Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 23, 1991 TAG: 9104020240
SECTION: DAYS OF REVERENCE PAGE: 11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE W. CORNELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Islam's month of Ramadan started earlier this week. Christianity's Holy Week begins Palm Sunday, leading to Easter on March 3l. Judaism's Passover begins Friday.
All three faiths are interlinked, and Christianity and Islam find prophetic roots in the older "mother religion" of Judaism.
This year's chain of observances opens in Islam which, in its own way, includes champions of all three faiths - Islam's founder Mohammed, the Jewish hero of Passover, Moses, and Christianity's savior, Jesus.
Muslims regard Jews and Christians as the "People of the Book," the designation applied to them by Islam's Scriptures, the Koran, referring to the Bible.
Islam is to many Westerners a remote, foreign faith, but the Koran says of Jews and Christians in Sura 3:64: "O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but God."
Ramadan is a month-long period of daytime and one of the "five pillars of Islam." Days are marked from sunset to sunset in the Islamic calendar, as in the Jewish calendar.
In Islamic thought, fasting points up limitations of self, that without recognizing limitations real knowledge is impossible. By imposing limits on indulgence day after day, Ramadan underscores a spiritual lesson of full truth only in God, as well as being a kind of purification to bring fresh strength.
Somewhat similarly, the week-long Jewish Passover, recalling the slavery of Jews and their deliverance by God, points up hopes of redemption from human limitations. A kindred note runs through the Christian concept of liberation of humanity from its failings through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Muslims have become a growing part of the U.S. population, but Islamic specialists say there is scant understanding of that faith, or of its connections with Judaism and Christianity.
A principle of Islam is belief not only in the Koran, but also respect for the Bible's Old and New Testaments, although contemporary versions of them are said to have become adulterated.
The Koran urges Jews and Christians in Sura 5:71-72: "O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from the Lord. . . . Those who believe [in the Koran], those who follow the Jewish [Scriptures] . . . and the Christians . . . on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
But there also are scrappy critiques of Christians and Jews. "They inherited the Book, but they chose for themselves the vanities of the world," deplores Sura 7:169.
The Koran emphasizes that the one, true God is the God of biblical accounts. They "received God's guidance" says Sura 6:90.
The main biblical stories are retold in the Koran, often with less detail and differing incidentals. Jesus is protrayed as born of the Virgin Mary, bringing the Gospel, performing miracles and ascending to God. Islam rejects basic Christian doctrines on Jesus' divinity, atonement for sin and resurrection from death.
Muslims and Christians envision a second coming of Jesus as judge at the end of time, and an eternity of peace and love. Jews generally consider Jesus a teacher, but still look for a deliverer.
by CNB