Lives of Jesus and Muhammad - Essay Example

Jesus and Muhammad are adorned to be leaders who had initiated massive changes in the social setups of the era they lived in. Both of them were greatprophets who prophesied for the future of humanity. Though the means where different, the reason they lived and strived for was generically the same. The renovation of humanity from the social disgrace and pulling them more towards God was the prime vision of both. The methodology of its implementation was the basic factor that differentiated them. Thus the principles they stood for also differed substantially. In general, these glorified prophets made historic impact on the religion they belonged to and on the ideology of the society as well. The objective of this essay is to compare and contrast the life, works and death of Jesus and Muhammad in different perspectives. The life style & Society’s approach While considering the principles of Christianity for which Jesus lived, an imperialistic approach has been adorned by him since his birth. He was looked for as king to be born in the dynasty of David who would free the Jews from the imperialism of the foreign governance and would establish the reign of God. The Jews believed that the promised man would appear on a Maundy Thursday and would take over as their king. However the consideration of Jesus as the king of Kings, involves a varied concept on imperialism. It never goes along with the conventional approaches of the worldly governing systems, but had a holy view adorning the power of Jesus as a king and the manifest destiny allied with his life and times. Zechariah 9: 9 says, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (The King James Bible. Zec 9: 9).This prophesies by the Prophet Zechariah gives a clear cut picture on the simplicity that Jesus had as king. It would be ideal to read this along with the historic background involved with the king preferring to travel on a donkey. During the Old Testament period the kings used to travel on a donkey in order to symbolize themselves as an icon of peace and humbleness. It should be remembered that when the King Solomon traveled to Gihon, to take charge as the king the journey was on a donkey. The life of Mohammed was however marked with simplicity. Differently from Jesus, he was not praised as a godly incarnation but as the messenger of god. He always asserted this point in every deed. However, his name had the meaning, ‘the praised’. (Religion Facts ,2008).The major difference is that while Jesus was born with the image of a praised one, Mohammed had the divine revelation in the age of forty. While comparing the life of both, one another relevant fact is that though Jesus was born with the mission, he actively got involved in it after he turned thirty. In the case of Muhammad, it was angel Gabriel who appeared before him to be chosen as the messenger of God (Religion Facts ,2008).Quran says “Proclaim in the name of your Lord who created! Created man from a clot of blood. Proclaim: Your Lord is the Most Generous, Who teaches by the pen; Teaches man what he knew not(Quran 96:1-3)” (Religion Facts ,2008). Muhammad’s message for humanity was to get converted from pagan polytheism, immorality and materialism and to repent from evil. Interestingly, both Jesus and Muhammad preached the same principle. The only difference was that when Jesus proclaimed his Father as the only god, Muhammad’s view point was that the only true God was Allah. His life and times was spent in the lines of extending and preaching what he received from the angels. On the same time contrary from Jesus, he never did any wonders, nor did he take the outlook of an angel. When Jesus had twelve disciples, Muhammad gained forty of them after three years of ministry. Interesting similarity in the ministry of both of these great leaders is that their preaching threatened the social, religious and political systems of their times. Both had to experience prosecution from the religious and political governance systems. Another remarkable difference that existed between Jesus and Muhammad was that while Muhammad led the fight for the establishment of Muslimism through nonviolent means, Jesus established his kingdom by shedding his own blood on the cross. In 630, Muhammad and his army marched to Mecca and conquered it. The victory was marked by the rededication of Ka’ba temple to Allah. (Religion Facts ,2008).Further almost whole of the population of Mecca was converted to Islam before he left for Medina. He had conquered almost the whole of Arabia in terms of political and religious ideology (Religion Facts ,2008). The Death & its impact Muhammad died due to poisoning. It happened in AD 628, after a Jewish women offered him poisoned sheep meat. (Arlandson J A, 2004). It has been reported that the Jews were actually testing that whether poison would affect the prophet. (Arlandson J A, 2004). Moreover the revenge over the religious and political revolutions that the prophet brought in also made the Jews angry on him. One important factor which distinguishes Jesus and Muhammad is their death and the impact that it had on the respective religions. Muhammad died of illness due to poisoning which cannot be counted as a death of a martyr. It was not during the fight for Jihad-the holy war, that Muhammad was killed. He did not die as a hero who laid his life for the cause of the people (Arlandson J A, 2004). Contrary to this, it was the death of Jesus which made him the king of kings. He was glorified as he died on the cross for the sins of the mankind. More than when he lived, it was during his death that the messages and ideology of Christianity was extended to the world. It was through his death on cross that he could establish the kingdom of God. One similarity in the death of both Jesus and Muhammad was that the deaths of both were predicted in the early scriptures (Tim L & Hindson ,2004,219-223). Another important highlight in Jesus’ death was that while taking the last breaths of his life, he was still able to forgive the ones who caused his death. This was a strong message to the world which stood well with the cause for which he lived for (Arlandson J A, 2004). On analysis of the impact of the death of Jesus and Muhammad, the main difference lays in the fact that Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. This makes it reasonable for the people to worship him after his death as well. So the basic impact of the death of Jesus on Christianity is that he could leave a real model for ideally how a Christian should be. On the other side, Muhammad’s death was after he fulfilled the mission of his life which was to lead people towards Allah. The impact of his life is realized when each time a Muslim stay close to Allah. However, his death as such cannot be said to have made a substantial impact on the religion. Conclusion Jesus and Muhammad were two ideal leaders who led their followers towards God and righteousness. In the context of their generic mission a lot of similarities can be found among them. However, they held their personal identity in terms of ideology, life and deeds. These made them to be adorned by people in an honorable way. A considerable impact was made by them on the people and the religious missions they lived for. In totality, it can be concluded that though the methodology of extension differed, both of them worked towards the goodness of mankind. References The King James Bible. The Gideons International, New York: National Publishing Company 1980. Tim L & Hindson (2004.), The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy, Harvest House: 219-223. Arlandson J A, (2004), The death of Jesus and the death of Muhammad, Retrieved 02 February 3, 2009, from http://www.answeringislam.info/Authors/Arlandson/death _mu_jesus.htm Religion Facts (2008), Life of Prophet Muhammad, Retrieved 02 February 3, 2009, from http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/history/prophet.htm Read More