ZONDERVAN
No God but One: Allah or Jesus?
Copyright © 2016 by Nabeel A. Qureshi
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Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Qureshi, Nabeel, author.
Title: No God but one : Allah or Jesus? / Nabeel Quereshi.
Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019945 | ISBN 9780310522553 (softcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Islam—Relations—Christianity. | Christianity and other religions—Islam. | Islam—Doctrines. | Christianity—Doctrines.
Classification: LCC BP172 .Q7185 2016 | DDC 261.2/7—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019945
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ePub Edition © July 2016: ISBN 978-0-3105-2256-0
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This book is dedicated to David Wood, a great friend and total doofus.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Preface
Prologue: Fatima’s Dilemma
QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY?
PART 1: Sharia or the Gospel? Two Different Solutions
1. The Way to Life
2. Comparing Sharia and the Gospel
3. Questioning Grace
4. Diagnosis and Deliverance
PART 2: Tawhid or the Trinity? Two Different Gods
5. The Islamic Inquisition
6. Comparing Tawhid and the Trinity
7. Questioning Complexity
8. Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?
PART 3: Muhammad or Jesus? Two Different Founders
9. The Council of Nicaea
10. Comparing the Messenger and the Messiah
11. Questioning the God-Man
12. Libya’s Best Friend
PART 4: The Quran or the Bible? Two Different Scriptures
13. The Burning of Scripture
14. Comparing the Quran and the Bible
15. Questioning Texts
16. The First Burning of the Quran
PART 5: Jihad or the Crusades? Two Different Holy Wars
17. The First Crusade
18. Comparing the Traditions of the Founders
19. Questioning Christian Peacefulness
20. Jesus versus Jihad
QUESTION 2: CAN WE KNOW WHETHER ISLAM OR CHRISTIANITY IS TRUE?
PART 6: Did Jesus Die on the Cross?
21. The Positive Case: Unanimous Records
22. The Islamic Response: It Was Made to Appear So
23. Assessing the Islamic Response: The Quran and the Historical Jesus
24. Conclusion: Jesus Died on the Cross
PART 7: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
25. The Positive Case: The Best Explanation of the Facts
26. The Islamic Response: All Paul’s Fault
27. Assessing the Islamic Response: Paul and the Disciples in Proper Perspective
28. Conclusion: Jesus Rose from the Dead
PART 8: Did Jesus Claim to Be God?
29. The Positive Case: Jesus Was Always God
30. The Islamic Response: Did Jesus Really Say “I Am God”?
31. Assessing the Islamic Response: Letting the Context Speak
32. Conclusion: Jesus Claimed to Be God
Midway Summary to Question 2: Assessing the Case for Christianity and Islam’s Efforts to Account for Christian Origins
PART 9: Is Muhammad a Prophet of God?
33. The Positive Case: The Foretold Paragon
34. The Response: Don’t Forget the Counterevidence
35. Assessing the Response: Hadith versus History
36. Conclusion: The Dilemma of the Historical Muhammad
PART 10: Is the Quran the Word of God?
37. The Positive Case: There Is No Other Book Like It
38. The Response: In What Way Is That Miraculous?
39. Assessing the Response: What Kind of Book Is the Quran?
40. Conclusion: There Is No Compelling Reason to Think the Quran Is the Word of God
Conclusion to Question 2: Islam or Christianity? The Evidence Is Clear
CONCLUSION: IS THE TRUTH WORTH DYING FOR?
Notes
Bonus Content (Exclusive to eBook Edition)
Q&A with Nabeel Qureshi
Bonus Videos
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Great heart and countless hours of effort have been invested into this book. I am deeply indebted to the Zondervan team for their encouragement in spite of the many bumps and turns along the way. I would particularly like to thank Madison Trammel for his ever-present support, Jesse Hillman for strategic perspectives, Brian Phipps for his longsuffering patience, and Stan Gundry for his vision in making this book a reality. Thanks is also due to Mark Sweeney for his insight, wisdom, and loyal friendship.
I would also like to thank the many people who had a hand in making this book better: Richard Zetter, Richard Shumack, Matthew Thomas, John Njoroge, Shawn Hart, and Betsy Duncan. I must thank my darling bride, Michelle, for her loving encouragement despite the many days I had to spend away from her to write. I would also like to thank my beautiful daughter, Ayah, for being born in the middle of this project, filling my life with color and joy.
