Jerusalem: a holy city for three religions: Christianity,
Judaism and Islam.
In
the year 2001 I was taking Hebrew classes in the National Autonomous University
of Mexico (UNAM[1])
in one of my classes we were told that we were going to be visited by Sergio
Berlioz. Sergio Berlioz is a Mexican Jew living in Mexico City. He is famous
for his talent in music. When he visited us he did not talk about music but his
experience as a Jew and the Frank Kafka works. As part of his presentation, he
explained to us that Jerusalem is a holy city to the three major Abrahamic
religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I was a little confused but then I
started to study about it and the topic has been really interesting to me.
For the Jews, Jerusalem has been the holiest city since, according to the
Torah, King David of Israel first established it as the capital of the united
kingdom of Israel in c. 1000 B.C., and his son Solomon commissioned the
building of the first temple in the city.
For Christians, Jerusalem has been a holy city since,
according to the New Testament; Jesus was crucified in 30 A.D.
In Sunni Islam,
Jerusalem is the third holiest city. It became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (Salah) in 610 A.D
and, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten
years later.
Deities, Scriptures and Prayers
(Rituals)
Gods
The God of the Jews has a proper name, written YHWH, in Rabbinical Judaism vocalized as Hebrew: Modern Yehova. The name YHWH literally means "The Existent
One" and relates to God as God truly is, God's essence, which transcends
the universe, it also represents God's compassion towards the world.
For Christians God is
understood by as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; a single infinite being who is both within and beyond
nature. Less commonly, non-Trinitarian
theologies exist in various denominations which define the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit as separate beings.
For the Muslims God is
Allah is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, controller, and judge of the
universe. Islam points out the conceptualization of God as strictly singular
God is unique. Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of mercy
for which all creatures including humans should praise Allah. According to the
Islamic teachings, God does not exist in a single space. The Qur’an explains it
in these words: "No vision can
grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. God is above all comprehension,
yet is acquainted with all things"[2]
The main similarity that I
found is that the three religions share the same God. They call him with
different names but is the same God that created the earth, created Adam and
spoke to Abraham. The difference is that “their God” has elected and can save their
particular group of people that belong to their specific religion. So, Yehova
cares for the Jews, The father of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ cares for the
Christian and Allah cares for the Muslims.
Scriptures
For the Jews “The Hebrew Bible”
includes:The Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, forming the covenant
between God and the Jewish people. They also use the Talmud which is an
abridgment of the rabbinic discussions about the Hebrew bible plus other
topics of Jew ethic , philosophy and history.
The Christians also
believe in the Hebrew Bible but call it the Old Testament. This, plus the “New
Testament” which is an account of the birth, life and ministry of Jesus Christ
and his apostles constitutes the Christian Scriptures.
For the Islamic religion,
the sacred book is called “The Qur’an”. Muslims believe that the Qur’an was
revealed to Muhammad by Allah verbally through the archangel Gabriel
over a period of approximately twenty-three years, beginning in 610 A.D, when he was forty, and concluding in 632 A.D. the year when
he passed away. This book was written after the Hebrew Bible and the Christian
Bible. The Qur’an mentions that those two books are true and given by God
through revelation as well. All the main prophets of the Judaism and
Christianity (including Jesus) are mentioned in the Qur’an. So, in a way the Qur’an claims to be a continuation
of the prior two books and the final one.
The main similarity is
that all these sacred book speak about God and his dealings with the same
prophets: Adam, Noah, Enoch, etc. The main difference is that Each new book are
used as the foundation for a new
religion. The New Testament is the
foundation for Christianity, (Jews only kept the Old testament) The Qur’an is
the foundation for Islam (Christian only kept the New Testament). Christians,
with exception, generally agree that the Torah is the original work of Moses but has been modified in translation, transliteration or
transcription to include more recent names of places and similar insubstantial
alterations.
The Qur'an contains many
references to people and events that are mentioned in the Bible; that Jesus was given the gospel from the Abrahamic God.
Traditionally, Muslims have believed that parts of these teachings were
eventually lost or distorted to produce what are now the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.
