"In the name of Allah most compassionate most merciful"

Title of the course:

"A comparative study on divine religions"

Judaism

Christianity

Islam
Table of contents:

Chapter one:

The history of religions:

1- Introduction and definitions
2- Judaism
3- Christianity
4- Islam

Chapter two:

Some of the important issues from the religions point of view:

1- The concept of God
2- The concept of the Day of Resurrection
3- The concept of human being
Chapter three:

Conclusion
CHAPTER ONE: THE HISTORY OF
RELIGIONS:
SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTORY ISSUES:

PART ONE: WHY RELIGION?

Why should a person believe in a religion? Is it necessary to be a

religious person and follow a religion? What are the differences
between a religious life and non-religious? Are all religions the
same or they are different?
Here I would like to mention a memory that experienced myself.
One day I was waiting in a bank to do some of my financial issues.
Another man was sitting beside me. I began to embark on
conversation. After greeting, I asked him if he is a Muslim. He said
no. a Jew? He said no. a Christian? He said no. I asked him which
religion he has. He said no religion. I asked him is it possible? He
said yes. Believe me that almost one hour we talked about it and
by the grace of Allah it was successful. This is why that in the first
step we must prove to others and convince them, religion is a
must in the life.
In the second step after a person was convinced that he should
follow a religion then he may ask himself which specific religion I
should follow. Can we follow any religion we like? Is there any
religion which is superior to others? And many other questions.
It is in this stage that we introduce the three divine religions.
Namely;

Islam- Judaism - Christianity

In the third step when a person accepted Islam then he will see
that there are many sects in this religion and naturally will ask
 himself which of these sects are right and true to be followed?
What are the reasons for the truthfulness of that sect?
THE MEANING OF "RELIGION"

When we want to exactly know the meaning of a word, we must try

to get the meaning in two different level. The first level is the literal
meaning. And the second one is the Technical meaning.
The literal meaning is the meaning that immediately comes to the
mind. In Arabic some of the words have tens of meanings. Therefore
when a word is used by somebody we must ascertain of the
meaning. Sometimes these meanings are completely contradictory.
In our own discussion we have the word "al- din". This word is used
in the Holy Quran repeatedly. So we look at some of the meanings of
this word;
A: LITERAL MEANING:

Among the different meanings given for this word, three of them can
be stated.
a. The Day of Judgment. Rewarding: every day in our daily prayer
we do recite the Opening Chapter of the Holy Quran.

‫َملِكِ َي ْو ِم الدِّين‬
The Absolute Sovereign of the Day of Judgment.

so you see in the above verse the word "al-din" is used but it does
not mean the religion.
b. Method or way: in chapter 109 of the Holy Quran, there is a
verse which is the last verse of that chapter. It says:

َ ‫لكم ِدينُ ُك ْم َو‬

‫لى ِدين‬
To you be your Way, and to me mine
 c. Religion: there are many verses in the Holy Quran in which the
word "al-din" is used and it means; religion.

ْ ِ ‫ِّين ِع ْن َد هَّللا ِ اإْل‬

)19/3( ‫سال ُم‬ َ ‫إِنَّ الد‬
Truly, the Perfect Religion in The Sight of Allah is Islam

I should note that the frequent meaning of this word is "religion".

This is why many of the lecturers and orators or writers when they
use the word religion, they do mean religion and nothing else.