Posted on 06/28/2005 12:47:49 PM PDT by forty_years
Asked if Muslims worship the same Almighty as Jews and Christians, President Bush replied some months ago, "I believe we worship the same God." The Islamic deity, known as Allah, in other words, is the same Supreme Being to whom Jews and Christians pray.
The president's statement provoked widespread dismay among Evangelicals; one poll found 79% of their leadership disagreeing with this view. Pat Robertson pungently explained why, observing "the entire world is being convulsed by a religious struggle. … whether Hubal, the Moon God of Mecca, known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah, God of the Bible, is Supreme."
Muslims at times agree that God and Allah are different. Irshad Manji has recounted how her teachers at a madrassah in Canada taught her this. And a Jewish scholar, Jon D. Levenson, finds the claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God "if not false, then certainly simplistic and one-sided."
This debate plays out at many levels. In the American scouting movement, Muslims promise "I will do my best to do my duty to God"; their British counterparts instead do their "duty to Allah."
This might seem like a minor semantic quibble, but the definition of Allah has profound importance. Consider two alternate ways of translating the opening line of Islam's basic declaration of faith (Arabic: la ilaha illa-la). One reads "I testify that there is no God but Allah," and the other "I testify that there is no deity but God."
The first states that Islam has a distinct Lord, one known as Allah, and implies that Jews and Christians worship a false god. The second states that Allah is the Arabic word for the common monotheistic God and implies a commonality with Jews and Christians.
The first translation is 40 times more common in a Google search than the second. Yet, the latter is accurate. Mr. Bush was right. There are several reasons to use the translation that equates Allah with God:
Scriptural: The Koran itself in several places insists that its God is the same as the God of Judaism and Christianity. The most direct statement is one in which Muslims are admonished to tell Jews and Christians "We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we do submit" (E.H. Palmer translation of Sura 29:46) Of course, the verse can also be rendered "our Allah and your Allah is One" (as it is in the notorious Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation)
Historical: Chronologically, Islam followed after Judaism and Christianity, but the Koran claims Islam actually preceded the other monotheisms. In Islamic doctrine (Sura 3:67), Abraham was the first Muslim. Moses and Jesus introduced mistakes into the Word of God; Muhammad brought it down perfectly. Islam views Judaism and Christianity as flawed versions of itself, correct on essentials but wrong in important details. This outlook implies that all three faiths share the God of Abraham.
Linguistic: Just as Dieu and Gott are the French and German words for God, so is Allah the Arabic equivalent. In part, this identity of meaning can be seen from cognates: In Hebrew, the word for God is Elohim, a cognate of Allah. In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, God is Allaha. In the Maltese language, which is unique because it is Arabic-based but spoken by a predominantly Catholic people, God is Alla.
Further, most Jews and Christians who speak Arabic routinely use the word Allah to refer to God. (Copts, the Christians of Egypt, do not.) The Old and New Testaments in Arabic use this word. In the Arabic-language Bible, for instance, Jesus is referred to as the son of Allah. Even translations carried out by Christian missionaries, such as the famous one done in 1865 by Cornelius Van Dyke, refer to Allah, as do missionary discussions.
The God=Allah equation means that, however hostile political relations may be, a common "children of Abraham" bond does exist and its exploration can one day provide a basis for interfaith comity. Jewish-Christian dialogue has made great strides and Jewish-Christian-Muslim trialogue could as well.
Before that can happen, however, Muslims must first recognize the validity of alternate approaches to the one God. That means leaving behind the supremacism, extremism, and violence of the current Islamist phase.
http://netwmd.com/articles/article1056.html
But do Jews and Christians worship the same God? A Jew would look at the theology of the trinity, then at their own monotheism and say "no".
I'm certain that their opinion would differ from mine on the topic. On the other hand, they probably consider me apostate, me being a non-muslim and all...an apellation which I will gladly wear from my point of view.
There is no god named Allah.
Agree. The answer is an emphatic NO!
But there are legions of demons that answer to that name.
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No more than islam is a religion.
There are also demons that answer to the name legion. Luke 8:29
"A Jew would look at the theology of the trinity, then at their own monotheism and say "no".
Right, that's what I was thinking.
This is all beside the point, to a large extent. The Buddhists don't really believe in any god (insofar as I know), the Hindus believe in a boatload, but the point is that the Buddhists & the Hindus aren't running around all over the globe slaughtering people.
Or is Christianity one of the most sucessful of the early Judean heresies?
In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, God is Allaha.
Jesus prayed to Allaha? How interesting!
This argument is full of contradictions. As it points out, according to Islam, "Moses and Jesus introduced mistakes into the Word of God; Muhammad brought it down perfectly."
That in itself contradicts the view that they can be the same God. According to the Nicene Creed, and pretty clearly stated in John 1:1, Jesus IS God. So this argument states that God made some mistakes about God?
From the Jewish point of view it's not possible either. Muhammed changed the account of Abraham and his descendants in the Torah in several major ways. Sons who were exiled became sons who were chosen. God doesn't contradict Himself.
Christians believe that the Hebrew Bible is an accurate account. Muslims do not. This argument just won't wash.
Agreed. The only one more successful is Christianity, which is a Jewish heresy.
Why is that interesting?
Christians worship God in Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While Islam includes Jesus in its religious system and "honors" him as a great prophet (of Islam), it denies all the essential christological doctrines, and then has the gall to say that the Church has it wrong. Everything I affirm when I say the Creed during Divine Liturgy, Islam denies, except that Jesus is coming again. And, if I understand it correctly, Islam claims that the Comforter promised by Christ is not the Holy Spirit, but Mohammed himself.
So, no, looking at it this way, I would have to say that Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.
I should make it clear...I believe that there is a real, spiritual being that answers to that particular name. I don't pray to him, thanks.
Christians worship the God in Trinity. Jews and Muslims worship ONE God. So would you agree that Jews and Christians don't worship the same God?
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