Do Muslims Worship the True God?

[littlefield]

Growing up Catholic, I was taught that Muslims do not worship the true God. And this has always made sense to me. “Allah” is so vastly different (directly opposed in some ways) from the Trinitarian God as revealed to the Church, that he/it cannot be the same thing. It seems the Church traditionally viewed Islam as a heresy. The Church (and her martyrs) fought to the death to defend the true definition of God as Trinity and Christ as God.

But a Catholic friend of mine said the Catechism was “updated” to include this statement:

#841 “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

The being they worship cannot be the one God, so is this an instance of the ordinary Magisterium making a statement that could be invalidated if the facts prove otherwise?

Because:

1. Koran teaches that believing int he crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is false (Sura 4:157-159).
2. Muslims are told to fight against Christians and those who disagree with Islam (Sura 9:29)
3. Koran teaches that to believe in the divinity of Jesus is blasphemous (Sura 5:72)
4. To believe in Jesus as God’s son is false (Sura 19:35; 10:68)

Muslims are monotheists, true. But so are Bahai and the Mormons.

 

[littlefield]

Forgot to add this to my question. Translation may play a role here.

When it is rendered this way “With us they adore God who is one, merciful…” the passage is it not so problematic as it doesn’t imply they are worshipping THE God?

 

[Padres1969]

I’ve always thought that they do worship the “true God” similarly to the Jewish people, in that they worship what Christians would call God the Father. Now they’re obviously not worshiping all 3 constituent parts of the Tridentine Christian God, but they’re worshiping at least part of it even if their understanding of it is incomplete. In some ways I’d argue the Jewish and Muslim understanding of God, while incomplete, is in some ways closer to Christianity proper than some Christian derived religions like Mormonism.

 

[1ke]

Do Muslims Worship the True God?

Oh please not this again.

Growing up Catholic, I was taught that Muslims do not worship the true God.

I’m sorry you were misinformed by those who were speaking on behalf of the Church.

And this has always made sense to me.

Except that there is only one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We worship that God and the Jews worship that God and the Muslims worship that God.

“Allah” is so vastly different (directly opposed in some ways) from the Trinitarian God as revealed to the Church,

So is the Jewish conception of God. Yet there is only one God. And they worship him. The Jews would say WE do not worship the God of Abraham because He is not a Trinity, not incarnated, not the Messiah.

that he/it cannot be the same thing.

Are they mistaken? Yes.

Are they worshiping another God? No. After all, there is no other God.

It seems the Church traditionally viewed Islam as a heresy.

Technically not heresy, since it isn’t a Christian religion at all. Although it certainly has some of it’s influence from Arianism.

The Church (and her martyrs) fought to the death to defend the true definition of God as Trinity and Christ as God.

And still does.

But a Catholic friend of mine said the Catechism was “updated” to include this statement

The Catechism merely reflects the teaching of the Church. It wasn’t “updated” to include that statement.

#841 “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

Yep.

The being they worship cannot be the one God,

Of course it can.

so is this an instance of the ordinary Magisterium making a statement that could be invalidated if the facts prove otherwise?

No.

1. Koran teaches that believing int he crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is false (Sura 4:157-159).
2. Muslims are told to fight against Christians and those who disagree with Islam (Sura 9:29)
3. Koran teaches that to believe in the divinity of Jesus is blasphemous (Sura 5:72)
4. To believe in Jesus as God’s son is false (Sura 19:35; 10:68)

Muslims are monotheists, true. But so are Bahai and the Mormons.

None of these things contradict the fact that Muslims worship the God of Abraham. They are mistaken about who He is.

But then again, so are the Jews. Are you implying that Jews do not worship the one true God because they do not acknowledge the Trinity?

 

[1ke]

it doesn’t imply they are worshipping THE God?

The do worship “the” God, there is only one.

 

[Kurisu35712]

#841 “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

1ke gave a very good answer. I wanted to address the wording specifically.

