Praise God!
This is something that Christians and Muslims both agree on.
Yes, some question whether we believe in the same “God”. That’s the whole point of this series – to examine that most important question.
More on that later.
For this one, let’s look at the next Sura, #1 – which would be the 5th by order of Revelation. The translation is by Rashad Khalifa.
It’s quite short. Very much to the point.
[1:1] In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
[1:2] Praise be to GOD, Lord of the universe.
[1:3] Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
[1:4] Master of the Day of Judgment.
[1:5] You alone we worship; You alone we ask for help.
[1:6] Guide us in the right path;
[1:7] the path of those whom You blessed; not of those who have deserved wrath, nor of the strayers.
The truth is, except for maybe verse 7, I dare say most Christians would think it was said by a Christian – and – most Muslims would think it was said by a Muslim.
God as gracious and merciful – something we both believe.
God as Lord of the universe – of everything – something we both believe.
The day of Judgment – something that God will completely control – something we both believe.
Worshiping God and no one else – something we agree on.
Getting guidance in our lives from God – something we both strive to do.
The one difference that some may notice –
making a distinction between those who deserve wrath – and those who have strayed.
In Islam – those who deserve wrath are the ones who have both heard and understood the message – but have chosen to disbelieve. Same thing for Christians.
In Islam – there is also the concept of those who have either not heard the message at all or have heard a corrupted version of it. Those are considered to be the ones who have strayed. Conceptually, the same things exist in Christianity, but they don’t have a name like they are given in Islam.
For example – Christians have the Great Commission to reach out to those who haven’t heard the message –
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And then there’s the differences in the message –
1Co 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas’”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
At the risk of losing some people here, I need to point out that Islamic claims of the Bible having been corrupted by Paul are without merit. There are too many copies of it, over time, dating from times when the people in the New Testament (and people who knew them) were alive – up to the time of Muhammad. And there are no such corruptions. Had the Islamic claims been true – it would have created so much furor that it would have certainly been recorded. That there is no evidence of such events taking place should put this to rest – but it does not.
A far more likely scenario – given that Muhammad could read neither Hebrew or Greek – is that he may have in fact heard a corrupted message from some practitioners of either Judaism or Christianity – but that the original message of the Bible is in fact correct and true.
As such – the scenario that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians is most appropriate.
So what we see is that the message of this particular Sura is very much in line with what Christians believe.
As I’ve written before –
looking at God’s promise to Hagar to make a great nation of her offspring by Abraham (Abram) –
knowing that God saved Ishmael when he was in danger of dying from lack of water – when in fact the well was there all the time, but was not visible to Hagar until the boy cried out –
given God’s comment to Jonah related to caring about the 120,000+ people in Nineveh –
there certainly appears to be something legitimate about believing that Christians and Muslims – at least at the point in time of Sura 5 – believe in the same God.
To that end – I still urge prayer –
to the God of Abraham – the God who made a promise to Hagar – to the God who saved Ishmael – and to Jesus.
We both believe in all of those people.
We should both believe in their God.
In fact – Muslims are supposed to know and believe in the first 5 books of the Bible, Psalms, the Gospels, and by reference – other parts of the Christian Bible as well (such as Jonah).
Obviously, there are differences that come up.
Obviously there are differences between sects of Islam.
The goal here – is to determine where / when they happen and what they mean.
But I believe if we focus on the things we have in common, we can determine why there’s such a difference between moderate and extreme Muslims – why Muslims see Jesus as a prophet while Christians see Him as God – and what God’s plan of salvation is for us all.