Hey guys, it’s Nabeel Qureshi. I get a lot of questions about Islam and Christianity and I’m hoping to answer a few of the most common ones today. One of the most common questions I get is whether Allah and the God of Christianity are the same. It’s an interesting question because we believe as monotheists that there is only one God and so the one God who exists, who created all people is listening to all people when they pray. He knows who they are by name, he designed them. And so when people pray, no matter to whom they’re praying, there is one God who is listening. But is that one God the Islamic conception or the Christian conception?
Here’s the point that I want to make. The way Islam teaches God’s character, his being is very different from that of Christianity. The Christian God is triune, the Christian God is a father, an absolutely perfectly loving father. The Christian God is willing to enter into this world and suffer alongside his creation. The Christian God is willing to forgive us of all our sins by paying the penalty himself. In all of these ways he is very different from the Muslim God. The Muslim God is transcendent, in fact unknowable. The Quran says that he remains behind a veil as if it were and it’s not fitting for him to enter into this world or to be made known. So the Christian God and the Muslim God have very different characteristics, they do different things and they offer different paths. The Christian God says believe in him, follow him and he will take our sins upon himself. The Muslim God gives us rules to follow and laws to complete in order for us to have a chance at earning His grace and mercy. These are two very different gods in the way they are taught but thankfully there is only one God and so when a Muslim or a Christian cries out for God to reveal himself God is gracious and he answers as he answered me.