Is God the same as Allah?

[catholictiger]

yes and no.

Yes, Allah is a word for God.

No, Allah in Muslim Theology is different than God in Catholic Theology. (I don’t know specifics though.)

 

[thinkandmull]

if you read Acts 17 carefully, you’ll see that St. Paul says that these pagans worshiped actual idols, but also had worship for God thru a shrine TO an unkown God- that is, God. They didn’t call Him Yaweh of course. So all the more can a muslim worhip God

 

[Linda_Marie]

Well that’s like asking is Yahweh the same as God or is Elohim the same as God or is Jehovah the same as God. There are so many ways to say God.

I quite disagree. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 21 years.

In Arabic, the generic word for god is ‘illah’. ‘Allah’ is a proper name. It is the name of the false god that Mohammad’s tribe worshiped before he had his ‘visions’. It is a falsehood, perpetrated for many centuries, that the worship of Allah is Abrahamic in origin. It is not and never has been. Hagar did not bring worship of YHWH to Arabia, despite bearing Abraham’s son, Ishmael. All Ishmael had is Abraham’s genes, not his religion.

Allah is a pagan god whose worship has no resemblance to the worship of the One God, YHWH, and whose teachings bear no resemblance to the Teachings of YHWH, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The only thing the Muslims have right is that God is One, but the one they worship is not YHWH.

Allah is not another name for YHWH, even though it is used as such by Christians in the Arabic speaking world. Muslims in Malaysia recognise that Allah and YHWH are not the same. Christians have been forbidden to use Allah to refer to YHWH because it could cause Muslims to be confused and think that they are one and the same God when they are not. Even Muslims teach that Allah and YHWH are not one and the same.

To know the truth of the nature of Allah, look to the teachings and the fruit. By their fruit you shall know them.

The fruit of Islam is massacre, slaughter, murder, rape, subjugation. Everywhere we find Muslims, we find these things, ‘honour’ killings, child marriages, female genital mutilation. It is also a tenet of their faith to lie about the teachings of Islam to those who question them. Even those who have been in the West all their lives want to kill their female relatives who, in their opinion, have smirched their ‘honour’. No trial, no evidence, just their opinion and then they will kill their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, in the name of Islam. What a monstrous people, what a monstrous god that demands this.

I also lived in Iran for 4 years. I recall an incident shortly after I arrived. A 12-year old girl was found (alive) by the side of the road, run over several times. She had been raped by her Mullah to whom she had been sent to learn Islam. He told her that he had married them so she thought she was his wife. There was a religious trial and she was found innocent of adultery. (note that the Mullah did not face any charges whatsoever) Her family; father, uncles and brothers; did not accept the verdict and held their own trial in which they found her guilty and sentenced her to death. They gave her a choice, she could be electrocuted, drink poison or be run over by a car. She chose the car. They took her out to the countryside and made her lie in the road and ran over her 3 times.

This is the face of ordinary every day Muslims following the precepts of Islam.

I was molested in public, every time I ventured into town to shop, by anonymous men who felt they could grope me just because I was out without a male guardian, all part of the teachings of Islam. I was forced off the sidewalk and made to walk in the gutter many many times simply because I was not Muslim. It is a teaching of Islam that the dhimmi must be humiliated at every opportunity. I have had rocks thrown at me for the same reason, all in the name of Islam.

Such things are not compatible with the worship of the One God, YHWH. He does not teach us to murder our wives, daughters or sisters because they have been raped; He does not teach us to murder those who do not believe in Him, even if they are family; or to humiliate anybody, to grope women in public, to throw rocks at people, but Allah does.

So no, Allah is not just another name for the Almighty God, YHWH.

 

[PRmerger]

I quite disagree. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 21 years.

In Arabic, the generic word for god is ‘illah’. ‘Allah’ is a proper name. It is the name of the false god that Mohammad’s tribe worshiped before he had his ‘visions’. It is a falsehood, perpetrated for many centuries, that the worship of Allah is Abrahamic in origin. It is not and never has been. Hagar did not bring worship of YHWH to Arabia, despite bearing Abraham’s son, Ishmael. All Ishmael had is Abraham’s genes, not his religion.

