Allah Is Certainly Not The God Of Abraham And Moses

I was listening to the fifth chapter of the book of John as I drove home this morning on Highway 270. As I was nearing the end of the chapter, Jesus said something that gave me an Aha moment. I’m not claiming any esoteric revelation, but it became clear to me this morning that the God who spoke to Abraham and Moses is not the same God who Muslims refer to as Allah. People of various religious belief systems frequently use the generic name God to refer to a God who is the creator of all living things. In Acts 17, Paul addressed a similar issue. When the name God is used, it is both comfortable and inoffensive. It is one safe way to keep people from going at each other’s throats. However, it certainly blurs the lines and causes a lot of confusion. Today, my sole goal is to demonstrate that the God who spoke to Abraham is not the same God who Muslims refer to as Allah. I’m not here to engage in any controversies or debates, but I am here to present my case using logical reasoning and a sound argument.

The first thing we need to understand is that most major religions i.e. Judaism, Islam and Christianity trace their origins back to Abraham. Let me define what I’m saying. Abraham according to most religions is our model of faith. In Islam, Abraham is known as a messenger and prophet of God, an ancestor to the Ishmaelite Arabs. The Quran praises Abraham as a role model, an exemplar, obedient, and not an idolater. Essentially, Abraham has been described as representing primordial man in universal surrender to Divine reality prior to its fragmentation into religions distinguished by differences in form. In Genesis 12:1-3, we read the following,

12 Now the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

I will get into what verse 3 means later on, but for now all we need to know is that Abraham ( known as Ibrahim) in Islam is a very important figure. And since he is an important figure, Muslims are obligated to listen to him and emulate his faith. That is our starting point. The next thing we need to know is – what did Abraham believe about God ? What was promised to Abraham? Did Abraham understand the promise?

Let us go back to Genesis 12:3 to see what God said to Abraham when He called him out of Haran.

 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families(gentiles) of the earth shall be blessed.”[c]

I don’t know if at this point, Abraham fully understood this blessing that God was giving him. The next verse that I want to highlight is Genesis 15:5-6

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

At this point, I believe that Abraham understood the Gospel he was being preached by God because Scripture even gives evidence to that in Galatians 3:8. Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham was declared righteous and I’m convinced that he knew what that meant ( made right before God). And that was extremely great news for him because other scriptures give evidence to that.

Hebrews 11:8-10

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God

Abraham was looking toward the heavenly kingdom of God, he was looking forward to the city of God. 

Hebrews 11:13-16

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Did Abraham understand what God was telling him? Of course he did and the Scriptures I just cited give evidence to that. He as well as Isaac ( the son of promise) and Jacob were looking forward to the heavenly city of God, and as a result God wasn’t ashamed to be called their God. He prepared for them a city. Do you remember what Jesus told his disciples ( I go to prepare a place for you). So the patriarch Abraham even though he didn’t have the totality of the Gospel, received it from afar and understood it. What was the promise God gave him? That through his seed ( Isaac but ultimately Jesus) , he was going to receive Sons and Daughters ( as long as they were united by faith with Abraham, connected with Abraham by the same faith that was granted him). 

This was an important piece of our argument to show that the God was speaking to Abraham isn’t the one Muslims refer to as Allah. The God ( true God) who was speaking to Abraham refer to Himself in Exodus 3:14  as Yahweh or Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh. His name is definitely not Allah or that would have been mentioned in the Scriptures. But I’m already anticipating the objections that will be leveled at me. People will undoubtedly ask how you know the Scriptures you’re referring to are genuine, and how you know the God you call Yahweh is the true God. And for that, I’ll refer to previous articles I’ve written (see link below).

How Do We Know That We Serve The True God?

Since you read the post below, I’m sure you’re now convinced that Jesus is truly the Son of God, and since HE is , the words He speaks are true. Now let’s hear what He had to say about God in John 5.

