Abrahamic religions

Symbols of the Abrahamic religions: Judaism represented by the Star of David (top), Christianity represented by the cross (left), and Islam represented by the Arabic calligraphy of God's name (Allah) (right).

Abrahamic religions are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with Abraham. They are one of the three major divisions in comparative religion, along with Indian religions (Dharmic) and East Asian religions (Taoic).

The three major Abrahamic religions are, in order of appearance, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob, a grandson of Abraham. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the 1st century CE (known as Jewish Christianity) and evolved into a separate religion with distinctive beliefs and practices, notably its replacement of the Jewish idea of an exclusive ethnic religious community (a common notion which is not entirely correct, see Bnei Noah and Conversion to Judaism) with an inclusive, universal community of believers, the Christian Church. It replaced the idea of simple monotheism with a Triune God who is simultaneously one and three. In the 7^th century CE Islam was taught by Muhammad based on "Qur'an". Islam retained the inclusiveness of Christianity, but reverted to simple monotheism with a central, but not divine, prophet. Outside of these three well known religions, there are a number of relatively minor ones such as the Bahá'í Faith.

The three religions have certain similarities. They are considered inextricably linked to one another because of a 'family likeness' and a certain commonality in theology: all three are monotheistic, and conceive God to be a transcendent Creator-figure and the source of moral law. The sacred narratives of all three of these religions feature many of the same figures, histories and places in each, although they often present them with different roles, perspectives and meanings.

Although the three major religions are defined by common beliefs, Christianity and Islam divided into several different branches based on details of doctrine and practice. Judaism also has several branches, such as Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Conservative Judaism as well as lesser ones such as Samaritanism and Karaite Judaism. At times and in various locations the different religions, and some of the branches within the same basic religion, have been in bitter conflict with each other to the extent of war and bloodshed. The branches, and some conflicts, remain in existence.

As of the early twenty-first century there were an estimated 3.8 billion followers of these three Abrahamic religions, It is estimated that 54% of the world's population consider themselves adherents of the Abrahamic religions, about 30% of other religions, and 16% are non-religious.

Etymology

It has been suggested that the phrase, "Abrahamic religion," may simply mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a "father in faith."Rom. 4 There is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim (The nation of Abraham), indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. In addition to Jewish direct birth descendancy from Abraham, adherents follow his practices and ideals as the first of the three spiritual "fathers," Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Major religious groups

All the major Abrahamic religions claim a direct lineage to Abraham.

• Abraham is recorded in the Torah as the ancestor of the Israelites through his son Isaac, born to Sarah through a promise made in Genesis.Gen. 17:16 All variants of Judaism through the early 20th century (prophetic, rabbinic, reform, and conservative) were founded by Israelite descendants.
• The basic text of Christianity is the Bible, the first part of which, the Old Testament, is a modified form of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, leading to the same ancestry claim as above.
• It is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, "Ishmaelites", with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob named Israel are the "Israelites".

Other terms sometimes used include Abrahamic faiths, Abrahamic traditions, religions of Abraham, Abrahamic monotheistic religions, semitic religions, Semitic monotheistic religions, and Semitic one god religions.

However, the term 'Abrahamic faiths,' while helpful, is also misleading. It conveys an unspecified historical and theological commonality that is problematic on closer examination. While there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, and Jesus' Resurrection are not accepted by Judaism and Islam (see for example Islamic view of Jesus' death.) There are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by Christianity (such as simple monotheism and adherence to the Law), and key beliefs of Islam and Christianity not shared by Judaism (such as the Prophetic and Messianic position of Christ, respectively), and so on.

Common aspects

The unifying characteristic of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is that all accept the tradition that God revealed himself to the patriarch Abraham.

Monotheism

Main article: Monotheism

All Abrahamic religions claim to be monotheistic, worshiping an exclusive God, though known by different names. All of these religions believe that God creates, is one, rules, reveals, loves, judges, and forgives. However, Christianity's Trinitarian doctrine conflicts with Jewish and Muslim concepts of monotheism. They reject the incarnation of God in Christ; the defining feature of the Christian religion, in which salvation is based on a doctrine of atonement, most commonly substitutionary atonement through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour. Although Christianity does not profess to believe in three gods, rather three persons, or hypostases, united in one essence (ousia) in the Godhead, the one "Almighty God," the concept of the Trinity is categorically rejected by the other major Abrahamic religions (and by certain sects of Christianity, such as Oneness Pentecostals, Unitarians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Christian Scientists). Since "one is three" and "three is one" is antithetical to reason (it is considered by Trinitarian Christians a divine mystery), Islam considers Christianity to be variously polytheistic or idolatrous. The worship of Jesus, or the ascribing of partners to God, is categorically denounced as the heresy of idolatry by Islam (cf. tawhid); the incarnation of God in to human form is denounced as a heresy by Judaism. The single largest religious sect of any religion, Roman Catholicism (along with most other Christian sects) defends the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus (Isa) is common between Christianity, Islam, and Baha'i Faith, but with vastly differing conceptions, viewed as God incarnate and the Saviour of mankind by Christians, and as a Prophet of God by Muslims and Baha'is.

Theological continuity

See also: Messianism

All the Abrahamic religions affirm one personal eternal God who created the universe, who rules history, who sends prophetic and angelic messengers and who reveals the divine will through inspired Scriptures. They also affirm that obedience to this creator God is to be lived out historically, and that one day God will unilaterally intervene in human history on the day of judgment and will determine for all humanity their eternal destinies of heaven or hell based upon a person's beliefs and actions.

This theological continuity among the Abrahamic religions is profound, especially given that the great religions of Eastern Asia, the dominant schools of Greek philosophy, and almost all other religious and philosophical systems of modernity and postmodernity cannot claim anything close to this level of doctrinal continuity.

Scripture

See also: Development of the Jewish Bible canon, Development of the Christian biblical canon, and History of the Qur'an

All Abrahamic religions believe that God guides humanity through revelation to prophets, and each religion recognizes that God revealed teachings up to and including those in their own scripture.

Ethical orientation

See also: Biblical law in Christianity and Judeo-Christian

An ethical orientation: all these religions speak of a choice between good and evil, which is associated with obedience or disobedience to a single God and to Divine Law.

Eschatological world view

An eschatological world view of history and destiny, beginning with the Creation of the world and the concept that God works through history, and ending with a Resurrection of the dead and final judgment.

