The shock and awe of 9/11 has just rolled by and glazed over our unbelievable eyes with tears once more. Someone asked me, Is Allah a God of love as is the God of Christianity. And the answer is a definite No! All one-hundred-and-fifty sects of Islam say Yes! But Christianity whose God is a trinity; three different persons but one God says No!
Based on the trinity alone we both know we do not worship the same God. The primary motivation for ethics in Christianity is love, the primary motivation for morality in Islam is fear, the fear of Allah’s stern justice. Here is the impenetrable wall between Islam and Christianity. You can search till your eyes grow dim, but you will not find a single verse in the Quran that says Allah unconditionally loves mankind. His love is selective and conditional and even whimsical. In the list of Allah’s ninety-nine names, you will not find the tender loving name Father, which universally any people at any age level can lovingly relate to.
As you dare not relax before a stern judge you dare not relax before Allah. He is forgiving only to those who have strictly obeyed his commands. And because no one has done so perfectly your destiny is as uncertain as walking across a mile-deep gorge on a tight rope.
It is unthinkable in Islam that Jesus the third person of the trinity would come down to man’s sinful level, become one like him and die as a perfect sacrifice for his sins. Kings do not enter beggars’ houses; kings do not reach down to slaves and lift them up. But this is the heart and soul of Christianity Matthew 6:9-13 which contains the Lord’s Prayer begins, “Our Father who art in heaven…” I John 4:6-10 tell us that God is love. John 3:16 tells us that God loves sinners and gladly forgives them when they repent of their sins and turn to him. In Islam one must love Allah first before Allah will love them. In Christianity Jesus Christ took the first step and reached down to sinful man.
One of the remarkable stories in the Bible is the story Jesus told of the prodigal son where a loving Father forgave and accepted a son who once rejected him and wasted the family inheritance. Such a story is bizarre to a follower of Islam (Surah 3:32). Such Bible teaching is as far apart from what the Quran teaches as the brightest day is from the darkest night. Yes, you can find the phrase, “Allah the merciful and compassionate” on many pages of the Koran, but in doctrine and practice, the Quran makes it clear and plain that Allah does not love the unbeliever and has no compassion on his enemies:
“God is an enemy to unbelievers” ………(2:90).
“God loves not the unbeliever”………. ….(3:25).
“God loves not evil-doers”…………………. (3:30).
“God loves not the proud” ……………..….(4:40).
“God loves not transgressors” …..……….(5:85).
“God loves not the prodigal” ……….…….(6:140)
“God loves not the treacherous”…. …… (8:60).
In conclusion here are a few more Bible verse to ponder over.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (John 15:13; John 3:36; 1 John 4:10).
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Bryant