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Do Moslems, Christians & Jews Believe in the Same God?
frontpagemag ^ | 11/28/2002 | Serge Trifkovic

Posted on 11/28/2002 7:06:02 PM PST by TLBSHOW

Do Moslems, Christians & Jews Believe in the Same God?

One in a series of excerpts adapted by Robert Locke from Dr. Serge Trifkovic’s new book, The Sword of the Prophet: A Politically-Incorrect Guide to Islam

One of the clichés endlessly repeated by those who would conceal the dangerous potentialities inherent in Islam is that Moslems "believe in the same God" as Christians and Jews. But this is a severe distortion of the truth, for what Moslems fundamentally believe is that they know the true nature of the God that Judaism and Christianity tell lies about. Lies for which Christians and Jews will be punished in hell. The fact that Moslems share Levantine monotheism with us thus makes them more, not less, antagonistic to us on a religious level. Hopes for reconciliation on the grounds of common monotheism, as opposed to a realistic "good fences make good neighbors" civilizational détente, are wishful thinking.

The widespread belief in the non-Muslim world that Islam accords respect to the Old Testament and the Gospels as steps in progression to Mohammad’s revelation is mistaken. Modern Muslim apologists try to stress the supposed underlying similarities and compatibility of the three faiths, but this is not the view of orthodox Islam. Muhammad’s insistence that there is a heavenly proto-Scripture and that previous "books" are merely distorted and tainted copies sent to previous nations or communities means that these scriptures are the "barbarous Koran" as opposed to the true, Arabic one. (Let’s leave aside for a minute the puzzling question of how any degree of "distortion" of the Koran could produce either an Old or a New Testament.) The Tradition also regards the non-canonical Gospel of Barnabas, and not the New Testament, as the one that Jesus taught. The Koran alone is the true word of God and sets aside all previous revelations.

While the influence of orthodox Christianity upon the Koran has been slight, apocryphal and heretical Christian legends are the second most important original source of Islam. In other words, Islam contains an awful lot that Christians have deliberately rejected over the years as religiously unsound. There are also influences of Sabaism, of Zoroastrianism, and of ancient Arabian paganism, including the divine sanction for the practices of polygamy and slavery. The reports in both the Koran and the Hadith (authoritative traditional sayings) concerning paradise, the houris, (virgins) the youths, the jinn (genies) and the angel of death have been directly taken from the ancient books of the Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism also originated the story that on the Day of Judgment all people will have to cross a bridge stretched across hell leading to paradise on which the unbelievers will stumble and fall down to hell.

The biblical stories been passed on to Muhammad presumably from Jewish and Christian sources, but it is probable that he never read the Old or the New Testament. Those narratives had deeply impressed him, but being incomplete and imprecise, they gave his imagination free rein. Of the books of the Old Testament he knew only of the Torah or Pentateuch and the Book of Psalms, while the Scriptures he treats collectively as "the Gospels." Muhammad took these narratives as they were given to him, and their use in the Koran amounts to random, approximate and often badly misunderstood reproduction of the Talmudic traditions and the Apocrypha. Moreover, they are of course devoid of their original contexts and of the spiritual message of the original.

Many Old Testament stories are changed beyond recognition, and can be treated as a "source" only in the most general sense. Abraham did not offer Isaac, but Ishmael, as a sacrifice. "Haman" was pharaoh’s chief minister, even though the Haman known to Jews lived in Babylon one thousand years later. Moses was picked from the river not by his sister but by his mother. A Samaritan was the one who molded the golden calf for the children of Israel and misguided them, even though Samarians arrived only after the Babylonian exile. The accounts of Moses’ life are sketchy and say nothing of his character, descent, the time he was sent as a prophet, the purpose of his mission, and where, how and why he appointed Aaron as his deputy. It does not relate the argument between them and the people of Israel, which is crucial to the story. The story of Noah reflected Muhammad’s dilemmas and difficulties rather than Noah’s mission, and even the names of the idols that Noah warns against are Arabic.

The Koran makes reference to Jesus, Mary and events related to them, but with a critical distinction. It explicitly denies that Jesus was crucified: Allah made the Jews so confused that they crucified somebody else instead who had the likeness of Christ: "They slew him not nor crucified but it appeared so unto them." Muslims claim that an impostor by the name of Shabih was crucified, and he resembled Jesus in his face only. It seems illogical to those who count "proud" as one of the "99 most beautiful names of Allah" that Jesus, who was capable of raising the dead and of healing the blind and the leper, willingly submitted to the cross and failed to destroy the Jews who intended to hurt him. Islam rejects the whole concept of the crucifixion, claiming that it is against reason to assume that Allah would not forgive man’s sins without the cross: to say so is to limit his power: "He forgives whom he will, and he chastises whom he will."

