Do not argue with the people of the scripture (Jews,
Christians, and Muslims) except in the nicest possible manner—unless they
transgress—and say, "We believe in what was revealed to us and in what was
revealed to you, and our god and your god is one and the same; to Him we are
submitters." (29:46)
On December 19th, I got an e-mail and in the subject portion of
that e-mail was a question: “Do All Religious Paths Lead to the Same God?” It
was an article by Mark O’Keefe and he makes the thesis of “Do all religious
paths lead to the same God?” The article was sparked by President Bush’s
statement upon being asked if whether or not Christians or Judeo-Christians
worship the same God as the Muslims, and vice-a-versa. To the shock of most
Muslims, and of course to Conservative Christians nationwide, he said “I believe
we worship the same God.” Whether he made this comment to curry up votes for his
next election or he regards this to be the absolute truth I leave to the eye of
the beholder.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and
Religious Liberty Commission said to that comment, “There is one God and his
name is Jehovah and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ of the seed of Abraham
and Isaac, whose mother was the Jewess virgin, Mary…Jesus, our savior, has made
it clear that we must know his father through faith in him and him alone.”
Reverend Ted Haggard, pastor and president of the National
Association of Evangelicals in Colorado Springs, Colorado had said, “The
Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health while
the Muslim God appears to value the opposite.”
If they so vehemently disagree with Bush’s comment then who are
we worshipping? This association of worshipping a different God has been going
around since the Crusades. People were actually murdered for not worshipping the
same God as another tribe or empire. As the Sultans of Middle Eastern countries
spread their propaganda of opposing the infidel Crusaders, the Kings of Europe
who initiated the wars also wrote of the infidel Muslims. By definition an
infidel is one who doesn’t have a particular religious belief although when we
open the dictionary the first definition we would get is “an unbeliever with
respect to a particular religion, particularly Christianity and Islam.” But,
this is not about who is the infidel. This is about who God is?
Relating back to the comments that were made by Mr. Land and Mr.
Haggard I want to go to the origin of their argument. Dr. Robert Morey wrote a
book called Allah: Demonic or Devine. In the book, he makes the claim that the
Muslims do not worship the God of the Bible, but the God of pre-Islamic Arabia.
Allah, the Moon God. Archeological digs throughout the Middle East and Eastern
Europe, particularly in Palestine, indicate that the Arabs along with the
pre-Christian Byzantines worshipped the moon, or a moon god. He relates this to
the Crescent moon that has somehow become synonymous with Islam and the
crescents appearances on the top of minarets and on the domes of masjids. The
theory is, plainly and without a lengthy explanation of the book, the Muslims
worship the moon not the God of the Universe or at least not the God they have
come to understand.
We obviously don’t worship the moon as God says: Among His
proofs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate
before the sun, nor the moon; you shall fall prostrate before the God who
created them, if you truly worship Him alone (41: 37) and When he saw the moon
rising, he said, "Maybe this is my Lord!" When it disappeared, he said, "Unless
my Lord guides me, I will be with the strayers. But, this is not about proving
them wrong, but rather using this article and taking a step back and asking “who
is God?”
The question I pose, then, would be who is God? Linguistically
we know who God is, but the words in which we use I don’t believe get much
thought. To each attribute of God there is its root meaning and at times we
don’t even think about those meanings. As children and even into our adulthood
and throughout maturity God is marketed to us, in a bid to buy whose version of
God is the best or better. The whole concept “My God is bigger than yours.”
When I was a Catholic I could remember seeing images of a blonde
hair blue eyed man on statues and paintings and being told this is God. We see
television Evangels preaching that the only way to God is through His only
begotten son, Jesus Christ and if you don’t accept that, simply put, you are
going to hell. I have attended debates and read apologetics of the equality of
humans but at the same time they say that my way is the only way or my God is
the only God. Growing up I got to see different faiths by those who knocked on
the door. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Baptists all would knock on the door and
ask if we had received the truth today and were telling us who God is and my way
or the highway. When I began studying Islam, it appealed to me because of the
lack of a clergy and one was given the freedom to learn and understand at his
own consequence. It wasn’t long until I was told how to follow and who to follow
and that there was in fact an Islamic clergy in Saudi Arabia. Above all, I was
told that God’s literal name is Allah. I didn’t give it much thought and I came
to understand it the same way, which is until I came into the path of submission
to God alone. I had come to understand that Jesus is not God, and even that
Allah is not God, nor is “God” God, but rather these are meanings, of course
Jesus being God is idolatrous so we can immediately eradicate that from the
understanding. Allah is the name for God in Arabic or literally “The God” and
since that is so the same definition from the English can be applied.
The root meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheru; Sanskrit
hub or emu, "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is either "the one invoked" or "the
one sacrificed to." From different Indo-Germanic roots (div, "to shine" or "give
light"; thes in thessasthai "to implore") come the Indo-Iranian deva, Sanskrit
dyaus (gen. divas), Latin deus, Greek theos, Irish and Gaelic dia, all of which
are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios, Latin Jupiter (jovpater), Old
Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), Latin Janus, Diana, and other proper
names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as
'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars
are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or
mighty one." (Taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia)
Going into the Torah, even the names that are there for God have
a meaning:
Yahweh means I am that I am or I will be who I will be or I
become what I become.
la El ('al; 'L):
meaning "Mighty One" or "First," this is the singular form of
God, denoting Him as the only One; the Strong One above all else, mighty and
powerful (Gen. 21:33, 31:13, 35:1). This is also sometimes attached to the Name
Yahueh (Psa. 31:5, 94:1), even by God Himself (Exo. 34:6).
hwla Eloah (al-'oo-ah or 'al-o-ah; 'LUH):
meaning "Worthy of Praise," another title to describe God as
single, powerful (Job 4:9), the creator (Deut. 32:15, Job 4:17), the only God
(Deut. 32:17), Who is merciful and kind, and corrects His children out of love (Neh.
