I respect what you believe. I have Muslim friends and we have stimulating discussions. The one thing that we agree on is that Christianity and Islam are not the same, Allah and Yahwah are not the same.
Good morning. I trust you are well.
You write:
‘I respect what you believe. I have Muslim friends and we have stimulating discussions. The one thing that we agree on is that Christianity and Islam are not the same, Allah and Yahweh are not the same.’
The implication here is that there are two Gods. No Muslim would ever make this claim, since it is a creed of Islam that there is no god
but God.
The late William J. Saal writes:
‘The problem as it confronts Christians is another kind of a problem altogether. It is a question of whether you can say you are worshipping the same God when you have such different understandings of the nature of God. Those who are troubled by this concern say that although Christians and Muslims use the same name for God and many of the same words to describe Him, they are not talking about the same God because Christians are talking about the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit…’ (‘Reaching Muslims for Christ: A Handbook for Christian Outreach Among Muslims.’).
You may be familiar with the Ishihara colour blindness testing system.
On one of the test plates, the number ‘74’ will be clearly visible to viewers with normal colour vision. Viewers with red-green colour blindness will read it as ‘21’; while viewers with monochromacy will see no number at all.
The question is: Are there three testing plates; or just the one – understood in three different ways? Only one
Are there two Gods (of the Bible and of the Qur’an); or only one – understood in different ways. Only one.
In a famous ‘proof’ for the existence of the Beloved, Aquinas argues that the universe is composed of contingent beings; by which he means beings that cannot bring themselves – or anything else – into existence; and that cannot guarantee their continued existence. Aquinas argues that if contingent beings are the only ones that exist, then nothing could have come into existence at all. There has to be a 'Necessary Being'; one that does not depend on any other for its existence, and which is the ‘First Cause' of all other beings. This 'Necessary Being'......this ‘First Cause' we call God. (cf. Summa Theologica: Part 1; Question 2; Article 3).
We are agreed – I’m sure – that there can be only one ‘First Cause’; and this means, of course, that there can be only one Creator. Differences arise as to His nature.
In spite of these differences, there essential truths are shared by Christianity and Islam:
That the Beloved has revealed His existence, and His will, through various prophets.
That there is only One God, our Creator and Lord; who can be known with certainty, by the natural light of reason from created things; who is absolutely perfect; who is actually infinite in every perfection; who is absolutely simple; who is the True God, possessing an infinite power of cognition; who is absolute Veracity; who is absolutely faithful; who is absolute ontological Goodness in Himself and in relation to others; who is absolute Moral Goodness or Holiness; who is absolute Benignity; who is absolutely immutable; who is eternal and everywhere present in created space; whose knowledge is infinite.
That the Divine Attributes are really identical among themselves and with the Divine Essence; that God is almighty; is the Lord of the heavens and of the earth; is infinitely just and infinitely merciful.
That everything that exists (apart from Beloved, of course) was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by Him; that He was moved by His Goodness to create the world; and this this was done for His glorification; that He has created a good world; a world that has a beginning in time; that He created all things, and holds all these things in existence.
That through His providence He protects and guides all that He has created; that He created the first man (and woman); that every human being possesses an individual soul; and that the Beloved has conferred on humankind a supernatural Destiny.
That sanctifying grace makes one holy; that such grace can be increased by good works; and may be lost, and is lost, by every grievous (mortal, serious) sin.
That by their good works, those who believe in Him really do acquire a claim to supernatural reward from their Lord; that the bliss of heaven lasts for all eternity; and that the souls of those who die in the condition of personal grievous sin enter Hell.
That those who transgress against His commandments, and commit sin, can be granted forgiveness through His mercy.
That all the dead will rise again on the last day; and that they will be judged.
However – as I’m sure you know – Islam does not accept the following, fundamental (Catholic) dogmas:
That in the Beloved there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; each of whom possesses the one (numerical) Divine Essence.
That Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) is both ‘wholly God’ and ‘wholly man’ at one and the same time; that his divine and human natures are united hypostatically – that is, joined to each other in one Person; that each of Yeshua’s two natures possesses its own natural will and its own natural mode of operation; that these two natures continue unimpaired, untransformed and unmixed with the other; and that ‘Hypostatic Union’ of Yeshua’s human nature with the ‘Divine Logos’ took place at the moment of his conception.
That Yeshua became man in order to redeem humankind’; and that he is to be venerated with one single mode of worship; the absolute ‘Worship of Latria’ which is due to the Beloved alone.
That Yeshua offered himself on the cross as a true and proper sacrifice; and that by his sacrifice has ransomed us, and reconciled us with the Beloved; that after his death, Yeshua’s soul, which was separated from his body, descended into the underworld; and that, on the third day after his death, Yeshua rose gloriously from the dead.
That Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent.
That ‘original sin’ exists, and is transmitted by natural generation; that in the state of ‘original sin’, humanity is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity; and that souls who depart this life in the state of ‘original sin’ are excluded from the ‘Beatific Vision’.
These examples are taken from Denzinger’s ‘The Sources of Catholic Dogma’; and from Dr. Ludwig Ott’s ‘Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma’.
These are the major (irreconcilable) differences between the two Faiths (and the list is not exhaustive).
I am not at all concerned about these differences.
The Beloved says:
‘We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If Allāh had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to Allāh and
He will make clear to you the matters you differed about.’ (Sūrah ‘Al-Ma’ida: 48’; my emphasis).
Blessings.
