Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?
Many today, even some professing Christians, believe that Muslims worship the same God of Christianity. Is this true? Let’s look at what Islam really teaches about God and compare what we find to the teachings of Christianity.
The Quran teaches that Jesus is not God. Surah (chapter) 5 Ayah (verse) 116 reads, “And God will say, “O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, `Take me and my mother as gods rather than God?'“ He will say, “Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to. Had I said it, You would have known it. You know what is in my soul, and I do not know what is in Your soul. You are the Knower of the hidden.” The Bible teaches that Jesus is God (John 1:1). You may also have noticed that the author of the Quran was under the impression that Mary was the third person of the Trinity rather than the Holy Spirit.
Another major difference between the Islamic god and the Christian God is that Allah’s love is dependent on us, whereas the love of YAHWEH is independent of our loving Him. Surah 3 Ayah 31 reads, “Say, ‘If you love God, then follow me, and God will love you, and will forgive you your sins.’ God is Forgiving and Merciful.” Allah will only love you if you submit to him and love him first. In Christianity however, “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 [NIV]). God loved us first. It’s why He died for our sins in the person of Jesus Christ. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 [NIV]).
Speaking of love, one could also argue, as Canadian apologist Tony Costa does, that Allah is deficient in love, as he is dependent on his creation for his love to be expressed, for love is a subject-object relationship. There must be a lover and a beloved. Therefore, Allah needed to create someone to love, whereas YAHWEH has always loved within Himself through the Persons of the Trinity. The Father has always loved the Son, the Son has always loved the Father, the Son has always loved the Spirit, and so on. God Himself is love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8[NIV]). Allah cannot be love, for before he created anyone, who did he love?
It is also important to know the beginnings of Islam to understand why many people mistakenly believe that Allah, which comes from “Al-ilah” (which means “The god” in Arabic), is the same as YAHWEH. Muhammad claimed, as did Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, that Islam was the restoration of corrupted Christianity and that Allah is the god of Abraham in the Old Testament. In this sense, Islam can be seen as an “offshoot,” so to speak, of Christianity, and is, in the Christian sense of the word, a cult, for Islam deviates from core essentials of the faith.
There are many more differences between Allah and the one true God, YAHWEH, and if you wish to investigate further, David Wood runs an amazing YouTube apologetics ministry focused on questions involving Islam. At Acts17Apologetics, you will learn everything you need to know (and some things you wish you’d never heard) about Muhammad, Allah, the Quran, Jihad, and all things Islam from a Christian worldview and a biblical standpoint. As always, I’ve also included a more specific recommended resource on the subject at hand.
Recommended Resource:
Book: Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross by Abdul Saleeb and Norman Geisler