Catholicism and Islam: A Comparison/Contrast Term Paper

Much like Catholicism, the religious system known as Islam whose believers are called Muslim dates back to around 610 A.D. when the prophet Muhammad allegedly was visited by the angel Gabriel who spoke to him and conveyed the actual words of Allah Himself (i.e., Allah as God). Muhammad was also told that he had been chosen by Allah as a prophet and that he must write down everything he had been told. Shortly before his death in 632 A.D., these writings became the Holy Quran, the sacred scriptures of Islam.

One of the most important similarities between Islam and Catholicism is that both are founded on monotheism or the belief in one God, a God who is believed to be "personal, righteous and holy" (Corbett, 2001, p. 233). Of course, one of the most contrasting differences between Islam and Catholicism is that Islam was founded in the Middle East as a Semitic monotheistic religion, comparable to the faith of Judaism, while Catholicism is a strictly Western-based religion.

In addition, Islam, much like Catholicism, has what is known as the Five Pillars of Islam, comparable to the seven sacraments of the Catholic faith. These pillars include faith as shown in the repetition of the creed called shahadah, being "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah;" prayer five times daily, either at home or in a mosque, an Islamic church; the giving of alms to the poor, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and the hajj or pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, a journey that all faithful Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetimes if they are physically and financially able to do so.

But unlike Catholicism, there is no one single leader or ruler in Islam, at least not of earthly origin, due to the fact that all Muslims consider Allah as the head of their faith and as the ruler of the universe over man and his earthbound domain. However, the community of the faithful in Islam gathers together on a daily basis to pray as one unified religious body and to hear the Holy Quran read and explained by an imam or prayer leader, and unlike Catholics, Muslims are openly encouraged to work before and after mid-day Friday prayers as compared to Catholic Christians who view the Sabbath (i.e., the weekend) as a day of rest and contemplation. In some respects, Islam does have special religious leaders, such as the late Ayatollah Khomenei of Iran and certain Islamic leaders linked to fundamentalist groups throughout the Middle East in such countries as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

One other important difference between Catholicism and Islam is that the number of faithful Muslims in the world has increased tremendously over the last fifty years or so, especially in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the United States, where the number of faithful Muslims is not accurately known, due to some Christians from Arab countries identifying themselves as culturally but not religiously linked with Islam. But in the end, both Catholicism and Islam share more similarities than dissimilarities, particularly related to their belief in one all-powerful God and their devotion to the Holy Scriptures in the form of the Christian Bible and the Holy Quran.

REFERENCES

Corbett, Julia Mitchell. (2001). Religion in America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall,

Inc.

"Roman Catholicism." (1997). Biblical Discernment Ministries. Internet. Retrieved June 7,

2009 from http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/Catholicism/catholic.htm.