The history of Judaism is essential to understanding the Jewish faith, which has a rich heritage of law, Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1. Although its roots go back further, scholars typically date the creation of Islam to the 7th century, making it the youngest of the major world religions.
Wicca is a modern-day, nature-based pagan religion. Though rituals and practices vary among people who identify as Wiccan, most observations include the festival celebrations of solstices and equinoxes, the honoring of a male god and a female goddess, and the incorporation of Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2, years. Diwali occurs on Thursday, November 4.
In India, the five-day celebration traditionally marks the biggest holiday of The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone changes over the centuries, Mormons are a religious group that embrace concepts of Christianity as well as revelations made by their founder, Joseph Smith. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault.
Hinduism Beliefs Some basic Hindu concepts include: Hinduism embraces many religious ideas. Followers believe there are multiple paths to reaching their god. Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation and karma the universal law of cause and effect. Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality.
Hindus revere all living creatures and consider the cow a sacred animal. Food is an important part of life for Hindus.
Hinduism is closely related to other Indian religions, including Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism. Hinduism Symbols. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. The Swiss Guard. Inside The Vatican Archives. Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4, years ago. The Egyptian government supports the Copts' rights to worship and maintain their culture, but there has been some violence against the community by extremist Muslims.
The Maronite Church was started in the fifth century by followers of a Syrian priest named Maroun. The Maronite Patriarch, based in Lebanon, guides his followers in the teachings of Maroun and other saints. Maronites are still one of the most powerful political communities in Lebanon. There are also Christian communities of different sects living today in Syria 10 percent of the population , Jordan 6 percent , the West Bank 8 percent , and Iraq 3 percent , with smaller percentages in other Middle Eastern countries.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Christians from what is now Syria and Lebanon then the Ottoman Empire emigrated to the United States and other countries. Although Christians are a minority in the Middle East today, more than 75 percent of Americans of Arab descent are Christian.
Christianity developed out of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism; Jesus, its founder, was a member of the Jewish community in Roman Palestine. Its holy scriptures are the Old Testament the Jewish Torah with additions , and the New Testament written by the followers of Jesus after his death and containing the life story of Jesus and other early Christian writings.
Jesus is considered the son of God, born to the virgin Mary and come to Earth to offer redemption for mankind's sins. After Jesus was crucified and executed by the Romans, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. This event is celebrated at Easter, while the birth of Jesus is celebrated at Christmas. Christians believe in an afterlife where those who have lived a good life will reside in heaven with God, and those who have lived an unrepentant life of sin will be punished in hell.
Although Christianity developed out of Judaic texts, Christians do not follow Jewish law. Instead, they believe that the ritualistic Jewish law was abrogated in favor of a universal gospel for all of humanity and the Christian teaching, "Love thy neighbor as thyself. Relationships between Jewish and Christian communities have often been difficult, particularly in Christian Europe.
There, Jewish communities were often subject to discrimination and violence at the hands of Christians. Christianity has also had a problematic relationship with Islam.
Christians do not accept Muhammad as a prophet. While many Christians in the Middle East converted to Islam during and after the seventh century, the Church hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople considered Islam to be both a political and theological threat. The Crusades were an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Islamic conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and the holy places of all three monotheistic religions. Islam arose in the early seventh century C.
It developed from both the Judeo-Christian tradition and the cultural values of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of Arabia. Islam expanded into areas controlled by the Byzantine Empire largely Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian, but with a diverse population and the Sassanian Empire officially Zoroastrian and Persian-speaking, but also diverse.
As Islam expanded, the new Islamic societies adapted and synthesized many of the customs they encountered. As a result, Muslims in different areas of the world created for themselves a wide array of cultural traditions. The culture of Islamic Spain, for example, was so cosmopolitan that some Christian and Jewish parents complained that their children were more interested in developing their knowledge of Arabic than in learning Latin or Hebrew, respectively.
Many elements of Islamic society became integral parts of medieval and Renaissance European culture, like the notion of chivalry, and certain forms of music the lute, the arabesque and poetry. On the eastern end of the Islamic world, many Indonesians converted to Islam between the 15th and 17th centuries. Preexisting animist beliefs were often incorporated into the local practice of Islam. Within Islam, there are many different communities.
Adherents of Islam may be more or less observant, conservative or liberal. Sufism is the mystical tradition of Islam, where direct experience of the divine is emphasized.
The 13th-century poet Jalaluddin Rumi is a well-known Sufi figure whose work has become popular in the United States today. Whirling dervishes are dancers who are entranced in their experience of Sufism. Muslims believe that Allah the Arabic word for God sent his revelation, the Quran , to the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century C. The Quran contains verses surahs in Arabic that tell Muslims to worship one god, and explains how they should treat others properly.
Another historical text, the Hadith, written by scholars after the death of Muhammad, describes Muhammad's life as an example of pious behavior, proscribes law for the community based on the Quran and the example of Muhammad, and explains how certain rituals should be performed.
Observant Muslims practice five principles pillars of Islam: orally declaring their faith shahadah ; praying five times a day salat ; fasting in the daylight hours during the month of Ramadan sawm ; giving a share of their income for charity zakat ; and making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it hajj.
Many Muslims also observe dietary rules, in origin similar to those of Judaism, that forbid certain foods like pork , outlaw alcohol, and dictate how animals should be slaughtered for food. The Muslim calendar is lunar, and shifts in relation to the solar calendar. Just as Christians count years starting with the year of Jesus's birth, Muslims count years beginning with Muhammad's move from Mecca to Medina in C. Muslim years are labeled as A.
However, Islam is today's fastest growing religion. By or earlier, Islam will overtake Christianity as the world's largest religion. This is due to conversion in mainly non-Muslim countries and also the population growth in Muslim countries. Therefore, Zahid should take comfort in knowing this and he perhaps may wish to change his view regarding the rights of an individual to choose his religion. And what about Judaism, the religion of the Jews?
To say that Islam was founded by Adam and it was reborn with Abraham is incorrect even though it has been widely acknowledged by religious historians that Islam and Judaism both have the same roots in Abraham.
Thereafter, the same roots took different paths through the children of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. But, don't forget - Judaism was not practised as a religion until the revelation of God to Moses at Mt Sinai and the Laws of Torah including the 10 Commandments came into existence. Likewise, the same applies to Islam and the Holy Quran. It came into existence during the time of Prophet Muhammad.
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