No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

by Nabeel Qureshi

  Both aqeeda and sharia are ultimately grounded in the life and teachings of Muhammad. He is the embodiment of Islam, and this is why Muslims are expected to follow him as the perfect exemplar. His actions and his sayings in life are recorded in a vast body of literature, collectively called hadith literature. So important are the hadith that, after the Quran, they form the second rung of sharia.

  Given the breadth of teachings in the Quran and the incredibly wide scope of hadith literature, discerning sharia is a task for the learned. Muslim jurists study the vast traditions and legal precedents before making official judgments, called fatawa (plural of fatwa). These men are technically called fuqaha, but they are often included under the umbrella term for a Muslim leader, imam. Collectively, the consensus of these scholars is called ijma and is understood to be the third major component of sharia.

  Finally, we are at a place to understand the message of Islam. Sharia is more than just Islamic law. It is the answer to mankind’s ignorance and, if followed, will result in a life of peace with Allah and an abundance of his blessings. Sharia is derived from the Quran, exemplified in Muhammad’s life, and explained by imams. On the last day, if we have obeyed and done well, Allah may grant us mercy and allow us into heaven where we will have an eternal reward.

  So in sum, when it comes to salvation in Islam, sharia is literally “the way,” and submission to God’s will is our primary expression of worship.

  THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW

  In the beginning of the Christian worldview is the one God, Yahweh. He exists as three persons who love each other perfectly. Thus, the one God is love in his very essence. Out of this love, God created mankind in his image, that God might love man and man might love God.

  It is important to note that this concept of love is often misunderstood by Muslims due to the various ways the word love is used in English. The specific concept of love we are discussing is often called agape love. It is not the kind of love we envision in a romantic relationship; it does not imply much emotion at all. The Bible gives a beautiful description of this love in 1 Corinthians 13, but it is essentially this: a selflessness that delights in others. That is who God is, almighty yet most humble, the center of the universe yet selfless. He created mankind so he could delight in us, and we in him, with selfless love.

  But in order for this love to be valuable, it must be voluntary, so God gave man the choice to love him or reject him. When man disobeys God, it is tantamount to rejecting God. In rejecting the Source of Life, we bring death upon ourselves. This bears repeating: The result of sin is death because it is a rejection of the Source of Life.

  That’s why, in the Christian worldview, sin against God is more than just doing something wrong. It is rebellion against the Sustainer of the universe. It is the most destructive force in the cosmos, the ultimate root of every pained heart, every broken family, every pointless war, every heinous genocide. Sin spreads through generations like a malignant cancer, and it razes civilizations like a plague. The effect of sin is cataclysmic. Like taking a sledgehammer to a mirror, sin shatters the image in which man is made. When Adam sinned, the image of God in man was irreparably broken.

  This is the Christian worldview: Sin has ravaged our souls and the entire world. There is no way for us to un-sin. We cannot simply do a few good deeds to unshatter our souls. There is nothing on earth that we can do. It would take a miracle, an act of God, to restore us and save this world.

  THE CHRISTIAN SOLUTION: THE GOSPEL

  But in the Christian message, there is good news. In Greek, the word for good news is euangelion, which in English is translated “gospel.” And the good news is this: Even though we cannot get to God, out of his great love, God has come to us and made a way for us. God himself has paid for our sins and will eternally restore our souls. All we have to do is repent of our rebellion, have faith in what he has done, and follow him.

  To pay for our sins, God—specifically the second person of the Trinity—entered into the world. Without changing his divine nature, God took upon himself a human nature. He was born as a human, but not of the broken lineage of Adam. He was born unbroken, the way mankind was intended to be, the way we will ultimately be when we are miraculously remade. He took the name Jesus, which means “God saves.” With respect to his human nature he grew as a human, ate food as a human, suffered alongside humans, and ultimately died as a human. In all this he never sinned, so he was able to bear our sins. He lived the life we ought to have lived so he could die the death that we deserve to die. By dying on our behalf he took upon himself the sins of the world, so that whoever believes in him and accepts what he has done will have eternal life.

  From the perspective of a human watching Jesus, it might have looked like just another man dying just another death. So to prove to the world that his death was not just another death but one that brings life to the world, and to prove that he was indeed the God he claimed to be, he rose from the dead. On the one hand, this was a sign to all who were skeptical that Jesus truly has supernatural authority and deserves to be heard. On the other hand, it was a symbol for those who believe in him that death has been defeated. Jesus has conquered it for us.

