...Islam and Christianity are similar in their commitments to their God , but different in culture systems and reading scriptures. The commitments to faith include the Five Pillars of Faith and The Ten Commandments. Also the commitments to faith are the rules of being in that religion. Cultural systems includes places of worship to their Gods and different branches of religion that belongs to religion. The Scriptures text from the Islam Qu’ran and Christian Bible includes beliefs and what happens to a person when they die if the are a follower of a religion. Islam and Christianity have similar commitments to their God. Islam commitments to their god is doing the Five Pillars of Faith. The Five Pillars of Faith for the Islam culture means following five rules which is: Acknowledgement that “there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.” The Islamic religion must pray five times a day facing “Mecca: at dawn, at noon, in the...
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...Halloween: Harmless or Haram? An Islamic Perspective Every year, on the evening of October 31st, millions of children across North America paint their faces, dress up in costumes, and go door to door collecting treats. The adults often decorate their houses with ghostly figures, carve scary faces on pumpkins, and put candles in them to create “Jack-O-Lanterns.” Unfortunately, among the millions of North Americans indulging in this custom, many are also Muslims. This article will shed some light on the significance and origins of Hallow’een, and why Muslims should not participate in it. Origins of the Hallow’een Festival The ancient Celtic (Irish/Scottish/Welsh) festival called Samhain is considered by most historians and scholars to be the predecessor of what is now Hallow’een. Samhain was the New Year’s day of the pagan Celts. It was also the Day of the Dead, a time when it was believed that the souls of those who had died during the year were allowed access into the “land of the dead”. Many traditional beliefs and customs associated with Samhain continue to be practiced today on the 31st of October. Most notable of these customs are the practice of leaving offerings of food and drink (now candy) to masked and costumed revelers, and the lighting of bonfires. Elements of this festival were incorporated into the Christian festival of All Hallow’s Eve, or Hallow-Even, the night preceding All Saint’s (Hallows’) Day. It is the glossing of the name Hallow- Even...
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...Christianity and Islam. They all recognize some prophets like Elijah, Abraham, Jesus of Nazareth and they worship the same God just by a different name. Despite all the wars and deaths over religious differences, major religions are not really that different from each other; in fact, the similarities should bring people together. They all worship a higher power. “Islam is a monotheistic religion founded by Muhammad the Prophet” (“Islam”); “in Arabic Allah means The God” (Bowker 162). Monotheistic means the belief in only one God alone; just like Christians and Jews that only believe in one god. That’s three religions worshiping the same God. “Judaism holds that here is one all-powerful God (Yahweh) to whom all Jews have a personal relationship” (“Judaism”). Their God is all seeing which means he is every at once. Their God controls and guides their lives. “The central deity of Buddhism is the human spirit” (“Buddhism”). The Buddhists believe that God is in the human spirit. Their God doesn’t control the universe but controls one’s self. In all the religions they have history and teachings written down. The major religions all have sacred writing that has the words of the founders and God. The primary book for Jews is the Bible which is divided into three sections: Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim (“Judaism”). Torah tells the laws, Neviim has the prophets, Ketuvim has the writings. The Old Testament in the Christian Bible comes from the Jewish bible. “Islam believes the Qur’an...
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...these people identified as Muslim, this is 23% of the world's population. This makes Islam the second most followed religion in the world behind only Christianity which has 32% of the world’s population. Islam was able to spread so quickly due to prevalent trade, their raids on other civilizations, and because they allowed other monotheistic peoples to continue practicing their religions for a small tax. The religious center of Islam is the city of Mecca, which is located in Western Arabia. Mecca had access to direct trade routes to all major cities throughout the Middle East which allowed culture (namely religion) to spread through trade. Some of these land trade routes included Damascus, Petra, and Constantinople. These routes were able to spread religion so efficiently due to their high volumes of exchange, all goods headed to China, India, and East Africa had to pass through Mecca. This can be seen on Document A on the included map, the solid lines clearly connect to many major...
