Five years ago, I would have said, “No, Allah is not the same God.” I have learned a few things since then and have realized there are some problems with that simplistic answer.
I was wrong in my understanding of the word “Allah”. When I came face-to-face with Muslims and Christian Arabs, I had a choice to make: dig in my heels and sit in my stronghold of misunderstanding, OR, change my mind and be able to witness to my Muslim neighbors and fellowship with my Arab Christian friends. What would Y’shua do? Please read on:
The word “Allah” is the generic Arabic word for “God”. It is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew word “Elohim”. If you look in the Christian Arabic Bible, you will find it there. If I want to speak to the Muslims about God in Arabic, I would have to use that word. If I want to sit with my Arab Christian brothers and sisters and sing in Arabic, we would be singing praises to “Allah”.
If you ask the average Muslim to describe Allah, he will tell you that Allah is the God of Abraham, that He created the world and all that is in it, that He is the All-Merciful and Compassionate One, that He is the One and Only God. He also knows that blood atonement is essential for a right standing with God. That description fits the description of the Biblical Judeo-Christian understanding of God.
If you talk about Allah being the moon-god of ancient history, the average Muslim has no clue as to where you received that information. In other words, the Allah of today is not the moon-god of yesteryear. The average Muslim also has little knowledge as to exactly what the Koran says. In other words, he is a traditional Muslim, not a religious Muslim. He depends upon the Islamic clerics to tell him what to do. They think they serve God by following the cleric’s instructions. It is a dangerous and vulnerable position because it means a few fanatical clerics can manipulate thousands of people with a few words. They have a zeal for God but not according to righteousness.
BUT, this also means that Muslims are OPEN TO THE GOSPEL OF LOVE! Most of them want to know more about God/Allah. They have a basic understanding – and they just need to know more. The missing person in their understanding of God is Y’shua/Jesus. They respect Y’shua as a prophet – but they need to see Him as their atonement and realize that He is God! When they see Him as their Savior, all other things will fall into place. We need to pray for eyes to be open in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Teaching against Mohamed and yelling slogans like "Allah is not God", and getting into arguments with others, and accusing the U.S. President of unbelief because He stated that we worship the same Almighty God –-- all these things are distractions from our PURPOSE! If I spoke to a Muslim and told him Allah is not God – It is like saying in English – “God is not God”. It would make no sense.
The basic concept is the same – let’s use our common ground and teach our Muslim brothers the truth about WHO GOD IS. God is greater than the Muslims who are yelling “Holy War” and He is greater than the demonic spirits behind the fanatical clerics. Our Lord and Savior Y’shua died to set men free and we need to spread that message to the prisoners of Islam. Too many believers are caught up in spreading the message of fear – fear of attack, fear of Muslims. Fear does not come from God. Our weapons are not physical – they are spiritual and we can tear down Satan’s strongholds by the Blood-bought authority of Y’shua – Let’s do it!
Once again, the word “Allah” is the generic Arabic word for “God”. If you look in the Christian Arabic Bible, you will find it there. Let’s talk about GOOD NEWS! Let’s remember that the Arabs are also descendants from Shem and from Abraham, and as such, participate in the blessings.
I have a special family which I adopted in 1998. They were born into the Muslim faith, but today all six of them are believers in Y’shua as their Messiah and Savior. If I had approached them with the idea that Allah is not God, communication would have been broken. Instead, I concentrated on what we have in common and used that as a base. Love is the foundation. Because I love them, I want to understand them and how they think. It is a joy to see how their personal relationships with the Lord are developing and how much they love Y’shua.
See I Cor. 9:19-22 “…I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.”
Serving the King with Joy and Thankfulness, Lura Beckford, Congregation Yeruel, Israel
See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Rev. 3:8