Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is the God of Islam also the God of the Bible?
Answer: Yes and No
Explanation: Muslims use the word Allah as the name for the God of Abraham. The
word “Allah” is also used by Christians in the Arabic Bible as the word for God.
The Islamic holy book, the Qur’an, is full of references to the Biblical
characters and prophets. Here is a short list of Biblical characters found in
just four verses of the Qur’an (chapter 6, verses 84-87): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Noah, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Zechariah, John, Jesus Elijah,
Ishmail, Elisha, Jonas, and Lot. There a dozens of other references to biblical
characters in the Qur’an. While these people are all mentioned in both the
Qur’an and the Bible this does not mean that Muslims and Christians are in total
agreement about God.
The abundant references to Biblical characters in the Qur’an definitely show
that Mohammed was influenced by many aspects of Jewish and Christian teachings.
However his idea of God does not include very significant Christian concepts
about God. For example Muslims are unitarians and Christians are trinitarians.
Islam does not know God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition Muslims
deny that Jesus died on the cross and that he was raised from the dead.
Is Mohammed prophesied in the Bible?
Muslims often point to two texts in the Bible as evidence that the coming of
Mohammed was foretold even in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your
God will raise up for you (the Israelites) a prophet like me (Moses) from among
your own brothers. You must listen to him.”
Muslims attempt to say that the Ishmaelites are the “brothers of the Israelites”
mentioned in this text. Mohammed is said to be a descendant of Ishmael through
one of the sons (either Nebajoth or Kedar). However in Deuteronomy 17:15 the
Israelites receive specific instructions concerning kings using the same words:
“You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from
among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner
over you, who is not your brother.” From the context it can plainly be seen that
the word “brother” here means someone from among the Israelites themselves. The
Apostles believed that Jesus was “the Prophet mentioned in Deuteuronomy 18 (See
Acts 3:22-23 and 7:37).
The other main passages which are cited by Muslims are John 14:16-18 and
16:7-15. Muslims sometimes try to say that Christians changed the original Greek
wording of the text concerning the “helper or comforter”. For them the original
word was not “helper or comforter” (parakletos in Greek) but “periklytos”
meaning “glorious or honoured one.” They say this refers to Ahmed, a form of the
name Mohammed, which means “the praised one”. It is significant that there are
no known Greek texts of John 14 and 16 which use the word “periklytos” instead
of “parakletos.” In addition the activities of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the
texts do not match well with the life of Mohammed.