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Abrahamic religions (also Abrahamism) are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham[1] or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him.[2][3][4] They are one of the major divisions in comparative religion, along with Indian religions (Dharmic), East Asian religions (Taoic) and Neopaganism.

As of the early twenty-first century, it was estimated that 54% of the world's population (3.8 billion people) considered themselves adherents of the Abrahamic religions, about 30% of other religions, and 16% of no religion.[5][6] The Abrahamic religions originated in Western Asia.[7]

The largest Abrahamic religions are, in chronological order of founding, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Bahá'í Faith.
Contents

1 Etymology
2 Origins and history
3 Common aspects
3.1 Monotheism
3.2 Theological continuity
3.3 Scripture
3.4 Ethical orientation
3.5 Eschatological world view
3.6 Importance of Jerusalem
4 The significance of Abraham
4.1 For Muslims
4.2 For Jews
4.3 For Christians
5 The religions
5.1 Islam
5.2 Christianity
5.3 Judaism
6 God
6.1 Islam
6.2 Christianity
6.3 Judaism
7 Religious scriptures
7.1 Islamic
7.2 Jewish
7.3 Christian
8 End times and afterlife
8.1 Islam
8.2 Judaism
8.3 Christianity
9 Worship and religious rites
9.1 Islam
9.2 Circumcision
9.3 Judaism
9.4 Christianity
9.5 Food restrictions
9.6 Sabbath observance
10 Proselytism
10.1 Islam
10.2 Judaism
10.3 Christianity
11 Violent conflicts
11.1 Between Abrahamic religions
11.2 Between branches of the same Abrahamic religion
11.3 Between Abrahamic religions and non-adherents
12 Other Abrahamic religions
12.1 Bahá'í Faith
12.2 Ethnographic Abrahamic religions
13 See also
14 Notes
14.1 Footnotes
14.2 Citations
15 Further reading
16 External links

Etymology
Major religious groups as a percentage of world population.

It has been suggested that the phrase, "Abrahamic religion", may simply mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source.[2] Christians refer to Abraham as a "father in faith".[Rom. 4] There is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim (faith of Ibrahim),[3][4] indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham.[8] Jewish tradition claims descendance from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and ideals as the first of the three spiritual "fathers", Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

All the major Abrahamic religions claim a direct lineage to Abraham.

Abraham is recorded in the Torah as the ancestor of the Israelites through his son Isaac, born to Sarah through a promise made in Genesis.[Gen. 17:16][9] All variants of Judaism through the early 20th century (prophetic, rabbinic, reform, and conservative) were founded by Israelite descendants.
The basic text of Christianity is the Bible, the first part of which, the Old Testament, leading to the same ancestry claim as above. The Catholic Old Testament does include a few books that neither the Protestants nor the Orthodox Jews felt were inspired, but are more historical in nature.
It is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abraham's son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites.[10]

Other terms sometimes used include Abrahamic faiths, Abrahamic traditions, religions of Abraham, Abrahamic monotheistic religions, semitic religions, Semitic monotheistic religions, and Semitic one god religions.[11]

Adam Dodds argues that the term "Abrahamic faiths", while helpful, can be considered misleading, as it conveys an unspecified historical and theological commonality that is problematic on closer examination. While there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences.[12] For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, and Jesus' Resurrection are not accepted by Judaism or Islam (see for example Islamic view of Jesus' death). There are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity (such as strict monotheism and adherence to the Law), and key beliefs of Islam and Christianity not shared by Judaism (such as the prophetic and Messianic position of Jesus, respectively).[13]
Origins and history
Main articles: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahá'í Faith, and Druze

Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob,[n 1] a grandson of Abraham. It has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a small number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform.

Christianity began as a sect of Judaism[n 2] in the Mediterranean Basin[n 3] of the 1st century CE and evolved into a separate religion—the Christian Church—with distinctive beliefs and practices. Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be divine, one person of a Triune God.[n 4] The Christian Bible is usually held to be the ultimate authority, alongside Sacred Tradition in some denominations (such as Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy). Since its founding Christianity has divided into three main branches (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant), dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones.

Islam arose in Arabia[n 5] in the 7th century CE with a strictly unitary view of God.[n 6] Muslims (adherents of Islam) typically hold the Qur'an to be the ultimate authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices[n 7] of a central, but not divine prophet, Muhammad. Soon after its founding Islam split into two main branches (Sunni and Shi'a), each of which now have a number of denominations. Lesser-known Abrahamic religions, originally offshoots of Shi'a Islam, include the Bahá'í Faith[n 8] and Druze.[14]
Common aspects

The unifying characteristic of Abrahamic religions is that all accept the tradition that God revealed himself to the patriarch Abraham.[15] All are monotheistic, and conceive God to be a transcendent Creator-figure and the source of moral law,[16] and their sacred narratives feature many of the same figures, histories, and places in each, although they often present them with different roles, perspectives, and meanings.
Monotheism
Main article: Monotheism

All Abrahamic religions claim to be monotheistic, worshiping an exclusive God, though known by different names.[15] All of these religions believe that God creates, is one, rules, reveals, loves, judges, punishes, and forgives.[12][need quotation to verify] However, although Christianity does not profess to believe in three gods — but rather three persons, or hypostases, united in one essence — the Trinitarian doctrine, which is a fundamental of faith for the vast majority of Christian denominations, conflicts with Jewish and Muslim concepts of monotheism. Since the conception of divine Trinity is not amenable to tawhid, the Islamic doctrine of monotheism, Islam considers Christianity to be variously polytheistic or idolatrous.

Jesus himself (Arabic: Isa or Yasu, among Muslims and Arab Christians respectively) is revered by Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith, but with vastly differing conceptions, viewed as God incarnate and the Saviour of mankind by Christians, and as a Prophet of Islam[17] by Muslims, and a Manifestation of God[18][19][20] by Baha'is.[21][22][23] However, the worship of Jesus, or the ascribing of partners to God (known as shirk in Islam and shituf in Judaism), is typically viewed as the heresy of idolatry by Islam and Judaism. The incarnation of God into human form is also seen as a heresy by Judaism.
Theological continuity
See also: Messianism

All the Abrahamic religions affirm one eternal God who created the universe, who rules history, who sends prophetic and angelic messengers and who reveals the divine will through inspired Scriptures. They also affirm that obedience to this creator God is to be lived out historically, and that one day God will unilaterally intervene in human history on the day of judgment.
Scripture
See also: Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, Development of the Christian biblical canon, and History of the Qur'an

All Abrahamic religions believe that God guides humanity through revelation to prophets, and each religion recognizes that God revealed teachings up to and including those in their own scripture.
Ethical orientation
See also: Biblical law in Christianity and Judeo-Christian

An ethical orientation: all these religions speak of a choice between good and evil, which is associated with obedience or disobedience to a single God and to Divine Law.
Eschatological world view

An eschatological world view of history and destiny, beginning with the Creation of the world and the concept that God works through history, and ending with a Resurrection of the dead and final judgment and World to Come.[24]
Importance of Jerusalem
See also: Jerusalem in Judaism, Jerusalem in Christianity, and Jerusalem in Islam

Judaism: Jerusalem became Judaism's holiest city in 1005 BCE when David established it as the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon built the First Temple on Mount Moriah. Since the Hebrew Bible relates that Isaac's sacrifice took place there, Mount Moriah's importance for Jews pre-dates even these prominent events. Jews thrice daily pray in its direction, including in their prayers pleas for the restoration and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple (the Third Temple) on mount Moriah, close the Passover service with the wistful statement "Next year in built Jerusalem," and recall the city in the blessing at the end of each meal. Jerusalem has served as the only capital of all five Jewish states that have existed in Israel since 1400 BCE (the United Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judah, Yehud Medinata, the Hasmonean Kingdom, and modern Israel). It has been majority Jewish since about 1852 and continues through today.[25][26]

Christianity: Jerusalem was an early center of Christianity. The Pagan Romans under Emperor Vespasian, in order to end the First Jewish Revolt, used forces led by Vespasian's son and heir to the throne, Titus to lay siege to Jerusalem, sack the city, and destroy the Second Temple in 70 AD (eventually building a shrine to Jupiter Capitolinus in its place). In 135 AD, under Hadrian, as a response to another Jewish revolt against Roman rule (the Third Jewish Revolt of Simon Bar Kochba), the Romans further expelled all Jews from the area, after three revolts in 70 years, to ensure another revolt was not forthcoming. This is when the area surrounding Jerusalem, until then called Roman Judaea, first was given the name "Palestine", or "Syria Palaestina". There has been a continuous Christian presence there since.[27] William R. Kenan, Jr., professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, writes that from the middle of the 4th century to the Islamic conquest in the middle of the 7th century, the Roman province of Palestine was a Christian nation with Jerusalem its principal city.[27] According to the New Testament, Jerusalem was the city Jesus was brought to as a child to be presented at the temple[Luke 2:22] and for the feast of the Passover.[Luke 2:41] He preached and healed in Jerusalem, unceremoniously drove the money changers in disarray from the temple there, held the Last Supper in an "upper room" (traditionally the Cenacle) there the night before he is said to have died on the cross, was arrested in Gethsemane. The six parts to Jesus' trial—three stages in a religious court and three stages before a Roman court—were all held in Jerusalem. His crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial nearby (traditionally the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and his resurrection and ascension and prophecy to return all are said to have occurred or will occur there.

