# Islam vs the Christian God ## Intro Muslims and Christians agree on a great deal about God. Both say there is **only one God**. Both say He **created everything**, that He is **merciful and just**, that He has **spoken through prophets**, and that one day He will **judge the world**. Islam honors Jesus as a sinless prophet, born of a virgin, called the Messiah and a Word from God. That is real common ground, and a Christian should say so first. The difference is about **what the one God is like**, and it shows up in a few places: - **Islam's God** is one in the strictest sense: one person, without partner. He is the Master and the believer is His servant. He loves those who obey and do good. He forgives whom He wills, and no one can be certain of Paradise in this life. - **The Christian God** is one God who is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is love in Himself, before He made anything. He loves sinners first, while they are still His enemies. He came Himself in Jesus, took our guilt on Himself at the cross, and rose again, so that He can forgive without pretending sin does not matter. And He lets His children know where they stand. The Christian claim is not that Muslims are bad people or that Islam has no beauty. It is that, question by question, the triune God explains more and offers more: - **Love** that is eternal, not just a response to creatures. - **Justice and mercy** that meet instead of cancelling each other out. - **A God who comes**, not only a God who sends. - **Assurance** now, and a **resurrection** ending with God Himself. Quick reply for a live conversation: *"We both believe in one God. The question is what kind of one. If God is a single person, who did He love before He made anything? The Christian God is love inside Himself, Father, Son and Spirit. And He didn't just send a book. He came Himself, paid for our sin, and rose again, so you can know you're forgiven."* ## Cheatsheet **The 30-second reply:** > Islam and Christianity agree there is one God who creates, judges and shows mercy. They disagree about what the one God is like. Allah in Islam is a single person who loves those who obey; the Qur'an says the Prophet himself did not know what would be done with him (46:9). The Christian God is one being in three persons, so love is eternal in God, not something that started with creation. He loved us while we were enemies, came Himself in Jesus, satisfied justice at the cross, and rose. That is why a Christian can say, "I know I have eternal life" ([1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/)), and a Muslim, by his own tradition, cannot. **The fast facts:** 1. **Shared ground.** One God, Creator, merciful, just, who sends prophets and judges the world. Islam affirms Jesus' virgin birth, sinlessness, miracles and return. See [Islam](/codex/islam/). 2. **The central dividing line.** Islam's *tawhid* rules out any plurality in God and treats the Trinity as *shirk*, associating partners with God (Qur'an 4:171, 5:73, 112). See [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/) and [Trinity](/codex/trinity/). 3. **Love.** The Qur'an names God *al-Wadud*, the Loving (85:14), and says He loves the doers of good and the repentant (2:195, 2:222). It also says He does not love the disbelievers (3:32). The New Testament says "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" ([Romans 5:8](/codex/romans-5-8/), ASV). 4. **Forgiveness.** Islam: repentance, good deeds and God's free decision; "no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another" (6:164, paraphrased). Christianity: God bears the burden Himself, "that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" ([Romans 3:26](/codex/romans-3-26/), ASV). 5. **Jesus.** The Qur'an denies he was killed or crucified (4:157) and denies he is God's Son (112). Every first-century source, friendly and hostile, says he was crucified. See [Crucifixion Denial in Islam Objection Defeater](/codex/crucifixion-denial-in-islam-objection-defeater/). 6. **Assurance.** Qur'an 46:9 has Muhammad say he does not know what will be done with him or with his hearers. [1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/): "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (ASV). 7. **The ending.** Islam: the weighing of deeds, then Paradise or hell. Christianity: resurrection, and God dwelling with His people ([Revelation 21:3](/codex/revelation-21-3/)). See [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/). **The 4 strongest counter-moves:** - *"Who did Allah love before He created anything?"* If love is eternal in God, there must be an eternal beloved. The Trinity supplies one. A single-person God has only Himself, or a creation that did not yet exist. - *"How can a just judge let the guilty go free with no payment?"