The Abrahamic religions, also referred to collectively as Abrahamism, are a group of Semitic-originated religious communities of faith that claim descent from the practices of the ancient Israelites and the worship of the God of Abraham. The term derives from a figure from the Bible known as Abraham.[1]
Abrahamic religion spread globally through Christianity being adopted by the Roman Empire in the 4th century and Islam by the Islamic Empires from the 7th century. Today the Abrahamic religions are one of the major divisions in comparative religion (along with Indian, Iranian, and East Asian religions).[2] The major Abrahamic religions in chronological order of founding are Judaism in the 7th century BCE,[3] Christianity in the 1st century CE, and Islam in the 7th century CE.
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are the Abrahamic religions with the greatest numbers of adherents.[4][5][6] Abrahamic religions with fewer adherents include the faiths descended from Yazdânism (the Yezidi, Yarsani and Alevi faiths), Samaritanism,[7] the Druze faith (often classified as a branch of Isma'ili Shia Islam),[8] Bábism,[9][self-published source] the Bahá'í Faith and Rastafari.[10][11]
As of 2005, estimates classified 54% (3.6 billion people) of the world's population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions, and 16% as adherents of no organized religion. Christianity claims 33% of the world's population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0.2%[12][13] and the Bahá'í Faith represents around 0.1%.[14][15]
