Similarities Between Judaism And Islam

Judaism and Islam are very different religions but in particular aspects of their beliefs and practices some similarities can be shown. This essay will display the similarities and differences between the two religions in the area of observances.

Praying is a way of connecting with god. Muslims and Jews have some similarities between them as they both have set amount of times to pray and they both have a particular way to pray, however muslims pray 5 times a day (dawn, noon , mid afternoon, sunset and nightfall ) and Jews pray three times a day (morning afternoon and nightfall).

When muslims and Jews pray they have to be clean and they’re environment has to be clean. Before praying a Muslim is to make wu’du (washing of the body) , they
Fasting in Arabic is a sawm and in Hebrew it’s Tzom. Fasting is a period of time where you are not aloud to eat or drink.muslims fast whilst daylight for the entire month of Ramadan and if they miss any days in this month they have to make them up before the next Ramadan. However in Judaism there are 2 fixed 25 hour fasts and 5 daylight fast every year.

Muslims and Jews are required to make a pilgrimage. Muslims go to haj to the ka’ba in Mecca and Jews go to the temple in Jerusalem they call this hag. When they’re at Mecca or Jerusalem they circle the temple or ka’ba 7 times. When going on haj or hag they have to sacrifice ( Korban / Qurban) made on a certain animal.

Jews and Muslims are told to give charity. Giving charity is a way to strengthen community’s and could be crucial to the needy and also the wealthy. In Islam charity is apart of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims are told to give 2.5% of there wealth to charity. However Jews are advised to give 10% & 20% of their income to charity. Charity should be given
In Islam there is always 12 months in a year. In both religions there is 29-30 days in a month. In the Islamic calendar there is 34-355 days in a year. However there are the 353-355 day in a Jewish year , although there are 383-386 days in a Leap year for Jewish people.

In both religions there a forbidden and no forbidden food. Jews don’t eat any animal that doesn’t chew cud , or have cloven hooves. Muslims and Jews don’t say swine , certain birds and meat that wasn’t ritually slaughtered. Blood on meat is forbidden in both religions. Muslims can eat creature form the sea as the sea food is halal however Hamada sunnis echo the Torah and only permit fish. Jews believe that only creature with fins and scales are alowed to be eaten nuyvand other creature drawn form the ocean is forbidden.

Muslims and Jews slaughter the animals slightly the same way as they cut across the neck with a non - serrated blade in one clean attempt inorder to sever the main blood vessels. They both say a specific prayer before each act e.g. muslim slaughterers say “by the name of god the most gracious”, the spinal cord must be avoided during slaughtering, the blood must also be drained from the animal. After slaughtering the animal must be examined to ensure it fit for consumption. Slaughtering must be done by a pious Jew in Judaism and in Islam it can be done by a pious