Frequently asked questions

This FAQ answers the questions readers ask most often. Short answers to the questions most often asked about the Abrahamic traditions, each with a link to a fuller account.

The FAQ: what are the Abrahamic religions?

The Abrahamic religions, also called the Abrahamic faiths, are the religious traditions that trace a spiritual or historical connection to Abraham: Judaism, Mandaeism, Christianity and Islam. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three great monotheistic religions, are by far the largest; Mandaeism is the smallest. See Religions.

Why are they called Abrahamic?

Each tradition looks back to Abraham as a founding figure: the father of the Jewish people, the model of faith for Christians, and a prophet and pure monotheist for Muslims. See Who Was Abraham?

Where does the term “Abrahamic religions” come from?

The phrase is modern. Until the middle of the twentieth century, Abraham was invoked in argument between the communities, each claiming to be the rightful heir of the promise made to him; the sense in which he stands for shared ground belongs to the decades after the Second World War, and spread further after 2001. The grouping is a convenience of recent scholarship and dialogue, and its boundaries are disputed. Comparative studies sets this out.

What are the three Abrahamic religions?

The three Abrahamic religions usually named are Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three monotheistic faiths that look to Abraham as their forefather. Abrahamic Religions also treats Mandaeism, a small tradition of Iraq and Iran that shares the prophets before Abraham, as a fourth type of Abrahamic religion, for the reasons given below. All four are set out on the Religions page.

What is Abrahamism?

Abrahamism is an informal name, found mostly online and in some languages other than English, for the Abrahamic religions taken together, or for the belief they share: that the one God made himself known to Abraham and his descendants. Scholars prefer to speak of the Abrahamic religions or the Abrahamic traditions, and no community calls itself Abrahamist.

Is Islam an Abrahamic religion?

Yes, and in the most direct sense. The Qur’an calls Abraham neither a Jew nor a Christian but a ḥanīf (حَنِيف, one inclining to the truth) and a muslim (مُسْلِم, one who submits to God), and commands the Prophet to follow the religion of Abraham (Qur’an 3:67; 16:123). It records Abraham and Ishmael raising the foundations of the Kaaba in Makkah (2:127), and Muslims ask blessings on Abraham in every daily prayer. Islam understands itself as the religion of Abraham restored. See The path of Abraham in the Qur’an.

Which Abrahamic religion came first?

As a continuous tradition, Judaism is the oldest: the religion of ancient Israel took shape in the first millennium BCE, and rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Christianity arose in the first century CE and Islam in the seventh; the origins of Mandaeism are debated, with most scholars placing them in the first centuries CE. Islam answers the question differently. It holds that the religion God has always asked of humanity is islām (إِسْلَام, submission to God), taught by every prophet from Adam and followed by Abraham, so that the first religion and the last are the same (Qur’an 3:19; 3:67). See the Timeline.

How do the Abrahamic religions view Abraham?

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all honour Abraham, in Hebrew Avraham (אַבְרָהָם) and in Arabic Ibrāhīm (إِبْرَاهِيم), as the man whom God called and with whom He made a covenant. For Jews he is the father of the nation and the first to enter the covenant, whose name God changed to mark him as the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5).

Christians look to him as the model of faith and the spiritual father of all who believe (Galatians 3:7). Muslims honour him as a prophet, the leader God made for mankind, and Khalīl Allāh (خَلِيل ٱللَّه, the intimate friend of God), whose religion Muslims are commanded to follow (Qur’an 2:124; 4:125). Mandaeism, alone of the four, does not accept him as a prophet. See Who was Abraham?

Do the Abrahamic religions share the same values?

In large part. All four teach that human beings are answerable to one God, and they share commands to worship Him, to be just, to care for the poor, the orphan and the stranger, and to speak truthfully. Those shared commitments have long served as common ground for dialogue between the communities; see The Amman Message and A Common Word. They differ on what God has revealed and how He is to be obeyed, and honest dialogue names those differences openly.

