2. God
At the time when the Prophet started preaching the Qur’an AD 610), the vast majority of Arabs were polytheistic. They believed in one supreme God, Allah, but associated with him many other gods and goddesses. Their religion is described in the Qur’an as shirk, which literally means “association” or “partnership.” Some Arab Jews lived in central Arabia, especially in Yathrib, which became Medina (“the city”) after the Prophet settled in this place in 622. A few Christians lived in Mecca, Muhammad’s birthplace, such as Waraqa bin Nawfal, the cousin of Muhammad’s first wife Khadija.
God in Islam
Allah is the only Arabic word for God, used by all Arabs, Christians, and Muslims alike.10 Thus, contrary to common belief, the word does not designate just “the Muslim God.” It is used for God in the Qur’an as well as in all Arabic translations of the Bible. Islamic theology refers to ninety-nine divine names (or attributes) known as “God’s most beautiful names.” By itself, of course, this commonality of usage does not prove that the referent is the same in both religions or that the understanding of God is exactly the same in both traditions: that is a matter still to be discussed.
The Muslim Prophetic Tradition provides two overlapping lists of names.11 The most important names refer to God’s oneness, which is at the core of the Islamic faith. The preaching of the Prophet aimed at convincing his people that they should worship Allah and him alone. The first part of the Islamic creed stresses, “There is no god but GOD” (la ilaha ill-allah). Muslim theologians identify seven main divine attributes (power, science, life, will, speech, hearing, and seeing) which, unlike his creatures, God possesses fully and perfectly.
Apart from God’s oneness, the most significant of the divine attributes are those which are exclusive to him. He is unique (“there is nothing whatever like unto Him” [42:11]); eternal, having neither beginning nor end; self-existent, owing his existence to no one other than himself; and self-sufficient, having no need whatsoever.
God’s names related to his creation depict him as the Creator of the universe (7:54), the Sovereign Lord who has supreme authority and power to do whatever he wants (1:2), the Judge on the Day of Judgment (1:4), and, last but not least, the Merciful. Each chapter in the Qur’an (except the ninth) starts with the following invocation: “In the Name of God, the Ever-Merciful, the All-Merciful.” Especially cherished in the mystical tradition of Islam is the name al-wadud, “the loving-kind.”
God in Christianity
These same divine attributes highlight God’s greatness in Christianity, too. Yet God’s greatness in the Christian faith is reflected in other attributes that are either missing or do not have the same importance in Islam.
In the Bible, God is unique in the sense that his divine nature is exclusive to him. The first chapter in the Bible makes it clear that human creatures are also unique to the extent that they have been created in God’s image: “God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Christians have sometimes divided over the exact meaning of the expression “image of God,” but no Christian tradition tries to do away with the category. By contrast, while the Muslim Prophetic Tradition reports, “God created Adam in his image,”12 some Muslim theologians have found it difficult to reconcile this saying with God’s otherness and therefore have doubted its authenticity. Other Muslims explain it in the sense that human beings, unlike other creatures, possess to some degree certain divine attributes.13 This interpretation is not far from the way Christians understand God’s otherness. A leading Christian theologian has expressed the likeness between our Creator and ourselves in these words:
Firstly, we human beings are rational and self-conscious. Secondly, we are moral, having a conscience that urges us to do what we perceive to be right. Thirdly, we are creative like our Creator, able to appreciate what is beautiful to the ear and the eye. Fourthly, we are social, able to establish with one another authentic relationships of love. For God is love, and by making us in his own image, he has given us the capacity to love him and others. Fifthly, we have a spiritual faculty that makes us hunger after God. Thus we are uniquely able to think and to choose, to create, to love, and to worship.14
As this quote indicates, love is one of God’s paramount attributes: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). Jesus summed up the teaching of God’s law and the prophets in a twofold command: loving God and loving one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:34–40).
