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During the days when religious uproars were rampant in our dear Country, you hear phrases like “Why are we fighting ke ? After all, we're serving the same God”. “We're all children of same father, only serving God in different ways and mediums”.

The issue to be addressed in this write-up is, Is the Muslim Allah and Christian God the same? Do we serve the same God? Are we actually children of two brothers? Is it just our mode of worship that differs, we actually worship same God? Let's see how God will help us understand these pressing issues.

Who is God?
God cannot be defined, but He can be recognized by His characteristics and traits. When Moses asked God who He was, he answered, I am Who I am . But simply put, God is often times defined as the being that is worshipped and is also the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His attributes that bring out His true nature include His being Eternal, Unchanging, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Incomprehensible, Holy, Faithful, True, Just, etc.

Who is this Allah?
One of the biggest misconceptions that many non-Muslims have about Islam has to do with the word "Allah" . Muslims call the being they worship Allah. They say "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God". From my findings, I discovered Allah in two different lights. Basically, Allah is said to be the Arabic interpretation of the word ‘God'.

One school says that Allah is formed by adding the equivalent to the English word "the" ( Al- ) to the Arabic word for "god/God" ( ilah ). So the Arabic word "Allah" literally means "The God" . The "Al-" in Arabic basically serving the same function as the capital "G" in English. "Allah" is the same word that Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews use for God. If you pick up an Arabic Bible, you will see the word "Allah" being used where "God" is used in English. This is because "Allah" is the only word in the Arabic language equivalent to the English word "God" with a capital "G" . Due to the above mentioned facts, a more accurate translation of the word "Allah" into English might be "The One -and-Only God" or "The One True God" just like ‘God' in English referencing “the one God” different from gods “other gods”. And very interestingly, I discovered that in an Arabic Bible, Jesus is the "Son of Allah" ! This startling fact makes it clear that Allah actually means God contextually, the only God, this same God we (Christians) serve. Are we therefore serving the same God???

The other school has it that Allah was actually a god worshipped in Arabia at the time Muhammad was born. " Historians like Vaqqidi have said Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods [one for each day of the year] being worshipped in Arabia at the time Muhammad rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities...Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshipped at the Ka'ba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Muhammad came. Some Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not on their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this." (Who Is This Allah?, G. J. O. Moshay, 1994, p 138). When Muhammad came, he met a pagan Arab tribe worshipping an idol called Allah. This idol worshipping he abolished and started the religion of Islam.

The pagan Arabs had a chief deity, in their pantheon , whom they called "Allah"; "Along with Allah, however, they [pre-Islamic Arabs] worshipped a host of gods such as Hubal and 'daughters of Allah' [the three daughters of Allah being Allat , Al-Uzza , and Manah ]" (Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, "The Facts on File" , ed. Anthony Mercatante, New York, 1983, I:61). The pagan Arabians often used the word "Allah" in the names of their children; Muhammad 's father, who was born into paganism, was named "Abdullah", which translates "servant of Allah".

Meeting Point?
A foundation has been established that Allah is the Arabic interpretation for the word God. It is like the French man calling God "Dieu" , Spanish "Dios" or Hebrew "Yahweh". It will not be correct to say that they all worship different “Gods” because they call Him different names. Those names all refer to “the only God” because there is only one God which is the God we serve.

I however will want to emphatically state here that the difference between the words Allah and God is not necessarily in the names but in what each name represents to those that use it. We'll hinge this here and come back to it later. Now, to avoid confusion, I will henceforth refer to the God of the Christians as “God” and that of the Muslims as “Allah” so that the reader can know who I am making reference to at each instance and then we can infer if they are the same.

Let us consider the meeting points of these two religions.

•  Monotheism – This is talking about the oneness of God. Christians believe that God is one and there is no other God except him – Is. 46:9. Christians also believe in the worship of only this God (not even His representation in whatsoever form) and abhors idolatry. Muslims too believe that there is only one God as in Koran chapter 112 which reads ‘ In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say (O Muhammad) He is God the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone." They also abhor idolatry.

•  Abrahamic Faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam all claim to be "Abrahamic Faiths" . That is, the religions have a stake in Abraham. Christianity stems from the promises God made to Abraham. Acts 13:32 -33,38 "we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus...that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." We are of the lineage of Abraham to Isaac. Muslims too believe that they are from Abraham, but the lineage is that of Abraham to Ishmael. They infact believe that it was Ishmael that God told Abraham to sacrifice. That is for another day, but Islam and Christianity are both Abrahamic Faiths.

These are the only two similarities I have discovered between both religions. We'll consider the differences.

Divergence:
Let us now consider those issues that make the religions differ thereby pointing out the differences between God and Allah.

•  Trinity – Christianity is centered around God being a three-in-one person. The evidence of Trinity is noticeable in Gen. 1:26 and John 1:1 proving that God was not alone in the beginning. Throughout the scriptures, we find that God manifests in three forms as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This view is considered by Muslims as polytheism???!!!. If Allah is rigidly one and with no other manifestation, but God is one with three varied manifestations, then these two beings are definitely not the same.

