JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM: THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS From Bernard Lewis

JERUSALEM

ISLAM  Closer to Judeo-Christian tradition than to any of the great religions of Asia – Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism

ISLAM and JUDAISM  Shared belief in a divine law that regulates all aspects of human activity.  That includes food – kosher and hillel

Abraham  Founder of monotheism  Had a wife – Sarah, God promised them child  Sarah was too old to have a child so she told him to have a child w/ Hagar, their servant  Abraham had two sons- Ishmael w/ Hagar and Isaac w/ Sarah

Isaac and Ishmael  God promised Abraham and his family all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers  Arabs claim their ancestry to Ishmael  Jews claim their ancestry to Isaac  This is one of the reasons for the Arab – Israeli conflict

Abraham’s family tree Hagar – Abraham - Sarah Ishmael Who is Abraham’s rightful heir? Isaac

ISLAM and CHRISTIANITY  Belief that they alone are the custodians of God’s final message to humanity  Their duty is to bring it to the rest of the world.  Shared heritage of Jewish revelation and Greek philosophy and science, influence of ancient Middle East.  Belief in prophets, single God  For most of their history, they have been locked in combat.

DIFFERENCES  Separation of church and state in West  Islamic society is both a political state and a religious community. God is highest authority  Mohammad died as a successful leader and conqueror; Jesus died as an outcast and martyr; Moses died before reaching the Promised Land.  No priesthood in Islam.  Koran is not a collection of books, it is a single book by a single author.  No certainty of personal salvation.

SUNNIs  Means “path of the Prophet”  Almost 90% of all Muslims  Believed Mohammad’s successor should be chosen from within community (umma)  Many sects and divisions.

SHI’A or Shi’ites  Believed Mohammad’s successor should have been chosen from among his family.  Earliest leaders, Hussein and Ali, were murdered – tradition of martyrdom.  Big in Iran, southern Iraq, Bahrain, and parts of Lebanon and Syria.

SH’IA Practices  Imams, mullahs and ayatollahs  Imam is a spiritual leader, a descendant of the prophet (or sharif)  Shi’ites revere holy figures, allow images of martyrs and ‘saints’

THE “SHI’ITE CRESCENT”