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[Jilly]

I have heard some Christians say that Muslims and Christians worship the same God known by different names. What do you think? Is this true?

[jimwalton]

The idea that Christians and Muslims worship the same God is a tricky one, and it depends on what vantage point one is taking. The pastors who are Muslim background believers that I was with for two weeks in Bangladesh claim there is only one God, whether one calls him Yahweh or Allah. But there are two different versions of how he has revealed himself. The Muslims say he has revealed himself in the Qur’an, and that the Qur’an is true; Christians say he has revealed himself in the Bible, and that the Bible is true. The MBB say that the Bible is the truthful revelation of God (Allah/Yahweh), and everything the Qur’an says about God (Allah/Yahweh) is not true. From that vantage point, both Christians and Muslims worship the same God, but the Bible is the truthful and accurate revelation of him, and everything about Islam and the Qur’an is to be rejected.

The other way of looking at it is that if someone claims Yahweh is the God of the Bible and Allah is the god of the Qur’an, then the two are not the same and Yahweh is the real God. And everything about Islam and the Qur’an is to be rejected.

Hopefully you see the difference, but can also see that possibly both are true, depending on what one MEANS by it. So you can’t just accept the raw statement, you have to find out what’s behind it.

I have a chart that compares and contrasts what the Qur’an says Allah is like with what the Bible says Yahweh is like. They are as different as night and day. Allah and Yahweh can only be the same God if we accept that both religions claim there is only one God, but we reject what the Qur’an says and believe what the Bible says, as the MBB say.

I hope that helps. If you want more clarification, have more questions, or want to talk more, just ask.