1

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS:JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ISLAMIntroduction
“No man is an island”
a quote stated by an English poet, John Donne (1624).All human beings are known as
“
social animals
”
(Aristotle n.d) and therefore, it isnatural for an individual to seek a companionship of
other people as part of their well being(Cohen, 2010). Every human lives depends on
the other humans. Infants are born but they cannottransport or care for themselves
(Gray 2010). People survive because of the effort of otherhumans who took care of
them. This phenomenon is the result why people learned anddeveloped about the world
and made them as rational beings.It is clear and nobody can deny that human creations
include logic,
mathematics, philosophy, science, and jurisprudence. These are the outcomes of the ra
tionality of the human beings. Nevertheless, people formed a faction that goes further
that the sociability of animal herd(Usó-Doménech et. al., n.d). Societies were built,
established, founded, and at the same time,degenerated, divided and died because of
their own belief system. Oxford Dictionary defined belief system as a set of principles
or tenets which together form the basis of moral code. Factualreasons are the cause of
the rationality, but these reasons cannot prove the beliefs it is basedupon. Beliefs arise
through experience. Experience need previous beliefs and reason to beassimilated, and
reason needs experience to be formed, as beliefs need reason as well. Beliefs,reason
and experience, are based upon each other (Usó-Doménech et. al., n.d).In connection
with the belief system, is the sprout of the Religions. Crabtree (2016)defined religion as
a shared collections of transcendental beliefs that have been passed on from believers
to converts, that are held by adherents to be actively meaningful and serious and
either based on (1) formally documented doctrine (organized religion) or (2) established
cultural practices (folk religion). Religions are built because of the past experiences of th
eir first believers that made the next adherents believes. However, through the years, ce
nturies anddecades, no one is really sure if the origins of it was real and based on fact.
This is why peoplenowadays derive their emotions, fear, etc more towards to
religion. Nevertheless, religions are built not to divide or make a stratification among
people of thesociety. Moreover, it was established by people to develop the peace
within the society and makea community believe that there is a supreme deity that will
judge all the human beings, in line tohow they act on earth. Religion played a major role
in the evolution of the society. In fact it has positive effects to the mankind.Judaism,
Christianity and Islam, also known as Abrahamic Religions, are just one of themany
examples of religions that were sprouted around the globe. Despite of the differences
of being a religion, the said religions do also share some similarities in terms of the
aspect of origin,morality, purpose, destiny and views on women. All of them also have
their own contributionsand influences that affect one society. For instance, prayer is one
of the practices done by thesaid religions. It improves self-control, increases trust and
offsets the negative health effects ofthe stress (Routleledge, 2014). They may have
different belief systems, but the role that they playin the society motivated the mankind
to do the rightful things instead of violence and war.

ORIGINS
Judaism, Christianity and Islam were known for being one of the largest religions in
theworld (Largest Religions, 2017). These three religions has been stimulated good,
healthy andmoral behavior for the society and the mankind. Moreover, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam are very closely related in their origins, beliefs and scriptures.
They are also closely related in theirmoral and ethical beliefs, as well as their views of
the individual and social life (The AbrahamicFaith, n.d.), and these religions was
founded Abraham.Abraham became the most influential person in the history. The three
largestmonotheistic religions found their beginnings in him. According to the Genesis
17, Godappeared in front of him and then promise that he will be the father of many
nations. God promised to Abraham, that he will
have a lot of descendants as many as the stars in the sky. Inthe present, over 3 billion
people in the modern world cite Abraham as their "spiritual father" oftheir religion
(Encyclopedia of Biography, 2004).Before God appeared in front of Abraham, he was
originally named as Abram, son ofTerah (Genesis 17:5). Abraham is estimated to have
been born 2,166 years before Jesus in oraround the Mesopotamian, city of Ur

