I learned that in Islam that they are five pillars which stand out to me because I didn’t realize that by following these steps one is practicing one faith because of my beliefs for which I have been taught. For
instance in Christianity prayer is one of the many rituals that they used everyday but in Islam in the second pillar (salat) prayer is held 5 times a day which in my opinion is more intense. I have learned that in Catholic Christianity I have been told to pray in the morning, before meals, and at bed, which I guess I could count five times a day but I won’t have to go to the mosque like in Islam or no one would tell me like in Islam that they have a muezzin when to pray and I would go into the minaret. Going back to fact that the first pillar in Islam there is no god but god and Muhammad is the messager of God. The other three pillars that I have learned about are zarat which is the contribution to the welfare of the community. The shaum is fasting during Ramadan and the last is Hajj which is the pilgrimage to Mecca. In all the pillars I have learned that one can grow closer to Allah, and I learned through these pillars that people beliefs are not so different from others.
I would have to say that the thing that surprised me was the whole praying situation. I found it different that one would go to a place to pray and one person calls one to prayer. In Islam they go to the Mosque which is the praying place and the Muezzin is the person that is in the Menarat calling others to pray. In Islam they have to pray 5 times which as stated earlier is dedication to one’s faith. It did surprised me as well that in Islam there are very religious and very protective of their faith and to me that says a lot about a person, not necessary agreeing with them but know that they are believing in something that they think is right and in Christianity is doing what they believe is right. In the end no one wins because you can’t come back from the afterlife and tell everyone what the right way is.
I would have to say some of the five pillars would be to extreme for me and I would feel guilty of not doing. For instance the fasting during Ramadan I wouldn’t agree for the sole reason I don’t really see the purpose of fasting the entire day, I mean as a Catholic we have lent and we fast for certain holy days but we are not that intense. I really don’t have a problem with that it just the fact that it would be unpleasant for me to follow those rules. Another thing will be the final pillar the pilgrimage to Mecca; I don’t think that you have to travel somewhere just because you feel that Allah is going to be there. I would say to Islam that Allah is everywhere; it doesn’t matter if you go or if you don’t. That would be unpleasant to me because I would feel that I would have to save all the money just to go because if I don’t then I would feel guilty and I know that you don’t have to go if you can’t afford if I was Islamic I would find this pillar hard to achieve.
I would say the way that Islam Is similar to Christianity would be they believe in one God. Muslims have a messenger called Muhammad and Christianity has a messenger named Moses in my eyes. Here is the reason because in Islam Muhammad got everything that he needed to tell the people of Islam and Moses did the same for the Christianity. The example would the be in Islam the Five Pillars and in Christianity I would say the Ten Commandments. The final thing that Islam and Christianity would have in common is they both believe in sins and that they don’t put anything at or above their gods.
I would say that there is lot of dissimilarities in Islam to Christianity. In Islam they believe in submission to Allah, in Christianity they believe in the trinity which is the father son and Holy Spirit is one. The sins of ingratitude in Islam is to me stricter than in Christianity because of the fact that in Christianity you can seek forgiveness rather than Islam which a sin of ingratitude where you have to be grateful of everything. Even if something bad happens you have to be grateful of whatever happens to you. Of course the obvious reason that Islam is different because they don’t have the sacraments that Christianity has especially in Catholicism which has seven sacraments. Another way that I would say that would be right is that Islam thinks of Jesus Christ as a prophet which in Christianity they think of him more of a prophet. In there eyes he was more a miracle worker than a savior as Christians would say. I don’t think that Muslims are little bit extreme than most Catholics, again a great example would be The Hajj the pilgrimage to Mecca. I really don’t see any Christians meeting at the same time in at some holy land as the Muslims do or maybe they do but its not intense as they Islam.
I would say by studying Islam it has taught me that in that religion prayer is important as it is to me, but I don’t pray as much as Muslim’s which made me wonder if I should practice what I believe instead of just simply saying what I believe in. It has help me by reaching what I do believe in and making sure I have the facts down. In the end I would say that is help me reaffirm my faith and beliefs and has educated me in a way that I was wondering what others believe in. It has taught me be open minded as well just because I think any one studying Major world religions should be open minded and just because they don’t agree with other religions they should have another idea. As far as converting I don’t think that I will covert to Islam or become a Muslim just because I don’t believe in Allah and although I respect their thoughts I just don’t see myself in that religion and I happy and proud to be a Christian especially a Catholic. I have learned as Catholic a little bit more about how the church was formed and the causes of breaking Christianity in many parts. In the end I was just well education and have a better understanding on how Islam works as a whole.