Importance of Jerusalem

• Judaism: Jerusalem became Judaism's holiest city in 1005 BCE when David established it as the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon built the First Temple on Mount Moriah. Since the Hebrew Bible relates that Isaac's sacrifice took place there, mount Moriah's importance for Jews pre-dates even these prominent events. Jews pray in its direction, thrice daily pray for its restoration and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple (the Third Temple) on mount Moriah, close the Passover service with the wistful statement "Next year in built Jerusalem," and recall the city in the blessing at the end of each meal. Jerusalem has served as the only capital of all five Jewish states that have existed in Israel since 1400 BC (the United Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, Yehud Medinata, the Hasmonean Kingdom, and modern Israel). It has been majority Jewish since about 1852 and continues through today.
• Christianity: The Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 and expelled the Jews from the area in 135. There has been a continuous Christian presence there since. William R. Kenan, Jr., professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, writes that from the middle of the 4th century to the Arab conquest in the middle of the 7th century, the Roman province of Palestine was a Christian nation with Jerusalem its principal city. According to the New Testament, Jerusalem was the city Jesus was brought to as a child to be presented at the templeLuke 2:22 and for the feast of the Passover.Luke 2:41 He preached and healed in Jerusalem, unceremoniously drove the money changers in disarray from the temple there, held the Last Supper in an "upper room" there the night before his alleged death on the cross, was arrested in Gethsemane. The six parts to Jesus' trial—three stages in a religious court and three stages before a Roman court—were all held in Jerusalem. His crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial nearby, and his resurrection and ascension and prophecy to return all are said to have occurred or will occur there.
• Islam: Jerusalem, the city of David and Christ, became a very holy place to Muslims, like Mecca and Medina. The Al-Aqsa mosque, which translates to "farthest mosque" in sura Al-Isra in the Qur'an, and its surroundings (Jerusalem) as "the holy land". The first Muslims did not pray toward Mecca, but toward Jerusalem. Another reason for its significance is its connection with the Miʿrāj (the Prophet Muhammad’s ascension to heaven).

Desert association

Association with the desert, sometimes called desert monotheism, which some commentators believe has imbued these religions with a particular ethos.

The significance of Abraham

Main article: Covenant of Abraham

An interpretation of the borders (in red) of the Promised Land, based on God's promise to Abraham.[https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0115.htm#1 Genesis 15

]

Even though members of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do not all claim Abraham as an ancestor, some members of these traditions have tried to claim him as exclusively theirs.

For Jews

For Jews, Abraham is, through Isaac and Jacob, the founding patriarch of the children of Israel. God promised Abraham: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you."Gen. 12:2 With Abraham, God entered into "an everlasting covenant throughout the ages to be God to you and to your offspring to come."Gen. 17:7

Abraham is primarily a revered ancestor or patriarch (referred to as Avraham Avinu אברהם אבינו "Abraham our father") to whom God made several promises: chiefly, that he would have numberless descendants, who would receive the land of Canaan (the "Promised Land.") According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was the first post-Flood prophet to reject idolatry through rational analysis, although Shem and Eber carried on the tradition from Noah.

The nation of Israel was created by the story which made all of them descendants of Jacob (Israel). All could claim fathers (the sons of Jacob and their offspring) who had been miraculously led out of Egypt and through the sea and the desert into the promised land. This was the covenant that was re-enacted in rituals and offerings of the annual festivals, and of course it's the story that is still celebrated and told, and present in ritual, in every Passover celebration today.

— Helmut Koester

For Christians

Christians view Abraham as an important exemplar of faith, and a spiritual, as well as physical, ancestor of Jesus—a Jew considered the Son of God through whom God promised to bless all the families of the earth. For Christians, Abraham is a spiritual forebear as well as/rather than a direct ancestor depending on the individual's interpretation of Paul the Apostle,Rom. 4:9–12 with the Abrahamic Covenant "reinterpreted so as to be defined by faith in Christ rather than biological descent" or both by faith as well as a direct ancestor, in any case, the emphasis is placed on faith being the only requirement for the Abrahamic Covenant to apply; see also New Covenant. In Christian belief, Abraham is a role model of faith,Heb. 11:8–10 and his obedience to God by offering Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's offering of his son Jesus.Rom. 8:32

The tendency of Christian commentators to interpret God's promises to Abraham as applying to Christianity rather than Judaism, whose adherents rejected Jesus, is derived from Paul's interpretation of all descendants who believe in God as being spiritual descendants of Abraham.Rom. 4:20 Gal. 4:9 However, in both cases he refers to these spiritual descendants as the "sons of God"Gal. 4:26 rather than "children of Abraham".

For Muslims

Main article: Islamic view of Abraham

There are several reasons that Abraham is significant in Islam. For Muslims, Abraham is a prophet, the "messenger of God" who stands in the line from Noah to Muhammad, to whom Allah gave revelations,^{[Quran 4:163]}, who "raised the foundations of the House" (i.e., the Kaaba)^{[Quran 2:127]} with his first son, Isma'il, a symbol of which is every mosque. Ibrahim (Abraham) is the first in a genealogy for Muhammad. Islam considers Abraham to be the "first Muslim" (Surah 3)—the first monotheist in a world where monotheism was lost, and the community of those faithful to God, thus being referred to as ابونا ابرهيم or "Our Father Abraham", as well as Ibrahim al-Hanif or "Abraham the Monotheist". Islam holds that it was Ishmael, (Isma'il, Muhammad's ancestor) rather than Isaac, whom Ibrahim was instructed to sacrifice. In addition to this spiritual lineage, the northern Adnani Arab tribes trace their lineage to Isma'il, and thus to Abraham. Abraham is also recalled in certain details of Muslim Hajj (pilgrimage).

The religions

See also section Other Abrahamic religions

The tomb of Abraham, a cenotaph above the Cave of the Patriarchs traditionally considered to be the burial place of Abraham.

Abraham had eight sons by three women: Ishmael by his wife's servant Hagar, Isaac by his wife Sarah and six by his wife or concubine Keturah.