Allah is a pagan god whose worship has no resemblance to the worship of the One God, YHWH, and whose teachings bear no resemblance to the Teachings of YHWH, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The only thing the Muslims have right is that God is One, but the one they worship is not YHWH.

Allah is not another name for YHWH, even though it is used as such by Christians in the Arabic speaking world. Muslims in Malaysia recognise that Allah and YHWH are not the same. Christians have been forbidden to use Allah to refer to YHWH because it could cause Muslims to be confused and think that they are one and the same God when they are not. Even Muslims teach that Allah and YHWH are not one and the same.

To know the truth of the nature of Allah, look to the teachings and the fruit. By their fruit you shall know them.

The fruit of Islam is massacre, slaughter, murder, rape, subjugation. Everywhere we find Muslims, we find these things, ‘honour’ killings, child marriages, female genital mutilation. It is also a tenet of their faith to lie about the teachings of Islam to those who question them. Even those who have been in the West all their lives want to kill their female relatives who, in their opinion, have smirched their ‘honour’. No trial, no evidence, just their opinion and then they will kill their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, in the name of Islam. What a monstrous people, what a monstrous god that demands this.

I also lived in Iran for 4 years. I recall an incident shortly after I arrived. A 12-year old girl was found (alive) by the side of the road, run over several times. She had been raped by her Mullah to whom she had been sent to learn Islam. He told her that he had married them so she thought she was his wife. There was a religious trial and she was found innocent of adultery. (note that the Mullah did not face any charges whatsoever) Her family; father, uncles and brothers; did not accept the verdict and held their own trial in which they found her guilty and sentenced her to death. They gave her a choice, she could be electrocuted, drink poison or be run over by a car. She chose the car. They took her out to the countryside and made her lie in the road and ran over her 3 times.

This is the face of ordinary every day Muslims following the precepts of Islam.

I was molested in public, every time I ventured into town to shop, by anonymous men who felt they could grope me just because I was out without a male guardian, all part of the teachings of Islam. I was forced off the sidewalk and made to walk in the gutter many many times simply because I was not Muslim. It is a teaching of Islam that the dhimmi must be humiliated at every opportunity. I have had rocks thrown at me for the same reason, all in the name of Islam.

Such things are not compatible with the worship of the One God, YHWH. He does not teach us to murder our wives, daughters or sisters because they have been raped; He does not teach us to murder those who do not believe in Him, even if they are family; or to humiliate anybody, to grope women in public, to throw rocks at people, but Allah does.

So no, Allah is not just another name for the Almighty God, YHWH.

Wow.

This was enough to have me change my mind regarding Muslims worshipping the same God as Christians.

Just wow.

Thank you for your comments!

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I quite disagree. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 21 years.

In Arabic, the generic word for god is ‘illah’. ‘Allah’ is a proper name. It is the name of the false god that Mohammad’s tribe worshiped before he had his ‘visions’. It is a falsehood, perpetrated for many centuries, that the worship of Allah is Abrahamic in origin. It is not and never has been. Hagar did not bring worship of YHWH to Arabia, despite bearing Abraham’s son, Ishmael. All Ishmael had is Abraham’s genes, not his religion.

Allah is a pagan god whose worship has no resemblance to the worship of the One God, YHWH, and whose teachings bear no resemblance to the Teachings of YHWH, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The only thing the Muslims have right is that God is One, but the one they worship is not YHWH.

Allah is not another name for YHWH, even though it is used as such by Christians in the Arabic speaking world. Muslims in Malaysia recognise that Allah and YHWH are not the same. Christians have been forbidden to use Allah to refer to YHWH because it could cause Muslims to be confused and think that they are one and the same God when they are not. Even Muslims teach that Allah and YHWH are not one and the same.

To know the truth of the nature of Allah, look to the teachings and the fruit. By their fruit you shall know them.