Prayers (Rituals)
In Judaism, Jews
recite prayers three times daily (upon waking up in the morning, before eating or
drinking different foods, and at night), with a fourth prayer added on Shabbat and holidays. A very important key prayer in some worshiping
services is the declaration of faith, the Shema Israel (or Shema). The Shema is the
recitation of a verse from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4): Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God!
The Lord is One!"
Most of the prayers in a traditional Jewish
service can be recited individually, although communal prayer is preferred.
Communal prayer requires at least a group of ten adult Jews, called a minyan. In nearly all
Orthodox and a few Conservative circles, only male Jews are counted toward a
minyan; most Conservative Jews and members of other Jewish denominations count
female Jews as well.In addition to prayer services, observant traditional Jews
recite prayers and benedictions throughout the day when performing various
acts.
Christians on the other
hand don’t have a standard prayer schedule. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the
Mount that prayer should not be a repetition of standard prayers. With time
however mainly the Catholic churches adopted standard prayers. All other
churches offer prayers based on their feelings and need at the moment.
For the Muslims the Salah
is the standard way of prayer. Salah is the practice of formal prayer. Its
supreme importance for Muslims is indicated by its status as one of the Five Pillars of Sunni
Islam and of the Ten Practices of the Religion of Shi'a Islam. Salah is a ritual prayer. Performing salah is
obligatory for all adult Muslims, with a few dispensations for those for whom
it would be difficult. To perform valid salah, Muslims must be in a state of
ritual purity, which is mainly achieved by ritual ablution according to prescribed procedures.
Salah consists of the repetition of two or more units of
a prescribed sequence of actions and words. The prescribed words of the prayer
remain obligatory.
The main similarity I
found is that prayers are performed to thank the blessings and to request other
blessings. The difference is that while Judaism and Islam have standard
prayers, Christianity leaves the door open to express our feelings.
Origin
and contemporary expression.
God promised Abraham that out
of his seed he will raise a power nation. Jews believe that they are that
people. Judaism also claims that they
are the direct heirs of the religion and people guided by Moses. The Israelites
were living as a slave people in Egypt. They (as the covenant people) were
rescued by God through his prophet Moses.
Since then they have kept the law of Moses and studied
the Hebrew Bible. Throughout the ages the Jews have been scattered and enslaved
so many times that in reality we can say it is a miracle they have kept their
identity. In our time they have achieve (with the help of the Christian
nations) to recover their promised land and have a powerful nation there. They
are living also on almost every nation and as a group they are very united and
help each other. They are not very numerous and only represent the 0.22 % of
the population of the world[3].
Christianity on the other hand was born with Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ was a Jew. And his preaching was directed to the Jews. The
Jews are expecting for a Messiah. The Jews that did not believe that Jesus
Christ was the Messiah kept and still are waiting for the promised Messiah. The
Jews that believed in Jesus Christ as the Messiah were the first Christians
(although the term Christian was not used until some centuries later). As a new religion, Christianity was
persecuted by other especially by the Roman empire. It wasn’t until Constantine
who was the first Roman emperor that converted into Christianity allowed and
promote the spreading of Christianity. In February 313, Constantine developed
the Edict of Milan. The edict stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith of
their choosing. With an estimated
number of adherents that ranges approximately around 2.2 billion, split
into 3 main branches of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox,
Christianity is the world's largest religion[4] and represents the 33% of the population of the world.
The Islam was born
with Mouhmmad. Muhammad was Born in 570 in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at
when he was very young was brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. Later on he worked
mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, when he was 25 years old he got
married. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the
surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic
beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three
years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations
publicly, proclaiming that "God is
One",
that complete "surrender" to Him is the only way acceptable to God,
and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic
prophets.
Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was
met with hostility from some
Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape
persecution, Muhammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia before he and his remaining followers in Mecca migrated
to Medina in
the year 622. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted
to Islam.
Nowadays Islam represents
the 21% of the entire population of the world.