–
modern day Iraq
–
(Mufti, 2015) after which he and hisfamily moved to Harran
–
modern day Israel (Genesis 11:31). Incidentally, Abraham was camefrom a polytheistic
family, who served many gods.
And it was happened that Abraham’s father,
Terah was an idol maker. In the Jewish tradition called
Midrash
(a Hebrew word which means'interpretation' and relates to the way readings or biblical
verses are understood), there are anumber of stories about Abraham smashing his
father's idols when he realises that there can beonly one God of heaven and earth
(Religions, 2009). The Koran tells of a time when Abramconfronts his father about his
idol worship and is condemned to burn in a furnace by
King Nimrod of Babylon, but God protected him (Encyclopedia of Biography, 2004). Abr
ahammarried Sarai, later named as Sarah (Genesis 17:15) and entered a lifelong
partnership with her.By the time that Abraham and family moved to Harran, including
the neighboring countries andcities, was a land devoted to polytheism (Encyclopedia of
Biography, 2004) 4Terah lived 205 years and died in Harran (Genesis 11:32). Then
Abraham and his wife became very wealthy in livestock and silver and gold as they left
their native country and went toCanaan, the promised land of God (Genesis 13:2,
13:14-17). Eventually, Abraham and Sarah aregrowing old, and Abraham asked the
God that who will inherit all the wealth that he got. Godreplied that his son who is his
own flesh and blood shall be his heir (Genesis 15:4). Sarah knewthat she was past the
age where a woman can bear a child, so she suggest and let his husband,Abraham
sleep with her Egyptian slave, Hagar. In accordance with the laws of the time,
femaleslaves were the property of the wife and therefore any children they bore were
also the propertyof their mistress (The First Other Woman, 2016). Hagar bore Abraham
a son, which she namedhim as Ishmael, who according to the Islam and Christians, he
is the ancestors of the Arabs oralso known as the Ishmaelites (Genesis 16). Eventually,
God promised Abraham and Sarah ason, despite of their old ages, and they will name it
Isaac which means “laugh” signifiesAbraham’s joy on having a son

and circumcised him on his eighth day. According to theJudaism, Isaac was the
ancestor of the Jewish people. Thus, the conflict between Arabs and Jewscan be seen
as a form of sibling rivalry (Rich, 2011).
1.1 Origin of Judaism
Isaac was the second son of Abraham, and he was also the subject of the tenth and
mostdifficult test of Abraham's faith. In Islamic interpretation, Ishmael is the son in the
story(Encyclopedia of Biography, 2004). Either way, God commanded Abraham to
sacrifice Isaac (orIshmael) as a burnt offering (Who are the Jews, n.d.), (Genesis 22). In
Jewish tradition, the process that Abraham did to his son, was the
Akeidah

which means “the binding”

, whereAbraham bound his son into the altar. Eventually, the angel of the God called out
to him fromheaven preventing the father of Isaac (or Ishmael) burn the young boy. The
angel said that Abraham’s action was enough to prove that he fear his God, because he
did not withhold his sonfrom it. But this test is also an extraordinary demonstration of
Isaac's own faith, becauseaccording to Jewish tradition, Isaac (or Ishmael) knew that he
was to be sacrificed, yet he did notresist, and was united with his father in dedication
(Rich, 2011). Then God reiterate hiscommand and said that there is a ram will appear in
the bushes. The father and son slayed theram, and made it as an offering
instead.Judaism also used this story of Abraham and Isaac as evidence that God
despises humansacrifices. In fact, there are some sources indicating that Abraham
failed this test of faith becausehe did not refuse to sacrifice his son. Judaism has always
strongly opposed the practice of humansacrifice, commonplace in many other cultures
at that time and place (Rich, 2011). Christianityalso lays claim to this story as the fore-
shadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Encyclopediaof Biography, 2004).
Thereupon, Sarah died (Genesis 23) and Isaac later married Rebecca, who bore him a
fraternal twin: Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25).Jacob and his brother Esau were at war
with each other even before they were born. Theyeven struggled within Rebecca's
womb. Esau was Isaac's favorite, because he was a good
hunter, but the more spiritually-
minded Jacob was Rebecca's favorite (Rich, 2011). There was a timethat Esau was
hungry, and it was happened that Jacob was good at cooking. Esau asked his brother
to cook for him particularly a lentil stew but, Jacob made a condition for him to do it.
Heasked for the birthright of his brother that signifies that Esau was the oldest and has
the right toreceive double of all the things they would leave behind after their parents
died (Genesis 25:19).Accordingly, Isaac was growing old, and Rebecca tricked her
husband into giving Jacob, hisfavorite son, a blessing meant for Esau. Esau became
angry and for his birthright. However,Jacob fled away with his uncle, where he met his
beloved, Rachel. Although he was deceived into marrying Rachel's older sister, Leah,
but later married Rachel as well, and Rachel and Leah'smaidservants, Bilhah and
Zilphah. Between these four women, Jacob fathered 12 sons and onedaughter (Rich,
2011).A couple of years had passed living with his uncle and father-in-law, Jacob
decided to

