There is often confusion around the shared beliefs of Jews, Christians and Muslims. This is frequently fuelled by those who wish to find differences in order to make one or another branch of our shared faith better than another.
Those who do this step away from Gods own words in the Quran.
Although God clearly states that some have gone astray, he remains clear in his praise for all those who remain faithful.
None should not dispute these revelations.
“They are not alike. Among the People of the Scripture is a community that is upright; they recite God’s revelations throughout the night, and they prostrate themselves.
Quran 3:113 -115 (Clear Quran.com)
They believe in God and the Last Day, and advocate righteousness and forbid evil, and are quick to do good deeds. These are among the righteous.
Whatever good they do, they will not be denied it. God knows the righteous.”
I recently encountered the Shema prayer that Jews (People of the book) recite daily, morning and evening. They also say this prayer as their last words.
I was struck by the similarity of these words that are in both the Torah and the first part of the Christian bible and the practices of Muslims.
The prayer is focussed on these lines:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV) – The foundations of the Shema prayer
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
This prayer is a statement of faith and offers praise to God. Most importantly it reminds us of the monotheistic faith that underpins Judaism, Christianity and Islam – a belief that there is only the same one God.
This prayer was declared by Moses (Musa – Arabic) as he addressed the people of Israel as they prepared to enter the new lands. In this prayer he urged them not to repeat the mistakes of their parents. The prayer teaches them to listen (the Hebrew word for listen is where this prayer gets its name) and love God with all their hearts and all their minds.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (ESV)
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
So lets seek to recognise our shared faith as “People of the Book” and step away from seeking to divide a faith God sees so clearly as one