which religion is MOST similar to Christianity or which religion is LEAST similar to Christianity.

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Differences between Christian and Islamic religionsIntroduction
Islamic and Christianity are the two most practiced religions in the world. They both share a conviction in one God who made the world and cared for the beliefs and behavior of human beings. They share much mutual ground as they both trace their origin to Abraham. They both have faith in prophecy, in the resurrection of dead, God’s messengers, revelation, the importance of religious community and the Holy Scripture. They both have a communitarian aspect that is; Christians have the church as their worshipping place while the Muslims have the “umma” over their worshipping place. In spite of these remarkable similarities, conversely, these two religions of the world possess several significant differences as well. This essay tries to put across a number of the different beliefs that the two religions uphold as they seek to coexist.
In the first case, Christians and Muslims believe there only exist one God / Allah. But how they conceptualize God in their particular theologies is entirely different. The stress of the Islamic religion of God is summarized only by one word that is ‘tawhid’, meaning the absolute unity. They claim that there is no difference within the Godhead. To them, God is sublimely one. This is the issue that has raised an eyebrow with their counterpart, Christians, who has the doctrine of Trinity. This has been the central principle causing issues for Muslims in consideration of Christianity (Asad, p45).

The other case is where Christianity has faith that God manifested Himself in order to redeem and to save those who have trust in Him i.e. lead them to a fullness of life, freeing them from the pledges of sin. In accordance with the Islam, revelation is not for the sole reason of restoration, but for the case of “guidance”. That is to say, God’s revelation meant to offer guidance for staying in the world. To Christians, revelation is interceded. Christians trust that the Bible is God’s Word, but do not trust that God automatically conveyed by the use of particular people of some kind. Christians know that the Bible was inscribed by human beings who had divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand Islam, the Qur’an is deliberated the “Unmediated” word from God. Islam takes into consideration very sturdily that in getting the revelation Muhammad was not learned, hence entirely passive. He merely sang what was put into his mouth, minus any input from his own. i.e. “Qur’an” implies “recitation.” It is also to be noted that Qur’an is more of a ‘book-centered’ on religion that Christianity is contrary to (Conteh, p236).
In a nutshell, while they both uphold that God spoke and manifested Himself to all humankind, still there exists one significant difference: while Islam claims that the Qur’an is God’s Word to humanity, their counterpart, Christianity, decrees that Jesus is the word of God’s to all humankind. For Islam, thus, God did speak by the use of a Book. On the contrary, to Christianity, God spoke through Jesus Christ. Islam believes that the inscribed Arabic Book is the wonder while in Christianity; Jesus Christ is the real miracle! They believe that if the Almighty God was to make known His will perfectly by the use of a Book, as Muslims claims, surely He would have done so even more thoroughly and correctly by the utilization of a Person.
The third case is expressed through Sin and salvation that is the central classes in Christian religion and spirituality. Christianity shows that the impacts of the original sin have tainted the world and the entire humankind who are living in it. For Islam, nevertheless, there exists no such a belief of the original sin. The Qur’an does state that Adam and Eve transgressed, but according them, they repented and were totally forgiven so that their sin had no consequences for the rest of humankind. Still, since Muslims have faith in that prophets are not prone to sin the doctrine is well identified as` isma’. To them, it is perceived a blasphemy in saying that Christ died a shameful death on the cross for all humankind who had fall short of God’s glory. Therefore, they deny that it was Christ who was crucified instead; they claim that it was Judas ho was made to look like Jesus by God and was to suffer the rightful and painful penalty for his betrayal. Through the story, Muslim views themselves as a state used to protect the prophetic uprightness of Jesus, since to them a true prophet, was not to suffer the humiliation that Jesus did. Muslims upholds that Jesus rose to heaven but reject that he died on the cross (Haddad, p402). Christians complain about the fact that a defective presentation of original sin led to early Islam in throwing out the baby having the bath water with respect to their knowledge of sin. By responding against a weak consideration of the original sin, as described, they end up missing what Christians take to be the crucial truth of human being: that no matter how tough one attempts to follow the “right practice,” one will end up falling short of the target. People are no able to have a kind of life that God wants by using their own power. For this reason, it calls for the essence of salvation (Aslan, p87).
On the other hand, both religions tend to consider themselves as responsible for a community of faith and spiritual growth. However, there are certain notable differences tend to exist between the Muslims and Christian visions of religious community. There is no destined ministry in the Islamic ‘umma’. Likewise, in the Islamic ‘umma’ there is a more emphasis on homogeneity which is directed on a common form of life in the entire of the Islamic world, controlled by the ‘sharia’ which is the religious law compared to the Christian in the church at large. Christians try an attempt of “incarnating” their religion as much as it’s required in the local culture. For instance, liturgical texts, the Bible, and hymns are interpreted into the local language and to fit the local culture. On the contrary, one has to learn Arabic for them to be a perfect Muslim. This is because the Qur’an is termed as “untranslatable”; this is to mean that, to the Muslim the context of the Qur’an is inseparably linked to the original linguistic.
Furthermore, Muslims and Christians possess a different understanding concerning the true worship. Diverse denominations worship in distinctly different ways as they have all reacted to different cultural and social contexts. For example, in Islam, all Muslims pray in a similar manner, in the entire world, with no significant differences, irrespective of cultural and social setting. Muslims, on the other hand, is very attentive not only to the interior phases of worship but rather to the external aspects as well. From this, it’s seen that Muslims have much more in similarities with Eastern Christianity compared to the Western Christianity, particularly Protestantism. Compared to Eastern Christians, Muslims use their whole being in prayer. Both groups, for example, make bowings before the Almighty God in their worshipping. This appeared strange to a number of Protestants, whose worship entailed of sitting or sometimes standing from time to time in a contented setting (Heck, pg101).
On the other hand, the two have some beliefs in common. They both believe that there is one God who made the universe and were supreme in the lives of humankind. They also agree that God is the foundation of morality and justice. They also accept the ultimate that Justice is allotted via life after death in hell and heaven. Fundamentalist, they both consider such things as licentious living and pornography being pollutants to the society (Heck, p203).
Conclusion
The submission of the Spirit is signified by the compliant gestures of the body, made basing on a ritualized form. To Muslims they have a much easier time, thus, indulgent to the spirit of the highly established liturgical worship of the Eastern Christian than they do inconsiderate with what they deliberate to by the exceedingly informal, loose worship of the Evangelical Christian. This is an interesting topic in Christian-Muslim associations that needs to be explored more entirely in learning and inter-faith discussion: both Christians and Muslims are expected to inspect more objectively and more fully the differences and similarities between the experiences of prayer and worship of the two religions.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Asad, Talal. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. JHU Press, 2009.
Aslan, Adnan. Religious Pluralism in Christian and Islamic Philosophy: The Thought of John Hick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Routledge, 2013.
Conteh, Prince Sorie. Traditionalists, Muslims, and Christians in Africa: Interreligious Encounters and Dialogue. Cambria Press, 2009.
Haddad, Jane L. Smith, Esposito. Religion and Immigration: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Experiences in the United States. AltaMira Press, 2004.
Heck, Paul L. Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism. Georgetown University Press, 2009.