Same
God?
Do
Muslims and Christians Pray to the Same God?
Abd al-Masih
Who
is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
This
is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
(Bible
- 1 John 2:22)
Allah
is only one Ilah (God).
Glory
to him (He is far too great)
that
he should have a son!
(Qur’an
- Sura 4:171)
In the Qur'an, Allah, the almighty creator, lord and
judge, appears as a lawmaker and merchant to whom 1.3 billion Muslims pray five
times daily. If you ask a Muslim, “Who is your Allah?”, you may get the answer,
“Allah is greater!”, Allahu akbar, which is the abbreviation of the
Islamic statement of faith. Allah is not only greater than the greatest—he is a
very distinct, faraway, unreachable god. He is stronger, more beautiful, richer
and more clever than anything we know. In the end every thought about Allah
remains insufficient and is wrong. He cannot be understood, reached or defined.
But he knows us and even determines our being in advance. He leads those he
wants to lead and misleads those he wants to
mislead (Sura 6:39, 13:27, 14:4, 16:93, 35:8, 74:31). He is not a personal god;
he stands beyond any emotion or definition.
The common Muslim was not satisfied with an abstract
understanding of their god, so of the 500 traits and names of Allah mentioned
in the Qur'an, 99 of the most beautiful ones have been singled out. Muslims
recite these 99 names as they count through pearl beads strung on a prayer
lace. This is a good work that will be accredited to their account. Al-Ghazali,
one of the most famous
Islamic theologians, has exegised these names and compared them with each
other. He found out that several of these key words overlap or nullify each
other. Thus, he concluded, “Allah is everything and nothing! We cannot
understand with our minds, we can only pray to him in adoration!”
Those who seek to learn about Islam will soon realize
that the Qur'an vehemently fights against the holy trinity. One reason for this
attitude is a Christian sect that existed in the Middle East in Muhammad’s days
proclaimed a trinity consisting of father, mother, and son—Allah, Mary and
Christ (Sura 5:116)! All Christian churches reject this error. However, many
Muslims think Christians believe Allah laid with Mary and she conceived Jesus.
Due to this blasphemy, Islam denies the triune God (Sura 4:171, 5:73).
In light of the blasphemous image described above,
many Muslims consider calling God Father
blasphemy. In the four gospels, Jesus used the word God 99 times. In
contrast He spoke of the Father 178 times! He revealed to us a close and
personal God who binds Himself to His children as their Father.
This new name of God, Father,
as it appears in the New Testament, is Jesus’ theological answer to Islam’s
picture of the Almighty. Muslims do not have what Christians have—personal
contact with God their Father, who knows them, cares for them and loves them.
Muslims do not have this direct connection to Allah. They remain slaves of
their ruler. They can never consider themselves his children.
The Qur'an strictly denies Jesus Christ as God’s son
17 times. Nevertheless, all Muslims believe in 'Isa (Jesus)—Mariam’s (Mary’s)
son, a prophet and messenger of Allah. They accept his birth by the Virgin
Mary, created through God’s word alone. This is the heritage of the christological
arguments of Arius against Athanasius (4th century AD). Thus, Islam considers
Jesus to be created by God but never conceived by Him.
Through this attitude, Muslims oppose the Nicene
statement of faith of the church. Muhammad’s followers deny every aspect that
Jesus is God, but they believe that:
- Jesus performed miracles of healing,
- Jesus raised three people from the dead by
His words,
- Jesus miraculously fed His followers,
- Jesus further developed Moses’ law,
- Jesus can renew His followers in humility
and mercy, and
- Jesus ascended to heaven and is currently
dwelling close to God.
Yet, they strictly deny that Jesus is God’s Son and
that He was crucified.
Muslims separate themselves from the
salvation which has been completed for them. They
dismiss the forgiveness of all their sins on Judgement Day, hoping to achieve
it through their own righteousness without the One who died on the cross. The
words “salvation” and “Savior” never appear in the Qur'an; the concept does not
fit into the Muslim’s way of thinking.
Furthermore, Islam denies the
divinity of the Holy Spirit, often referencing Allah’s spirit as the angel
Jibril (Gabriel) in the Qur'an. The Holy Spirit, in the sense of the New
Testament, does not exist in Islam. Allah’s spirit appears in the Qur'an 29
times as a created spirit, similar to angels or demons. As a slave, he is under Allah’s rule.
For this reason, there is no
revelation of the Father and the Son in Islam, because it is the Holy Spirit
who gives us understanding.
Additionally, there is no fruit of the Holy Spirit in Islam, but only
fruit of the flesh. Natural piety and righteousness
has little or nothing to do with the works of Christ’s Spirit. Also no Muslim has assurance of eternal
life. A typical answer to questions
concerning eternal life is “maybe” or “if Allah wills.”
A study of Islam reveals
that Allah can be neither the Father, the Son, nor the Holy Spirit. Allah is not the Holy Triune God. He is a completely different spirit than the
God of the Bible.
An area where Allah differs from
Biblical mandate is that Allah has no spirit of truth. In Islam, lying and
cheating are absolutely legal when dealing with non-Muslims. Surprisingly, the
Qur'an states Allah is the best deceiver: “And they (the Jews) deceived, and
Allah deceived, and Allah is the best deceiver” (Sura 3:54). Therefore it
only makes sense that to be a godly Muslim, or Allah-like, is to be a
good liar (see also Sura 8:30). English translations of the Qur'an usually
gloss over such verses. Christians who are willing to talk to Muslims should be
well prepared, otherwise, they will be cheated. Muhammad said several times,
“The holy war is nothing but cheating and tricking!” Jesus spoke of Satan
similarly: “There is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary, and
the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with
God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall
name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke
1:30-32). Yet, Islam would have us to believe that Jesus Christ’s Father sent
the same angel, Gabriel, to Muhammad to dictate to him that God has no son: “Allah
is only one God. Glory to him (He is far too great) that he should have a son!”
(Sura 4:171) Such revelations can not come from the same God!
“The Jews say, Ezra is the
son of Allah, and the Christians say, Messiah is the son of Allah. They say
this (only) with their mouths: They imitate the saying of those who were
unbelievers in former times. Allah’s curse be upon them (may Allah fight to
kill them)! How they are deluded away!” (Sura 9:30) From the standpoint of
Christ, Allah of Islam rejects that Muslims and Christians are believers of
the same God.
Then who is Allah? 1 John
2:22 provides the spiritual guideline for distinguishing such spirits: “Who
is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist,
the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
Islam is a religion that stands
against God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Muhammad suppressed,
persecuted, and expelled Jesus’ church from the very beginning. As Westerners,
we can hardly imagine the extension of hatred, degradation, and persecution,
that for 1,300 years Christians have suffered and are still suffering as
minorities in countries with Islamic majorities.
Whoever says
that Allah in Islam is the God of Abraham or the Father of Jesus Christ, has
not realized the apocalyptic attack of Islam. Christians must respond to the
call to take the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to Muslims, praying for
true repentance and true faith so that they may experience true peace, true
love and the true God.
www.grace-and-truth.org