A Person Who believes in the God of Abraham Would Certainly Believe In Jesus

The Authority of the Son

John 5:19-28

¹⁹ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father^[e] does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ²² For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Verse 23 is dynamite, there is no way around it. Since we already established that Jesus is truly the Son of God, and even Islam believes that HE is a prophet, then His words are to be taken as Truth. According to Jesus, whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent Him. Basically if anyone rejects His identity, then they are also rejecting His Father’s identity. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the Coming Messiah through whom the promise given to Abraham would find its fulfillment. Let’s go to John 5: 17-18

 ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working. ¹⁸ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Some of the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because HE ( Jesus) called God His Father, making Himself equal with God. By declaring that He was the Son of God, Jesus was saying that He was of the same essence as God Himself. And that was blasphemous in the eyes of certain Jews, and is blasphemous in the eyes of Muslims today. But let’s hear what Jesus says again in John 5:38-43

 ³⁸ and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ⁴¹ I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

…Allah Isn’t The God Who Spoke To Abraham

We can conclude from these verses that Allah is not the God of Abraham, because if He were, Muslims would have embraced Jesus. For Yahweh, who is the Father (of the same essence) as Jesus, has clearly revealed His plan for mankind’s salvation, which is diametrically opposed to that which the Quran promotes. The Muslim faith proclaims that believing in one God (they call Allah) and following several ordinances makes one right with God. A Muslim is required to follow the Five Pillars of Islam in order to please Allah and obtain eternal life. Basically, all the interpretations of the Quran advocate a works-based righteousness. And this righteousness based on good deeds contradicts what God revealed to Abraham ( who He Calls His Friend). Consequently Allah is definitely not the God who spoke to Abraham. The Scriptures tell us in john 8:56

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

This was Jesus speaking to the Jews, and He made it clear that Abraham understood that His seed (Jesus) would be the one through whom all nations would be blessed and receive the promise of Eternal Life. As a result, any religion that claims Abraham as their model of faith must adhere to and believe what He believed. And if they don’t, they aren’t true descendants of Abraham according to the promise of God. We need to understand that the Serpent ( Deceiver/ Devil) is more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made, according to Genesis 3:1. So if he is going to deceive you, he won’t be so blatant about his deception, he will give you something that sounds like truth. The Muslim faith certainly promotes virtuous values but those in it of themselves do not secure us eternal life, as the Scripture says in Romans 3:19-20

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being^[a] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

God gave us the Law ( the five books of Moses) to show us ( mankind) our depravity, sinfulness and inability to please Him. The Law of God exposes out sinful nature, and its purpose was to lead us to Christ. To be honest, the 613 laws contained in the five books of Moses are more stringent in human terms than that of  Allah of the Muslim faith. So, if the stricter Law that depicts God’s Holiness could not save the Jews, how can an inferior law (that of Allah) make anyone right with God? And there is a fundamental error that many Muslims make. They claim that God forgives, but they seem to forget that a just God must punish sin. God does forgive, but His forgiveness does not negate His justice. Someone must pay the price, and if you’re a Muslim I’ll encourage you to seek out how your sins are atoned for? For God to be God, He must punish sin. He doesn’t just forgive your sins and sweep them under a rug, that would be a violation of His character. Jesus is the one who paid the penalty for sins ( that of the whole world) and by one putting His/Her Trust in His finished work on the cross, one obtains Eternal Life. And I’m sure what everyone is thinking right now? Is that all there is to obtaining Eternal Life? And the answer is “yes.” And I can already predict the next question: if that’s the case, then I can do whatever I want as long as I believe in Jesus and everything will be fine. If that is your thought process, you have not comprehended God’s Grace. God’s grace is intended to release us from the bondage of our sinful nature, and enabling us to love God and do what pleases Him. It does not give us a license to sin, but rather frees us from our old sinful nature so that we can fully obey God’s Law.

In conclusion, we’ve seen by our argument that the Allah that is proclaimed in Islam is not the same God who spoke to Abraham. So if you’re a believer in Christ, I’ll encourage to stop saying Allah and the God of the Holy Scriptures are the same. We don’t believe in the same God. And if you’re a Muslim, I’ll encourage to follow Abraham’s lead since you claim he is our model of faith.