At first glance, there is some common ground
shared by Christianity and Islam. Both profess faith in one God and the Bible
as the inspired word of God. But the common ground quickly disappears.
Unfortunately, Christians and Muslims do not always mean the same thing when
they talk about believing in God or believing in Jesus. There simply is no
reconciling Christianity and Islam. One or the other is false, or both are
false, but there is certainly no way both can be true. Though the differences
are many and run throughout the respective systems, we want to compare only the
respective views of God at this time. We will reserve a further examination for
later.
Who
Is God?
Some Christians and some Muslims say that
we believe in the same God but just call him by different names. But Allah is
not just another name, or even an incorrect name, for the God of the universe.
Allah is an entirely different god.
The one God of the Bible is a triune God,
comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Islam denies that there
is a Godhood, and teaches that Allah stands alone.
Who
Is Allah?
Allah was:
1) an Arabic god with a purely
Arabic name. This name corresponds to the Babylonian Baal (var. sp. Bel) (Encyclopedia
of Religion, 12). It is not an Arabic word meaning "deity." It is
an Arabic proper name! Allah has an Arabian historical identity, but in
connection with Abraham, Moses or any other Biblical character, he has no
history at all.
2) a "high" god, the moon
god, until Muhammad came along. He was but one of the pantheon of 360 gods
that were worshipped by the pagan Arabs in the Kaaba (various spellings, such
as Kabah or ka'ba), a temple in Mecca. Many encyclopedias make reference to
Allah in this pre-Islamic period. He was the moon god, and he was married to
the sun god. They had three daughters, namely Al-Lat, Ai-Uzza, and Manat. They
too were worshipped.
Muhammad, the professed prophet of Islam,
changed all of this and did his best to erase the history. He passionately
opposed idolatry, and by military and physical force, he destroyed all the gods
in the Kaaba, except the moon God: Allah, whom he elevated by decreeing that
Allah was the only god. But Allah's history survives, and archaeological
discoveries regularly expose bits of Allah's mythical identity and history.
Muhammad tried to give him a new "revisionist" history by asserting
that Allah is the same God Abraham worshipped and served, but historical facts
are stubborn and will not accommodate him.
Why
Did Muhammed "promote" Allah?
Allah was not initially even the central or
main Arabian god. He was only one of 360 gods, notwithstanding he was a
"high" god. But, Muhammad was from the Quraysh tribe, and Allah was
the principle god of the Quraysh tribe! Moreover, he was the favorite god of
the family into which Muhammad was born. His father's name, for example, was
Abd-Allah, indicating the particular devotion his ancestors had to the moon god
before Muhammad's birth. It is no surprise Muhammad saved and promoted him when
he destroyed all the other gods in the Kaaba.
In a single line, Muhammad started out with
a pantheon of pagan gods, exalted the moon god (Allah), and thus wound up with
one God. But Allah could no more be confused with Jehovah by a knowledgeable
person than would Baal, Isis, Molech or any other false god.
Allah's
Nature
In an effort to exalt Allah, Muslims end up
making him transcendent, unknowable, remote, and impersonal. The idea that man
is made in his likeness or image is unthinkable. He has no essential essence
ascribed to him as does Jehovah, such as love. Nor is he limited by his nature,
as is Jehovah who, by reason of His nature, cannot lie. The Quran (or Koran)
does not refer to him or ascribe to him the personal attributes that are
Jehovah's. This has given rise to the idea with some Muslims that Allah is not
a person or personality at all; he is higher than that. To them, to call him a
person would be blasphemy. (See The Islamic Invasion by Morey, page 59.)
Conclusion
The short version is that Christians and
Muslims do not have the same God. They are altogether different. They differ as
to their history, they differ as to their nature, and they differ as to their
attributes. They are altogether and drastically different.
As differences become apparent in a
discussion or study, the ultimate Muslim explanation is that the Bible view of
God is corrupted. That particular issue will of necessity be addressed when the
Quran and the Bible are compared. We must examine the evidence to determine who
is or what is right.
But right here it is an undeniable and
irreconcilable reality--Muslims have an entirely different view of God than
Christians do. This is not without reason. Allah is not the same God Christians
worship. The difference is not just one of name, that is, of a different name
for the same God. He is an altogether different god.
This
page was created by Hal Snyder on April 2, 1999