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...comment on the negative aspects of the religion, if any. The ultimate goal of this report is to determine if earth is a religious planet. I started my journey in the East, where I studied Christianity. In Christianity, the people attend church every Sunday or chose to worship at home in their own way. Christianity is a monotheistic religion and the people worship a higher power called God. The people of Christianity follow Ten Commandments that states: Thou shall not, steal, kill, lie, worship Idols, use the lord name in vein, commit adultery, covet what your neighbors have, and in addition to that, one should honor thy Parents, and keep the Sabbath holy. These Commandments are found in the Christian Bible, which is a collect of ancient scriptures, that the Christians hold as the Word of God. Christians hold ceremonies at church, such as, weddings, baptisms, christenings, and funerals. When Christians want to join in union together, they get married and start living together as one. A ceremony called a baptism is held at church; when a person wants to cleansed of their sins they have committed, they get baptized. A funeral is a ceremony to mourn the dead. There are also holidays...
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...indigenous religion with the Japanese culture with a lot of influence of Buddhism and other imported religions. Based on Shinto legends which link Shinto to Nationalism, it was believed that the native Japanese people are descended from the “Kami”, the most ancient form of spirituality, were present at the founding of Japan. Because of these beliefs, that the imperial families were an unbroken line of descent from Amaterasu, and that the family is older than the people of Japan, and its survival depends on maintaining the relationship between the Emperor and his people, the emperor rule Japan because this is what their gods want to. Allegiance to the emperor is one of the factors of being a Shinto which led to being a nationalist. Another example of would be the Japanese national Flag, a red circle on a white background. Red signifies the rising sun and the white background signifies purity, righteousness, and national loyalty. Explain at least two ways in which Zoroastrianism acts like a bridge between Eastern and Western religions. Based from what I understand with Zoroastrianism, I found out that it is one of the ancient religions in the world, and its beliefs have some similarity with other religions like Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism such as the belief in a supreme God, The Duality of Existence, Divinity of creation, Spiritual nature of the world and human beings, Belief in polytheism, Belief in the basic goodness of the humanity, Belief in the sanctity of the elements...
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...Shelby Hooper Matthew Franks HUM/130 June 28, 2014 Five Pillars of Islam The first pillar of Islam is the “Shahadah”, this is the assumption in no god but God, this wholeness shows their loyalty to God. The other part of this one pillar is to give others outside of the religion this communication, in order to increase the word about the religion, but they aren’t to admit the message under pressure. The second pillar is to do regular prayers, Muslims need to pray five times a day, to use water or sand, face Mecca and repeat a order of prayers that come from the Qur’an. They do this by bending over on their hands and knees. The third pillar is called zakat, this where all Muslims must contribute, half of their yearly earnings to the underprivileged and deprived people. This is believed to help with prejudice in wealth among the people, but it is also meant to keep a person from being money hunger. According to Fischer (Fischer, 2005) Saudi Arabia gives fifteen percent of the country’s gross domestic product earnings to development and relief projects all over the world every year. The Islamic Relief association is subsidized by this; they support communities all over the world after tragedies and other problems. The fourth pillar is fasting, it is urged that all Islamic people do constant fasting; the time that it is necessary is during Ramadan, commemorating the first announcement of the Qur’an to Muhammad. (Fischer, 2005). The fasting during Ramadan takes place between...
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...There are many historical connections and similarities of the three Religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The origin of the three religions names are: Christianity- The name came from the Greek: Christos, ‘Anointed’ refers to Jesus Christ. Islam- Was derived from the Arabic word ‘submission. It is also related to the Arabic word salaam, meaning ‘peace’. Judaism- Came from The Hebrew word - Came from The Hebrew word Yehudim, meaning ‘Peace”. The Books each religions follow are: The Bible is what Christians follow. This book was derived from the Greek word Biblos, ‘books’. It was given to man from God. The writers of the Bible were inspired by God in their writings. The Quran (or Koran) is the book the Islam religion follows. It reveled to the prophet Mohammed over around 20 years. It is the final revelation given by Allah to mankind. The Hebrew Tanakh is similar to the Christian Old Testament and was comprised of the Torah, Hebrew “Law”, Nevi’im “Prophets” and Ketuvim “Writings”. Some of the historical connections are that Judaism is connected to Christianity through The Old Testament and Jesus. Jesus is considered the Messiah in Christianity and the son of God. He was born and raised as a Jew in ancient Palestine. His virgin mother always enforced the belief that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so therefore he is the son of God. This was the beginning of a new religion called Christianity, where the primary beliefs are that there is one God (like Judaism) and...