The fruit of Islam is massacre, slaughter, murder, rape, subjugation. Everywhere we find Muslims, we find these things, ‘honour’ killings, child marriages, female genital mutilation. It is also a tenet of their faith to lie about the teachings of Islam to those who question them. Even those who have been in the West all their lives want to kill their female relatives who, in their opinion, have smirched their ‘honour’. No trial, no evidence, just their opinion and then they will kill their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, in the name of Islam. What a monstrous people, what a monstrous god that demands this.

I also lived in Iran for 4 years. I recall an incident shortly after I arrived. A 12-year old girl was found (alive) by the side of the road, run over several times. She had been raped by her Mullah to whom she had been sent to learn Islam. He told her that he had married them so she thought she was his wife. There was a religious trial and she was found innocent of adultery. (note that the Mullah did not face any charges whatsoever) Her family; father, uncles and brothers; did not accept the verdict and held their own trial in which they found her guilty and sentenced her to death. They gave her a choice, she could be electrocuted, drink poison or be run over by a car. She chose the car. They took her out to the countryside and made her lie in the road and ran over her 3 times.

This is the face of ordinary every day Muslims following the precepts of Islam.

I was molested in public, every time I ventured into town to shop, by anonymous men who felt they could grope me just because I was out without a male guardian, all part of the teachings of Islam. I was forced off the sidewalk and made to walk in the gutter many many times simply because I was not Muslim. It is a teaching of Islam that the dhimmi must be humiliated at every opportunity. I have had rocks thrown at me for the same reason, all in the name of Islam.

Such things are not compatible with the worship of the One God, YHWH. He does not teach us to murder our wives, daughters or sisters because they have been raped; He does not teach us to murder those who do not believe in Him, even if they are family; or to humiliate anybody, to grope women in public, to throw rocks at people, but Allah does.

So no, Allah is not just another name for the Almighty God, YHWH.

Thank you for sharing this. This is the true face of Islam, a religion of perversion and hate and NOT the same as the worship of the Triune God who gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins.

 

[Genesis315]

It is right to say that Muslims acknowledge and worship the one God. First, I think there should be noted the difference between worshiping God in Spirit and in truth, offering Him “true worship,” having supernatural faith, obeying Him, etc., and acknowledging God or worshiping God according to the virtue of religion (which is not a theological virtue, but a natural virtue that falls under justice).

St. Thomas defines this virtue in the Summa as “to show reverence to one God under one aspect, namely, as the first principle of the creation and government of things.” newadvent.org/summa/3081.htm

Can Muslims do this? They certainly worship “God” as First Principle and Supreme Governor of all things, but is it the same God we know? Can one acknowledge the one God without acknowledging the Trinity?

First, faith is required to acknowledge the Trinity. The Trinity cannot be reasoned out, as St. Vincent Ferrer explains:
St. Vincent Ferrer:

Concerning the use of the intelligence with regard to the Trinity, St. Thomas asks whether the Trinity of the Divine Persons can be known by natural reasoning. He answers: “It is impossible to attain to the knowledge of the Trinity by natural reason.” For man can obtain the knowledge of God by natural reason only from creatures. Now creatures lead us to God as effects do to their cause. Accordingly, by natural reason we can know of God that only which of necessity belongs to him as the principle of all things. Now, the creative power of God is common to the whole Trinity; and hence it belongs to the unity of the essence, and not to the distinction of the Persons. Therefore by natural reason we can know what belongs to the unity of the essence, but not what belongs to the distinction of the Persons. Whoever, then, tries to prove the Trinity of Persons by natural reason, derogates from faith.

Therefore, we can know of God, as the Principle of all things, apart from faith, but we can only know of the Trinity with faith since it is a revealed dogma. The First Vatican Council also defined that God can be known from natural reason alone (Dei Filius, Canon 2.1) and St. Paul says, on account of this, those who do not acknowledge God (but worship idols, are atheists, etc.) are without excuse (Rom. 1:20).

Therefore, one can acknowledge the one God and Creator of all things without having faith and acknowledging the Trinity. But do Muslims do this?