* Islam calls God *al-'Adl*, the Just, and weighs every deed. That makes the question sharper, not softer. The cross is where justice is paid and mercy is given at once. - *"Your own Qur'an says Abraham's son was ransomed 'with a great sacrifice' (37:107)."* Substitution is not foreign to the Qur'an. The question is only whether God would provide the final one Himself. - *"The Qur'an tells Christians to judge by the Gospel (5:47) and Muhammad to ask those who read the earlier scripture (10:94)."* The Gospel they had then is the Gospel we have now, and it teaches the cross and the deity of Christ. See [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/). **Reciprocal concessions (grant the small point, then collect a bigger one):** - *Grant:* there is only one God, and worshipping anything beside Him is the worst sin. *Now collect:* then Jesus, who accepted Thomas' words "My Lord and my God" ([John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/), ASV), was either guilty of the worst sin or is that one God made flesh. A sinless prophet cannot sit in between. - *Grant:* the Qur'an calls Jesus a Word from God and a spirit from Him (4:171). *Now collect:* God's Word is not a creature that God once lacked. If God was never without His Word, the Word is eternal with God, which is [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/). See [Kalimatullah](/codex/kalimatullah/). - *Grant:* God is merciful, and the Qur'an opens nearly every chapter by saying so. *Now collect:* mercy that costs the giver nothing and leaves justice unanswered is a pardon, not a rescue. Christianity shows mercy that cost God everything. - *Grant:* the Qur'an speaks of God loving and being loved (5:54). *Now collect:* then love matters to God's nature, and love is fullest when it goes first, to the unlovely. That is the love of the cross. **The closing line:** > Islam says God is great, and sends. Christianity says God is great enough to come. ## In full Islam (from Arabic *islam*, "submission") holds that God, Allah, is absolutely one (*tawhid*), without partner, offspring or equal. The Qur'an, recited by Muhammad between about 610 and 632, is regarded as God's final word, confirming and correcting earlier revelation. Its theology of God rests on three affirmations: - **Unity.** God is one in essence and in person. Surah 112 denies that He begets or is begotten and says nothing is comparable to Him. Qur'an 42:11: "There is nothing like unto Him." - **Transcendence with nearness.** God is wholly other than creation, yet "closer to him than his jugular vein" (50:16). He is not incarnated in anything. - **Mercy and justice.** God is *al-Rahman*, *al-Rahim* (the Merciful, the Compassionate) and *al-'Adl* (the Just). Human beings are His servants (*'abd*), born without inherited guilt, who will be judged by their deeds and by His will. The Christian doctrine of God agrees with the first half of each affirmation and differs on the second. God is one, but His oneness is the unity of one divine being in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each fully God ([Matthew 28:19](/codex/matthew-28-19/); [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/); [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)). God is wholly other than creation, but in the Son He freely took a human nature without ceasing to be God ([John 1:14](/codex/john-1-14/); [Philippians 2:6-7](/codex/philippians-2-6-7/)). God is merciful and just, and the two meet in the atonement, where sin is punished and the sinner is spared ([Romans 3:23-26](/codex/romans-3-23-26/)). Many Christians and Muslims argue about whether they "worship the same God." Miroslav Volf, *Allah: A Christian Response* (2011), argues that they refer to the same God while describing Him differently. Others answer that the descriptions differ at the center. This page does not need to settle that question. Its question is narrower and more useful: **where the two descriptions differ, which one better explains the world and offers the person more?** The answer argued here is the Christian one. For the full Christian engagement with Islam, see [The Muslim Defense](/codex/the-muslim-defense/). For the cumulative case across all the major candidates, see [Christian God is the Only True God](/codex/christian-god-is-the-only-true-god/). ## Side by side | Question | Islam | The Christian God | |---|---|---| | **What is ultimate reality?** | One God, Allah, single in essence and person | One God, eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit | | **Who is God?** | Creator, Lord, Merciful, Just; utterly unlike creation (42:11) | Creator, Lord, Merciful, Just; and love in His own being (1 John 4:8) | | **Was God loving before creation?