Judaism and Islam

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Comparative Religion

Comparing Judaism and Islam

Introduction of the religion

Judaism is a very old monotheistic religion. The year One of the Jewish calendar corresponds to year 3760 BCE. According to history that is the year when Adam and Eve were created (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2008). Judaism is based on thirteen principals of faith outlined by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Rich, 2001):

1. God Exists

2. God is one and unique

3. God is incorporeal

4. God is eternal

5. Prayer is to be directed to God alone and to no other

6. The words of the prophets are true

7. Moses' prophecies are true, and Moses was the greatest of the prophets

8. The Written Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) and Oral Torah (teachings now contained in the Talmud and other writings) were given to Moses

9. There will be no other Torah

10. God knows the thoughts and deeds of men

11. God will reward the good and punish the wicked

12. The Messiah will come

13. The dead will be resurrected

Judaism is a history of relationships (Rich, 2001), relationships between God and its worshipers and followers, and relationships between people. And the story of Judaism starts with Abraham, who is considered to be a father of Judaism. According to history, Judaism started when Abraham went into a covenant with God, or Creator, that he was worshiping. The God offered to give him a great nation and bless him; in return Abraham was supposed to leave his idol worshiping family (Rich, 2001). Later, after Jewish people spent time as slaves in Egypt, God led them out under the leadership of Moses to Mount Sinai. There, as history tells us, God had appeared to Moses and presented him with Torah, which Moses wrote down and people...