The True God vs The god of Islam

There has been a lot of talk regarding the Christian God and the Islamic god Allah. Many claim they are the same God. Is this really true? Some say yes and some say no. Dr. Larycia Hawkins a professor at Wheaton College, an evangelical educational institution, has said yes, they are the same God. The week prior to her statement the Catholic Pope also said they are the same God. Are they correct? These are, supposedly, well educated views but are their views correct?

The answer to the question is that they are not the same God. If one takes the Bible as being interpreted spiritually, or allegorically, then the answer could be anything including yes, they are the same God. Interpreting allegorically is used by some to verify their unbiblical view and used by others who have been deceived. Those who wanted to replace Israel with the church and say that the Jews were no longer God's chosen people, resorted to the allegorical method since one can make scripture say nearly anything they desire. This was the method that brought in the anti-Semitism of the church. With this method the real meaning of any passage is disregarded in favor of an allegory. This method has resulted in many false churches and beliefs. If one believes in the Bible, interpreting it as the literal Word of God, which it is,then the answer is no, they are not the same God.

The Method of Interpretation

A correct understanding of the Bible can only be found in the literal, grammatical, and historical method of interpretation. This is one that is based on the actual words and their ordinary meaning. This is interpreting Scripture without using the allegorical method or spiritualizing unless it is clearly indicated in the passage. By using the literal meaning of words, assigning to every word the same meaning it would have in its normal usage it allows for the many figures of speech, parables, allegories, types and symbols. These are clearly known by correctly analyzing grammatical relationships of words, phrases, and sentences to one another. With a literal interpretation one can not twist scriptures to mean anything they want, and they get the real meaning, instead of someones thoughts or imaginations. Looking at a passage grammatically requires us look for the meaning by making sure of the meaning and form of the words, the function of the words, and the relationship of the words. The correct view of a passage must also take in the historical context. To properly understand the Bible we must look at the historical setting, circumstances of a passage and the culture in the time it was written.

Nothing to be Added or Taken Away

The Bible teaches that it is the only source of the Word of God and nothing is to be added to or taken away from it, Revelation 22:18-19. The Bible was written over a period of 1600 years by forty different men who wrote as God the Holy Spirit moved them to write, 2 Peter 1:21. So, if one is a true Bible believing Christian then the answer is no, they are not the same God. From this it should be clear that God did not inspire or give any additional writing or Words outside of the Bible. This means God did not give any additional information to Muhammad, so the Koran is something that was dreamed up to accomplish Muhammad’s goals in life. But let’s continue to look at other things in addition to this.

The Trinity

One of the biggest differences in the Christian God and the Muslim God Allah is that the Christian God is a trinity, three in one. Those of the Islamist faith deny the trinity. In Genesis 1:1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The word God in Hebrew is Elohyim which in Hebrew is a plural meaning three or more. Throughout the Bible God has revealed Himself as one God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The name of this Christian God is Jehovah or Yahweh not Allah. While each Person of the Trinity is fully God, God is not three Gods but three in one. The God of the Christians and the god of Islam cannot be the same God since one is a trinity and the other isn't.

Is Jesus God and/or Son of God

Those that believe in Allah claim that Jesus never claimed to be God nor the son of God. What does the Bible, the only Word of God, say about Jesus being God and/or the son of God?

Jesus is called God in John 20:28 and many other places.
Matthew 1:23 says they shall call His name Emmanuel, God with us.
Again, in Romans 9:5 the apostle Paul called Jesus Christ God.
Jesus is called the Son of God, and this implies that Jesus is the same as God. In Luke 4:41, the devils cried out ". . . thou art Christ, the Son of God."
In Romans 8:3, God sent His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh.
In John 5:25, it says the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
Jesus said He is the Son of God, John 10:36.
Again, in Matthew 27:43, Jesus said He was the Son of God.
In Mark 1:1, Mark declares Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.
Jesus is called Lord. Matthew 12:8 says the Son of man is Lord.
Jesus says He is Lord in John 13:13.
Acts 16:31 says,". . . believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
Revelation 19:16 refers to Jesus as the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Revelation 1:17 refers to Christ as deity, as well as in Revelation 22:13.
The apostle Paul, in Titus 2:13, calls Jesus Christ our God and Saviour.
Peter writing in 2 Peter 1:1 calls Jesus Christ our God and Saviour.
In 1 John 5:20, John writes that Jesus is the true God and eternal life.
In Luke 8:38-39, the formerly demon possessed man was told to tell what great things God had done for him, and as he went he declared what Jesus had done unto him.
In Deuteronomy 32:3-4, Moses writes of our God, He is the Rock. Then in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, the apostle Paul identifies the Rock as Christ!
In Isaiah 45:22-33, God stated "That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Then in Philippians 2:10-11 we see that it is at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord. We bow only to God and therefore Jesus is God.
In Deuteronomy 10:17, we see that God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God. In 1 Timothy 6:15, God is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

