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Michelle K. Pyke
University of Washington
Professor Karam Dana, Honors 231 B
Research Findings
There is no question that Islam and Judaism are the sister religions of Christianity. This

statement suggests an underlying intimacy that struck my curiosity as a casual student of

theology. The purpose of my research is to explore how Islamic teachings, in particular, align

with the values strongly held by the Christian faith. Through the remarkable history of

Christianity and Islam and their shared reverence for a single, divine entity, a necessary sense of

compassion between followers of both faiths can eradicate the common misconceptions

grounded in modern-day Islamophobic rhetoric.

In her novel published in 2007 Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time, Karen Armstrong

attempts to write an unbiased account of Muhammad’s story as the messenger of Allah’s will.

She references one passage in the Qur’an that explicitly states “the faithful must believe

indiscriminately in the revelations of every single one of God’s messengers.”1 Thus, the Qur’an

is essentially a “confirmation of the previous scriptures” (Qur’an 12: III). In fact, “Arabs did not

feel it necessary to convert to Judaism or Christianity, because they believed they were already

members of the Abrahamic family.”1 This is what is meant when Islam and Christianity are

regarded as sister religions.

I pursued my inquiry further by exploring published works entirely devoted to teaching

the basic principles of each religion through systematic theology. In his novel Bible Doctrine:

Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Wayne A. Grudem, a prominent contemporary

scholar and evangelical theologian, outlined seven doctrines that heavily influence the modern

Christian way of life and are especially apparent in the text of the Holy Scripture: 1. The
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Doctrine of the Word of God 2. The Doctrine of God 3. The Doctrine of Man 4. The Doctrine of

Christ 5. The Doctrine of Application of Redemption 6. The Doctrine of the Church 7. The

Doctrine of the Future.5 Grudem notes that the Bible itself is recognized as the word of God

according to the Christian faith and that “to disbelieve or disobey any word of scripture is to

disbelieve or disobey any word of God.” Thus, actively following the teachings of the Bible is

essential to achieving eternal salvation. In his review of Karl Rahner’s work, Foundations of

Christian Faith: an Introduction to the Idea of Christianity, Edward Yarnold states that the

sacraments “are manifestations of the finality and invincibility of God's offer of himself...through

the church which is the basic sacrament of salvation.”13 Therefore, Christianity requires that

followers must not only search for their true selves as a matter of deep reflection, but also

publicly exhibit their faith as a visible sign of inward grace. According to Rahner:

If he does this, he grasps what we mean by God as the horizon, the God who in his

existential and historical self-communication made himself the realm within which such

love is possible. The radical unity of the interpersonal and social sense of this love is the

ground and essence of the church.9

In contrast to the arguably complicated nature of Christian creeds, the Five Pillars of Islam are

explicitly stated and thus, leave little room for misinterpretation. They are as follows: The

Testimony of Faith, Prayer (as a daily practice), Zakat (support for those in need), Ramadan

(fasting from sunrise till sunset), and Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca).11 Similar to Gruden’s

suggestion about the significance of the Bible, the Qur’an is the source of Allah’s (or God’s)

word for Muslims (those who practice Islam). Karen Armstrong introduces the notion that the

Last Judgment is also central to the early message of the Qur’an.1 According to the Qur’an, there

would be a day of reckoning; Armstrong notes that the Arabic term for this day (yawm ad-din)

also “implies a moment of truth.” The Qur’an states that “at the end of their lives, human beings
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would have to face up to uncomfortable realities they had tried to avoid.”13 These are just a few

similarities that I found during my research.

The deeply contested question of American identity encourages religion to be a matter of

national consensus rather than individual preference. Religiosity within the context of the United

States implies that Christian teachings are superior to those of Islam. Based upon my findings,

intervention should take the form of public education, specifically focusing on the parallels

between the Abrahamic religions. Without a sense of unity, individuals will continue to falsely

believe in an insurmountable divide between one faith and another. Thus, religion should

become a priority in the education of Americans, assuming that it is taught in an unbiased and

earnest manner.
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References

1. Armstrong, Karen. “Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time.” New York, HarperCollins,
2007.

2. Armstrong, Karen. “My Wish: The Charter for Compassion.” Feb. 2008, Monterey,
California. Speech.

3. Bridger, J. Scott. “Christian Theology and the Qur’an.” Christian Exegesis of the Qur'an:
A Critical Analysis of the Apologetic Use of the Qur'an in Select Medieval and
Contemporary Arabic Texts, James Clarke & Co Ltd, Cambridge, 2015, pp. 1–40.

4. Burke, Ronald. “Journal of the American Academy of Religion.” Journal of the

American Academy of Religion, vol. 47, no. 1, 1979, pp. 164–165.

5. Grudem, Wayne A., and Jeff Purswell. “Bible doctrine: Essential teachings of the
Christian faith.” HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 1999.

6. Jenna Weissman Joselit, et al. “American Religion and the Old and New
Immigration.” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, vol. 22, no. 1,
2012, pp. 1–30.

7. Jhally, Sut, director. “Edward Said on 'Orientalism'.” Produced by Sanjay Talreja, Media
Education Foundation, 1998.

8. Morgan, David. “The Image of the Protestant Bible in America.” The Bible in the Public
Square: Its Enduring Influence in American Life, edited by Mark A. Chancey et al.,
Society of Biblical Literature, 2014, pp. 93–120.

9. Rahner, Karl. “Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of

Christianity.” Translated by William V. Dych, New York, Seabury Press, 1978.

10. Saab, Hassan. “Communication between Christianity and Islām.” Middle East Journal,
vol. 18, no. 1, 1964, pp. 41–62.

11. Schumm, Walter R., and Alison L. Kohler. “Social Cohesion and the Five Pillars of
Islam: A Comparative Perspective.” The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 4
Jan. 2016, pp. 1-11. Research Gate, Accessed 3 Mar. 2017.

12. Sells, Michael. “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations.” Ashland, 1999, xliii.

13. Yarnold, Edward J. “The Journal of Theological Studies.” The Journal of Theological
Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 1980, pp. 270–279.