While at the hospital waiting for a surgery to be done, I had a chance to ask a bunch of questions to Brea, who recently has read two books on Islam and now is reading Qur’an itself in English. Here is the summary of my findings. This may not reflect the truth. This is what I summarized what I thought I understood listing to what Brea told me what she thought she understood. So, it might be far from the perfect description of Islam. Please bear it in your mind.

  • Some people believe that Islam Allah is the same God as we Christians believe. It is after all the God of Abraham, while others say that Allah is a totally different god.　By the way, Allah sounds very foreign to us, but it is simply the Arabic word for God.
  • Muslims use the Old Testament (they call it the Hebrew Bible) and the New Testament. They specifically refer to the Torah (5 books of Moses), the Psalms and the Gospel.
  • Muslims believe in Old Testament prophets and Jesus. They highly regard Jesus as the Messiah.
  • Muslims places higher weight on the books that were authored later. When there is a contradiction, the newer writings supersede the older ones in authority, while Christians believe the whole scripture is inspired by God, and the entire scripture is one body of God’s words.
  • Muslims believe Qur’an is of the highest regard, and it should be read only in Arabic. They do not encourage translating Qur’an into other worldly languages, while the Christian Bible, at least a part of it, has been translated into more than 3,000 different languages.
  • (Some) Muslims believe the content of the Old Testament and New Testament have been altered by Jews and Christians and might not property reflect what the prophets (including Jesus) taught.
  • Anyone can convert to Muslim.
  • There is an end time warning in Quran too. It talks about Jesus coming back and also Muhammad coming back.
  • Muslims interpret that Abraham intended Ishmael to be THE sacrifice instead of Isaac.

While working at Shevet, Brea witnessed a Muslim woman who just lost a child was told, or rather forced, by her family member to pray, “Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God)” and take it as God’s will. She felt that their god is an authoritative existence far and above that should not be questioned, rather than a friendly existence being close and caring with a personal relationship. But other people say that Allah could be very intimate and near.

I sometimes wonder if it is a meaningful question to ask if Muslim and Christianity (and Jew) believe in the same god. God said He is “I am that I am.” He was, is and is to come. He was alpha and Omega. It is beyond everything. We can only know God by His revelation, and that is a very personal experience. It is not like that you understand God once you finish reading through the Scriptures. In that sense, it is possible that people in the same Christian church have very different grasp of who God is at a given point. God is God, and we can experience different dimensions of who He is in abundance, but never in entirety. It is a lifetime process to know who God is.

You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully,

Deuteronomy 4:15

Israel received the Torah at Horeb but did not see any form of God. The disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, many of whom saw Jesus before crucifixion but were far away from knowing it all. We do not see God face to face until the Day comes. Until that time, we can only seek God.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29

Is it not arrogant to say I know the true God, and yours is not??