It can be seen that the statement that Jesus never claimed to be God nor the son of God is, according to the Bible, a false statement. Jesus is fully God and fully man and since that is true the god Allah is a false god, one of many false gods.

Only Two Branches of Abrahamic Faith

Some others say yes, the Christian God and the Islam god Allah are the same because Christians, Jews and Islamist's are known as Abrahamic religions which branched off from one another at some point. In Genesis 12:2-3 God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation, which is the nation of Israel, and that in him all the families of earth would be blessed, referring to all the people outside the nation of Israel. So here we have God telling us of two groups that would be blessed, one is Israel and the rest is the entire world. Nothing is mentioned about any other including Ishmael who comes under the statement that all families of the earth will be blessed. The promises to Ishmael were to make of him a great nation and that he would have twelve princes, Genesis 17:20. The promise of the blessing of the covenant made with Abraham was to Isaac, Genesis 17:21. Therefore, there are only two branches of the Abrahamic faith, not three.

When Jesus came, the Jews rejected Him as their King, Luke 9:22, and God turned to the other nations to take out a people for his name, Acts 15:14. These people consist of those Jews and Gentiles (includes the Islamic nations) that see the truth that Jesus died to pay for their sins and surrender their life to Christ. This is the Church which will be caught up to heaven at the beginning of the Tribulation, 1 Thessalonians 4:17. So God does mention Israel and the Church and He also mentions the Arabs and their future. However, the Arabs are included in the church and can be saved as all others of all times are saved, through faith in what Christ did for them on the cross, Ephesians 2:8-9.

Why is Israel one of the groups God mentioned? First, because He said that He would make of Abraham a great nation, Genesis 12:2. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. God chose Isaac to continue the nation of Israel and it is through Isaac that we have the twelve tribes of Israel, Genesis 17:21. Today we have the nation of Israel that descended through Abraham and Isaac. We also have the Christian church that consist of a people who are being called out because the Israelites rejected their King, Jesus, when he offered the kingdom to them. God said that His promise to bless the nations would come through Abraham and then Isaac, Genesis 17:21. The Israelites and people of all other nations are the only two groups that God has set aside to represent the entire world.

Then what about the Arabs? They claim there are three groups of faith that came out from Abraham, the Jewish faith, the Christian faith, and the Islamist faith. Muhammad claimed to be an Arab descended from Ishmael. Ishmael and his descendants can have salvation through faith in Jesus Christ just as all the other nations can as promised in Genesis 12:2-3. Ishmael was just promised to be a great nation, Genesis 17:20. God never established another faith (Islam) for salvation. Therefore, the Islamic god Allah as defined by Islam does not exist if one believes the Bible, which is the only true and finished Word of God.

Some say that the God of Israel and the God of the Christians is different. According to the Bible, this is a false statement. As we have seen above in Genesis, God is the same God of Israel as He is of the Gentiles (all other nations except Israel) and the Gentiles include Islamic nations. Today God is calling out a people for His name from all nations of the world (the Christian church)), including Israel and Islamic nations. One day in the future God will catch up the church to heaven, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and turn His attention once again to the Israelites, during the Great Tribulation, and He says all Israel will be saved, Romans 11:26. Jehovah God is the God of all nations, so there is only ONE GOD who is over all. He deals with different people in different ways but they are all saved, throughout history, by God’s love (His Grace) through faith, Galatians 3:6; Ephesians 2:8-9. For additional information on salvation see our article on The New Birth.

