COMPARISON OF JESUS AND MUHAMMAD RESEARCH/REFLECTION PAPER

Comparison of Jesus and Muhammad - Research/Reflection Paper

In Christianity, Jesus is revered by the people of this religion.  In Islam, Muhammad is respected

by the people of this religion.  People thought they were serving the same God but we know that

is not true.  They are not the same God.  To the Muslims the Quran is God’s inlibration, the

divine Word becoming a book.  To the Christians, Jesus is God’s incarnation, the divine Word

becoming flesh and blood.

I will attempt to show similarities and differences in Jesus and Muhammad’s life.  To start off

with Jesus is respected among the Muslims because the Quran recognize Jesus as being a true

person, prophet.  He is known not only as the high office of prophet (nabi) but the highest

human office of messenger or apostle (rasul).  The Quran states that the Muslim “prophet” Isa

(Jesus) is the one who spoke of a prophet who was yet to come, giving his name, as per Sura

61:6

Sura 61:6, “And (remember) when Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), said:  “O children of

Israel!  I am the Messenger of Allah unto you confirming the Torah which came before me, and

giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.” [Al-Yahud:

Eternal Islamic Enmity & the Jews, By:  Elias Al-Maqdisi & Sam Solomon]

With this being said the Jesus in the Quran is not the Jesus in the Bible as the God in the Quran is

not the God in the Bible.

You will not find in the Bible anywhere an appreciation for Muhammad as you have found an

appreciation for their Jesus (Iesa) in the Quran.

The areas where Jesus and Muhammad lived where different from day and night.  Jesus’ life was

pretty good.  He lived in an agrarian (organized or designed to promote agricultural interest-

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary] and it was located less than a thousand miles

northwest of where Muhammad spent part of his life.  It was considered “a land flowing with

milk and honey.”  Muhammad lived in a region called Hijaz.  It was an arid (dry) plateau in

western Arabia.

Jesus and Muhammad seem to be more on the level as reformers than originators.  They both

believed in worshipping one God not like some of the people who were pagan worshippers. 

Jesus wanted people to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, one God.  And

Muhammad wanted his people to worship only Allah, their one God.

In Jesus’ time/culture some women had been given considerable respect.  There was a time

before the Christian era that the status of women was low.  In Muhammad’s time/culture women

didn’t have many rights but before his time they were highly esteemed and occupied a high rank

in the community of the tribe.

Jesus and Muhammad spent many years in secular employment.  Jesus and Muhammad belonged

to a town far from the center of civilization.  Jesus and Muhammad had visions of what society

should be and they both were anxious to achieve change in their time period.  Jesus wanted

individual renewal by picking twelve people and training them to spread the gospel Muhammad

wanted to restructure the social structure by replacing tribal bonding with the Muslim

community.

Jesus was chased out of Nazareth and He went to Capernaum.  Muhammad was run out of

Mecca and he went to Medina.  They both left peacefully but Muhammad had no choice because

he didn’t have enough followers to help him rebel. He had to wait until he had enough people to

come back to Mecca and rule.

Jesus returned with the same peaceful attitude as a reformer.  Muhammad on the other hand

came back as a conqueror with nothing but destruction on his mind if he wasn’t accepted and

they didn’t serve his only one God, Allah.

Jesus and Muhammad belonged to the Semitic tradition whereas divine revelation consisted of

both vision and audition.  In Jesus’ case God spoke and showed Him His love at His baptism. 

God also speaks to Jesus without appearing to Him.  In Muhammad’s case he felt a presence and

he was spoken to.

Jesus and Muhammad warned their disciples of some people who were claiming to speak for

God/Allah but their words were far from the truth because they were false prophets.  Jesus said,

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous

wolves”  Muhammad’s speech was on the same level regarding animal images.  He said “In the

last time men will come forth who will fraudulently use religion for worldly ends and wear

sheepskins in public to display meekness.  Their tongues will be sweeter than sugar but their

hearts will be the hearts of wolves.” [Muhammad and Jesus, By:  William E. Phipps]

Jesus nor Muhammad instructed their messages be published by other than the usual word-of-

mouth method.  In both cultures you had learned people and unlearned people and both Jesus and

Muhammad wanted everybody to hear their message.

