# data[].attributes.body
-cross is their symbol

# data[].attributes.body
-monotheistic

# data[].attributes.body
-monotheistic

# data[].attributes.body
-one single community

# data[].attributes.body
-bible

# data[].attributes.body
-believe jesus will come to earth again

# data[].attributes.body
-four bibles: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

# data[].attributes.body
-jesus was born in jerusalem

# data[].attributes.body
-church is a community where all Christians go every Sunday

# data[].attributes.body
-believe that jesus is fully human

# data[].attributes.body
-muslims fast to thank god

# data[].attributes.body
-promulgated in the 7th century

# data[].attributes.body
-Christmas comes from this religion

# data[].attributes.body
-believe that god saved humans

# data[].attributes.body
-biggest religion in the world

# data[].attributes.body
The quran (holy book for Muslims)

# data[].attributes.body
conquered Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Iran

# data[].attributes.body
-Muhammad died in 632

# data[].attributes.body
-pray five times a day

# data[].attributes.body
was said that Muhammad is the "prophet of Allah"

# data[].attributes.body
1.6 billion followers

# data[].attributes.body
-began in 610

# data[].attributes.body
1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Islam is one of the world’s major religions. Its founder was Muhammad. The religion has about 1.6 billion followers worldwide. Most of the followers of Islam, called Muslims,…

# data[].attributes.body
-Founded by Muhammad

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Founder: Jesus of Nazareth

Christianity has a historical founder whose existence is verified by outside sources. The most reliable of these sources is the account from Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian born in Jerusalem, who eventually became a Roman citizen. In his work, Antiquities of the Jews, he makes several brief references to Jesus, both as a Messiah and as a wise teacher. Josephus also records that Jesus was crucified, and that his followers believed he was restored to life. Beyond that, however, history is silent.

The most information about Jesus is recorded in four books of the Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is important to note here, however, that these books were not written as biographies; their purpose rather was to persuade others that Jesus was the son of God and the savior of the world. Thus, they describe the life and ministry of Jesus as the one they believed was God in the flesh. In other words, what we have in these four books of the Bible is an account of Jesus the Christ-that is, "the anointed one" or "the chosen one"-not a history of Jesus the man from Nazareth.

What do Christians Believe about Jesus?

First and foremost, Christians believe that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine: the technical formula is "one person, two natures." Christians believe Jesus was neither just another enlightened teacher on the one hand, nor a divine avatar on the other-God in a human disguise. Instead, in all his words and deeds, Jesus was both fully and completely divine and also a real, embodied human being. The language Christians use to describe this is "incarnation." That is, Christians believe God became "incarnate"-literally, "in-fleshed"-in one human being, Jesus of Nazareth, son of a young woman named Mary, and her husband, Joseph.

Second, in Jesus, Christians believe they have the clearest expression of God's core nature, and how God wants to be in relationship with humanity and the world. This is why Jesus' life-his ministry, his friends, his disciples-all are crucial to a Christian understanding of God. Christians believe that the fundamental disposition of God toward creation is love, and that everything God does in the world is meant to manifest that love. In his person and in every act of his human life, Jesus is thought to embody that love.

Another point needs to be mentioned here as it relates to Jesus' life and ministry, and that is that Jesus was very transgressive, repeatedly violating social norms and "queering" traditional notions of power and social status. He did not align himself with the Pharisees, the Jewish authorities of the time; indeed, they received regular and repeated chastising from Jesus for their emphasis on rules over people. Instead, Jesus surrounded himself with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other questionable members of society, welcoming children onto his lap, healing lepers, and conversing with strange women. Over and over again, Jesus aligned himself with outsiders: with the poor and the polluted, the underprivileged, and the unwanted.

The Bible

Like the followers of many religions, Christians have a sacred text, the Bible, which is a compilation of many smaller texts written by many authors, only some of whose identities are known. The Bible is often described by Christians as being "inspired," although that word has been interpreted in different ways. While some Christians believe that the Bible should be read literally, even as regards matters of science and history, mainline Christians believe that the Bible was not written as a science textbook, biography, or historical account, but instead, as witness to the one God who revealed Godself in history in a covenantal relationship first with the Jewish people, and then, through Jesus Christ, to the whole world. This leaves open the possibility for harmonizing the Christian story with new discoveries in geology, anthropology, history, astronomy, etc., etc.

The Christian Bible is divided into two major sections, which traditionally have been called the Old Testament and the New Testament. The number of books in the Bible varies among different Christian denominations, but the two main divisions are between the Catholic Bible, which has seventy-three books, and the Protestant Bible, which has a total of sixty-six books.

