Christianity and Islam are world religions. This means that they are common among different peoples, often very distant from each other, for example, both the French and the Serbs are Christians.
Both Christianity and Islam belong, along with Judaism, to the number of Abrahamic religions having a common source - the Old Testament. The basis of such religions is the belief in the One God (with complete denial of any other gods), proclaiming his will to man either directly - in the form of revelations, or indirectly - through prophets, special people chosen by Him for such a mission.
All these signs are characteristic of both Christianity and Islam, and this is their similarity. But there are many differences between these religions.
Concept of God
According to the Christian doctrine, God is one in three persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. In Islam, there is no idea of the Trinity of Godhead.
One of the main places in Christianity is the doctrine of the God-man - Jesus Christ, the Son of God (one of the persons of the Holy Trinity), who became a man and atoned for human sins by his death. Human and divine nature exist in him "inseparably-unmerged". In Islam, this is impossible: it is believed that Allah cannot appear in human form.
At the same time, Muslims recognize Jesus of Nazareth, but consider Him not the Son of God, but a man, a prophet, and not the most important in the history of mankind. Muslims also consider the founder of their religion - Muhammad - a prophet, although he is the most significant, they do not ascribe a divine nature to him.
The concept of a person
Both in Christianity and in Islam there is a concept of sin - a deviation from the will of God, to which man is subject, and the first sinners were the progenitors Adam and Eve. In Christianity, the sin of Adam is considered as the root cause of the universal sinfulness of mankind - the original sin, which is removed through the sacrament of Baptism performed by a priest. A person is freed from individual sins through the sacraments of repentance, in which the priest also takes part.
In Islam, it is believed that Adam was forgiven due to his repentance, the sin of the ancestors did not pass onto their descendants and is in no way connected with the sins of people who lived and are living in subsequent times. Every person sins because of the tendency to sin, which is inherent in a person, and can be forgiven by Allah in the case of sincere repentance. The sin of one person, according to Muslim beliefs, cannot influence another at all, so the idea of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, on which the Christian doctrine is based, seems absurd to Muslims.
Other differences
In Christianity, sacred actions are divided into rites and sacraments. The number of rituals can change, they can be performed by lay people (for example, to pray), the sacraments are established by God himself once and for all, there were and will be seven. In the course of the sacraments, divine grace descends on a person, while in a rite a person can only ask for it. Therefore, the sacraments are performed only by priests who have received grace through the sacrament of ordination.
In Islam, priests are people who know the Holy Scripture better than others, who lead common prayer, but who are not bearers of special grace, there is no concept of sacrament in Islam.
In Islam, the prohibition on some food products - pork, alcohol - is absolute; in Christianity, food restrictions are established only for the period of fasting. Christian fasts limit the composition of food, Muslim fasts limit the time of its intake.
A Muslim must at least once in his life make a hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca. In Christianity, pilgrimage to holy places is encouraged, but not required.
A Muslim man can marry a Christian or Jewish woman, but a Muslim girl should only marry a fellow believer. Among Christians, marriages with non-believers (including representatives of other Christian denominations) are prohibited to people of any gender.
These are just some of the differences between Christianity and Islam, there are many other differences.