The following chart show more information about the comparison of these three
religions[5].
|
History & Stats
|
Christianity
|
Islam
|
Judaism
|
|
date founded
|
c. 30 AD
|
622 CE
|
c. 1300 BC
|
|
place founded
|
Palestine
|
Arabian Peninsula
|
Palestine
|
|
founders & early
leaders
|
Jesus, Peter, Paul
|
Muhammad
|
Abraham, Moses
|
|
original languages
|
Aramaic and Greek
|
Arabic
|
Hebrew
|
|
major location today
|
Europe, North and South America
|
Middle East, Southeast Asia
|
Europe, Israel, North America
|
|
adherents worldwide
today
|
2 billion
|
1.3 billion
|
14 million
|
|
adherents in USA
|
159 million
|
1.1 million
|
5.6 million
|
|
adherents in Canada
|
21 million
|
500,000
|
350,000
|
|
adherents in UK
|
51 million
|
1.6 million
|
320,000
|
|
current size rank
|
largest in the world
|
second largest in the world
|
12th largest
|
|
major branches
|
Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant
|
Sunni, Shiite
|
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform
|
|
Religious Authority
|
Christianity
|
Islam
|
Judaism
|
|
sacred text
|
Bible = Old Testament (Jewish Bible) + New Testament
|
Qur'an (Koran)
|
Tanakh (Jewish Bible)
|
|
inspiration of sacred
text
|
views vary: literal Word of God, inspired human accounts, or of
human origin only
|
literal Word of God
|
views vary: inspired human accounts or of human origin only
|
|
status of biblical
prophets
|
true prophets
|
true prophets
|
true prophets
|
|
status of Jewish Bible
|
canonical
|
noncanonical but useful as a (corrupted) inspired text
|
Canonical
|
|
status of Jewish
Apocrypha
|
canonical (Catholic);
useful but noncanonical (Protestant) |
noncanonical
|
noncanonical but useful
|
|
status of New
Testament
|
canonical
|
noncanonical but useful as a (corrupted) inspired text
|
noncanonical, not useful
|
|
summaries of doctrine
|
Apostle's Creed, Nicene Creed
|
Six Articles of Faith
|
Talmud, halakhah
|
|
religious law
|
canon law (Catholics)
|
Sharia
|
Rabbis
|
|
other written
authority
|
church fathers, church councils, ecumenical creeds (all
branches);
papal decrees, canon law (Catholics) |
Hadith
|
13 Articles of Faith
|
|
Beliefs & Doctrine
|
Christianity
|
Islam
|
Judaism
|
|
ultimate reality
|
one creator God
|
one creator God
|
one God, Jehovah, the God of Abraham
|
|
nature of God
|
Trinity - one substance, three persons
|
unity - one substance, one person
|
unity - one substance, one person
|
|
other spiritual beings
|
angels and demons
|
angels, demons, jinn
|
angels and demons
|
|
revered humans
|
saints, church fathers
|
prophets, imams (especially in Shia Islam)
|
Prophets
|
|
identity of Jesus
|
Son of God, God incarnate, savior of the world
|
true prophet of God, whose message has been corrupted
|
false prophet
|
|
birth of Jesus
|
virgin birth
|
virgin birth
|
normal birth
|
|
death of Jesus
|
death by crucifixion
|
did not die, but ascended bodily into heaven (a disciple died in
his place)
|
death by crucifixion
|
|
resurrection of Jesus
|
affirmed
|
denied, since he did not die
|
Denied
|
|
second coming of Jesus
|
affirmed
|
affirmed
|
Denied
|
|
mode of divine
revelation
|
through Prophets and Jesus (as God Himself), recorded in Bible
|
through Muhammad, recorded in Qur'an
|
through Prophets, recorded in Bible
|
|
human nature
|
"original sin" inherited from Adam - tendency towards
evil
|
equal ability to do good or evil
|
two equal impulses, one good and one bad
|
|
means of salvation
|
correct belief, faith, good deeds, sacraments (some Protestants
emphasize faith alone)
|
correct belief, good deeds, Five Pillars
|
belief in God, good deeds
|
|
God's role in
salvation
|
predestination, various forms of grace
|
predestination
|
divine revelation and forgiveness
|
|
good afterlife
|
eternal heaven
|
eternal paradise
|
views vary: either heaven or no afterlife
|
|
bad afterlife
|
eternal hell, temporary purgatory (Catholicism)
|
eternal hell
|
views vary: either eternal Gehenna, reincarnation, or no
afterlife
|
|
view of the other
religion
|
Islam is respected as a fellow monotheistic religion, but
Muhammad is not seen as a true prophet
|
Christians are respected as "People of the Book," but
they have mistaken beliefs and only partial revelation
|
Christianity is a false interpretation of Judaism.
