Similarities and Differences Among Religion

Religion can be defined as man’s attempt to reach God. Many people today seem to be trying to seek God because about 85% of the World’s population is religious. What does religion entail, though? Ninian Smart says that there are seven main components of all religions. These components consist of ritual, narrative, experiential, social, ethical, doctrinal, and material. If all religions consist of these components, what makes them different? They are different in the types of rituals and types of doctrines they have. Even though all religions are different, many of them share similarities as well. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have many differences but many similarities as well.

Islam wasn’t always the way it is today. Before this religion became practiced, there was pre-Islamic Arabia. In this time many people were polytheistic which means they worshiped more than one God. The people of pre-Islamic Arabia were mainly nomadic and were cattle breeders. Robbing Caravans was a normal event as well as drinking, gambling, and prostitution. Obviously this time period sounds completely awful and it didn’t get much better until Muhammad came along. Muhammad meaning praise one was considered to be the last of the prophets. His goal was to come and correct Christianity and Judaism. Muhammad, however, did not have an easy life. His father died before Muhammad was even born, and his mother died when he was six. After his

Grandpa took him in, he died as well. After moving in with his uncle, Muhammad became a shepherd and then began to manage caravans. He also got married to Khadijah. In the month of August, Ramadan, Muhammad wrote the first part of the Quran with the help of an angel. The second part of the Quran is stories and narratives which were written by Muhammad’s closest friends and followers once Muhammad had died. One of the biggest errors that Muhammad did was not appointing a successor. Because of this, modern day Islam is split into two...