Radical Ideology Between Jesus Christ And Muhammad
Throughout history, there have been many different forms of radical ideologies in the religious world, including the coming of Jesus Christ with his teachings about Christianity, and Muhammad with his visions about the Islamic faith. Jesus Christ and Muhammad are the founders of the two largest religions in the world today. Their radical selves have massively changed the perspective of humanity, and of God. Christianity and Islam will continue to spread and history will continue to repeat itself within these subjects.
Throughout his short life-span of over 30 years, Jesus Christ has built the structure and church for an entire new religion called Christianity, which had been unheard of before his teachings. Born sometime between six B.C. and three A.D. in Bethlehem, Judaea, Jesus was the awaited “Messiah” who would arrive on earth to speak of God, and to speak for God. Jesus’ life began as a Jewish baby who was baptized (an act of purification to get rid of sins) and became a Preacher who specialized in showing faith in God, respecting mankind, loving all forms of God’s creation, and bringing salvation to humanity. Performing miracles was one of the aspects that sought attention to Jesus. Records of his miracles are in the written Gospels, such as the Gospel of John, when Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding. Jesus was very fond of teaching others through stories, or parables, which gave valuable advice about moral fundamentals.
However, these teachings had angered many religious Jewish leaders because Jesus apparently went against normal Jewish Tradition. After preaching in different locations, he returned to Jerusalem where he was accepted by several followers. Jewish religious leaders then feared Jesus’ authority, imprisoned him, and later Roman Rule crucified him on the cross near A.D. 26 for avowing to be the “King of the Jews.” Although being betrayed by a few of his own different disciples, Jesus had trust in his twelve appointed apostles and the rest of his disciples to continue to spread his teachings after his death, Resurrection, and Ascension back to Heaven. Christianity was then established after his death, and Saint Peter (One of the twelve apostles) became the leader of the church (First Pope). Jesus’ popularity has been able to sustain past his death because of his many followers who wrote the Holy Written texts and Books of the New Testament to help continue to influence newcomers to the religion. In addition to gaining popularity by the generations of followers, other religious prophets such as Muhammad have recognized Jesus as a very prominent prophet of God.
Muhammad has been believed to be the last prophet sent by God according to Muslims and is the successor to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, who in 610 would become the religious leader to unite the people of Arabia, stopping them from fighting vicious battles and praising false gods. He taught about the belief of there being one God, and that all humans are to “submit” to God for being the almighty creator. Due to these teachings of being submissive towards God, Muhammad’s religion became known as Islam which means “submission,” and a follower would be called a Muslim, “one who submits.” Muhammad first received his news about God from a message sent to him by God through the Angel Gabriel. Muhammad had a vision in this message, and preached about it to gather a small group of supporters.
Many Meccans did not support Muhammad, and responded with violence. Muhammad along with his small group of followers travelled to a city, Medina, which is 250 miles north of Mecca. After arriving at Medina, the people welcomed him, and he created laws based on the divine rules provided to him during his vision which was a guide on how to live as a Muslim. There was to be only the worship of one God, and violence was only inflicted to defend Islam or God. He established the five responsibilities that all Muslims were to follow which is called the Five Pillars of Islam. Unfortunately for Muhammad, the Jews of Medina disagreed with Muhammad as a prophet and became his enemies. Muhammad fought alongside his Muslim followers against Mecca and the Jewish people in a war, which resulted in the victory and conversion of several tribes to Islam. Muhammad later died after a pilgrimage to Mecca in March of 632. All of Muhammad’s religious teachings and experiences have been compiled together in a written form known as the Islamic Holy Book, the Qur’an.