•  Jesus as the Son of God - "People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary , was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, 'Three.' Refrain; better is it for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him - (He is) above having a son." (Qur'an 4:171). I was shocked on encountering this verse of the Qur'an. Never knew that the Muslims have it clearly spelt out in the Qur'an that Jesus is the Messiah. It even goes further to say that Jesus was a product of the Word God committed to Mary and His Spirit. That's just as spelt out in the Bible too. But O! unfortunately, Jesus is seen only as a Messenger, and not the Son of God because God is above having a son and as quoted earlier on “… who has not begotten, nor has been begotten” . Since Allah has no son but God has, then these two beings can not be the same.

•  The Crucifixion: Never heard of what am about discussing until while putting up this article. Read this: "That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not" (Q 4:157). The Qur'an teaches that when Jesus was about to be crucified, that Allah performed a miracle and made someone look like Jesus' identical twin. (Simon who carried the cross is often suggested as the person who was made to look like Jesus.) This deception of Allah was so perfect, that it in fact deceived even the 12 apostles into thinking Jesus was crucified on the cross, when it was really Simon "Made to look like Jesus" who was nailed to the cross. This however means that Allah's deception on the cross caused the birth of Christianity!!! In other words, Muslims must admit that Allah is ultimately responsible for the creation and growth of the world's largest religion!

But obviously, this is not so. The death and Resurrection of Christ is the basis for Christianity. The four Gospel books testify vividly to the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. Therefore, these two beings we are addressing cannot be the same!

•  Blood Atonement and Substitutionary Death - Muslims will claim that the whole concept of blood atonement and Substitutionary death is a forgery and a fraud and not from God. Since they reject inherited sin, Muslims will emphasize passages like Ezek 18:20 where each man will pay for his own sin. Muslims love to use the illustration of the speeding ticket. They say, "Why should I have to pay for someone else's speeding ticket? That is why the idea of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is wrong." Yet Muhammad had simply not thought through his theology very well because it has not dawned on Muslims that when they say that Simon or Judas was made to die in Jesus' place, so he could escape death, this man paid the speeding ticket on behalf of Christ! Hence Muslim Theology is completely contradictory, for since Qur'an 4:157 says that God made someone take on the physical appearance of Jesus and died in his place, they not only have someone paying for someone else's speeding ticket, it was also a Substitutionary death!

Here we see Muslims trying to pay for their own sins by self inflicted beatings, instead of letting Jesus pay for their sins on the cross. The Allah that accepts this definitely can not be the same God that sent His son to bear our sins and atone for them.

•  Historical Facts: During a discussion of Jesus of Nazareth in a university history class, a student asked the professor about the theory that Jesus did not die on the cross as history records. The professor replied, "Young man, if Jesus of Nazareth did not die on the cross, then someone else, who lived at the same time and had the same name died on the cross!" In fact this is the whole issue between Islam and Christianity. Muslims do not deny the history that someone died on the cross of the New Testament, the squabble merely revolves around exactly who was on that cross! Christianity is richly supported by recorded world history, archaeology and social traditions. The Bible is the most historically verified book on earth. Today, so many Bible cities, names and events have been unearthed, through archaeology that the Bible is considered the single most important historical document in existence. Many lost cities have been located using the Bible as a road map. So startling and impressive are some of the finds that one archaeologist was compelled to say, " They are digging up Bible stories !"

Islam on the other hand has a total disregard for all recorded world history, archaeology and of course, the Bible. Muslims kind of exist in a historical vacuum when they propose a completely different version of history that contradicts archeology, simply because the Koran taught such in the 7th century. In other words, the Koran makes a historical claim that contradicts 5,000 historical documents that are 3500 years old, and the entire knowledge base of archeology, Muslims disregard all this and blindly accept on faith their own mythical version of history reveled in the Koran.

Obviously then, people with these two different schools of thought cannot claim to serve the same Being.

•  Violence: One difference, clearly seen, between Christianity and Islam is how each religion perceives violence. Allah promises ‘virgins in paradise' to those who will, in his name, kill and maim innocent men, women and children who refuse to be submitted to his rule here on earth. Allah's houses of worship have often become hotbeds of incitement and terrorism. Those who brutally carry out his wishes with no regard for others are praised and chanted about as his holy martyrs.

Today, the worst terrorist groups claim Allah's name and his support. Members of Hizb'allah the party of Allah are as ruthless in their terrorism as Mohammed was at the start of his campaign to bring the whole world in submission to Allah.

On the other hand, God detests violence. The Bible preaches peace and encourages us to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14 , Rom. 12:18 ). God refused to let His servant David build a house of worship for Him because he was too much of a man of war. God detests the shedding of blood, it's amongst the seven things God hates (Prov. 6:16 -17).

These two sets of people with such varied characteristics cannot be serving the same God.

Conclusion :
Concisely, and from all we have discussed so far, the words Allah and God literally mean the same, but obviously mean different things to those that worship them and use them. There is more to the word Allah than what it actually means.

Conclusively, I'll like to give an illustration. There are two bowls owned by two children. One uses his bowl as a potty (for doing pooh-pooh) and the other as a meal bowl. Both bowls are the same, yet very different because they connote different meanings to those that owns them.

What is your comment on this story?

• Please pray with me.