In many ways it is similar to Christianity.
Some main differences, I feel, stem from the different images of the the primary role models, Mohammed and Christ.
Mohammed was a worldly leader while Christ was more of a spiritual leader. As such, Mohammed was far more involved in things like making laws, politics and, for instance, war. On top Mohammed during his life time started to codify his religion in a book.
That combined with the lack of a truly formalized, central, church has more or less frozen Islam. It is a highly dispersed DIY religion that has a low entry level, but is extremely resilient to change. Because Quran is written in Arabic, and there are no true ‘church’ guidelines, it is easily high jacked for political purposes especially in non-Arab countries. Like Christianity was in the past as well, when masses were in Latin and no one could read the bible for themselves.
Islam is a far more comprehensive lifestyle than Christianity. Yet… As stated above, it is far more complex and diverse than to allow a fully concisive nutshell that would do it right.