** | Love is an eternal attribute, exercised toward creatures | Yes, actually: the Father loved the Son "before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24) | | **How does God relate to people?** | Master and servant; near, but never Father | Father and adopted children (Romans 8:15) | | **Whom does God love?** | The doers of good, the patient, the repentant; not the disbelievers (3:32) | Sinners and enemies, first (Romans 5:8) | | **What is the human problem?** | Weakness and forgetfulness; no inherited guilt | A heart turned against God, needing to be made new | | **How is sin forgiven?** | Repentance, good deeds and God's will; no one bears another's burden (6:164) | God bears it Himself in Christ, so He is just and the justifier (Romans 3:26) | | **Who is Jesus?** | Virgin-born prophet, Messiah, Word from God; not crucified; not divine | God the Son made flesh, crucified for sin, risen | | **How does God make Himself known?** | He sends a book through a prophet | He comes Himself (John 1:14, 18) | | **Can you know where you stand?** | No; even the Prophet did not know (46:9) | Yes (1 John 5:13) | | **What happens at the end?** | Deeds weighed; Paradise or hell | Bodily resurrection and life with God in a renewed creation | ## Argument structure | | Premise | Notes | |---|---|---| | **P1** | **Eternal love needs an eternal beloved.** A God who is a single person has no one to love before creation; the triune God is love in Himself. | Relational | | **P2** | **A just God cannot simply waive guilt.** Mercy without satisfaction compromises justice; at the cross God is both just and the justifier. | Moral | | **P3** | **The greatest love goes first and goes all the way.** A God who loves enemies first and comes Himself is greater than a God whose love follows obedience and who only sends. | Perfect-being | | **P4** | **The history favors the cross and the empty tomb, which the Qur'an denies.** On the evidence, the Qur'an's central denial about Jesus is false. | Historical | | **P5** | **The Qur'an binds itself to the earlier scripture.** It affirms the Torah and Gospel of its day, and that scripture teaches the triune God. | Scriptural | | **P6** | **The Christian God gives assurance and a personal ending.** Knowing you are forgiven now, and resurrection with God, is a better hope than an uncertain weighing. | Eschatological | | **C** | Where Islam and Christianity differ about God, the Christian God explains more (love, justice, history) and offers more (mercy, assurance, communion). Islam keeps God's greatness and unity but loses the love, the cross and the certainty. | | ## Master objections to the whole argument **MO1: "The Trinity is three gods. Christianity has broken monotheism, so there is nothing to compare."** - Christianity confesses one God. The Trinity is not three beings sharing a genus, nor one person wearing three masks, but one divine being in three persons. Paul quotes the Shema and keeps it: "there is no God but one" ([1 Corinthians 8:4](/codex/1-corinthians-8-4/), ASV). See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), [Monotheism](/codex/monotheism/) and [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/). - The Qur'an's own targets are telling. Qur'an 5:116 pictures Jesus and his mother being taken as gods besides God, and 5:73 condemns saying God is "the third of three." Christians reject both pictures too. The Trinity the Qur'an denies is not the Trinity the church confesses. See [Muslim Objections to the Divinity of Christ](/codex/muslim-objections-to-the-divinity-of-christ/). **MO2: "The Bible has been corrupted, so you cannot use it."** - The manuscripts of the Bible before Muhammad match the Bible after him, and the Qur'an itself tells Jews and Christians to judge by what they have (5:43, 5:47, 5:68). See [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/), [Tahrif](/codex/tahrif/) and [Quranic Corruption and Preservation](/codex/quranic-corruption-and-preservation/). **MO3: "Christians and Muslims worship the same God, so this comparison is unfriendly and pointless."** - Whether the two refer to the same God is debated among Christians (Volf says yes; many say the descriptions are too different). Either way, the descriptions differ, and they cannot both be true. Comparing them honestly is how anyone, Muslim or Christian, finds out which is true. Respect does not require pretending the differences away. **MO4: "You are judging Islam by Christian categories like love and atonement."** - The categories are shared. The Qur'an names God the Loving (85:14) and the Just, weighs every deed, and speaks of a ransom by sacrifice (37:107). The comparison asks how each faith fulfills promises both make. ## Premise 1, Eternal love needs an eternal beloved ### Affirmative case 1. Both faiths say God is perfect and does not depend on creation for anything. 2. Love is a relation: a lover, a beloved, and the love between them. Augustine made this observation in *De Trinitate* VIII; Richard of St. Victor argued in *De Trinitate* III that perfect love must have a beloved worthy of it. 3. If God is a single person, then before creation He had no other to love. His love would either be self-love, or love directed at a creation that did not yet exist, which makes the fullness of His love depend on making a world. 4. The Christian God is love in Himself. The Son says, "thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" ([John 17:24](/codex/john-17-24/), ASV), and John concludes "God is love" ([1 John 4:8](/codex/1-john-4-8/), ASV). 5. So the Christian God can create freely, out of overflowing love, not to complete Himself. His love for us is the extension of a love He already is. ### Anticipated objections 1. *"Allah's attributes are eternal, including love. He does not need a creature to be loving."* 2. *"God loves Himself, and that is perfect love, because He is the most worthy object."* ### Rebuttals 1. An eternal attribute of love with no eternal object is love that is only potential until creation. That is exactly the dependence both faiths deny. Classical Sunni theology already wrestles with a similar puzzle over the eternal speech of God, saying the attributes are neither God nor other than God. The Trinity is the Christian answer to the question that puzzle raises. See [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/). 2. Self-love is real but it is not the love the Qur'an or the Bible praises in God, which goes out to another. A God whose only eternal love is for Himself is not the God of [1 John 4:8](/codex/1-john-4-8/). See [Argument from Love](/codex/argument-from-love/). ## Premise 2, A just God cannot simply waive guilt ### Affirmative case 1. Islam rightly insists that God is just (*al-'Adl*), that every deed is recorded, and that the scales are real (Qur'an 101:6-9). 2. A judge who acquits the guilty because he feels merciful is not just. Scripture states the principle: "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah" ([Proverbs 17:15](/codex/proverbs-17-15/), ASV). Muslims do not accept Proverbs as binding, but every court on earth assumes the same principle. 3. So a just God who forgives must deal with the guilt, not ignore it. That is the problem Anselm posed in *Cur Deus Homo*: the debt is man's to pay, and only God can pay it. See [Necessity of the Incarnation](/codex/necessity-of-the-incarnation/). 4. The Christian answer is that God paid it Himself: Christ was set forth "to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness... that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" ([Romans 3:25-26](/codex/romans-3-25-26/), ASV). See [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/) and [Atonement](/codex/atonement/). 5. The Qur'an's own story of Abraham's son contains the shape of this answer: the son is ransomed "with a great sacrifice" (37:107). See [Akedah](/codex/akedah/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"God is the one offended, and the offended party can forgive freely. Humans do it all the time."* 2. *"No one bears another's burden (6:164, 53:38). Punishing an innocent man for the guilty is itself unjust."* ### Rebuttals 1. A private person can forgive a debt owed to him. A judge cannot acquit a murderer because the victim's family is kind. God is both the offended party and the Judge of all the earth, so His forgiveness must be both personal and just. Islam's own scales show it takes the judicial side seriously. 2. The Christian claim is not that God punishes an unwilling third party. The Judge Himself, in the person of the Son, takes the penalty willingly: "the Son of man also came... to give his life a ransom for many" ([Mark 10:45](/codex/mark-10-45/), ASV). A substitute who is also the Lawgiver is not a bystander. See [No One Can Die For Another Objection Defeater](/codex/no-one-can-die-for-another-objection-defeater/). ## Premise 3, The greatest love goes first and goes all the way ### Affirmative case 1. Both faiths say God is the greatest possible being. 2. Love that comes after obedience is good. Love that comes before it, to the undeserving and the hostile, is greater. Jesus: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" ([John 15:13](/codex/john-15-13/), ASV). Paul goes further: "while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son" ([Romans 5:10](/codex/romans-5-10/), ASV). 3. The Qur'an's love language is generally conditional: God loves those who do good and those who repent (2:195, 2:222), and the call is "If you love God, follow me, and God will love you" (3:31, paraphrased). It also says God does not love the disbelievers (3:32). 4. The Christian God loves first: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" ([1 John 4:10](/codex/1-john-4-10/), ASV). 5. A God who comes is greater in love than a God who only sends. The Son, "existing in the form of God... emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" ([Philippians 2:6-7](/codex/philippians-2-6-7/), ASV). That is not a loss of greatness. It is greatness shown as humility. See [Kenosis](/codex/kenosis/) and [Incarnation](/codex/incarnation/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"Allah is al-Wadud, the Loving, and al-Rahman. Islam has a rich theology of love, especially among the Sufis."* 2. *"For God to become a man would be beneath His majesty. Nothing is like Him (42:11)."* ### Rebuttals 1. Granted, and gladly. The Qur'an speaks of a people God loves and who love Him (5:54), and the Sufi tradition (for example Rabi'a of Basra in the eighth century) produced some of the most moving devotion to God's love in any religion. The comparison is not love against no love. It is love that responds against love that goes first and pays the price. The Qur'an never says God loves the sinner while he is still a disbeliever, and the New Testament says exactly that. 2. "Nothing is like Him" is true of God's nature, and Christians affirm it. In the incarnation the Son does not become less than God; He takes a human nature in addition to His divine one. See [Hypostatic Union](/codex/hypostatic-union/). Whether that is beneath God depends on whether humble love is beneath God. The cross says it is not. ## Premise 4, The history favors the cross and the empty tomb ### Affirmative case 1. Qur'an 4:157 says the Jews did not kill or crucify Jesus, "but it was made to appear so to them" (*shubbiha lahum*). Most Muslim interpreters take this to mean someone else died in his place. 2. The crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate is among the best-attested events of ancient history: the four Gospels, Paul's letters, the early creed of [1 Corinthians 15:3-4](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-4/), and non-Christian sources including Tacitus and Josephus. See [Crucifixion Denial in Islam Objection Defeater](/codex/crucifixion-denial-in-islam-objection-defeater/) and [Crucifixion Denial Refutation](/codex/crucifixion-denial-refutation/). 3. The resurrection is attested by the same early creed, the empty tomb, the appearances, and the transformation of the disciples and of skeptics such as James and Paul. See [Minimal Facts Argument](/codex/minimal-facts-argument/) and [Argument from the Resurrection](/codex/argument-from-the-resurrection/). 4. A claim made about six hundred years later, in another land, without any first-century source, cannot overturn the first-century record. If the Qur'an is wrong here, its correction of the Christian God fails at its center. ### Anticipated objections 1. *"God can make anything appear as He wills. The witnesses were deceived."* ### Rebuttals 1. Then God deceived the disciples, the women, the Romans and the Jewish leaders, and so founded the Christian church on an illusion He created, while the Qur'an says God is the best of planners and does not wrong anyone. That makes God the author of the largest religious error in history. The simpler explanation is that the witnesses saw what happened. ## Premise 5, The Qur'an binds itself to the earlier scripture ### Affirmative case 1. The Qur'an describes itself as confirming the Torah and the Gospel (3:3), tells the people of the Gospel to judge by what God revealed in it (5:47), and tells Muhammad, if in doubt, to ask those who read the scripture before him (10:94). 2. The Bible of the seventh century is preserved in manuscripts from centuries before Muhammad, and it matches ours. 3. That Bible teaches the crucifixion, the resurrection and the deity of Christ. 4. So either the Qur'an endorsed a scripture that contradicts it, or the scripture was corrupted later without leaving any trace. See [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/) and [Did Jesus Send Muhammad Dilemma Argument](/codex/did-jesus-send-muhammad-dilemma-argument/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"The Qur'an means the original Injil given to Jesus, not the four Gospels."* ### Rebuttals 1. The Qur'an speaks to the Christians of Muhammad's day about what they then had in hand (5:47). No other Gospel was in their hands, and no manuscript of a lost Injil has ever been found. This is the force of the [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/) as Nabeel Qureshi popularized it. See [Tahrif](/codex/tahrif/). ## Premise 6, The Christian God gives assurance and a personal ending ### Affirmative case 1. Qur'an 46:9 has Muhammad say, "nor do I know what will be done with me or with you." A widely reported hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim has him say that no one enters Paradise by his deeds, not even himself, unless God covers him with His mercy. 2. In Islam the believer hopes for mercy, but cannot know in this life that he has it. 3. The New Testament was written so that believers may know: "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life" ([1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/), ASV). Jesus: "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand" ([John 10:28](/codex/john-10-28/), ASV). A dying criminal heard, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" ([Luke 23:43](/codex/luke-23-43/), ASV). 4. The ground of that assurance is not the believer's performance but Christ's finished work. That is why it can be certain. See [Justification by Faith](/codex/justification-by-faith/) and [Witness of the Holy Spirit](/codex/witness-of-the-holy-spirit/). 5. The Christian ending is communion with God: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them" ([Revelation 21:3](/codex/revelation-21-3/), ASV). See [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"Assurance makes people careless. Fear and hope together keep a believer humble."* ### Rebuttals 1. Christian assurance rests on grace, and grace changes the heart: "We love, because he first loved us" ([1 John 4:19](/codex/1-john-4-19/), ASV). People who know they are loved do not become careless; they become grateful. The New Testament combines assurance with a call to holiness ([Ephesians 2:8-10](/codex/ephesians-2-8-10/)). A fear that never knows where it stands is not humility; it is uncertainty. ## Grammar and hermeneutics Muslim objections to the Christian God usually come with Bible verses attached. Each of these can be settled on the grammar and the context of the text before any theology is added. - **The Shema is common ground, and Jesus quoted it.** In [Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/) Jesus answers, "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (ASV). Christians affirm it without reservation. The Hebrew word *echad* ("one") in [Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/) is the ordinary numeral; it neither proves nor excludes distinctions within God, so neither side should lean on it. See [H0259 - echad](/codex/h0259-echad/) and [Trinity Violates the Shema Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-violates-the-shema-objection-defeater/). - **Paul splits the Shema's own words between the Father and Jesus.** The Greek of [Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/) says the Lord (*kyrios*) our God (*theos*) is one. In [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) Paul writes "one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (ASV), two verses after "there is no God but one" (8:4). He places Jesus inside the Shema and gives him the role of Creator. Richard Bauckham sets out this reading in *Jesus and the God of Israel* (2008). - **[John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/) does not say "a god."** The clause *theos en ho logos* puts the predicate *theos* first, without the article, and marks *ho logos* ("the Word") as the subject with the article. A predicate noun placed before the verb without the article normally describes what the subject is: the Word had the nature of God. Had John written *ho theos*, with the article, he would have made the Word the same person as the God he was just said to be "with" (1:1b), that is, the Father. Without the article, the Word is fully God without being the Father. Verse 3 then rules out "a created god": "All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made" ([John 1:3](/codex/john-1-3/), ASV). - **[John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/) contrasts the true God with idols, not with the Son.** "The only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ" (ASV) is the language Jewish monotheism used against false gods. Two verses later the same speaker asks for "the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (17:5, ASV). No prophet can say that about himself. - **[John 20:17](/codex/john-20-17/) and 20:28 belong together.** "My God and your God" (20:17) is spoken by the risen Son in his true human nature, and he says "my Father and your Father," not "our Father," keeping his relation distinct from theirs. Eleven verses later Thomas "said unto him, My Lord and my God" (20:28, ASV). The phrase is addressed *to* Jesus ("said unto him"), and the nominative-with-article form is ordinary Greek for direct address, the same form used in "Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God" ([Revelation 4:11](/codex/revelation-4-11/), ASV). Jesus accepts it (20:29). - **"Son of God" is not a generic title for a righteous servant in the Gospels.