Abrahamic religions
category of religions considered as coming from the legacy of Abraham
The Abrahamic religions are a set of monotheistic religions that respect or admire the religious figure Abraham as a patriarch and/or as a prophet, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as smaller religions such as the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism. The term may also include religions such as Yazidism, Mandaeism, Yarsanism, Shabakism, although their status as Abrahamic religions is highly controversial and hotly debated because their doctrines set them significantly apart from other Abrahamic religions. The religions of this set share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrast them with Indian religions, Iranian religions, and East Asian religions, although some smaller Abrahamic religions, such as the Baha'i Faith, are also Iranian religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are the three largest Abrahamic religions, with Christianity and Islam being followed and adhered to by around half of the world's population. The term, introduced in the 20th century, replaced "Judeo-Christian" to include Islam as an Abrahamic religion and acknowledge differences between Judaism and Christianity, while the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism were recognized and classified as Abrahamic religions by a significant minority of scholars in the 20th century. However, the term has been criticized by some scholars for reportedly oversimplifying cultural and doctrinal nuances between the different religions.
Usage
The term Abrahamic religions (and its variations) is a collective religious descriptor for similar and closely related elements shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as the smaller religions such as the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism. It features prominently in interfaith dialogue and civil discourse, as well as academic discourse. The term appears for the first time in the second half of the 20th century.
Although historically the term Abrahamic religions was limited to just Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, restricting the category to these three religions has come under criticism.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Abrahamic religions” as category of religions considered as coming from the legacy of Abraham. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q47280. The Library of Congress control number is sh2008008229. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Abrahamic religions” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.