Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God? The relevance of such a question is not hard to defend. Islam and Christianity are the two largest religions in the world. Their respective adherents can be found in all almost every corner of the globe. Muslims and Christians are often involved in discussions about political elections, religious freedom, terrorism, court rulings and the like. Even more, as a Christian, the question is relevant to my own doctrinal, evangelistic, and apologetic concerns.
With this kind of relevance in mind, the short answer to the question is: No, Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God. To be sure, the two faiths share some commonalities, such as monotheism and adherence to a sacred text. However, these broad similarities notwithstanding, the God of Islam and Christianity are not one and the same. There are a number of differences to consider, but I will limit our discussion here to three interrelated components of divine identity: the Trinity, Jesus, and salvation.
To begin, the Trinity is a foundational difference between the identity of God in Islam and Christianity. Scripture and orthodox Christianity describe God as triune in nature. Through the centuries, various thinkers from early church councils at Nicea (A.D. 325) and Constantinople (A.D. 381) to the authors of the Westminster Confession (A.D. 1646) have tried to articulate the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For a more recent example, consider the statement in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 that asserts: “The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.” This is definitely not the way Islam describes its God. In fact, the Quran explicitly rejects the notion of a Trinity, asserting: “Certainly they have disbelieved who say, ‘Surely God is the third of three,’ when there is no god but one God” (Q Al-Maida 5:73). There are a number of details to note here, including the fact that technically the Quran is not denying the Trinity of the Bible and Christian orthodoxy. Rather, it is repudiating Tritheism, an unorthodox Trinity that consists of three distinct gods which, in this particular passage, the Quran identifies as Jesus, Mary, and God. Of course, Islam also flatly rejects the orthodox Trinity, or any presentation of the Trinity. Simply put, Muslims neither affirm nor worship the one God revealed in three persons as orthodox Christians do.
Second, Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God because they drastically differ in how they understand the person of Jesus. Collectively, the more than 90 references to Jesus in the Quran describe him as follows: (1) a created being like Adam; (2) not a son of God; (3) a messenger of God; and (4) a messenger whom God rescued from crucifixion at the last moment. Overall, the Quran places Jesus alongside its other prominent prophets, all of whom preceded its final prophet, Muhammad. While the Bible does describe Jesus as a prophet (Acts 3:22-26), it does not understand his prophetic role in the way the Quran does. Additionally, the New Testament adamantly defends Jesus’ divinity, crucifixion and resurrection, while the Quran denies all three. A side-by-side comparison of a few verses demonstrates this stark contrast:
- Surely the likeness of Jesus is, with God, as the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, and then He said to him, ‘Be!’ and he was (Q Al-Imran 3:59).
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
- And for their saying, ‘Surely we killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of God’ — yet they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it only seemed like that to them (Q Al-Nisa 4:157).
- For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The divine identity of the crucified and risen Jesus is clearly denied in the Quran but affirmed in the New Testament. It is the crucified and risen Son of God, in whom all the fullness of deity dwells (Colossians 2:9), that Christians worship (Philippians 2:10; Revelation 5:9-14). In short, Islam rejects Jesus’ historical death and resurrection as well as His eternal and divine sonship. Muslims view the Son whom Christians worship as a created messenger whom they respect but certainly do not worship.
Third, Christians worship God as one who saves from sin, death, Satan, and damnation by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus — while salvation in Islam begins with belief in the Shahada (“the testimony”) and vigorous submission to the way of God. The Shahada is essentially the belief and confession that “there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” Vigorous submission to the way of God includes: belief, prayer, fasting, giving alms, pilgrimages, and other responsibilities. While the Quran describes Allah as merciful (Q Al-Tawba 9:118), there is a lingering lack of certainty that he will grant forgiveness in final judgment because one’s deeds must be weighed. As we find in Q Al-Hajj 22:56-57, “The kingdom on that Day will belong to God. He will judge between them. Those who believe and do righteous deeds will be in Gardens of Bliss, but those who disbelieve and call our signs a lie, for them there will be a humiliating punishment.” Additionally, since Islam defines the nature of sin as forgetting to walk in the ways of God, salvation does not require a sacrifice but remembrance of God’s ways. Therefore, Allah sent his many prophets to remind people of his ways. However, in Christianity, sin is rebellion against the holiness of God as well as a power that enslaves and kills. Consequently, salvation now and on the last day requires the atoning sacrifice and defeat of sin in the crucified and risen Jesus. There is obviously a vast chasm of difference between how Muslims worship their saving God from the way Christians worship theirs.
There is much more to say in answering the question “Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?” While my answer is an emphatic no, my doctrinal, evangelistic and apologetic concerns must not be communicated without an understanding of Islam or love for Muslims. I believe God is seeking Muslims who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. May the church lovingly speak that truth, so that we all might truly worship the same God.
— Channing L. Crisler is assistant professor of New Testament at Anderson University.