Similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions, namely they believe that there is only one God. They are also called Abrahamic religions. All three http:),and promised great things. Jews and Christians consider him father of the people of Israel through his son Isaac; Muslims regard him as the father of the Arabs through his son Ishmael. In Christian belief, Abraham is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God by offering up Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's offering of his son, Jesus. In Islam, Abraham obeyed God by offering up Ishmael and is considered to be one of the most important prophets sent by God. So the reason for which similarities exist is because they all fall under the foundation of Abrahamic religions.

Another similarity is represented by the Commandments. Moses was given the Ten Commandments by god for the people to follow. "Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him...," "You shall have no other gods before Me..." The Christians and the Jews have adopted the Ten Commandments in their religions and the Muslims basically follow the same set of rules.

All three religions have a holly book called the scripture but this differs for each one. The Jews have Torah as the main holly book, Prophet's Writings and the Talmud (oral tradition and commentary). The Christians have the Bible which contains the Old and New Testament and the Islamic holly guide is Qur'an (God's revelation to Muhammad) and Hadith (Mohammed's sayings).

These religions have some divisions such as for the Judaism there are modern movements include Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox and Reconstructionist. The Ultra-Orthodox Jews reject the secular world and live in strict communities. Christianity has many theological divisions and schisms: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, numerous Protestant churches and the fundamental principle is debate over literal meaning of the Bible; efforts to bring religion into daily life. And the Muslims are organized into Sunni-Shiite schism which is based on disagreement over Mohammed's successors. The most important objective for Islam is to return to "pure" Islam, rejecting the secular culture, trying to bring religion into daily life and creating an Islamic state. There are also some mystic cults and traditions deriving from this religions, from Judaism, Kabbalah, from Christianity numerous mystical traditions and from Islam, Sufism.

Concerning the principle prophet, for the Jews is considered to be Moses, for the Christians Jesus Christ and for the Muslims, Muhamad. The holy city is Jerusalem for both the Jews and the Christians, and for the Muslims the famous Mecca.

Islam and Judaism do not believe in the Trinity. They think that God cannot be made up of parts, even if those parts are mysteriously united. The Christian notion of Trinity is that God is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Jewish think that such a division can't be possible, because God is a unique as a creative force. God is the creator of all that we like and all that we don't. There is no evil force with an ability to create equal to God's.

About good and evil all three religions have in common the fact that they believe that there is an opposing force in the religions that is the enemy of god and will be defeated in the end. At the end times God will judge the people and decide whether they shall live in happiness in heaven or burn in hell. In general, Jewish thinkers have focused on the ways to lead a good life on Earth and improve this world, leaving concerns about death and beyond until the appropriate time.