Thirtieth in a series
We continue our discussion concerning myths about Islam coming from some interfaith dialogues held in 2017. The focus this time will be on misperceptions related to Allah, man, and the relationship between them. The original articles appeared in the Virginia Christian Alliance booklet COEXIST,[1] and updated for this current series.
Some Islamic Borrowings
Some of Islam’s ideas came from what Christianity considers heresies. From heretical Christian sects ideas such as Jesus is only a man, and as a man his death on the cross would have meant nothing as there would have been no divine sacrifice given. Gnosticism began developing in the second century. From gnosticism Islam borrowed ideas such as Jesus was only a prophet, and he was not crucified as God would not let one of His prophets die such a humiliating death.
From its pagan cultural roots Islam adopted the ideas of slavery, polygamy, demonic pollution, and easy divorce (for the man at least). Also, the entire pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars) came from previous Arab practices. The Hajj included kissing a stone in the Kaaba itself, circling the Kaaba seven times representing the seven known planets, and casting stones at pillars in the town of Mina to ward off evil. The Kaaba is the building at the center of Islam’s most sacred site, the mosque in the city of Mecca. Both the Roman historian Tacitus and early church father Clement of Alexandria documented the worship of stones and other objects by Arab tribes in the second and third centuries.
Finally, the concept of Allah was significantly influenced by the Roman pagan philosopher Plotinus. Besides his book The Enneads, where he wrote about his concept of first cause in the third century, he also wrote books on basic logic and geometry, used in Arab education into the twentieth century. It is to the topic of God that we now turn.
Myths Concerning God
Myth: Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God
Unlike God, Allah is pure will; without any being, nature, or essence. He is absolutely inscrutable. Islam presents a form of nominalism, that universals exist as names only without any basis in realty. The conclusion of this line of thought can be expressed as follows,
Allah is absolutely One, He is only absolute will.
As Allah is only absolute will, He has no Being.
As Allah has no Being, He has no essence (nature).
As Allah has no essence, He has no essential attributes.
As Allah has no essential attributes, any attempts to depict Him are blasphemy.[2]
Differences
The upshot of this line of thought is that Allah is the cause of all things, but those actions do not tell us anything about Allah’s nature. They are merely the things Allah causes. Allah is the source of all actions, because there is nothing else within this belief system capable of causing anything. Therefore, Allah must be the cause of both good things and evil things. The sura below supports this notion. The Qur’an is written in first person. References to terms such as I, Me, and We refer to Allah. Other terms, such as Beneficent and Merciful, are some of the names of Allah. From sura 32.13,
“And if We had so willed, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me concerning evildoers took effect: that I will fill Hell with the jinn and mankind together.”
This idea is the opposite of Christianity. God is good. Evidence of His love lies in this, that He first gave us life. For to be is surely better than not to be. Why would a rational orderly Creator create something He does not love? It is man’s turning away from God and His purpose for us that is the cause of evil. Evil comes from man’s choices; God is not to blame.
The Trinity and Islam
A couple more differences before we close this section. First, Islam considers the Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to be blasphemy. Sura 5.73 says
“They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no God save the One God. If they desist not from so saying, a painful doom will fall on those who disbelieve.”[3]
Another gnostic influence on Islam concerns the Trinity. Instead of a single essence with three beings (one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), we have the following in sura 5.116,
“And when Allah says: O Jesus son of Mary! Did you say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? He says: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then You know it. You know what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Your mind. Lo! You, only You, are Knower of Things Hidden.”
Compare that to the following passages from the Gospel of John within the Bible.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2)
“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” (John 15:26)
The Natural and Spiritual
Islam’s concept of God in the above passages attempts to confine the spiritual to strictly physical concepts. However, God is beyond space and time. Islam’s ideas are not only contrary to Christian thought, they are incompatible with it. John describes anti-Christs in his first and second letters. Relevant passages include,
“And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (1 John 4:3)
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 1:7)
Islam denies both the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and the incarnation of God through Christ. These views could not be more contrary.
Who is Man?
Myth: Man Has the Same Place Within Creation Between Islam and Christianity
Within both Islam and Christianity, God created all things. But there the similarity ends. As Allah is pure will, Allah did not create man in his image or likeness. There is no basis as Allah is pure will. Instead man is Allah’s slave and his sole purpose for existence is worshipping Allah. The following three passages from the Qur’an testify to this position.
