Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?
Article By the Late Nabeel Qureshi(Muslim convert to Jesus Christ who is now with the LORD).

The Wheaton Controversy

On December 15, 2015, Wheaton College, a flagship of evangelical educational institutions, placed one of its professors on administrative leave for “theological statements that seemed inconsistent with [their] doctrinal convictions.” Five days prior, donning a hijab and staking her position on a variety of controversial matters, Larycia Hawkins had stated on Facebook, “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”

Wheaton’s decision to give Dr. Hawkins “more time to explore theological implications of her recent public statements” ignited a firestorm of controversy. One strong voice in the fray was that of the Chicago Tribune, which described Wheaton’s actions as “bigotry… disguised as theology.” This assessment was partially based on the input of Yale Professor Miroslav Volf, a theologian greatly respected for his contributions to Christian-Muslim dialogue, who said, “There isn’t any theological justification for Hawkins’s forced administrative leave. Her suspension is not about theology and orthodoxy. It is about enmity toward Muslims.” Such dialogue-stifling judgmentalism is shocking from a highly acclaimed Ivy League scholar, but it serves to illustrate the enormous tensions in Christian-Muslim relations during this time when the nation is pulled between the poles of Muslim refugees pouring into Staten Island and Muslim terrorists massacring innocents in San Bernardino.

I have received dozens of requests to provide my input on the matter, especially from those who are aware that I do not have “enmity toward Muslims.” As a former Muslim, I have many Muslim family members and friends that I spend time with regularly, and I often adjure Christians to consider gestures of solidarity with the hope that, somehow, this affection will trickle down to the Muslims I know and love. I have even recommended that Christian women consider wearing the hijab in certain circumstances, as well as counseled Christian men to consider fasting with their Muslim neighbors during the month of Ramadan, as long as it is clear these gestures are out of Christian love and not submission to Islam.

Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

With this desire for love in mind, I turn now to the question: Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? Like all good questions, the answer is more complex than most want, but I am confident of my position: Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God, but given the complexity of the matter we all ought to stop demonizing those who disagree with us.

I should start by saying this: for years after leaving Islam and accepting Jesus as Lord, I believed that Muslims worshiped the same God as Christians but that they were simply wrong about what He is like and what He has done. After all, I had been taught as a young Muslim to worship the God who created Adam and Eve, who rescued Noah from the flood, who promised Abraham a vast progeny, who helped Moses escape Egypt, who made the Virgin Mary great with child, who sent Jesus into the world, who helped the disciples overcome, and who is still sovereign today. Is that not the God of the Bible?

For that matter, the Quran asserts that the Torah and the Gospel are inspired scripture and that Jews and Christians are people of the Book. The Quran tells Muslims to say to them, “our God and your God is One, and unto Him we surrender” (29.46). If the Quran asserts that Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians, does that not settle the matter?

For years I thought it did, but I no longer do. Now I believe that the phrase “Muslims and Christians worship the same God” is only true in a fairly uncontroversial sense: There is one Creator whom Muslims and Christians both attempt to worship. Apart from this banal observation, Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God. I do not condemn those that think they do, but the deeper I delve into the Christian faith, the more I realize that this assertion is not only untrue but also subverts Christian orthodoxy in favor of Islamic assertions.

Let’s start with the obvious: Christians believe Jesus is God, but the Quran is so opposed to this belief that it condemns Jesus worshipers to Hell (5.72). For Christians, Jesus is certainly God, and for Muslims Jesus is certainly not God. How can it be said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God? This fact alone is enough to settle the matter, but at the very least, no one should argue as Volf has that “there isn’t any theological justification” for believing Christians and Muslims worship different Gods. There certainly is, and it is the obvious position when we consider the person of Jesus.

Another difference between the Islamic God and the Christian God that is quite personal to me is his Fatherhood. According to Jesus, God is our Father, yet the Quran very specifically denies that Allah is a father (112.1-4). In fact, in 5.18, the Quran tells Muslims to rebuke Jews and Christians for calling God their loving Father because humans are just things that God has created.

The same is the case when we consider the doctrine of the Trinity. Islam roundly condemns worship of the Trinity (5.73), establishing in contrast its own core principle: Tawhid, the absolute oneness of God. Tawhid specifically denies the Trinity, so much so that it is safe to say the doctrine of God in Christianity is antithetical to the doctrine of God in Islam. Not just different but completely opposed to one another.

There is much more to be said about the differences between the Christian God and the Muslim God, but this much can already be said with confidence: the Christian God, both in terms of what he is (Triune) and who he is (Father, Son, and Spirit) is not just different from the Muslim God; He is fundamentally incompatible. According to Islam, worshiping the Christian God is not just wrong; it sends you to Hell. They are not the same God.

Why Do People Say Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?

