Commonalities Between Judaism And Christianity

Commonalities Between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism
Religion has always been an integral part of society. One cannot understand modern culture, history or language without a knowledge of the subject. Though there are many religions, three of the most influential are Christianity, Judaism and Islam. In fact, as of 2010, 54.9 percent of the world’s population identifies as Jewish, Muslim or Christian (Pew Research, p.9). The relationship between these three religions has influenced the world dramatically. Despite a history of conflict and prejudice, Islam, Christianity and Judaism are more similar than they are different due to commonalities in their historical roots, religious texts and central beliefs.
Conflict and Persecution
Both a unifier
Common Ancestor
Abraham (or Ibrahim) is a central figure in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. All three religions came from this one man and his descendants. According to the Qur’an, Tankah and Bible, Abraham was a faithful and righteous man. “ And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, Bereshit 15:6).
Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had no children and were both getting old. In order for Abraham to have a son, Sarah gave her handmaid, Hagar (or Hajar) to Abraham for a wife. Hagar bore him a son named Ishmael . One day they were visited by three holy messengers, and because of their generosity and respect God made a promise with them that Sarah would bare a child. True to the promise, Abraham and Sarah did have another son, named Isaac. In the Qur’an, Ibrahim praises Allah for his two sons, “Praise to Allah , who has granted to me in old age Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication.” (The Qur'an, Ibrahim
Many hundreds of years later (around 600 AD) Muhammad was born of direct lineage of Ishmael. Muhammad, the last prophet according to Islam, received revelation from Allah through the Angel Gabriel which was written down to form the Qur’an.
Religious Texts A major step to understand a religion in its entirety is to read about it. A very interesting similarity between Islam, Judaism and Christianity is that they all have a central religious text. Judaism is based on the Tanach. Christianity is based on The Bible. Islam is based on the Qur’an. Each of these texts were originally written in a language other than English. The Tanach was written in Hebrew, The Qur’an in Arabic and The New Testament in Greek. The content in each of these texts are quite similar, with similar stories and characters. Adam and Eve An account of Adam and Eve is included in the Qur’an, Bible and Tanach. The account included in the Qur’an includes a description of the Garden of Eden. “‘O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.’”( Al-Baqarah 2:35). The Bible also contains a description of the Garden of