Orthodoxy and Islam: the attitude of the Orthodox Church, comparison of religions, main differences and similarities, opinion of priests and holy fathers

What kind of religion is this

Islam is the youngest, but at the same time the 2nd most followers (after Christianity) religion in the world. In 28 countries of the world it is considered state, and the total number of its followers is about 1.8 billion people. Many people have heard about its main book - the Koran and the famous prophet Muhammad, but few people know its main theses, which makes it difficult to perceive the religion objectively, without hatred, which is generated by many rumors and a basic lack of knowledge.

Muslims believe that the Quran is a divine guide for humanity

It arose at the beginning of the 7th century AD. in the city of Mecca, where paganism was widespread at that time. At that time, Muhammad lived there, a simple merchant who, according to him, received a number of revelations in the cave about the nature of Allah and the new religion - Islam.

Read about other religions:

Orthodoxy and Buddhism
Orthodoxy and Judaism
Orthodoxy and Baptism

In fact, history excludes the divine revelation of the prophet and tells a different version of the emergence of this movement. At that time (7th century AD), Christianity was actively spreading and, as a result, it was overgrown with third-party heretical teachings. These included the Aria sect, which believed that Jesus Christ was nothing more than a prophet and rejected his Divine Essence.

Thus, they argued that there is only God the Father, one, and rejected the dogma of the Trinity as the Triune Lord (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Due to disagreements with the clergy and after the Council of Nicea (325 AD), Arius was expelled and fled to the East, where he met with Muhammad, who adopted his views and decided to found his own religion, which would unite the Arabs and allow them to create a strong and powerful state.

During his lifetime, Muhammad formulated 5 pillars on which Islam relies to this day:

confession of the monotheism of Allah and recognition of Muhammad as a prophet;
performing namaz - 5 daily prayers;
fasting during the holy month of Ramadan;
pilgrimage to Mecca;
payment of taxes in favor of those in need.

Later, they were joined by a number of rules and laws, such as jihad - a war with one’s own passions.

Consider a situation where supporters of one religion criticize another. If things that are absurd in “one’s” religion do not seem so, then in another religion they are immediately noted. And sometimes scientific and philosophical arguments of atheists are even used just to “offend the feelings” of opponents, but they do not work when it comes to “truth.”

Let's see how supporters of Islam criticize Christianity. To what extent is the criticism justified and are there any contradictions? Let us say right away that separate “criticism”, which is now on the list of prohibited materials, will not appear here. There is nothing to regret here, since there are mainly calls to various spiritual deeds.

The Russian situation is such that official Orthodox Christians and Muslims are brothers forever. This happened largely due to the “tolerant” policy of these religions on the territory of the USSR. This was a forced measure of those years, since intolerant representatives of these religious cults were sent into exile or to a monastery. Only the accommodating and loyal remained.

This tradition has been preserved to this day, religious leaders meet and communicate as if there were no contradictions between their teachings, but fundamentalist movements have appeared on both sides. Because of this specificity, it is necessary to consider only the most general provisions in which Christians are wrong from the point of view of Islam.

The main contradiction between Islam and Christianity is that in Christianity there are “new entities”, that is, the so-called trinity, a triune god. In this sense, Islam is closer to Judaism, and, by the way, in the territory where Islam spread, there were many Jews. For example, among the Berbers who subsequently converted to Islam, previously the elite mainly adhered to Judaism[1].

Moreover, it is interesting that in the initial period of the development of Islam, Muslims and Jews treated each other better than Christians, who, in turn, were hostile to these religions and tried to spread Christianity with fire and sword throughout the entire territory. In Islam, different principles operated: they were allowed to believe in one God or in Zoroastrianism, but there was a tax for this. As soon as people abandoned the “wrong religions,” they immediately stopped paying taxes. This is one of the main reasons why Egyptian Christians eventually converted to Islam.

Why do Muslims think the trinity is a wrong concept? It is considered pagan because God is one. The Koran points out this:

“O people of the Book! Do not be excessive in your religion and speak only the truth about Allah. Messiah Isa (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), is the messenger of Allah, His Word that He sent to Maryam (Mary), and the spirit from Him. Believe in Allah and His messengers and do not say: “Trinity!” Stop it, it will be better for you. Verily, Allah is the only God. He is pure and far from having a son. To Him belongs what is in heaven and what is on earth. It is enough that Allah is the Trustee and Guardian!

Although Jesus is revered in Islam as a prophet, the story about him, of course, differs from the gospel. Although the Immaculate Conception persists, it simply happened that way according to the will of God, God himself was not involved in the process.

The veneration by Christians not only of the triune God, but also of saints, priests and many others gives grounds for supporters of Islam to attribute such a phenomenon to polytheism. This is logical from the point of view of a believer, if you look at the basics, that is, Judaism. Also in Islam they refuse to believe in original sin and that one person can atone for the sins of another person or even an entire nation.

Muslims also note such phenomena as the accumulation of rituals, various services, religious processions and much more. All this, it seems to supporters of Islam, is excess, is displeasing to God, and is pleasing only to the clergy.