The Christian Community

The birth of the Christian community, or "the church," usually is associated with the event recounted in the book of the Bible known as The Acts of the Apostles, when 3,000 people were baptized in Jerusalem after the extraordinary witness of Jesus' disciples, who spoke in a multitude of foreign tongues after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When talking about the church, conversation usually begins with Paul and the various letters he wrote to the fledgling Christian communities around the Mediterranean (these letters now make up a considerable part of the New Testament). These communities were struggling with very real issues that the church still struggles with today: squabbles between Christians, questions around sexual morality, issues of discrimination during worship, and the role of the law in the life of a Christian. In many ways, these early communities prefigured the Christian church as it exists today: bound together in faith in Jesus Christ, but also separated by different interpretations of doctrines and practices, and uniquely flavored by the specific geographic and cultural context in which they developed. Today, these different church bodies typically are called "denominations," and dialogue/partnership between them is called "ecumenical."

The Christian community has two components that are found in almost every Christian denomination around the globe. These features are "word" and "sacrament." "Word," in this context, refers to the Bible: Bible readings, as well as preaching. Any community that calls itself "church" gathers around the Bible, reading and meditating on scripture.

The second feature of most churches is "sacrament." Perhaps the most famous definition of a sacrament comes from Augustine: "visible signs of an invisible grace." Sacraments-such as baptism and communion-are believed to be tangible experiences of God's love and mercy that both an individual and the community receive in faith, in their physical bodies, in the greater physical body of the gathered people.

It took the church several centuries to sort out what Christians have come to consider "orthodox" church doctrine; and, even though official church teachings have been established for millennia, debates about the same questions still continue today.

Christian Teachings

The Trinity: First and foremost among Christian teachings is the doctrine of the Trinity, which is both central to an understanding of the Christian faith and also extremely difficult to explain. The doctrine of the Trinity refers to the Christian belief that the One God actually exists in three "persons": God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These "persons" are not separate, different individuals-Christianity does not profess belief in three gods-but rather, the three persons share the same essence and make God known to humanity in different ways.

Salvation: Another key Christian doctrine is salvation-the core Christian claim is that "Jesus Saves"-but what, exactly, that means continues to be debated. One of the most pressing aspects of a Christian understanding of salvation is how it relates to the way Christians view other religious traditions. The traditional Christian view regarding salvation has been that outside the Christian church, there is no salvation. This idea drove the missionary practices of the church for centuries-and still drives many different churches today: there was a strong impetus to convert people to Christianity so that they would go to heaven after they died.

However, in the 21 st century, this understanding of salvation has been increasingly challenged, and the possibility of other options has been raised, particularly the possibility of universal salvation. Many people assume that this is a modern idea, brought about by engagement with a more liberal, secular society, but this doctrine actually has a long history in the Christian tradition.

Lived Christian Identity

Christian living is concerned in large part with "sanctification," which means to grow in holiness, and "justification," which means to be made righteous before God. In tandem, they point to two important aspects of Christian life: first being saved; and second, being transformed in light of that salvation. Different denominations use different language to describe these two concepts-and not all of them emphasize both equally

For Further Reading:

Confessions, by Augustine
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, by Marcus Borg
A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, by Michael Coogan
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone
The Story of Christianity, by Justo Gonzalez
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought, by Alister McGrath
Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Systematic Theology, by Daniel Migliore
Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey, by Mark Allan Powell

As quoted in Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding: an Introduction to Christian Theology, 3rd edition, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 291.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Founder: Jesus of Nazareth Christianity has a historical founder whose existence is verified by outside sources. The most reliable of these sources is the account from Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian born in Jerusalem, who eventually became a Roman citizen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Christianity - Dogma, Definition & Beliefs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian faith centers on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Islam, major world religion promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century ce. The Arabic term islām, literally "surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam-that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islām) accepts surrender to the will of Allah (in Arabic, Allāh: God). Allah is viewed as the sole God-creator, sustainer, and restorer of the world. The will of Allah, to which human beings must submit, is made known through the sacred scriptures, the Qurʾān (often spelled Koran in English), which Allah revealed to his messenger, Muhammad. In Islam Muhammad is considered the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and Jesus), and his message simultaneously consummates and completes the "revelations" attributed to earlier prophets.

Retaining its emphasis on an uncompromising monotheism and a strict adherence to certain essential religious practices, the religion taught by Muhammad to a small group of followers spread rapidly through the Middle East to Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, the Malay Peninsula, and China. By the early 21st century there were more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. Although many sectarian movements have arisen within Islam, all Muslims are bound by a common faith and a sense of belonging to a single community.

