Christian and Islam, the same God?

Question

I have heard muslims say and the pope also that the 2 religions worship the same God - if this is true I need an explaination
Christians say Jesus is God - muslims say Jesus was a prophet, ie only human
If both worship the same God how could there be a contradiction like this - if both the Bible and koran were inspired by the same mind of God how could there be this logical contradiciton in terms
ie A cannot be A and not A so
how can Jesus be God and not God all at the same time

Answer 1

The foundation of the Islamic faith is belief in the Oneness of Almighty God - the God of Abraham, Noah, Moses and Jesus. Islam teaches that a pure belief in One God is intuitive in human beings and thus fulfills the natural inclination of the soul. As such, Islam's concept of God is straightforward, unambiguous and easy to understand. Islam teaches that the hearts, minds and souls of human beings are fitting receptacles for clear divine revelation, and that God's revelations to man are not clouded by self-contradictory mysteries or irrational ideas. As such, Islam teaches that even though God cannot be fully comprehended and grasped by our finite human minds, He also does not expect us to accept absurd or demonstrably false beliefs about Him. According to the teachings of Islam, Almighty God is absolutely One and His Oneness should never be compromised by associating partners with Him - neither in worship nor in belief. Due to this, Muslims are required to maintain a direct relationship with God, and therefore all intermediaries are absolutely forbidden. From the Islamic standpoint, believing in the Oneness of God means to realize that all prayer and worship should be exclusively for God, and that He alone deserves such titles as "Lord" and "Savior". Some religions, even though they believe on "One God", do not make all of their worship and prayers for Him alone. Also, they also give the title of "Lord" to beings that are not All-Knowing, All-Powerful and Un-Changing - even according to their own scriptures. Suffice it to say that according to Islam, it is not enough that people believe that "God is One", but they must actualize this belief by proper conduct. In short, in the Islamic concept of God, which is completely based on Divine Revelation, there is no ambiguity in divinity - God is God and man is man. Since God is the only Creator and continual Sustainer of the Universe, He is transcendent above His creation - the Creator and the creature never mix. Islam teaches that God has a unique nature and that He is free from gender, human weaknesses and beyond anything which human beings can imagine. The Qur'an teaches that the signs and proofs of God's wisdom, power and existence are evident in the world around us. As such, God calls on man to ponder over the creation in order to build a better understanding of his Creator. Muslims believe that God is Loving, Compassionate and Merciful, and that He is concerned with the daily affairs of human beings. In this, Islam strikes a unique balance between false religious and philosophical extremes. Some religions and philosophies portray God as just an impersonal "Higher Power" who is uninterested, or unaware, of the life of each individual human. Other religions tend to give God human qualities and teach that He is present in His creation, by being incarnate in someone, something - or even everything. In Islam, however, Almighty God has clarified the truth by letting mankind know that He is "Compassionate", "Merciful", "Loving" and the "Answerer of Prayers". But He as also emphasized strongly that "there is nothing like unto Him", and that He is high above time, space and His creation. Finally, it should be mentioned that the God that Muslims worship is the same God that Jews and Christians worship - because there is only one God. It is unfortunate that some people mistakenly believe that Muslims worship a different God than Jews and Christians, and that "Allah" is just the "god of the Arabs". This myth, which has been propagated by the enemies of Islam, is completely false since the word "Allah" is simply the Arabic name for Almighty God. It is the same word for God which is used by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians. However, it should be clarified that even though Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christian, their concept of Him differs somewhat from the beliefs of other religions - mainly because it is based completely on Divine Revelation from God. For example, Muslims reject the Christian belief that God is a Trinity, not only becaue the Qur'an rejects it, but also because if this was God's true nature, He would have clearly revealed it to Abraham, Noah, Jesus and all of the other prophets.

http://www.islamdoor.com/PEACE.htm

Answer 2

What Jesus revealed to the Christians i.e. worship the one God is the same God Muslims beleive in. Just look at early Christianity the dispute between Unitarians and Trinatarians.

For example the Unitarians beleived that John's Gospel should read:

"In the Begining was the Word; and the word with God; and the word was GOD'S."

The Greek "THEOU" God's was corrupted into "THEOS".

However they still acknowldege the Father as God which is the Muslim God. So in a way they worship the same God and in a way they don't.

Answer 3

Christians indeed claim to worship the same God as Judaism and Islam (which, interestingly both share the same definition of oneness, which does ABSOLUTELY not allow for the trinity or jesus being more divine) when these same people will the next sentence call Jesus "lord" or whatever.

an analogy I've mentioned before...

Imagine a tree, with a trunk that is split into three parts, each part as its own tree, but at the base, coming together into a single trunk and root.

now imagine a perfect stone Obelisk. several sides, but no divisions whatsoever. one object, one "piece" no splits, no forks, no divisions, just perfect stone.

the split tree is the trinity-type concept of God.
the Obelisk is the Jewish/Muslim concept of God.

to the Christian standing next to the split tree... the fact that the 3 parts come to one trunk, means to them that its one tree. and thats that. they do not see this as a signifigantly different one-ness than the obelisk.

yet to the Jewish person (or probably muslim would take a similar view, but I'm not as certain) looking at the tree, and then comparing that to the obelisk... the tree is clearly split! its separate! its got those big 3 separate parts! thats not absolute oneness that God is!

now, the obelisk has facets, and these are all different aspects and angles of looking at it. ... but your still looking at the one object, and 2 faces do not see one another and are not separate whatsoever.

and the obelisk has atoms that make up the stone... but each atom is no more a separate part, any more than the cells of your organs are a separate being apart from you.

this is not a perfect analogy, but maybe it will give you something to think about, and help you figure out your problem.