Last, and certainly not least, I would like to thank the Lord God for giving me the impetus and means to pour myself into this effort. I pray it would all be for his glory and his people. Amen.
PREFACE
Dear Reader,
I truly thank you for taking the time to read this book. For m
e, and for millions of others like me, the subject matter of these pages is far more than information. It is the full engagement of heart and mind in search for the true God and true Life. What I share is a summary of fifteen years of research that wrenched my heart and transformed my life.
You might have already read the account of my journey from Islam to Christianity, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. That book is the heart of my story, detailing the relationships, emotions, and spiritual struggles in my search for God. No God but One: Allah or Jesus? is the mind of my story, examining the religions and their claims. In the course of this book, I hope to elucidate two overarching matters in particular: that the differences between Islam and Christianity have great implications, and that the evidence of history strongly supports the Christian claims.
“GOD,” ALLAH,” AND “YAHWEH”
Before beginning, the title of this book could use some explanation. Both Islam and Christianity are monotheistic, believing there is “no God but one,” but they differ fundamentally on who that God is: Allah or Jesus.
There are at least four common uses of the Arabic word Allah. First and foremost, it is used to refer to the Muslim concept of God as described by Islam. This should not surprise anyone. The second use is to simply mean God in a generic sense; so, as with the English word God, Allah need not imply any specific religion. But the last two uses may be surprising: Many Arabic-speaking Christians do use Allah to mean the triune Christian God, and sometimes Christians use the term just to refer to the first person of the Trinity, the Father.
To further complicate matters, Christians often do not clearly distinguish between persons of the triune God. Thus they can confuse their Muslim friends by saying something like, “Jesus is God,” and in the next breath, “Jesus is the Son of God.” Although both statements are technically accurate doctrine, they will only cause confusion by switching between uses of the word God. Their Muslim friends might respond to this by saying, “So is Jesus his own son?” And they would be right to ask for clarification.
In this book, I will attempt to pay close attention to the way I use these words. The term Allah will refer specifically to the Muslim conception of God, the term Yahweh will be used when I intend to refer specifically to all three persons of the Trinity, and the term God will be used when the occasion calls for a generic use or intentional ambiguity. The terms Father, Son, and Spirit will be used to refer to the specific persons of the Trinity. Finally, if this paragraph is difficult to understand, I am really glad you are reading this book. Please spend extra time in part 2.
THE CHALLENGE OF SEMANTICS
One of the greatest troubles in religious discussions is how we define our words. When some people say “Islam,” they essentially mean the religion that a Muslim friend practices. But what a friend does can look very different from what an imam in Saudi Arabia does, so how do we decide which of them more accurately represents Islam? There are many branches and sects that purport to follow Islam, so how can we know whether they are actually Muslim? Do we just assume that everyone who identifies as a Muslim is representing Islam? If so, how do we handle the assertion that terrorist groups like ISIS do not represent Islam when they clearly claim to be Muslim?
This problem is more difficult than it appears, but to prevent our terminology from becoming a moving target, we have to at least circumscribe a definition. I think a religious group ought to be defined through a historical lens. What was it that gave the group its own identity and set it apart from other groups at its inception, according to its traditional narratives? In the case of Muslims, their defining act was assenting that Muhammad is a prophet and exclusively following his teachings as revelations from Allah. In this book, we will consider all who do the same to be Muslims. We will consider Islam to be the teachings of Muhammad in that early period of identity formation.
Using the same reasoning, at their inception, Christians distinguished their identity from their Greco-Roman context by the belief in the God of the Hebrew Bible; yet they were distinct from other Jews because, on account of Christ’s resurrection, they believed Jesus himself to be the God of the Hebrew Bible, at least in some sense. Thus, those who hold to the monotheism of the Hebrew Bible while also following the divine, risen Jesus I consider to be Christians. Christianity would then be constituted by Jesus’ teachings as understood in that early period of identity formation.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND CLOSING PRAYER
This book has been a dream of mine for about a decade. I have met thousands of people who desperately seek God and are caught between the polemics of Islam and Christianity. I do not claim to be unbiased, but I have been on both sides of this debate, and I know how taxing it can be to try to wade through all the arguments. It is my prayer that this book will reach many who are in the throes of their search, and I pray it will lead them to the altar of the one true God. If that is you, know that I have prayed and shed tears for you, and that this book is written for you.