Judaism

Judaism takes its name from Judah, a small Iron Age kingdom which flourished in the border between Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In that period its religion was identical with that of its neighbours - it was polytheistic, temple-based, and centred around sacrifice to a national god called, in the case of Judah, YHWH - neighbouring states each had their own gods. Concepts of monotheism and ethnic exclusivism had already emerged even at this time, as they had elsewhere in the region (Marduk occupied a very similar position in Babylon, as did Asshur in Assyria), but in the 5th and 4th centuries BC these concepts became dominant and the religion now known as Judaism (the religion of Judah) crystallised.

Christianity

Christianity began in the 1st century as a sect within Judaism, referred to as Jewish Christianity. Whether Jesus of Nazareth ever intended to found a new religion is debatable - another possibility is that he regarded himself as a reformer of Judaism, see Historical Jesus for details. Intentionally or not, he became identified with the Jewish concept of the Messiah, and the new movement eventually (over several centuries) diverged from its Jewish roots, see Split of early Christianity and Judaism for details. Some believe its major innovation was the concept of the Trinity, plus a set of eschatological beliefs and practices which proved profoundly attractive to the citizens of the Roman world as well as outside of the empire. Christianity thus came to mean the religion which saw Jesus as Christ, the incarnate son of God who died and was resurrected and will come at the end of time to usher in a new world. After an initial period of persecution by the authorities Christianity became the State religion of the empire, but has been split into various "churches" from the beginning, see Early centers of Christianity.

Islam

Unlike Judaism and Christianity, which each have complex origins for which no single founder is proposed (Christianity owes as much to Saint Paul's innovations as to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and Judaism as much to the Laws of Moses as to the Judaic clerical and rabbinical traditions which evolved over time), Islam teaches that the every prophet preached Islam, with the universal version of this same faith being laid out in the final holy scripture, the Qur'an. These teachings were presented as, and are still regarded by Muslims as, the direct revelation and words of God, believing that the earlier scriptures were altered over time. Islam (meaning "submission", in the sense of submission to God's word) is universal (like the other faiths, membership is open to anyone); like Judaism, its theology of God is based around a single divine Being (without the Christian Trinity doctrine). The cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem are central to Islam.

God

Main article: God in Abrahamic religions

All the Abrahamic religions are monotheistic. In both Judaism and Islam, God is viewed as a single divine being; this view is not shared by Christianity which views God as an indivisible Trinity. While the Christians hold that the Trinity is the same as the Judaic and Islamic singular divine being view of God, the distinction is sufficiently huge as to require an overt explanation on the part of the Christians and on the part of the Islamic faith which restates the issue with an admonition in chapter 112 of the Qur'an.

Judaism

Main article: God in Judaism

The Shield of David, more commonly known as the Star of David (or Magen David), is a generally recognized symbol of the Jewish community and of Judaism.

Jewish theology is based on the Hebrew Bible, where the nature and commandments of God are revealed through the writings of Moses, the Torah, the writings of the prophets, psalmists and other ancient canonized scriptures, together with the Torah known as the Tanakh. Additionally, it usually has a basis in its Oral Law, as recorded in the Mishnah and Gemora that form the Talmud.

This Supreme Being is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in several ways, such as Elohim, Adonai or by the four Hebrew letters "Y-H-V (or W) -H" (the tetragrammaton), which observant Jews do not pronounce as a word. The Hebrew words Eloheynu (Our God) and HaShem (The Name), as well as the English names "Lord" and "God", are also used in modern-day Judaism. The latter is sometimes written "G-d" in reference to the taboo against pronouncing the tetragrammaton.

The word "Elohim" has the Hebrew plural ending "-īm", which some Biblical scholars have taken as support for the general notion that the ancient Hebrews were polytheists in the time of the patriarchs; however, as the word itself is used with singular verbs, this hypothesis is not accepted by most Jews. Jews point out other words in Hebrew used in the same manner according to the rule of Hebrew Grammar, denoting respect, majesty and deliberation, similar to the royal plural in English and ancient Egyptian, and the use of the plural form "vous" for individuals of higher standing in modern French. Jewish Biblical scholars and historical commentary on the passage also suggest that Elohim in the plural form indicates God in conjunction with the heavenly court, i.e., the Angels. The pre-Christian era, early CE-period Kabbalistic and later in the European Chasidic movements after the Baal Shem Tov, such as Breslov and Chabad, all indicate the use of Elokim as denoting the multidimensional existence of God on, in, and through every possible dimension of the created existence. See Likutei Moharan and the Tanya, as well as the Zohar, Bahir, and the Kabbalistic texts of Sefer Yitzirah, Sefer Refayim, and Sefer Malachim, to name a few. Including the writings of the Ramchal (R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto), Drech HaShem and others such as the Rashbi (R. Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar) all explain the use of the Elokim as a pluralistic singularity, one essence sustaining all levels of creation from the mundane physical to the sublime and Holy spiritual.

Christianity

Main article: God in Christianity

The Christian cross (or crux) is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity; this version is known as a Latin Cross.

Christians believe that the God worshiped by the faithful Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era has always revealed himself as he did through Jesus; but that this was never obvious until the Word of God (the divine Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us (see John 1). Also, despite the fact that the Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, it has always been only through the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to later perceive that they had been visited by God himself. After Jesus was raised from the dead—according to Christian scriptures—this ancient Hebrew witness of how God reveals himself as Messiah came to be seen in a very different light. It was then that Jesus' followers began to speak widely of him as God himself,John 20:28 although this had already been revealed to certain individuals during his ministry. Examples were the Samaritan woman in Shechem and Jesus' closest apostles

This belief gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity, which is the doctrine that God is a single entity (singular God), but that there is a "triunity" in God, which has always been evident albeit not understood. This mysterious "triunity" is hypostatic; that is, there are three hypostases (personae in Latin) or "persons" of the Godhead (though this is a often misleading English rendering). In the traditional Christian concept, God the Father (the Source) has only revealed himself through his eternal Word (who was incarnated in human history as Jesus Christ). The three different hypostases are not "Gods" because they are one, and share the same Divine Nature; they are the one and the same God. The Father is the Begetter, the Son is the eternally Begotten, and the Spirit eternally proceeds from both (in Catholicism and Protestantism) or from just the Father (in Eastern Orthodoxy).

Non-trinitarian views have constructed various theological understandings, ranging from Binitarianism to Modalism. Some non-trinitarians would understand that the three are not three but one playing three different roles, in three different ages. In the Age of the Father, as Jehovah. In the Age of the Son, as Jesus. And finally in the Age of the Holy Spirit, with a New Name, as the Second Coming of Christ. However, it should be noted that some Christian denominations reject trinity and follow nontrinitarian beliefs, Jehovah Witnesses being but one of them.

