Well I just came back from school and it amazes me how many of my christian friends try to mock the islamic religion even though they don't know anything abou the religion. I am not trying to make a islam vs christianity thread but i just want to point out some key similarities and differences between the two religions. BTW I am a muslim in case you guys want to know what perspective you are getting this from
First:
I hear many people in my school try to joke about "allah" and try to make fun of the word. This is probably the most important point of the thread.
Allah=God . Allah is basically just a translation in arabic of the word god. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in the same God. Allah is just a translation. Again Allah is just an arabic translation of God.
Second:
The biggest difference between Christianity and Islam is the belief of Jesus and who he was
Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God. Many Christians might assume that if you are not christian you don't believe in Jesus or God.
Muslims believe that Jesus is a prophet. Basically Jesus is a messenger of God who came to Earth to spread God's word. Its not like us Muslims disregard Jesus. He is one of the Greatest Prophets of all time and he play a key role in the Islamic religion. He is also suppose to be an important figure in the time when life on earth is suppose to end. In the Quran there is even a chapter in it called Mary which talks about jesus and virgin mary.
I guess that Muslims take the "son of god" more literally. We believe that to be the son of god that would mean that god had a wife and had a child named Jesus. I don't think christians believe that god had a wife do they? I guess the reason Muslims take it literally because the Quran is actually quite scientific. If you want to know more of the science of quran visit this webiste if you want http://www.quranandscience.com/
Third:
Muslims believe in the Bible and the Torah. Yes, you might not believe it, but there are 4 holy books. Torah, Zabur, Bible, and Quran. We consider these the 4 holy books of islam.
The reason we don't believe in the current Bible is because Muslims beleive that the Bible has been changed quite a bit throughtout the years by the Pope, priests, etc. So we don't think it is original and has been changed dramatically. Otherwise we do believe in the Bible.
Fourth: Women-
Many people might assume that Muslims treat women as subordinates because we make them veil and cover their body. Quick history lesson- Originally Muslim women did not veil but as the Arab people cotinue to expand they noticed how many high class women covered their heads so that their maids did not see them in the "wrong" way. Arabs adopted because it was like a trend and i guess many Muslim women thought they would be considered high class.
Basically the whole idea of women dressing accordingly is so that a man does not like her for the looks but for her personality.
Fifth:
Muslims do not hate Jews or Christians!
We actually consider them people of the book.
In fact throughtout history (according to world history AP class I am in) Islam showed the most tolerance against other religions. When that arab empire continued to expand they allowed Jews and Christians to continue practicing their faith. In fact in earlier timesafter Mohammad, Muslims did not want to spread their religion but somehow the religion spread anyways.
So i have many Jewish and Christian friends and I hope it remains that way.
Sixth:
Minor differences-
Mulims not allowed to eat pork, alcohol etc.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews all have a fasting period. Ramadan being for the muslims.
Seventh-
Muslims do not encourange killings!
As a proud Muslim I can say that nowhere in the Quran does it say to kill a person. You will severely punished if you do. I guess the the terrorists (who think they are Musim) were just brainwashed like many Nazis were in the holocaust.
Eigth-
Quoted by a fellow vgchartz user named Cirio
"Most ignorant non-muslims who only hear the headlines of the news poke fun at Islam because they think the Quran teaches violence and their basis of this argument is Jihad. The term Jihad literally means "to strive for" and it is a duty for every Muslim man and woman to accomplish. Jihad can simply be a husband or wife going to work and earning money to pay for his/her family or of a man/woman taking care of their children and parents.
The "territorial" usage of Jihad is of a Muslim providing assistance for another Muslim country when they are being invaded or attacked by another nation (which would be by a non-muslim nation). People often use this meaning of Jihad to say the Quran teaches violence by probing Muslims to attack (which isn't true), and unfortunately, the terrorists also use this meaning as a support for their actions of violence. A proper and right example of "territorial" Jihad was during the Cold War when the USSR had taken control over Afghanistan. Osama Bin Ladin, along with other Arabs, traveled to Afghanistan and worked WITH the US to help defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan and to drive them out of the Muslim nation. THAT is an example of Jihad. Not the stupid BS reasons Al Qaeda used to attack the US or the reasons the ignorant person believes the Quran teaches violence."
So again there are not a lot of differences between the two religions. I just wanted to make this thread to give some knowledge. I did not make this thread to argue which religion is right or not. Please give your thoughts and opinions
And please no comments saying that religion causes fighting or whatever.
