Comparing the lives, teachings, and religious influence of Jesus and Muhammad

Jesus and Mohammed

The Two Great Messengers of God, Jesus and Mohammed: Comparing the Importance and Differences of Jesus and Mohammed

In my paper I would like to say how two of the most influential people in all of religious history would have to have been either Jesus or Muhammad. From the moment they were born and extending far beyond their deaths they were both solely responsible for the founding and the continuation of their respective religions. The influences and religious experiences of these two people shaped the future of both religions. A look at the lives of these two men and the impacts of their deaths follows. A comparison of how both the men influenced their religions and also how they are both revered and worshiped in today's societies will happen as well. All of these things will try to explain how the preaching and messages these two men tried to convey to their followers are being followed today.

The Historical Life of Jesus

The historical life of Jesus is recorded in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Also, aside from these Sacred Texts of the New Testament, the Roman apologist Josephus records some details of the life of John the Baptist and Jesus: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ."

Josephus provides a kind of historical relief to the narrative provided by the four Evangelists. But it is to Matthew and Luke that we now turn for a fuller picture of the historical life of Jesus.

The Gospel of St. Matthew is a gospel account of the life and works and teachings of Jesus Christ, written to his countrymen in Palestine around 50 AD. Matthew was one of the twelve Apostles, and was a publican (tax-collector) before his conversion -- a much hated profession by the Jews. Matthew's gospel is like Mark's and Luke's in that it deals with Christ's ministry, His preaching, His journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, and His passion, death, and resurrection there. It differs in that it begins with the genealogy of Jesus and goes on to act as a means of encouragement for the Christian believers in Palestine as well as a mode of instruction for non-believers; showing how Jesus is the Messiah come to establish the Kingdom of Heaven: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

St. Matthew shows how Christ fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament prophecies and he makes reply to those who had followed John the Baptist into the desert and asked, "Art thou he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3). Christ, therefore, showed to His contemporaries that He had a Divine Mission, and he could point to the virgin birth, the visit of the Magi, the Flight into Egypt, the slaughter of the Innocents, the preaching of John the Baptist, His own preaching of the beatitudes, many miracles that He performed such as the healing of the demoniac and the leper, and the answers to the skepticism of the Pharisees (who received the lengthy allocution of Our Lord, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!") (Matthew 23:29). Of course, the history of Jesus ends with His crucifixion, death, burial, under the hand of Pontius Pilot, Roman Procurator during the reign of Caesar Augustus. Christ then resurrected from the dead, taught His disciples again, and then ascended into Heaven.

The Historical Life of Mohammed

Islam was founded by Mohammad in the 7th century near Mecca. Muslims began to spread Islamic beliefs after Mohammad's death. The key beliefs of Islam were that there was one God -- Allah -- and that Mohammad was his final prophet. The heroes of Christianity were considered nothing more than prophets. The Koran -- the book given to Mohammad -- is considered the most sacred of all the revelations from God. Like Christianity, Islam believes in a final judgment after death -- but the two religions have dissimilar views of God. Christians accept Jesus as God, which has implications that Islamism denies because it does not accept Jesus as God.

Mohammed attempted to spread his ideas but he was largely persecuted by those in Mecca. People in Medina accepted his teachings so he left Mecca for Medina in 622 -- an act remembered by Muslims as "the flight." In Medina, Mohammad gathered an army and marched on Mecca and forced its surrender. After Mohammad's death, a caliph was appointed to be his successor. Thus the religion was able to spread, through war, conversion, and generation.

At roughly the same time the Carolingian empire was coming into being, and Charlemagne pulled together the empire of the West, becoming the Holy Roman Emperor in the year 800 AD (holy because he was crowned by the Roman Pontiff). As both Christendom and Islam grew, it was inevitable that they should come into contact. Byzantium served as the contact point.

The Message

Christianity takes many cues from Scripture. Even if Tradition plays a significant part in the handing down of Christian teachings through the centuries, Christians have always had the Epistles and the Gospels to guide them: in fact, they were written for that exact purpose -- so that the followers of Christ might know how to conduct themselves: Concern yourself with what is necessary for attaining salvation, and prepare yourself for the next world, "and all else shall be added unto you" in this life, says the Bible. Jesus shows His desire to see us come to Him and through Him to the Father: he shows that we are to follow Him through the ways of life -- "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6) -- and by doing so our own interior life is brought to perfection.

Jesus Christ tells us He is God in Scripture. In the Gospel of John alone there are several references to the divinity of Christ: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12); "Truly I say to you, before Abraham was I am" (John 8:59); "The Father and I are one" (John 10:38); "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Scripture does not hide the fact that Jesus has authority. But an interesting corollary to Christ's authority is here: what authority does Scripture have over us?

It is no secret that Scripture was written by Christ's disciples -- but tradition tells us that it is the inspired word of God. Scripture itself has been handed down to us through the centuries by the Church. It was the Church who first gathered all the books of the Bible and gave its authoritative pronouncement that these books were the inspired Word of God and that they alone constituted the written deposit of faith -- to which nothing more would be added till the end of time. The Church, however, retained sole authority over the Bible -- and all interpretation was performed by it. Such was the case throughout the centuries. Thus, there was one doctrine and one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

The message contained in the Koran in the Muslim faith and tradition is somewhat different, however. For example, the two interpretations of the Joseph narrative in the Book of Genesis and in the Koran offer different visions of the nature of Joseph. In Genesis, Joseph is rather described as a typology of Christ, a forerunner of the Redeemer -- one who is favored by God, one to whom the people will bow and adore, and one will be merciful and "rise from the dead." In the Koran, however, Joseph is none of those things, for Christ is not the focus of the Koran. Rather, the emphasis is placed on the mercy and greatness of God, who sees all things and who must be worshipped. In the Koran, Joseph is merely a medium through which the Koran may assert its authority and the authority of the God of the Mohammedans. The Koran concentrates on the aspect of the history that describes the way in the which the Israelites came to Egypt, and teaches its followers to glorify God and that the Koran is the provider of all knowledge (12:111). In this way, the Koran itself becomes a kind of father figure to the Mohammedans.

Conclusion: Christians and Muslims Today

While the modern world is increasingly become a place where religious practice is on the wane, we cannot dismiss the fact that Christ's message can provide a basis for meeting the modern day challenges to one's faith. In fact, while we live in an age that relies heavily on the Romantic/Enlightenment doctrine that followed on the heels of the Protestant Reformation, a real spirituality such as is manifested by the evangelists in their narratives of Jesus' life can supply for individuals what modern science often fails to deliver: a real means to grace.

The Muslim religion has likewise dominated the Middle East and maintained a solid influence in the lives of the people there. Islam preserved many texts for the West while Europe fought many wars before finally uniting under Charlemagne. Translation of the texts that inspired the Arab world was carried out, according to Prof. Hamed A. Ead under the Umayyad Caliphate "in the time of Prince Khalid ibn Yazid."

The Prince, Hamed A. Ead states, had an intense interest in alchemy and invited many Greeks from Egypt to assist his scholars. A number of other Arab translators, however, achieved renown. Among their translations were the works of Hippocrates and Galen, which helped influence the advancement of humoral pathology in the Arab world.

In conclusion, both Christ and Mohammed have contributed to the way the modern world not only views itself but views religion as well. However, the followers of both religious leaders have also played an important role in the spreading of that message, whether by means of peace or by means of the sword or by means of literature, science, learning and culture.