One of the largest religions in the world is Islam, with more than one and a half billion followers nationwide which is rapidly growing today. Islam and Christianity appear to be very different, but core beliefs behind them are very similar. Most of Islam’s population came from the Middle East, but there are still large amount of Muslims throughout the United States (Nation Master, 2010). Islam has grown significantly in the past twenty years within the United States. They both, belief in one God and that both religions result from the direct descendent of Abraham, a quality that is also shared with Judaism. The doctrinal beliefs of each religion are each different.
Islam is the most important figure in the world, and a name that is recognized by most around the world is the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was born in approximately 570 C.E. in the town of Mecca. At the time of his birth the area of Mecca was populated by many people who practiced polytheism, and a minority of the population was devoted to Christianity and Judaism. Instead of pursuing any of these practices, instead Muhammad would find himself meditating in a cave on the outskirts of town quite frequently, and it is there where Muslims believe their religion was founded. One night while meditating it is said that an archangel visited Muhammad and declared him as one of God’s prophets. Over his lifetime he had many more visions and through the help of his wife and cousins the words he received were written down, and would later be used to form the Koran, or the fundamental doctrine of Islam.
There are six key beliefs or articles of faith as far as the Islamic doctrine goes which are held true by all Muslims. The first belief is that there is only one God and they refer to him as Allah. This is a belief that is also held by all Christians, except they do not refer to God as Allah. The second article of