Although being praised as two different prophets and the founders of two different, world renown, monotheistic religions, Jesus Christ and Muhammad are considered to be very similar in how their ideas, actions, and claims were discerned as “radical” during their times. One similarity between Jesus and Muhammad was the immense hatred and violence they received from many non-followers. Although having disciples of their own, many thought that their claims of being the chosen Prophets Of God were blasphemy. For example, both Jesus and Muhammad were hated by Jews, because their teachings were considered to go against normal Jewish Tradition. However, although they received a lot of negative feedback, another similarity is how their “radical” ideology had started an incredible change in religious and historical perspective. Just from the preachings of two different prophets, religious activity has increased and has become a global phenomenon in the modern day world. Post Jesus and Muhammad, another similarity is that there have been many alternate iterations of radicals within Christianity and Islam. These radicals follow the ways of God, however take certain rules and actions to the extreme way, which isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. As there were many similarities between the radical ideologies between Jesus and Muhammad, both of them are also very different.
One difference between Jesus Christ and Muhammad was the claim that Jesus was not just a chosen prophet of God, but also the Son of God. Meanwhile, Muhammad had no correlation to God besides being his chosen prophet, and a part of God’s creation. Many people in the past believed that Jesus was very radical and sacrilegious for stating that he is the direct messenger from God, and his ultimate son who will provide salvation for humanity. Another difference would be that Jesus was martyred/persecuted for his faith, but Muhammad had died a natural death yet killed and martyred other people to defend his God and his faith. Muhammad had established the rule that violence is banned unless it is used to defend the Islamic faith. That is the case when he fought a war and raided caravans of Jews and Meccans who had despised Muhammad’s teachings. Muhammad was also the first to engage in the crusades because he was determined to defend his religious beliefs.
Throughout Jesus’ lifetime, he had never used violence in any situation, for he was much wiser. Since Jesus had never used violence, this leads to another difference of how Jesus claims to have never sinned, however Muhammad’s use of violence had made him an extremist, and a sinner. Another difference is the modern day Christian radical versus the modern day Muslim radical. The difference between these two is that Christian radicals go out to preach and want to convert several people to follow Jesus Christ and God. Meanwhile Muslim radicals are a completely different, misinterpreted, and violent form of Islamic followers. The Muslim radicals have shaped their own religion into one that is built on the foundation of terrorism. The radicals found in today’s world is one of the reasons for how Jesus and Muhammad’s history, being religious radicals, has repeated itself, no matter the time difference.
The idea of being a follower and repeating one’s actions has been a common theme throughout history. For example, even though Jesus Christ and Muhammad were considered radicals for changing the world with new, fast-growing religions, their teachings and their history has repeated itself through the followers of the faith and legacy they had left behind. Christian priests continue to preach parables from the New Testament which involves Jesus’ role in converting the world into Christianity. Muslims proceed to convert more people to Islamic faith by introducing Muhammad’s words and actions to them with the help of the Qur’an. The Church and the Mosque has helped this process of history repeating itself, because the religious buildings sustain as the houses of Christ’s and Muhammad’s faith. However, another way of history repeating itself would be the uprising of new radical religions, trying to impersonate those of Christianity and Islam. Religion has always been a part of humanity’s history, and will always continue to be because it is something that helps all humans look forward into a brighter future. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Muhammad, the final Prophet of God, were big contributors to world change by speaking about what they perceived and knew as truth.
Works Cited
- Arlandson, James Malcolm. “Jesus and Muhammad: Fifteen major differences.” Answering Islam, www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/contrast.htm.
- 'Jesus of Nazareth.' UXL Biographies, UXL, 2011. Student Resources in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2108101170/SUIC?u=ft58823&xid=7b18bfea. Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.
- 'Muhammad.' UXL Biographies, UXL, 2011. Student Resources in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2108101635/SUIC?u=ft58823&xid=22ca0e94. Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.
- 'Muhammad.' World Religions Reference Library, edited by Julie L. Carnagie, et al., vol. 4: Biographies, UXL, 2007, pp. 285-292. Student Resources in Context, http:// link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3448400076/SUIC?u=ft58823&xid=9530ead3. Accessed 3 Feb. 2018.
