What do I say to people who say we worship the same God as Muslims?

[Lisnalurg]

What do I say to people who say we worship the same God as Muslims? Exactly what other faiths worship our God apart from the Jewish, Christian and Eastern Churches? In the context of letting Muslim students pray in the Catholic school chapel or prayer room I recently heard a sister say “that we are all going up in the same direction to the same God anyways” and I did not know what to say and rather than having an inarticulate or accurate response I said nothing.

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

The Second Vatican Council affirmed that Muslims worship God:

Nostra Aetate

1. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

Vatican II was essentially quoting from Pope Gregory VII’s Letter to Anzir, King of Mauretania:

We and you must show in a special way to the other nations an example of this charity, for we believe and confess one God, although in different ways, and praise and worship Him daily as the creator of all ages and the ruler of this world.

Islam clearly has a distorted understanding of God since they do not believe in the Trinity or the Incarnation. However they recognize the God of Abraham as the one true God, they simply do not have the fullness of truth about God as the Catholic Church does. Two people can be talking about the same object and one can be correct in describing it and the other incorrect/mistaken in their description. However they are both referring the the same object.