The God of Christianity vs The god of Islam

In the chart below are some contrasts between the God of Christianity and The god of Islam, Allah:

The Christian God	Islam's Allah
Man was made from the dust of the earth and was made in the image of God, Genesis 1:26. Man doesn't look like God but is like him in his ability to reason and has the freedom of choice.	Man was not made in the image of God but out of the dust of the earth and Allah breathed life into man.
Original sin describes the effect of Adam's sin on his descendants, Romans 5:12-23. Because of his sin he received a sinful nature and it is passed down from parent to child and we are by nature children of wrath, Ephesians 2:3.	Mankind does not have a sinful nature. There is no original sin, all mankind are sinless until the rebel against God.
Christ died on the cross, 1 Peter 2:24 and His blood turns away the wrath of God, 1 John 2:2, from the sinner when the sinner accepts the finished work of Christ on the cross by faith, Romans 5:1; 1 Peter 1:18-19.	Nothing in Islam pays mankinds debt to sin, Romans 6:23. There is just a sincere confession of sin and repentance by the sinner.
God hates liars and liars will go into a lake of fire forever, Revelation 21:8	The Koran teaches those of the Islamic faith to lie.
Christians will rule and reign with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation 22:3-5.	There will be an afterlife which will be an ideal life or Paradise for the faithful Muslim.
Non-Christians will be eternally separated from God in a lake of fire forever, Revelation 21:8.	Those who are not Muslims will be cast into Hell.
Angels are created spirit beings some of which fell into sin and are referred to as demons and/or fallen angels, Revelation 16:14. There are also the unfallen angels that carry out the will of God.	Angels are created beings, created from light, without free will that serve God.
Nothing is to be added to the Word of God and nothing is to be taken from it, so none of the works of Muhammad, including the Koran, are inspired nor any part of a Word from God, Revelation 22:18-19.	The final revelation of God to all of mankind given through the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad over a 23-year period. It is without error and guarded from error by Allah.
Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. in Mecca and started the Islamic religion without inspiration from God.	Muhammad is the greatest of all the prophets of Allah whose Koran is the greatest of all inspired books.
The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God in the original manuscripts, 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20.	The Bible has been corrupted and is correct only when it agrees with the Koran.
Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world, 1 Peter 2:24. He is the ONLY way to the Father, John 14:6, and the only name given under heaven whereby men MUST be saved, Acts 4:12.	Jesus was not crucified. God allowed Judas to be crucified in His place since he looked like Jesus.
Satan is a fallen angel that opposes God and seeks to destroy humanity, Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:13-15.	Satan is a fallen jinn. Jinn are neither angels nor men but are created beings with free will and created from fire.
Throughout the Bible God has revealed Himself as a Trinity, one God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.	Allah is God and is one person and there is no trinity.
Heaven is the place where God dwells. God will eventually dwell with mankind in the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven to the new earth. Believers will rule and reign with Jesus Christ forever, Revelation 21:1-4; 22:5.	Heaven is a place of bliss where the desires of all Muslims are met.
Hell is a place unbelievers are sent when they die physically. In the end they are resurrected and stand at the Great White Throne in judgment and the unbelievers, death, and hell will be cast into a lake of fire to be there forever, Revelation 20:14-15. This is called the second death, Revelation 21:8.	Hell is a place of eternal torment in fire for those who are not Muslims including those who were and their works and faith were not enough.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is therefore God the Holy Spirit.	The Holy Spirit is the arch-angel Gabriel that gave the words of the Koran to Muhammad.
Jesus is the second person of the Trinity who became flesh and is fully God and fully man, John 1:1-14.	Jesus is a prophet but not the son of God and was not crucified.
There will be a catching away (called the rapture) of all believers who receive a new body, an incorruptible body, 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:52-53. At the end of the millennium there will be a resurrection of all unbelievers, who are at that time dead, with them being cast into a lake of fire, Revelation 20:11-15.	There is a bodily resurrection only with some going to heaven and some to hell.
Salvation is by grace through faith and not by works, Ephesians 2:8-9. No amount of works, good deeds, will get anyone into heaven, Isaiah 64: 6.	Salvation is for those who have surrendered to Islam and follow the commands of Allah given in the Koran.
Theologically a believer's allegiance is to Jesus Christ.	Those of Islam have their allegiance to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Jesus, in the Bible, commands Christians to love their neighbor as themselves, Matthew 22:39.	Muhammad in the Koran commands Muslims to kill their neighbors if they have not surrendered to Islam.
Christians are to have but one wife.	Those of Islam can marry four women.
Christians speak of their heavenly Father.	God is never called the heavenly Father in Islam and never described as loving.
Christianity is not a religion but is a faith in which God sent his Son to die for you	The Islamic religion has a God that requires you to send your son to die for him

