celebration in the world, Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. There's also Good Friday, which celebrates the death of Jesus, and depending on which denomination of Christianity you fall into, Sunday or Saturday is viewed as the day of rest, or the Sabbath.
Another holy day for Christians is Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And for Catholic Christians, celebrate lent which is the season of 40 days. But, it doesn't count as Sundays. And this begins on a day called Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. And Catholic Christians also celebrate different Saint Feast Days.
Islam of course has their fair share of celebrations, but officially, not as much as Christianity. There is a month of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting. There's Eid ul-Adha, which is the feast of the sacrifice, and Eid ul-Fitr, which is a festival at the end of Ramadan. Now I've gotten to the final difference.
So, similar to Judaism, Islam tends to have stricter guidelines or rules than Christianity. Now in modern Christianity, most of the hardline rules of the Old Testament are more so related to Judaism now. And many of the rules found in the New Testament, are sort of not as harsh as the Old Testament. For example, most Christians freely eat whatever they choose including, pork and foods that are not blessed by religious leaders.
But this is something that Muslims and Jews do under the halal and kosher diet rules. So, a lot of the ancient traditions related to their dietary laws, as well as living laws, still remain alive today.
Conclusion:
The differences between Islam and Christianity. I know that Christianity and Islam have various different schools of thought and different denominations and all of that. Which may have completely different views from anything. I just shared, for the most part, these are the general views and general differences between Islam and Christianity.
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