return to his father’s household and reco

nciliate with his brother, Esau. He prayed unto God andgave his brother gifts as a peace
offering to him. The night before he went to see his brother, hewas alone with God. And
at the very same moment, Jacob wrestled with a man throughout thenight until the
daybreak. Later on, the man revealed himself as the angel of God and blessedJacob a
name, Israel which means "the one who wrestled with God" or "the Champion of
God."(Genesis 32). The Jewish people are generally referred to as the Children of
Israel, signifying ourdescent from Jacob (Rich, 2011). The next day, Jacob finally met
his brother a warmlywelcomed him.The Jewish covenant has passed down through
Jacob, later named as Israel, who havetwelve sons who would become the twelve tribes
of Israel (Encyclopedia of Biography, 2004),specifically named as the
Israelites
. Centuries had passed, the descendants of Israel becameslaves in Egypt. They
suffered greatly under the hand of later Pharaohs. But, according to theScriptures, God
brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt miraculously under the leadership ofMoses
(Who are the Jews, n.d). God led them on a journey through the wilderness to
MountSinai. Here, then the God revealed Himself to the Children of Israel and offered
them a greatcovenant: if the people would hearken to God and observe His covenant,
then they would be themost beloved of nations, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
(Exodus 19). God revealed theTorah to his people, both the written and oral Torah, and
the entire nation responded,"Everything that the Lord has spoken, we will do!"
According to Jewish tradition, every Jewish soul that would ever be born was present at
that moment, and agreed to be bound to thiscovenant (Rich, 2011)
1.2 Origin of Christianity
A couple of decades had passed of the Roman empire, a new religion,
emerged.Christianity was developed and some believes that it was the continuation of
Jewish beliefs inthe 1
st
century. It began around 40 C.E. with the admission into the church of the family of
theRoman centurion Cornelius in Caesarea (Weiner, 2017).

It is founded on the life, teachings,death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those
who fo
llow him are called "Christians”
(Christianity, n.d.).Christianity originated with Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet and
teacher
who probably came to believe he was the Son of God and certainly was regarded as su
ch by hisdisciples (Guisepi, n.d.). It was the time of Augustus when he preached the
Jewish people ofIsrael. Jesus taught his morality based on love and humility. He is also
considered an important prophet in Muslim tradition and the precursor of Prophet
Muhammad (Violatti, 2013).It was around 40 B.C. to 1 B.C. where Herod was the king
of Judea, the angel of God,Gabriel was sent to the city of Galilee, in Nazareth. Gabriel
visited a virgin named Mary and toldher that she would be conceive a son, that she will
name as Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). According toGabriel, the Holy Spirit will come upon her
and the power of the most high will overshadow her.Mary accepted and the angel left.
This scenario that was happened to Mary was agreed to the
bible verse (John 3:16) which says “
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and onlySon, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life
”
.Jesus was born in a stable, where shepherds visited him. Later, a star guided men
fromthe East to the young child (Birth of Jesus, n.d.). Christians believed that there is a
star came in the middle of the night that led to the wise men to the place where Jesus
was born. According tothe Jewish tradition, when a star came up above the night sky,
they believe that there wasactually a new born king.Jesus was around 30 years old
when he started to preach word in the kingdom of Judea,which the God sent him to do.
Jesus chose 12 men that would help him do his work that later hemade them his
apostles. As Jesus claimed that he is divine, he made a lot of miracles such asfeeding a
thousand of people by just a few small fishes and few loaves of bread, healed the
sickand even raised the dead, and a lot more just to prove that he himself was the
God.Jesus won a lot of followers, mostly the poor, and made them believe that the

Judgment Day
was near, whereby the God will judge all the sinners to the everlasting hell, and reward
whowere righteous with immortality.Initially, Christian converts were Jewish by birth and
followed the basic Jewish law(Weiner, 2017). Jews believes that there will be the
messiah who will come down to earth.
 Messiah
came from the Hebrew word meaning the
“Annointed one”

and
Christ
or
Christos
isthe Greek equivalent of it (Messiah, n.d.)
.

However, some of the Jews haven’t convinced that

Jesus of Nazareth is the messiah that they are waiting for. It was so happened that all
of theJewish people was eagerly looking for their messiah but unfortunately they
misunderstood whatwas the Messiah will do. People in that time, expected that a
messiah will build up a kingdom
where the Jews will be the rulers, which they didn’t understand that a messiah’s
kingdom is
spiritual and can be only felt if an individual truly believes and fully committed unto
God.Consequently, there only few people who is ready to accept Jesus of Nazareth as
their Messiah. Nevertheless, Christians in the present days believes that Jesus was the
Chosen one. They believed that he is the one
who crucified and resurrected after he died. Moreover, they believed that he was the
God who transformed into a human being for him to interact to the mankind andspread
the word of God.