As can be seen from the chart above the Christian God is opposed to the Muslim god Allah in all respects and cannot therefore be the same. One must be the true God and the other a false god. According to God's Word, the Bible, the Christian God is the ONLY God.

Jesus and Muhammad

There is another proof that the God of the Christians and the god of Islam is different. It is a comparison of Jesus and Muhammad. Christians know that Jesus is fully man and fully God but Muslims say that Jesus is a prophet like Muhammad.

JESUS	MUHAMMAD
Jesus was in existence before the beginning of the universe, John 1:1; Genesis 1:1.	Muhammad kept hearing voices and his wife told him it must an angel and he must be a prophet.
Jesus was the creator of all things, Colossians 1:16.	Muhammad was a human being who created nothing.
Jesus is fully God and fully man	Muhammad claimed to be a prophet
Jesus raised the dead to life, Luke 7:12-15	Muhammad raised no one but had many killed.
Jesus forgave everyone that confessed their sin and still does. A prophet cannot forgive sins only God can forgive sins provinig that Jesus was not just a prophet.	Muhammad didn't forgive anyone.
Jesus never lied, Hebrew 4:15; 9:28	Muhammad told many lies and taught others to lie
Jesus permitted man to have one wife	Muhammad permitted up to 4 and he himself was permitted 12 or more
Jesus warned of false prophets, Matthew 7:15-17	Muhammad gave false prophecies
Jesus walked on water, Matthew 14:25	Muhammad walked on the blood of people he had slaughtered
Jesus didn't kill anyone	Muhammad killed thousands
Jesus healed thousands	Muhammad didn't heal one person
Jesus never sinned, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21	Muhammad sinned continuously
Jesus epitomized love, Mark 12:31	Muhammad epitomized violence
Jesus sacrificed Himself to save others, 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:15	Muhammad sacrificed others to save himself
Jesus is presently seated in heaven at the right hand of God	Muhammad is presently in hell.
Jesus didn't rob anyone	Muhammad robbed many people
Jesus rose from the dead and is alive today	Muhammad's body is in the grave and his soul and spirit are in Hell.
Jesus never married	Muhammad had over 20 wives and married one at the age of 9
Jesus performed many miracles, healed people, calmed a storm with a command, and raised people from the dead.	Muhammad never peformed a miracle
When Jesus heard from God, He went to the desert to be tempted and then began His ministry with boldness, Mark 1:14-15.	When Muhammad heard from God, supposedly through the angel Gabriel, he cowered, was uncertain, and wanted to commit suicide. (Quran 74:1-5).
Jesus didn't have any slaves	Muhammad had many slaves
Jesus tells us that God loved everyone so much He gave His only begotten son, John 3:16.	Muhammad tells us that Allah does not love those who do not surrender to Islam, Quaran 30:45, 3:32, 22:38.
Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.", Matthew 5:5.	Muhammad said, "O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.", Quran 9:123,
Jesus Was crucified.	Muhammad Advocated crucifying others, Quran 5:33, Muslim 16:4131.
Jesus didn't fight anyone	Muhammad said, "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah", Muslim 1:33.
Preached forgiveness, Matthew 18:21-22, 5:38.	Muhammad Murdered those who insulted him, Bukhari 56:369, 4:241.
"If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.", Matthew 5:39.	"If then anyone transgresses the prohibition against you, Transgress ye likewise against him", Quran 2:194.

Again, we can see that Jesus and Muhammad are direct opposites. Since this is true there is no way the Christian God is the same as Allah.

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