What about the fact that Surah 112:3 of the Qur’an states لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ (lam yalid walam yulad) which means “He begetteh not, nor is He begotten”?
Sounds like a direct attack on the deity of Christ to me.
They are monotheists and they profess to believe in the God Of Abraham. There are commonalities. For example, a entire Surah on Mary.
But they also teach that if you believe Jesus to be God, you are committing “Shirk” which is like the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, a unforgivable sin. And, like you mentioned, that God has no Son, period.
And the Koran is also hostile towards the Jews saying they were transformed into apes and pigs. Makes that reference in multiple ayats.
This is in direct contrast to :
Genesis 12:3New International Version (NIV)
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
And the Words of Jesus :
John 4:22King James Version (KJV)
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews
.
And the Bible out dates the Koran, yet Islam claims it’s been all corrupted. This is in opposition to more of Jesus Words:
Matthew 24:35New International Version (NIV)
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
I know the Church wants to improve relations with Muslims, but quite frankly, I would not have used such friendly language for Islam as we see in the Catechism. And the reason being is it can be misleading for those who are ignorant of what Islam actually teaches and believes. If I didn’t know much about Islam, I might be led to believe that they are just a slightly misinformed sect, not far from the Church. Which is obviously
not true.
So personally I’ll never be found kissing a Koran or worshiping in a Mosque, I don’t care who else within the Church is doing this. There are major differences there and people need to know this.