The denial of the Trinity is also explicit: Allah begets not, i.e. he is no Father; and was not begotten, that is, he is no Son; and no one is like him, which means he is no Holy Spirit. "They are infidels who say, Allah is the third of three." But "Isa" is not the Son of Allah, only a special prophet, and the Christians’ contrary claim shows how they are perverted. The Christians are guilty of blasphemy because of their belief in the "trinity" of Allah, Mary, and Jesus. The "real" Jesus was a righteous prophet and a good Muslim who paved the way for the final prophet, Muhammad himself.

There is a wishful myth in circulation among liberals that Islam accords respect to all "people of the book," i.e. Christians and Jews in addition to Moslems. While Islam indeed accords them a higher standing than it does to polytheists like Hindus (pace the question of whether Hinduism properly understood is truly polytheistic) or African animists, this hardly amounts to respect. Of all the "people of the book" only Muslims can attain salvation. Jews’ and Christians’ refusal to acknowledge Mohammed as the messenger of God dooms them to unbelief and eternal suffering after death. Christians are mortal sinners because of their belief in the divinity of Christ, and their condemnation is irrevocable: "God will forbid him the garden and the fire will be his abode."

Unlike the Christian faith in God revealing Himself through Christ, the Koran is not a revelation of Allah – a heretical concept in Islam – but the direct revelation of his commandments and the communication of his law. It has been said that the Koran, to a Muslim, is not the perfected Gospel, it Christ, the Word Incarnate. This is a somewhat tenuous metaphor, however, not a valid parallel: Christian God "comes down" and seeks man because of His fatherly love. The Fall cast a shadow, the Incarnation makes reconciliation possible. Allah, by contrast, is cold, haughty, unpredictable, unknowable, capricious, distant, and so purely transcendent that no "relationship" is possible. He reveals only his will, not himself. Allah is "everywhere," and therefore nowhere relevant to us. He is uninterested in making our acquaintance, let alone in being near to us because of love. We are still utterly unable to grasp his purposes and all we can do is what we have to do, to obey his command.

The Koran claims to be the fulfillment of a religious design which was imperfectly revealed to the Jews and to the Christians. It is the crowning synthesis, the final word. But viewing the matter objectively, leaving aside for a moment the question of the actual truth of the book, it seems hard to see how the Koran is a synthesis of anything. The way in which Christianity makes sense – again, simply as a logical matter and leaving aside the truth of it – as a fulfillment of Judaism, is clear even to the unbeliever. But the Koran’s claim is singularly implausible. Non-Muslim commentators fail to see in what way is the Koran an improvement over, or advancement on, the moral teaching, language, style, or coherence of the Old and New Testament. It is looks, feels, sounds like a construct entirely human in origin and intent, clear in its earthly sources of inspiration and the fulfillment of the daily needs, personal and political, of its author.

Finally, one cannot ignore that whatever mildly friendly things the Koran may say about Judaism and Christianity in its early part, the late Surras also signify the final break with the Jews and Christians, who are fiercely denounced. The Muslims must be merciless to the unbelievers but kind to each other. "Whoso of you makes them his friends is one of them." War, not friendship, is mandatory until Islam reigns everywhere. Muslims are ordered to fight the unbelievers, "and let them find harshness in you." They must kill the unbelievers "wherever you find them." The punishment for resistance is execution or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides. By the stage in his life during which these Surras were written, Muhammad was no longer trying to convert his hearers by examples, promises, and warnings; he addresses them as their master and sovereign, praising them or blaming them for their conduct, giving laws and precepts as needed. His raw dogmatism stands, finally, naked of all pretence.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: catholiclist; christians; god; jews; moslems
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To: crystalk
Those punishments may seem harsh to you, but they are not for the mere slighting of Allah's name

Isn't there a passage in the OT where God tells the Hebrews not to touch his altar. Then, as they're moving it, one guy slips and accidentally touches it -- and he's struck dead.

In another passage, a prophet enters a city, and some kids mock him and call him "baldy." So God sends a bear to slaughter the kids -- killed merely for insulting a prophet.

The OT God seems pretty petty in his murderous brutality.

81 posted on 11/28/2002 9:00:22 PM PST by Commie Basher
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To: Commie Basher
Sounds like you think that the New Testament is the last word from God, hence you disregard the Koran. Do you also regard the Book Of Mormon to be a false book?

I regard both the Koran, and the book of Mormon to be false. They came from the same source too.
82 posted on 11/28/2002 9:00:31 PM PST by Delphinium
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Comment #83 Removed by Moderator

To: CanisMajor2002
There was not a single Muslim alive in the USA when that passage you quote was written, and it is highly dubious as a matter of constitutional law that it protects Islam or any other religion not in existence in the USA at that time.

IMHO it protects only Christianity whether Roman, Greek, or Protestant, and Judaism.

84 posted on 11/28/2002 9:02:29 PM PST by crystalk
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To: crystalk
Kill for the love of Kali!
Ah Hindu sect or Kipling smear?
85 posted on 11/28/2002 9:02:30 PM PST by rastus macgill
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To: TLBSHOW
Christians and Jews don't believe in Allah (except for Cardinal Law).
86 posted on 11/28/2002 9:04:27 PM PST by Michael2001
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To: crystalk
WTF?
You are so totlly off !
WHAT are you talking about?
87 posted on 11/28/2002 9:04:39 PM PST by rastus macgill
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To: Commie Basher
If God did those things, He will answer for them.

