Christianity and Islam: A Clash of Civilizations Ever since the beginning of the 7th century CE, the relationship between Christianity and Islam has been characterized by wariness and suspicions, feelings that became especially pronounced following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. Today, the billions of Christian and Muslim adherents have squared off in their respective ideological corners and scarcely a day goes by without the headlines trumpeting yet another religiously inspired terrorist attack somewhere in the world. The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation concerning the relationship between Christianity and Islam to identify their geographical and historical timelines as represented in their sacred texts followed by an analysis of the similarities and differences between the two religions with a specific focus on pilgrimage narratives. Finally, a summary of the research and key findings concerning Christianity and Islam are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

The historical relationship between Christianity and Islam has been highly varied depending on the time and place, with believers in both religions living peacefully together in some settings but warring against each other outright in others. By the time Islam was established, Christianity had already been a world religion for nearly seven centuries, and the adherents of the new upstart religion had the work cut out for...

One of the basic tenets of Islam, like Christianity, is prostelyzation and it is little wonder that these two religions have been the source of an enormous amount of conflict ever since. The followers of Mohammed felt compelled to spread his gospel just like the Apostles of Christ, and this compulsion inevitably manifested itself in terms of geographic expansion.
The fundamental differences in these religions are balanced somewhat by their shared monotheistic views, with both Islam and Christianity drawing on Abraham as one of the most significant religious leaders who have inspired their dogma. Likewise, the belief systems as exemplified in their sacred text means that both Christianity and Islam do not brook any dissention or acceptance of other religious views. In this regard, Sudworth (2018) emphasizes that, “Each fundamentalism relies on literal and dogmatic interpretations of sacred texts and absolutist political systems that express the closed ethical system of the respective religious tradition” (p. 408).

Unlike Christianity, though, Islam did not enjoy the support of a Roman emperor but Muslims took matters into their own hands and expanded the reaches of their religion through trade routes and missionary expeditions that ultimate resulted in much of Africa and the Middle East being converted to their faith. Indeed, by the early 8th century, Islamic forces had invaded Europe and conquered much of Spain, where they…