abrahamic REliGIONS Overview
There are three Abrahamic religions--Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. They are called Abrahamic religions because each believe they split at Abraham's wives and kids. Muslims believe they are descended from Ishmael, Abraham's first child with his wife's handmaiden Hagar. However, Jews and Christians believe they are descended from Isaac, Abraham's second child with his wife Sarah. Because the three religions split here, they have very similar creation stories.
CHRISTIANITY and Judaism
Christianity and Judaism basically have the same story of creation. Christian and Jewish scholars argue what came before creation of the earth. Some believe there was creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing, and some believe that there was disorganized matter that God organized into what we see today. However, most Christians and Jews are in agreement in what happens after that. They believe that God created the earth and everything on it in six days and then rested the seventh day.
Islam
Muslims believe very similarly as Christians and Jews about the creation of the universe. However, they differ in a few things. One thing is that Muslims don't believe Allah rested on the seventh day as the Quran says "We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six days, nor did any sense of weariness touch us" (Quran 50:38). Instead Muslims believe he settled on his throne and watched his creation. Another difference is, while most Jews and Christians believe that "day" is a literal 24-hour day, Muslims believe that it means a long period of time or an eon.
Some Helpful URls
http://www2.nau.edu/~gaud/bio301/content/iscrst.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246605/jewish/Creation-of-the-World.htm
http://www.dianedew.com/islam.htm
http://www.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_15.html
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246605/jewish/Creation-of-the-World.htm
http://www.dianedew.com/islam.htm
http://www.cs.williams.edu/~lindsey/myths/myths_15.html