Islam: Jerusalem, the city of David and Christ, became holy to Muslims, third after Mecca and Medina (even though not mentioned by name in the Qur'an). The Al-Aqsa mosque, which translates to "farthest mosque" in sura Al-Isra in the Qur'an, and its surroundings are addressed in the Qur'an as "the holy land". Muslim tradition has recorded in the ahadith identifies al-Aqsa with a mosque in Jerusalem; nothing in the Qur'an supplies this connection (nor a connection to the Dome of the Rock). The first Muslims did not pray toward Kaaba (Al-Haram Mosque), but toward al-Aqsa mosque (this was the quibla for 13 years): the qibla was switched to Kaaba later on to fulfill a wish of Muhammad of praying in the direction of Kaaba (Quran, Al-Baqarah 2:144-150). Another reason for its significance is its connection with the Miʿrāj,[28] where, according to traditional Muslim piety, Muhammad ascended through the Seven heavens on a winged mule named Buraq, guided by the Archangel Gabriel, beginning from the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount, in modern times under the Dome of the Rock.[29][30]

The significance of Abraham
Main article: Covenant of Abraham
An interpretation of the borders (in red) of the Promised Land, based on God's promise to Abraham.[Genesis 15]

Even though members of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do not all claim Abraham as an ancestor, some members of these religions have tried to claim him as exclusively theirs.[31]
For Muslims
Main article: Islamic view of Abraham

For Muslims, Abraham is a prophet, the "messenger of God" who stands in the line from Noah to Muhammad, to whom Allah gave revelations,[Quran 4:163], who "raised the foundations of the House" (i.e., the Kaaba)[Quran 2:127] with his first son, Isma'il, a symbol of which is every mosque.[32] Ibrahim (Abraham) is the first in a genealogy for Muhammad. Islam considers Abraham to be "one of the first Muslims" (Surah 3)—the first monotheist in a world where monotheism was lost, and the community of those faithful to God,[33] thus being referred to as ابونا ابرهيم or "Our Father Abraham", as well as Ibrahim al-Hanif or "Abraham the Monotheist". Islam holds that it was Ishmael, (Isma'il, Muhammad's ancestor) rather than Isaac, whom Ibrahim was instructed to sacrifice. In addition to this spiritual lineage, the Sayyid who are the descendants of Muhammad and his daughter Fatima, who are spread across the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent and trace their lineage to Isma'il, and thus to Abraham.[34] Abraham is also recalled in certain details of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.[35]
For Jews

For Jews, Abraham is simply (with his wife, Sarah) the first Jew, the founding patriarch of the children of Israel. God promised Abraham: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you."[Gen. 12:2] With Abraham, God entered into "an everlasting covenant throughout the ages to be God to you and to your offspring to come."[Gen. 17:7]. It is this covenant that makes Abraham and his descendants Jews, not the chronology of the name Y'hudi. Similarly, converts, who join the covenant, are all identified as sons and daughters of Abraham (and Sarah).

Abraham is primarily a revered ancestor or patriarch (referred to as Avraham Avinu (אברהם אבינו in hebrew) "Abraham our father") to whom God made several promises: chiefly, that he would have numberless descendants, who would receive the land of Canaan (the "Promised Land"). According to Jewish tradition, Abraham was the first post-Flood prophet to reject idolatry through rational analysis, although Shem and Eber carried on the tradition from Noah.[36][37]
For Christians

Christians view Abraham as an important exemplar of faith, and a spiritual, as well as physical, ancestor of Jesus—a Jew considered the Son of God through whom God promised to bless all the families of the earth. For Christians, Abraham is a spiritual forebear as well as/rather than a direct ancestor depending on the individual's interpretation of Paul the Apostle,[Rom. 4:9–12] with the Abrahamic Covenant "reinterpreted so as to be defined by faith in Christ rather than biological descent" or both by faith as well as a direct ancestor; in any case, the emphasis is placed on faith being the only requirement for the Abrahamic Covenant to apply;[38] see also New Covenant and Supersessionism. In Christian belief, Abraham is a role model of faith,[Heb. 11:8–10] and his obedience to God by offering Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of God's offering of his son Jesus.[Rom. 8:32][39]

Christian commentators have a tendency to interpret God's promises to Abraham as applying to Christianity subsequent to (and sometimes rather than (as in Supersessionism) being applied to Judaism, whose adherents rejected Jesus. They argue this on the basis that just as Abraham as a Gentile "believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness" [Gen. 15:6] (cf. Rom. 4:3, James 2:23), "those who have faith are children of Abraham" [Gal. 3:7] (see also John 8:39). This is most fully developed in Paul's theology where all who believe in God are spiritual descendants of Abraham.[Rom. 4:20] [Gal. 4:9][40] However, with regards to [Rom. 4:20] and [Gal. 4:9], in both cases he refers to these spiritual descendants as the "sons of God"[Gal. 4:26] rather than "children of Abraham".[41]
The religions

See also section Other Abrahamic religions

The tomb of Abraham, a cenotaph above the Cave of the Patriarchs traditionally considered to be the burial place of Abraham.
Islam

Islam is based on the teachings of the Quran. Although it considers Muhammad to be the Seal of the prophets, Islam teaches that every prophet preached Islam, providing a historical back-story for the religion by co-opting Jewish and Christian prophets, and adding others, such as Cyrus the Great (Dhul-Qarnayn) and al-Khidr. The teachings of Quran are presented as the direct revelation and words of Allah, and earlier scriptures are considered to have been corrupted over time. Islam (meaning "submission", in the sense of submission to Allah) is universal (membership is open to anyone); like Judaism, it has a strictly unitary conception of Allah, called tawhid, or "strict" or "simple" monotheism.[34] Early disputes over who would lead Muslims following the death of Muhammad led to a split between Sunni and Shia, Islam's two main denominations.
Christianity

Christianity began in the 1st century as a sect within Judaism initially led by Jesus. His followers viewed him as the Messiah; after his crucifixion and death they came to view him as God incarnate,[42] who was resurrected and will return at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and create an eternal Kingdom of God. Within a few decades the new movement split from Judaism.

After several periods of alternating persecution and relative peace vis a vis the Roman authorities under different administrations, Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire in 380, but has been split into various churches from its beginning. An attempt was made by the Byzantine Empire to unify Christendom, but this formally failed with the East–West Schism of 1054. In the 16th century the birth and growth of Protestantism further split Christianity into many denominations.
Judaism

Judaism's oldest text is the Tanakh, an account of the Israelites' relationship with God from their earliest history until the building of the Second Temple (c. 535 BCE). Abraham is hailed as the first Hebrew and the father of the Jewish people. One of his great-grandsons was Judah, from whom the religion ultimately gets its name. The Israelites were initially a number of tribes who lived in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah.

After being conquered and exiled, some members of the Kingdom of Judah eventually returned to Israel. They later formed an independent state under the Hasmonean dynasty in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, before becoming a client kingdom of the Roman Empire, which also conquered the state and dispersed its inhabitants. From the 2nd to the 6th centuries Jews wrote the Talmud, a lengthy work of legal rulings and Biblical exegesis which—along with the Tanakh—is a key text of Judaism.
God
Main article: God in Abrahamic religions

All the Abrahamic religions are monotheistic. In both Judaism and Islam, God is viewed as a single divine being; this view is not shared by Christianity which views God as an indivisible Trinity. While the Christians hold that the Trinity is the same as the Judaic and Islamic singular divine being view of God, the distinction is sufficiently huge as to require an overt explanation on the part of the Christians and on the part of the Islamic faith which restates the issue with an admonition in chapter 112 of the Qur'an.
Islam
Main article: God in Islam
The word Allah written in Arabic.

There is only one God in Islam. Allah is the Arabic name for God ("ʾilāh" is the Arabic term used for a deity or a god in general). Islamic tradition also describes the 99 names of God. These 99 names describe attributes of God, including Most Merciful, The Just, The Peace and Blessing, and the Guardian. Islamic belief in God is distinct from Christianity in that God has no progeny. This belief is summed up in chapter 112 of the Qur'an titled Al-Ikhlas, which states "Say, he is Allah (who is) one, Allah is the Eternal, the Absolute. He does not beget nor was he begotten. Nor is there to Him any equivalent.".[Quran 112:1]

The Qur'an also draws a similitude between Jesus and Adam—the first human being created by God—saying they were both 'created without a father' by God who said the simple word "Be" (Arabic: kun).[Quran 3:59] Thus, both the Torah and the Gospels are believed to be based upon divine revelation, but most Muslims believe them to have been corrupted (both accidentally, through errors in transmission, and intentionally by certain Jews and Christians over the centuries).

Muslims revere the Qur'an as the final uncorrupted word of God, or 'The Final Testament' as revealed through the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is regarded as the "Seal of the Prophets" i.e. the last in a long chain, and Islam as the final monotheist faith, perfect in all respects as taught by the Qur'an.[Quran 5:3]
Christianity
Main article: God in Christianity
The Christian cross (or crux) is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity; this version is known as a Latin Cross.

Christians believe that the God worshiped by the faithful Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era has always revealed himself as he did through Jesus; but that this was never obvious until the Word of God (the divine Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us (see John 1). Also, despite the fact that the Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, it has always been only through the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to later perceive that they had been visited by God himself. After Jesus was raised from the dead—according to Christian scriptures—this ancient Hebrew witness of how God reveals himself as Messiah came to be seen in a very different light. It was then that Jesus' followers began to speak widely of him as God himself,[John 20:28] although this had already been revealed to certain individuals during his ministry. Examples were the Samaritan woman in Shechem and Jesus' closest apostles.[43]

This belief gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity, which is the doctrine that God is a single entity (singular God), but that there is a "triunity"[citation needed] in God, which has always been evident albeit not understood. This mysterious "triunity" is hypostatic; that is, there are three hypostases (personae in Latin) or "persons" of the Godhead (though this is an often misleading English rendering).

In the traditional Christian concept, God the Father (the Source) has only revealed himself through his eternal Word (who was incarnated in human history as Jesus Christ). The three different hypostases are not "Gods" because they are one, and share the same Divine Nature; they are the one and the same God. The Father is the Begetter, the Son is the eternally Begotten, and the Spirit eternally proceeds from both (in Catholicism and Protestantism) or from just the Father (in Eastern Orthodoxy).

Non-trinitarian views have constructed various theological understandings, ranging from Binitarianism to Modalism. Some non-trinitarians would understand that the three are not three but one playing three different roles, in three different ages or dispensations. In the Age of the Father, as Jehovah. In the Age of the Son, as Jesus. And finally in the Age of the Holy Spirit, with a New Name, as the Second Coming of Christ. However, it should be noted that some Christian denominations reject the trinity and follow nontrinitarian beliefs, Jehovah Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostalism, some Pentecostals, and Jesus-name Baptism churches being some of the nontrinitarianism.
Judaism
Main article: God in Judaism
The Shield of David, more commonly known as the Star of David (or Magen David), is a generally recognized symbol of the Jewish community and of Judaism.

Jewish beliefs are based on the Hebrew Bible (called the Tanakh in Hebrew), which consists of the Torah (traditionally regarded as the writings of Moses), along with the writings of the prophets, psalmists, and other ancient canonized scriptures, all of which reveal the nature and commandments of God. Additionally, Jewish faith has a basis in the Oral Law, as recorded in the Mishnah and Gemara that together form the Talmud.