“The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator”
All people are called to Heaven, including Muslims. As God’s children, they, like everyone else on Earth, are willed by God to spend eternity with Him and the angels and the communion of Saints.

“in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims”
First among those, outside of Christianity, who acknowledge the Creator, as far as how I read it. Catholicism specifically views itself as the fulfillment and continuation of Judaism, hence it not being mentioned here. Islam is not considered connected to Christianity, though Muslims do trace their origins to Ishmael, which would be a link to Judaism.

“these profess to hold the faith of Abraham”
Muslims profess themselves to worship the God of Abraham, which we identify as God the Father. Inherent in this statement is not an affirmation by the Church that Islam actually worships the God of Abraham, although most people wouldn’t claim that they don’t even if it isn’t in the same way as Catholics. Personally, I believe Muslims to be worshiping God, even if their understanding is incomplete.

“and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
While our views on God and His nature may differ, one cannot really make the claim that normal Muslims do not adore God. The majority of Muslims are simply trying to worship God as best they know how, just as most Protestants do.

 

[R_H_Benson]

1ke gave a very good answer. I wanted to address the wording specifically.

“The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator”
All people are called to Heaven, including Muslims. As God’s children, they, like everyone else on Earth, are willed by God to spend eternity with Him and the angels and the communion of Saints.

“in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims”
First among those, outside of Christianity, who acknowledge the Creator, as far as how I read it. Catholicism specifically views itself as the fulfillment and continuation of Judaism, hence it not being mentioned here. Islam is not considered connected to Christianity, though Muslims do trace their origins to Ishmael, which would be a link to Judaism.

“these profess to hold the faith of Abraham”
Muslims profess themselves to worship the God of Abraham, which we identify as God the Father. Inherent in this statement is not an affirmation by the Church that Islam actually worships the God of Abraham, although most people wouldn’t claim that they don’t even if it isn’t in the same way as Catholics. Personally, I believe Muslims to be worshiping God, even if their understanding is incomplete.

“and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”
While our views on God and His nature may differ, one cannot really make the claim that normal Muslims do not adore God. The majority of Muslims are simply trying to worship God as best they know how, just as most Protestants do.

Why does it matter? Islam is not salvific even if they do worship a deeply malformed idea of the one true God. As Catholics we have an obligation to adopt a missionary attitude towards Muslims to bring them to the Catholic Church outside of which there is no salvation.

 

[commenter]

Why does it matter? Islam is not salvific even if they do worship a deeply malformed idea of the one true God. As Catholics we have an obligation to adopt a missionary attitude towards Muslims to bring them to the Catholic Church outside of which there is no salvation.

True.
Yes. God has ways of saving people we don’t know about. However, God’s plan for me as a Christian is to try to bring all people to the fullness of God’s truth, keeping in mind God also can reach them in ways unfamiliar to me.

Hillair Belloc, perhaps the leading Catholic historian in English, identified Islam as a Christian heresy, even though Muhammed was never a Christian. He took parts of the Christian faith, and rejected other parts, then added other stuff to build his religion.

Muslims do not regard Allah the same way Christians regard God the Father. Of the 99 names they may use to refer, none of them is “father”.

Prayer is the primary method Christians need to utilize. The update from the Catechism did not say the Koran can be saved. It referred to certain individuals.

 

[ialsop]

Do they pray to the same God as us?

Depends on the person. MANY MANY Muslims do have a deep prayer life with GOD. But if you go by only doctrinal texts, and not persons, then absolutely not. Their doctrine of God says it is NOT Jesus and NOT Father and NOT Trinity. False God right there.

But do many Muslims pray to the true God? Yes, I mean, there is only one to pray to…

And as a previous poster said, it doesn’t matter all that much. We need to be a missionary to Muslims wherever they are.

 

[worldcitizen]

There is only one God and creator. Muslims believe in the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

People call God by different names in different languages but there is only one creator and one God. Everyone believes in the same God unless they are worshipping idols.