How can we say whether or not we are talking about the same thing? It is the essence of the thing that determines what it is. If we acknowledge the same essence, we acknowledge the same thing. What we can say about the essence of God is that it is the same as His existence. This is summed up as “God is” or, in His own words, “I AM” or “I AM who AM.” (Exo. 3:14).

This concept is formally referred to as the “aesity” of God. Essentially, aesity means self-existence. Aesity explains the metaphysical nature of God as a purely self-existent being that exists in complete actuality. God is not a being that is created by another god; neither does God create Himself into existence. Rather, God has always existed as an unchanging, completely actualized being. God has his Being of himself and to himself such that he is absolute being and the very definition of existence (see Acts 17:22-28). Since God’s existence is the same as his essence, it follows that God is existence. (Note: this is not to assert pantheism. All other beings participate in his existence on a contingency and thus do not possess the essence of God. Therefore, no other being can be said to be a god or share a part in the godhead since they exist solely on a contingency.) This concept is at the root of the definition of all of God’s other perfections because if God is absolute being he must logically contain in Himself all perfections of being.

Since God’s essence is existence, if one acknowledges His essence, one can only acknowledge He who exists–it is impossible to acknowledge a completely actualized being that is not the one and only God. Similarly, there cannot exist two of such beings, because then neither would contain in Himself all perfections of being.

The CE article on Essence and Existence explains this:
Catholic Encyclopedia:

-If essence and existence were but one thing, we should be unable to conceive the one without conceiving the other. But we are as a fact able to conceive of essence by itself.
-If there be no real distinction between the two, then the essence is identical with the existence. But in God alone are these identical.

Since Muslims do conceive of God as being completely self-actualized, of being non-contingent, as having aesity (see this Muslim article, al-islam.org/GodAttributes/need.htm ), then they therefore can only be said to acknowledge the one God who exists and it is to Him that they honor and worship as First Principle and Creator according to the virtue of religion.

I would say therefore that we know God; they know of God. This is the difference between affective and speculative knowledge. St. Thomas makes this distinction in his commentary on John to reconcile Biblical passages where Jesus says one must know Him to know the Father with those where people without faith are said to know or worship God (such as those passages cited above from Acts and Romans). We worship God in Spirit and in Truth and serve Him in supernatural faith and charity, they acknowledge and worship only in a natural way.

This of course does not mean what they claim as His revelation actually is or that their religion dates back farther than it actually does, or that they are justified in everything they do, etc. Whether people do good or horrible things in His name does not change or determine who God is.

 

[confusedgirl]

The fruit of Islam is massacre, slaughter, murder, rape, subjugation. Everywhere we find Muslims, we find these things, ‘honour’ killings, child marriages, female genital mutilation.

I am sorry for what happened to you but it is wrong to paint everyone with the same brush like that. I have to put up with a lot of stereotype not just because of my cultural heritage but for my religious affiliation as well. Not to say those people don’t exist but I know some great Muslims that are very kind people and they love their families and would do anything for them. Let’s not give people a bad taste about others because of their choice in religion.

 

[GangGreen]

Muslims do not believe in God in the same sense as us. When you think about it Jews don’t either. Why? Because we believe in the Holy Trinity as being one God. The other two religions do not believe in such. They do not believe in Jesus Christ who is the Word incarnate. They do not believe in the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Who together are one God in three natures.

They may believe in God the Father as we do, but they do not understand or believe in God in the complete sense that we do.

 

[Ignatius]

If this is the Eastern Catholic sub forums, i was kind of dared to post this here by (name removed by moderator). My take is no they are not the same. What says youse?

That’s a trick question. Allah is the Arabian word for God. The Muslim understanding of God is not the same as Christian.

 

[Brendan]

That’s a trick question. Allah is the Arabian word for God.

Exaclty, if you go to a Maronite Catholic, or a Chaldean Catholic Liturgy done in Arabic, you will hear ‘Allah’ mentioned often.

Likewise of you go to a Maltese Roman Catholic Mass ( Allau)

The Muslim understanding of God is not the same as Christian.

That is true, but likewise the Jewish understand of God is different from the Christian understanding.

But it is generally acknowledged that we worship the same God as the Jews do.