The Supreme Being is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in several ways, such as Elohim, Adonai or by the four Hebrew letters "Y-H-V (or W) -H" (the tetragrammaton), which observant Jews do not pronounce as a word. The Hebrew words Eloheynu (Our God) and HaShem (The Name), as well as the English names "Lord" and "God", are also used in modern-day Judaism. The latter is sometimes written "G-d" in reference to the taboo against pronouncing the tetragrammaton.[44]

The word "Elohim" has the Hebrew plural ending "-īm", which some Biblical scholars have taken as support for the general notion that the ancient Hebrews were polytheists in the time of the patriarchs; however, as the word itself is used with singular verbs, this hypothesis is not accepted in traditional Jewish thought. Jewish texts point out other words in Hebrew used in the same manner according to the rule of Hebrew Grammar, denoting respect, majesty and deliberation, similar to the royal plural in English and ancient Egyptian, and the use of the plural form "vous" for individuals of higher standing in modern French. Jewish Biblical scholars and historical commentary on the passage also suggest that Elohim in the plural form indicates God in conjunction with the heavenly court, i.e., the Angels. Some Kabbalistic texts explain the use of the Elohim as a pluralistic singularity, one essence sustaining all levels of creation from the mundane physical to the sublime and Holy spiritual.[45]
Religious scriptures

All these religions rely on a body of scriptures, some of which are considered to be the word of God—hence sacred and unquestionable—and some the work of religious men, revered mainly by tradition and to the extent that they are considered to have been divinely inspired, if not dictated, by the divine being.
Islamic
Main articles: Muhammad, Qur'an, Hadith, Sunnah, and Origin and development of the Qur'an

Islam's holiest book is the Qur'an, comprising 114 Suras ("chapters of the Qur'an"). However, Muslims also believe in the religious texts of Judaism and Christianity in their original forms, albeit not the current versions (which they believe to be corrupted). According to the Qur'an (and mainstream Muslim belief), the verses of the Qur'an were revealed by Allah through the Archangel Jibrail to Muhammad on separate occasions. These revelations were written down and also memorized by hundreds of companions of Mohammad. These multiple sources were collected into one official copy. After death of Mohammed, Quran was copied on several copies and Caliph Uthman provided these copies to different cities of Islamic Empire.

The Qur'an mentions and reveres several of the Israelite prophets, including Moses and Jesus, among others (see also: Prophets of Islam). The stories of these prophets are very similar to those in the Bible. However, the detailed precepts of the Tanakh and the New Testament are not adopted outright; they are replaced by the new commandments accepted as revealed directly by Allah (through Gabriel) to Muhammad and codified in the Qur'an.

Like the Jews with the Torah, Muslims consider the original Arabic text of the Qur'an as uncorrupted and holy to the last letter, and any translations are considered to be interpretations of the meaning of the Qur'an, as only the original Arabic text is considered to be the divine scripture.[46]

Like the Rabbinic Oral Law to the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an is complemented by the Hadith, a set of books by later authors recording the sayings of the prophet Muhammad. The Hadith interpret and elaborate Qur'anic precepts. Islamic scholars have categorized each Hadith at one of the following levels of authenticity or isnad: genuine (sahih), fair (hasan) or weak (da'if).[47]

By the 9th century, six major Hadith collections were accepted as reliable to Sunni Muslims.

Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih Muslim
Sunan ibn Majah
Sunan Abu Dawood
Jami al-Tirmidhi
Sunan an-Nasa'ii

Shia Muslims, however, refer to other authenticated hadiths instead.[48] They are known collectively as The Four Books.

The Hadith and the life story of Muhammad (sira) form the Sunnah, an authoritative supplement to the Qur'an. The legal opinions of Islamic jurists (Faqīh) provide another source for the daily practice and interpretation of Islamic tradition (see Fiqh.)

The Qur'an contains repeated references to the "religion of Abraham" (see Suras 2:130,135; 3:95; 6:123,161; 12:38; 16:123; 22:78). In the Qur'an, this expression refers specifically to Islam; sometimes in contrast to Christianity and Judaism, as in Sura 2:135, for example: 'They say: "Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided (to salvation)." Say thou (O Muslims): "Nay! (I would rather) the Religion of Abraham the True, and he joined not gods with Allah." ' In the Qur'an, Abraham is declared to have been a Muslim (a hanif, more accurately a "primordial monotheist"), not a Jew nor a Christian (Sura 3:67).
Jewish
Main articles: Masoretic Text, Septuagint, Targum, Tanakh, and Bible

The sacred scriptures of Judaism are the Tanakh, a Hebrew acronym standing for Torah (Law or Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). These are complemented by and supplemented with various (originally oral) traditions: Midrash, the Mishnah, the Talmud and collected rabbinical writings. The Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible) was composed between 1,400 BCE, and 400 BCE by Jewish prophets, kings, and priests.

The Hebrew text of the Tanakh, and the Torah in particular, is considered holy, down to the last letter: transcribing is done with painstaking care. An error in a single letter, ornamentation or symbol of the 300,000+ stylized letters that make up the Hebrew Torah text renders a Torah scroll unfit for use; hence the skills of a Torah scribe are specialist skills, and a scroll takes considerable time to write and check.
Christian
Main articles: Old Testament, New Testament, and Bible

The sacred scriptures of most Christian groups are the Old Testament and The New Testament. The Old Testament in the Protestant King James is the same as the Hebrew Bible allowing for slight variations in grammar or slang. However, the Catholic Bible includes certain books that are considered historical in nature and not Inspired[citation needed]. The story of the Macabbees is where the miracle of Hanaukkah is recorded, is not found in Jewish Scripture or in the Protestant King James, but is found in the Catholic Bible. Jesus quotes from the book of Enoch and neither Jewish nor Protestant scripture includes Enoch.

The New Testament comprises four accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus (the Four Gospels, traditionally attributed to the apostle Matthew; the apostle John; Mark, a student of the apostle Peter; and Luke, a student of the apostle Paul), as well as several other writings by the apostles (such as Paul). They are usually considered to be divinely inspired, and together comprise the Christian Bible. Thus, Christians consider the fundamental teachings of the Old Testament, in particular the Ten Commandments, as valid (see Biblical law in Christianity for details). However, they believe that non-Jewish Christians only have to follow the Noahic laws (e.g. idolatry, lying, adultery, theft).[citation needed]

The coming of Jesus as the Messiah and saviour of humankind as predicted in the Old Testament would shed light on the true relationship between God and mankind by restoring the emphasis of universal love and compassion, as mentioned in the Great Commandment, above the other commandments, also de-emphasising the more "legalistic" and material precepts of Mosaic Law (such as circumcision and the dietary constraints and temple rites) most of which would not apply to non Jewish Christian believers. Very few Christians believe that the link between Old and New Testaments in the Bible means that Judaism has been superseded by Christianity as the "new Israel",[49] and that Jesus' teachings described Israel not as a geographic place, but rather an association with God and promise of salvation in Heaven, a revisionist position rejected by Jews and others.
A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. This Bible was transcribed in Belgium in 1407 for reading aloud in a monastery.

The vast majority of Christian faiths (generally including Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism and most forms of Protestantism) derive their beliefs from the conclusions reached by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 in a document known as the Nicene Creed. This describes the belief that God (as a Trinity of distinct persons with one substance) became human on earth, born as Jesus pursuant to the Old Testament scriptures, was crucified by humanity, died and was buried, then was resurrected by God on the third day to rise and enter the Kingdom of Heaven and "sit at the right hand of God" with a promise to return and establish a World to Come. Christians generally believe that faith in Jesus is the way to achieve salvation and to enter into Heaven and/or receive Eternal life, and that salvation is a gift given by the grace of God.

The vast majority of Christian faiths (including Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and most forms of Protestantism) recognize that the Gospels were passed on by oral tradition, and were not set to paper until decades after the death of Jesus, and that the extant versions are copies of those originals. The version of the Bible considered to be most valid (in the sense of best conveying the true meaning of the word of God) has varied considerably: the Greek Septuagint, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, the English King James Version and the Russian Synodal Bible have been authoritative to different communities at different times.

In particular, Christians usually consult the Tanakh when preparing new translations, although some believe that the Septuagint should be preferred, as it was the Bible of the Early Christian Greek Church, and because they believe its translators used a different Hebrew Bible to the ones that make up the current Masoretic Hebrew text, as there are some variant readings of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed by the Septuagint. In the same sense that the Jewish mystics viewed the Torah as something living and existing prior to any written text, so too do Christians view the Bible and Jesus himself as God's "Word" (or logos in Greek), transcending written documents.

The sacred scriptures of the Christian Bible are complemented by a large body of writings by individual Christians and councils of Christian leaders (see canon law). Some Christian churches and denominations consider certain additional writings to be binding; other Christian groups consider only the Bible to be binding (sola scriptura).
End times and afterlife
Main article: Eschatology

In the major Abrahamic religions, there exists the expectation of an individual who will herald the time of the end and/or bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth; in other words, the Messianic prophecy. Judaism awaits the coming of the Jewish Messiah; the Jewish concept of Messiah differs from the Christian concept in several significant ways, despite the same term being applied to both. The Jewish Messiah is not seen as a "god", but as a mortal man who by his holiness is worthy of that description. His appearance is not the end of history, rather it signals the coming of the world to come.

Christianity awaits the Second Coming of Christ, though Full Preterists believe this has already happened. Islam awaits both the second coming of Jesus (to complete his life and die) and the coming of Mahdi (Sunnis in his first incarnation, Shi'a as the return of Muhammad al-Mahdi).

Most Abrahamic religions agree that a human being comprises the body, which dies, and the soul, which is capable of remaining alive beyond human death and carries the person's essence, and that God will judge each person's life accordingly after death. The importance of this and the focus on it, as well as the precise criteria and end result, differs between religions.[citation needed]
Islam
Main article: Islamic eschatology

In Islam, God is said to be "Most Compassionate and Most Merciful" (Qur'an 1:1, as well as the start of all suras but one). However, God is also "Most Just"; Islam prescribes a literal Hell for those who disobey God and commit gross sin. Those who obey God and submit to God will be rewarded with their own place in Paradise. While sinners are punished with fire, there are also many other forms of punishment described, depending on the sin committed; Hell is divided into numerous levels.

Those who worship and remember God are promised eternal abode in a physical and spiritual Paradise. Heaven is divided into seven levels, with the highest level of Paradise being the reward of those who have been most virtuous, the prophets, and those killed while fighting for Allah (martyrs).

Upon repentance to God, many sins can be forgiven, on the condition they are not repeated, as God is supremely merciful. Additionally, those who believe in God, but have led sinful lives, may be punished for a time, and then eventually released into Paradise. If anyone dies in a state of Shirk (i.e. associating God in any way, such as claiming that He is equal with anything or denying Him), this is not pardonable — he or she will stay forever in Hell.

