On November 1st, 2018, Professor Daniels gave a lecture entitled “The Prophet’s Night Journey and Heavenly Ascent” which discussed the work of the same title. The work is part of the Muslim faith and recounts the story of Muhammad as he discovers that he is a prophet and travels to the different levels of Heaven. Something that interested me about this work was the fact that the Islamic faith is so similar to the beliefs of Christianity, yet that isn’t really recognized by either faith.

The story of Muhammad starts with a visit from an angel by the name of Gibril. Gibril acts as the principal guide to Muhammad throughout his journey. This is extremely similar to the Angel Gabriel in the Christian faith, who acted as a guide for Mary when she discovered that she was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus, the son of God.

 

 

One of the most obvious similarities between the two is that they are both monotheistic religions, meaning that there is only one superior being. For Christians, it is God the Father, and for Muslims, it is Allah. Each also has some form of Holy Scripture. For Christians, it is the Bible, which is the completed Word of God that was written by many with the help of divine inspiration. For Muslims, their scripture is known as the Quran, which is the Word of Allah written down as it was dictated to the prophet Muhammed. Both faiths also believe in the existence of many prophets who were sent by God and Allah, respectively. These prophets were chosen to spread the messages of their Lord. There are several prophets that the two religions share, such as Abraham and Moses.

Interestingly, the two religions differ when it comes to the topics of Jesus and Muhammad. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary and sent to save humanity. Muslims do acknowledge Jesus’ existence. In The Prophet’s Night Journey and Heavenly Ascent, Muhammad tells Allah, “You have taught Isa the Torah and the Evangel, and made him heal those born blind and the lepers, and raise up the dead with Your permission, and You have protected him and his mother from the cursed devil so that the devil had no path by which to harm them” (al-Maliki 30). In this instance, Jesus’ Hebrew name is used. Muhammad even encounters Jesus on one of the levels of Heaven. While they do believe he exists and that he was virgin-born, the Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but rather, just a prophet. Regarding Muhammad, Muslims believe that he was the last prophet sent by Allah, and, therefore, the final authority when it comes to spiritual matters. Christians, on the other hand, do not believe that Muhammad was any type of prophet or an important spiritual figure at all.

Discovering that there were this many similarities between the two religions was surprising to me, as I’ve gone to Catholic school my whole life and never really learned about other religions. I think it’s cool that there are so many things that correlate to one another, and maybe if more members or each faith were aware of this, there wouldn’t be as much hatred and discrimination regarding religion in the world.

Works Cited

Mālikī, Muḥammad ʻAlawī., and Gibril Fouad. Haddad. The Prophet’s Night Journey & Heavenly Ascent. Aqsa Publications, 2010.