“I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.” (S51:56)
“There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Beneficent as a slave.” (S19:93)
“The (faithful) slaves of the Beneficent are they who walk upon the earth modestly, and when the foolish ones address them answer: Peace.” (S25:63)
Compare this notion to the following passage from the Bible. Galatians is one book within the Bible’s New Testament.
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
‘However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” (Galatians 4:4-9)
Adoption within Arabic Culture
It is ironic that the form of adoption mentioned above in Galatians, before Islam, was the very form existing within Arab culture. When someone adopted another in pre-Islamic Arab culture, they became in every respect a son or daughter. The adopted were no different from a natural born child. Arab culture had this aspect of man’s nature right before Islam.
We can go further yet. From the Gospel of John again, we have the following words from Jesus himself,
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
The Relationship Between God and Man
Myth: The Relationship Between God and Man Is the Same Within Islam and Christianity
As God’s and man’s nature both differ between Islam and Christianity, it should be no surprise that the relationship between God and man also differs. Within Islam man simply exists to obey. Within Christianity, man was intended to know his Creator. We are to have a personal relationship with Him and become good, like He is, to the extent that we are able, given the gifts which each one of us has been blessed.
Such a profound difference rests on the difference in man’s very nature between Islam and Christianity. Within Christianity, God gave man His image.[4] This is possible because God had a being, nature, and essence to give. As Allah is pure will, there is no basis for man receiving God’s image. In the words of St. Thomas, how can one give what they have not got? Within Islam man is no different from the rest of creation.
Free Will
Clement of Alexandria about 200 AD said there are several implications arising from the special place that man has in creation. These are; (1) the need to know oneself, (2) we all have an equality of nature, (3) we all have choice, and (4) we have all been given freedom.[5]
We have each received the gift of free will, freedom. It is a part of our very nature. We are each responsible for our own actions. As such God calls us to do good out of love for Him and our fellow man, to perform individual acts of charity. Charity is not the role of government, but our responsibility and ours alone. Those who advocate wealth redistribution through government do not support Christian tenets.[6]
I mentioned earlier the concept of Allah was heavily influenced by Plotinus’ ideas written in the third century. Within Christianity, man is by nature free. This is a positive attribute, and necessary for us to fulfill our shared purpose. However, Plotinus did not view freedom as a positive attribute. Instead freedom is the negation of a negative. It is what you have when you are not being coerced as your natural state is that of a slave. Within Islam your natural state is not to be free but rather a slave.
How much more different could Islam and Christianity be? One final question. Why are these interfaith events only being held in secular venues (such as colleges) and churches, and not in mosques where Muslims can hear the truth as well? After all, we are not only called to seek the truth but to speak it to those who do not know it, the very opposite of interfaith principles. Aren’t we all in need of truth?
Conclusion
It is my profound wish that you learn and understand the truth, wherever it leads you. There are many good books already written on the subject matter in these two articles. I’ve recently written a book that attempts to present in a single work the relevant differences between Islam and Christianity across these and a number of other dimensions. More importantly, it points to many original sources where one can go to learn more. I hope that you will consider it as you search for the truth on your journey.
I began the last article with a quote from C.K. Chesterton regarding the differences in what religion’s teach. I’ll close this section with another quote from the same essay.
“Christianity is on the side of humanity and liberty and love. Love desires personality; therefore love desires division. It is the instinct of Christianity to be glad that God has broken the universe into little pieces, because they are living pieces. It is her instinct to say ‘little children love one another’ rather than to tell one large person to love himself. …
‘[A]ll modern philosophies are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which separates and sets free. No other philosophy makes God actually rejoice in the separation of the universe into living souls. But according to orthodox Christianity this separation between God and man is sacred, because this is eternal. That a man may love God it is necessary that there should be not only a God to be loved, but a man to love Him.”[7]
There is nothing more different than religion’s ideas about God and man; the difference does not come from people, but ideas.
Footnotes:
[1] Wolf, Dan, COEXIST, Virginia Christian Alliance, 2017.
[2] Wolf, Dan, A War for God, p. 132, living rightly publications, 2017.
[3] Pickthall, M.M., The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an, amana publishing, 1999.
[4] Genesis 1:26, Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
[5] Wolf, Dan, A War for God, p. 121, living rightly publications, 2017.
[6] Wolf, Dan, Collectivism and Charity, pp. 7-17,living rightly publications, 2016.
[7] Chesterton, C.K., pp. 225-6, Orthodoxy, Bradford and Dickens, 1908.
