Spiritual Leaders Jesus and Mohammed - Assignment Example

?Jesus & Mohammed Jesus and Mohammed, undoubtedly, are the two great men who had influenced the World to the largest degree. Their ity is apparent in the biggest world religions: in Christianity with over 2 billion adherers and in Islam with 1.3 billion followers. They are found in every country and every territory globally. However, both religions have very little understanding of each other. Christians hardly know anything about Mohammed, his life and his teaching. Muslims, to the contrary, assume they understand who Jesus was and what he preached, however, often their beliefs contradict teachings of the New Testament. Jesus and Mohammed singlehandedly made a greatest impact on the society of their time and shaped the course of history for over two thousand years. Their religions reflected similarities and differences in lives and deaths of both Jesus and Mohammed. Jesus was born 4BC from Virgin Mary and did not have an earthly father but was raised by his mother and stepfather. Mohammed was born 570 CE (Common Era), almost 6 centuries after Jesus, from Abdullah and Aminah, and was raised mostly by his nurse as was customary in the desert countries, as well as grandfather and uncle because his parents and other closest relatives had died when he was just a boy. (Rodinson, 2002, p.46) The lives of these great religious leaders were described in hagiographical books: Jesus’ in Gospels and Mohammed’s in Suras. Jesus was a carpenter and Mohammed was first shepherd and then caravan trader. (Rodinson, 2002, p.58) Jesus was speaking Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek (Peters, 2011, p.45) but did not write any book himself; Mohammed spoke Arabic and left records that were compiled into Quran (Phipps, 1999, p.81). Jesus started his ministry at 30 and continued it for the next 3 years. Most of the time, he was staying in Galilee. It is believed that Mohammed have received a revelation and a call at 40 and ministered for 22 years traveling more widely due to his occupation. (Peters, 2011, p.65) Both Jesus and Mohammed performed miracles. The first miracle Jesus performed was turning water into wine at the wedding party (John 2:1-11); to contrast, Mohammed forbade wine drinking as he considered it “an abomination of Satan's work” (Quran, Sura 5:90). Jesus attracted people by miracles, signs and sermons (Peters, 2011, p.47) and Mohammed - by his teaching and wisdom. In the Gospel, Jesus is often described in the presence of women; however, there is not a single mention about any relationship or wife. Jesus did not have a wife; he was a celibate (Peters, 2011, p.46). The number of Mohammed’s wives is uncertain as they go in Quran unnamed and uncounted (Peters, 2011, p.180). Both spiritual leaders caused religious disruption and brought change to the traditional establishments. Their ministries and teachings led to the new religion creation rather than reformation of the old. Jesus shook Judaism, stating that he was the Son of God, while Mohammed never made such claims. Their messages were contrasting in many ways. Jesus himself did not wage any war and never ordered to kill anyone. To the contrary, he taught to “turn the other cheek”, did not resist the arrest and discouraged his disciples from the fight. Jesus’ legacy is the religion of pardon, tolerance and love even for the enemies. On the opposite, Mohammed fought in a number of battles, converting captives into Islam; he was granting them forgiveness in exchange for conversion. He wore “two coats of mail”, swinging the sword and leading Muslims into war (Phipps, 1999, p.62) He believed that Allah gave him permission to cut infidels (The Quran, Sura 9:5, 29), calling his actions “Jihad” – “holy war”. Jesus death was public: he was crucified by Romans at the age 33 as one of the worst criminals, suffered an excruciating pain, was forsaken by all and a mob was spitting on him. However, after such a terrible death, Jesus resurrected and ascended to Heaven. The tomb he was buried in was opened three days after his death by angels. Mohammed died in the arms of his wife from high fever and body pain at the age 62. (Peters, 2011, p.152). He is buried in Medina and his tomb is considered sacred. For his disciples Jesus from Nazareth was Messiah, the true Savior, the only begotten Son of God. That is what he stated about himself multiple times starting from the time in the Temple of Jerusalem when he as a little boy was discussing Scriptures with Jewish elders and teachers. This is a very big difference between Jesus and Mohammed: Jesus verbally confirmed His divine essence while Mohammed never made such claims and called himself a messenger from God, thus he was regarded a Great Prophet. Jesus death and especially his resurrection reinforced the belief that he was promised Messiah, the Son of God. Though terrible persecutions period followed Jesus’ death, his disciples broke the borders with his teachings, carrying it across Roman Empire and farther. In 300 years Christianity became main religion of Roman Empire and the number of believers grew immensely. Before his death, Mohammed did not appoint any successor. Therefore a great disorder and argument over who would be the next leader set between Shiite’s and Sunni’s branches of believers. Sunni’s believe that Caliphs should become the Islam leaders. Shiite’s argued that the only possible Mohammed’s successors are his descendants through his cousin Ali. This disagreement is deep rooted and is still a source of disunity and strife in Islam. No compromise was found; nevertheless it did not prevent Islam from spreading to distant countries of North and East Africa, Afghanistan, India etc. Multitudes of people who witnessed or heard about miracles of Jesus or heard him teaching became his followers. All Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God who descended from Heaven in the human form to live among people. (The Bible, John 1:14). Although there is not a single place in the Gospels where Jesus condoned people to praise and worship him, there are numerous examples of them so doing. Magi, the leper, the blind man, apostles, disciples, the man with unclean spirits, and even angels worshiped him (The Bible). In fact, there are instances when Jesus told others not to worship him, as it was when he rebuked Satan saying “thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). Mohammed did not agree that Jesus was the son of God and referred to him as to the one of many messengers and prophets that were before and will be after him (The Quran, Sura 5:75). Unlike Christians, Muslims only worship God Almighty, and Mohammed has a place of the messenger and the servant of God and is revered and honored as such. Both Jesus and Mohammed repeatedly emphasized to their followers the necessity of spreading their message far and wide. Jesus ordained his disciples to “go to all the World and preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations” (Mark 16:15, Mathew 28:19). This call is still heard by many Christian missionaries who are traveling around the World preaching message of Christ. Following the sample of their Prophet, Muslims often use violence as a mean to spread the message of Islam. Mohammed was not only a religious leader, but he was also a military leader who led countless successful wars. His followers are still using the traditional doctrine of “Jihads” to conquer the nations and to force people into conversion. (history-world.org/islam4.htm). In the modern days there are a number of radical groups that support aggression. The idea of love and forgiveness in Islam strictly subordinated to the idea of ??inexorable law and Justice. If one person wronged someone else, the forgiveness may be granted only after the wronged side had satisfied their demands. It is harder to receive forgiveness from another person than it is from Allah as the injured person may insist on certain punishment but Allah forgives any repenting sinner. The extensive studies and researches on lives and spiritual leadership of Jesus and Mohammed show that there are many more similarities as well as differences. Their lives are indeed parallel, even though they lived almost 600 years apart. Knowing more about great teachers and world religions help further tolerance and acceptance in the world. Ultimately, Christians and Muslims worship the same God Almighty even though each religion has its own way. References: Fisher, M.P. (2005). Living religions (6th Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. Peters, F. (2010). Jesus and Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press Phipps, W. (1999). Muhammad and Jesus: a comparison of the prophets and their teachings. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Rodinson, M. (2002). Muhammad: prophet of Islam. London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks The New International Version (NIV) Bible, 2000, pub. by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The Quran, translated by N.J. Dawood, pub. by Penguin Books, London, England. Read More