But he does not command US to go out and murder persons for imagined slights, as Islam does, and You Know That Just as Well as I.

88 posted on 11/28/2002 9:04:54 PM PST by crystalk
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To: InvisibleChurch
I think you are confusing "truth" with "belief." Do you deny that people believe in and worship many different gods? For instance, I have a hindu friend who prays to living men as gods. Are you trying to tell me that she is actually praying to the Creator when she addresses her prayers to Baba something-or-other? What do you suppose the God of the Bible meant when he denounced Baal as a false god. Do you suppose the God who revealed Himself in the Bible would excuse Baal worshipers because they were actually serving the only real God, since, as you put it there is only one God?
89 posted on 11/28/2002 9:06:12 PM PST by fatidic
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To: Commie Basher
I rather suspect that we're not as much on the same page as you seem to think.

The Crusades were not really a "Christian" phenomenon at all. They were an imitation of Muslim jihad. The Crusades themselves were not an aggressive attempt to conquer land, they were a long-delayed counter-attack against Muslim aggression.

BTW, absolutely zero witches were burned at Salem. Over a dozen were hanged. One was "pressed" to death. (Don't ask). No burnings.

You are correct that almost all religions have committed atrocities. Try getting into a discussion of the 30 Years War between ardent Protestants and Catholics, for instance. I did, and was thoroughly shot up from both sides!

My problem is with the religions that are committing atyrocities today. A rather more pressing issue than comparative degrees of historical guilt.
90 posted on 11/28/2002 9:06:41 PM PST by Restorer
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To: TLBSHOW
NO !!!
91 posted on 11/28/2002 9:07:06 PM PST by AFPhys
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To: Restorer
Leviticus 24:16 (KJV) "He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him; the sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

Not terribly different from the present Muslim perspective.

Thank you for that.

"the sojourner as well as the native." I assume this means that non-Jews as well as Jews who blaspheme shall be stoned to death.

Truly, it seems many "religions of peace" share this concept, :-)

92 posted on 11/28/2002 9:07:25 PM PST by Commie Basher
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To: annflounder
There is ample reason to believe that the last real prophet died around 2500 years ago, and that any claims of such phenomena in our own age are bogus.

St. John was the last prophet. His prophecies are found in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Many of his prophecies are similar to those of Isaiah from 7 or 8 centuries earlier.

93 posted on 11/28/2002 9:08:44 PM PST by PhilipFreneau
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To: tessalu
The God of the bible would not act as a pimp passing out 72 virgins for each man,

I'm not even sure if most Muslims believe that. Is that in the Koran?

94 posted on 11/28/2002 9:09:15 PM PST by Commie Basher
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To: crystalk
Please see #77.

You are correct about the difference between Muslim and Christian behavior.

However, that was not the question at hand. The discussion was about specific texts. And there is not a great deal of difference between Koran and OT in their military laws.
95 posted on 11/28/2002 9:09:51 PM PST by Restorer
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To: SouthernFreebird
what that One God is, though, is somewhat up for debate. Does He have the ability to create a physical incarnation of Himself? How closely can He communicate with a prophet? If there is a Trinity, there are all sorts of varying theories about how it works out. Each variation basically thinks the other has the wrong conception of God. Similar, yet very different.
96 posted on 11/28/2002 9:10:39 PM PST by modern_orthodox
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To: crystalk
There were many Muslims in America at that time most didn't come here voluntarily. Look where the slave pool came from traders were not buying Animists exclusively.
Anyway it is irrelevant Leftist/Liberals believe that the Constitution doesn't mean anything not specific to the time it was written.Feel free to defend this belief you are WRONG!
97 posted on 11/28/2002 9:11:17 PM PST by rastus macgill
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To: PhilipFreneau
Muhammad and Joseph Smith both lived much later than St John.
98 posted on 11/28/2002 9:11:30 PM PST by crystalk
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To: Restorer
Huge difference between the scope of the objects of wrath of the two gods. Allah targets the whole world whereas the God of the Bible's targets are specific, time-limited and cannot be generalized beyond certain borders.
99 posted on 11/28/2002 9:12:45 PM PST by fatidic
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To: crystalk
There was not a single Muslim alive in the USA when that passage you quote was written, and it is highly dubious as a matter of constitutional law that it protects Islam or any other religion not in existence in the USA at that time.

IMHO it protects only Christianity whether Roman, Greek, or Protestant, and Judaism.

As much as I may wish for the above situation, I can't find that the Constitution applies only to the thoughts that existed in America in 1787. If this were truly the case, then the Internet would not be protected by the free speech clause (chuckle if you're a cynic :) ).

100 posted on 11/28/2002 9:13:18 PM PST by CanisMajor2002
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