If you are reading this book mostly to learn and not out of a personal struggle, please pause now and pray for those who are struggling between Islam and Christianity, striving to know God. Pray that he will meet them, and that he might equip you to be a part of their journey.
Now to Yahweh, the God of the Universe, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, I pray. I commit this book to You, Lord, that You might be made known and glorified. I ask that You rescue lives and transform this world. May many come to a saving knowledge of You and a relationship that fills Your heart and theirs with joy. It is in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
PROLOGUE
FATIMA’S DILEMMA
Repent! Otherwise you have blasphemed!”
Her brother had seethed with rage, his words still echoing in Fatima’s mind. Repent! You have blasphemed! They were laced with threat: The penalty for blasphemy was death. Had she really blasphemed? She had not meant to. It had been a heated argument, and she accidentally blurted out some words . . . but what now? How could this have happened? She was struggling to think clearly. Her very life was in jeopardy.
Lifting her face from her hands, Fatima glanced at her computer. It was where she had confided her most private thoughts and inner struggles, where she could discuss new ideas and share opinions with compassionate ears. Her computer was her window to friends and freedom.
But today, it had betrayed her. As a result, she had been locked in her room for hours and feared for her life. Her brother could return at any moment, and unless she repented, it could be the end. She had to think. She had to think quickly and clearly.
Despite the treachery, her computer remained her only recourse. As she had done so many times before, she returned to her laptop to help her process. Logging onto an Arabic forum, she began a post.
Time stamp: 5:15 a.m., July 24, 2008
Author: Rania
She had been signing on for years as “Rania,” but the forum knew her well. They knew that she was really twenty-six-year-old Sara Fatima al-Mutairi, a spirited young woman, a passionate teacher, a patriotic Saudi, and a recent convert to Christianity.
Born in the province of Qasim, Fatima’s family came from a distinguished Bedouin tribe and had raised her in accordance with their ancestral religion of Islam. Desiring a devout daughter, her mother had enrolled her in a Quran school at a young age, and Fatima began to take her Islamic faith very seriously. She started learning the Quran, scrupulously covering her hair with her hijab, and even fasting twice a week. She began to outstrip her family in religious zeal, avoiding television and secular music, and ultimately giving up friends on account of her fervor.
Fatima’s mother grew concerned. She desired a faithful daughter, not a fanatical one. This was not the Islam that she knew. Regretting her decision, she took Fatima out of the Quran school and enrolled her in the state system.
Over the ensuing years Fatima’s life normalized, yet she maintained a passion for her religion. She engaged in online debates with agnostics an
d apostates, defending her beloved prophet and religion from their attacks. In the course of these dialogues she investigated Islamic history and theology carefully, confident her faith would stand up to scrutiny. Yet during these debates she realized, amid anguish and despair, that she could no longer follow Islam. She stopped eating for several days, fell into depression, and became an atheist.
But something told her this was not the answer. She began her search for God anew, this time calling out to him for help. It was then that she came across the Gospels, particularly the gospel of Matthew. It captivated her. She read it four times, being most moved by the Sermon on the Mount. After months of deliberation and investigation, she accepted its message. The Christian community with whom she connected advised her to keep her new faith a secret, as leaving Islam in Arabia incurs the penalty of death. This was difficult for Fatima, passionate and outspoken as she was, but she hid her conversion from all, keeping her private thoughts on her computer and conversing with her Christian community only online.
It was to this online community that she now returned, in her moment of critical despair. After a brief thought, she titled her post and continued:
Time stamp: 5:15 a.m., July 24, 2008
Author: Rania
Title: I am in big trouble
Body: The peace of our Lord and our God and Jesus the Messiah. I am in big trouble. My family has started to doubt me because of a religious argument this evening with my mother and brother . . .
Her brother. Fatima did not need to explain to the forum how dangerous an argument with him could be. Fatima’s brother had a similar start in the same family, but his story progressed very differently. His fervor for Islam had only grown since childhood, and he had become a fanatic. Ultimately he joined the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” Saudi Arabia’s religious police, dedicated to enforcing a stringent version of Islam upon its citizens. Although many Muslims take issue with the Commission in specific and Saudi Arabia’s dogmatic version of Islam in general, the religious stringency attracts zealous young men like Fatima’s brother.
No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity Page 1