Recently an article was posted on Facebook which described an interfaith remembrance of the Orlando nightclub shooting massacre. This interfaith prayer time took place during the general assembly of a Christian denomination in the United States. During this prayer an imam addressed God as Allah and spoke of the prophets: Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. The issue caused quite a frenzy in a particular Facebook group to which I belong. As someone who saw the original article, the ensuing frenzies, and other reactions, I found a few things interesting: the use of Allah when speaking to God; the frenzies; and the differences between Christianity and Islam.
As you may or may not know, the Arabic word for God is “Allah.” Islam, which started in the Middle East, uses this word when speaking about God. You will find many people in the Arabic speaking world will use the word “Allah” the same way many English speaking people will use the word “God” - even though they might not belong to Islam, Judaism, or Christianity.
The imam prayed to Allah during his time, giving a prayer which included this petition: “The creator of the universe, the most merciful, the most compassionate, and the Lord of the universe, who has created us and made us into nations and tribes, from male and females that we may know each other, not that we might despise each other, or may despise each other." This petition could have been included in Christian prayers and I doubt we’d bat an eye at it!
But my question is, who was it prayed to?
I’m going to skip ahead to the frenzies and come back to that question. The frenzies started when some people said they didn’t approve of an imam giving a prayer at a Christian gathering. People came in with many passionate rebukes, crying out that Allah is the name of God for Arabic peoples. If that causes a bit of cognitive dissonance for you, it should: the objection was to having an imam praying at a Christian gathering, not that he used the word Allah for God. Despite a few attempts to explain the confusion, commenter after commenter continued to lambaste “the idiots” who don’t know what Allah means. Some created intelligent, bold blog posts, correctly (IMHO) saying that God’s name doesn’t belong to any one people, but to all who call on Him.
This led to posts wherein people tried to clarify their position. Some objected, but this time to the original complaint. The new objections said that it didn’t matter if it was an imam, as he was praying to the same God as Christians do.
Now back to my earlier question: who was the prayer prayed to?
The argument goes, as far as I can tell, that because Muslims are an “Abrahamic faith,” claiming Abraham as our common ancestor, then we share the same God.
Is this true?
Christianity makes some claims about God that neither Judaism nor Islam heed. Take for example the doctrine of the Trinity. Although hints of the Trinity can be found in the Old Testament, Judaism doesn’t hold that God is Three-in-One, but that God is just one. This is stated in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” This was important for Israel in the beginning to counter the views of surrounding religions which had a number of gods. The Islamic view of the Trinity can be summed up with this verse from Quran 4:171,
Christianity makes some claims about God that neither Judaism nor Islam heed. Take for example the doctrine of the Trinity. Although hints of the Trinity can be found in the Old Testament, Judaism doesn’t hold that God is Three-in-One, but that God is just one. This is stated in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” This was important for Israel in the beginning to counter the views of surrounding religions which had a number of gods. The Islamic view of the Trinity can be summed up with this verse from Quran 4:171,
“People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion, and do not say anything about God except the truth: the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God, His word, directed to Mary, a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not speak of a ‘Trinity'—stop, that is better for you—God is only one God, He is far above having a son, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him and He is the best one to trust.”
Islam views the idea that God can have a partner or a son as sinful.
Let’s pretend I’m me for a second: about 5’10”, a (shrinking) 240lbs, blonde hair, and work as the lone town mailman. People have come to know me and believe certain things about me, such as my height, weight, hair color, and profession, are what I say they are. Heck, I’ve even spoken to them and told them about me! But then imagine someone - let’s call them Pat - were to say that they know the town mailman and spoke to him but describe the town mailman as 6’4”, 180lbs, and a redhead. How could that be? Either Pat doesn’t know me or is thinking of someone else, because the attributes don’t match up. Would we say the person Pat is describing and I are the same just because we’re supposedly the lone town mailman?
How do we view these three different religions, with different rituals and beliefs? Is the object of worship the same for each of the three religions? We cannot deny many of the attributes are similar: loving; powerful; merciful. But how important are the differences?
