Jesus, Christianity vs Muhammad, Islamic

Jesus and Muhammad are very similar in how they played a pivotal role in their religions growth. When Jesus was first born, people at that time looked at the rulers as the only people that can talk to God. In Muhammad’s case, majority of the people living in Arabia, Saudi Arabia, were polytheists, believed in many gods, while he recognized one God, the same one worshipped by Jews and Christians.

Jesus started spreading his words by being a teacher and healer during the reign of Tiberius. Instead of Jesus writing down his words from God, he told stories and parables that challenged his followers to reflect on what he means. By not writing down any of his words, when people would tell of him to others his words and deeds would be varied. After the death of John the Baptist Jesus started spreading his words around the countryside of Judaea, telling people God’s kingdom was coming and that they need to prepare spiritually for it. When Jesus took his message to the Jewish population in Jerusalem, his followers began the Jesus movement because of his miraculous healings and exorcisms along with his powerful preaching’s. The Jesus movement was not yet Christianity, but rather a Jewish sect. Fearing that the works of Jesus might ignite a Jewish revolt against the Romans, so Roman governor Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem. After the Jewish community had lost its religious center, Christianity began to separate from Judaism and gave birth to a new religion. Two decades after the crucifixion of Jesus, his followers spread his teachings beyond the Jewish community to the wider Roman world, especially Paul of Tarsus.

            Muhammad was a merchant – turned – holy – man form the city of Mecca. With a combination of persuasion and force, Muhammad and his co-religionists, Muslims (“those who submit to Islam”), converted most of the Arabian Peninsula to Islam. Islam, which stands for “submission to God,” was created by Muhammad. Islam was first a religion for the sedentary city dwellers, but soon found its way to the nomads. But before all of that took place, Muhammad would leave his house and spend a few days in a cave, where he would have his prayers and contemplation, a type of piety similar to that of the early Christians. One day Muhammad heard a voice and had a vision that called unto him to worship Allah. The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, was created in the seventh century, where the messages Muhammad was hearing was written down in. These messages were told to be God’s revelation told to Muhammad by Archangel Gabriel, then recited to others by Muhammad himself. The Qur’an contained all the foundations a Muslim men and women should live by. At that time, Islam didn’t have any priests or sacraments, but later authoritative religious leaders came to be. By Muhammad coming out and saying that the people should abandoned the worshiping of all other gods and start worshiping his god brought him a conflict with the leading members of the Quraysh tribe, controlled the Ka’ba and was wealthy. So these people insulted Muhammad and harassed his followers.

Life After Alexander the Great

            Alexander III, son of Philip II and Olympias, conquered the Persian Empire, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, Gaza, Egypt, Bactria, Greece, as well as India. He got the name Alexander the Great by conquering so many areas while in his twenties. By having such a big of an empire, people from other parts of the world could have contact with one another which would change the world in the future.

            After the death of Alexander the Great his commanders Antigonus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy divided his empire between the three. Yes Alexander had a son but he was killed along with his wife and mother. Antigonus took control over Anatolia, the Near East, Macedonia, and Greece; Seleucus got Babylonia and the East as far as India; and Ptolemy was left with Egypt. With the separation of the kingdoms comes the beginning of the Hellenistic Age, which is a mixture of traditions from the Greeks and Near Eastern such as politics, literature, art, philosophy, and religion. With the ability to come in contact with other parts of the world, some areas began to become accustomed to the other customs and practices.

            With Antigonus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy in control of their kingdoms, royal wealth, stress on private life and emotions, and interaction with various people are what influenced the Hellenistic culture. The kings had scholars lead developments in art, literature, science, and philosophy. The interaction between the Near East and Greeks were done with language and religion. The kings had all of the literature done where only the “intellectual elite” could read, while the gap between them and the uneducated grew. The Hellenistic kings had famous people come to their place and make books, poems, and sculptures just to boost their reputation. Wealth played a big part when it came to the arts, people wanted to show that they had the same taste as their kings. New philosophies, Epicureanism and Stoicism, came to during this time as well. They were separated into three areas, logic, ethics, and physics.

            At Alexandria science, mathematics, geometry, and medicine all developed and benefited from being separated from philosophy. While the scientific field was taking form in Alexandria, changes in Greek and Egyptian religious views grew. New cults formed that focused on people and luck. Ruler cults praised their kings and their sons and looked at them as gods.