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...AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM To observant Muslims, ritual prayer is as natural as sleeping or eating. Islam is not just one component of its believers' lives, a set of beliefs remembered on special occasions. Rather, for the devout, it is a way of life. Its tenets and rules permeate almost everything, often including politics and government. In a world swayed by misunderstanding of cultural differences, Islam and its adherents often are stereotyped and caricatured, branded with the violent or sexist image of a small minority of zealots. In reality, Islam is no better characterized by acts of Middle Eastern terrorists, for example, than is Christianity by acts of Northern Ireland's terrorists. Islam is an ancient religion with profound historical and theological ties to Judaism and Christianity. All three religions worship the same God, acknowledge large parts of the same Bible and revere Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses. And, as do Christians, Muslims regard Jesus as the messiah. In fact, Islam teaches that it represents the modern mainstream of a primordial, monotheistic religion that began with the earliest humans. Over millennia, the religion took form with the early Jewish prophets, was modified significantly by Jesus and finally shaped by Muhammad, the final prophet, who died in 632. Among Muhammad's most important acts was rejection of the old Jewish concept of a "chosen people." Instead, he taught that all people are born Muslim and that anyone -- regardless of color, nationality...
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...Mankind has often attributed bewildering phenomena to the supernatural, specifically to God or gods. From ancient civilizations to today, God has been the suspected force behind a wide spectrum of events. From the movement of celestial bodies to the workings of microorganisms, to astonishing moments in sports, God, usually within the context of religion, is the magician behind it all. A higher force may exist but presenting it as truth or even likely is not sensible. Religion negatively affects rationality with its doctrines, scriptures, and governance because it promotes ignorance. Ignorance comes in many forms; ignorance of evidence, moral perspective, other faiths, equality, etc. Theorizing a higher force is neither illogical nor dangerous, but piling on details contrary to what reason dictates does just that. It was sensible for ancient civilizations to do such things, and the same goes for primitive cultures today. However, these ideas should not subsist in the modernized parts of the world. The rise of religious beliefs within past civilizations does seem reasonable when considering the time period. Calling the ancient Egyptians “dumb” or their beliefs “stupid” is naïve since they lacked scientific knowledge and the means to obtain it. To the Egyptians, the sun and moon appeared as if they were moving and switching places periodically. The “mover” responsible for these actions was labeled Ra, the sun god. Now we know that Earth’s rotation affects the amount of sunlight...
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...cultural events worldwide: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All are called Abrahamic religions because each utilizes the teaches of Abraham in its central historical view of the world. Each of the three Abrahamic faiths are monotheistic, and actually account for over 50% of the world’s population, or almost 4 billion people (Christian Science Monitor, 8/4/98). Note, too, that besides the three major traditions, other religions cite their traditions from Abraham: Mandaenism, Rastafairnism, Bahai, Samaritan, and the Druze (“Why Abrahamic?”) It is also interesting to note that within these three religious teachings, there are considerable areas of commonality, yet the three are often at odds with one another over political and social issues, even in the contemporary world. The name Judaism comes from the Hebrew word Yehuda, meaning celebrated or praised. This set of beliefs originated from the ancient tribes of the Middle Eastern deserts, the Israelites, and told within the Talmud, or the ancient Hebrew Bible. In essence, Judaism is the special relationship that the Children of Israel have with God, and that special relationship derived from promises and covenants of law, tradition, and civil rights. Many scholars, in fact, see Judaism as one of the first monotheistic religions (depending on the argument about the Egyptian Sun-King, Amon-Ra), and its history and traditions have strongly influences other religions, most especially Islam and Christianity (Robinson, 2001). Judaism,...
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...THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND RADICALISM Dr. M. LAL GOEL Also known as Dr. Madan Lal Goel University of West Florida lgoel@uwf.edu Abstract. The notion of a clash of civilizations has gained notoriety since the terrorist attack on WTC on 9/11/2001. Professor Samuel P. Huntington has popularized the view that the coming global conflict will be among major civilizations, not among different political ideologies. He identifies eight major civilizations: the Western (Europe and North America), Slavic (Russia and Eastern Europe), Islamic, Confucian, Hindu, Japanese, Latin American, and the African. Of particular focus in the present paper is the threat to civilization from radical Islam. Three factors that foment radicalism are described: the Islamic theology of exclusiveness, the nostalgic memory of a Muslim empire that lasted nearly 1,000 years, and the consequences of oil boom in the Middle East. Population estimates for different civilizations are provided at the end. Introduction The theory of a clash of civilizations has been with us for some time. British historian Arnold Toynbee used the term in a series of lectures he delivered in 1953. The Middle East specialist Bernard Lewis wrote in 1990 that the Muslim rage against the West is “no less than a clash of civilizations” (Lewis, 1990, p 60). Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard University political science professor, has given new currency to the notion of a clash of civilizations. His 1993 article in Foreign...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions There are many religions in the world today. It is possible to study many individual religions and never fully understand one religion completely. In this paper only three religions will be discussed. The three religions discussed are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The primary focus religion that will be discussed is Christianity, the second religion will be Judaism, and the third religion will be Islam. In this paper the historical connections between these three religions will be explored. Questions will be answered such as; what makes these three religions similar? How are they connected? The theological similarities and differences between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam will also be thoughtfully brought up. The contemporary struggles within Christianity today will be explored. It will also be discussed what contemporary struggles Christianity has with Judaism and the contemporary struggles between Christianity and Islam. In this paper it is the expressed hope that the reader will be able to learn about these three religions and gain knowledge. The paper is to help the reader learn something new about Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and with curiosity want to explore these individual religions further. With this hope in mind this paper will start with the historical connections between these religions. When you take a look at the different religions being discussed in this paper you first have to look at how each one is defined...
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...Understanding Islam Darren Crowe February 2, 2016 Sarah Mueller Understanding Islam Islam Islam dates back into the 6th century AD, the religion of the Muslims and a monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah. The word Islam means submission or surrender and Muslim means one who surrenders themselves to God. The Arabic word for god is "Allah" which has become a kind of name of God in Islam. The Mosque is most known place to worship in the Muslim community, the mosque always points toward Mecca at a sacred stone, but if Muslim is in Mecca they would face the sacred stoned named Ka’aba. This stone was believed to been built by Abraham. The five pillars, Quran, and the Ramadan will also be discussed in this paper. Quran The Quran or Koran means the reading in Arabic. The Quran is a form of sacred texts of Islam that is broken down into 114 suras or chapters ("What Is Islam?", n.d.). Within the chapters of the Quran ethnics, theology, law, and history is discussed as God literal words. The Quran came about into new order by a holy spirit by the name Gabriel, who gave the Quran to Muhammad. Muhammad full name is Muhammad Ibn Abdullah and is known as the final prophet of God to the world. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 A.D and died in 632 A.D., by being poisoned. Five Pillars The first Pillar consist of the testimony of faith, meaning there is no true god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God. Second Pillar is prayer...
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...History The history of Africa begins with the prehistory of Africa and the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, continuing into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. Some early evidence of agriculture in Africa dates from 16,000 BCE,[1] and metallurgy from about 4000 BCE. The recorded history of early civilization arose in Egypt, and later in Nubia, the Maghreb and the Horn of Africa. During the Middle Ages, Islam spread through the regions. Crossing the Maghreb and the Sahel, a major center of Muslim culture was Timbuktu. Some notable pre-colonial states and societies in Africa include the Nok culture, Mali Empire, Ashanti Empire, Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Kingdom of Sine, Kingdom of Saloum, Kingdom of Baol, Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kongo, Ancient Carthage, Numidia, Mauretania, theAksumite Empire, the Ajuuraan State and the Adal Sultanate. From the late 15th century, Europeans and Arabs took slaves from West, Central and Southeast Africa overseas in the African slave trade.[2] European colonization of Africa developed rapidly in the Scramble for Africaof the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Following struggles for independence in many parts of the continent, as well as a weakened Europe after the Second World War, decolonization took place. Africa's history has been challenging for researchers in the field of African studies because of the scarcity of written sources in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Scholarly techniques...
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