Once a person is admitted to Paradise, this person will abide there for eternity.[50]
Judaism
Main article: Olam Haba

Judaism's views on the afterlife ("the Next World") are quite diverse. This can be attributed to the fact that although there clearly are traditions in the Hebrew Bible of an afterlife (see Naboth and the Witch of Endor), Judaism focuses on this life and how to lead a holy life to please God, rather than future reward, and its attitude can be mostly summed up by the rabbinical observation that at the start of Genesis, God clothed the naked (Adam and Eve); at the end of Deuteronomy, he buried the dead (Moses) and the Children of Israel mourned for 40 days before getting on with their lives.[citation needed]
Christianity
Main articles: Christian eschatology and World to Come#Christianity

Christians have more diverse and definite teachings on the end times and what constitutes afterlife. Most Christian approaches either include different abodes for the dead (Heaven, Hell, Limbo, Purgatory) or universal reconciliation in which all souls are made in the image of God. A small minority teach annihilationism, the doctrine that those persons who are not reconciled to God simply cease to exist (though the Roman Catholic Church has no official teaching on what kind of place hell is, and indeed allows that it might be a locale of oblivion).[citation needed]
Worship and religious rites

Worship, ceremonies and religion-related customs differ substantially among the Abrahamic religions. Among the few similarities are a seven-day cycle in which one day is nominally reserved for worship, prayer or other religious activities—Shabbat, Sabbath, or jumu'ah; this custom is related to the biblical story of Genesis, where God created the universe in six days, and rested in the seventh.
Islam

The followers of Islam (Muslims) are to observe the Five Pillars of Islam. The first pillar is the belief in the oneness of Allah, and in Muhammad as his final and most perfect prophet. The second is to pray five times daily (salat) towards the direction (qibla) of the Kaaba in Mecca. The third pillar is alms giving (Zakah), a portion of one's wealth given to the poor or to other specified causes, which means the giving of a specific share of one's wealth and savings to persons or causes, as is commanded in the Qur'an and elucidated as to specific percentages for different kinds of income and wealth in the hadith. The normal share to be paid is two and a half percent of one's earnings: this increases if labour was not required, and increases further if only capital or possessions alone were required (i.e. proceeds from renting space), and increases to 50% on "unearned wealth" such as treasure-finding, and to 100% on wealth that is considered haram, as part of attempting to make atonement for the sin, such as that gained through financial interest (riba).

Fasting (sawm) during the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, Ramadan, is the fourth pillar of Islam, to which all Muslims after the age of puberty in good health (as judged by a Muslim doctor to be able fast without incurring grave danger to health: even in seemingly obvious situations, a "competent and upright Muslim physician" is required to agree), that are not menstruating are bound to observe—missed days of the fast for any reason must be made up, unless there be a permanent illness, such as diabetes, that prevents a person from ever fasting. In such a case, restitution must be made by feeding one poor person for each day missed.

Finally, Muslims are also required, if physically able, to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one's life: it is strongly recommended to do it as often as possible, preferably once a year. Only individuals whose financial position and health are severely insufficient are exempt from making Hajj (e.g. if making Hajj would put stress on one's financial situation, but would not end up in homelessness or starvation, it is still required). During this pilgrimage, the Muslims spend three to seven days in worship, performing several strictly defined rituals, most notably circumambulating the Kaaba among millions of other Muslims and the "stoning of the devil" at Mina.

At the end of the Hajj, the heads of men are shaved, sheep and other halal animals, notably camels, are slaughtered as a ritual sacrifice by bleeding out at the neck according to a strictly prescribed ritual slaughter method similar to the Jewish kashrut, to commemorate the moment when, according to Islamic tradition, Allah replaced Abraham's son Ishmael (contrasted with the Judaeo-Christian tradition that Isaac was the intended sacrifice) with a sheep, thereby preventing human sacrifice. The meat from these animals is then distributed locally to needy Muslims, neighbours and relatives. Finally, the hajji puts of ihram and the hajj is complete.[citation needed]
Circumcision
See also: Circumcision in the Bible, Brit Milah, Khatna, Circumcision controversy in early Christianity, and History of male circumcision

Judaism practices circumcision for males as a matter of religious obligation, as does Islam as part of Sunnah (the practice is not mandated by the Qur'an).

Western Christianity replaced that custom with a baptism[51] ceremony varying according to the denomination, but generally including immersion, aspersion, or anointment with water. The Early Church (Acts 15, the Council of Jerusalem) decided that circumcision is not required for Gentile Christians. The Council of Florence in the 15th century[52] prohibited it. Paragraph #2297 of the Catholic Catechism calls non-medical amputation or mutilation immoral.[53][54] Many countries with majorities of Christian adherents have low circumcision rates (with the notable exceptions of the United States[55] and the Philippines). Coptic Christianity and Ethiopian Orthodoxy still observe circumcision. See also Aposthia.

Male circumcision is among the rites of Islam and is part of the (in Arabic): fitrah, or the innate disposition and natural character and instinct of the human creation.
Judaism

Orthodox Judaism practice is guided by the interpretation of the Torah and the Talmud. Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish priests offered sacrifices there two times daily; since then, the practice has been replaced, until the Temple is rebuilt, by Jewish men being required to pray three times daily, including the chanting of the Torah, and facing in the direction of Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Jewish women's prayer obligations vary by denomination; in contemporary orthodox practice, women do not read from the Torah and are only required to say certain parts of these daily services. Other practices include circumcision, dietary laws, Shabbat, Passover, Torah study, Tefillin, purity and others. Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and the Reconstructionist movement all move away, in different degrees, from the strict tradition of the law.

All versions of Judaism share a common, specialized calendar, containing many festivals. The calendar is lunisolar, with lunar months and a solar year (an extra month is added every second or third year to allow the shorter lunar year to "catch up" to the solar year). All streams observe the same festivals, but some emphasize them differently. As is usual with its extensive law system, the Orthodox have the most complex manner of observing the festivals, while the Reform pay more attention to the simple symbolism of each one.
Christianity
Main article: Christian worship

Christian worship varies from denomination to denomination. Individual prayer is usually not ritualised, while group prayer may be ritual or non-ritual according to the occasion. During church services some form of liturgy is frequently followed. Rituals are performed during sacraments, which also vary from denomination to denomination and usually include baptism and communion, and may also include confirmation, confession, last rites and holy orders.

Catholic worship practice is governed by the Roman Missal and other documents. Individuals, churches and denominations place different emphasis on ritual—some denominations consider most ritual activity optional, see Adiaphora, particularly since the Protestant Reformation.
Food restrictions
Main articles: kashrut, halal, and ital
See also: Apostolic Decree

Judaism and Islam have strict dietary laws, with permitted food known as kosher in Judaism, and halal in Islam. These two religions prohibit the consumption of pork; Islam prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages of any kind. Halal restrictions can be seen as a modification of the kashrut dietary laws, so many kosher foods are considered halal; especially in the case of meat, which Islam prescribes must be slaughtered in the name of God. Hence in Morocco Muslims used to consume kosher food. Similarly, some foods not considered kosher are considered halal in Islam.[56]

With rare exceptions, Christians do not consider the Old Testament's strict food laws as relevant for today's church; see also Biblical law in Christianity. Most Protestants have no set food laws, but there are minority exceptions.[57]

The Roman Catholic Church believes in observing abstinence and penance. For example, all Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days.[58] The law of abstinence requires a Catholic from 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the U.S. to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing.[59] Eastern Rite Catholics have their own penitential practices as specified by the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) embraces numerous Old Testament rules and regulations such as tithing, Sabbath observance, and Jewish Food laws. Therefore, they do not eat pork, shellfish, or other foods considered unclean under the Old Covenant. The "Fundamental Beliefs" of the SDA state that their members "are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures."[Leviticus 11:1–47] among others[60]

In the Christian Bible, the consumption of strangled animals and of blood was forbidden by Apostolic Decree[Acts 15:19–21] and are still forbidden in the Greek Orthodox Church, according to German theologian Karl Josef von Hefele, who, in his Commentary on Canon II of the Second Ecumenical Council held in the 4th century at Gangra, notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of Gangra, the rule of the Apostolic Synod [the Council of Jerusalem of Acts 15] with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greeks, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show." He also writes that "as late as the eighth century, Pope Gregory the Third, in 731, forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days."[61]

Jehovah's Witnesses abstain from eating blood and from blood transfusions based on Acts 15:19–21.
Sabbath observance
See also: Biblical Sabbath, Shabbat, Christian Sabbath, and jumu'ah

Sabbath in the Bible is a weekly day of rest and time of worship. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other Abrahamic faiths. Though many viewpoints and definitions have arisen over the millennia, most originate in the same textual tradition. Though not a day of rest (creation does not make God tired and therefore He did not rest on the 7th day in Muslim belief), Islam holds Friday as a day of special prayer.[citation needed]
Proselytism
Islam

Dawah is an important Islamic concept which denotes the preaching of Islam. Da‘wah literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation". A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dā‘ī, plural du‘āt. A dā‘ī is thus a person who invites people to understand Islam through a dialogical process, and may be categorized in some cases as the Islamic equivalent of a missionary, as one who invites people to the faith, to the prayer, or to Islamic life.

Da'wah activities can take many forms. Some pursue Islamic studies specifically to perform Da'wah. Mosques and other Islamic centers sometimes spread Da'wah actively, similar to evangelical churches. Others consider being open to the public and answering questions to be Da'wah. Recalling Muslims to the faith and expanding their knowledge can also be considered Da'wah.

In Islamic theology, the purpose of Da‘wah is to invite people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, to understand the commandments of Allah as expressed in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, as well as to inform them about Muhammad. Da‘wah produces converts to Islam, which in turn grows the size of the Muslim Ummah, or community of Muslims.
Judaism

Judaism accepts converts, but has no explicit missionaries as such since the end of the Second Temple era. Judaism states that non-Jews can achieve righteousness by following Noahide Laws, a set of seven universal commandments non-Jews are expected to follow. In this context, the Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides, one of the major Jewish teachers) commented: "Quoting from our sages, the righteous people from other nations have a place in the world to come, if they have acquired what they should learn about the Creator". Because the commandments applicable to the Jews are much more detailed and onerous than Noahide laws, Jewish scholars have traditionally maintained that it is better to be a good non-Jew than a bad Jew, thus discouraging conversion. In the U.S., as of 2003 28% of married Jews were married to non-Jews.[62] See also Conversion to Judaism.
The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch.
Christianity

Christianity encourages evangelism. Many Christian organizations, especially Protestant churches, send missionaries to non-Christian communities throughout the world. See also Great Commission. Forced conversions to Catholicism have been documented at various points throughout history. The most prominently cited allegations are the conversions of the pagans after Constantine; of Muslims, Jews and Eastern Orthodox during the Crusades; of Jews and Muslims during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, where they were offered the choice of exile, conversion or death; and of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes. Forced conversions to Protestantism have occurred as well, notably during the Reformation, especially in England and Ireland (see recusancy and Popish plot).