Islam

Main article: God in Islam

The word Allah written in Arabic.

There is only one God in Islam. Allah is the Arabic word for God, used by all Arabs of all faiths. Islamic tradition also describes the 99 names of God. These 99 names describe attributes of God, including Most Merciful, The Just, The Peace and Blessing, and the Guardian. Islamic belief in God is distinct from Christianity in that God has no progeny. This belief is summed up in chapter 112 of the Qur'an titled Al-Ikhlas, which states "Say, he is Allah (who is) one, Allah is the Eternal, the Absolute. He does not beget nor was he begotten. Nor is there to Him any equivalent.".^{[Quran 112:1]}

Muslims believe that the Jewish God is the same as their God, and that Jesus was a divinely inspired prophet and was neither God nor His son. The Qur'an also draws a similitude between Jesus and Adam—the first human being created by God—saying they were both 'created from clay' by God who said the simple word "Be" (Arabic: kun).^{[Quran 3:59]} Thus, both the Torah and the Gospels are believed to be based upon divine revelation, but most Muslims believe them to have been corrupted (both accidentally, through errors in transmission, and intentionally by certain Jews and Christians over the centuries). Muslims revere the Qur'an as the final uncorrupted word of God, or 'The Final Testament' as revealed through the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is regarded as the "Seal of the Prophets" i.e. the last in a long chain, and Islam as the final monotheist faith, perfect in all respects as taught by the Qur'an.^[Quran 5:3]

Religious scriptures

All these religions rely on a body of scriptures, some of which are considered to be the word of God—hence sacred and unquestionable—and some the work of religious men, revered mainly by tradition and to the extent that they are considered to have been divinely inspired, if not dictated, by the divine being.

Jewish

Main articles: Masoretic Text, Tanakh, and Bible

The sacred scriptures of Judaism are the Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym standing for Torah (Law or Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). These are complemented by and supplemented with various (originally oral) traditions: Midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud and collected rabbinical writings. The Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible) was composed between 1,400 BCE, and 400 BCE by Jewish prophets, kings, and priests. The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered holy, down to the last letter: transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error in a single letter, ornamentation or symbol of the 300,000+ stylized letters that make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use; hence the skills of a Torah scribe are specialist skills, and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check.

Christian

Main articles: Old Testament, New Testament, and Bible

The sacred scriptures of most Christian groups are the Old Testament, which is largely the same as the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament. The latter comprises four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus (the Four Gospels, traditionally attributed to the apostle Matthew; the apostle John; Mark, a student of the apostle Peter; and Luke, a student of the apostle Paul), as well as several other writings by the apostles (such as Paul). They are usually considered to be divinely inspired, and together comprise the Christian Bible. Thus, Christians consider the fundamental teachings of the Old Testament, in particular the Ten Commandments, as valid (see Biblical law in Christianity for details). However, they believe that the coming of Jesus as the Messiah and saviour of humankind as predicted in the Old Testament would shed light on the true relationship between God and mankind by restoring the emphasis of universal love and compassion (as mentioned in the Shema) above the other commandments, also de-emphasising the more "legalistic" and material precepts of Mosaic Law (such as circumcision and the dietary constraints and temple rites). Some Christians believe that the link between Old and New Testaments in the Bible means that Judaism has been superseded by Christianity as the "new Israel", and that Jesus' teachings described Israel not as a geographic place, but rather an association with God and promise of salvation in heaven, a revisionist position rejected by Jews.

A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. This Bible was transcribed in Belgium in 1407 for reading aloud in a monastery.

The vast majority of Christian faiths (generally including Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism and most forms of Protestantism) derive their beliefs from the conclusions reached by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 in a document known as the Nicene Creed. This describes the belief that God (as a Trinity of distinct persons with one substance) became human on earth, born as Jesus pursuant to the Old Testament scriptures, was crucified by humanity, died and was buried, then was resurrected on the third day to rise and enter the Kingdom of Heaven and "sit at the right hand of" God with a promise to return. Christians generally believe that faith in Jesus is the way to achieve salvation and to enter into heaven, and that salvation is a gift given by the grace of God.

Some Christians recognize that the Gospels were passed on by oral tradition, and were not set to paper until decades after the death of Jesus, and that the extant versions are copies of those originals. Others, however, think that the Gospels are actually contemporary accounts of the life of Jesus, despite much evidence to the contrary. Indeed, the version of the Bible considered to be most valid (in the sense of best conveying the true meaning of the word of God) has varied considerably: the Greek Septuagint, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, the English King James Version and the Russian Synodal Bible have been authoritative to different communities at different times. In particular, Christians usually consult the Hebrew version of the Old Testament when preparing new translations, although some believe that the Septuagint should be preferred, as it was the Bible of the Early Christian Church, and because they believe its translators used a different Hebrew Bible to the ones that make up the current Masoretic Hebrew text, as there are some variant readings of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed by the Septuagint. In the same sense that the Jewish mystics viewed the Torah as something living and existing prior to any written text, so too do Christians view the Bible and Jesus himself as God's "Word" (or logos in Greek), transcending written documents.

The sacred scriptures of the Christian Bible are complemented by a large body of writings by individual Christians and councils of Christian leaders (see canon law). Some Christian churches and denominations consider certain additional writings to be binding; other Christian groups consider only the Bible to be binding (sola scriptura).

Islamic

Main articles: Qur'an and Origin and development of the Qur'an

Islam's holiest book is the Qur'an, comprising 114 suras ("chapters of the Qur'an"). However, Muslims also believe in the religious texts of Judaism and Christianity in their original forms, albeit not the current versions (which they believe to be revised or changed). According to the Qur'an (and mainstream Muslim belief), the verses of the Qur'an were revealed from God through the Archangel Jibrail to the Prophet Muhammad on separate occasions. These revelations were written down during prophet Muhammad's lifetime and also memorized by hundreds of hafiz. These multiple sources were collected into one official copy in 633 AD, one year after his death. Finally, the Qur'an was given its present order in 653 AD by the third Caliph.

