Life of Jesus and Mohammed - Essay Example

Running head: Jesus and Mohammed Jesus and Mohammed 21862 Academia Research In this topic, we study thelives of Jesus Christ and Mohammed, the two highly worshipped souls by two different religions namely Christianity and Islam, respectively. The paper addresses the impact of these two prophets on religion and community, and impact of loss of these two prophets on their respective religions. Further, the topic elaborates on how they are being worshipped, and the celebrations in honor and remembrance of these powerful people. Jesus and Mohammed The Muslims revere Mohammed as the greatest of prophets and Christians worship Jesus Christ as the son of God. Understanding of Jesus’s life and teachings is based on the biblical texts, particularly the New Testament, called the ‘gospels’ and the life of Prophet Mohammed in the Muslims’ holy book of ‘Qu’ran’. A large amount of debate and discussion has been the prominent feature of literature related to the Prophet Mohammed’s life from the beginning. Mohammed was born in about 570th century at Mecca. Mohammed lost his father even before his birth and his mother at the age of six; then grew up under the care of uncle, Abu Taleb. At the age of thirteen, Mohammed had started traveling on business along with his uncle, trip to Syria being the first one. It is here that he met the Nestorian Monk, Felix or Sergius, who later assisted Mohammed in composing the Qu’ran. Mohammed was married to Khadija, and was blessed with four daughters and four sons. Muslims believe that God had inspired Mohammed with a love of solitude and retirement; and that every year, for a month at a time, he withdrew into the cave of Mount Hara, three miles from Mecca, where he devoted himself to fasting, prayer and, meditation (Crichton, A; 207). Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born about two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, the then Roman-occupied Palestine, to Mother Mary. The miraculous conception associated with Christ’s birth was a phenomenon out of the ordinary course of nature. Jesus was born in a stable, amongst animals, and is said to have gained respects from the poor people, sages from the East, and from angels too, which was a sign of His divine kingship. At the age of twelve, Jesus was able to discuss Godly and divine things with people much older to him, a mission for which Jesus was born. At the age of thirty, Jesus appeared before John to be baptized. Himself being sinless, Jesus sought baptism to wash out the sins on behalf of all humans and undertook a forty-day retreat in the desert wilderness, fasting. During this retreat, the gospel writing says he was tempted by Satan to use his spiritual power for secular ends, but he refused (Taylor, J & Buckley, T; p 195). Jesus was the Messiah, the leader, a prophet, a law giver, a deliverer, a teacher, a priest, a mediator and a human, the one chosen by God himself to be the savoir of humanity from all sins. Both, Jesus and Mohammed had unnatural deaths. Jesus was crucified as prophesied by Caiaphas, the high priest, stating ‘expedient that one should die for people’ (Taylor, J & Buckley, T; p 586). He was beaten by Roman soldiers, scourged, stripped, and nailed to a cross, as explained by Jesus to his disciples during His Last Supper. As promised, on the third day after His death, an angel descended, and Jesus had risen from dead. This is the Easter event of history. He later appeared to many people commanding them to teach and baptize others. Impact of death of Jesus and further rising to Heaven has implied Jesus as the individual fulfillment of the end of time and is quoted as the climax of God’s revelation to mankind in history (Lane A, D; p 74). This event is also viewed as fullness of salvation and it is believed by the people of the world that it inaugurates new era of salvation that will be completed in the second coming of Christ. Mohammed, the prophet of Muslims, died in 632 CE due to ill health. Just before his death, he finalised the Hajj pilgrimage and the “Umma” ceremonies that are staunchly followed even today. He is said to have died of poison in food given by a woman during his pilgrimage. By this time, Mohammed was a very strong spiritual leader of Islamic religion, by way of which he had successfully united the entire Arabia for the first time. This unity brought about by conquest, had religion of Islam as the decisive factor. Unlike Jesus, Mohammed fought battles in conquest of areas, but for the cause of religion (Ruthven, M; p 68). Though cause of Mohammed’s existence was delivered successfully, his death resulted in much disintegration and civil war; division of Islam into two groups, the Sunni and the Shia. Unlike in Christianity where survival of new community was assured by the religious devotion of its martyrs, Islam was ruled by the military successes of its rulers. Mohammed’s death also caused much debate over the next successor, and Abu Bakr was chosen as the caliph. Jesus is worshipped as the reigning “Lord’. The Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, and his teachings in the holy book of Bible are followed by every Christian, and are baptized in His name. The four gospels record several times when Jesus said that He was fulfilling a prophecy of the Old Testament. The nearness of Jesus to God was very evident in the claims that Jesus made to authority, to forgive sins and to fulfil the Mosaic Law through divine powers. The miracles shown by Jesus are narrated as curing the blind, giving food and shelter to the hungry and downtrodden, curing people of diseases and ill health, forgiving all sinners, and many more. Christians of all groups celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as Christmas with utmost joy and love. This celebration starts four weeks prior to the birthday, which is called as the ‘Advent.’ Usage of light during this time signifies light of the world. Jesus’s death and resurrection are celebrated as the Easter because He died, He lived and He rose again. He is treated as the Father, and everyone goes to Him as His child. The Easter celebration also begins about 40 days before the event and is observed as the Lent period. On Good Friday, Christians mourn the death of Jesus by meditation and take part in processions conducted by the Church. Holy Sunday, the last day of Lent, is celebrated as the Easter Day and Easter Vigil is conducted in late evening. Mohammed’s preaching also was towards global family, under God. Muslims believe that it is the duty of every Muslim to read the Qu’ran and understand it according to his own capacity, and knowledge should be shared with others, used to guide others, and the joy and peace resulting from spiritual knowledge should be used to enlighten others. Prophet Mohammed’s teachings have had highly significant impact on Muslims. His teachings were purely based on religion. He preached that hard work caused sins to be absolved and that no one eats better food than that which he eats out of his work. His successors also preached the nobility of hard work and right intentions. The Qu’ran principles and the Prophet’s prescriptions serve as a guide for Muslims in their lives. He is believed to be the author of the Qu’ran, a collection of certain of Mohammed’s insights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by God ‘Allah.’ Most of these utterances were copied during Mohammed’s lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form. The Qu’ran therefore closely represents Mohammed’s ideas and teachings and to an extent, his exact words. Mohammed is considered as one of the most powerful men of history, whose influence is felt even after thirteen centuries. Despite his illiteracy, according to the Islamic tradition, his poor financial condition, and low societal status, he was able to influence a large group of people through his religious and secular approach. Mohammed’s teachings and practices are strong even today. The Muslims observe Ramzan, also known as Ramadan, as the holy month of fasting, in the ninth month of Muslim year, in which “the Qu’ran was sent down as guidance for the people” (Hoiberg, D & Ramchandani, I; p 281). This can be traced to the Prophet’s practice of withdrawing into the cave and fasting for one whole month. The birth and death day of the Prophet is observed as Milad-un-nabi in the third month of Islamic calendar. The day of prophet’s ascension is observed as Sab-e-Miraj in the seventh month and the night when Allah offers peace and decides the fate of all Muslims The festivals of Muslims start with the month of Muharram during which the 10th day of Muharram is observed as commemoration of the martyrdom of prophet’s grandsons, Hussain and Hasan. Though the lives of both the Prophets were different in many aspects, their mission was one, to spread the message from God. This message was passed in the form of love, humanity and to avoid hatred, to takeover the sufferings and sins of human beings upon themselves. Death of both the prophets had huge followers since their time and through the future. They are worshipped as saviors, and protectors of life and the earth. Deaths of both the prophets, Mohammed and Jesus, have left remarkable impact on humanity, as was their life. References Crichton, A. (2007) The History of Arabia: Ancient and Modern.. Published by Harper & brothers, 1834. Digitized Jun 8, 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=Rqg2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13&dq=Life+of+Prophet+Mohammed#PPA199,M1 Hoiberg, D and Ramchandani, I. (2000) Students Britannica India. Published by Popular Prakashan. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ISFBJarYX7YC&pg=PA281&dq=Ramzan&lr= Lane A, D. (1975) The reality of Jesus: an essay in Christology. Published by Paulist Press. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=mLe7gSHE65sC&pg=PA71&dq=Impact+of+death+of+Jesus#PPA74,M1 Ruthven, M.(2006) Islam in the world. Published by Oxford University Press US. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=92lQfWj6_VIC&pg=PA68&dq=Death+of+Mohammed+the+prophet#PPA68,M1 Taylor, J and Buckley, T. (2007) The History of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ. Published by George Routledge, 1851. Original from Harvard University. Digitized 24 Oct 2007 http://books.google.co.in/books?id=itgPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Death+of+Jesus+christ#PPA195,M1 Zacharias, R. (2002) Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message. Published by Thomas Nelson Inc http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KsKrGH7tomsC&pg=PA41&dq=Life+of+Jesus+and+Mohammed&lr= Read More