This article deals with the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam and with the connection of religion and society in the Islamic world. The history of the various peoples who embraced Islam is covered in the article Islamic world.

The foundations of Islam

The legacy of Muhammad

From the very beginning of Islam, Muhammad had inculcated a sense of brotherhood and a bond of faith among his followers, both of which helped to develop among them a feeling of close relationship that was accentuated by their experiences of persecution as a nascent community in Mecca. The strong attachment to the tenets of the Qurʾānic revelation and the conspicuous socioeconomic content of Islamic religious practices cemented this bond of faith. In 622 ce, when the Prophet migrated to Medina, his preaching was soon accepted, and the community-state of Islam emerged. During this early period, Islam acquired its characteristic ethos as a religion uniting in itself both the spiritual and temporal aspects of life and seeking to regulate not only the individual's relationship to God (through conscience) but human relationships in a social setting as well. Thus, there is not only an Islamic religious institution but also an Islamic law, state, and other institutions governing society. Not until the 20th century were the religious (private) and the secular (public) distinguished by some Muslim thinkers and separated formally in certain places such as Turkey.

This dual religious and social character of Islam, expressing itself in one way as a religious community commissioned by God to bring its own value system to the world through the jihād ("exertion," commonly translated as "holy war" or "holy struggle"), explains the astonishing success of the early generations of Muslims. Within a century after the Prophet's death in 632 ce, they had brought a large part of the globe-from Spain across Central Asia to India-under a new Arab Muslim empire.

The period of Islamic conquests and empire building marks the first phase of the expansion of Islam as a religion. Islam's essential egalitarianism within the community of the faithful and its official discrimination against the followers of other religions won rapid converts. Jews and Christians were assigned a special status as communities possessing scriptures and were called the "people of the Book" (ahl al-kitāb) and, therefore, were allowed religious autonomy. They were, however, required to pay a per capita tax called jizyah, as opposed to pagans, who were required to either accept Islam or die. The same status of the "people of the Book" was later extended in particular times and places to Zoroastrians and Hindus, but many "people of the Book" joined Islam in order to escape the disability of the jizyah. A much more massive expansion of Islam after the 12th century was inaugurated by the Sufis (Muslim mystics), who were mainly responsible for the spread of Islam in India, Central Asia, Turkey, and sub-Saharan Africa ( see below).

Beside the jihad and Sufi missionary activity, another factor in the spread of Islam was the far-ranging influence of Muslim traders, who not only introduced Islam quite early to the Indian east coast and South India but also proved to be the main catalytic agents (beside the Sufis) in converting people to Islam in Indonesia, Malaya, and China. Islam was introduced to Indonesia in the 14th century, hardly having time to consolidate itself there politically before the region came under Dutch hegemony.

The vast variety of races and cultures embraced by Islam (an estimated total of more than 1.5 billion persons worldwide in the early 21st century) has produced important internal differences. All segments of Muslim society, however, are bound by a common faith and a sense of belonging to a single community. With the loss of political power during the period of Western colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept of the Islamic community (ummah), instead of weakening, became stronger. The faith of Islam helped various Muslim peoples in their struggle to gain political freedom in the mid-20th century, and the unity of Islam contributed to later political solidarity.

Sources of Islamic doctrinal and social views

Islamic doctrine, law, and thinking in general are based upon four sources, or fundamental principles (uṣūl): (1) the Qurʾān, (2) the Sunnah ("Traditions"), (3) ijmāʿ ("consensus"), and (4) ijtihād ("individual thought").

The Qurʾān (literally, "reading" or "recitation") is regarded as the verbatim word, or speech, of God delivered to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. Divided into 114 suras (chapters) of unequal length, it is the fundamental source of Islamic teaching. The suras revealed at Mecca during the earliest part of Muhammad's career are concerned mostly with ethical and spiritual teachings and the Day of Judgment. The suras revealed at Medina at a later period in the career of the Prophet are concerned for the most part with social legislation and the politico-moral principles for constituting and ordering the community.

Sunnah ("a well-trodden path") was used by pre-Islamic Arabs to denote their tribal or common law. In Islam it came to mean the example of the Prophet-i.e., his words and deeds as recorded in compilations known as Hadith (in Arabic, Ḥadīth: literally, "report"; a collection of sayings attributed to the Prophet). Hadith provide the written documentation of the Prophet's words and deeds. Six of these collections, compiled in the 3rd century ah (9th century ce), came to be regarded as especially authoritative by the largest group in Islam, the Sunnis. Another large group, the Shiʿah, has its own Hadith contained in four canonical collections.

