Jesus & Mohammed Paper

Jesus & Mohammed Paper

Introduction

Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) are two of the worlds' most famous religious personalities. These two personalities are head of the most popular religions of the world namely Christianity and Islam.

Christianity: Boasting a follower population of over two billion people, Christianity is descendant from Judaism. It holds the belief that Jesus Christ is the messiah who is promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. His birth, life, death and finally his resurrection was for the salvation of all his followers in the world. Christianity is said to be an Abrahamic Faith which has two others besides Christianity, namely Judaism and Islam. These beliefs trace their lineage to Abraham who is known in regards to the Hebrew Scriptures. The Holy texts are inclusive of the Old Testament and the New Testament (Wilkinson, 2003).

Islam: It is the second most popular religion of the world and has, a follower strength of 1.5 billion people. It is the last of the Abrahamic faiths and is monotheistic. The origination of Islam was in the 7th Century by the teachings of Muhammad (P.B.U.H). According to the Islamic doctrine, Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is the last of all Prophets sent by God from Abraham's lineage. Their Holy Scripture is Quran that was bestowed upon Muhammad (P.B.H.U) by God as his miracle. The word Islam is derived from 'submission'. Therefore submission to God's will and strict obedience is the doctrine of Islam. The religion is based upon five pillars which are the foundation namely Shahada which is the testimony of Oneness of God, Salah offering prayers daily, Zekah give alms to the needy, Sawm which dictates fasting during the month of Ramadan (Islamic Calendar) and finally Hajj that is a pilgrimage to Holy Kabaa situated at Mecca.

Discussion

Jesus Christ

Life

Mathew and Luke describe the life history of Jesus as being born to Mary, a virgin in Bethlehem Judea (Wildsmith, 2000). According to Mathew, Jesus was brought gift by the wise men that find him by following a star and name him as King of Jews. The current King of the era that is King Herod, in order to kill Jesus orders all babies boys to be killed in Bethlehem; Jesus' family travel to Egypt.

Ministry of Jesus begins in the gospels' with his Baptism according to John the Baptist at thirty years of age. When Jesus preaches in Galilee he starts gathering disciples. Once he is proclaimed as Jesus Christ, a band of three disciples bear witness to his Transfiguration. Later when John the Baptist dies, Jesus then sets out on his last journey to the city of Jerusalem because he had predicted that he would die there. He reaches the city and pretty soon there are strife's with Pharisees. Afterwards one of Jesus' disciples betrays him for the amount of thirty pieces of silver (Porter, 1999).

During his last week he has the Last Supper and is arrested and tried on the very next day. He ends up being crucified and dying on the ...