1.3 Origin of Islam

Islam is the youngest religion among the three Abrahamic Religions. It was
amonotheistic religion that emerged in the Middle East particularly in Saudi Arabia in the
7
th
century C.E. Islam, which literally means "surrender" or "submission," was founded on
theteachings of the Prophet Muhammad as an expression of surrender to the will of
Allah, thecreator and sustainer of the world (Islam, n.d.).Muhammad was born in Mecca
–
a city in the modern days of Saudi Arabia
–
in about 570C.E. and a member of Quraysh Tribe. By that time, the Quraysh was a
powerful merchant tribeof the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century and a custodian
of Kaaba (Tristam, 2017),whereby in the Islam tradition it was built by Abraham and
Ishmael (Quran 14:35-41). Qurayshwas a polytheistic so then in later times, Muhammad
was expelled from the tribe when he started preaching for Islam and monotheism
(Tristam, 2017).As with Moses and Jesus, His parents died when he was young, and he
never learned toread or write (Bard, 2005) (Isaiah 29:11-13). When he was 12, he
visited Syria and had his firstexposure to Jews and Christians and apparently developed
a respect for these "People of theBook." At 25, Muhammad married a widow named
Khadija who was involved in trade and gothim involved in it as well (Bard,
2005).According to the Islamic Tradition, it was night in Mt. Hira near Mecca when
Muhammad experienced a profound and disturbing vision (Islam, n.d.). Muhammad
claimed that an angelic being, which he later identified as Archangel Gabriel come upon
to him and made Muhammad read the word of God [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5], (Isaiah 29:11-13).
It was believed that at first Muhammad kept on replying “I’m not at reader” “I can’t read”
but in some stories, Gabrieltook him by throat and shook him twice until Muhammad
finally agreed to as he was told (Islam,n.d.). The angel left Muhammad troubled and
afraid as he goes to his wife Khadija, and started preaching the word from the teaching
that he learned.In the Islamic worldview, the origins of the faith lie in God's initial
creation of theuniverse and everything in it, including the First Parents, Adam and his
wife. For a time, allcreatures lived in perfect peace, but then the First Parents were
tempted by Iblis and disobeyedGod's rules (Islam, n.d.). The Holy Quran has talked
about Iblis- the equivalent of Satan inChristianity- as a physical being made of fire
(Satan in Quran, n.d.).There are also some stories according to the Islam, that when
God tested Abraham tosacrifice his son, it wasn’t Isaac. Judaism and Christianity
agreed to the fact that Ishamel was the elder. So as what the Muslims claimed, the
adherents of Islam, it would not be fit to call Isaac the only son since it was stated even
on the bible that “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your onlyson…’” (Genesis 22:2) and
Ishmael was born before Isaac. Therefore, God made the test for Abraham, for so he
succeeded, God rewarded Abraham and Sarah a son – despite of their old ages- and
they named it Isaac.A couple of years and events had passed. Abraham and Ishmael
went on a journey. Theywent to Mecca and built the Kaaba (Quran 14:35-41). It was
also in this same barren desertwhere Abraham had left Hagar and Ishmael earlier, that
he supplicated to God to make it a placewhere they would establish the prayer, free
from idol worship (Mufti, 2015). Kabaa also
the place where Abraham held his prayers, including where Abraham prayed for a mess
enger fromwho shall recite the revelations of God (Quran 2:127-129). Abraham’s prayer
for a Messenger was answered several thousand years later when God raised Prophet
Muhammad among the Arabs, and as Mecca was chosen to be a sanctuary and House
of Worship for all humanity, sotoo was the Prophet of Mecca one sent to all humanity
(Mufti, 2015).

MORALITY
It was believed that religions were made for the morality for all the people
emerged.Morality was the basis of the religions. This is why the role of the religions was
to make peaceand mold the mankind into a righteous people based on morals and
ethics. Merriam-WebsterDictionary (n.d.) defined morality as a moral discourse and a
system of moral conduct.Currently, all religions nowadays established on the earth have
their own holy scriptures.Holy scriptures are the sacred texts written over a couple of
decades, collected which made by
people who’s inspired by their supreme deities or gods. Eventually, these Holy S
criptures areused by the adherents of a religion as their source of moral code or
morality. Therefore, Judaism,Christianity and Islam; the Abrahamic Religions has a
morality to follows as well.
1.1 Judaism: TANAKH and Talmud
Judaism doesn’t only have one Holy Scripture that their adherents follow as their moral
code. Moreover, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the
subsequent exile,sacrifices became impossible and Jewish religious life turned to study
of the scriptures and prayer in the synagogue. Study of Torah and other Jewish texts
has been central to religious lifeever since (ReligionFacts, 2016).The first Holy
Scriptures that Judaism has was the TANAKH, whose name is an acronymof
Torah, Nev’
im
and
Ketuvim
It consists of the same books as the Christian Old Testament,although in a slightly
different order and with other minor differences (ReligionFacts, 2016).
Torah
includes the first five books of the Pentateuch. The
Bereishit
(Genesis),
Shemot
(Exodus),
Vayikra
(Leviticus),
Bambidbar
(Numbers), and the
D’varim
(Deutronomy) (Judaism: Holy Scriptures n.d.). Torah is derived from a root that was
used in the realm of archery or yareh.Yareh means to shoot an arrow in order to hit a
mark. The mark or target, of course, was theobject