9:17, Job 5:17).
hla Elah (al-'ah; 'LH):
closely related to both El and Eloah, this is Aramaic for
"Mighty One" or "One Worthy of Praise;" seen mostly in Ezra (4:24, 6:9) and
Daniel (5:18, 6:10).
Myhla Elohim ('al-o-heem; 'LHYM):
meaning "Mighty Ones" or "Ones Worthy of Praise," this is used
very often (Isa. 41:10), and is the plural form of Eloah. It denotes the nature
of God as seen as the Father, His Word (Jesus), and His Spirit (the Holy
Spirit), acting as one (Gen. 1:26,27, 3:22). It is also used for false gods
(Gen. 35:2, Exo. 12:12), gods compared to Yahueh (Exo. 18:11, 20:3,23,
23:13,24,32,33, Leviticus19:4, 1 Ki. 18:21-24) gods personal to someone (Numbers
25:2, 33:4, Deut. 6:14,15), and even judges (Psa. 82).
Nwda Adon ('ah-dohn; 'DUN):
meaning Lord, Master, or Sovereign (Psa. 97:5, 114:7); singular
form.
ynda Adonai ('ah-dohn-eye; 'DNY):
plural form of Adon, used often to denote the complete nature of
God, His Word, and His Spirit (Isa. 6:8); the Sovereign One of heaven, ruling in
majesty; the Master (Exo. 4:10). Used in connection with Elohim; Adonai Elohim
(Dan. 9:3), to show the Sovereign nature of the King of all the earth, the One
God of heaven Who acts in unity. Also used to mean "my Lord" (Psa. 110:1), "my
Lords" to angels (Gen. 19:1,2), for kings (1 Ki. 1:13), out of reverence (Gen.
23:6,11), for husbands (Gen. 18:12).
Nwyla Elyon ('al-yone; 'LYUN):
meaning Most High (Numbers 24:16, Deut. 32:8, II Sam. 22:14).
Often used in connection with the other titles and name of God, such as Elyon El
(Gen. 14:18), Yahueh Elyon (Psa. 7:17, 47:2, 83:18), Elohim Elyon (Psa. 57:2),
Elyon Elohim (Psa. 78:56). Indeed Lucifer's fall was because he sought to be
like Elyon, the Most High (Isa. 14:12-15), and ended up Satan, the Devil, the
prince of demons. Exalting oneself will always cause a dethroning by God, as
seen with Lucifer, the Tower of Babel, Pharaoh, Herod, etc. There is one Most
High: Yahueh Elyon.
ydS Shaddai (shad-'eye; SHDY):
this word meaning "Almighty" or "All-sustaining" gives us a
picture of the wonderful and just God we serve (Job 5:17, Numbers 24:16, Job
8:3); it is often combined with El to denote the One True God Almighty (Gen.
35:11). "Shaddai" is thought to come from a root word meaning a mother's
breasts; here we see the truth of the life-sustaining, and intimate nature of
God.
ba Ab or Abba ('ab; 'B):
meaning Father (Isa. 9:6, II Sam. 7:14, Mal. 1:6, Mark 14:36,
Rom. 8:15, Galatians 4:6).*
Who is God in the Quran?
To God belongs the most beautiful names; call upon Him
therewith, and disregard those who distort His names. They will be requited for
their sins. 7:180
Say, “Call Him God, or call Him Most Gracious;
whichever name you use, to Him belongs the best names.” 17:110
- ‘Best Provider’ 5:114, 22:85, 23:72, 34:39, and 62:11
- ‘Best Supporter’ 3:150
- ‘Best Schemer’ 3:54
- ‘Best Judge’ 7:87,10:109, 12:80, 6:57
- ‘Most Accurate Reckoner’ 6:62
- ‘Best Forgiver’ 7:155
Proclaim, “He is the One and only God. The Absolute
God. Never did He beget. Nor was He begotten. None equals Him. 112
Say, “I seek refuge in the Lord of the people. The King
of the people. The god of the people. From the evils of sneaky whisperers. Who
whisper into the chests of the people. Be they of the jinns, or the people. 114
The agonizing moments through which I have passed during the
last few years have also drawn me closer to God. More than ever before I am
convinced of the reality of a personal God. True, I have always believed in the
personality of God. But in the past the idea of a personal God was little more
than a metaphysical category that I found theologically and philosophically
satisfying. Now it is a living reality that has been validated in the
experiences of everyday life. God has been profoundly real to me in recent
years. In the midst of outer dangers I have felt an inner calm. In the midst of
lonely days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, "Lo, I will be
with you." When the chains of fear and the manacles of frustration have all but
stymied my efforts, I have felt the power of God transforming the fatigue of
despair into the buoyancy of hope. I am convinced that the universe is under the
control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has
cosmic companionship. Behind the harsh appearances of the world there is a
benign power. To say that this God is personal is not to make him a finite
object beside other objects or attribute to him the limitations of human
personality; it is to take what is finest and noblest in our consciousness and
affirm its perfect existence in him. It is certainly true that human personality
is limited, but personality as such involves no necessary limitations. It means
simply self-consciousness and self-direction. So in the truest sense of the
word, God is a living God. In him there is feeling and will, responsive to the
deepest yearnings of the human heart; this God both evokes and answers prayer
(Martin Luther King, Jr.).
Hebrew Definitions taken from
http://members.nuvox.net/~on.roz/God/name/titles.html
Edward Coffey
Our God is
one and the same - another perspective
info@submission.org