The Qur'an mentions and reveres several of the Israelite prophets, including Moses and Jesus, among others (see also: Prophets of Islam). The stories of these prophets are very similar to those in the Bible. However, the detailed precepts of the Tanakh and the New Testament are not adopted outright; they are replaced by the new commandments accepted as revealed directly by God (through Gabriel) to Muhammad and codified in the Qur'an.

Like the Jews with the Torah, Muslims consider the original Arabic text of the Qur'an as uncorrupted and holy to the last letter, and any translations are considered to be interpretations of the meaning of the Qur'an, as only the original Arabic text is considered to be the divine scripture.

Like the Rabbinic Oral Law to the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an is complemented by the Hadith, a set of books by later authors recording the sayings of the prophet Muhammad. The Hadith interpret and elaborate Qur'anic precepts. Islamic scholars have categorized each Hadith at one of the following levels of authenticity or isnad: genuine (sahih), fair (hasan) or weak (da'if).

By the 9th century, six major Hadith collections were accepted as reliable to Sunni Muslims.

• Sahih al-Bukhari
• Sahih Muslim
• Sunan ibn Majah
• Sunan Abu Dawood
• Jami al-Tirmidhi
• Sunan an-Nasa'ii

Shia Muslims, however, refer to other authenticated hadiths instead. They are known collectively as The Four Books.

The Hadith and the life story of Muhammad (sira) form the Sunnah, an authoritative supplement to the Qur'an. The legal opinions of Islamic jurists (Faqīh) provide another source for the daily practice and interpretation of Islamic tradition (see Fiqh.)

The Qur'an contains repeated references to the "religion of Abraham" (see Suras 2:130,135; 3:95; 6:123,161; 12:38; 16:123; 22:78). In the Qur'an, this expression refers specifically to Islam; sometimes in contrast to Christianity and Judaism, as in Sura 2:135, for example: 'They say: "Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided (to salvation)." Say thou (O Muslims): "Nay! (I would rather) the Religion of Abraham the True, and he joined not gods with Allah." ' In the Qur'an, Abraham is declared to have been a Muslim (a hanif), not a Jew nor a Christian (Sura 3:67).

End times and afterlife

Main article: Eschatology

In the major Abrahamic religions, there exists the expectation of an individual who will herald the time of the end and/or bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth; in other words, the Messianic prophecy. Judaism awaits the coming of the Jewish Messiah; the Jewish concept of Messiah differs from the Christian concept in several significant ways, despite the same term being applied to both. The Jewish Messiah is not seen as a "god", but as a mortal man who by his holiness is worthy of that description. His appearance is not the end of history, rather it signals the coming of the world to come.

Christianity awaits the Second Coming of Christ, though Full Preterists believe this has already happened. Islam awaits both the second coming of Jesus (to complete his life and die) and the coming of Mahdi (Sunnis in his first incarnation, Shi'a as the return of Muhammad al-Mahdi).

Most Abrahamic religions agree that a human being comprises the body, which dies, and the soul, which is capable of remaining alive beyond human death and carries the person's essence, and that God will judge each person's life accordingly after death. The importance of this and the focus on it, as well as the precise criteria and end result, differs between religions.

Judaism

Main article: Olam Haba

Judaism's views on the afterlife ("the Next World") are quite diverse. This can be attributed to the fact that although there clearly are traditions in the Hebrew Bible of an afterlife (see Naboth and the Witch of Endor), Judaism focuses on this life and how to lead a holy life to please God, rather than future reward, and its attitude can be mostly summed up by the rabbinical observation that at the start of Genesis, God clothed the naked (Adam and Eve); at the end of Deuteronomy, he buried the dead (Moses) and the Children of Israel mourned for 40 days before getting on with their lives.

Christianity

Main article: Christian eschatology

Christians have more diverse and definite teachings on the end times and what constitutes afterlife. Most Christian approaches either include different abodes for the dead (heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory) or universal reconciliation in which all souls are made in the image of God. A small minority teach annihilationism, the doctrine that those persons who are not reconciled to God simply cease to exist.

Islam

Main article: Islamic eschatology

In Islam, God is said to be "Most Compassionate and Most Merciful" (Qur'an 1:1, as well as the start of all suras but one). However, God is also "Most Just"; Islam prescribes a literal Hell for those who disobey God and commit gross sin. Those who obey God and submit to God will be rewarded with their own place in Paradise. While sinners are punished with fire, there are also many other forms of punishment described, depending on the sin committed; Hell is divided into numerous levels.

Those who worship and remember God are promised eternal abode in a physical and spiritual Paradise. Heaven is divided into seven levels, with the highest level of Paradise being the reward of those who have been most virtuous, the prophets, and those killed while fighting for Allah (martyrs).

Upon repentance to God, many sins can be forgiven, on the condition they are not repeated, as God is supremely merciful. Additionally, those who believe in God, but have led sinful lives, may be punished for a time, and then eventually released into Paradise. If anyone dies in a state of Shirk (i.e., associating God in any way, such as claiming that He is equal with anything or denying Him), this is not pardonnable—he or she will stay forever in Hell.

Once a person is admitted to Paradise, this person will abide there for eternity.

Worship and religious rites

Worship, ceremonies and religion-related customs differ substantially among the Abrahamic religions. Among the few similarities are a seven-day cycle in which one day is nominally reserved for worship, prayer or other religious activities - Shabbat, Sabbath, or jumu'ah; this custom is related to the biblical story of Genesis, where God created the universe in six days, and rested in the seventh.

Judaism

Orthodox Judaism practice is guided by the interpretation of the Torah and the Talmud. Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish priests offered sacrifices there two times daily; since then, the practice has been replaced, until the Temple is rebuilt, by Jewish men being required to pray three times daily, including the chanting of the Torah, and facing in the direction of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Jewish women's prayer obligations vary by denomination; in contemporary orthodox practice, women do not read from the Torah and are only required to say certain parts of these daily services. Other practices include circumcision, dietary laws, Shabbat, Passover, Torah study, Tefillin, purity and others. Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and the Reconstructionist movement all move away, in different degrees, from the strict tradition of the law.

All versions of Judaism share a common, specialized calendar, containing many festivals. The calendar is lunisolar, with lunar months and a solar year (an extra month is added every second or third year to allow the shorter lunar year to "catch up" to the solar year). All streams observe the same festivals, but some emphasize them differently. As is usual with its extensive law system, the Orthodox have the most complex manner of observing the festivals, while the Reform pay more attention to the simple symbolism of each one.