 

[Even_So]

I quite disagree. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 21 years.

In Arabic, the generic word for god is ‘illah’. ‘Allah’ is a proper name. It is the name of the false god that Mohammad’s tribe worshiped before he had his ‘visions’. It is a falsehood, perpetrated for many centuries, that the worship of Allah is Abrahamic in origin. It is not and never has been. Hagar did not bring worship of YHWH to Arabia, despite bearing Abraham’s son, Ishmael. All Ishmael had is Abraham’s genes, not his religion.

Allah is a pagan god whose worship has no resemblance to the worship of the One God, YHWH, and whose teachings bear no resemblance to the Teachings of YHWH, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The only thing the Muslims have right is that God is One, but the one they worship is not YHWH.

Allah is not another name for YHWH, even though it is used as such by Christians in the Arabic speaking world. Muslims in Malaysia recognise that Allah and YHWH are not the same. Christians have been forbidden to use Allah to refer to YHWH because it could cause Muslims to be confused and think that they are one and the same God when they are not. Even Muslims teach that Allah and YHWH are not one and the same.

To know the truth of the nature of Allah, look to the teachings and the fruit. By their fruit you shall know them.

The fruit of Islam is massacre, slaughter, murder, rape, subjugation. Everywhere we find Muslims, we find these things, ‘honour’ killings, child marriages, female genital mutilation. It is also a tenet of their faith to lie about the teachings of Islam to those who question them. Even those who have been in the West all their lives want to kill their female relatives who, in their opinion, have smirched their ‘honour’. No trial, no evidence, just their opinion and then they will kill their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, in the name of Islam. What a monstrous people, what a monstrous god that demands this.

I also lived in Iran for 4 years. I recall an incident shortly after I arrived. A 12-year old girl was found (alive) by the side of the road, run over several times. She had been raped by her Mullah to whom she had been sent to learn Islam. He told her that he had married them so she thought she was his wife. There was a religious trial and she was found innocent of adultery. (note that the Mullah did not face any charges whatsoever) Her family; father, uncles and brothers; did not accept the verdict and held their own trial in which they found her guilty and sentenced her to death. They gave her a choice, she could be electrocuted, drink poison or be run over by a car. She chose the car. They took her out to the countryside and made her lie in the road and ran over her 3 times.

This is the face of ordinary every day Muslims following the precepts of Islam.

I was molested in public, every time I ventured into town to shop, by anonymous men who felt they could grope me just because I was out without a male guardian, all part of the teachings of Islam. I was forced off the sidewalk and made to walk in the gutter many many times simply because I was not Muslim. It is a teaching of Islam that the dhimmi must be humiliated at every opportunity. I have had rocks thrown at me for the same reason, all in the name of Islam.

Such things are not compatible with the worship of the One God, YHWH. He does not teach us to murder our wives, daughters or sisters because they have been raped; He does not teach us to murder those who do not believe in Him, even if they are family; or to humiliate anybody, to grope women in public, to throw rocks at people, but Allah does.

So no, Allah is not just another name for the Almighty God, YHWH.

Thank you for your bold reply. God Bless you and Merry Christmas! BTW, do Muslims celebrate Christmas? That would be another clue as to who their God is.

 

[PRmerger]

Thank you for your bold reply. God Bless you and Merry Christmas! BTW, do Muslims celebrate Christmas? That would be another clue as to who their God is.

Do you think Catholics and Presbyterians worship a different Christ because they have different views on the Eucharist?

 

[oldcatholicguy]

They may believe in God the Father as we do, but they do not understand or believe in God in the complete sense that we do.

The portion of your comment that I quoted is what seems to get lost and/or ignored in threads such as this. They (Jews, Muslims, non-Catholic Christians) believe in God, they just don’t understand God on the same level as we Catholics do and therefore believe in Him incompletely. And I would wager that they (see prior) would say the reverse is true.

