Abrahamic Religions

Hello! This is the first Worlds Religion Post! These posts will be used to dig more into certain religions or groups of religions around the world and it could possibly help you see how religions help form cultures and maybe even see why there is conflict between many religions. I'm also hoping that this can help people see how religions are more alike than people realize.

For our first post we be talking about Abrahamic Religions. Abrahamic religions usually refers to monotheistic religions that claim the prophet Abraham as their forefather. The expression is generally used to imply that all the three faiths share a common heritage. The most common Abrahamic religions today are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam which also account for more than half of the world's total population.

In Judaism, Abraham is the ancestor of the Israelites (People from Israel). For Jews, Abraham is a patriarch (Referred to as "Our Father Abraham") to whom God made several promised. Abraham is also known as the first post-flood person to reject idolatry (Worshiping an idol). Because of this rejection, Abraham appears as a fundamental figure of monotheistic religion.

In the Christian tradition, Abraham is known as a "father of faith". Abraham is a spiritual forebear rather than a direct ancestor for Christians. Abraham is depicted as an early witness to the Holy Trinity in the form of three "angels" who visited him. Abraham is a model of faith, and his intention to obey God and offer his son is seen as foreshadowing of when God is own son, Jesus.

In Muslim tradition, Abraham's son, Ishmael or Isma'il is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Abraham (also known as Ibrahim) is considered part of a line of prophets that began with Adam from the story of Adam and Eve. Ibrahim is also known to be "the first monotheist in a world where monotheism was lost." In the Islam religion, they say that it was Ishmael (Isma'il) rather than Isaac who Ibrahaim was instructed to offer to God, contrary to what Christians believe.

Similarities and Differences

These religions have more similarities than just Abraham. The biggest similarity is that all these religions worship one God (monotheism). Many people do criticize the Christian religion with this fact. In the Christian religion, there is a doctrine know as the Holy Trinity ( The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost). Because of the The Holy Trinity, many people believe Christianity would be considered a polytheistic religion (worship of many gods). The general understanding is that Christians worship one god.

All three religions also recognize figures called prophets. Prophets are people who regarded as an inspired teacher or pro-claimer of god. Even though the list of prophets are different within religions, they all have them (A common one being Abraham).

These religions also all have Semitic origins. A Semite is a member of any various ancient and modern peoples originating in southwestern Asia. This includes Hebrews, who practice Judaism, and Arabs, who practice Islam. Christianity is considered to have Semitic origins because it arose from Judaism. This also goes for another, less known Abrahamic Religion known as Baha'i or Baha'i faith.

All of these Abrahamic religions also rely on a body scripture, which is usually considered to be the word of God. These body scriptures are known as sacred and unquestionable. The scared scriptures of Judaism are all collected in the Tanakh which includes the Torah (Law or Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). The sacred scriptures of Christians is the Holy Bible, which includes the Old Testament and the New Testaments. The sacred scriptures in the Islam religion is known as the Qur'an, which is comprised of 114 surahs (chapters). Muslims also believe in the regions texts of Judaism and Christianity in their original forms.

These religions also have a few similarities in their religion-related customs. One of the most common similarities is that in a seven- day cycle, there is one day that is reserved for worship, pray or other religious activities (related to the Biblical story where God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh). For Muslims, their day is Friday; For Christian and Jew, their day Sunday.

One of the biggest differences is an expectation of an individual who will herald the end time and/or bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth. In other words, the fulfillment of the Messianic Prophecy. Christians wait for the Second Coming of Christ while Jews wait for the coming of the Jewish Messiah (Keep in mind that the Jewish concept of Messiah differs from the Christian concept in several ways). Like Christians, Muslims wait for the second coming of Jesus and wait for the coming of Mahdi.

The three Abrahamic religions also have different rules that apply to their diet. Judaism and Islam have strict dietary laws. Jews often follow a Kosher diet while Muslims follow a halaal diet. Both religions prohibit the consumption of pork but Islam prohibits the consumption of any alcoholic beverages. Protestant Christians do not have any set food laws but Roman Catholics developed ritual prohibitions against consumption of meat (excluding fish) on Fridays. Christians also participate in the abstinence from certain foods (fasting) at different times through out the year.

Thank you guys for reading. I hoped this helped educate a few people and cleared up any misconceptions about any of these religions that people might have.

Until next time!

Sources

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Abrahamic_religions