|
|
Rituals & Practices
|
Christianity
|
Islam
|
Judaism
|
|
house of worship
|
church, chapel, cathedral, basilica, meeting hall
|
mosque
|
synagogue, temple, schul
|
|
day of worship
|
Sunday
|
Friday
|
rabbi, rebbe
|
|
religious leaders
|
priest, bishop, archbishop, patriarch, pope, pastor, minister,
preacher, deacon
|
imams
|
mitzvot (commandments)
|
|
major sacred rituals
|
baptism, communion (Eucharist)
|
Five Pillars: prayer, pilgrimage, charity, fasting, confession
of faith
|
observing Sabbath, wearing tallit and tefilin, prayer services
|
|
head covered during
prayer?
|
generally no
|
yes
|
generally yes (especially men)
|
|
central religious holy
days
|
Lent, Holy Week, Easter
|
Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, month of Ramadan
|
Yom Kippur, Days of Awe, Passover
|
|
other holidays
|
Christmas, saints days
|
Mawlid, Ashura
|
Chanukah, Purim
|
|
major symbols
|
cross, crucifix, dove, anchor, fish, alpha and omega, chi rho,
halo
|
crescent, name of Allah in Arabic
|
Star of David, chai, hamsa, tree
|
3
interviews :
Jew: (I was trying to get an interview with Sergio Berlioz
but I couldn’t) So I interview one of his students. Esther Wade. Mexican 28 years
old. Active Jew. Residence in Mexico City. Graduate student.
Were you born in this religion? Yes
Why did you convert or decided to stay in that religion? I never decided it is just a
given that once you are born Jew you stay Jew
Have you been active participant?
Yes, with the exception of one year that my family was going through some
financial problems, we needed to work more.
What are your feelings for the scriptures? I Love the Torah, my family used
to read it very often, now that I live on my own I don’t read it but I plan to
read it with my kids when I get married.
Have you participated in Prayers? Yes
How your life has change for those prayers? Not much, I think that your life
change when you live what you are taught. Praying is just a way to give thanks.
What are your feelings about the other two religions?I know a lot of christians and we
do business with them. I personally don’t trust them they are only looking for
the money and don’t care to be dishonest.
Do you accept that the other two religion share the same god.? I do.
Some word of advice to the other two religions? Follow your Bible and you will be
good people.
Christian: Juan Garcia. Age 34. Married.Catholic. Never attended college.
Reside in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Were you born in this religion? Yes
Why did you convert or decided to stay in that religion? When
I got married we decided we will never change religions.
Have you been active participant? Not really
What are your feelings for the scriptures? I have never read them
Have you participated in prayers? When I was a with my mother.
How your life has change for those prayers? I realized I was Catholic
What are your feelings about the other two religions? I don’t know any Jew but I have
heard they are good doing business. About the Muslims I have heard don’t like the USA.
DO you accept that the other two religion share the same god.? I did
not know that
Some word of advice to the other two religions? No
Muslim. I interview a lady that I found at the library. She was very
reluctant to talk to me so I had a female friend to asked her the question she
did not respond all of the questions. She was in her mid-thirties. Residence
Salt Lake city, Utah
Were you born in this religion? Yes
Why did you convert or decided to stay in that religion? Why
change? All my family is muslim.
Have you been active participant? Yes
What are your feelings for the scriptures? They are Allah’s word
Then she left.
In conclusion I learnt
that these three religions are more related than I thought. You can even say
that they were built upon each other. Judaism, then Christianity and then
Islam. I think that they don’t understand each other and they isolate
themselves from the other religions. Christians in general know very little
about their own religion. Jews know their religion better and Muslims are more
closed. This is the perspective that this paper left me. I hope I keep learning
more about them.
Bibliography:
Anthology of World Scriptures
Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction
to Religion (6th Edition)
Bowker John, The Cambridge Illustrated History of
Religions
Clark Marcolm, Islam for dummies.
Falcon Ted &
Blatner David,
Judaism for dummies.