Who are the prophets of the Abrahamic religions?

All four traditions hold that God has spoken to humanity through prophets, and they share many of the same names: Adam, Noah and, for three of them, Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon. Judaism honours the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and holds that prophecy ended with the last of them. Christianity reads those prophets as foretelling Jesus, whom it regards as more than a prophet. Islam honours every prophet from Adam onwards, Jesus among them, and holds that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets (Qur’an 33:40). Mandaeism honours Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem and John the Baptist, and rejects Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad as prophets. See Figures.

Why are the Abrahamic religions sometimes called Western religions?

Because Christianity shaped the history and culture of Europe and the Americas, and Judaism and Islam were long present there, older textbooks grouped the three as the “Western” religions, in contrast with the “Eastern” religions of India and East Asia. The label is misleading. All four Abrahamic religions began in the Middle East, and most of their followers now live outside the West: by 2020 more Christians lived in sub-Saharan Africa than in Europe, and most Muslims live in Asia. See The population of the Abrahamic religions.

Is Mandaeism an Abrahamic religion?

Mandaeans share the prophetic line from Adam through Noah and Shem with the other traditions, come from the same Aramaic world of late antiquity, and have been recognised since the seventh century as the Sabians named in the Qur’an beside Jews and Christians. They do not accept Abraham, Moses, Jesus or Muhammad as prophets, and scholars more often classify the religion as Gnostic. Both points are set out on the Mandaeism page.

Do the four traditions worship the same God?

All four affirm one God. Jews, Christians and Muslims each understand themselves to worship the God of Abraham, sometimes called the Abrahamic God, and Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians, like Muslims, call God Allah. Mandaeans call God Hayyi Rabbi, the Great Life, and set the World of Light against a World of Darkness, a dualism the other three do not share. Beyond that each describes God differently, and believers and theologians disagree about how far their understandings coincide. See How the Abrahamic Religions Understand Monotheism.

What does the word “Allah” mean?

Allāh (الله, God) is the Arabic word for God. Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews use it as well as Muslims.

What is the difference between the Torah and the Tanakh?

The Torah is the first part of the Hebrew Bible, the five books of Moses. The Tanakh is the whole Hebrew Bible: Torah, Prophets and Writings. See Sacred texts.

Do Muslims believe in Jesus?

Yes. Muslims honour Jesus, called ʿĪsā in Arabic, as the Messiah and one of the greatest prophets, born of the Virgin Mary. They do not regard him as divine or as crucified. See Figures.

How do Christians understand the Trinity?

Christians believe in one God who exists eternally as three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The doctrine was defined at church councils in the fourth century.

Why is Jerusalem important to Jews, Christians and Muslims?

Jerusalem was the site of the Jewish Temple, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and, Christians believe, his resurrection, and the site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqṣā Mosque, associated with the Prophet’s Night Journey. Mandaean tradition remembers it as the city its forebears left. See Jerusalem in Three Traditions.

How does Islam regard the other Abrahamic traditions?

The Qur’an names the Torah and the Gospel as revelations from God, counts Moses, David, John and Jesus among the prophets, and promises reward to the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians who believe in God and the Last Day and do good. Muslims honour Mary, and a Muslim cannot deny any of the earlier prophets and remain a Muslim. Islam understands the Qur’an as the final revelation, confirming what came before it and restoring the monotheism of Abraham. Under Muslim rule these communities kept their worship as protected peoples, which is how the small Mandaean community survived to the present.

Which is the largest Abrahamic religion?

Christianity, the biggest religion in the world, with about 2.3 billion followers in 2020, or 28.8% of the world’s population, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2025 study of more than 2,700 censuses and surveys. Islam is second, with about 2.0 billion, or 25.6%, and it was the fastest-growing religion of the decade: the number of Muslims rose by 347 million between 2010 and 2020, more than all other religions combined. Judaism counted 14.8 million people, about 0.2%. See The population of the Abrahamic religions.

What percentage of the world follows an Abrahamic religion?

More than half. On the Pew Research Center’s 2020 figures, Christians (28.8%), Muslims (25.6%) and Jews (0.2%) together make up about 54.6% of humanity, some 4.3 billion people. Mandaeans are too few to change the total. See The population of the Abrahamic religions.

What are the major religions of the world?

The Pew Research Center groups the world’s population into seven categories. In 2020 they were Christians (28.8%), Muslims (25.6%), the religiously unaffiliated (24.2%), Hindus (14.9%), Buddhists (4.1%), followers of other religions (2.2%) and Jews (0.2%). Scholars often sort the religions into families: the Abrahamic religions of the Middle East; the religions of India, among them Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism; and the traditions of East Asia, among them Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto. The Abrahamic family is the largest of the three.

Where did the Abrahamic religions originate?

All four Abrahamic religions originated in the Middle East: Judaism started in the land of Israel, Christianity in Roman Judaea and Galilee, Islam in Makkah and Madinah in Arabia, and Mandaeism in the river country of Mesopotamia. Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran, also belongs to the region. See Places.

What do Judaism, Christianity and Islam have in common?

All three worship one God, look to Abraham as their forefather, honour Moses and the prophets, hold that God has spoken through revealed scripture, and expect a final judgement. All three teach prayer, charity and fasting, and a moral law drawn from revelation. Each pair also shares something the third does not: Judaism and Christianity the Hebrew Bible, Christianity and Islam the honour given to Jesus as Messiah, and Judaism and Islam an undivided God and a religious law for daily life. The Venn diagram below shows the shared ground; The Abrahamic family tree explains it.

What are the main differences between Judaism, Christianity and Islam?

They differ above all on God and on Jesus. Judaism and Islam hold that God is one without division; Christianity confesses one God in three persons. Judaism does not accept Jesus as the Messiah; Christianity worships him as the Son of God; Islam honours him as the Messiah and a prophet, born of a virgin, and denies that he is divine. They also differ on the last word of revelation: the Torah with its rabbinic interpretation, the New Testament, or the Qur’an. Comparative studies compares them point by point.

What is the difference between Judaism and Christianity?

Christianity began as a movement within Judaism and keeps the Hebrew Bible as its Old Testament, but the two part on Jesus. Christians believe him to be the Messiah and the Son of God, whose death and resurrection opened the covenant to all nations; Jews await a Messiah still to come and do not regard any human being as divine. Judaism lives by the commandments of the Torah as the rabbis interpreted them, while most Christian churches hold that the ritual law was fulfilled in Christ.

How are Judaism and Islam similar?

More closely than either is to Christianity in some respects. Both hold that God is strictly one, with no incarnation and no division; both are religions of law, with a detailed code for daily life (halakhah in Judaism, sharīʿah in Islam) covering prayer, diet and circumcision; and both forbid images in worship. Their scriptures are written in two sister Semitic languages, Hebrew and Arabic, and both trace their people to Abraham, through Isaac and Ishmael.

Are Jews Muslims?

No. Judaism and Islam are distinct religions with their own scriptures, law and communities. The Arabic word muslim, however, means one who submits to God, and the Qur’an uses it in that sense of earlier believers, including Abraham and the prophets of Israel who judged by the Torah (Qur’an 3:67; 5:44).

What is the Islamic Dilemma?

An argument made by Christian apologists, popularised by David Wood: that the Qur’an affirms the Torah and the Gospel, so that Islam is false whether those scriptures are reliable or corrupted. Muslim scholars answer that the Qur’an confirms earlier revelation as its guardian and criterion (Qur’an 5:48), and itself speaks of alteration in the texts of its time. See What is the Islamic Dilemma? and The Islamic Dilemma: the argument and the answer.

How can I suggest a correction?

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