Mrs. Trahan
English 10, Period 1
9 November 2016
Christianity and Islam Throughout time, different civilizations have developed their own religious beliefs and practices. The two most influential in worldwide society are Christianity and Islam. These religions are similar and different in many aspects, which helped them to become the two most widely spread religions today. Even though Islam is only the second largest religion in the world, without it, our world would not be the same. Islam was founded by the prophet Muhammed around 622 C.E. in the Arabian Peninsula. Like other religions, it slowly began to spread, but Islam had a much different approach to spread: conquest. The Arabian-Islamic people made a strong military, conquered the lands of Arabia, and converted their new subjects to Islam. Other distant places they conquered were central and Southeast Asia, parts of northern Africa, Anatolia, and India. Another, more civilized method of spread and conversion was with …show more content…
Both religions were founded by prophets who revealed the word of their god to their followers. They both also originated in the Middle East. Islam and Christianity only shared a few similar beliefs, mostly about having a set of guidelines to live by and certain things that must be done in order to be saved. Very interestingly, they both shared the idea and practice of fasting for about one month each year, and ending it with a celebration of extraordinary proportions. The Islamic month of Ramadan corresponds to the Christian month of Lent. Same goes with Eid-al-Fitr being the Islamic version of Easter in Christianity. Another major aspect of similarity are the roles of women. Both religions started with a fairly free and equal society for women, but as they spread they were introduced to new ideals, and women were made subordinate to