Another essential name of God in Christianity is “the Father.” He is the Father of all human creatures, but especially of his people. Jesus made this name particularly central. The Old Testament compares God to a Father in a few texts. God is described as Israel’s Father (Deuteronomy 32:6; Jeremiah 3:19; 31:9). Moreover, he promises to have a father-son relationship with the Davidic king (1 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 89:26). He is “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows” (Psalm 68:5). Jesus, however, names God as “the Father” and frequently addresses him as such throughout his mission. When his disciples ask him to teach them how to pray, he replies, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven . . .’” (Matthew 6:9). The fact that our Father is in heaven highlights that God is not just a loving God; he is also our sovereign Lord: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool’” (Isaiah 66:1). Because God is our Lord, we are accountable to him and he will judge us on the Last Day. Thus, our heavenly Father is also the universal Lord:
The words “in the heavens” denote not the place of his abode so much as the authority and power at his command as the creator and ruler of all things. Thus he combines fatherly love with heavenly power, and what his love directs his power is able to perform.15
The Qur’an does not explicitly reject the claim that God is the Father, but it denies that Jesus is God’s Son. It asserts that God does not have a son because if he did, he would have a female partner: “The very Creator of heavens and earth: How could He have a son when He has no consort? He created all things, and He has full knowledge of all things” (6:101; cf. 72:3). This denial assumes that divine fatherhood is identical to human fatherhood, which clearly is not the case. Perhaps this confusion is due to the fact that the Virgin Mary had been given the title “Mother of God” by mainstream Christianity before the rise of Islam.16 This title was intended to acknowledge Jesus’ full divinity, not at all to deify Mary. Whether or not this title is theologically sound, undoubtedly it can be misleading, not least in an Islamic context. The Qur’an specifically rejects the idea of Mary being worshiped with Jesus alongside God. It blames Christian leaders, not Jesus, for teaching that Mary and Jesus are to be worshiped alongside God himself:
God said, “Jesus, son of Mary, did you ever say to people, ‘Adopt me and my mother as two gods in disregard of God Himself?’”
To which he replied, “Glory be to You. It is not in me to say what I have no warrant for. If I had ever said such a thing You would have known it. For You know my innermost being and I do not know Yours” (5:116).
Thus calling God “Our Father” is liable to evoke huge misunderstandings among Muslim people. It is therefore extremely important to try to dispel these misunderstandings by spelling out not only what this title means but also what it does not mean.
The Fatherhood of God in Christianity
When we look into the biblical texts that speak of God’s fatherhood, we gain a fair idea of what this concept means.
He Is Our Creator
We owe him our existence and our life, for he has made all of us:
Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8).
Adam produced his first son, Seth, “in his own likeness, in his own image” (Genesis 5:3). This expression is exactly the same as the one used for the creation of humankind by God (Genesis 1:26; cf. Genesis 5:1–2). In other words Adam’s relationship with his children mirrored God’s relationship with humanity. This indicates that God’s relationship with us is similar to what a father’s relationship with his sons and daughters ought to be.
He Cares for Us
He provides for us and meets our needs, both material and spiritual. In fact, Jesus says that God cares for us much more than our human parents do:
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9–11)
He Is Merciful to Us
Our Creator knows us best, for he has made us. He knows we are weak and has compassion on us:
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed;
he remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:13–14).
He Disciplines Us
Our Maker is also our Teacher. He helps us to grow morally and spiritually. When necessary he disciplines us:
Have you completely forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as children? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his child” (Proverbs 3:11–12).
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? . . . Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:5–10).
All these attributes and actions associated with God’s fatherhood in the Bible are acceptable from an Islamic point of view. This may not be the case with the following attributes.
He Is Our Divine Friend
Because God is our heavenly Father we can have a close and intimate relationship with him: “Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry?’” (Jeremiah 3:4). Jesus calls his disciples his friends and explains to them that this friendship implies that they will obey his commands:
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:14–15).
Clearly God is no ordinary friend; he is our Creator. Our friendship with him is not between equals. So also our relationship with Jesus: we must obey his commands, as Jesus makes clear to his disciples. In this respect the “friendship” is not perfectly reciprocal. The Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Qur’an alike describe Abraham as God’s friend (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23; Qur’an 4:125); they do not refer to God as Abraham’s friend. Transparently, however, the Bible presents God as the best “friend” any sinner can ever have, even if the terminology only rarely runs in that direction. In mainstream Islam, not everyone can enjoy God’s friendship; only prophets and saints have this privilege. The New Testament tells us that God extends his “friendship” to all human beings who truly confess Jesus as Lord.
He Loves Us
God loves us all regardless of who we are (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8, 16). Love is more comprehensive and demanding than mercy. Merciful people are willing to help those in need, but they are not necessarily committed to love them in a personal, enduring, and possibly costly relationship. Jesus explained to his disciples what love ultimately means: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross demonstrates the extent of his love for his disciples.
He Is Our Savior
We have all disobeyed God’s law and gone astray. We have not given our Creator the honor that is due him:
“A son honors his father, and slaves honor their master.
If I am a father, where is the honor due me?
If I am a master, where is the respect due me?”
says the LORD Almighty (Malachi 1:6).
We deserve God’s punishment. Because God is a loving God, however, he wants to forgive our sins and to save us. He saved the people of Israel from death when Pharaoh’s army pursued them. In doing so, he revealed himself as their Redeeming Father:
But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us;
You, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name (Isaiah 63:16).