Islam and Christianity

The Middle East is a significant historical region where it served as the birthplace for many cultures and religions such as Christianity and Islam. As they expanded from this region, both of these religious had substantial impact on the course of history. However Christianity and Islam have their similarities in religious beliefs and their differences in expansion between the two religious. The Christians believed that Jesus was the messenger that God sent down and the Islam believed that Muhammad was inspired by an unseen spirit when they questioned if the spirit was the true God. Christians believed in heaven and Islam's believed in paradise. The Christians believed the bible were the words of God and the Islam's believed that the Qur’an or the Recitation, were the words of God.

The differences that expanded the two religions were that Christians established new churches in cities, the Islam's had few cities in Arabia so they were spread mainly through villages and rural areas. A major difference between the expansion of Christians and Islam’s were the methods used to spread their messages. During the first two centuries, Christians did not force their religion on others but relied on missionaries, preaching, and leading godly lives to draw people to the one true God. However, the Muslims conquered vast areas of the land on the Middle East and North Africa. When they attacked or occupied a new territory, they gave the people three options: convert to Islam, pay a special tax, or die. Under those circumstances many chose to pay the tax or convert to Islam. Clearly the Islamic method of expansion did not match the loving approach of Christianity.

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