Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?

Other Beliefs & ReligionsIn theological review

The short answer

In one sense yes, and in the decisive sense no: both faiths worship the one Creator, the God of Abraham, and reject every idol, but Christianity's whole claim is that this God has made himself known in his Son, and Islam denies that Jesus is God's Son or that he was crucified. John states the test plainly: whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The God is one, but the knowledge of him is not the same.

The fuller answer

Much depends on what same means. Christians and Muslims both worship one God, the Creator, the God of Abraham, and both reject idolatry outright. The Arabic word Allah simply means God, and Arabic speaking Christians use it in their own Bibles and prayers. At that level, the two faiths are talking about the same God rather than two rival gods, and a great deal of confusion comes from treating the question as if it were about the word.

The division opens at exactly the point Christianity exists for: who God has shown himself to be in Jesus. Islam honours Jesus as a prophet, born of the virgin Mary, and denies that he is the Son of God, that God has a Son at all, and that Jesus was crucified; the lesson on this site, Understanding Islam, sets out that position from the Qur'an's own statement, cited by reference. The New Testament's test is direct: whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either, and whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. On John's measure, a worship that receives the Father while rejecting the Son he sent is not the same worship with different customs. It is a different account of who God is.

Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 2:22 (BSB)

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

1 John 2:23 (BSB)

So the honest answer is both halves. We are not choosing between two gods, and Christians should never speak as if Muslims worship a moon idol or a devil. But the God Christians worship is known in his Son, by his own declaration, and where the Son is denied the Father is not truly known either. That is why mission and friendship can sit at the same table: we can honour our neighbours' devotion while telling them, plainly, about the Son.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.

Dig deeper

No answer here is a dead end. Follow the question on, test it in practice, or work the method yourself on the Dig deeper page.

Do all religions lead to God?No, and the reason is not tribal loyalty: the faiths contradict each other about God, sin, and salvation, so they cannot all be roads to the same place. More decisively, Jesus did not present himself as one guide among many, saying, I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. Christians can respect their neighbours of other faiths, and should, without pretending the differences are small.What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe?Jehovah's Witnesses share a great deal of Christian vocabulary and moral teaching, and differ at the centre. They teach that Jesus is a created being, God's first work, who was the archangel Michael before his earthly life, and that the Holy Spirit is God's impersonal active force rather than a person. The historic church, by contrast, confesses Jesus as God of God in the Nicene Creed, and it is on his identity that the two faiths divide.Is Jesus God?Yes. The New Testament calls Jesus God in plain words, shows him doing what only God does, and records him receiving the worship that belongs to God alone. That is why the church at Nicaea confessed him as very God of very God, of one substance with the Father, and why Chalcedon confessed him as truly God and truly man in one person.Lesson: Understanding IslamState your neighbour's faith fairly enough that he would nod, then hold the differences with the Bible open, and learn the way across.Flashcards: Understanding Islam7 cards from the lesson's verses and terms.