So how can people argue that Muslims and Christians worship the same God? By unduly giving priority to the Islamic assertion that this is the same God. The Quran says that Allah is the God of the Bible, so He must be. The Quran says that Allah is the God of the Biblical prophets, so He must be.

The Quran says that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, so it must be the same God. Ultimately, this is the reasoning of those who believe, as I once did, that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, and it is flawed.

The similarities between the God of Islam and the God of Christianity are fairly superficial, and at times simply semantic. Though Islam claims that the Muslim God has done some of the same things as the Christian God and sent some of the same people, that is not enough to say that Muslims worship the same God as Christians. These minor overlaps are far less essential to the reality of who God is than the fundamental differences of his nature and persons. What God has done or whom He has sent is far less of a defining characteristic than what He is and who He is; though Islam and Christianity overlap at points on the former, they differ fundamentally on the latter.

Volf’s challenge in response is that Christians believe they worship the same God as the Jews though the Jews do not worship the Trinity. How can Christians accuse Muslims of worshiping a different God without also indicting the Jews of doing the same? That would be inconsistent or hypocritical.

The response should be obvious to those who have studied the three Abrahamic faiths: the Trinity is an elaboration of Jewish theology, not a rejection. By contrast, Tawhid is a categorical rejection of the Trinity, Jesus’ deity, and the Fatherhood of God, doctrines that are grounded in the pages of the New Testament and firmly established centuries before the advent of Islam. Most of the earliest Christians were Jews, incorporating their encounter with Jesus into their Jewish theology. Nothing of the sort is true of Muhammad, who was neither a Jew nor a Christian. Islam did not elaborate on the Trinity but rejected and replaced it.

Additionally, Volf’s assumption that Jews did not worship something like the Trinity is unsubstantiated. Many Jews held their monotheism in tension with a belief in multiple divine persons. Though the term “Trinity” was coined in the second century, the underlying principles of this doctrine were hammered out on the anvil of pre-Christian Jewish belief. It was not until later, when Jews and Christians parted ways, that Jews insisted on a monadic God. The charge of Christian hypocrisy is anachronistic.

Conclusion

The question of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God is complex. Wheaton made a respectable decision in giving Hawkins time off to consider the implications of her statement: she is allowing Islamic assertions to subvert the importance of essential doctrine. That said, one ought not fault her harshly for the mistake, as these issues are murky. What is dangerous is the path of Volf, accusing people of bigotry to shut down valid conversations. One can both love Muslims and insist that the God they worship is not the same as the Christian God.

Christians worship a Triune God: a Father who loves unconditionally, an incarnate Son who is willing to die for us so that we may be forgiven, and an immanent Holy Spirit who lives in us. This is not what the Muslim God is; it is not who the Muslim God is; and it is not what the Muslim God does. Truly, the Trinity is antithetical to Tawhid, fundamentally incompatible and only similar superficially and semantically. Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.

Nabeel Qureshi is the New York Times best-selling author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.

VEXT:
We can't never be one and will never be one... Hate those who hate you ..You can't love those who kill you.. Never...

Who are those that kill you

emmy512:

Who are those that kill you

Shut up you ignorant southern Christian,have you ever stay in North b4
.keyboard peacemaker!!

MightySparrow:
Mohammed said, “ God curse is on Christians and it is the duty of Muslims to wipe them out’

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

VEXT:

Shut up you ignorant southern Christian,have you ever stay in North b4
.keyboard peacemaker!!

Remain bitter,

emmy512:

Remain bitter,

Come and preach peace,may be when you lost some of your loves one in the hand of those extremist... You will never preach peace again... Mahaukaci.....

Maximus69:


It's all about unseen higher intelligent beings!

They are fighting for domains so since we can't see them the only way to grasp their presence is the ongoing strifes between those under their control!

There is just one true God {Deuteronomy 6:4} and his own worshipers today are no more going for battles having to do with what we can see {Ephesians 6:12} so whenever you see people carry weapons to kill, know that they're all under the control of DEMONS! Revelations 16:14-16

I Visage you a a jehovah witness, this is by the way side though.. Just between you and me. I read in one of your publications that Jesus came as a Ransome. But no more information was given. Please I want to know what the Ransome was, who demanded the Ransome, who paid the Ransome and who received it.. After the payment, did the Ransome accomplish anything.?.. Please I will love answers to these questions.. Thank you.

Dtruthspeaker:


There isn't anything to forgive here but what is the issue is why Ishmealites continue to Hate us and seek our enslavement and utter destruction continuously?

Really you should not bother to answer because the Lord had already told us what Ishmael shall be

"And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."

Which ye always do.

So, we understand why you hate us and cometh against everyone and why we must resist your hatred for us, Exactly As It Is Written!

Lol....ok i just had to say it;

Atleast the arabs are descended from Ishmael a child God knew and took care of in the bible.

God never even talked or cared about your own forefathers........ talk about a group of people actually rejected by God

God never spoke to the arabs.....but he also never spoke to your fathers in sub saharan africa..... so if God is now speaking to you, why could he not have spoken to the arabs...

Just introducing perspective

cocolacec:

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Most of you are just stupid regurgitators of the stupidest Adepoju. Did you read Luke 19 or you just copied it. Do you realize that Jesus Christ was telling a Parable. It seems you are a baby to this kind of discussion as Luke 19:27 is now so outdated that no Muslim scholar even uses that lie again. Now, read Luke 19 to see the full picture of what Jesus Christ said. Stupid Muslim, that they are trying to save from Hell but who is insisting on Satan destroying his soul. Now confirm the Parable Jesus Christ told here.


The Parable of the Ten Minas(J)
11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God(K) was going to appear at once.(L) 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants(M) and gave them ten minas.[a] ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’(N) his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’(O)

18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’(P)

22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words,(Q) you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?(R) 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.(S) 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

cocolacec:

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

When Muhammad's epileptic schizophrenic episodes became more worse as he got old. He had to always calm his mental issues with the application of Khamisa on his face..

Hadith

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، أَخْبَرَنِي عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ، أَنَّ عَائِشَةَ، وَعَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالاَ لَمَّا نَزَلَ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم طَفِقَ يَطْرَحُ خَمِيصَةً لَهُ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ، فَإِذَا اغْتَمَّ بِهَا كَشَفَهَا عَنْ وَجْهِهِ، فَقَالَ وَهْوَ كَذَلِكَ ‏

‏ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْيَهُودِ وَالنَّصَارَى اتَّخَذُوا قُبُورَ أَنْبِيَائِهِمْ مَسَاجِدَ ‏"

‏‏‏ يُحَذِّرُ مَا صَنَعُوا‏‏

Narrated `Aisha and `Abdullah bin `Abbas:

When the last moment of the life of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came he started putting his 'Khamisa' on his face and when he felt hot and short of breath he took it off his face and said, "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets." The Prophet (ﷺ) was warning (Muslims) of what those had done.



Sahih al-Bukhari 435, 436
In-book : Book 8, Hadith 85
USC-MSA web (English) : Vol. 1, Book 8, Hadith 427

cocolacec:

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Hadith

حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى بْنُ بُكَيْرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا اللَّيْثُ، عَنْ عُقَيْلٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ، أَنَّ عَائِشَةَ، وَعَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عَبَّاسٍ، رضى الله عنهم قَالاَ لَمَّا نَزَلَ بِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم طَفِقَ يَطْرَحُ خَمِيصَةً لَهُ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ، فَإِذَا اغْتَمَّ كَشَفَهَا عَنْ وَجْهِهِ، فَقَالَ وَهْوَ كَذَلِكَ ‏

‏ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْيَهُودِ وَالنَّصَارَى اتَّخَذُوا قُبُورَ أَنْبِيَائِهِمْ مَسَاجِدَ ‏"

‏‏‏ يُحَذِّرُ مَا صَنَعُوا‏‏

Narrated `Aisha and `Abdullah bin `Abbas:

When the disease of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) got aggravated, he covered his face with a Khamisa, but when he became short of breath, he would remove it from his face and say, "It is like that! May Allah curse the Jews Christians because they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship." By that he warned his follower of imitating them, by doing that which they did.



Sahih al-Bukhari 5815, 5816
In-book : Book 77, Hadith 33
USC-MSA web (English) : Vol. 7, Book 72, Hadith 706

cocolacec:

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Despite Muhammad's disease increasing. He still never failed in his Pedophile ways with little girls.
Hadith



حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو نُعَيْمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، سَعِيدِ بْنِ فُلاَنٍ ـ هُوَ عَمْرُو بْنُ سَعِيدِ بْنِ الْعَاصِ ـ عَنْ أُمِّ خَالِدٍ بِنْتِ خَالِدٍ، أُتِيَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِثِيَابٍ فِيهَا خَمِيصَةٌ سَوْدَاءُ صَغِيرَةٌ فَقَالَ ‏‏ مَنْ تَرَوْنَ نَكْسُو هَذِهِ ‏"‏‏.‏ فَسَكَتَ الْقَوْمُ قَالَ ‏"‏ ائْتُونِي بِأُمِّ خَالِدٍ ‏"‏‏.‏ فَأُتِيَ بِهَا تُحْمَلُ فَأَخَذَ الْخَمِيصَةَ بِيَدِهِ فَأَلْبَسَهَا وَقَالَ ‏"‏ أَبْلِي وَأَخْلِقِي ‏"‏‏.‏ وَكَانَ فِيهَا عَلَمٌ أَخْضَرُ أَوْ أَصْفَرُ فَقَالَ ‏"‏ يَا أُمَّ خَالِدٍ هَذَا سَنَاهْ ‏"‏‏.‏ وَسَنَاهْ بِالْحَبَشِيَّةِ حَسَنٌ‏.‏"



Narrated Um Khalid bint Khalid:

The Prophet (ﷺ) was given some clothes including a black Khamisa. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "To whom shall we give this to wear?" The people kept silent whereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Fetch Um Khalid for me." I (Um Khalid) was brought carried (as I was small girl at that time). The Prophet (ﷺ) took the Khamisa in his hands and made me wear it and said, "May you live so long that your dress will wear out and you will mend it many times." On the Khamisa there were some green or pale designs (The Prophet (ﷺ) saw these designs) and said, "O Um Khalid! This is Sanah." (Sanah in a Ethiopian word meaning beautiful).



Sahih al-Bukhari 5823
In-book : Book 77, Hadith 40
USC-MSA web (English) : Vol. 7, Book 72, Hadith 713

cocolacec:

MENTION THE QURANIC VERSE OR HADITH .
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 ESV
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.

Luke 19:27 ESV
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”

Muhammad just basically plagiarized from the Jews, Christians, Pagans, etcetera. It was only what he was unaware of that didn't make it into the thing called Islam.

Hadith



حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا مَالِكٌ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ عَمْرَةَ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ ـ رضى الله عنها ـ قَالَتْ لَوْ أَدْرَكَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم مَا أَحْدَثَ النِّسَاءُ لَمَنَعَهُنَّ كَمَا مُنِعَتْ نِسَاءُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ‏.‏ قُلْتُ لِعَمْرَةَ أَوَ مُنِعْنَ قَالَتْ نَعَمْ‏.‏



Narrated `Aisha:

Had Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) known what the women were doing, he would have forbidden them from going to the mosque as the women of Bani Israel had been forbidden. Yahya bin Sa`id (a sub-narrator) asked `Amra (another sub-narrator), "Were the women of Bani Israel forbidden?" She replied "Yes."



Sahih al-Bukhari 869
In-book : Book 10, Hadith 260
USC-MSA web (English) : Vol. 1, Book 12, Hadith 828

VEXT:

Come and preach peace,may be when you lost some of your loves one in the hand of those extremist... You will never preach peace again... Mahaukaci.....

I'm a southern chrisrian who is based in kano and south.
Talking of loosing someone to extremist, oh yeah i have that experience he was just buried 2 months ago. My uncle he was brutally shot, head, pubic, body was scattered n thrown into a ditch. An ASP in the police on his way down south south. Bandits at ajaokuta did that to him, peace mass transit. And the rest of us couldn't attend his burial down south cos of lockdown.

But it's certainly not a reason to blame all Muslim.

What Allahu Akbar Really Means

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jttz2BhJ690

The Muslims want to run faster than their Shadows.

qwertyboss:

ignorance! yes ignorance.
I good Muslim will never think of harming a Christian except if the later initiates such.
I don't hate Christians as a Muslim but I don't like their attributess to God.
imagine referring a human being as your God or son of God, it's totally illogical...
it's just like we human beings and the robots we created... those robots can never be like us...
sincerely speaking a Christian who doesn't believe in One God and Jesus as a messenger of God just like Moses and Joseph is in a deep shit!
I know a quranic verse pointing to the fact that a Christian or Jew who believe in God and practice monotheism is a believer.
but this trinity thing is a shit, that's why a like the view of the Jehovah witness

I am happy that you do not hate Christians. I ope you don't hate adherents of other religions too. They al have a right to believe whatsoever they wish, so long as they do not harm others cause societal values to decay.
Mind you, what you call illogical, is what some believe and what you believe seems illogical to others.
The same way you have tenets that tell you that the last prophet is Mohammed, is the same way some others have books telling them that Jesus is the son of God
Just live and let live.

0temSapien:
Even within the christians there is war, not to talk of inter-religion wars and banters of Christians and Muslims. Durning the 16th century, Catholics and Protestant churches killed each other with a death of above 8 million people across Europe in a war called THE THIRTY YEAR WAR. That's what religion is known for. Religion is a scam.

I believe that you also know that there are few religions without sects, who believe slightly different things from other sects in the same religion.
Islam, christianity, Buddhism etc , all have variants. You must also be aware of the age long war between the Sunnis and the Shia.

MightySparrow:
Mohammed said, “ God curse is on Christians and it is the duty of Muslims to wipe them out’

Please, quote the verse.

bskyb:


I believe that you also know that there are few religions without sects, who believe slightly different things from other sects in the same religion.
Islam, christianity, Buddhism etc , all have variants. You must also be aware of the age long war between the Sunnis and the Shia.

Yes I'm aware of this as revealed in the BOOK OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY. That's why religion is a mess.