This week I had a Christian, a Mormon, and a Muslim all tell me that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. I went down and talked to some Muslim friends and got their thoughts. Many of them affirmed that Christians and Muslims worship the same God and went on to say the only difference was who we think Jesus is. An Imam told me Islam and Christianity are two paths side-by-side going to God, but then he proceeded to try to convert me to Islam, which didn’t seem consistent. In this post I try to bring up points to consider in making your own evaluation.
First off, I want to affirm that we should love and respect our Muslim friends and neighbors. I also think we can learn a lot from them. Today I learned from one guy a lot about their culture’s views on dating and courtship, which I think we could learn from.
Okay, now as an example, look at a conversation I had the other day:
Bob: ”Hey, do you know a Mike who goes to your church?”.
Me: ”Tall guy, longer shaggy brown hair, goes to the U of M?”
Bob: ”No, he’s about medium height, clean-cut, married, works at X company”
Given the details, it does not seem like we are talking about the same Mike. Here are the options:
1) We are talking about different Mikes, or
2) One or both of us got the description of Mike wrong but we are actually talking about the same Mike
We often identify people by descriptors about that person, like in the example above. The same is true for God. If Muslims and Christians worship the same God, it would be likely that they would talk about God in the same way. In conversations with Muslims, there are a lot of big things in common between the Christian God and Allah:
- God is merciful and forgiving and can forgive us of sin.
- God is gracious.
- God is perfect and does not sin.
- God is all-powerful and all-knowing.
- God is sovereign over all things.
- God is eternal and invisible.
- God’s ways are beyond our understanding.
- God is creator.
- God is one.
But there are also some very big differences that, as we talk, become the big points of contention (note this comes from my own experience and research. I could be wrong on any of these points and I welcome you to do your own research.):
| Allah | God |
| Allah doesn’t accept singing as worship. | God loves hymns of praise and Himself sings over us (Zeph 3:17) |
| Allah is impersonal and does not speak to us today. | God is personal and interacts with us today. (Matt. 28:20, John 14:25-28) |
| We must earn Allah’s love. | God loves despite our sins. (Rom. 5:8) |
| Allah demands we do good works before he will forgive our sins. | God views our attempts to “earn” our salvation as despicable . (Is. 64:6) |
| Allah can forgive sin if he chooses. Allah does not demand justice be paid for every sin. | God is just (Rom. 9:14). He requires payment for sin. God sent His son to die for us and purchase forgiveness (Rom. 5:8-9). |
| Allah is kind. He sometimes does kind things, but He does not have to. | God is good. His very nature is to always do good. (Mark 10:18, Rom. 8:28) |
| Allah demands external works of obedience. | God desires faithful hearts to love Him. (Is. 29:13, Eph. 3:17) |
| Allah is a single being. | God is one but exists eternally as “one” loving community called the Trinity. (Matt. 28:19) |
| Allah hates sin. | God is Holy. His nature means sin cannot be in His presence. (Ps. 99:9) |
| What Allah desires has changed. | God is unchanging and His promises are unchanging. (Mal 3:16, Heb. 6:17) |
| Jesus is another creation of Allah, although he is a prophet. |
Jesus is God. (Tit. 2:11-14) |
Based on the evidence, we can conclude either:
1) Christians and Muslims are talking about different gods
2) Christians and Muslims are talking about the same God, but one or both are mixed up on their description of Him.