What Do They Believe?

1. What Do They Believe? The religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism

2. Islam • The person who began the religion called Islam is Muhammad. His followers are called Muslims.

3. Islam Continued… • Muhammad was told that he was the last of the prophets and it was his responsibility to bring the final revelation of the Lord to the world.

4. Islam • The Islamic faith began in Mecca and Medina which are in modern day Saudi Arabia.

5. Islam • The building in which Muslims worship is called a mosque. The holy book of the Islam is the Koran.

6. Islam • The Koran quotes Jesus as calling himself a prophet. Other prophets in the Islamic faith include Abraham and Moses.

7. Islam • Muslims follow the Five Pillars as a part of their religion. This includes…

8. Five Pillars • Shahada: Testifying to God's One-ness: “There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is his prophet.”

9. Five Pillars • Salat: Prayer. • General Features of Islamic Prayer • Five prayer times each day: • early morning, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening. • Raq'ah: Bowing and prostration. Represents submission to God. • Ablutions, symbolic purification by washing hands, feet, etc. with water (or sand). • Qiblah, direction for prayer towards Mecca.

10. Five Pillars 3. Almsgiving 4. Fast during Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat during the day. They wait until sundown and then gather together to eat.

11. Five Pillars • Hajj: Making a pilgrimage to Mecca. • Some of the symbolic reenactments of past events: • Tawaf: Circling Ka'ba counterclockwise seven times, emphasizing its centrality. • Touching black stone of Ka'bah

13. Five Pillars • Sa'y: Running seven times between hills and drinking from Zamzam spring (recalling Hagar's running for water when sent away from Abraham and a voice/miracle helps her to find the water).

14. Five Pillars • Throwing 49 stones at stone "Satan" (recalling the resistance to Satan's attempts to prevent Abraham from sacrificing Ishmael).

15. Five Pillars

16. Islam • There are two main divisions in the Islamic faith… the Shiah sect and the Sunni sect.

17. Ramadan: • Ramadan is the most important holy festival. During this time, Muslims are expected to not smoke, drink or eat between sunrise and sunset for one month.

18. Persecution • Crusades: The Christians believed that they should recover the holy city of Jerusalem for Christianity.

19. Judaism • The Jewish faith began with a promise between Abraham and God. It began in modern day Iraq. It then moved to Canaan which is now Israel, then to Egypt, then back to Israel.

22. Promises… • The Holy Land, where events in the Bible occurred, was promised in the Old Testament to Moses. The Jews at one time, ruled Israel but many Jews left when other countries took power. They then moved to other countries. This is known as the Diaspora.

23. Diaspora

25. Judaism • The laws given to Moses (the Ten Commandments) and all other laws can be found in the Jewish holy book, the Torah.

26. Worship • The building that Jews worship in is a temple. • A rabbi is the leader and teacher.

27. Jewish Beliefs and Customs • Jewish believers should pray 3 times a day. They should marry and have children. They can eat beef but not pork.

28. Jewish Beliefs and Customs • The word kosher refers to the way that Jewish people prepare their food according to their faith. Meat that is kosher comes from animals that chew cud and have cloven hoofs.

29. Kosher continued… • The meat must be prepared in a special way. Kosher also means that one cannot eat dairy products at the same time or immediately before or after a meal including cheese.

30. Major Observances of the Jewish Faith • Rosh Hashanah- This celebrates both the religious New Year and the creation of the earth.

31. Major Observances • Yom Kippur- A day of fasting and repentance.

32. Major Observances • Hanukkah: Also known as the Festival of Lights. This celebrates the victory of the Jews over the Syrian in the second century.

33. Adam Sandler’s Version of Hanukkah • FactsOfIsrael.com: The Hanukah Song

34. Passover • This honor the delivery of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. • The holiday of Passover is meant to remind the Jews of how the angel of death passed over homes which had blood on the door to protect the first born son.

36. Judaism • 70 people have claimed to be the Messiah according to Jewish records.

37. Persecution • Jews were treated badly by the Europeans. Jews were slaughtered by the Crusaders traveling across Europe to the Holy Land in the 11th and 12th centuries. They were accused of causing the Black Death in the 14th century and massacred for it.

38. Persecution • There was, however, no situation as devastating as the Holocaust during which at least 6 million Jews were murdered just for being Jewish. Many more were imprisoned and tortured.

40. ZION • After the end of WWII, many Jews wanted to leave Europe. But where could they go? They believed that they would have safety in the land that was promised to them in the Torah. Zionism, the belief that Jews were entitled to have a land of their own, in Israel or Zion.

41. Christianity • The highest concentration of Christians exist in America, Europe and Australia.

42. Christianity cont. • In Africa, about 1 in 10 call themselves Christian. In parts of the Middle East, it is one in a 100.

43. Christianity • The holy book of the Christians is the Bible

44. Christianity… the basics • The specific accounts written about Jesus in the Bible are known as the Gospels. • The first 12 followers of the teachings of Jesus are known as the apostles.

45. Christianity basics… • Christians believe that baptism is the visible sign of entrance into the Christian community.

46. The Branches of Christianity • Roman Catholic • Protestant • Eastern Orthodox

47. Christian Holidays • The most important Christian holiday is Easter because it celebrates Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Other important holidays include Christmas, Lent, Epiphany, Good Friday and Pentecost.

49. Disagreements • The Jewish and Muslim faiths disagree with the Christian faith because they believe that God is one and therefore Jesus cannot be his son. The biggest persecution for this group would have been after Jesus’ death by the Romans.

50. Bet You Didn’t Know… • Did you know that Muslims, Christians and Jews consider themselves to be children of Abraham? Jews claim their heritage through Isaac, Muslims claim their heritage through Ishmael.