Do both Christians and Muslims believe in one God?
Question 60016
The claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God is one of the most commonly repeated statements in interfaith dialogue. It sounds generous, inclusive, and peaceable. It is also, on careful examination, theologically incoherent. The question is not whether Christians and Muslims both claim to worship one God. They do. The question is whether the God described in the Bible and the God described in the Qur’an are the same being. The answer, when the actual content of each revelation is examined, is no.
Where the Claim Comes From
The argument for common ground usually runs along the following lines. Islam acknowledges Abraham as a patriarch. It claims continuity with the biblical prophets. The Arabic word Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking Christians as well as Muslims. Both religions are monotheistic. Both reject idolatry. Both affirm God as Creator, Judge, and the source of moral law. On the surface, there appears to be significant overlap.
The argument also has a political and social dimension. In a world marked by conflict between communities that identify as Christian and Muslim, the claim that both worship the same God is often deployed as a bridge-building strategy. The intention is understandable. Peace between communities is a good thing. But theological truth cannot be determined by its social utility. The question of whether two descriptions refer to the same being is a question of fact, not of diplomacy.
Why the Answer Is No
The God of the Bible is Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons sharing one divine essence. This is not a peripheral Christian belief. It is the central defining claim of Christian theology, confessed from the earliest centuries and rooted in the explicit revelation of Scripture. The Qur’an explicitly and repeatedly denies the Trinity (Surah 4:171; 5:73), denies that God has a Son (Surah 19:35; 112:3), and condemns any association of partners with God as the worst possible sin (shirk). If the Trinity is true, Allah as described in the Qur’an does not exist. If Islam is correct that God is not triune and has no Son, then the God of Christianity does not exist. Both cannot be descriptions of the same being.
The Qur’an explicitly denies the crucifixion of Jesus (Surah 4:157). The Bible identifies the crucifixion as the central act of God in history, the event through which God’s justice and mercy meet, the means by which sinners are reconciled to their Creator. A God who sent His Son to die for the sins of the world and a God who denies that this event even occurred cannot be the same God. The difference is not one of emphasis or perspective. It is a flat contradiction about what God has done.
The character of God as revealed in the two texts differs at critical points. The God of the Bible is a Father who adopts believers as His children (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:4-6). Islam explicitly rejects the idea of God as Father and of believers as God’s children. The God of the Bible enters into covenant relationship with His people, binding Himself by oath and promise. Allah in the Qur’an is not bound by covenant in the biblical sense. The God of the Bible is love (1 John 4:8), and the cross is the supreme demonstration of that love. Islam has no equivalent. The relational intimacy between God and His people that runs through the entire Bible, from the garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, has no parallel in Islamic theology.
What About Abraham?
The appeal to Abraham as a shared patriarch is understandable but does not establish that the same God is being worshipped. The Abraham of the Qur’an is not the Abraham of the Bible. In the Qur’an, Abraham is a Muslim who submitted to Allah. In the Bible, Abraham is a man who believed God’s promise and was justified by faith (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). The Qur’an places the near-sacrifice on Ishmael; the Bible places it on Isaac (Genesis 22). The Qur’an presents Abraham as a proto-Muslim; the Bible presents him as the father of faith who looked forward to the coming Redeemer. Sharing a name does not mean sharing a theology.
So, now what?
Christians can and should treat Muslims with respect, kindness, and genuine friendship. Hospitality, neighbourly love, and civil discourse are Christian obligations regardless of theological disagreement. But love that pretends there are no differences is not love. It is a failure of both honesty and charity. The Muslim who is told that their God and the Christian God are the same is being told something untrue, and it is a falsehood that removes the urgency of the gospel. If we already worship the same God, why would a Muslim need Jesus? The New Testament’s answer is clear: because there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). The God who reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not the same as the God who denies being any of those things.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6