Comparison Religions God’s Prophets Table of Contents Page 7 All claim a direct lineage to Abraham Page 7 Origins and History Page 8 Common Aspects Page 9 Monotheism Page 9 Theological Continuity Page 9 Scriptures Page 10 Ethical Orientation Page 10 Eschatological World View Page 10 Importance of Jerusalem Page 11 Significance of Abraham and Covenant of Abraham Page 12 Religions Page 13 God Page 15 Religious Scriptures Page 17 End Times and Afterlife – Eschatology Page 18 Worship and Religious Rites Page 20 Circumcision Page 20 Food Restrictions Page 21 Sabbath Observance Page 21 God Fearers Page 22 Trialogue Page 22 Violent Conflicts between Abrahamic Religions Page 25 Other Abrahamic Religions Page 25 Baha’i Faith Page 25 Arab Christians 1 Page 26 History Page 27 After Islamic Conquest Page 28 Post Ottoman era Page 28 Ancient Period Page 29 Classical Antiquity Page 29 Middle Ages Page 30 Arab Architecture Page 31 Ottoman era Page 32 British Mandate and Partition Page 32 History of Zionism and Israel Page 33 Post 1948 Page 33 Boundaries – Ancient and Medieval Page 34 Modern Period Page 34 Modern Evolution of Palestine Page 36 Current Usage Page 37 Demographic History of Palestine Page 37 Late Ottoman and British Mandate Periods Page 39 Current Demographics Page 39 Islam Page 40 Etymology and Meaning Page 41 Concepts of God Page 41 Angels Page 42 Revelations Page 42 Prophets and Sunnah Page 43 Resurrection and Judgement Page 43 Divine Will – Qadar 2 Page 43 Acts of Worship Page 44 Testimony Page 44 Prayer Page 45 Charity Page 45 Fasting Page 45 Pilgrimage Page 46 Recitation and Memorization of the Qur’an Page 46 Family Life Page 47 Etiquette and Diet Page 47 Islam and Humanity Page 48 Moral Behaviour Page 48 Government Page 49 Scholars Page 49 Legal System Page 49 Economics Page 50 Jihad Page 50 Muhammad Page 52 Caliphate and Civil Strife (632 – 750) Page 53 Classical era (750 – 1258) Page 54 Pre-Modern era (1258-20th Century) Page 55 Modern Times (20th Century-Present) Page 56 Denominations Page 57 Sunni Page 57 Shia Page 58 Sufism Page 59 Other Denominations 3 Page 59 Non-Denominational Muslim Page 60 Demographics Page 61 Culture Page 61 Architecture Page 62 Art Page 63 Calendar Page 64 Prophets of Allah Page 65 Linage of Six Prominent Prophets Page 66 Prophet Adam Page 73 Prophet Idris (Enoch) Page 80 Prophet Noah as (Nuh) Page 90 Prophet HUD Page 93 Prophet Shaleh (Saleh) Page 96 Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) & Prophet Ismail (Ishmael) Page 108 Prophet Lut (Lot) Page 112 Prophet Jacob (Ya’qub) & Ishaq (Isaac) Page 118 Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) Page 129 Prophet Ayyub (Job) Page 132 Prophet Shu’aib (Jethro) Page 134 Prophet Musa (Moses) & Prophet Harun (Aaron) Page 152 Prophet Dhul-Kifl (Ezekiel) Page 153 Prophet Dawud (David) Page 157 Prophet Suleiman (Solomon) Page 161 Prophet Ilyas (Elijah) Page 162 Prophet Alyasa (Elisha) Page 163 Prophet Yunus (Jonah) 4 Page 166 Prophet Zakariya (Zachariah) & Prophet Yahya (John) Page 169 Prophet Isa (Jesus) Page 180 Prophet Muhammad 5 The Abrahamic religions, also referred to collectively as Abrahams group of Semitic originated religious sects which claim descent from the practices of the ancient Israelites and the worship of the "God of Abraham". The term derives from a figure from the Bible known as Abrahamic. Although Judaism began as a local tribal cult in the Levant, the Abrahams’s were able to spread globally through Christianity being adopted by the Roman Empire in the 4th century and the military campaigns of the Arabs who spread Islam from the 7th century onward. As a consequence, today the Abrahamic religions are one of the major divisions in comparative religion and Islam is the largest Abrahamic religion in terms of numbers of adherents. Major Abrahamic religions in chronological order of founding are: Judaism - Seventh Century BCE Christianity - First Century CE Islam - Seventh Century CE Abrahamic religions with fewer adherents include the faiths descended from Yazdanism, Samaritanism (branch of Judaism) and the Druze faith (branch of Ismaili Isla, Babiism, the Bahia faith and Rastafarian. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% (3.6 billion people) of the world's population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions and 16% as adherents of no organized religion. Christianity claims 33% of the world's population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0.2% and the Baha’i Faith represents around 0.1%. Etymology 6 All claim a direct Lineage to Abraham Abraham is recorded in the Torah as the ancestor of the Israelites through his son Isaac, born to Sarah through a promise made in Genesis. The sacred text of Christianity is the Christian Bible, the first part of which, the Old Testament, is derived from the Jewish Bible, leading to similar ancestry claims as above, although most Christians are Gentiles who consider themselves as grafted into the family tree under the New Covenant. It is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelite’s, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Bab, regarded by Baha’i’s as a predecessor to Bahaullah, was a Sayyid or a direct descendant of Muhammad and thus traces his ancestry to Abraham's son Ishmael. Tradition also holds that Baha’u’llah is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, Keturah. Origins and History Judaism - regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob, a grandson of Abraham. It has a strictly unitary view of God and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah (Torah has two parts ). In the 19th and 20th centuries Judaism developed a small number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Christianity - began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion “Christianity” with distinctive beliefs and practices. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be “Son of God”, and one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, alongside sacred tradition in some denominations such as the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, dozens of significant denominations and hundreds of smaller ones. 7 Islam - arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a strictly unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Qur’an to be the ultimate authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teaching and practices of a central but not divine prophet, Muhammad. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam, through the final messenger (Muhammad) to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two main branches Sunni and Shia, each of which now have a number of denominations. Baha’i Faith began within the context of Shia Islam in 19th-century Persia, after a merchant named Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi claimed divine revelation and took on the title of the Báb or "the Gate". The Bab's ministry proclaimed the imminent advent of “He whom God shall make manifest”, who Baha’i’s accept as Bahaullah. Baha’i’s respect the Torah, Gospel and the Qur'an, and the writings of the Báb, Bahaullah, and Abdul-Baha are considered the central texts of the faith. A vast majority of adherents are unified under a single denomination. Lesser- known Abrahamic religions, originally offshoots of Shia Islam, include Babiism and Druze faith. Common Aspects The unifying characteristic of Abrahamic religions is that all accept the tradition that God revealed himself to the patriarch Abraham. All are monotheistic and conceive God to be a Superior creator and the source of moral law. Their religious texts feature many of the same figures, histories and places, although they often present them with different roles, perspectives and meanings. Believers who agree on these similarities and the common Abrahamic origin tend to also be more positive towards other Abrahamic groups. In these four Abrahamic religions God and the universe are separate from each other. The Abrahamic religions believe in a judging, paternal, fully external god to which the individual and nature are subordinate. One seeks salvation or transcendence not by contemplating the natural world or speculation, but by seeking to please God (obedience to God's wishes and law) and see divine revelation as outside itself, nature, and custom. Christianity differs somewhat in that, it includes the key tenet of "salvation by grace" and not through seeking to please God or by good deeds. Obedience for the Christian is expected as a natural response to having received salvation. This tenet is based on the Abrahamic principle of righteousness imputed by faith and only through the provision of payment for sin, by Jesus sacrificial death as the promised Messiah. 8 Monotheism All Abrahamic religions claim to be monotheistic, worshiping an exclusive God, although one known by different names. Each of these religions preaches that God creates, is one, rules, reveals, loves, judges, punishes and forgives. However, although Christianity does not profess to believe in three gods, but rather in three persons, united in one essence the Trinitarian doctrine, fundamental of faith for the vast majority of Christian denominations], conflicts with Jewish, Muslim, and Baha’i concepts of monotheism. Since the conception of a divine Trinity is not amenable to Tawhid (oneness of God), the Islamic doctrine of monotheism, Islam regards Christianity as variously polytheistic.