Forced conversions are condemned as sinful by major denominations such as the Roman Catholic Church, which officially states that forced conversions pollute the Christian religion and offend human dignity, so that past or present offenses are regarded as a scandal (a cause of unbelief). According to Pope Paul VI, "It is one of the major tenets of Catholic doctrine that man's response to God in faith must be free: no one therefore is to be forced to embrace the Christian faith against his own will."[63]
Violent conflicts
[icon] This section requires expansion. (November 2010)
Between Abrahamic religions

The wars between the emerging Islamic Caliphates and the Christian Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire between the 7th and the 11th centuries CE were a series of military, political and religious conflicts which led to the islamization of large territories in the Near East such as Egypt and Syria.

The Crusades (end of 11th – end of 13th century CE) were a series of military expeditions from Western Europe to the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean: a rather unsuccessful attempt by Western (Catholic) Christians to conquer what was perceived by all Christians as the Holy Land from its Muslim inhabitants. In passing, Crusades were also marked with conflicts between Western and Eastern (Orthodox, Syro-Jacobite and Armenian) Christians and unilateral damage inflicted by Western Christians to Jews.

The conquest and the following Reconquista of Spain (beginning of 8th – end of 15th century CE) were a series of wars between Muslims and Christians in the Iberian peninsula resulting in the founding of several Muslim and Christian Medieval states and the final victory of the Catholic Crown of Castile and Aragon against the Muslim Emirate of Granada.

The Ottoman conquest of the Balkan peninsula (mid-14th – end of 15th century CE) followed by a series of wars between the Islamic Ottoman Empire and various Christian powers and alliances (end of 14th – beginning of 20th century CE) was an important political, military and cultural process for South-Eastern Europe resulting in the fall of the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire and its successor states and finally leading to the emerging of several modern nations in that region.

The Spanish inquisition was an attempt by the Christian Catholic church in Spain in the wake of the centuries long Reconquista to suppress or expel Jews and Muslims and to prosecute Christian heretics. Openly Jewish and Muslim people were expelled rather than killed, but many submitted to forced conversion to Catholicism to avoid expulsion. The Inquisitors often did not trust the converts, and persecuted them cruelly for being secret adherents of their original religions, which was often true but sometimes fabricated. Jewish forced converts were known as "anusim," or sometimes by the pejorative "morrano (pig)."

At various points in history pogroms against Jews were common in Christian Europe, and in many Islamic areas. See blood libel.

The Christian Reformation of the 16th century CE was an attempt towards a religious reform in the Western (Catholic) Christian Church which resulted in a series of Religious Wars between Catholic and emerging Reformist/Protestant Christian forces during the 16th and 17th centuries CE throughout Western Europe.

Persecution of Bahá'ís and Political accusations against the Baha'i Faith review the substantive efforts in parts of the world against the Bahá'ís and their religion.

Between branches of the same Abrahamic religion

The Fourth Crusade and subsequent wars between Catholic Europeans and the Orthodox Byzantine Greeks following the Great Schism.

The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was due to religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant Christians, and economic causes.

There have been many violent conflicts between the Sunni and Shi'a branches of Islam; see Shi'a–Sunni relations.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a western coalition there was armed conflict between branches of Islam, with fighting and bombings, even of mosques.

Between Abrahamic religions and non-adherents

During the initial expansion of both Christianity and Islam, a number of pagan communities were converted by force.

The Catholic Inquisition, mentioned above, also targeted non-believers in the orthodox doctrines of Roman Catholicism and many accused of atheism (regardless of what they professed) lost their livelihoods or their lives.

The colonization of North America by the Conquistadores was done in the name of Catholicism.

Abrahamic religions have had large numbers of their adherents persecuted in the form of loss of life, seizure of property and other forms of persecution due to Communism, Fascism and Nazism.

Other Abrahamic religions

Historically, the Abrahamic religions have been considered to be Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Some of this is due to the age and larger size of these three. The other, similar religions were seen as either too new to judge as being truly in the same class, or too small to be of significance to the category.

However, some of the restriction of Abrahamic to these three is due only to tradition in historical classification. Therefore, restricting the category to these three religions has come under criticism.[64] The religions listed below here claim Abrahamic classification, either by the religions themselves, or by scholars who study them.
Bahá'í Faith
Main article: Bahá'í Faith

Recently the Bahá'í Faith, which dates only

Abraham (Hebrew: About this sound אַבְרָהָם (help·info)) is the founding father of the Israelites, with a prominent role in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.[1]

The story of Abraham is told in chapters 11:26-25:18 of the book of Genesis.[2] It is essentially the history of the establishment of the covenant between Abraham and God: God calls Abraham to leave his land, family and household in Mesopotamia in return for a new land, family and inheritance in Canaan, the promised land; threats to the covenant arise (difficulties in producing an heir, the threat of bondage in Egypt, of lack of fear of God); but all are overcome and the covenant is established.[3] Abraham's story ends with the death and burial of his wife Sarah in the grave which he has purchased in Hebron (a town in southern Judah), followed by the marriage of his heir Isaac to a wife from his own people: these two episodes signify Abraham's desire of the land for his descendants and the exclusion of land's previous inhabitants, the Canaanites, from its ownership.[4]

The Bible's internal chronology places Abraham and the patriarchs in the second millennium BCE, but the stories in Genesis cannot be related to the known history of that time, and most biblical histories no longer begin with the patriarchal period.[5]
Contents

1 Narrative in Genesis
1.1 Abram's origins and calling
1.2 Abram and Sarai
1.3 Abram and Lot separate
1.4 Abram and Chedorlaomer
1.5 Abrahamic covenant
1.6 Abram and Hagar
1.7 Abraham and Sarah
1.8 Abraham's three visitors
1.9 Abraham's plea
1.10 Abraham and Abimelech
1.11 Birth of Isaac
1.12 Abraham and Ishmael
1.13 Abraham and Isaac
1.14 Later years
2 Historicity and composition of the Abraham narrative
3 Name and chronology
4 Abraham in religious traditions
4.1 Judaism
4.2 Christianity
4.3 Islam
4.4 Baha'i
5 Abraham in the arts
5.1 Paintings
5.2 Sculpture
5.3 Literature
5.4 Music
6 See also
7 Notes
8 Bibliography
9 External links

Narrative in Genesis

The life of Abraham is related in Genesis 11:26–25:10 of the Hebrew Bible.
A painting of Abraham's departure by József Molnár
Abram's origins and calling
Abram's Counsel to Sarai (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)

Terah, the tenth in descent from Noah, fathered three sons, Abram (later called Abraham), Nahor and Haran. Abraham's birth had numerological significance for the authors of the Genesis story: his first year commenced exactly 1600 years after the Flood, or the square of forty, a biblical generation and one of the most common round numbers in the biblical literature.[6]

Haran fathered Lot (who was thus Abraham's nephew), and died in his native city, Ur of the Chaldees. Abram married Sarai, his (probably half-) sister, who was barren. Terah, with Abram, Sarai and Lot, then departed for Canaan, but settled in a place named Haran, where Terah died at the age of 205.(Genesis 11:27–11:32) God then appeared to Abram and told him to leave his country and his father's house for a land that He would show him, promising to make of him a great nation, bless him, make his name great, bless those who blessed him, and curse those who cursed him. (Genesis 12:1–3) Following God's command, at age 75, Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and the wealth and persons that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan.
Abram and Sarai

There was a severe famine in the land of Canaan, so that Abram and Lot and their households, travelled south to Egypt. On the way, Abram told his wife Sarai to say that she was his sister, so that the Egyptians would not kill him. (Genesis 12:10–13) When they entered Egypt, the princes of the Pharaoh praised Sarai's beauty to the Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace, and Abram was given provisions: "oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels". However, God afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, which he tried to find the reason for.(Genesis 12:14–17) Upon discovering that Sarai was a married woman, Abram's wife as well as his sister, Pharaoh demanded that they and their household leave immediately, along with all their goods.(Genesis 12:18–20)
Abram and Lot separate
Depiction of the separation of Abraham and Lot by Wenceslaus Hollar.
Main article: Abraham and Lot's conflict

When they came back to the Bethel and Hai area, Abram's and Lot's sizeable numbers of livestock occupied the same pastures ("and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.") This became a problem for the herdsmen who were assigned to each family's cattle. The conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram graciously suggested that Lot choose a separate area, either on the left hand or on the right hand, that there be no conflict amongst "brethren". But Lot chose to go east to the plain of Jordan where the land was well watered everywhere as far as Zoar, and he dwelled in the cities of the plain toward Sodom. Abram went south to Hebron and settled in the plain of Mamre, where he built another altar to worship God. (Genesis 13:1–18)
Abram and Chedorlaomer
Main article: Battle of the Vale of Siddim
Meeting of Abram and Melchizedek (painting circa 1464–1467 by Dieric Bouts the Elder)

During the rebellion of the Jordan River cities against Elam, (Genesis 14:1–9) Abram's nephew, Lot, was taken prisoner along with his entire household by the invading Elamite forces. The Elamite army came to collect booty from the spoils of war, after having just defeated the King of Sodom's armies. (Genesis 14:8–12) Lot and his family, at the time, were settled on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Sodom which made them a visible target. (Genesis 13:12)

One person that escaped capture came and told Abram what happened. Once Abram received this news, he immediately assembled 318 trained servants. Abram's elite force headed north in pursuit of the Elamite army, who were already worn down from the Battle of Siddim. When they caught up with them at Dan, Abram devised a battle strategy plan by splitting his group into more than one unit, and launched a night raid. Not only were they able to free the captives, Abram's unit chased and slaughtered the Elamite King Chedorlaomer at Hobah, just north of Damascus. They freed Lot, as well as his household and possessions, and recovered all of the goods from Sodom that had been taken. (Genesis 14:13–16)

Upon Abram's return, Sodom's King (whom we do not know since the previous king of Sodom, Bera, had perished in Genesis 14:10) came out to meet with him in the Valley of Shaveh, the "king's dale". Also, Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem), a priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram and God. Abram then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom then offered to let Abram keep all the possessions if he would merely return his people. Although he released the captives, Abram refused any reward from the King of Sodom, other than the share to which his allies were entitled. (Genesis 14:17–24)
Abrahamic covenant
The Vision of the Lord Directing Abram to Count the Stars (woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 Bible in Pictures)

The word of God came to Abram in a vision and repeated the promise of the land and descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram and God made a covenant ceremony, and God told of the future bondage of Israel in Egypt. God described to Abram the land that his offspring would claim: "the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15)
Abram and Hagar
See also: Hagar and Hagar in Islam
Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, imagined here in a Bible illustration from 1897.

