Why did the Christian Jewish and Muslim religions all start in the Middle East?

Answer 1

Essentially, the answer is chance, or a combination of geopolitical influences that led to fertile grounds for religion. Or because Yahweh, God, or Allah chose it. (I'll leave that to you to decide).

I can't answer exactly why they all started in the Middle East; that's up for debate. The fractured, polytheistic societies that existed may have been easier to consolidate by a monolithic power. One might argue that the Middle East, being a crossroads between the East and West, and the North and South, was conducive to spreading religion that arose in that area. There are plenty of things one might argue, and surely it would be a blend of them.

Basically, however, these all originate from the samearea because they share the same roots (they are all Abrahamic traditions). Christianity arose directly from Judaism (though influenced by many non-Judaic powers, like the Roman Empire), and Islam came later. Much as Jesus did with Judaism, Muhammad took much of the essence of Christianity and Judaism, and formed it into a new religion.

Answer 2

Contributions by others:

Well I cant be exact but from what I know. Abraham was the 1st to be contacted by God to start the covenant. God promised Abraham a son from his wife Sarah. She Laughed at the idea as she was to old to have a child. (Menopause etc) I think it was 3 years passed and no son. So Sarah told Abraham to go unto (Have a child) with her maid so that there family might be carried on. He did so an had a son named Ishmael (This was not the one God promised and is believed to be so for the Islam faith). 2 years later (I think) and Sarah had a child named Isaac (This is the one promised by God) And he went on to form the Jewish Faith. In the testaments God promised a "Messiah" (Savior or Christ). He would be "God with us" and save his people from the punishment we deserve (This comes from the Jewish Faith). (Large amount of time passed) Then Jesus was born into the world as the Christ (Messiah, Savior) and told his disciples and people he preached to the way to salvation (Some Jews didn't think this is the Messiah promised by God, thus the religion still exists today). Thus those who follow Christ are the Christians.

Almighty Allah sent about 124,000 Prophets (may peace be upon them all) to preach Allah's message to human beings. Most of these sacred personalities were sent in Middle East, and Arabian countries. Judaism started when Hazrat Abraham AS proclaimed prophet-hood. Then came a line of Prophets like David, Solomon, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and many others who preached Judaism. Hazrat Jesus Christ was also sent to the Jews but they didn't believe in him. It was the start of Christianity. The last to come was Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) who also preached ONENESS of Almighty God but many of the Jews and Christians didn't believe in him. His followers are called the Muslims. This how Islam started in Arabian Peninsula and Middle East.

Answer 3

A:

Many religions began in what is now known as the Middle East, but others began elsewhere. It is not surprising that three very closely related religions all began in much the same area.

Judaism was the earliest of the three religions, but coexisted with many other religions that arose in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and elsewhere. What makes it unique among other ancient religions of the Mediterranean region is that it survived, and it survived because Christians chose to allow it to survive, although under almost constant persecution.

Christianity arose in the Middle East because it arose out of the Jewish milieu, centred in Palestine. Thus it is symbiotic that both Judaism and Christianity arose in the same area.

By the seventh century CE, Christianity dominated the western part of the Middle East, as well as North Africa and much of Europe, allowing no freedom of religion. The Persians controlled a large empire to the east, with established religions. The Arabian Peninsula sat between the two warring empires, but was not worth the military effort of conquest and was therefore outside the control of either empire. It was the only region between the Atlantic and Central Asia where it was possible for a new religion to develop, and it was in the Middle East. Christianity and Judaism had already made inroads into the peninsula and Muhammad's wife's cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, was a Christian, so Muhammad would certainly have been knowledgeable about Christian and Jewish beliefs. He taught the Arabs no new doctrine about God and did not think he was founding a new faith, merely bringing the old faith to the people and instilling moral virtues.

Answer 4

Tradition says that Judaism had its beginning with the patriarch Abraham in Ur. However, as the name 'Judaism' suggests, Judaism had its beginnings in the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah. The faith gradually evolved out of the polytheism largely shared with the northern kingdom, Israel, prior to 722 BCE when Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. Becoming monolatrous, then monotheistic by the time of the Babylonian Exile, Judaism continued to evolve during the Second Temple period. The Judaism we know today is the end product of Rabbinic Judaism that developed after the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 CE and the disbandment of the Jewish priesthood.

Christianity had its origins in Palestine, with the gospels describing Jesus preaching his message in Galilee, then in Judah.

Islam had its origins in Mecca and Medina, in south-western Arabia.

Answer 5

The origins of all three religions are distorted by tradition. The question can best be answered by looking at the traditional view and then summarising the conclusions of some scholars.

Judaism
As the earliest of the three religions, the true origins of Judaism are the hardest to untangle from biblical tradition. According to The Bible, Abraham was the first to worship God, who promised him that his descendants would occupy the land of the Canaanites. According to a later tradition, Abraham was the first to recognise that there is only one God. For most Jews, this is how Judaism began.

While Yahweh seems to have become the national God of the Israelites at a fairly early stage, there were other gods in the Hebrew pantheon. Scholars such as Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God) say that Yahweh was originally a storm god, very similar to the god Baal, who was also worshipped by the early Israelites. Gradually, Yahweh attracted all the attributes of Baal, and the separate worship of Baal seems to have diminished. Even El (or Elohim; the father of the gods) became identified with Yahweh over the centuries, as Judah's religious views seem to have become somewhat monolatrous in the late monarchy. The Book of Genesis was written during the middle of the first millennium BCE, largely based on myths and legends from earlier times.

Monotheistic Judaism dates from around the time of the Babylonian Exile, but still had as much in common with earlier Hebrew religion as with modern Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism, more or less represented in modern Judaism, began after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE.

Christianity
The gospels tell us that Christianity began with the story of Jesus of Nazareth, who was born in Bethlehem, Judea, and was crucified for our sins but rose from the dead. Most people are surprised to learn that we do not know who wrote the gospels, although they are attributed to actual people (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Those attributions only came about later in the second century, when the Church Fathers were attempting to establish who, in their opinions, probably wrote the gospels, but modern New Testament scholars say none of the gospels could have been written by an eyewitness to the events portrayed and that we do not really know who any of the authors were.

We now know that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were based on the Gospel of Mark, and that the Gospel of John was, in turn, loosely based on Luke, with some material taken direct from Mark. The author of Mark appears to have used the epistles of Paul as a starting point, but also including thoughts from pagan religions and Greek philosophy. There may well have been a historical Jesus, but it is not his story that we find in the gospels. We know from Paul's epistles that Christianity was flourishing in the Near East, Greece and even Rome by the middle of the first century, but we know little about its real origins.

Islam
According to Islam, Muhammad began receiving revelations from the angel Gabriel, in 610 CE. After two years, he began preaching and winning converts, initially among his family and friends. Of course, there is no direct evidence that Muhammad really received revelations from an angel, but there is little dispute that Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, originated with Muhammad. The Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad verse by verse and chapter (surah) by chapter over the next 21 years, often in response to a crisis or a question that had arisen in the little community of the faithful.

Muhammad taught the Arabs no new doctrine about God and did not think he was founding a new faith, merely bringing the old faith to the people and instilling moral virtues. Muhammad's wife's cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal was a Christian, so Muhammad would certainly have been knowledgeable about Christian and Jewish beliefs. Some material in the Qur'an can be identified as having been written during the early years in Mecca, and other material identified as written during the later years in Medina (Yathrib). Material from the Meccan period tends to reflect a more tolerant and peaceful view of Islam than does the material from the Medina period. This, and the fact that revelations often came in response to a crisis or a question that had arisen, points to an earthly origin of the Islamic holy book.

Answer 6

Allah knows better but maybe because it is arround the mid of the earth.