Christianity is a controversial religion, if only for the reason that it has adopted a position where certain dogmas are affirmed, but their observance is not only unnecessary, but even undesirable (“a true Christian” in modern society is, at best, a marginal figure). In Islam, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, religious leaders are much more consistent in observing religious rituals and even standards of life “according to the Koran.” The Koran contains not only cultural rules for life, such as “don’t wear such and such clothes,” but even political requirements that are observed in Islamic countries, they are higher than secular laws.

There are also borrowings in the criticism of Christianity. That is, Islam happily uses ancient criticism of Christianity, and partly even scientific criticism of Christianity. Moreover, this criticism, naturally, supposedly cannot be applied against Islam. For example, contradictions in the gospel are noticeable, while contradictions in the Koran are out of the question.

In this sense, Islamic theologians rely on historical criticism of the Bible, pushing conclusions to the fact that after the death of Jesus the apostles distorted the teaching, filled it with excessive mysticism and ritualism, especially in this regard, Paul tried, who, according to the New Testament, corrected Christian teaching in order to to recruit more supporters.

Moreover, Paul could not only interest the pagans with his teaching, but also those in power. After all, he said:

“Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's institution. And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.”

And the same Jesus, although he argued that Caesar’s is Caesar’s, was still never particularly loyal to the authorities and to the laws of the state. The difference between what Jesus preached and what Paul preached is obvious not only to Muslims. You can read more about this in the article “The Short Bible. New Testament - The Epistles of Paul.

To summarize, it can be noted that any religion, criticizing another, and similar, religion, relies mainly on the fact that the dogmas of their religion are true in advance, while the dogmas of another religion that contradict the “holy word” must be exposed. It turns out, to put it mildly, not very well.

Therefore, it is not surprising that a massive transition from one religion to another occurred in history either with the help of military force or with the help of various “handouts”. For example, a significant number of Jews and Christians converted to Islam only because Muslims were exempt from taxes.

It is quite difficult to say that any of these religions contains more reasonable arguments in its favor. Christianity and Islam to a certain extent follow the last books of the Old Testament, which were filled with prophecies about the imminent coming of both new prophets and deities. This is probably one of the main sources for the creation of new religions, which simply adapted to the surrounding conditions and political situation. Both in the case of Islam and in the case of Christianity, unification and centralization were needed, in certain regions political independence, which the state successfully implemented, using these religions in its interests.

Sources

Zand. Sh. Who and how invented the Jewish people, 2010.

Differences from Orthodoxy

How are these two religions different? To begin with, we should indicate their main difference - the recognition of the Trinity. If Orthodox Christians recognize the dogma of the Trinity (the Triune God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as equal and divine persons), then Muslims are ready to pray only to Allah - the only god, in their opinion. For Muslims, Jesus is just the prophet Isa, who is even less important than Muhammad.

Prophet Muhammad - founder of Islam

The Koran is an abbreviated version of the Torah, which does not include the minor prophets and the New Testament. The cuts concern not only a quantitative reduction, but also a qualitative one - many of the theses of the Holy Scriptures are cut down and presented in incomplete form in the Koran. At the same time, Muslims recognize the Bible as a holy book, but do not necessarily read it as their own.

Christianity is aimed at curbing one’s own passions and fighting hatred, lust, and love of money, but Islam, although it says that God desires mercy and alms, indulges human desires. For example, Allah prefers the distribution of alms, but He will not punish for the accumulation of wealth.

Regarding lust, Christianity allows you to have only one wife, but Muslims can marry 4 women and keep concubines, and their number is unlimited. Isn't this indulging one's own passions?

The Apostle Paul advised Christians to “pray without ceasing,” but Muslims need to do this only 5 times a day, and this commandment can be broken. Also regarding fasting: a Muslim must observe only 3 weeks of fasting in Ramadan, but the Orthodox Church sets aside almost 2/3 days of the year for this, and one should fast not until sunset, but for a full day.

Christianity allows the consumption of wine, but prohibits drunkenness, but Islam is categorically against the use of alcoholic beverages. In fact, only a strong-willed person can drink a small amount of wine and stop. The same applies to food prohibitions among Muslims - they are not allowed to eat pork, but at the same time it is permissible to return evil for evil.

Important! The differences between the two religions concern almost all spheres of life and theological issues, but if Christianity is aimed at the deep eradication of sin and the salvation of man through the sacrifice of Christ, then Islam is aimed only at superficial rules that are easy to follow, but at the same time sin remains and dominates in the human soul.

Catholicism and Orthodoxy

The Russian Orthodox Church announced the church’s attitude towards surrogacy back in 2013 during a meeting of the Holy Synod. The main agenda of the meeting was the issue of baptism of babies born through IVF and gestation by a surrogate mother. However, general judgments were also made regarding this reproductive technology. In general, the opinion of the confessors agreed with the position of the Catholic Church, which has more than once condemned the separation of the concepts of marriage and parenthood due to interference in the sacrament of the birth of a third person (meaning sperm and egg donors and surrogate mothers).