Abram and Sarai tried to make sense of how he would become a progenitor of nations since after 10 years of living in Canaan, no child had been born from Abram's seed. Sarai then offered her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, for Abram to consort with so that he may have a child by her, as a wife. Abram consented and had sexual intercourse with Hagar. The result of these actions created emnity between Hagar and Sarai. (Genesis 16:1–6)

After a harsh encounter with Sarai, Hagar fled toward Shur. En route, an angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar at the well of a spring. He instructed her to return and told her she would bear a son who “shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.” She was told to call her son: Ishmael. Hagar then referred to God as “El-roi”, meaning that she had gone on seeing after God saw her. From that day, the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. She then did as she was instructed by returning to Abram in order to have her child. Abram was eighty-six years of age when Ishmael was born. (Genesis 16:7–16)
Abraham and Sarah

Genesis 17 records the inauguration of Abram into God's covenant that was initiated thirteen years ago, as was stated in Genesis 15. Abram is now ninety-nine when God declares Abram's new name: “Abraham, a father of many nations.” Abram then received the instructions for the inauguration rite into God's covenant because the time was approaching for him to have a son by his wife, Sarai. The initiation rite was that in order to be part of this “great nation”, whether by bloodline or inducted, every male must be circumcised; otherwise it was a breach of contract. Then God declared Sarai's new name: “Sarah” and blessed her. Immediately after Abram's encounter with God, he had his entire household of men, including himself and Ishmael, circumcised. (Genesis 17:1–27)
Abraham's three visitors
Abraham and the Three Angels (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)

Not long afterward, during the heat of the day, Abraham had been sitting at the entrance of his tent by the terebinths of Mamre. He looked up and saw three men in the presence of God. Then he ran and bowed to the ground to welcome them. Abraham then offered to wash their feet and fetch them a morsel of bread, of which they assented. Abraham rushed to Sarah's tent to order cakes made from choice flour, then he ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf. When all was prepared, he set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate. (Genesis 18:1–8)

One of the visitors told Abraham that upon his return next year, Sarah would have a son. While at the tent entrance, Sarah overheard what was said and she laughed to herself about the prospect of having a child at their ages. The visitor inquired of Abraham why Sarah laughed at bearing a child at her age, as nothing is too hard for God. Frightened, Sarah denied laughing.
Abraham's plea
Main articles: Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot (Biblical)
Abraham Sees Sodom in Flames (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot)

After eating, Abraham and the three visitors got up. They walked over to the peak that overlooked the Cities of the Plain to discuss the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah for their detestable sins that were so great, it moved God to action. Because Abraham's nephew was living in Sodom, God revealed plans to confirm and judge these cities. At this point, the two other visitors leave for Sodom. Then Abraham turned to the Lord and pleaded incrementally with Him (from fifty persons to less) that 'if there were at least ten righteous men found in the city, would not God spare the city?' For the sake of ten righteous people, God declared that he would not destroy the city. (Genesis 18:17–33)

When the two visitors got to Sodom to conduct their report, they planned on staying in the city square. However, Abraham's nephew, Lot, met with them and strongly insisted that these two “men” stay at his house for the night. A rally of men stood outside of Lot's home and demanded that they bring out his guests so that they may “know” them. However, Lot objected and offered his virgin daughters to the rally of men instead. They rejected that notion and sought to break Lot's doors down to get to his male guests,[7] thus confirming the “outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah” and sealing their doom. (Genesis 19:12–13)

Early the next morning, Abraham awoke and went to the elevation that looked over the River Jordan plain, at the very spot where he stood before God, the day prior. From his vantage point, he saw what became of the cities of the plain as “dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.” (Genesis 19:27–29) This meant that there was not even ten righteous people in any of those cities. (Genesis 18:32)
Abraham and Abimelech

Abraham settled between Kadesh and Shur in the land of the Philistines. While he was living in Gerar, Abraham openly claimed that Sarah was his sister. Upon discovering this news, King Abimelech had her brought to him. Later, God came to Abimelech in a dream and declared that taking her would result in death because she was a married woman. Abimelech had not laid hands on her, so he inquired if he would also slay a righteous nation, especially since Abraham had claimed that he and Sarah were siblings. In response, God told Abimelech that he did indeed have a blameless heart and that is why he continued to exist. However, should he not return the wife of Abraham back to him, God would surely destroy Abimelech and his entire household. Abimelech was informed that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him.(Genesis 20:1–7)

Early next morning, Abimelech informed his servants of his dream and approached Abraham inquiring as to why he had brought such great guilt upon his kingdom. Abraham stated that he thought there was no fear of God in that place, and that they might kill him for his wife. Then Abraham defended what he had said as not being a lie at all: "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." (Genesis 20:12) Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him gifts of sheep, oxen, and servants; and invited him to settle wherever he pleased in Abimelech's lands. Further, Abimelech gave Abraham a thousand pieces of silver to serve as Sarah's vindication before all. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech and his household, since the LORD had stricken the women with infertility because of the taking of Sarah. (Genesis 20:8–18)

After living for some time in the land of the Philistines, Abimelech and Phicol, the chief of his troops, approached Abraham because of a dispute that resulted in a violent confrontation at a well. Abraham then reproached Abimelech due to his Philistine servant's aggressive attacks and the seizing of Abraham's well. Abimelech claimed ignorance of the incident. Then Abraham offered a pact by providing sheep and oxen to Abimelech. Further, to attest that Abraham was the one who dug the well, he also gave Abimelech seven ewes for proof. Because of this sworn oath, they called the place of this well: Beersheba. After Abimelech and Phicol headed back to Philistia, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called upon "the name of the LORD, the everlasting God." (Genesis 21:22–34)
Birth of Isaac
Sacrifice of Isaac, by Caravaggio

As had been prophesied in Mamre the previous year (Genesis 18:14), Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham, at the very time which had been spoken. The patriarch, now a hundred years old, named the child "Isaac" (Hebrew yitschaq, laughter) and circumcised him when he was eight days old. (Genesis 21:4) In doing so, the second son of Abraham became the first to undergo the covenant-sign of circumcision at the age God had commanded. (Genesis 17:12) For Sarah, the thought of giving birth and nursing a child, at such an old age, also brought her much laughter, as she declared, "God hath made me to laugh. Every one that heareth will laugh with me." (Genesis 21:6-7)

Isaac continued to grow and on the day he was weaned, Abraham held a great feast to honor the occasion. During the celebration, however, Sarah found Ishmael mocking; an observation that would begin to clarify the birthright of Isaac. (Genesis 21:8-9) [8]
Abraham and Ishmael

Abraham was fond of his son Ishmael, who was thirteen years old when Abraham's son Isaac was born to a different mother. However, with Sarah, things were never the same with Ishmael's mother Hagar, back in her life. Now that Sarah had finally borne her own child, she could no longer stand the sight of either Hagar or Ishmael. When the teenager was jesting around, Sarah told Abraham to send the two of them away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed by his wife's words and sought the advice of his God. The Lord told Abraham not to be distressed but to do as his wife commanded. God reassured Abraham that "in Isaac shall seed be called to thee." (Genesis 21:12) He also said that Ishmael would make a nation, "because he is thy seed", too. (Genesis 21:9–13)

Early the next morning, Abraham brought Hagar and Ishmael out together. He gave her bread and water and sent them away. The two wandered the wilderness of Beersheba until her bottle of water was completely consumed. In a moment of despair, she burst in tears. The boy then called to God and upon hearing him, an angel of God confirmed to Hagar that he would become a great nation. A well of water then appeared so that it saved their lives. As the boy grew, he became a skilled archer living in the wilderness of Paran. Eventually his mother found a wife for Ishmael from her home country, the land of Egypt. (Genesis 21:14–21)
Abraham and Isaac
Main article: Binding of Isaac
See also: Isaac#Binding of Isaac

At some point in Isaac's youth, Abraham was commanded by God to offer his son up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. The patriarch traveled three days until he came to the mount that God told him of. He commanded the servants to remain while he and Isaac proceeded alone into the mount. Isaac carried the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. Along the way, Isaac asked his father where the animal for the burnt offering was, to which Abraham replied "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering". Just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, he was interrupted by "the angel of the LORD", and he saw behind him a ram "caught in a thicket by his horns", which he sacrificed instead of his son. For his obedience he received another promise of numerous descendants and abundant prosperity. After this event, Abraham went to Beersheba. (Genesis 22:1–19)
Later years

Sarah died, and Abraham buried her in the Cave of the Patriarchs (also called the Cave of Machpelah), near Hebron which he had purchased along with the adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite. (Genesis 23:1–20) After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife, a concubine named Keturah, who bore him six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. (Genesis 25:1–6)
Historicity and composition of the Abraham narrative

In the early to mid 20th century leading scholars such as William F. Albright and Albrecht Alt believed the patriarchs and matriarchs to be either real individuals or believable composite people living in the "patriarchal age", the 2nd millennium BCE. In the 1970s, however, significant new conclusions about Israel's past and the biblical texts challenged this portrait. The two works largely responsible were Thomas L. Thompson's The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1974), and John Van Seters' Abraham in History and Tradition (1975). Thompson's argument, based on archaeology and ancient texts, was that no compelling evidence pointed to the patriarchs living in the 2nd millennium and that the biblical texts reflected 1st millennium conditions and concerns; Van Seters, basing himself on an examination of the patriarchal stories, agreed with Thompson that their names, social milieu and messages strongly suggested that they were Iron Age creations.[9] By the last quarter of the 20th century, "respectable archaeologists [had] given up hope of recovering any context that would make Abraham, Isaac or Jacob credible historical figures."[10]

The patriarchal stories most likely had a substantial oral prehistory: the Oxford History of the Biblical world notes that the purpose of oral tradition is not to record history but to pass on cultural values from one generation to the next: historical facts quickly become garbled, events and characters are invented to serve aims, and variant versions develop beside each other.[11] At some stage in Israels history these oral traditions became part of the written tradition of the Pentateuch, the series of five books which tells of the origins of the world and the people of Israel: a majority of scholars believes this stage goes back to the Persian period, roughly 520-320 BCE.[12]
Name and chronology

Abraham first appears as Abram, until he is renamed by God in Genesis 17:5. Both names are West Semitic.[13] Genesis 17:5 explains the name Abraham as meaning "Father of a Multitude", but this is a folk etymology.[14]

The standard text of the Hebrew Bible places Abraham's birth 1,948 years after the Creation (1948 AM (Anno Mundi, "Year of the World"). The two other major textual traditions have different dates, the translated Greek Septuagint putting it at 3312 AM and the Samaritan version of the Torah at 2247 AM. All three agree that he died at the age of 175.[15] There have been over two hundred attempts to match the biblical chronology to dates in history, two of the more influential being the traditional Jewish dates (Abraham lived 1812 BCE to 1637 BCE), and those of the 17th century Archbishop James Ussher (Abraham lived 1976 BCE to 1801 BCE); but the most that can be said with some degree of certainty is that the standard Hebrew text of Genesis places Abraham in the earlier part of the second millennium BCE.[16]
Abraham in religious traditions
Abraham
Cenotaph of Abraham - northwestern view.JPG
Tomb of Abraham on the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron
First Patriarch
Honored in Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Baha'i Faith
Feast October 9 - Roman Catholicism
Judaism

Abraham's life can be read in the weekly Torah reading portions, predominantly in the parashot: Lech-Lecha ( לֶךְ-לְךָ ), Vayeira ( וַיֵּרָא ), Chayei Sarah ( חַיֵּי שָׂרָה ), and Toledot ( תּוֹלְדֹת )

Rabbinic Judaism faced a contradiction with Abraham, in that he lived before the laws of the Torah had been revealed to Moses. Therefore, Abraham would not have been knowledgeable of all of the Torah's commandments, besides the instruction of practicing circumcision. The rabbis (traditional teachers and interpreters of the Torah), however, interpreted the narratives of the Torah in Genesis to say that Abraham had in fact known and practiced the Law in its entirety, although there are different interpretations as to how exactly Abraham practiced different aspects of the law.
Christianity

In the New Testament, Abraham's significance lies in his unwavering faith. In Romans 4, Abraham's merit is associated less with obedience to the divine will than in his faith in God's ultimate grace. It is his faith that provides him the merit for God's having chosen him for the covenant in the first place, and the covenant becomes one of faith.[17]

The New Testament also sees Abraham as an obedient man of God, and Abraham's interrupted attempt to offer up Isaac is seen as the supreme act of perfect faith in God. "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called', concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." (Hebrews 11:17–19) The imagery of a father sacrificing his son is seen as a type of God the Father offering his Son on Golgotha.

The traditional view in Christianity is that the chief promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12 is that through Abraham's seed all the people of earth would be blessed. Notwithstanding this, John the Baptist specifically taught that merely being of Abraham's seed was no guarantee of salvation.[18] It is not descent from Abraham to which importance is attached; rather, it is to practising the virtues attributed to Abraham in Genesis.[19]

The Roman Catholic Church calls Abraham "our father in Faith", in the Eucharistic prayer of the Roman Canon, recited during the Mass (see Abraham in the Catholic liturgy). He is also commemorated in the calendars of saints of several denominations: on 20 August by the Maronite Church, 28 August in the Coptic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (with the full office for the latter), and on 9 October by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. He is the patron saint of those in the hospitality industry.[20]

The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as the "Righteous Forefather Abraham", with two feast days in its liturgical calendar. The first time is on 9 October (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 9 October falls on 22 October of the modern Gregorian Calendar), where he is commemorated together with his nephew "Righteous Lot". The other is on the "Sunday of the Forefathers" (two Sundays before Christmas), when he is commemorated together with other ancestors of Jesus. Abraham is also mentioned in the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, just before the Anaphora. Abraham and Sarah are invoked in the prayers said by the priest over a newly married couple at the Sacred Mystery of Crowning (i.e., the Sacrament of Marriage).
Islam
Abraham
(Ibrāhīm - إبراهيم)
Ibrahim (Abraham)1.png
Family[hide]

Hajar
Sarah
Ismail
Ishaq
Lut

Related[hide]

Ḥaj
Maqām Ibrāhīm
‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá

Category
Islam

Main article: Abraham in Islam

Ibrāhīm (Abraham) is an important figure in the Quran, mentioned in 25 chapters, briefly or in detail.[21] Muslims regard him as a prophet and patriarch, the archetype of the perfect Muslim, and the revered reformer of the Kaaba in Mecca.[22]

Islamic traditions consider Ibrāhīm (Abraham) the father of Islam (which is also called millat Ibrahim, the "religion of Abraham"), and that his purpose and mission throughout his life was to proclaim the Oneness of God. When Ibrahim (Abraham) was asked for sacrifice, he took Ismā'īl (Ishmael) to sacrifice. When he was about to use the knife, God placed a sheep under his hand. From that day onward, every Eid al-Adha (‘Īd al-’Aḍḥá - عيد الأضحى) once a year Muslims around the world slaughter a sheep to follow the path of Ibrāhīm (Abraham) that is called Qurbani sacrifice.
Baha'i

Bahá'u'lláh, the prophet of the Baha'i Faith, affirms the highest religious station for Abraham and generally for prophets mentioned among the other Abrahamic religions,[23] and has claimed a lineage of descent from Abraham through Keturah and Sarah.[24][25][26] Additionally Bahá'u'lláh actually did lose a son, Mírzá Mihdí.[27] Bahá'u'lláh, then in prison, eulogized his son and connected the subsequent easing of restrictions to his dying prayer and also compared it to the intended sacrifice of Abraham's son.[28]
Abraham in the arts
Paintings

Paintings on the life of Abraham tend to focus on only a few incidents: The sacrifice of Isaac; Meeting Melchizedek; Entertaining the three angels; Hagar in the desert; and a few others.[29] Many artists have been inspired by the life of Abraham: Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Caravaggio (1573–1610), Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) created at least seven works on Abraham, Petrus-Paulus Rubens (1577–1640) did several, Donatello, Raphael, Philip van Dyck (Dutch painter, 1680–1753), Marc Chagall did at least five on Abraham, Gustave Doré (French illustrator, 1832–1883) did six, Claude Lorrain (French painter, 1600–1682), James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French painter and illustrator, 1836–1902) did over twenty works on the subject.[29]
Sculpture
Cast of the Sacrifice of Isaac. The hand of God originally came down to hold Abraham's knife (both are now missing).

The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus depicts a set of biblical stories, including Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac. These sculpted scenes are on the outside of a marble Early Christian sarcophagus used for the burial of Junius Bassus. He died in 359. This sarcophagus has been described as "probably the single most famous piece of early Christian relief sculpture."[30] The sarcophagus was originally placed in or under Old St. Peter's Basilica, was rediscovered in 1597,[31] and is now below the modern basilica in the Museo Storico del Tesoro della Basilica di San Pietro (Museum of Saint Peter's Basilica) in the Vatican. The base is approximately 4 × 8 × 4 feet. The Old Testament scenes depicted were chosen as precursors of Christ's sacrifice in the New Testament, in an early form of typology. Just to the right of the middle is Daniel in the lion's den and on the left is Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac.

Abraham's Farewell to Ishmael by George Segal. The artist created figural sculptures by molding plastered gauze strips over live models. The human condition was central to his concerns. Segal used the Old Testament as a source for his imagery. This sculpture depicts the dilemma faced by Abraham when Sarah demanded that he expel Hagar and Ishmael. In the sculpture, the father's tenderness, Sarah's rage, and Hagar's resigned acceptance portray a range of human emotions. The sculpture was donated to the Miami Art Museum after the artist's death in 2000.[32]
Literature

Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio (John the Silent). Kierkegaard wanted to understand the anxiety[33] that must have been present in Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice his son.[34]
Music

In 1994, Steve Reich released an opera named The Cave. The title refers to The Cave of the Patriarchs. The narrative of the opera is based on the story of Abraham and his immediate family as it is recounted in the various religious texts, and as it is understood by individual people from different cultures and religious traditions.

Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"[35] is the title track for his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song as number 364 in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[36] The song has five stanzas. In each stanza, someone describes an unusual problem that is ultimately resolved on Highway 61. In Stanza 1, God tells Abraham to "kill me a son". God wants the killing done on Highway 61. Abram, the original name of the biblical Abraham, is also the name of Dylan's own father.
See also

Abraham in History and Tradition (book)
Bosom of Abraham
Gathering of Israel
Genealogies of Genesis
Islamic view of Abraham
Jewish Kabbalah
List of founders of religious traditions
The Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham
Abraham's Gate at Tel Dan
Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions

Tina Tina Posts: 246	Fishing 4 Apr 21, 2013 8:53:47 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Tina on Apr 21, 2013 8:53:47 GMT -5 Ugh I'm so confused. I really thought it was the parallels between abrahamic religions. So confused.

Tina
Tina

Posts: 246

Fishing 4 Apr 21, 2013 8:59:10 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Tina on Apr 21, 2013 8:59:10 GMT -5

Religion is an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. From their ideas about the cosmos and human nature, they tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.[1]

Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity, gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology.[2]

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system; however, in the words of Émile Durkheim, religion differs from private belief in that it is "something eminently social".[3] A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are atheists.[4]
Contents

1 Etymology
2 Definitions
3 Origins and development
4 Types of religion
4.1 Categories
4.2 Interfaith cooperation
5 Religious groups
5.1 Abrahamic
5.2 Indian
5.3 Iranian
5.4 Folk
5.5 New
6 Issues in religion
6.1 Economics
6.2 Health
6.3 Violence
6.4 Law
6.5 Science
6.6 Social constructionists
6.6.1 Other writers
6.7 Animal sacrifice
7 Related forms of thought
7.1 Superstition
7.2 Myth
8 Secularism and irreligion
8.1 Parody religions
9 Criticism
10 See also
11 References
12 Notes
13 Bibliography
14 External links

Etymology
Main article: Glossary of ancient Roman religion#religio

Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem (nom. religio) "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods,"[5] "obligation, the bond between man and the gods"[6]) is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possibility is derivation from a reduplicated *le-ligare, an interpretation traced to Cicero connecting lego "read", i.e. re (again) + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully". Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell favor the derivation from ligare "bind, connect", probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re (again) + ligare or "to reconnect," which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius.[7][8] The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece, of a knight 'of the religion of Avys'".[9]

According to the philologist Max Müller, the root of the English word "religion", the Latin religio, was originally used to mean only "reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety" (which Cicero further derived to mean "diligence").[10][11] Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called "law".[12]

Many languages have words that can be translated as "religion", but they may use them in a very different way, and some have no word for religion at all. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as "religion", also means law. Throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between "imperial law" and universal or "Buddha law", but these later became independent sources of power.[13][14]

There is no precise equivalent of "religion" in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.[15] One of its central concepts is "halakha", sometimes translated as "law"", which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life.

