God and Allah Questions   2015-151

 

I have written before about God and the relationship with the Islam god named Allah. I have honestly stated I have a hard time equating the Jewish/Christian God with the Islam Allah for various reasons. That being said, I still have questions about the two gods.

Well, actually, not with the Hebrew/Christian God, but the mingling of the two, by Islam followers, namely the Muslim religious.

The Jews and Christians are named as “People of the Book” in the Islam religious Holy Scripture, the Koran. Mohammad in 600 + A.D. stated that the Archangel Gabriel relayed things to him regarding people of the Jewish faith and also about Jesus.  Jesus is mentioned in the Koran as a prophet and messenger, but not acknowledged as the Son of God.  That statement or part of the Koran can be analyzed or discussed, but I hesitate to do so at this time. That is a separate issue as far as I am concerned for now.

But, the two faiths, Jewish and Christian are mentioned a number of times. The Jewish history goes back to Abraham beginning with the time spent in Ur and his travels when God told him to go and find another land, etc.

The Islam faith mentions Abraham’s sons especially Ishmael and his mother Hagar and when they were sent out of camp into the desert. It is said that he formed the tribes that became Arabs and that led to the formation of Islam by Mohammad.  This is a VERY short description of that occurrence, which again, I will not go into detail now.

That being said, it implies that Islam, Hebrew and Christian histories are related through Abraham, this being a common bond.

Allah is an Arabic word for God. This would be the same God that the Jews worship and the Christian worship and that is why the two other faiths are listed as the People of the Book. The history of the Jews, as recorded by the prophet Moses (per the Islam Koran) and the Jewish book, “The Torah” and the Christian book, “The Bible” are sharing the same God.  I don’t believe the Jews and Christians have a problem sharing God. The Jews just do NOT believe that Jesus is the Son of God either, and I can live with that belief of theirs, just don’t agree with them. The Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and was just a prophet, like they call Moses. OK, so what, I do not care if they do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God!

I do wish I knew some Muslims, especially some with knowledge of the Islam faith. It would be interesting to converse with them, discuss differences, likenesses, and so much more. That is one of the problems with society today; we do not talk with each other at times, about such subjects.  There is just so much info one can get from the Internet. A discussion of this and that is missing, whereas people could get a different perspective on a subject, especially of faiths.

I had an experience in the past to discuss the Christian faith in general with someone who was a doubter of God and Jesus Christ. I have mentioned this before, where we emailed back and forth about Christianity. The problem was, I would suggest 5-6 items and he would respond about only one. It was difficult to have a good dialogue in this way. A phone discussion would have been better, but we did not do so.

Questions like: God of all, (God and Allah) does not mean just Muslims; it includes Jews and Christians as His children. Why so much disparity between the three religions?  Why do I read about some of the Muslims wanting ALL people to convert to Islam if they are not already of that faith? It would be better to just accept others with the faiths they believe in and would be so much more peaceful if those people of Islam that want the conversions  to be more tolerant. Jews and Christians do not expect other people to convert to their religion with penalties if they do not do so.

Why do some of the Muslims think God wants death to all Jews and Christians—– they are HIS people, what goes on??? I believe those that think this way are reading or being taught this is the way God thinks today, whereas this is not the case; simple as that. So, I blame some of the religious leaders for the mayhem that occurs today.

I have NEVER  seen or heard of a meeting with top ranked leaders of the three faiths being discussed, having a sit down discussion about things that could be talked about in detail. WHY NOT????  There are sound bites on TV, or newscast reports saying this and that about a leader of Muslims (such as Iran), and what they call those of the U.S. or Israel, but not one meeting with anyone to discuss differences.

Perhaps, all three religious leaders would have a problem with a discussion of their respective faiths and not want to do so. It would make a neat TV documentary to hear this conversation. I would hope there would not be any yelling or over talk by each of them trying to outdo or speak their thoughts.

I think God and Allah is the same God, regardless of what is thought by each faith today. There is only ONE God of the Universe and to debate whose is better, or any other thought process would be ludicrous to say the least. Of course you could include an atheist to make it additionally interesting, but that may make it a stretch to some; don’t know. I think I may be so bloody naïve that what I state and think is not realistic; which is sad in a way……..

Peace be with you

Den Betts