  Those of us who wish to accept God’s sacrifice on our behalf must repent of our sins and yield ourselves to following him. As we do, God—specifically the third person of the Trinity—makes our hearts into a holy temple and lives within us. He transforms us from the inside out. In other words, as we follow Jesus we become more like him, the unbroken man, and the Holy Spirit gradually begins the miraculous work of restoring our otherwise irreparable souls. Like Jesus, we are filled with a selfless love, and we begin to live for others instead of ourselves, just as God lived for us. Those who go further along the path of being like Jesus even reflect him in their willingness to die for others, just as Jesus was willing to die for us. They become more like God: selflessly delighting in others.

  Finally we are at a place to understand the message of Christianity: The fundamental problem of mankind is sin, and we are powerless to save ourselves. The good news is that God loves us and makes a way for us by paying our penalty himself upon the cross. Jesus proved that he is the Author of Life by rising from death. We who repent and follow Jesus demonstrate our faith in him and his salvation, and God begins a transforming work in us. As we follow Jesus the Holy Spirit makes us more like him and sends us into the world to love mankind with the selfless love of God. We can even lay down our lives for others, as Jesus modeled for us. Our ultimate restoration will come to miraculous fruition when we are remade, unbroken, to live with him and love him for eternity.

  So when it comes to salvation in Christianity, Jesus is literally “the way,” and our love for God is our primary expression of worship.

  CHAPTER 3

  QUESTIONING GRACE

  In 2013, I was given the honor of joining Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, a global team of Christian thinkers and evangelists. One of my first engagements was in Hong Kong with a charismatic Egyptian Muslim who had originally traveled east to pursue his dream of becoming a celebrity musician, but who ultimately became disenchanted with the music industry and found his peace in Islam. Since then, he had become a da’ee, a Muslim dedicated to preaching Islam.

  He was very warm and hospitable, and even though our debate was impassioned, it had an encouraging and constructive tone. We embraced one another at the end of the dialogue and encouraged the audience to ask us questions before leaving. Soon after, two children approached me, a girl and a boy about twelve and ten years old, apparently sent by their mother. When they asked me their question, I could not help but smile, because I remembered asking the same question of Christians when I was their age, also urged on by my parents: “If God just forgives all Christians and none of them go to hell, why would any Christian do good when they can sin all they want?”

  Now that we have considered the differences between the Islamic message and the Christian message, this question should be no sur
prise. In Islam, the reward for following sharia is heaven, and the deterrent for disobedience is hell. Why would anyone make the hard moral decisions if they were promised the reward regardless? Since the solution to man’s problem in Islam is a law, the gospel’s idea of a heart transformed by God is foreign to many Muslims—as it was to these children. The disjuncture between sharia and the gospel also leads to other common questions that Muslims ask Christians.

  THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN

  Since Islam teaches that every person must bear their own sin, Muslims often question the doctrine of original sin: How does Adam have anything to do with our standing before God?

  Thankfully there is a bridge of understanding between Muslims and Christians here, as Muslims do believe that Adam was cast out of the garden when he sinned. Also, it is helpful to note that there are different views of original sin in Christian thought. The view that I found most helpful when I was still a Muslim points out that, when the dust settles, Muslims and Christians do not disagree on much here.

  According to this view, the Bible teaches that no man is responsible for the sin of his father (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:20), which means that people are not guilty of Adam’s sin itself. When we are judged, we will be judged for our sins alone, but Adam’s sin is where it all started.

  Remembering the Christian view of the destructiveness of sin, when Adam sinned, it was as if his soul was pulverized. Even though Adam was created in the image of God, it was the shattered, irreparably distorted image of God that Adam’s progeny inherited (Gen. 5:3). Since mankind inherited the broken image from Adam, all humans are broken and prone to sin. They are not judged for his sin, but because of his sin, we, his progeny, have all been born broken. Because of his sin, we all ultimately sin.

  No matter our view of original sin, though, Christians believe that everybody does sin, and their own sin is enough to bring God’s judgment upon them. With this, Muslims usually agree.

  THE JUSTICE OF GOD: DEATH FOR THE SMALLEST SIN YET MERCY FOR THE GREATEST SINNER?

  According to the basic principles of Islam, Allah will weigh good deeds against bad deeds when he judges us. In broad strokes, Muslims believe that someone who has sinned very little has little to worry about. For this reason they often ask why God would demand justice for even the smallest sin. As the da’ee in Hong Kong pointedly asked me during our debate, “Would it be just for a judge to sentence you to execution for jaywalking?”