** When Jesus called God "his own Father," his hearers understood him to be "making himself equal with God" ([John 5:18](/codex/john-5-18/), ASV). At his trial he answered the high priest's question with [Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/) and [Daniel 7:13](/codex/daniel-7-13/) combined ([Mark 14:61-62](/codex/mark-14-61-62/)), and was condemned for blasphemy. A claim to be merely a righteous servant is not blasphemy. - **"From among their brethren" in [Deuteronomy 18](/codex/deuteronomy-18/) means Israelites.** [Deuteronomy 18:15](/codex/deuteronomy-18-15/) says the prophet will come "from the midst of thee, of thy brethren" (ASV). The previous chapter uses the same phrase to require that Israel's king be "one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother" ([Deuteronomy 17:15](/codex/deuteronomy-17-15/), ASV). The text points inside Israel, not to Ishmael's line. See [Muhammad Not in Bible Objection Defeater](/codex/muhammad-not-in-bible-objection-defeater/). - **The Paraclete is the Spirit, not a later prophet.** [John 14:16-17](/codex/john-14-16-17/) calls the Comforter "the Spirit of truth," who "abideth with you, and shall be in you" (ASV), and 14:26 names him "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name." No Greek manuscript reads *periklytos* ("praised one") for *parakletos*. See [Muhammad as Paraclete Refutation](/codex/muhammad-as-paraclete-refutation/). Read on its own grammar, the New Testament keeps the Shema, identifies Jesus with the one God's name, nature and creative work, and does not predict a later prophet who would deny the cross. ## Live-cite kit **Scripture:** - [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/), "one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things" (ASV). - [John 17:24](/codex/john-17-24/), "thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (ASV). - [Romans 5:8](/codex/romans-5-8/), "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (ASV). - [Romans 3:26](/codex/romans-3-26/), "that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (ASV). - [1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/), "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (ASV). - [John 1:14](/codex/john-1-14/), "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (ASV). - [John 20:28](/codex/john-20-28/), "My Lord and my God" (ASV). **Qur'an (locators for checking, wording paraphrased unless quoted):** - 4:157, the denial of the crucifixion (*shubbiha lahum*). - 4:171 and 5:73, "do not say three"; "the third of three." - 112, God neither begets nor is begotten. - 3:31-32, love conditioned on following; God does not love the disbelievers. - 85:14, God is *al-Wadud*, the Loving. - 37:107, the son ransomed with a great sacrifice. - 46:9, "nor do I know what will be done with me or with you." - 5:47 and 10:94, judge by the Gospel; ask those who read the earlier scripture. **Scholarly:** - **Augustine**, *De Trinitate* VIII: lover, beloved and love. - **Richard of St. Victor**, *De Trinitate* III: perfect love requires another person. - **Anselm**, *Cur Deus Homo* (1098): why God became man to pay a debt only man owed and only God could pay. - **Richard Bauckham**, *Jesus and the God of Israel* (2008): Jesus included in the identity of the one God. - **Nabeel Qureshi**, *Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus* (2014) and *No God But One* (2016): a former Muslim compares the two Gods. - **Miroslav Volf**, *Allah: A Christian Response* (2011): the "same God" debate from the side most generous to Islam. **Aphorisms:** - *"We agree there is one God. We disagree about what kind of one."* - *"Who did God love before there was anyone else?"* - *"A pardon without payment is not justice. A payment without love is not mercy. The cross is both."* - *"Islam says God is great, and sends. Christianity says God is great enough to come."* - *"The Prophet did not know. The thief on the cross was told."* ## Tactical notes - **Start with the common ground and mean it.** One God, Creator, Judge, merciful. Jesus as Messiah and Word. Muslims often expect Christians to deny all of it. - **Correct the Trinity they have been told about.** Many Muslims think Christians worship God, Mary and Jesus. Say plainly that Christians reject that too (Qur'an 5:116 describes it), and then explain one being, three persons. - **Ask questions instead of firing verses.** "Who did God love before creation?" and "How does a just judge forgive?" invite thought. A list of proof texts invites a list back. - **Use the Qur'an accurately or not at all.** Give locators, admit where interpretations vary, and do not overstate. A careless quotation loses the room. - **Make assurance personal.** "Do you know where you will spend eternity?" is a real question for a Muslim, and many will answer honestly that they hope but do not know. That is where the gospel is good news. - **Be tender with the person.** Leaving Islam can cost family, community and safety. Qureshi's testimony is a reminder that the argument is only part of the journey. See [Nabeel Qureshi (Conversion 2003-2014)](/codex/nabeel-qureshi-conversion-2003-2014/). ## See also - [Islam](/codex/islam/), the religion in full - [The Muslim Defense](/codex/the-muslim-defense/), the map of every Islam-related page in the codex - [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/), Islamic oneness and the Christian response - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), one God in three persons - [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/), the Qur'an's own testimony to the earlier scripture - [Crucifixion Denial in Islam Objection Defeater](/codex/crucifixion-denial-in-islam-objection-defeater/), the answer to Qur'an 4:157 - [Muslim Objections to the Divinity of Christ](/codex/muslim-objections-to-the-divinity-of-christ/), the standard objections and replies - [Kalimatullah](/codex/kalimatullah/), Jesus as the Word of God in the Qur'an - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), how the cross satisfies justice - [Christian God is the Only True God](/codex/christian-god-is-the-only-true-god/), the cumulative case across religions - [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/), every worldview's ending side by side - [Rabbinic Judaism vs the Christian God](/codex/rabbinic-judaism-vs-the-christian-god/), the parallel comparison with Judaism - [Pantheism vs the Christian God](/codex/pantheism-vs-the-christian-god/), the parallel comparison with pantheism ## Common questions this page answers **Q: What is the main difference between Allah in Islam and the God of Christianity?** Both faiths say there is one God who creates, judges and shows mercy. Islam holds that God is one person, without any distinction within Him. Christianity holds that the one God is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so that love is part of who God is before creation, and that the Son became man in Jesus to save us. **Q: Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?** Christians disagree on how to put it. Some, like Miroslav Volf, say both refer to the one Creator while describing Him differently; others say the descriptions differ too much at the center. Either way, the two descriptions cannot both be true, especially about Jesus, the cross and whether God is triune, and this page compares them on those points. **Q: Does Allah love unbelievers?** The Qur'an calls God *al-Wadud*, the Loving, and says He loves those who do good and those who repent. It also says God does not love the disbelievers (3:32). The New Testament says God showed His love while we were still sinners and enemies ([Romans 5:8](/codex/romans-5-8/), [5:10](/codex/romans-5-10/)). **Q: Why do Christians say God had to die to forgive sin when Allah can just forgive?** Because a just judge cannot simply let the guilty go free. Islam itself calls God the Just and weighs every deed. Christianity teaches that God paid the penalty Himself in Christ, so that He is "just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" ([Romans 3:26](/codex/romans-3-26/), ASV). Mercy and justice meet instead of cancelling each other out. **Q: Can a Muslim be sure of going to Paradise?** By the Islamic sources, not in this life. Qur'an 46:9 has Muhammad say he does not know what will be done with him or with his hearers, and a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim says no one enters Paradise by deeds alone, not even the Prophet, unless God covers him with mercy. Christianity says a believer can know, because salvation rests on Christ's finished work ([1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/)). **Q: Does the Qur'an deny that Jesus was crucified?** Yes. Qur'an 4:157 says the Jews did not kill or crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them. Every first-century source, Christian and non-Christian, says Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and historians across the spectrum treat it as one of the most certain facts about him. **Q: Does the Trinity break the Shema, "the Lord is one"?** No. Jesus quoted the Shema as the first commandment ([Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/)), and Paul restated it while naming the Father as the one God and Jesus as the one Lord through whom all things were made ([1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)). Christianity confesses one God, not three.