A comparative study of the concept of prophecy in Christianity and Islam

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August 2013
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Abstract
There have been many arguments and controversies as regards to the belief of prophecy in Christianity and Islam. The controversy is that Muslims respect the Prophets of Christianity and they expect Christians to respect Muhammad as a Prophet. This is because in Islam Jesus is highly respected as the second to last prophet though he is not seen as a deity, hence is not worshipped. Understanding the concept of prophecy in both religions is important as Christians and Muslims will understand and relate better with each other. Such a study is important in order to make people of both religions understand and tolerate each other more through mutual respect and trust for each other. Christians and Muslims possess many similarities as far as the stories of Prophets are concerned. The Bible and the Qur’an two sacred scriptures consist of warnings, reproaches, encouragement, commandments and teachings; hence many narratives appear to contain the same events and personalities. The study was based on the teachings of the Bible and the Qur’an. This approach ensured that the comparative study was based on facts and not on prejudice, assumption nor misunderstanding. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that Christianity and Islam are two monotheistic religions which historically evolved in the Asian Near East. This implies that they have several similarities but certain doctrines and beliefs make one different from the other. Although the stories of the prophets in both religions appear similar there are certain differences. This thesis argues that in spite of the differences of the concept of prophecy in both Christianity and Islam the adherents of the two religions can coexist because of the glaring numerous similarities in the concept between the two religions.
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Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy.
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