S. who support Israel. Because of the uniqueness of the religion, Islam has been appealing to the young and the oppressed throughout the world, and Moslems are actively recruiting and training them promising them the reward of heaven through Jihad. There are one billion Moslems in the world wide, which makes up one sixth of world population. Even some people from the U.S. are attracted to Islam out of curiosity and uncertainties of their own religious background. In the U.S. alone there are six to seven million Moslems rapidly growing to the third largest religion after Christianity and Judaism.
To understand Islam, we will further discuss what Islamic religion teaches: its historic background, similarities and differences between Christian religion and Islam, and lastly the pillars of Islam. .
The history of Islam and Christianity can be traced back to Abraham whom both claim to their father of faith. Abraham has two sons: Ishmael " the son of flesh" and Isaac "the son of the promise". The Hebrew trace their lineage to Abraham through Isacc, his only son by Sarah, the Quran traces Arab geneology and Muhammad's prophethood back Ishamael, a son Abraham had by Heger. Out of Isaac came Esau and Jacob who were twins and wrestled with each other in their mother's womb. Their struggle in their mother's womb may very well symbolize the present day conflict between the two religions today. .
After the destruction of Israel in AD 70, the Christianity was widely spread to the entire Arab community. Around AD 570, a man named Muhammad was born in Mecca. He became very familiar with the teachings of the Jews and Christianity. However he rejected some part of Old Testament, while he accepted the person of Christ but denying his deity and resurrection. Around 610 AD, Muhammad claimed to have been visited by Angel Gabriel who gave him the revelation of God. The revelation of God was recited by Mohammed to his followers over the period of 23 years, and came to be known as Quran.