Such methods are interpreted by Catholicism as deeply dishonest. Taking biological material from a donor violates the right of a child to be born from parents bound by sacred bonds of marriage. In addition, the church sees reproductive methods as a violation of the right of people to become mothers and fathers through each other. Thus, it can be argued that surrogacy and Catholicism are deeply incompatible and even opposing planes.

The Orthodox Church has proclaimed several dogmas, largely repeating the position of Catholics. The main points expressed at the above-mentioned meeting:

The parents of a child born after another woman carries a fertilized egg are considered “customers.”
Surrogacy is unnatural and immoral, even if the woman does not receive financial compensation after the birth of the child.
This reproductive technology is seen as a violation of a woman’s dignity, because her body is used as a kind of incubator.
Surrogacy in Orthodox philosophy contradicts the possibility of forming a full-fledged connection between mother and child, which subsequently leads to complex consequences for each of the parties involved.
Information about the surrogate mother must be indicated in the baby's baptism document.

Thus, the two main branches of Christianity (Orthodoxy and Catholicism) have almost identical views on this issue. Since the church views surrogacy with great condemnation, few believers decide to seek the help of fertility doctors. However, it should be noted that the above dogmas were considered by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church not in the context of bioethics, but directly related to the sacrament of baptism. If you read the document drawn up during the meeting of the Holy Synod, it becomes clear that the church does not abandon its policy of openness to every person who strives for the salvation of the soul.

Baptism is considered as complete acceptance of religious teachings and consent to subsequently take the path of spiritual enlightenment. Although surrogacy is a sin in Orthodox philosophy, children not born to a biological mother are not considered sinners. On the other hand, there can be no talk of a worthy Christian upbringing of a child if his parents are not zealous parishioners and do not repent of their actions. Baptism is possible only after repentance brought by the surrogate mother or biological parents. This is necessary regardless of whether they consciously or unconsciously came to violate this dogma.

The only difference from the position of the Catholic Church can be considered the statement of the Russian Orthodox Church on the admissibility of using the IVF method if:

the genetic material of the spouses is used;
the fertilized egg is carried by the wife herself;
the integrity of the marriage union is not violated, and medical technologies simply help to overcome the difficulties that interfere with natural fertilization;
finished fertilized eggs are not destroyed.

Catholics are more principled in this matter. Just like the church’s opinion on surrogacy, artificial insemination “within a married couple” remains morally unacceptable for Catholicism (although less reprehensible), because there is a separation of sexual and reproductive acts. A husband and wife should not only give themselves to each other, but also glorify the triumph of life, creating the individuality of the fetus from the very first stages of its existence. If medicine and doctors intervene in the reproductive act, technology becomes superior to the nature and purpose of man, which leads to the destruction of the divine plan.

Surrogacy and Islam

Considering the harsh traditions of this religious movement, the question immediately arises: is surrogacy allowed in Islam? Muslim confessors emphasize that when using this reproductive technique, maternal functions are divided between two women: the one who provided the biological material and the one who carried the fetus, especially if the latter feeds the child with her breast milk after birth. Thus, the attitude towards surrogacy is ambiguous, because it gives rise to the problem of identifying the real mother, as well as a number of ethical, legal and spiritual-religious issues.

In particular, fuqahas oppose the widespread use of this method. In their opinion, medical intervention can have negative consequences, because wealthy families simply do not have to worry about all the nuances that arise during pregnancy and after childbirth. Women will be able to have up to 12 children a year from different surrogate mothers (in a healthy body, an egg is produced every month, ready for conception). However, a surrogate mother in Islam is not considered a sinner, like biological parents, especially if this is their only opportunity to continue the family line and experience the joy of parenthood.

The only thing is that a number of requirements and conditions must be met:

the surrogate mother must be married;
It is necessary to have permission from the husband of a woman who agrees to bear the child of another couple;
before implantation of the embryo, a woman should not have sexual relations with her husband for three menstrual cycles (about 3 months) to eliminate the possibility of intrafamilial pregnancy;
material costs are borne entirely by the father of the child to be born (during the entire pregnancy and for approximately 40 days after birth);
the child born and the surrogate mother fall under the same category of canonical prohibitions as in the case of natural conception and birth (prohibition of sexual relations, related marriages, etc.);
the surrogate mother has the right to insist on breastfeeding in order not to expose herself to physical suffering and to provide the baby with an optimal set of nutrients that are not found in artificial milk.

Judaism

You can hardly hear from Jews that surrogacy is bad, because their religious canons fully support the desire of any woman to become a mother. Of course, there are some nuances depending on the specific concession. For example, Reform Judaism separates children by birth and upbringing. Orthodox Jews are convinced that a child belongs only to the religion of the woman who gave birth to it. That is, the choice of a surrogate mother can only be made among Jewish women. The conservative movement of Judaism adheres to the same view, because according to its supporters, the birth of the soul occurs precisely in the mother’s womb.