at which the archer was aiming (Torah Resources Int’l, 2013).

Nevi’im
was the second division of the Judaism’s TANAKH Holy Scripture. The term
Nevi’im

is the plural form of

Nevi
which means a
prophet
(Wikipedia, 2017).
 Nevi’im has 21 books to be counted, and it was divided into two as well, the “Former”
prophets and the “Latter”
prophets. The former prophets include Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The latter
prophets were written by the twelve prophets of Israel (Parson, 2017).
The third division of Judaism’s TANAKH Holy Scripture is the
Ketuvim.
The term
Ketuvim
derived from Hebrew which simply means
“writings”.
In Ketuvim, there is 13 writings;Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,
Ezra, Nehemiah, I Chronicles, II Chronicles (Judaism: Holy Scriptures n.d.). There is po
etry
—
ofTemple ritual, private prayer, wisdom, national tragedy, even love. There is
philosophicalexploration
–of the wisest path in life, of God’s goo
dness and justice. There are historical
retellings and short stories. Ketuvim might better be translated as “the anthology,” the
canonical
collection from the post-prophetic age (Staff, M. n.d.).The second Holy Scripture of
Judaisim was the
Talmud
. Talmud has two divisions; the
Mishnah
and
Gemara
. Although Talmud is largely about law, it should not be confused witheither codes of
law or with a commentary on the legal sections of the Torah (Staff, M. n.d.). The
Mishnah
supplements, complements, clarifies and systematizes the commandments of the
Torah(Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2008). Mishnah was merely the commandments or law
of Jewishtradition.
Gemara
was the teachings transmitted by the rabbis in the centuries following thedestruction of
the Second Temple formed the core of what has come to be known as rabbinic
Judaism, which still provides the framework for the various types of Judaism practiced
today(Staff, M. n.d.). According to the Jewish tradition, Moses received two Torahs on
Mount Sinai.The first is the written Torah above and the second is an oral Torah passed
down from generationto generation. The oral Toral finally was written down at the end of
the second century. Biblicalscholars and scribes in Babylon edited the written "oral
Torah" between 200 and 600 A.D. andthat is now known as the Gemara, which means
"completion" in Aramaic (Judaism: HolyScriptures n.d.).
1.2 Christianity: The Bible
Christians, the adherents of Christianity, when Jesus were living until after his
earthlymission, knew and aware that the morality that Jesus of Nazareth and the
begotten son of God,taught was merely based on love. Therefore, for the Christians to
save the historical events oftheir era, they wrote it and compiled it, and formed into the
Bible.
The authors of the bible
was believed that they were inspired by the Holy Spirit (Timothy 3:16-
17). The first author of the bible was Moses, while it was believed that John was the
last.
The Bible is the account of God’s action in the world, an
d his purpose with all creation.(biblica, n.d.). The Bible contains many different styles of
writing such as poetry, narration,fiction1, history, law, and prophecy and must be
interpreted in context of those styles (Slickn.d.). It was the source of moral code that the
adherents of Christian religion follow in themodern days.The bible was divided into two
main parts: the Óld Testament and the New Testament.The Old Testament was the
collection of books of which caters the founding of Israel. OldTestament books were
also the Holy Scripture used by the Judaism, TANAKH. It was believedthat the Judaism
is the basis of the Christian religion and the continuation of their beliefs when Jesus, the
begotten son of God, was born as their messiah or anointed king. The New
Testamentwas the second division of the bible which states the revelations and earthly
mission of JesusChrist.

1.3 Islam: The Quran

Quran
or Koran

is the Holy Scripture used by the Muslims, the adherents of Islam.Muslims claimed that
Quran was the truth and the word of God. According to the Islamic beliefs,Quran was
written by
Allah
–
the God, himself (Radical Truth, 2016) and verbally revealed to theMuhammad through
his Archangel Gabriel. Although Muhammad was an illiterate prophet ofGod, the
revelations on his lifetime was written and collected into one official copy in 633 C.E,one
year after his death and presented in 653 C.E into to the third caliph, Uthman ibn
Affan(New World Encyclopedia, 2016).Quran was the primary source of morality of the
Islam. It deals with all the subjects
which concern human beings: wisdom, doctrine, worship, transactions, law…etc., but its
basic
theme is the relationship between God and His creatures. At the same time, it provides
guidelinesand detailed teachings for a just society, proper human conduct, and an
equitable economicsystem (Splendid Arabia, 2017).Except to the belief that it was
written by Allah, himself, Muslims also believed that itwas a guide to all
Al-muttaqoon
 –
which means righteous people or who the people who fear andlove Allah (Surah Al-
Baqarah, Verse 2). Muslims also acknowledge the Jewish and theChristians, as they
also compromise to their Holy books, TANAKH or Old Testament and
the New Testament. However, muslims believes that new versions of the said books wa
s corruptedso that some of the verses in Quran contradicts the teaching of the said holy
books.

PURPOSE
“The Lord works out everything to its purpose…”

–
Proverbs 16:4Everything that has created by God has their own purpose. The objects
that an individualinteracts, those events that people join regularly, the guy that one
person met the other day and alot more phenomena.
There is always an answer to the question “why” therefore, every
thingreally happens for a reason.In a society, every aspect of it has its purpose. The
government was established for therulers to manage their constituents, businesses for
the country to increase the economic growth,education for the people to understand
how society really work and mankind for them to touchthe every aspect. In smaller
scale, an individual has its own purpose. Maybe to met another andget married, and
later on build a family, which is also the smallest unit of the society. In thefamily, the
mother, the father and every member of it has their own purpose. And if happens
thatvery one aspect of it was gone or removed, it will never be the same at all. Same
thing goes whenit comes in religions.Religions have also their own purposes. Although
nowadays, religions with or withoutthe same god, debate on which religion is more
useful and truthful. The main purpose of areligion is to build the moral code among the
people. Its role was to spread the peace and preventviolence. It was the one who
teaches the mankind to be righteous, as for they believe on supremedeities. For
instance, imagine a happy complete family was in an outing and the father suddenly
died. The complete family wasn’t completed at all. It will never be the same family as
it
was before. Eventually, maybe the daughter will have a lifetime effect as she grows into
heradulthood. The same goes with religion. Without religion, or the belief that there is a
divine who watches on how people act whether they make sins or not, a society will
never be in peace anymore, as there is no source of moral code.For every religions
established on earth has their own purposes as well. Moreover, theirown belief system
has been the reason why religions should stand still on the existence of earth.Therefore,
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Abrahamic religions have it too.These Abrahamic
Religions have their similarities in terms to their purpose. Although,they are built in
different times and started with different people, the purposes of theseestablished
religions have their common. The underlying common of these religions is
forthemankind to be aware that there is a God who watches them. People need to know
that the human

being is all part of God’s plan, and they need to abide all
of His commandment. Moreover, thesereligions were built as guidance for the humanity
as they teach that a man should worship God.
1.1 Judaism’s Purpose

Judaism was the basis of Christian and Islam religion. Therefore, the purpose of
thisreligion is broad and may also touch the purposes of the other religion (Eron, n.d).
The purposeof Judaism was to let God enter the world of mankind and as they believed
that the world ofmankind was part of his own creation (Genesis 1).According the Jewish
belief, every time they fulfill a Mitzvah -which means command- itcreates an awareness
of God and every time they study Torah, God's presence is manifest inworld (Shapiro,
2017). Moreover, it was part of their belief that whenever they study the Torah,God
accomplished one of his missions for the humanity.
1.2 Christianity’s Purpose

It was believed that the Christian religion was the continuation of the Jewish beliefs.
Itwas started when Jesus was born, as they were believed that He was the Messiah that
the Jewish people waited for a long time. Therefore, Christians also claimed that the
purpose of the Judaismwas also their purpose as well, however, they since there was
an additional to their beliefs whenJesus Christ did his earthly missions.According to the
Christians, they established their religion for them to make discipleshipas what Jesus
Christ did on his earthly missions. The goal of the Christian community is to belike
Christ, as they believe that He is a God and transformed into a righteous man. When
Christ became man and lived on earth, he endured all of the same trials, pains, and per
secutions thatman suffers in order to prove himself as a perfect example for us.
Therefore, one of the primary purposes of Christian discipleship is to emulate the
character of Christ (Following Jesus, 2017).