Christianity

Main article: Christian worship

Christian worship varies from denomination to denomination. Individual prayer is usually not ritualised, while group prayer may be ritual or non-ritual according to the occasion. During church services some form of liturgy is frequently followed. Rituals are performed during sacraments, which also vary from denomination to denomination and usually include baptism and communion, and may also include confirmation, confession, last rites and holy orders. Catholic worship practice is governed by the Catholic catechism. Individuals, churches and denominations place different emphasis on ritual - some denominations consider most ritual activity optional, see Adiaphora, particularly since the Protestant Reformation.

Islam

The followers of Islam (Muslims) are to observe the Five Pillars of Islam. The first pillar is the belief in the oneness of God, and in Muhammad as his final prophet. The second is to pray five times daily (salat) towards the direction (qibla) of the Kaaba in Mecca. The third pillar is Zakah, a portion of one's wealth given to the poor or to other specified causes, which means the giving of a specific share of one's wealth and savings to persons or causes, which God mentions in the Qur'an. The normal share to be paid is two and a half percent of one's saved earnings. Fasting during the Muslim month of Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam, to which only able-bodied Muslims are required to fast. Finally, Muslims are also urged to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one's life. Only individuals whose financial position and health are insufficient are exempt from making Hajj. During this pilgrimage, the Muslims spend several days in worship, repenting and most notably circumambulating the Kaaba among millions of other Muslims. At the end of the Hajj, sheep and other permissible animals are slaughtered to commemorate the moment when God replaced Abraham's son Ishmael with a sheep, thereby preventing his sacrifice. The meat from these animals is then distributed around the world to needy Muslims, neighbours and relatives.

Circumcision

See also: Circumcision in the Bible, Brit Milah, Khitan (Circumcision), Circumcision controversy in early Christianity, and History of male circumcision

Judaism practices circumcision for males as a matter of religious obligation, as does Islam as part of Sunnah (the practice is not mandated by the Qur'an).

Western Christianity replaced that custom with a baptism ceremony varying according to the denomination, but generally including immersion, aspersion or anointment with water. The Early Church (Acts 15, the Council of Jerusalem) decided that circumcision is not required for Gentile Christians. The Council of Florence in the 15th century prohibited it. Paragraph #2297 of the Catholic Catechism calls non-medical amputation or mutilation immoral. Many countries with majorities of Christian adherents have low circumcision rates (with the notable exceptions of the United States and the Philippines). Coptic Christianity and Ethiopian Orthodoxy still observe circumcision. See also Aposthia.

Male circumcision is among the rites of Islam and is part of the (in Arabic): fitrah, or the innate disposition and natural character and instinct of the human creation.

Food restrictions

Main articles: kashrut, halal, and ital

File:Baozi-Halal-label-2570.jpg

A package of halal-certified (see green label on the package) frozen food (steamed cabbage buns) from Jiangsu province, China

See also: Apostolic Decree

Judaism and Islam have strict dietary laws, with permitted food known as kosher in Judaism, and halal in Islam. These two religions prohibit the consumption of pork; Islam prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages of any kind. Halal restrictions can be seen as a modification of the kashrut dietary laws, so many kosher foods are considered halal; especially in the case of meat, which Islam prescribes must be slaughtered in the name of God. Hence in Morocco Muslims used to consume kosher food. Similarly, some foods not considered kosher are considered halal in Islam.

With rare exceptions, Christians do not consider the Old Testament's strict food laws as relevant for today's church; see also Biblical law in Christianity. Most Protestants have no set food laws, but there are minority exceptions.

The Roman Catholic Church believes in observing abstinence and penance. For example, all Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days. The law of abstinence requires a Catholic from 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. The U.S. bishops' conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the U.S. to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Eastern Rite Catholics have their own penitential practices as specified by the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) embraces numerous Old Testament rules and regulations such as tithing, Sabbath observance, and Jewish Food laws. Therefore, they do not eat pork, shellfish, or other foods considered unclean under the Old Covenant. A "Fundamental Belief" of the SDA if that their members "are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures."Leviticus 11:1–47 ^{among others}

In the Christian Bible, the consumption of strangled animals and of blood was forbidden by Apostolic DecreeActs 15:19–21 and are still forbidden in the Greek Orthodox Church, according to German theologican Karl Josef von Hefele, who, in his Commentary on Canon II of the Second Ecumenical Council held in the 4th century at Gangra, notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of Gangra, the rule of the Apostolic Synod [the Council of Jerusalem of Acts 15] with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greeks, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show." He also writes that "as late as the eighth century, Pope Gregory the Third, in 731, forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days."

Jehovah's Witnesses abstain from eating blood and from blood transfusions based on Acts 15:19–21.

Sabbath observance

See also: Biblical Sabbath, Shabbat, Christian Sabbath, and jumu'ah

Sabbath in the Bible is a weekly day of rest and time of worship. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other Abrahamic faiths. Though many viewpoints and definitions have arisen over the millennia, most originate in the same textual tradition. Though not a day of rest (creation does not make God tired and therefore He did not rest on the 7th day in Muslim belief), Islam holds Friday as a day of special prayer.

Proselytism

Judaism

Judaism accepts converts, but has no explicit missionaries as such since the end of the Second Temple era. Judaism states that non-Jews can achieve righteousness by following Noahide Laws, a set of seven universal commandments non-Jews are expected to follow. In this context, the Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides, one of the major Jewish teachers) commented: "Quoting from our sages, the righteous people from other nations have a place in the world to come, if they have acquired what they should learn about the Creator". Because the commandments applicable to the Jews are much more detailed and onerous than Noahide laws, Jewish scholars have traditionally maintained that it is better to be a good non-Jew than a bad Jew, thus discouraging conversion. In the U.S., as of 2003 28% of married Jews were married to non-Jews. See also Conversion to Judaism.

The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch.

Christianity

Christianity encourages evangelism, as Jesus did—convincing others to convert to the religion; many Christian organizations, especially Protestant churches, send missionaries to non-Christian communities throughout the world. See also Great Commission.

Forced conversions to Catholicism have been documented at various points throughout history. The most prominently cited allegations are the conversions of the pagans after Constantine; of Muslims, Jews and Eastern Orthodox during the Crusades; of Jews and Muslims during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, where they were offered the choice of exile, conversion or death; and of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes.