This is where I have a problem as the main difference - the view of God, and especially Jesus - is a big one. Christians believe in a God whose nature is triune, and Jesus Christ is one person in that Trinity. To Christians, Jesus being God is one of, if not solely, the most important things we believe! We don’t think Jesus was just a man, or a teacher, or a prophet - He was and is God in the flesh! With such an emphasis on Christ, how can we say that religions that deny Christ’s divinity worship the same God as we do? The very essence of God is not the same! Aren’t we denying that Christ is God if we say Muslims and Judaism worship exactly the same God we do?
One of the objections to saying Islam and Christianity worship different Gods is that it is unloving or intolerant to make such a claim, and that this idea is the source of bigotry and hatred.
Let’s pretend I’m me for a second: about 5’10”, a (shrinking) 240lbs, blonde hair, and work as the lone town mailman. People have come to know me and believe certain things about me, such as my height, weight, hair color, and profession, are what I say they are. Heck, I’ve even spoken to them and told them about me! But then imagine someone - let’s call them Pat - were to say that they know the town mailman and spoke to him but describe the town mailman as 6’4”, 180lbs, and a redhead. How could that be? Either Pat doesn’t know me or is thinking of someone else, because the attributes don’t match up. Would we say the person Pat is describing and I are the same just because we’re supposedly the lone town mailman?
How do we view these three different religions, with different rituals and beliefs? Is the object of worship the same for each of the three religions? We cannot deny many of the attributes are similar: loving; powerful; merciful. But how important are the differences?
This is where I have a problem as the main difference - the view of God, and especially Jesus - is a big one. Christians believe in a God whose nature is triune, and Jesus Christ is one person in that Trinity. To Christians, Jesus being God is one of, if not solely, the most important things we believe! We don’t think Jesus was just a man, or a teacher, or a prophet - He was and is God in the flesh! With such an emphasis on Christ, how can we say that religions that deny Christ’s divinity worship the same God as we do? The very essence of God is not the same! Aren’t we denying that Christ is God if we say Muslims and Judaism worship exactly the same God we do?
One of the objections to saying Islam and Christianity worship different Gods is that it is unloving or intolerant to make such a claim, and that this idea is the source of bigotry and hatred.
I disagree. Is it more loving to ignore differences, or to continue to live with people whose differences you recognize? Is it more tolerant to believe that everyone has the same God, or to love and respect people when they worship a different deity?
If we listen to Jesus, we’ll share the Gospel with those who differ from us, yes, but that won’t be the end of the discussion. We’ll live with them, care for them, walk with them. It doesn’t matter if they’re the same as us or not. God says care for your neighbor, so that’s what we as Christians must do, even if our neighbor worships a different God than we do.
The Islamic Allah has many names: Al-Rahman, the All-beneficent (the Compassionate); Al-Rahim, the Most Merciful; Al-Aziz, the Almighty (the Victorious); Al-Hakam, the Judge. These are beautiful monikers that could easily be applied to the God of Christianity. But when it comes down to it, the significant attributes just don’t match up.
That’s why I’m unable to say we worship the same God as Muslims do.
Despite the similarities and the legacy we have in common, if you cannot say that your God includes Jesus Christ, then we don’t share that connection. But I still believe that we’re still both human, both loved by God, and both called to care for our neighbor, whether we’re in the same religion or not.
By the way, I still love you too.
The Islamic Allah has many names: Al-Rahman, the All-beneficent (the Compassionate); Al-Rahim, the Most Merciful; Al-Aziz, the Almighty (the Victorious); Al-Hakam, the Judge. These are beautiful monikers that could easily be applied to the God of Christianity. But when it comes down to it, the significant attributes just don’t match up.
That’s why I’m unable to say we worship the same God as Muslims do.
Despite the similarities and the legacy we have in common, if you cannot say that your God includes Jesus Christ, then we don’t share that connection. But I still believe that we’re still both human, both loved by God, and both called to care for our neighbor, whether we’re in the same religion or not.
By the way, I still love you too.
Chuck Meyer does not claim to be an Islamic scholar and welcomes further discourse on his understanding of the Islamic faith as described above! You can do that by sending an email to ZeusBurgers@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment