Judaism, Christianity and Islam
The monotheistic religions of the Middle East and the search for power by any means (reflections)
Danilo  Antón
These reflections only seek to show some aspects of the organized monotheistic religions that practically from their beginning were used as tools to obtain and preserve power and to gain control of territories, resources, societies and minds.
In the countries of the Middle East some of the most important religions emerged, from the point of view of the number of believers and their influence on the political and social geography of those nations.
Judaism emerged as a set of traditions, originally transmitted orally, that tell the legendary history of a people influenced by the intervention of a single God. Jehovah (Hebrew transliterated YHWH YHWH). This story is contained in the Torah, a sacred book that contains the foundational narrative of the Jewish people: their trials and tribulations, and their covenant with their God, which consists in following a way of life embodied in a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws. While the first prophet (Abraham) would have lived in the 20th century BCE and the second prophet who received the divine commandments in the 12th century BCE, most biblical experts believe that the Torah was actually written between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE , although some components may be older.
For its part, the second monotheistic religion that acquired historical importance derived from Judaism, is Christianity. It is based on the teachings of a prophet, Jesus, whose life is narrated in a sacred book generally called the New Testament, which is made up of four gospels officially authorized or canonical (Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Christianity also includes the holy books of Judaism, generically called the Old Testament. The real existence of Jesus has only been confirmed by the different Gospels, not only the official ones, but also several others that have been preserved or fragments are known, but that were not recognized by the ecclesiastical authorities. According to Biblical historians, the Gospels were transmitted orally and were only written between 65 and 100 DEC, that is, more than 30 years after the date Jesus was crucified.
Like Judaism, Christianity bases its religious system on the existence of a single God and the confirmation of the arrival of the Messiah announced by the prophets of the Old Testament, and whose death would allow to redeem humanity from its sins. The books include moral teachings transmitted by Jesus during his life.
Islam, which is also a monotheistic religion, developed as a religion in Arabia where a prophet (Muhammad), considered by his faithful as sent by God (Allah), preached a faith based on the ancient Jewish and Christian books to which added a new final and definitive message, the Koran, which contains the fundamental premises of the new religion. It states that “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. The Qur'an also defines the obligations of Muslims (faithful of Islam) including the five pillars of Islam, profession of faith, daily prayers, zakat (alms), fasting in the month of Ramadan and pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in life, and various moral teachings, many of which are covered in the other holy books (Old and New Testaments) and accounts of the life of the previous prophets, mainly Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Like the Torah and the Christian Gospels, the Qur'an was memorized by the followers of Muhammad and was only written or compiled several years later. In short, the three monotheistic religions began as oral traditions and only later, a few years, decades or centuries later, were they recorded in writing.
The faithful of these three religions are numerous. There are some 2,000 million Christians, 1,500 million Muslims and 15 million Jews. For this reason, to a large extent, the thoughts and actions of many societies that embrace these faiths are directly or indirectly influenced by the fulfilled or unfulfilled moral, social or political mandates of these religions.
Now, all these religions are native to the Middle East (Palestine, Israel, Arabia) and since its inception the accession of the peoples of that region have been disputed. The history of the Middle East is largely the confrontation of organized groups that in the name of these religions fought in successive wars for control of territories, resources and societies. In fact, these religions were the reason or the excuse for bloody confrontations, deaths, rapes, looting, torture, racial or religious intolerance, enslavement or ethnic cleansing that began more than twenty centuries ago and still continue today. Not only have these three religions confronted each other violently, but also different tendencies or sects in these religions have also.
These concepts refer to organized religions, different churches, and especially states and rulers who base their power on religion. In this sense, we can consider that organized monotheistic religions, practically from their beginnings, were used as tools to obtain and preserve power, and to better control resources, territories, societies and minds.
And they still are.