The Islamic Allah and Christian God are not the Same

Submitted by Luke Lloyd (United States), Jun 30, 2005 at 12:24

Dear Mr. Pipes:

I have been following your analytical commentaries for over a year and have found them very enlightening. However, your recent remarks in your article entitled, "Is Allah God?" really stunned me because of the errors of your approach to such a significant question. To say that we worship the same God because the translations and the Koran indicate that we do is to mislead everyone and to be an "apologist" for Islam. The fact that the Arabic word for the God Christians worship is Allah and that Muslims use this same word for their God does not mean that the two are the same. In fact everything I read tells me just the opposite. I am not an evangelical as described in your article, but the evidence as to the beginnings of Islam in Arabia clearly points to Islam growing out of the pagan Moon God (Allah) worship of the time. I do not see how anyone can come to another conclusion as I look at the symbols and rituals of Islam. One thing for certain, a pagan Moon God – no matter what you call him – doesn't come close to Jesus Christ in any of its manifestations. The God of the Christians and the Allah of the Muslims have two very different natures. It does not take a very deep reading of the Koran or hadith to determine that we are talking about two different beings.

I have always loved the verse in John 8:32, "and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." The fact that Muslims worship another being is not an insurmountable obstacle to living together. History shows us this truth. And, because of the religious freedom we champion, there is no question that they have the right to believe as they will; however, to compromise ones' beliefs to the point of accepting their Allah as the same as our Lord and savior is tantamount to surrendering oneself to Islam and tearing down aspects of the Jewish and Christian faith put in place throughout the last 1400 years. That would certainly make the Da'wa boys happy.

Furthermore, the supposition that we all come out of the Abrahamic tradition adds credence to the Islamic position. I believe that this line of reasoning was a clever ploy by Mohammad to allure more Jews and Christians to his faith initially and is still being used that way today. Such rationales seem to have both a political and religious purpose; both are very troubling to me. A bond would exist if it were true, but read in light of all the entire Koran, I am troubled by such assertions. More importantly, I do not believe we need to accept such a premise leading to "interfaith comity" in order to live in peace and prosperity. On the other hand, no matter how it happens I concur with you that "…leaving behind the supremacism, extremism, and violence of the current Islamist phase" will be absolutely necessary.

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