aprilDBQ3

  DBQ #3

  The attitudes of Christianity and Islam were similar but also different toward merchants, and the perspective of them somewhat changed over time. They both believed in doing good but while Islam didn’t mind you getting rich, Christianity did. Christianity, later on, started to drift away from their religion and used it to make more money, along with Islam. Documents 1, 3, 4, and 6 have to do with the attitude of Christianity, while documents 2, 5, and 7 have to do with Islam’s attitude.  In document 1 it talks about how people who are rich hardly get to enter heaven. From the viewpoint of God he doesn’t want you to just focus on making more and more money. This is the oldest document and it showed how people followed Jesus and what Jesus required of the people. Christians didn’t believe in trading a lot to become rich, but trading just enough. In document 3 a man becomes very wealthy and rich and begins to yearn for solitude so he donates his things to charity and becomes Christian. He stops being selfish and begins to think of others. In document 4 it talks about how people of Christian faith are ripping people off and selling things for more than its actual worth. This shows the beginning of when Christians started to drift away from their religion and focus more on making money. Document 6, the most recent Christian document, shows when they used their religion to make money. Which is what God doesn’t want. If there was a document from the viewpoint of a merchant barely making money, and dreams of becoming wealthy so he could feed his family, it would help us gain a better understanding.  In document 2 Muslims are shown not to be mean to eachother and that you should treat everyone equally. Just like with Christianity, this document, which is the oldest of the Islamic documents, shows how they should act with eachother. Muslims start out being kind to eachother, but as time passes they focus more on getting wealthy. In document 5 the people begin to focus more on making money because they start to raise their prices on things. Unlike the Christians, the Muslims weren’t really reminded of their faith and how big of a disappointment they would be to their God. The Christians were reminded of their faith by a merchant’s mother. In document 7 they, once again, begin to raise their prices but this time on cotton. From the viewpoint of a buyer they don’t like this because since prices keep going up they can’t afford it. This is the most recent document and as you can tell they are driven away from religion and following the way of trying to become wealthy.  The attitudes of Christianity was not to get too rich but some people still did. But later on were reminded of their faith. Muslims were similar to this but however they weren’t reminded to stay true to their faith.