Jesus and Muhammad: Commonalities of Two Great Religions

Hummel, assistant professor in the department of public administration at Bowie State Univ., Md., who focuses on the role of religiosity in public decision-making, starts this work with a simple question: what if there were more Christians and Muslims could do to foster understanding and respect, rather than antagonism and distrust? To achieve this end, the author sets up a comparison of the lives and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad, but told from a Muslim perspective. Hummel attempts to bridge gaps between Christian and Muslim communities by exploring the teachings of Jesus and Muhammad in the Gospels and the Quran, respectively. The result is a text that is one part interreligious dialogue and one part defense of Islam’s teachings and claims concerning Muhammad. As such, the book is part of a lineage of texts by Muslim apologists (for example, Ahmed Deedat and Zaid Shakir), but unlike those writers Hummel strikes a conciliatory tone often missing in other polemics. As he states, Christian readers may find his interpretations uncomfortable; however, many readers will find this book helpful in understanding how to interpret the Quran in the context of Christianity’s core texts and how Muslims view Jesus and his teachings. In a context where the Muslim voice is often muffled, this is a welcome work to help non-Muslims better understand where Islam stands in relation to Jesus and the Gospels. (July)