1.3 Islam’s Purpose

When Archangel Gabriel visited Muhammad, and verbally recited the word of Allah
tohim, Muhammad started preaching on what he had learned from it and established
the Islamreligion. Islam religion was built as a reminder or guidance to all Muslims, the
adherents ofIslam, the people who believe in Allah
–
the one and only supreme God. It was believed thatIslam religion leads the people to
the straight path to their God."Thee alone we worship; Thee alone we ask for help.
Show us the straight path." (Sura1:5-6, The Holy Qur'an).
DESTINY
The role of the religion is to stop and prevent violence among the people, and
spread peace and let the humanity do righteous things instead by making them believe t
hat there is asupreme deity who watches them and judge all of them. However, most of
the people nowadaysare inspired and motivated to be actively involved in religious
activities by one reason; there reward after life.
Most of the religious beliefs emerged in different religions, believed that their
supreme being promised the humanity a reward after life. This has been the main and
central reason why people do good deeds and righteous works, and religions
stayed upright on the earth. AbrahamicReligions have this belief as well. Some
adherents from any of the Abrahamic religions believedthat the God that was mentioned
from the Holy Scriptures was the same to the God that is

referring to the other. That’s why Judaism, Christianity an

d Islam do believe to the promise ofGod that whoever inspired by God, the soul of the
righteous will have their reward, and that isthe life in heaven.
1.1
OlamHa-ba

In Judaism belief, the Torah didn’t much focused on what will happen if a human died.
However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life on earth and now rather than on
theafterlife, Judaism does not have much dogma about the afterlife, and leaves a great
deal of room
for personal opinion (Rich, T. 2011). It means it wasn’t literally stat
ed on the Torah on thedestiny that the human being will take if an individual died.
Nevertheless, Torah did mention several times the “gathered to their people” whenever
a
biblical character died, such as Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and King
Josiah (Genesis25:8, 25:17, 35:29, 49:33, Deuteronomy 32:50, II Kings 22:20). Jewish
tradition believed thatthere was actually a place where God made, intended only for all
the righteous souls, where theywill have their reunion together with their loved ones who
passed away. Furthermore, Torah also
did mentioned “cut off from his people”
where signifies that there was also a place for thewicked souls (Genesis 17:14, Exodus
31:14).Eventually, there are some portions of TANAKH where it was stated about
Olam Ha-ba
.Olam. It was the spiritual afterlife referred to in Hebrew as Olam Ha-Ba (oh-LAHM hah-
BAH), the World to Come, although this term is also used to refer to the messianic age.
The Olam Ha-Ba is another, higher state of being (Rich, T. 2011). In the Mishnah, Rabbi
Yaakov says: "Thisworld is like a lobby before the Olam Ha-Ba. Prepare yourself in the
lobby so that you may enterthe banquet hall." (Pirkei Avot 4:21) (mbloch, 2016). A
particularly righteous person will have agreater share in the Olam Ha-Ba than the
average person. In addition, a person can lose his sharethrough wicked actions (Rich,
T. 2011). It means that only a righteous person who can onlyexperience the Olam-haba
or the messianic age, while the people who are not, they will getnothing and just fade.

1.2 The Heaven and the Judgment Day

In Christian beliefs, denominations and sects may have different thoughts and opinion
inthe case of the afterlife. However, the Christianity itself as a whole do believe in the
idea ofHeaven, where Christians believed that when an individual passed away, he may
enjoy his lifeon it with the presence of God, forever.According to the Christian tradition,
Jesus died on a cross so that those who believe inHim would no longer be condemned
to an eternity apart from God (AllAboutGod, 2017). Naturally, human being was born
together with sin, and as they grew up they still do sins. This is why God, himself cannot
accept humanity as for their sins. Even if the mankind does
“gooddeeds”, God ca
nnot just let it in, in his heaven. Therefore, God has made his way for hiscreations enter
his Heaven. He gave his begotten son and for whoever believes in him will besaved
(John 3:16, Roman 6:23). Nevertheless, not all individuals will be saved. In
Christian tradition, it was believed thatJesus who returned to heaven will have His
second coming and a judgment day for the sinners.
At Jesus’ second coming the righteous dead will be raised to life and taken up to
heaven along with the righteous who are still alive on the earth and the wicked who are
left alive will call forthe rocks and hills to fall on them because they cannot look upon the
face of Christ (1Thessalonians 4:16-17, Revelation 6:15-17), (Second Coming, n.d.).

