 Introduction
The inter-faith movement, ecumenism, poor regard for the authority of scripture and inadequate doctrinal understanding has left Christendom exposed to the false belief that Allah and the God of the Bible are one. There is clear evidence of an end times desire to create a one-world church embracing all faiths:- The Pope has publicly kissed the Quran and told Hindus in India that the Catholic Church respects the spiritual insights offered by eastern religions.
- The Anglican Archbishop has permitted inter-faith services in Canterbury Cathedral.
- All the main Christian denominations are fully committed to ecumenism.
- Influential evangelical leaders in the United States have signed an accord with the Catholic Church called Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT).
- The apostate Robert Schuller actively promotes monotheistic union between Christians, Jews and Muslims. He has publicly stated that he would have no difficulty with his grand children converting to Islam.
For Christians looking for the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ these indicators all point towards an end-times one world union of faiths that denies Jesus Christ is the only way to the one true God and one true faith of the Bible. It is only a matter of time before multi-faith ideas begin to invade the evangelical church community.
Why Allah cannot be the God of the Bible
Islam's Quran and its own adopted practices prove that Allah cannot be the God of Christianity. In Arabic the word 'Allah' may mean 'god' but that does not mean Allah and the God of the Bible are one and the same. They cannot be because:- Islam has come to mean 'submission'1. The goal of Islam is to bring the whole world into submission to Allah. The Quran (Sura's 2, 4, 5, 9 and 47) teaches that all 'infidels' (non-Muslims) must either convert to Islam or be killed or enslaved2. The God of the Bible tells us that conversion is the work of God, therefore no-one can be forced to convert to Christianity.
- The Quran says God has no son and is not a father. It rejects the Trinitarian God of the Bible. Muhammad taught that Jesus and Christians were not to be taken as friends (Sura's 5 and 9).
- Allah was the pagan moon god of Mohammed's Quresh tribe represented by various idols, including a sacred stone3. The God of the Bible forbids idolatry.
- Islam teaches the creation of a Muslim empire and the use of lethal force against opponents. The God of the Bible affirms that His kingdom is not of this world and commands that Christians love those who oppose them (John 18:36 "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." and Matthew 5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;").
- Muhammad, the founder of Islam and supposedly the last of God's prophets, performed no miracles. Jesus Christ the true Son of God and seal of all God's prophets performed many miracles - proving His claims to divinity. The God of the Bible performs miracles. The God of Islam is unconcerned with the human condition and has never miraculously demonstrated a loving concern for individuals.
- Muhammad is declared a sinner in the Quran (Sura's 9, 40 and 48). Jesus Christ was and is sinless.
- The Quran often contradicts the Bible. It denies that Jesus was God incarnate or that he died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Within this context alone the following verses testify that Allah cannot be the God of the Bible:
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.- That Jesus paid the penalty for sin or that God should pay any penalty for our sin is foreign to the god of Islam. Islam teaches that Allah need only forgive sins of ignorance when individuals quickly ask for forgiveness. But 'ignorance' and 'quickly' are not defined in the Quran. Muslims can never know if they are forgiven. The God of the Bible confirms that all sins [past, present and future] are forgiven:
Luke 3:3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Luke 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.- Allah provides Muslims with no assurance of salvation, accept in a 'Jihad'. The God of the Bible provides absolute assurance:
Romans 10:8-11
8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
(Deut. 30:14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.) that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." (Isaiah 28:16)- Most importantly the 'good news' or Gospel of Jesus Christ is not found in the Quran.
- Muhammad himself failed to follow Allah's revelation. Despite ruling that a Muslim could have no more than four wives Muhammad is recorded to have married 21 women. Would the final prophet of the one true God [as he claimed to be] fail to obey his god's commands? By contrast Jesus Christ obeyed His Father (God) and was sinless.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Matthew 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
The Christian God never contradicts Himself in the Bible. The Quran is full of contradictions. For example:- It states the Quran is the guardian of the Bible yet later claims the Bible is corrupted (Sura 5:48).
- At various points in the Quran Allah is said to have created everything in 2 days (Sura 41), 4 days (Sura 41) and six days (Sura 7:54, 10 and 32).
- A day can be a 1000 years (Sura 32) and 50,000 years (Sura 70:4)
- Jesus is not the Son of God in Sura 4:171 yet is affirmed as the Son of God in Sura 19:17-21.
The God of the Bible is knowable (John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.; Jeremiah 9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.), personal, spiritual (John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.), full of grace and love and trustworthy but the Quran denies these attributes apply to Allah:- No man can know Allah personally - he is far off and transcends personal relationships.
- Of the 99 attributes of Allah in the Quran not one describes his nature or essence. They all describe what he is not.
- The Quran denies the Christian understanding of God's grace and love. Allah is neither saviour or intercessor. He does not intervene in Human history. He is simply unknowable and transcendent (Morey, 1992).
Finally, the God of the Bible is limited by his own unchanging nature (Morey, 1992). The Christian God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:) or break His own laws. His character is unchanging. According to the Quran Allah is not bound by anything. He is therefore capricious. He cannot be trusted with certainty to always act in defined ways.
Conclusion
That Allah cannot be the God of the Bible is evident in the Quran and in other Muslim religious writings. Islam is simply a Seventh Century pagan Arabian religion that adopted an existing tribal moon god as the one true god and was forced on the Arab people by a self-proclaimed prophet. Its spread has not relied on the force of its arguments or proof of its truth. Rather, its expansion depended on military force and subjugation. The Jihad sanctifies murder and warlike violence. Muhammad himself led 27 Jihads.
Jesus Christ preached a gospel of peace and reconciliation and rejected the use of armed force.
Muhammad and Allah have nothing to do with Christianity or the one true God of the Bible.
Footnotes
All Bible verses quoted from the Authorized King James Bible.
1Originally the word meant the strength of a desert warrior who would fight to the death for his tribe. This concept has been captured in the Jihad and other fundamentalist Islamic practices (Morey, 1992).
2For example Sura 9:5 states: "Fight and slay the pagans (infidels) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war (Morey, 1992, p. 39)".
3Arabic writings from the Fifth Century prove that Christian influence had reached pagan Arabia. The Arabians around Mecca (Muhammad's home) identified with monotheism and Abraham - possible because of some perceived lineage link through Ishmael. Eventually, under Muhammad's influence his tribe abandoned all but one of their many gods, represented by sacred stones found in the Kabah at Mecca (Abdiyah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, 1980).
References
Abdiyah Akbar Abdul-Haqq (1980). Sharing Your Faith with a Muslim (buy it here). Bethany fellowship, Minnesota.
Geisler, N.L & Saleeb, A. (1996). Answering Islam (buy it here). The Crescent in the Light of the Cross. Baker Books, Grand Rapids.
Morey, R. (1992). The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World's Fastest Growing Religion. Harvest House, Oregon.
Supporting Articles
Please click here to visit the Answering Islam website.
Please click here to visit the Ankerberg website.
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