Do Muslims, Christians, And Jews Worship The Same God? (Part 1)

Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in the same God. All three religions have basically the same moral message, claims Professor Christer Hedin. But there are also significant differences, and the relationship between them has oscillated between hostility and peaceful coexistence throughout history. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are what one might call sibling religions. Christianity is the largest of the three, with between 1.7 and two billion professors in the world. The Muslims are just over one billion, and the Jews about 18 million. Nevertheless, they have common roots, meaning there are remarkable similarities between the three religions and important differences. Let’s check all about it in this article!

The basis is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in the same God. They all believe that it is God who created the world and man. God has entrusted creation to man for him to manage responsibly. But for man to be able to take responsibility, he must have freedom. Therefore, it can be called that man is the “image of God”. That means that she shares an important quality with her creator, the ability to distinguish between evil and good. Therefore, men were given the task of developing all the possibilities of creation, taking advantage of its riches, and distributing them fairly. But not everything has turned out as God had intended. People have done a lot of good – but also a lot of harm. To guide people to a better life, God has given her the rules of life. He has, in various ways, wanted to help us realize the conditions of life; above all, it is a gift from the creator. Anyone who sees life as a gift can more easily share in its riches. Therefore, God has tried to break the power of evil on earth and free man from his harmful influence.

The three religions all have sacred texts. In the Jewish religion, the five books of the Bible, the Torah, are the most important. The Christians’ Bible has been included by the Christians in their holy scriptures and supplemented with their own texts in the New Testament. The central sacred text of the Muslims, the Qur’an, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the sixth century AD. The Qur’an contains the basic ideas of Islam. It is repeated in many ways that God has created the world and wants people to manage it according to His will. Laws and regulations take Muslims from another type of text. They are called hadiths and contain traditions about Muhammad’s life.

The reverence for the sacred texts creates similar problems in all three religions. It gives strength to be able to refer to a divine revelation that holds faith together. Jews and Muslims also experience an intense communion of God as they recite the sacred text in the original language. Sacred texts can form the basis of both magic and mystery. On the other hand, the great reverence for the lyrics also means problems. One can begin to discuss current issues with arguments that are mainly based on the interpretation of texts. An idea of, for example, Darwin or homosexuality may rest on the personal or psychological characteristics of those who express opinions. Still, they refer to the texts in the debate and consider themselves most faithful to their message.

The three religions are similar in that they have sacred texts of two types. The main holy texts form the basis of the faith. They are supplemented by other texts that, in principle, should be subordinate but often have great significance for solving problems that arise when the texts are to be applied in a new era. Christians believe that the Old Testament should be interpreted based on the New Testament. Do we have to believe the Bible’s creation story and reject Darwin’s teachings to be faithful to the Bible? It claims Christians who are hesitant about the theories of evolution (for some reason). Muslims have several hadiths who express discrimination against women. Contemporary feminists dismiss them because they believe that the Qur’an advocates gender equality and that all hadiths who oppose the Qur’an must be rejected as false.

Want to know more similarities and differences in the Abrahamic faiths? Stay tuned for the second part!