God and Allah Are Not the Same, Judge Told

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 3/02/04 | Patrick Goodenough

[kattracks]

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - God and Allah are not the same, an Australian pastor has told a tribunal where he faces complaints of vilifying Islam.

Pastor Daniel Scot, a scholar in Islam who fled his native Pakistan 17 years ago amid threats of retribution for "blasphemy," said that his studying of the Bible and the Quran led him to the conclusion that the God of the Bible and Allah of the Quran were different in practice, behavior and other attributes.

Scot and another pastor, Danny Nalliah, have been appearing before an administrative tribunal in the state of Victoria, after Muslims brought a complaint against them under controversial new hate laws.

Nalliah's organization, Catch the Fire Ministries, organized a seminar on Islam for Christians in March 2002, and Scot was the guest speaker. Three Muslim converts who attended the meeting at the request of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) said the seminar had incited fear of, and hatred for, Muslims.

Catch the Fire denied the charge, saying the seminar had merely informed Christians about Islam and its teachings, as set out in the Quran, Hadiths (sayings of Mohammed) and other religious texts.

Mediation attempts failed, and the case eventually landed before the tribunal, which operates like a court, with a presiding judge and lawyers representing the complainants and respondents.

If the judge upholds the complaint, he may order Scot and Nalliah to apologize, pay compensation or take other steps. The specific complaint faced by the two does not carry criminal penalties.

Re-examined by his legal representative, David Perkins, Scot said he had read the Bible more than 50 times and the Quran even more than that.

He said the Bible made it clear that Jesus Christ came to earth because of God's love, to save all humanity. God did not want anyone to perish, whereas Allah said he had created many jinn (spirits), and mankind for hell.

Comparing the two faiths in other instances, Scot said the Bible taught that there is no marriage in heaven, whereas in Islam's holy book Muslims could expect many wives, as well as young men, in paradise.

Mohammed said in a Hadith that a man would enjoy the sexual prowess of 100 men, he added.

("The believer will be given such and such strength in Paradise for sexual intercourse. It was questioned: O prophet of Allah! Can he do that? He said: 'He will be given the strength of one hundred persons.' " - Mishkat Al-Masabih)

Scot said the Quran also refers, in sura 5:60, to Allah turning "people of the Book" (Jews and Christians) into monkeys and pigs.

By contrast, the Bible teaches that God made mankind in his own image, and only because of sin is that image marred.

The question of Allah and God was initially brought up in an earlier hearing, by a legal representative for the ICV, Brind Woinarski.

Woinarski asked Scot for a yes or no answer to the question of whether he believed Allah in Islam is the same as the God of the Bible.

Scot instead asked for permission to answer in more detail, then asked for a copy of the Quran and read two portions (sura 5:72 and sura 19:88-91) which say in essence that Allah has no son.

Then he read from the Bible (1 John 2:23), which says: "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."

Scot told the tribunal that it was considered the greatest sin in Islam to say that Allah has a son.

By reading those verses from the Quran and the Bible, it was evident Allah and God were not the same, he said.

At a different point in the questioning, Scot said that Jesus forgave his enemies, whereas Mohammed did not.

He said one needed to look at how Mohammed - the perfect example for Muslims - acted, and how Jesus lived and taught his followers to live.

The case continues.

See earlier story:
Vilifying Islam Case Drags on in Australia (Feb. 26, 2004)

Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.

[bereanway]

My thoughts exactly. Christians holding a Christian conference to point out obvious spiritual truth and are drug into a civil court, tribunal or whatever as a result.

[shezza]

Hate crime. Reason, sanity, justice need not apply.

[rageaholic]

I like the argument that goes, "allah and God are the same because arab speaking Christians use the word allah for God".

So by that logic, if English speaking muslims believed God and allah were the same, they would use the English word God. But they don't.

[ought-six]

Moslems can vilify Christianity and Judaism and it's protected speech, but if a Christian or a Jew say anything even remotely critical of "the religion of peace" it is considered a hate crime. We are headed for a huge and nasty confrontation some day soon, I'm afraid.

[observer5]

"said the seminar had incited fear of, and hatred for, Muslims...

...never mind the suicide, terrorist mass murderers that are currently roaming the palnet!

[observer5]

What about what Mooslimes say about other religions?????

These Moose-slimes need to be send back to some Afgan caves...

[FourPeas]

When you read the differences as explained here, it sure sounds like "Allah" and "Satan" are one in the same.

Yup.

[meenie]

Allah's not well when the choice of God is left to the judiciary.

[ml/nj]

the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) said the seminar had incited fear of, and hatred for, Muslims.

Mohammed Atta did this for me.

ML/NJ

[Don Joe]

The Christian position says that the Bible says one thing, the Muslim says it means another.

The government weighs in, and finds that the Christian position is "hate", because it does not agree with Muslim dogma.

In other words, the Australian government has decided that in religious disputes between Christians and Muslims, the Muslim interpretation shall prevail, and shall have the force of law.

It would therefore seem that we could logically conclude that Islam is the state religion of Australia.

[MissAmericanPie]

It's beyond belief that anyone would not understand just exactly who it is that Muslims worship. Allah and the Most High are not one and the same.

Islam barely gives a passing glance at the Torah, other than to twist what it says in an attempt to wrench from Isaac his inheritance and give it to Ishmael, and as far as the New Testament goes, they grant Christ the status of prophet.

Another glaring difference between Islam and Christianity and Judism is the status of truth as being of great importance. Truth is not held in regard in Islam. Lying and deceiving to promote Islam, is a very acceptable practice on the other hand.

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the ping, but life is short and threads are many, so we have to pick and choose. I'm out of this one.

[holden]

Indeed, God and Allah are not the same. We can thank God, too, that it's this good scholar on trial, and not some whacko.

What's absolutely beyond the pale is that the Australians have voted themselves this Tool of State, which is designed to be wielded by whomever against whomever for whatever purpose. It's as if they've provided a Law construction set. Mix up a little presumed hatred from your known enemy to build your own House-of-Cards ordinance, then take hearty offense that your neighbor is breaking your Law and sue 'em, with the full weight of court enforcement behind you.

HF

[BadAndy]

Allah is either a delusion that sprung from a psychotic mind, or a sham perpetrated by a murderous lunatic (read the origins of Islam).
In any case, I think it would be difficult to recognize the G-D from the Old and New Testiments as being the same. Old testimemt is all fire, brimstome and smiting people. New Testiment is all peace, love and brotherhood.

[DonQ]

I am surprised that the Australians are so eager to prosecute a Christian minister for promoting Christianity over Islam, especially considering how many Australians were killed by that Islamic terrorist bombing in Bali last year.

And since the Moslems in Australia initiated this prosecution, does anyone know what happens in Moslems countries to Islamic mullahs who defame Christianity or Judaism?? I'm just asking.

[Cultural Jihad]

God is by definition beyond definition.

[Cultural Jihad]

It's beyond belief that anyone would not understand just exactly who it is that Muslims worship. Allah and the Most High are not one and the same.

Needless to say, you are unable to even prove that there is a God, much less whether the one worshipped by a billion Muslims is different from the one worshipped by a billion Christians.

[LiteKeeper]

Please, in the name of scholarly research, read the attached...

Does God Exist?

Who created God?

[HamiltonJay]

I've said it before, I'll say it again, Islam is the world religion of Satan... there is no doubt in my mind. It is not the religion of the God of the New Testament.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Don't bother debating that point with people who would define what others believe, while simultaneously rejecting the idea that the same could be done to them.