If Jesus and Muhammad met, would they become buddies?

But I thought there was only one God, which means the our God and Allah were the same. Two people worshiping the same God can't be homies?

Have you ever been to Northern Ireland? Protestants and Catholics worship the same Christ, but can't stand the sight of each other's shadow.

How effing stupid is that. Probably Trump's fault.

Glasgow, in Scotland, is almost as bad but there it has a lot to do with football (soccer). Rangers fans are Protestants, Celtic fans Catholics - and when those teams play each other, they have armed security guards and chain link fences topped with razor wire to keep the two sets of fans apart. The Tims and the Huns are maniacs. This post was edited by Slartibartfast at March 1, 2018 9:46 PM MST

"Friendship I seriously doubt." >>> well, more than friendship, according to the quote below. Nothing less than survival of Jewry itself. It's right there in the hard-hitting, short, three-word, opening sentence that doesn't mince its word.

"Islam saved Jewry. This is an unpopular, discomforting claim in the modern world. But it is a historical truth. The argument for it is double. First, in 570 CE, when the Prophet Mohammad was born, the Jews and Judaism were on the way to oblivion. And second, the coming of Islam saved them, providing a new context in which they not only survived, but flourished, laying foundations for subsequent Jewish cultural prosperity - also in Christendom - through the medieval period into the modern world."

This post was edited by CLURT at March 3, 2018 7:01 AM MST

Is the Israeli still friends with his Muslim rescuer? I've rescued strangers as a volunteer firefighter, I didn't usually make friends with them, indeed never even saw them again.
Also the Arab/Israelite conflict goes deeper than religion,  it's an internecine fratricidal war that goes all the way back to Abraham. Children of Ishmael (Abraham's son by Hagar) vs children of Isaac (Abraham's son by Sarah). Islam isn't just Arabs anymore, it's the dominant religion in much of Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia) and among some African communities as well - but the Prophet (peace be upon him) was quite definitely of Ishmaelite descent. Not friendly with Jewish folks, although he did advocate mutual respect.

"I've rescued strangers as a volunteer firefighter" That's very public spirited and noble of you. "I didn't usually make friends with them," would also be said by volunteers in a soup kitchen and "indeed never even saw them again." might be said by those who go on volunteering spells away from home. Those are all different from the case of the Muslim guy in the video. He did not step in as part of any volunteering job he was on. What the Muslim guy did goes not only beyond call of duty but beyond some friendships. Friends might not [indeed in this case did not] do what the Muslim guy did.

I also agree that "the Arab/Israelite conflict goes deeper than religion" as do the Rabbis in the video below who take to the streets to openly testify, from personal experience of peaceful neighbourly coexistence and cooperation in Palestine itself, that it is not a religious conflict. 



Yes, writers of the Hebrew Bible [which the Christians refer to as the Old Testament] who were descendants of Isaac, Abraham's second son [by his first wife Sarah] wrote rather derogatively about Ishmael and his descendants. The Arabs are descendants of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham through his second wife Hagar. The term Jews refers either to the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, who settled in Judea or to the descendants of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. 

You're also right that since the adoption of Islam in many parts of the world Arabs have become a small minority within Islam. They make up only 15% of the world's Muslims.

Mohammed was invited to the city state of Yathrib to undertake an extremely difficult task of building peace between its different tribes which included Jews. To be successful he had not only to be fair to all citizens of the state but to be seen to be fair. He could not afford to be "Not friendly with Jewish folks" of the city. He needed everyone to cooperate in the defence of the city against wars waged on it by Mecca, the city state where he was born and where he spent over half a century of his life. He was naturally "Not friendly with Jewish folks" who treacherously sided with the Meccans. His success in bringing about prosperity and fame to the city state through uniting its ethnically and religiously diverse people led to the city being called Medina-to-nabi or "city of the Prophet" soon to be shortened to al-Medina or "The City" and later, and to this day, just Medinah or City. It's probably the only city known throughout the world more by the word City than by its name.

Yes...I am a Jew, and my colleague who taught in the classroom next to me, Mohammed, is a Muslim from Egypt. We were buddies.

Excellent. There should be no taboo about saying so. Don't let those who want to divide and control erect barriers between people.

I've added more commonality in a new #1 to my answer.

Both of us were appalled at what was going on in the Mideast.

TY Einsteinium. Many people with a sense of justice and feelings for fellow human beings are appalled, irrespective of religion or ethnicity.

Einstein is believed to have written in 1929 to Chaim Weizmann, "If we do not succeed in finding the path of honest cooperation and coming to terms with the Arabs, we will not have learned anything from our two thousand year old ordeal and will deserve the fate which will beset us." Nine years later he's reported to have said, "I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state."