The use of other terms, such as obedience to God or Islam are likewise grounded in particular histories and vocabularies.[16]
Definitions

There are numerous definitions of religion and only a few are stated here. The typical dictionary definition of religion refers to a "belief in, or the worship of, a god or gods"[17] or the "service and worship of God or the supernatural".[18] However, writers and scholars have expanded upon the "belief in god" definitions as insufficient to capture the diversity of religious thought and experience.

Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion as "the belief in spiritual beings".[19] He argued, back in 1871, that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a "system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.[20] Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that "we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is accomplished. We just know that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it".[21] The theologian Antoine Vergote also emphasized the "cultural reality" of religion, which he defined as "the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings"; he took the term "supernatural" simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency.[22]

The sociologist Durkheim, in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, defined religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".[23] By sacred things he meant things "set apart and forbidden — beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them". Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.[note 2] On the contrary, a sacred thing can be "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred".[24] Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them.[25]

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine".[26] By the term "divine" James meant "any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not"[27] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.[28]

Echoes of James' and Durkheim's definitions are to be found in the writings of, for example, Frederick Ferré who defined religion as "one's way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively".[29] Similarly, for the theologian Paul Tillich, faith is "the state of being ultimately concerned",[30] which "is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man's spiritual life."[31]

When religion is seen in terms of "sacred", "divine", intensive "valuing", or "ultimate concern", then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g. Richard Dawkins) do not necessarily disturb its adherents.[32]
Origins and development
Main article: Theories of religion
The Yazılıkaya sanctuary with the twelve gods of the underworld

The origin of religion is uncertain, but it has been suggested that it evolved for the nurture of children.[33] There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of organized religious practices. According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success – and many movements come and go with little long-term effect – has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement."[34]

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies. Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune."[35]

One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings,[36] and thus religion, as a concept, has been applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures that are not based upon such systems, or in which these systems are a substantially simpler construct.
Types of religion
Further information: History of religions
Major denominations and religions of the world
Categories

Some scholars classify religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, or ethnic religions that are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts.[37] Others reject the distinction, pointing out that all religious practices, whatever their philosophical origin, are ethnic because they come from a particular culture.[38][39][40]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called "world religions." However, some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited.[41][42][43] The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms (i.e. "religions").[44]

Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories:

world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international faiths;
indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and
new religious movements, which refers to recently developed faiths.[45]

Interfaith cooperation

Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse, many religious practitioners have aimed to band together in interfaith dialogue, cooperation, and religious peacebuilding. The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the World's Religions at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, which remains notable even today both in affirming "universal values" and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures. The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with Christian–Jewish reconciliation representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.

Recent interfaith initiatives include "A Common Word", launched in 2007 and focused on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together,[46] the "C1 World Dialogue",[47] the "Common Ground" initiative between Islam and Buddhism,[48] and a United Nations sponsored "World Interfaith Harmony Week".[49][50]
Religious groups
Main article: Major religious groups
Further information: Organized religion

The list of still-active religious movements given here is an attempt to summarize the most important regional and philosophical influences on local communities, but it is by no means a complete description of every religious community, nor does it explain the most important elements of individual religiousness.

The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5 billion people, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism (with the relative numbers for Buddhism and Hinduism dependent on the extent of syncretism) and Chinese folk religion.
Five largest religions Adherents in 2000[51] % of world population[51] Demographics
Christianity 2.0 billion 33% Christianity by country
Islam 1.2 billion 19.6% Islam by country
Hinduism 811 million 13.4% Hinduism by country
Chinese folk religion 385 million 6.4% Chinese folk religion
Buddhism 360 million 5.9% Buddhism by country
Abrahamic
The patriarch Abraham (by József Molnár)

Abrahamic religions are monotheistic religions which believe they descend from Abraham.

Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, originating in the people of ancient Israel and Judea. Judaism is based primarily on the Torah, a text which some Jews believe was handed down to the people of Israel through the prophet Moses. This along with the rest of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud are the central texts of Judaism. The Jewish people were scattered after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Today there are about 13 million Jews, about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States.[52]
Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1st century) as presented in the New Testament. The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and as Savior and Lord. Almost all Christians believe in the Trinity, which teaches the unity of Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. Most Christians can describe their faith with the Nicene Creed. As the religion of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe during the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated throughout the world. The main divisions of Christianity are, according to the number of adherents:
Catholic Church, headed by the Pope in Rome, is a communion of the Western church and 22 Eastern Catholic churches.
Protestantism, separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th-century Reformation and split in many denominations,
Eastern Christianity, which include Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East.

There are other smaller groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses and the Latter Day Saint movement, whose inclusion in Christianity is sometimes disputed.

Muslims circumambulating the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam

Islam is based on the Quran, one of the holy books considered by Muslims to be revealed by God, and on the teachings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE. Islam is the most widely practiced religion of Southeast Asia, North Africa, Western Asia and Central Asia, while Muslim-majority countries also exist in parts of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Europe. The two largest sects are Sunni and Shia, although there are other minor groups as well. Wahhabi is the dominant Muslim schools of thought in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There are also several Islamic republics, including Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania and Afghanistan.
The Bahá'í Faith is an Abrahamic religion founded in 19th century Iran and since then has spread worldwide. It teaches unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as additional prophets including its founder Bahá'u'lláh.
Smaller regional Abrahamic groups, including Samaritanism (primarily in Israel and the West Bank), the Rastafari movement (primarily in Jamaica), and Druze (primarily in Syria and Lebanon).

Indian
Hindu statue of Rama in Kalaram Temple (India)

Indian religions are practiced or were founded in the Indian subcontinent. They are sometimes classified as the dharmic religions, as they all feature dharma, a concept of divine duty.

Hinduism is a synecdoche describing the similar philosophies of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and related groups practiced or founded in the Indian subcontinent. Concepts most of them share in common include karma, caste, reincarnation, mantras, yantras, and darśana.[note 3] Hinduism is the most ancient of still-active religions,[53][54] with origins perhaps as far back as prehistoric times.[55] Hinduism is not a monolithic religion but a religious category containing dozens of separate philosophies amalgamated as Sanātana Dharma, which is the name with whom Hinduism has been known throughout history by its followers.
Jainism, taught primarily by Parsva (9th century BCE) and Mahavira (6th century BCE), is an ancient Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Jains are found mostly in India.
Buddhism was founded by Siddhattha Gotama in the 6th century BCE. Buddhists generally agree that Gotama aimed to help sentient beings end their suffering (dukkha) by understanding the true nature of phenomena, thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth (saṃsāra), that is, achieving Nirvana.
Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia alongside folk religion, shares some characteristics of Indian religions. It is based in a large collection of texts called the Pali Canon.
Mahayana Buddhism (or the "Great Vehicle") under which are a multitude of doctrines that began their development in China and are still relevant in Vietnam, Korea, Japan and to a lesser extent in Europe and the United States. Mahayana Buddhism includes such disparate teachings as Zen, Pure Land, and Soka Gakkai.
Vajrayana Buddhism first appeared in India in the 3rd century CE.[56] It is currently most prominent in the Himalaya regions[57] and extends across all of Asia[58] (cf. Mikkyō).
Two notable new Buddhist sects are Hòa Hảo and the Dalit Buddhist movement, which were developed separately in the 20th century.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Sikh gurus in 15th century Punjab. It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 30 million Sikhs.[59][60] Sikhs are expected to embody the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī—a saint-soldier, have control over one's internal vices and be able to be constantly immersed in virtues clarified in the Guru Granth Sahib. The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith in Waheguru—represented by the phrase ik ōaṅkār, meaning one God, who prevails in everything, along with a praxis in which the Sikh is enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings.

Iranian
Zoroastrian Fire Temple

Iranian religions are ancient religions whose roots predate the Islamization of Greater Iran. Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities.

Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster in the 6th century BC. The Zoroastrians worship the Creator Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda, and good trying to sustain it.
Mandaeism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Mandaeans are sometime labeled as the "Last Gnostics".
Kurdish religions include the traditional beliefs of the Yazidi, Alevi, and Ahl-e Haqq. Sometimes these are labeled Yazdânism.

Folk
Incense burner in China

The term folk refers to a broad category of traditional religions that includes shamanism and elements of animism and ancestor worship, where traditional means "indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…".[61] These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe; they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts.[62] Some faiths are syncretic, fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices.[63]

Traditional African religions, e.g.: Khoisan, Akan, Nupe and Badimo.
Chinese folk religion, e.g.: Confucianism and Taoism with some remnants of Mahayana Buddhism. New religious movements include Falun Gong and I-Kuan Tao.
Other folk religions in Asia-Pacific region, e.g.: Cheondoism, Korean shamanism, Shinbutsu-shūgō and Modekngei.
Australian Aboriginal mythology.
Folk religions of the Americas, e.g.: Native American religion, Santería, Vodou, Candomblé and Umbanda.

Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e.g. in China.[62]
New
A Modern-style Unitarian Universalist sanctuary

New religious movements include:

Shinshūkyō is a general category for a wide variety of religious movements founded in Japan since the 19th century. These movements share almost nothing in common except the place of their founding. The largest religious movements centered in Japan include Soka Gakkai, Tenrikyo, and Seicho-No-Ie among hundreds of smaller groups.
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, established in Vietnam in 1926.
Raëlism is a new religious movement founded in 1974 teaching that humans were created by aliens. It is numerically the world's largest UFO religion.
Hindu reform movements, such as Ayyavazhi, Swaminarayan Faith and Ananda Marga, are examples of new religious movements within Indian religions.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning", and has no accepted creed or theology.
Noahidism is a Biblical-Talmudic and monotheistic ideology for non-Jews based on the Seven Laws of Noah, and on their traditional interpretations within Judaism.
Scientology teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as auditing, in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience painful or traumatic events in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects.
Eckankar is a pantheistic religion with the purpose of making God an everyday reality in one's life.
Wicca is a neo-pagan religion first popularised in 1954 by British civil servant Gerald Gardner, involving the worship of a God and Goddess.
Druidry is a religion promoting harmony with nature, and drawing on the practices of the druids.
Satanism is a broad category of religions that, for example, worship Satan as a deity (Theistic Satanism) or use "Satan" as a symbol of carnality and earthly values (LaVeyan Satanism).

Sociological classifications of religious movements suggest that within any given religious group, a community can resemble various types of structures, including "churches", "denominations", "sects", "cults", and "institutions".

Good & Evil: Extinction

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