Some organizations in India have alleged that some Christian missionaries in India are converting the illiterate Dalits (the so-called low castes) by fraudulent means. A government investigation in the mid-1950s failed to substantiate that Christian missionaries used force, fraud or offer of material inducement. However, that investigation recommended that the missionaries be asked to withdraw, demanded Indianization of Church and called upon the Christian Church in India to sever all its relations with any such body abroad. This demand was repeated by K. Sudarshan, the Sar Sangh Chalak after Kandhamal violence in 2007 and 2008.

Forced conversions are condemned as sinful by major denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, which officially states that forced conversions pollute the Christian religion and offend human dignity, so that past or present offenses are regarded as a scandal (a cause of unbelief). According to Pope Paul VI, "It is one of the major tenets of Catholic doctrine that man's response to God in faith must be free: no one therefore is to be forced to embrace the Christian faith against his own will."

Islam

Further information: Dawah and Ummah

Muslims are encouraged to proselytize for their religion, which the devout believe is the only path to salvation from hellfire (a view not necessarily substantiated by the Qur'an). Most mainstream Muslim groups say that the verse that reads "Let there be no compulsion in religion ... the apostate is threatened with punishment in the next world only"

prevents Muslims from using violence to spread the religion. This has been contested by critics such as Bat Ye'or and Robert Spencer who believe that Muhammad, by his own example, sought forced universal conversion of non-Muslims. For example, in the Sahih al-Bukhari (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 24) Muhammad says, "I have been ordered (by Allah) to struggle against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle." The Qu'ran says (as instructions for a particular war situation only, therefore, not to be used outside the context of that particular war), "If then, ye (the 'Pagans') repent, it were best for you; but if ye turn away, know ye that ye cannot frustrate Allah. And proclaim a grievous penalty to those who reject Faith."

(Again, a short extract from instructions for a particular war situation only, therefore, not to be used outside the context of that particular war) "...fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)..."

"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth."

These verses, being in context of a particular historic war only, thus, do not indicate that Islam permits killing or forcing people in the name of religion.

Map showing the prevalence of Abrahamic (pink) and Dharmic religions (yellow) in each country.

Another similar verse as stated above states Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. (Yusuf Ali translation of verse in AL-BAQARA) shows the basic principles of Islam, to believe in God and avoid committing evil acts. The evil acts are described clearly in the Qur'an. It is also important to understand that earlier verses of the Qu'ran are subject to be substituted by later additions through the process of abrogation.

During the Ummayad dynasty Muslim rulers imposed a Jizya (poll tax) on dhimmis (non-Muslims living under Islamic rule), something that some argue encouraged conversion. However, Muslims refer to the Zakat that every Muslim is obliged to pay as an indication that Muslims would still have to pay more tax than a non-Muslim, refuting the claim that the Jizya somehow encouraged conversion. The Jizya also afforded the dhimmis protection by the ruler and exemption form serving in the army.

Islam has missionaries. They are known as Dawah networks and encourage followers to learn about Islam. Since the founding of Islam, Dawah networks and schools have traveled all over the world with the objective of garnering converts to Islam, places such as India, present day Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, Central Asia, parts of Africa, the Balkans and Eurasia have all successfully garnered converts through these networks and schools. Presently, many Dawah schools aim to gain more followers.

The word "dawah" literally means "invitation", as in an invitation towards a food banquet. Muslims are required to explain and elucidate their beliefs to interested parties who are then free to either accept or reject what they hear. The Prophets, according to the Koran, were commanded to say "We are only conveyors (of the message)." - i.e. whether to accept or not is down to individual choice and discretion and each person is responsible for their own actions and beliefs.

Islam distinguishes between "People of the Book"—followers of the Abrahamic religions, which include the group referred to as Sabians—and other religious beliefs. While members of all religions are encouraged to convert, penalties and compulsions on People of the Book are less.

Violent conflicts

Between Abrahamic religions

• The wars between the emerging Islamic Caliphates and the Christian Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire between the 7th and the 11th centuries CE were a series of military, political and religious conflicts which led to the islamization of large territories in the Near East such as Egypt and Syria.

• The Crusades (end of 11th - end of 13th century CE) were a series of military expeditions from Western Europe to the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean: a rather unsuccessful attempt by Western (Catholic) Christians to conquer what was perceived by all Christians as the Holy Land from its Muslim inhabitants. In passing, Crusades were also marked with conflicts between Western and Eastern (Orthodox, Syro-Jacobite and Armenian) Christians and unilateral damage inflicted by Western Christians to Jews.

• The conquest and the following Reconquista of Spain (beginning of 8th - end of 15th century CE) were a series of wars between Muslims and Christians in the Iberian peninsula resulting in the founding of several Muslim and Christian Medieval states and the final victory of the Catholic Crown of Castile and Aragon against the Muslim Emirate of Granada.

• The Ottoman conquest of the Balkan peninsula (mid-14th - end of 15th century CE) followed by a series of wars between the Islamic Ottoman Empire and various Christian powers and alliances (end of 14th - beginning of 20th century CE) was an important political, military and cultural process for South-Eastern Europe resulting in the fall of the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire and its successor states and finally leading to the emerging of several modern nations in that region.

• The Spanish inquisition was an attempt by the Christian Catholic church in Spain to suppress or expel Jews and Muslims and to prosecute Christian heretics.

Openly Jewish and Muslim people were expelled rather than killed, but many submitted to forced conversion to Catholicism to avoid expulsion. The Inquisitors often did not trust the converts, and persecuted them cruelly for being secret adherents of their original religions, which was often true but sometimes fabricated. Jewish forced converts were known as "anusim," or sometimes by the pejorative "morrano (pig)."

• Pogroms against Jews were not uncommon in Western and Eastern Europe during Christendom's thousand year history.

• The Christian Reformation of the 16th century CE was an attempt towards a religious reform in the Western (Catholic) Christian Church which resulted in a series of Religious Wars between Catholic and emerging Reformist/Protestant Christian forces during the 16th and 17th centuries CE throughout Western Europe.

• The Jewish establishment of the State of Israel in the former Muslim land of Palestine in 1948, which led to conflict and increased animosity between Jews and Muslims.

