JoeM said:
@capulet
Any chance of info regarding what seperated Islam from Christianity, interms of fundamental beliefs?
I'm not capulet, but here is a brief 'history' of all three.
Judaism, in existence from sometime before the common era (BC/BCE), focused primaily on a covenant with God enacted through observance of the Torah (old testament), as understood to have been given to the Isralites by God through the prophet Moses.
After initially establishing an independent state in the ancient near east, Jews were diseminated throughout the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and then Roman empires as each conquered the world. Jews awaited, and worked into their theology, the expectation of a messiah that would re-establish their prominence as God's chosen people in the world.
Generally, practice of Judaism was centred around the temple in Jerusalem, where sacrifices were practiced as a core element of Jewish religion.
Around 30 Common Era (CE/AD), a Jew named Jesus arose in Roman occupied Judea preaching that he was the Messiah (in Greek, Christos or Christ) come to establish the kingdom of heaven. Against all expectations, he was a pacificist, encouraging embracing gentiles rather than driving them completely from Judea. Most Jews disregarded him, especially after his crucifixion in around four years later.
Nevertheless a small contingent of Jews remained followers of this teacher's beliefs, led by several of his disciples and a new teacher, a Jew named Paul. Paul developed the belief that Gentiles could convert to the teaching of the Christ without being Jewish, the main element of 'salvation' lying not in the Torah and Temple, but in belief in Christ, who was recognised as God in human form, himself.
In 70 CE, the Jewish temple was destroyed. For Jews, it became necessary to work out a new way of practicing religion without the temple - thus careful attention was payed to observing the law in daily life, as worked out by teachers, known as Rabbis - the origin of modern Judaism.
The followers of Christ, who becamed known as 'Christ Ones' or Christians, now believing that most of Judaisms observances were not needed to follow God, from this point became a seperate 'faith.' They accepted old testament as scripture, but also agreed to follow the teachings and records of Jesus' followers, the New Testament.
Islam entered the scene around 500 years later, after an Arab merchant named Muhammad, after coming in contact with Jews and Christians, believed he had experienced a revelation from the one true God, Allah, through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation was written in what is known as the Koran.
The revelation claims that while Jewish and Chrisian tradition holds important truth, such as their understanding of one God and recognition of great prophets (Moses, Abraham, Jesus), they are ultimately, like their scriptures, corrupted by history and false teaching.
Among the things Muslims find false about the others is the Christian doctrine of trinity, regarded by Islam as a type of polytheism (belief in multiple gods), the Christian claim of Christ's divinity, and the Christian rejection of the prophet Muhammad.
Of key Muslim concern regarding Judaism is that Jews have corrupted and appropriated a promise made in the old testament regarding Abraham's ofspring. They believe a promise of prosperity made regarding Ishmael, Abraham's older son and traditional father of the Arabs, was incorrectly interpreted to being made to Isaac, traditional father of the Jews.
All three religions agree in one God, and all three do trace at least spiritual heritige back to Abraham. All three believe in prayer, care for the poor, and belief in self control as regard to interactivity with alcohol, food, and vices.
However, the fundamental aspect of how one best interacts with God - Torah for Jews, through Christ for Christians and through Submission to God for Muslims, ultimately differs.
on second thought, don't tell me, because it's probably not worth my time...
. A quick google search on 'early history Judaism' and the same for Islam and Christianity should hopefully be able to confirm most of what I've told you.