1.3 The Jannaand YawmAl-Quiyama

Muslim beliefs in terms of the afterlife didn’t have much difference to the belief of the
Christians. They also believed that when a man passed away, he will be either go to the
Heavenor hell. Moreover, they do also believe to the Day of Judgement also known as
Yawm Al-Quiyama
which literally means
“The Day of Reckoning”

Janna (Paradise, Heaven) is called by eight names in the Qur'an: Jannatu al-Khuld,
Darulas-Salam, Darul al-Qarar, Jannatu al-`Adn, J annatu al-Ma`wa, Jannatu an-Na`im,
`Illiyin, and Jan n tu al-Ferdaus. Janna is the Arabic word for "garden (Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 2005). Sura 2:82 did mentioned "
But those who have faith and work righteousness, they are companions of the Garden:
Therein shall they abide (For ever)"
it means that only the one who believe on Allah
–
the God, and the people who did righteous works are only the one s who will be
experienced the life afterdeath in Janna.Same as for the Christian beliefs, Muslims have
also believed to the idea of Hell. It wassure unfair if the wicked people or the sinner or
unbelievers of Allah will be treated the same ,and as per Allah, Himself, was there to
welcome the righteous ones (al-Q iya amah 22-23). That’s
why it was believed that Allah made a place for the sinners called
Jahannam.
The idea of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ was similar to idea of
Yawm Al-Quiyama.
It was the day that Muslims believed when all beings will be raised to life again and will
be judged by Allah -the God, himself, and faces their fates,
VIEWS ON WOMEN
Gender is a socially constructed definition of women and men (Swiss Agency, n.d.)
andthe feminism has been a major problem to the culture of religion. Feminism is
aninterdisciplinary approach to issues of equality and equity based on gender, gender
expression,gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories
and political activism(EKU, 2016). Women have played an important role in the
development of various religionsaround the world from Hinduism to Christianity, and the
way in which women are treated inreligions such as Islam is still a
n area of debate for many (Women’s Library, 2007)
The relationship of the religion and the feminists is in a complicated way. There has
beenan issue that religions, in terms of women, are considered subordinate to men.
There is no doubtthat the rise in feminism during the second half of the 20th century had
a direct influence on theincreased number of women being allowed to become religious
leaders such as priests and bisho
ps (Women’s Library, 2007).

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research

Center, religion is a significant part of women’s lives: 86% of women in the United
States are
religiously affiliated, 63% say that a religion is an important part of their lives, while 44%
attendreligious services at least on a weekly basis (Frazier, 2016). It simply means that
most of thewomen, the importance of religion to them is high.In the Abrahamic
Religions, the issue of feminism is present as well. In biblical times,
the presence of gender injustice can obviously see. When referring to a character in the
bible, the people of the book was keep on telling
the first name of the person they are talking to with thename of the father, example
given was Abraham, the son of Terah, Ishmael, the son of Abraham,Jacob the son of
Isaac. Moreover, Christian societies in Western Europe have not allowedwomen to take
on senior roles within the church and have promoted the idea that women are meant to
fulfill a more submissive role within their families (Women’s Library, 2007).Even the
Islam has the same issue. In Islam, women aren’t allowed to be an Immam – an Islamic
leadership position. This negative perception has arguably been heavily influenced by
the conflict with theTaliban in Afghanistan and the strict laws regarding women in that
particular country. To thoseunfamiliar with Islam, this strict interpretation of religion that
prevents women from going toschool and required them to wear a burqa appears
uncivilised and repressive.(Women’s Library,2007). Nevertheless, the capability of the
women in the history of religions had contributed greatin the beliefs of this religions. The
mother of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, is perhaps the mosthigh profile female figure in
Christianity, and women are significant figures within the Bible .(Women’s Library,
2007). She was the famous virgin mother who bore to the son of God.Another was
Miriam, the sister of Moses and the seven female prophets in the bible. The notable
women in Islam was Aisha, the wife of Muhammad. The main of responsibilities of
women in the Christian faith are to raise and teach children, maintain a Godly
household, refer to husbandon familial and religious matters and maintain social groups
in church. As one can see, there arestill what can be considered traditional
responsibilities delegated to women in this religion(Frazier, 2016).To sum how religion
views on women, there is no inequality to the teachings of God. TheGod himself has no
specific gender to be named of, as for He created a man in his own image,specifically
the male and the female (Genesis 1:27). Therefore it wasn’t reasonable for thereligions
have gender inequalities among them. As for God said "There is no longer Jew or
Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you
are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28).
Comparative Analysis of Abrahamic Religions based on their
Origin, Morality, Morality, Destiny and View on women

Submitted by:

Mark Julian D. Santos

HUMSS 11-Perseverance

Submitted to:

Ma`am Chona Magpayo

Teacher