Between branches of the same Abrahamic religion

• The Fourth Crusade and subsequent wars between Catholic Europeans and the Orthodox Byzantine Greeks following the Great Schism.
• The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was due to religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant Christians, and economic causes.
• There have been many violent conflicts between the Sunni and Shi'a branches of Islam; see Shi'a–Sunni relations.
  • After the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a western coalition there was armed conflict between branches of Islam, with fighting and bombings, even of mosques.

Between Abrahamic religions and Non-adherents

• The Catholic Inquisition, mentioned above, also targeted non-believers in the orthodox doctrines of Roman Catholicism and many accused of atheism (regardless of what they professed) lost their livelihoods or their lives.
• The colonization of North America by the Conquistadors was done in the name of Catholicism.
• Abrahamic religions have had large numbers of their adherents persecuted in the form of loss of life, seizure of property and other forms of persecution due to Communism, Fascism and Nazism.

Other Abrahamic religions

Historically, the Abrahamic religions have been considered to be Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Some of this is due to the age and larger size of these three. The other, similar religions were seen as either too new to judge as being truly in the same class, or too small to be of significance to the category.

However, some of the restriction of Abrahamic to these three is due only to tradition in historical classification. Therefore, restricting the category to these three religions has come under criticism. The religions listed below here claim Abrahamic classification, either by the religions themselves, or by scholars who study them.

Bahá'í Faith

Main article: Bahá'í Faith

Recently the Bahá'í Faith, which dates only to the late 19th century, has sometimes been listed as Abrahamic by scholarly sources in various fields.

Though smaller and younger than the well known Abrahamic religions, the Bahá'í Faith is significant because of its activities, distribution and numbers. The religion is almost entirely contained in a single, organized, hierarchical community, and is also recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated some 7.6 million Bahá'ís in 2005.

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder, affirms the highest religious station for Abraham and generally for prophets mentioned among the other Abrahamic religions, and has claimed a lineage of descent from Abraham through Keturah and Sarah. Additionally Bahá'u'lláh actually did lose a son, Mírzá Mihdí. Bahá’u’lláh, then in prison, eulogized his son and connected the subsequent easing of restrictions to his son's dying prayer and compared it to the intended sacrifice of Abraham’s son.

The religion also shares many of the same commonalities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The religion emphasizes monotheism and believes in one eternal transcendent God. See God in the Bahá'í Faith. The religion accepts the premise, and is a victim, of the theme of a Prophetic tradition pattern in that it accepts the founders of the previous major Abrahamic religions as Manifestations of God come with revelation under one God and has been persecuted and rejected as a religion. Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the latest, though not last, of the series of messengers of God and that this series of interventions by God in human history has been progressive, each revelation from God more complete and based on the teachings of those that preceded it, and each preparing the way for the next.

Ethnographic Abrahamic religions

Sometimes small religions are mentioned as Abrahamic — Samaritanism, Yazidi, the Unification Church, Druzes, Mandeans, and Rastafari movement. These religions are regional: Samaritans largely in Israel and the West Bank, Yazidi among the Kurds though there has been some emigration, Unification Church among the Koreans and Japanese, Druze among the Syrians and Lebanese, Mandean largely in Iraq, Rastafarians mostly in Jamaica.

See also

• Ancient Semitic religion
• Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement
• Christian mythology
• Christian philosophy
• Christianity and Islam
• Christianity and Judaism
• Comparative religion
• Deconstruction-and-religion
• Islam and Judaism
• Islamic mythology
• Islamic philosophy
• Jewish mythology
• Jewish philosophy
• Judeo-Christian
• People of the Book
• Ten Commandments

Further reading

• Derrida, Jacques (2002). Anidjar, Gil (ed.). Acts of Religion. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415924016. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Assmann, Jan (1998). Moses the Egyptian: the memory of Egypt in western monotheism. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674587397.

• Barnett, Paul (2002). Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830826995.

• Blasi, Anthony J.; Turcotte, Paul-André; Duhaime, Jean (2002). Handbook of early Christianity: social science approaches. Rowman Altamira. ISBN 9780759100152.

• de Perceval, Armand-Pierre Caussin (1847). Calcutta review - Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'islamisme, pendant l'époque de Mahomet, et jusqu'à la réduction de toutes les tribus sous la loi musulmane (in French). Paris: Didot. OCLC 431247004.

• Dodds, Adam (2009). "The Abrahamic Faiths? Continuity and Discontinuity in Christian and Islamic Doctrine". Evangelical Quarterly. 81 (3): 230–253. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

• Firestone, Reuven (2001). Children of Abraham: an introduction to Judaism for Muslims. Hoboken, NJ: KTAV. ISBN 9780881257205. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• Freedman H. (trans.), and Simon, Maurice (ed.), Genesis Rabbah, Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis, Volume II, London: The Soncino Press, 1983. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.

• Guggenheimer, Heinrich W., Seder Olam: The rabbinic view of Biblical chronology, (trans., & ed.), Jason Aronson, Northvale NJ, 1998

• Kritzeck, James (1965). Sons of Abraham: Jews, Christians, and Moslems. Helicon.

• Greenstreet, Wendy (2006). Integrating spirituality in health and social care. Oxford; Seattle, WA: Radcliffe. ISBN 9781857756463.

• Johansson, Warren (1990). "Abrahamic Religions" (PDF). In Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York: Garland. ISBN 978-0824065447.

• Massignon, Louis, "Les trois prières d'Abraham, père di tuos les croyants", Dieu Vivant, 13, (1949) 20-23.

• Masumian, Farnaz (1995). Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-074-8.

• Reid, Barbara E. (1996). Choosing the Better Part?: Women in the Gospel of Luke. Liturgical Press.

• Scherman, Nosson, (ed.), Tanakh, Vol.I, The Torah, (Stone edition), Mesorah Publications, Ltd., New York, 2001

• Smith, Jonathan Z. (1998). "Religion, Religions, Religious". In Taylor, Mark C. (ed.). Critical Terms for Religious Studies. University of Chicago Press. pp. 269–284. ISBN 978-0226791562. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Smith, Peter (2008). An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521862516. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

References

Dawud Wharnsby Ali

External links

• Religious Organizations of Abrahamic Faiths
• Abrahamic Faiths: A Comparison. How do Judaism, Christianity, and Islam differ? More from Beliefnet
• Ask Rabbi Simmons.
• Reconciling the Abrahamic Faiths
• What's Next? Heaven, hell, and salvation in major world religions. A side-by-side comparison of different religion's views from Beliefnet.