The doctrine of ijmāʿ, or consensus, was introduced in the 2nd century ah (8th century ce) in order to standardize legal theory and practice and to overcome individual and regional differences of opinion. Though conceived as a "consensus of scholars," ijmāʿ was in actual practice a more fundamental operative factor. From the 3rd century ah ijmāʿ has amounted to a principle of stability in thinking; points on which consensus was reached in practice were considered closed and further substantial questioning of them prohibited. Accepted interpretations of the Qurʾān and the actual content of the Sunnah (i.e., Hadith and theology) all rest finally on the ijmāʿ in the sense of the acceptance of the authority of their community.

Ijtihād, meaning "to endeavour" or "to exert effort," was required to find the legal or doctrinal solution to a new problem. In the early period of Islam, because ijtihād took the form of individual opinion (raʾy), there was a wealth of conflicting and chaotic opinions. In the 2nd century ah ijtihād was replaced by qiyās (reasoning by strict analogy), a formal procedure of deduction based on the texts of the Qurʾān and the Hadith. The transformation of ijmāʿ into a conservative mechanism and the acceptance of a definitive body of Hadith virtually closed the "gate of ijtihād" in Sunni Islam while ijtihād continued in Shiʿism. Nevertheless, certain outstanding Muslim thinkers (e.g., al-Ghazālī in the 11th-12th century) continued to claim the right of new ijtihād for themselves, and reformers in the 18th-20th centuries, because of modern influences, caused this principle once more to receive wider acceptance.

The Qurʾān and Hadith are discussed below. The significance of ijmāʿ and ijtihād are discussed below in the contexts of Islamic theology, philosophy, and law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Islam | Religion, Beliefs, Practices, & Facts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Islam, major world religion that emphasizes monotheism, the unity of God ('Allah' in Arabic), and Muhammad as his final messenger in a series of revelations. As the literal word of God, the Qur'an makes known the will of God, to which humans must surrender (lending the name Islam, meaning 'surrender').

# data[].attributes.body
2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. Although its roots go back further, scholars

# data[].attributes.body
-2 billion followers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jesus and Followers

Christianity grew out of Judaism in the Middle East. In about 29 ce a Jew named Jesus began to preach in Galilee. He attracted many followers because of his healing powers and his religious teachings. But people in power feared that he might lead an uprising, and they put him to death. The Bible holds that Jesus rose from the dead three days after being put to death, spent 40 days on Earth, and then was taken up to heaven.

For many years, Jesus' followers continued to practice religion in the same way as Jews, except they believed that Jesus was a savior sent from God. In the 1st century ce a missionary named Paul helped separate Christianity and Judaism into two distinct religions.

Spread of Christianity

To help spread Jesus' teachings, some early Christians wrote about him. Writings by four men-Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John-were chosen as the standard account of Jesus' life and teaching. These four narratives now form part of the New Testament.

In the early days of the church, the Roman Empire controlled most of the Mediterranean region. Life was difficult and dangerous for Christians living within the empire. They were treated harshly for their beliefs. In 312 ce, however, the Roman emperor converted to Christianity. By the end of the 300s, Christianity was the empire's official religion. This power helped secure Christianity's place in the world.

Christianity in the Middle Ages

Christianity continued to gain strength during the Middle Ages, a period from about 500 to 1500. Its leaders became powerful and wealthy, and the church was the chief cultural institution in Europe.

But as Christianity expanded, it could not remain unified. In 1054 the Eastern church at Constantinople separated from the Western church in Rome because of differences in beliefs and practices. This split created the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic church.

Another major development was the Crusades. In the 11th century a Muslim Turkish empire conquered Southwest Asia, including many places associated with Jesus. Over the next two centuries, armies of European Christians fought Muslim forces in the Middle East, partly in an attempt to recapture the Holy Land.

Modern Period

In the 1500s a German priest named Martin Luther began to question certain practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic church. Luther's criticism helped bring about the religious revolution known as the Reformation. As a result, various reformers eventually founded the first Protestant churches.

As Christianity flourished in Europe, Christians came to believe that their religion should be taught to people in other lands. Beginning in the 16th century and continuing into the 21st, Christian missionaries brought their faith to parts of Africa, Asia, and North and South America. These efforts helped make Christianity the most widespread religion in the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With some 2 billion followers, Christianity is the world's most widespread religion. Christianity is based on the life, death, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. The...