Jesus and Muhammed

Jesus Christ and Mohammed

Jesus Christ and Mohammed, no two single men have touched more lives. They founded two related yet separate religions that today have 1.8 billion and 1.1 billion adherents respectively (Fairchild, 2005). In the year, 0 B.C. near the town of Bethlehem, Jesus was born. Almost 600 years later in the town of Mecca the Prophet Muhammad was born. These two events changed the course of history for all humankind.

Jesus Christ

The history of Jesus has been around for a very long time. Christianity is a faith based on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was born as a Jew about two thousand years ago in Roman-occupied Palestine. He had taught for about three years, but nothing was written down at the time; his stories were told after his death. The religion that follows Jesus has the most followers than any other. Everything we know about Jesus comes from the Bible. The main religion that believes in Jesus is Christianity. What Christians believe about Jesus’ life and teachings is based largely on biblical text, particularly the first four books of the New Testament, which are called the gospels (Fisher, 2005).

According to the Gospels, Mary who was a virgin when she conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit was his mother. Her husband was Joseph, who was a carpenter from Bethlehem. There were no stories told about Jesus’ childhood until he was twelve, when, according to the Gospel of Luke, he was to accompany his parents on their yearly trip to Jerusalem for Passover. Left behind by mistake, he was said to have been discovered by his parents in the Temple discussing the Torah with the rabbis; all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When he was found and scolded he reportedly replied, “Do you not know that I must be in my father’s house (Paine, 1896)?” At a young age this shows his knowledge of the Jewish tradition, and the close personal connection between him and God.

During his lifetime, Jesus did many good deeds. He didn’t believe in harming people or asking for money or anything in return for helping them out. He helped them because he enjoyed it. He would help the sick, restore the dead to life, and make little food into enough for thousands of people to eat, give advice to people all over, and teach them how to live in a better way of thinking and doing good deeds instead of causing evil. He also did many miraculous things, such as turning water into wine, walking on water, and raising the dead back to life. These miracles were performed compassionately and quietly out of love for the people. Many people were thankful for his actions, and believed in him; but there were others who thought he was a liar and should be punished for fooling the townspeople. Before Jesus was crucified he knew that the day would come. He warned his disciples of what will happen and why it will happen. After the crucifixion and death, he came back (resurrected) his disciples were all amazed and shocked. People started to have great faith in Jesus, even those who denied him before. The story of Jesus Christ spread rapidly throughout the world, and even now the faith is just as strong as it was thousands of years ago. It is believed that Christians were the first religion to become official and have faith in Jesus Christ (MacGrath, 1997).

Muhammad

Muhammad was considered a prophet in the Muslim religion. In about 570 C.E. a new prophet was born. This man, Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the last of a continuing chain of prophets who have come to restore the true religion. Muhammad was born in one of the poorest clans, but in one of the most powerful tribes in the area. The meaning of his name is “the praised one”. His father died before he was born and shortly after his mother and grandmother passed away. After his family deaths, Muhammad was taken care of by his uncle, who put him to work as a Shepherd.

Even though Allah (God) is the focus of Islam, Muhammad who is not the sole authority is still very important to the Muslim people. His character is considered a model of the teachings in the Koran (Qur’an). The stories of Muhammad’s life and his sayings are preserved in a vast, not fully authenticated literature called the Hadith, which reports on the Prophet’s Sunnah (sayings and actions). When Muhammad was a teenager he went on a trip to Syria with his uncle. He was noticed by a Christian monk who identified marks on his body which indicated his statues as a prophet. As a young man, Muhammad managed caravans for a beautiful and wealthy woman named Khadijah. When she was forty and he was twenty-five, she offered to marry him. She became his strongest supporter during the difficult