The prophets and their messages may be different but they were all sent by the same God.

 

[ialsop]

Bold-Yes, I would be willing to change my statement to say a “poor understanding” rather than “false”. As there IS only one God.

Italics-Yes, whatever conclusion we draw about Allah should be applied to the God in post-Jesus Judaism. No Trinity, no Jesus. So…if Muslims worship the same God, so do Jews. If not, neither do the Jews.

And I conceded to your statement about them having a “poor understanding” of God rather than a “False” god, so I think we should apply that idea to Jews and Muslims both.

PAX!

 

[ialsop]

There is only one God and creator. Muslims believe in the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

People call God by different names in different languages but there is only one creator and one God. Everyone believes in the same God unless they are worshipping idols.

The prophets and their messages may be different but they were all sent by the same God.

Jesus believed that He was God. So HOW can the Muslims worship the “God of Jesus” when they don’t accept Jesus as God? Moses and Abraham prefigured Christ’s covenant, which they reject, right?

Also, God is all perfect, meaning His messages CANNOT contradict. If they contradict, then we make God to be a liar. God is NOT a liar.

Also, yes, you are right that there is only one Creator. So all people of all faiths do have a relationship with him of some sort. But that does NOT mean that all Faiths come even close to worshiping the true God.

 

[tomarin]

They think they do, but they are mistaken about God’s attributes.

 

[eddie_too]

muslims are definitely monotheists as are jews and christians.

by affirming their belief in the one God, muslims share an important, even the most fundamental, belief of christians and jews.

muslims, jews and christians all agree that there is only one God and they all profess to worship that one God.

is the One God, the True God? absolutely!

 

[ialsop]

muslims are definitely monotheists as are jews and christians.

by affirming their belief in the one God, muslims share an important, even the most fundamental, belief of christians and jews.

muslims, jews and christians all agree that there is only one God and they all profess to worship that one God.

is the One God, the True God? absolutely!

Yes, but those are not all his attributes.

That is akin to saying “You are married to one woman who is blonde and you love her, and I too, am married to one woman who is blonde and I love her. Thus, we MUST be married to the same woman”.

 

[Servant19]

Jesus believed that He was God. So HOW can the Muslims worship the “God of Jesus” when they don’t accept Jesus as God? Moses and Abraham prefigured Christ’s covenant, which they reject, right?

Also, God is all perfect, meaning His messages CANNOT contradict. If they contradict, then we make God to be a liar. God is NOT a liar.

Also, yes, you are right that there is only one Creator. So all people of all faiths do have a relationship with him of some sort. But that does NOT mean that all Faiths come even close to worshiping the true God.

If God is all perfect meaning His message cannot contradict, why so many contradictions between the spoken Word of God in Judaism and the spoken Word of God in Christianity?

It’s the same God isn’t it?

.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

The do worship “the” God, there is only one.

Yes, there is only one God. There are many images of God. There are many theologies about God and God’s relationship to us. So there is plenty of opportunity for error but it is all in our minds and not in a “different untrue” God except in so far as that untrue God is one of our own thinking.

 

[Servant19]

They think they do, but they are mistaken about God’s attributes.

Which attribute of God in Islam is mistaken tomarin?

.

 

[ialsop]

If God is all perfect meaning His message cannot contradict, why so many contradictions between the spoken Word of God in Judaism and the spoken Word of God in Christianity?

It’s the same God isn’t it?

.

Are you referring to the Jewish and Christain religions? No, different God too…

OR are you referring to the Old and New Testaments? In that case, yes, same exact God. Name me one real contradiction.

 

[Servant19]

Are you referring to the Jewish and Christain religions? No, different God too…

OR are you referring to the Old and New Testaments? In that case, yes, same exact God. Name me one real contradiction.

Firstly, please clarify. Are you saying that the God of Judaism is a different God to the God of Christianity?

.