Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and their God (Islam, part 1)

So what is Islam?  It's easy to decry prejudice against Muslims--steming from fear and ignorance--but it's a lot harder to describe exactly what distinguishes Muslims from other faiths.  But it is necessary if we are to make progress in reducing Islamophobia.  So that's what I want to try and do. 

My efforts here are based on 32 years as an active Methodist pastor, during which time I came to an indepth understanding of Christianity, its scriptures, history, and theology.  That in turn was based on a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and doctoral study in world religions under the respected scholar of world religions Prof. Huston Smith at Syracuse University.  But it's probably safe to say that most of my knowledge has come from personal reading over 40+ years and preparing to preach sermons and teach classes at my churches.

Islam is best understood as one of the three great Western religions, part of a larger family that includes Judaism and Christianity.  Of these three, Judaism is the oldest at over 3,000 years old, Christianity is next at about 2,000 years old, and Islam is the youngest at about 1,300 years old. 

Each of these religions traces itself back to 'Father Abraham', who they revere as the great founder of the Western religious tradition.  And this means that they each worship the God of Abraham, which is probably the most important point I can make here.

Judaism, Islam, and Christianity share a common God.  God's 'name' differs depending on whether you are speaking Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or Arabic, but it would not be incorrect to simply translate their shared deity as 'God'.   Their (our) God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Moses, David, and Jesus.  The Catholic Church, mainline Protestantism, the major branches of Judaism, and Islam all agree on this point. 

Fundamentalist Christianity tries to assert that Islam's God is not the God of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.  They are simply wrong in this, historically, philosophically, and theologically.

A serious difference does arise between the three faiths when you try to define God.  For both Judaism and Islam, God is one and undivided.  For Christians, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Trinity), though not all would agree on the meaning of this.  The divinity of Jesus is the most divisive doctrine between the three faiths, leading to much hard feeling and mutual antagonism on all sides.  Jews rejected Jesus, Christians rejected Jews, Muslims later reproved both Jews and Christians for their having departed from the original faith given to them in the Torah and the Gospel.

But the bottom line is, all three faiths worship the God of Abraham.  That must be the starting point for understanding Islam.  (To be continued.)

(Meaning of Arabic Calligraphy above: Allah is He besides Whom there is no god, the Everliving, the Self-subsisting by Whom all subsist; slumber does not overtake Him nor sleep; whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His; who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases, His knowledge extends over the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of them both tires Him not, and He is the Most High, the Great.)