Answer 4

I'll add one more Jewish "God" also the same God.

First there was God from the old testament, "Jewish God".

"Jewish God" had a son (Jesus Christ) which through the miracle the holy trinity (forgetting my Sunday school here might be wrong term) is actually part of God. "Jewish God" and Jesus become one and is "Christian God"

Muslim faith say wait a minute, Jesus is child of God, but becomes one with him and is only one thing... errr overload ummmm no. There is the "Jewish God", but the Jews are not worshiping right, which is the same as "Christian God" minus Jesus, Jesus was just a prophet and is not one with God. "Muslim God"

They all come out of the same "God" They have a different set of rules on how to interpret "God's" laws and how God came to be.

Well, that's my two cents on it.

Answer 5

I wish I could understand that.I am christian,have no disrespect at all for Islam.The Koran believes Allah is the God of Abraham,that
there is a trinity {which is not in the Bible a Catholic teaching}
they believe in Gabriel,they believe Mary had a virgin birth,on and on, yet i get a very nasty e-mail yelling at me this week saying "
My God " is not the same as Allah.

Answer 6

Yes. We are all descended from the sons of Abraham.

Jews and Christians are descended from Issac and Muslims are descended from Ishmael.

I see no the contradiction between the two religions regarding Jesus, but then you will have differing beliefs even among Christian religions.

Jesus is is part of the Holy Trinity that makes it possible for man to have eternal life. Man was not always granted access to the Kingdom of God. After Adam and Eve fell from grace, they were told that they would die... literally and spiritually. Man was made in God's image, but lost his grace and therefore was not acceptable to walk were God walked. Before Christ, only very few were taken unto the Lord.

Christ was God walking among us to bring His teachings, then died and ascended both as a sacrifice on behalf of the forgiveness of our sins and to show us that life need not end.

Answer 7

WELL.............

From Islamic point of view,

Yes it is the same GOD.. the one and only creator.

The difference will be that Christians also worship the SON of this God (Jesus) , which we believe was only a prophet and a humanbeing.

they MISTAKENLY think we worship a different God known as ALLAH , the fact is Allah is the translation of God in Arabic and almost pronounced the same in Aramic language , so it is just matter of translation..

Answer 8

One is of Christ groundwork and the opposite is Antichrist that hinder individuals from coming to the Christ groundwork. So one of a kind Gods. Muslims do not consider within the God of Abraham, David. and many others... They simply feel they do. Abraham's God is the Christian God. The ancient & new testaments are the equal God, LORD God (Yahweh Elohim)/ God is Father, Word & Holy Spirit. To Muslims, God is Allah. Though a number of the names of God within the Koran are the names of God in that they display who God is.

Answer 9

The Jewish and Christian Bible has been scrutinized and acknowledged to be without error by leading evangelical scholars over the centuries - as one would expect an inspired book from God to be.
ALLAH
The Koran was written 500 years after the Christian Bible was completed. If it too is truly an inspired book from God, it too should measure up to be as infallible as the Jewish and Christian Bible. If you expect the Koran to be as internally consistent and as factually correct as the Jewish and Christian Bible is - you are wrong. The Qurash (aka: Quraish) tribe which Muhammad belonged to was in charge of idol worship at the Ka'ba Shrine. The chief god of Muhammad's tribe was one of the three sister goddesses called al-Uzza, the youngest of the three daughters of the pre-Islamic Allah and the patron goddess of Mecca. Her name means "the mighty one". The other two were named "al-Lat and "al-Manat". It was only by chance that a fortune teller counseled Muhammad's grandfather against sacrificing Muhammad's father to this al-Uzza pagan diety. The head of these pagan, animalistic deities was "Al-llah". It is believed that "al-llah" in Muhammad's time before Islam referred to a vague moon god and that Muhammad believed that al-Uzza was a daughter of this "al-llah".
YAHWEH
Two important attributes of Yahweh (I am/Jesus) is that God is both just and merciful. Muslims Often ask me -How can God die on a cross? When they should be asking; "Why did God suffer and die on a cross"? The answer is God is love! Love for us is the reason the Father sent His Son Jesus to die in our place --- to save us from the just punishment for our sins. Because of the Cross, Yeshua/Jesus got the justice, and we got the mercy. He is the great I AM who spoke to Moses in the wildiness from the burning bush. Yahweh is a very personal God, while Allah is abstract.

Answer 10

yes it is the same God ..
they are both the God of Abraham
and not many people like hearing this
Mulsims believe Jesus to be a respected prophet also and love and respect him ...
why would they do this if they did not believe Jesus's God and their God to be the same
but of course they have their differences in how they see Jesus ... but these differences are also evident even within the Christian faith

Answer 11

I'm with you - Christianity is just CONFUSED - it is full of contradictions, they idol worship, they are driven by money (greed) they don't even know who god is!!!?!?!! I think true Christians, to be fair can distinguish between god and jesus, but the vast majority of people calling themselves Christians dont.