Dear candygurl,
The three global monotheistic religions have historically engaged in
bitter rivalry not because they are so different, but because they
spring from the same source. All three trace their lineage to Abraham,
the Old Testament shepherd to whom the revelation came one night, while
he was tending his flock, that there is one God alone, one Creator of
the Universe. The Book of Genesis relates how Abraham led his people,
the Hebrews or Israelites, to conquer a land called Canaan, which was
roughly coextensive with the modern country of Israel. All three religions
revere Abraham as their patriarch, and all three lay claim to the same
patch of Middle Eastern territory as their Holy Land.
CNN: The patriarch of three religions
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/books/12/20/feiler.abraham/
Christians, Muslims, and Jews are at odds with one another -- in a way
that, say, Buddhists and Hindus are not -- because they have a great deal
in common and thus a great deal to argue over. The arguments are given
impetus by great historical rifts, the first of which took place with
the advent of an Israelite teacher whom many accepted as the Messiah,
the world savior long foretold to appear by the Israelite prophets. He
is known to us today by the Hellenized name of Jesus Christ, for the
literate classes of Israel were at that time culturally Hellenic even
as they were ruled by the legions of Rome. The Hebrews, Greeks, Romans,
Arabs, and others who followed Jesus were the first Christians. Those
Israelites who denied his messianic status, preferring the Old Law of
their forefathers to the New Law preached by Jesus, were the Jews.
Jewish-Christian Relations: The Parting of the Ways
http://www.jcrelations.net/en/?id=797
The Jews took up arms against the Romans but lost heavily, for their
capital Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the Jews themselves
definitively expelled from their homeland. Wherever they went in Europe,
North Africa, and Asia, they encountered widespread hostility from the
natives, on the one hand because all itinerant peoples -- including not
only the Jews but also the Gypsies of Eurasia and the Hakka of China --
are generally despised by the narrow-minded masses, and on the other
because of the Jews' ostensible culpability in the death of Jesus. Almost
two thousand years later, when the British Empire in its waning days
established a mandate for the resettlement of Jews to Israel, the new
arrivals faced hostility from a new quarter, the Arab Muslims.
Jewish Virtual Library: The Diaspora
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Diaspora.html
The Muslims or followers of Islam are also known, somewhat archaically,
as Mohammedans, for their faith was introduced by Muhammad, an Arab
merchant who felt a calling from God at the age of 40. He viewed
himself and his followers accepted him as the ultimate messenger of God,
the final prophet, while regarding Jesus Christ as the second-last and
second-best prophet. The sacred history that God revealed to Muhammad in
several installments, later transcribed as the Koran, coincided in many
points with the Torah of the Jews and therefore with the Old Testament
of the Christians. Although the early Muslims were embattled by pagans,
Christians, and Jews on the Arab Peninsula, they later accorded some
degree of religious freedom to their subjects in the vast territories
they conquered in the Middle Ages.
Columbia Encyclopedia: Muhammad, prophet of Islam
http://www.bartleby.com/65/mu/Muhammd.html
The great disputes between Christians and Muslims have been perhaps
less theological than territorial in nature. The Christians resented
Muslim domination of Israel, the Holy Land where Jesus had walked,
while the Muslims begrudged Christians their reconquest of Spain, where
a Muslim civilization had flowered at the height of Arab power. But
the greatest blow to Muslim pride was the re-establishment in Israel --
which they had renamed Palestine -- of a Jewish state, with the support
of European socialists and Christian imperialists. This is the great
bone of contention today between Muslims and Jews. The Christians of the
world have taken opposing sides in this conflict, with those of Europe
predominantly favoring the Arab or Palestinian viewpoint, while those
in the United Sates lend heavy support to the Israelis.
Canaan/Palestine/Israel: A Brief Early History in Maps
http://www.mideastweb.org/palmaps.htm
A friend of mine who takes a special interest in the Middle East
recommends that anyone interested in this tricultural conflict read the
works of Karen Armstrong.
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345384563/qid=1095893034/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-2326448-0794239?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345391683/qid=1095893034/sr=8-3/ref=pd_csp_3/103-2326448-0794239?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
If you feel that my answer is incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please
post a clarification request so that I have a chance to meet your needs
before you assign a rating.
Regards,
leapinglizard
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