Jesus and Christianity vs. Mohammand and Islam

Jazmine Willard

His 101-03

September 26, 2011

Christianity vs. Islam

Christianity and Islam are two of the largest religions in the world. Christians as well as Islamic people have come along away in history as they continued to shine a positive light on both Christianity and Islam. They are both religions that are still being practiced today and yet despite their many differences, have just as many similarities as well.

            In my opinion, being a strong believer in Jesus as well as the beliefs of Christianity, and knowing what I do know about the Islamic religion, I didn’t agree with the statement above, that Christianity and Islam have aspects in common. But after researching both religions I found that they both actually do share a mutual ground. According to an article by reilignionfacts.com, “Both Christianity and Islam inherited from Judaism a belief in one God who created the world and cares about the behavior and beliefs of human beings.” However, even though both religions show faith in one God, their faith is shown in very different ways. For example Islamic people believe in a God by the name of Allah and study the holy book of Koran. While Christians address their God as Jesus, who is also known as Jesus of Nazareth, and study the Bible. Both are very diverse books that are looked upon differently in both cultures. Islamic people also have the Five Pillars, in which they practice every day. I have known Christians to fast at the beginning of New Years as a way of showing gratefulness for living to see a new year. But for the Islamic people fasting is a ritual, with last during the month of Ramadan. Christians also have rules they abide by such as the Ten Commandments, even though it is believed that Jesus only spoke of one commandment, which was simply to love.

Church’s as well as people have a lot to do with how Christians and Muslims create religious differences not only among each other, but within that particular religion as well. Even today there are so many standard names for types of religions that are consider to be Christians, such as Baptist, Holiness, Jehovah Witness, Primmest Baptist, and Apostolic. Though surprisingly, when it comes to the controversial matters between the two it really has nothing to do with religion at all. “In recent centuries, mutual distrust between Christians and the Islamic people has continued to grow on the account of tensions and divergent cultural worldviews rather than religion.” So regardless of the religious differences that we all may have, it’s our own personal beliefs that matter. And who knows maybe one day Christians and the Islamic people will find a common ground as well as respect for the differences among worldview.

Work Cited

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/christianity_islam.htm

Empire of Alexnader the Great

                                                                                                            Jazmine Willard

                                                                                                           History 101-03

                                                                                                                September 7, 2011

Empire of Alexander the Great 

Alexander the Great is one of the most exceptional leaders in history. He was the son of Phillip II and an Epirote princess named Olympias (Marx). He was tutored by the brilliant Aristotle in science and political art, he received a complete education in military tactics, and at the age of eighteen he led the Macedonian cavalry in a successful charge that won the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C. (Marx). And yet his most prominent moment in history came much later when he conquered the Persian Empire.

Alexander’s amazing accomplishment influenced many cultures and even brought many of them together in ways that had never been done before, but his quest to conquer was slightly difficult as well as changeling. Alexander, along with his army traveled from city to city during his conquest to conquer the Persian Empire. In 334 B.C., Alexander led an army of about 35,000 men across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia (n page). After realizing that Persians sent out troops to attack Alexander and his men, across the Granicus River, Alexander and his army charged across the river and won the battle, which then opened up Asia Minor (n page). “In 333 B.C., Alexander reached the coast of Syria, where a fierce battle at Issus, took place, as well as where he defeated the king of Persia, Darius III” (n page). He then left Egypt in 331 B.C., continuing on his journey as he traveled eastward into the Persian Empire and by 326 B.C., Alexander's forces had reached the upper Indus River Valley, in what is now Pakistan. “During his years in central Asia, Alexander began to adopt the customs of the Persian kings” (n page).  His final conquest in 326 B.C, was Punjab where his journey soon ended. And in 323 B.C in Babylon, Alexander became painfully ill with a fever and died at age 32 on June 10. 

After Alexander founded so many Greek cities all over the Near East, Greek culture became deeply embedded within the cultures of the region. So deeply that it became the dominant culture throughout the Middle East and was inherited by the Byzantine Empire and by the Muslims as well (Knox). “The Near Eastern cultures, in turn, influenced Greece. This is most notable in the area of religion, with the advent of various mystery religions, but the Egyptians especially had a strong effect on Greek philosophy and science” (Knox). The true legacy of Alexander the Great was not only his conquering of the Persian Empire, but the distribution of the Greek culture all across the Near East. 

Alexander is perhaps one of the greatest generals of all time. “His amazing expedition shocked the world as it gave a new creative energy to Western civilization” (103). His conquering of the Persian Empire and spreading of Greek customs made it possible to establish the culture of the Hellenistic Age.

Sources:

Hunt, Lynn, Martin, Thomas R., Rosenwein, Barbara H., and Smith, Bonnie G. (2010). The making of the West. Peoples and cultures. Concise Third Edition. Bedford/ St Martin’s: Boston, Massachusetts. 103.

http://franklaughter.tripod.com/cgi-bin/histprof/misc/alexander.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/alexander.htm

Irma Marx. http://www.silk-road.com/artl/alex.shtml

E.L. Skip Knox. “History of Western Civilization.” Boise State University. http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/alexander/14.shtml