 

[JosieN]

I have a friend that is Muslim and she is a very good person, She prays 5 times a day, is always trying to help the poor and needy and do good for others and she believes in God the same as I do and that being a good person will get her to Heaven. She said she also prays to Jesus and believes in Mary, but they think Jesus was a prophet. She is a Sunni (I am not sure if that is spelled correctly) and not a Shite (Not sure of the spelling). I believe the Sunni religion is closer to ours and though I don’t believe their prophet came from God I do think that some of what they believe is very much the same but not all is the same because they have been taught differently about God and each person sees it differently. This person sent her daughter to a Catholic school because she wanted her to learn religion in school. She believes that Allah is the same as God and that we are both praying to the same God.

 

[Nelka]

No!

 

[livingwordunity]

Muslims do not believe in God in the same sense as us. When you think about it Jews don’t either. Why? Because we believe in the Holy Trinity as being one God. The other two religions do not believe in such.

The Jews who reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (not all of them reject this) do this because of a misunderstanding of their religion. The Holy Trinity is in the Old Testament (the Jewish Bible) in an implicit way. Most modern Jews just don’t realize it. This misunderstanding continues on because of the Talmud, a book that was written as a kind of catechism by the Jewish leaders that had crucified Jesus. It is written in a way that tries to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. But the Jews don’t consider the Talmud to be equal or superior to scripture. But, by contrast, the Koran (the book that Muslims call their scripture) explicitly rejects the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and tells Muslims that Christians are deceived for believing it. Muslims believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are corrupted. What Islam does is it uses the same people that are in the Old Testament, but it says that they were all secretly Muslim and tells a different story about them.

 

[oldcatholicguy]

The Jews who reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (not all of them reject this) do this because of a misunderstanding of their religion. The Holy Trinity is in the Old Testament (the Jewish Bible) in an implicit way. Most modern Jews just don’t realize it. This misunderstanding continues on because of the Talmud, a book that was written as a kind of catechism by the Jewish leaders that had crucified Jesus. It is written in a way that tries to deny that Jesus is the Messiah. But the Jews don’t consider the Talmud to be equal or superior to scripture. But, by contrast, the Koran (the book that Muslims call their scripture) explicitly rejects the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and tells Muslims that Christians are deceived for believing it. Muslims believe that the Old Testament and the New Testament are corrupted. What Islam does is it uses the same people that are in the Old Testament, but it says that they were all secretly Muslim and tells a different story about them.

Pretty sure Jewish scholars would argue that the Trinity being the Old Testament is nothing more than Christians trying to validate their made up religion by linking it to Judaism. But I do like the way you incorporated the Islamic argument about Christianity and Judaism being corrupted into your argument with your comment concerning the Talmud and how most modern Jews don’t really understand their faith.

 

[Even_So]

Do you think Catholics and Presbyterians worship a different Christ because they have different views on the Eucharist?

Here we go again; I just had to look back in here(emoticon sigh). Does the PR in your name stand for “Protestant Rebuttal”? Easy, now… Do you worship Jesus Christ? Muslims don’t. You are starting another argument here. We’re talking Christian/Muslim, or so i thought. And what is the time frame for a poll? It would be cool if polls could stay open indefinitely.

 

[PRmerger]

Here we go again; I just had to look back in here(emoticon sigh). Does the PR in your name stand for “Protestant Rebuttal”? Easy, now… Do you worship Jesus Christ? Muslims don’t. You are starting another argument here. We’re talking Christian/Muslim, or so i thought.

Haha! PR is the initials of my DH and me.

But it certainly could stand for Protestant Rebuttal. For isn’t that what Catholic apologetics is for? At least part of it, anyway?

At any rate, you can see the parallel, no? If we say that Muslims worship a different God because they deny the Trinity, then we also must say that you worship a different Christ because you deny the Eucharist.

 

[oldcatholicguy]

Here we go again; I just had to look back in here(emoticon sigh). Does the PR in your name stand for “Protestant Rebuttal”? Easy, now… Do you worship Jesus Christ? Muslims don’t. You are starting another argument here. We’re talking Christian/Muslim, or so i thought. And what is the time frame for a poll? It would be cool if polls could stay open indefinitely.

So Jews don’t worship the same God we do then?