Comparing Judaism and Islam Essay Example for Free

Comparing Judaism and Islam Essay Judaism and Islam are two of the worlds oldest, and largest monotheistic religions. These religions share a variety of customs, beliefs, and even practices. But at the same time, there are enough differences to make the two religions and cultures oppose each other greatly. Even some similarities between the two have been the source of conflict for thousands of years. Both the Jewish and Muslim faith believe in one God. Being monotheistic means just that, the belief in one God. This is the most obvious similarity between the two religions. In fact a Muslim is defined as anyone who says There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God. and the basic creed of Judaism says Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Judaism and Islam both have Holy Books from which religious teachings are taken. The Muslim Holy Book is called the Quran, it is spelled in English in many different ways Koran, Kuran, this is because Arabic is hard to translate. The Quran is the word of God as reveled by the prophet Mohammed. The Jewish Holy Book is referred to as the Hebrew Bible. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible is called the Torah. This is the part of the bible lays out a system of moral and religious conduct. The Hebrew Bible was put together in the 1st century A.D. by rabbis and teachers of the Jewish text. The Hebrew Bible and the Quran both set up a system of law for the followers of the Jewish and Muslim faiths. The Hebrew Bible, the book of the Jewish faith sets up more of a code of conduct, a system of moral and religious conduct that is called the halavhah. This addresses how families should be run, personal ethics and manners, social responsibilities, and what people of the Jewish faith should and should not eat. Dietary guidelines are very important in the Jewish religion, everything that is eaten must be Kosher, meaning it is prepared a certain way. The Quran goes one step farther in setting boundaries for its believers. This book of the Muslim faith sets the rules for an Islamic state. Also there are strict rules on women, families, and daily life that are addressed in deep detail in the Quran. Polygamy is accepted in the Quran, a man may have no more that four wives. And women are actually supposed to be mostly equal to men, yet modest.  Equality of women is not always practiced in some Middle Eastern and Islamic countries. As with most religions Islam and Judaism have a variety of holidays. Some are to commemorate an event of the the past, some to celebrate a new year, or maybe the passing of a certain number of years. Ramadan, a holiday celebrated mostly by Sunni Muslims, happens during the ninth month of the Muslim year. This was the month when the Quran was reveled for the guidance of mankind. During this holy month Muslims fast and abstain from sex during the daylight hours. It is a very holy time and is taken very seriously. In the Jewish faith there is a similar holiday called Passover. This holiday lasts for seven days and commerates the deliverance of Israel from slavery. Passover more specifically refers to the evening when the angel of death passed over the houses of all in Egypt killing the first born of each home that did not have lambss blood around the door. During this holiday Jews are permitted only to ear unleavened bread called matzo during the daylight hours, much like the Ramadan fasting. Jews also hold feasts during the first two nights of this holiday. A house of worship is an important component of most religions in our world today. Islam has the Mosque, a place of prayer and teaching. Judaism has the Synagogue, also a place of prayer and teaching. In both these places people gather to perform the customs that are laid out in their religious scriptures. Unlike some religions in the world today both Judaism and Islam require their believers to pray multiple times a day. Jews pray three times a day, once in the morning, once in the noontime and once in the evening. Though this practice is more of a personal choice than the strict guidelines of prayer set in the Muslim religion. In the Quran there are five pillars of the Muslim faith: The first is profession of faith which basically means a Muslims must constantly and openly profess their faith. The second is prayer, which happens five times a day. The third is giving alms to the needy. The fourth is fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. And the fifth is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The second pillar of faith is the  practice similar to the Jewish practice. Five times a day Muslims must pray facing the holy city of Mecca. This however is a very strict prayer, maybe a bit different from the Jewish tradition, but still the same basic concept. Judaism is the oldest of the three major monotheistic religions. The religion began in the time of Abraham which would have been about 1900 B.C, over 3,000 years ago. In many ways this has made the Jewish religion and its followers very strong in their beliefs. Islam, on the other hand, was not founded until 570 A.D., some 2,000 years after the beginning of Judaism. Many Jewish believers will use this difference as an argument. They are the older of the two religions, and so they were the first people in the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine) and so they should be entitled to it and no one else. However, Abraham had two sons, Issac the leader of the Hebrew people and Ishmael, the leader of the Arab people. Though not all Muslims are Arab, the majority of the Muslims in Israel are Arab. So Muslims will use this argument by saying that Ishmael was the first son of Abraham and God told Abraham that He would take care of his first born, so the Muslims have just as much right to the area as the Jews, no matter who was there first. Though there are many similarities between Islam and Judaism, the few differences however large or small seem to greatly outweigh the amazing likenesses for the thousands of followers of both beliefs. These differences as well as the continuing argument over the promised land of Israel/Palestine continue today to escalate the war in the sacred area and drive a wedge even further between the two groups. The truly frightening part of all this is that Holy Wars are extremely hard to resolve. When two groups are fighting over land that was promised to them by a divine entity thats existence cant even be proven, there arent a whole lot of options for peace. All the world can do is educate themselves and try to accept the different religions and continue to look for some sort of compromise.

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No matter how many situps you do, if you have excess belly fat, you'll never see results, because the fat will be covering up your muscle definition. This doesn't mean you should eliminate situps from your workout, because as part of your core, they can promote back health, and improve your posture, athletic performance, and balance and stability. (See References 1) You should, however, incorporate fat-burning exercises into your workout to get visible results. The Spot Reduction Fallacy To lose body fat, you must burn more calories than your body uses every day. It takes a deficit of 500 calories a day to lose 1 pound of fat in a week from all over your body including your belly. Situps alone don't burn enough calories to have a big enough impact and they won't magically spot reduce fat from your belly. To make matters worse, if you only do situps, hoping to combat belly fat, you're building the muscles under the fat. As they get stronger and bigger, they can push your belly out even further. (See References 2) Doing Situps to Shape Up Situps work your rectus abdominis at the fr...

Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath Essay

Canterbury Tales is a story written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer was satirical with most of the characters in Canterbury Tales. The story tells about the journey of a group of pilgrims to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas a Becket and the stories they tell along the way. The pilgrims are in a competition to see who can tell the best story. The host of the Tabard is in charge of the competition and giving a complimentary dinner to the winner with the best story. Each one of the pilgrims stories reveal a little about them, their personalities and their morals. The pilgrims include people like Chaucer himself, a Knight, a Prioress, a Monk, a Franklin, a Parson, the Wife of Bath and others. Most of the satires of these characters would be the same today as it was back then. For example, the Wife of Bath’s satire would remain the same today, but her occupation would be similar to that of the actress, Joan Collins; both have given out advice due to all of their experience and resolved issues with women in relationships. In the same way that Joan Collins gives advice to women, the Wife of Bath gave advice to women. Joan Collins is a British actress and author who normally plays an adulterous woman in movies and television shows. She writes books giving tips to love and life. Joan’s books include Love & Desire & Hate, The Joan Collins Beauty Book, and Joan’s Way: The Art of Living Well. The Wife of Bath is a slightly satirical character in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Wife of Bath tells a story in Chaucer’s story; it tells of a Knight who was told to find the thing that women most desire. The Knight found the answer to be that women want to have sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. At the end of her tale, the Wife of Bath asked Christ to send women husbands who are â€Å"meek and young and fresh in bed,† (page 150). She wanted women to be able to have complete control over their husbands. The Wife of Bath places a curse on husbands who refuse to be controlled by their wives. Also, the two ladies, the Wife of Bath and Joan Collins, both have the same amount of experience in relationships and marriage. Even though she was married five times, Joan wrote in her autobiography that she â€Å"recounted entanglements with numerous Hollywood stars, near-stars, and others,† (â€Å"Joan Collins†). Like Joan Collins, the Wife of Bath married multiple times and gained wealth from all the marriages. The only difference between the two people, Joan and the Wife of Bath, is that Joan divorced her husbands and the Wife of Bath’s husbands died. So the Wife of Bath was widowed while Joan Collins was divorced. Among the many husbands that they had, Joan Collins and the Wife of Bath were two highly listened to ladies. Like the Wife of Bath stated, â€Å"[she] believes that having experience is the greatest authority, and since she has been married five times, she certainly considers herself an authority on the remedies of love.† (â€Å"Wife of Bath†). Even though neither woman had a long and lasting marriage, they gave out advice on relationship and love. Joan viewed love as something you have to work on because marriage is hard work and does not come easily. The Wife of Bath’s view was always for the woman to have the upper hand in a marriage. She believed they should be in control of their husband or lover at all times. She also stated that if a husband cannot confine to the will of his wife he should be cursed to death. The Wife of Bath’s satire in Canterbury Tales can be easily seen remaining today, due to all the similarities between Joan Collins and the Wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath was never a great role model for anyone to look up to but people listened to her anyways. All five of her marriages led people to believe that she knew what she was talking about. As she was back then, the Wife of Bath would still be the same person. She would still be a wealthy, flashy woman who did not have the best of luck with men. All in all, whether it is in the future or past, the Wife of Bath’s satire can exist. She was someone who liked to stand out and draw attention to herself. She loves superiority and control over other people, especially her husbands and lovers. Today, the Wife of Bath’s satire would be somewhat identical to the actress and author, Joan Collins. Completely as she was then, the Wife of Bath would exist today.

Sociology Of The Body How Our Modern World Affects Our...

Sociology of the body examines how our modern world affects our physical and symbolic bodies. Institutional forces play a major role in the changes that our physical and symbolic bodies go through. In fact, sociology of the body can be seen through our health, body image, and sexuality. Many people spend countless hours unsatisfied with their appearance, and some actually believe that it actually affects how people view themselves as human beings. However, people really only remember you how your treat them. The most important category within the sociology of the body is health and illness. Without health, our body wouldn’t function normally. In addition, a growing number of people feel ashamed about their bodies and tend to diet too often†¦show more content†¦The men in these advertisements look nothing like me, despite me being tall, it is still not enough. The media has put into my perception that slender, though muscular, bodies are more successful in romance, car eer and are self-confidence. These assumptions that the media has portrayed in my mind has left me questioning myself about my own physical body. I quite remember looking at the mirror and seeing that I had belly fat and my arms looked like a shrimp’s compared to the ideal men. I felt incompetent and worthless because the ideology that was put into my mind and my assumption that without the ideal body my career and romance life would come to an end. So I decided I needed to change, so I signed up for the gym to bulk up. This was no accident that I retreated to the gym, supposedly the media idea of achieving the ideal body is realized by working out, dieting, and cosmetic surgery. Pressure was also put on me by women, friends, other men and my parents, especially my father. Through advice like â€Å"Be a Man†, something that is easily said, but carried the weight of its message. I was expected to take charge. So I did by taking control of my body with exercise and drink ing protein shakes and cutting down my food intake to meet the standards of society. This provided me with a sense of direction, control and achievement; however, it risked my health with symptoms of having eating disorders. Similarly, I have seen many men and women, mostly women,