After their deaths as much as possible was written about them.  The Gospels were written of

what was preached orally because of the martyrdom of Jesus’ apostles.  If this was not the case

we today would not know what happened in the past.  Thank God for the writing of the

Scriptures.

Jesus and Muhammad felt that they quality of a community was to be measured by how it treats

its most vulnerable people in the community, the orphans and the widows.  Giving alms was very

important to Muslims.  If people suffered the society/community suffered.  Giving alms helped

prevent that from happening.

Jesus and Muhammad liked Abraham.  The Muslims even tried to say they have the Abrahamic

Faith but it’s not the same as the Christians’ Abrahamic Faith.  Just like Islam is not at all similar

in any way to Christianity.  When thinking about the religion of Islam you will find hatred, total

control of one’s life, discrimination of woman’s rights and slavery based upon deception.  In

Christianity you have a relationship of love with God, based upon truth.  There is no love in the

Quran and Islamic religion.

Jesus didn’t believe in having many wives but Muhammad did.

Jesus and Muhammad both gave guidance/instructions on how to deal with inhospitable

outsiders.  Jesus wanted them to just shake the dust off their feet and go to another village not

what His disciples wanted to do, “bid fire from heaven to consume them.”  Jesus had to rebuke

His disciples for saying that.  Muhammad wanted to take from them what should have been

given to them.

Jesus looked at warfare different from Muhammad that had prevailed in the Semitic culture. 

Jesus didn’t like the plunder nor the piety of the holy-war ideology but Muhammad did.  Jesus’

actions weren’t base on retaliation/getting even.  Muhammad’s action was based on that.

Jesus and Muhammad occasionally used a Hebrew term when they referred to an eschatological

place of punishment.

Muhammad and the Muslims don’t believe in Jesus’ crucifixion and them not believing prevents

these two religions to ever get together.  The Quran states that Jesus (Iesa) was taken directly to

heaven so why do we need to be forgiveness of our sins.  They believe Allah forgave Adam and

Eve of their sins.  The Bible states differently, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God therefore we need Jesus’ blood to do that, redeem us, bring us back to God.

There is another theological difference between them that pertains to their doctrines of scriptural

inspiration.  The Quran is not to be doubted.  You are not to question what’s in the Quran

because it’s author represents absolute truth.  We know that the Bible is the inspired Word of

God and that it is nothing but the truth, the real truth.

Jesus was unpopular when he died.  On the day He was crucified His frightened male disciples

forsook Him but some of the women stayed COwith Him until His death and they assisted with the

burial.  The Jewish leaders that betrayed Him made a scornful comment:  “He saved others but

He cannot save Himself.”

Muhammad on the other hand was a popular hero.  He was a ruler, a successful diplomat,

politician, and a general.  He was also known as a mystic visionary but the people only saw him

as a man larger than life.  He died in his wife Ayshia’s lap while Jesus died on the cross between

two thieves as dishonorable death.  He didn’t deserve that.

In closing, these are just a few more similarities and differences of Jesus and Muhammad.  You

can refer to my class presentation powerpoint, to get more information on these similarities and

differences.  If you truly wish to do God’s will you will know through the power of the Holy

Spirit whether the teachings you receive is from God or the Anti-Christ.

REFERENCES

Muhammad and Jesus: A Comparison of the Prophets and Their Teachings, By:  William E. Phipps, Copyright 1996 by, William E. Phillips, Published by:  The Continuum Publishing Company

Al-Yahud:  Eternal Islamic Enmity & the Jews, By:  Elias Al-Maqdisi & Sam Solomon, Copyright 2010 by Sam Solomon, Published by:  ANM

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary By:  Merriam-Webster, Copyright 2000 By:  Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, Published by:  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

The Holy Bible

The Quran