  This was a fair question, and when I was a Muslim asking the same question, I found that Christians often did not give satisfactory answers. Usually, they would point me to Romans 6:23, which teaches that “the wages of sin is death.” My response would always be honest: “That’s another reason not to trust the Bible. It does not make sense. Why give the death penalty for even the smallest of sin?” I was not surprised when the da’ee made the same challenge during our debate.

  Nor was I surprised when he asked the corollary question: “How can God be just if he is willing to forgive serial killers and genocidal dictators? You’re telling me Hitler could have gone to heaven if he had become a Christian?” It is an emotionally charged question, but one that deserves a thorough answer.

  To fully understand, we need to remember two things: the nature of sin and the nature of God.

  Remember that, according to Christian teaching, sin is not just doing something wrong. It is a rebellion against God, the Source of Life. Death is not a punishment for our actions as much as it is a consequence. God does not execute us for jaywalking; we get run over by a truck while jaywalking.

  Regarding the nature of God, we need to remember that he loves us absolutely. Just as a perfect father would love his child no matter what the child does, so our heavenly Father loves us no matter what we have done. As an example, a father would love his son even if he were a thief. He might even turn his son over to the authorities to face the consequences of his crime, but it would be out of love and desire for ultimate rehabilitation. In the same way, God loves his children despite their sins, though he does allow them to endure the consequences of their actions on earth so that they might repent and change their ways. In all this he always loves us, because he is our perfect Father, and he is love.

  But there are at least two sides to such love, and they often manifest at apparent odds with one another: mercy and justice. A father can love his criminal child by being merciful, but a father must also love his victimized child by demanding justice. Both mercy and justice are expressions of God’s absolute love. This poses a dilemma: Where does God draw the line between the two? If he demands justice, where is the mercy for the criminal? If he offers mercy, where is the justice for the victim? He cannot draw that line arbitrarily because he is God. So where does God draw the line?

  Magnifying this dilemma, God is also absolute. To illustrate, it is helpful to imagine a human judge that demands justice for every crime, never forgiving any. Though not merciful at all, he would be a very just judge. Now if God did not punish all sins, he would be less just than that human judge. Can we really believe that God’s sense of justice could be potentially less than that of a human? Of course not. Similarly, if we can imagine a human judge that forgives every crime, he would be a very merciful judge, though not just at all. If God did not forgive every sin, he would be less merciful than that human judge. But God is the most merciful; his mercy cannot be outdone by a human.

  What is the way out of this dilemma? Where does God draw the line between mercy and justice?

  Herein lies the genius and infinitude of the love of God: He does not draw the line. He offers mercy to everyone who has ever sinned while also demanding justice for every sin ever committed. He does this by offering to bear the consequence of our sins himself. The consequence of our sins is death, and God is willing to die on behalf of all his children.

  HOW CAN JESUS DIE FOR THE SINS OF MANKIND?

  This is perhaps one of the most commonly asked questions in Muslim-Christian dialogue, and it is important to recall the Muslim impetus for the question: Islam emphasizes that each person will be responsible for their own sins. No human can intercede for another.

  But here is another example where agreement is close at hand: Christians also believe, as Muslims do, that no mere human is in the position to bear another’s sins. In order to come to that realization, though, I had to remember that Christians believe Jesus is God. Muslims believe that God is able to forgive sins, and that is exactly what Christians teach through the gospel: that God is the one forgiving the sins of mankind. His death on the cross is his reified act of mercy upon our sins. Instead of just forgiving us on the day of judgment in the distant future, he has paid for our sins at a very real point in time and space: in the first century, on the cross.

  Another question follows closely: “Is it just for God to transfer sins? No one is able to bear the burdens of another, because that would be unfair.” Here, it is helpful to note two things. First, people voluntarily bear the burdens of others all the time, and it is completely just. For example, when young adults want to obtain a loan from a bank but do not have any credit, they have to find a cosigner, usually a mother or father, to vouch for them. If they then fail to pay the loan, the burden falls on the parent who vouched for them.

  In the same way, the gospel teaches that God, a good and loving Father, has vouched for us. When we stand guilty in judgment, our debt will be imputed to God, who has paid it.

  Something else that is helpful to point out, though, is that the Quran actually does not teach that no one can bear the sins of another. Looking carefully at the relevant Quranic verses, all five of them teach that “no bearer of burdens can bear the burdens of another.” It is not that no person can bear the sins of another, but that anyone who is already a sinner is in no place to bear the sins of others. Since Muslims believe that Jesus did not bear any sins, theoretically Islamic theology should be compatible with Jesus bearing the burdens of others.

  WHAT REASON DO CHRISTIANS HAVE TO DO GOO
D?

  When the young siblings in Hong Kong asked me their question, I briefly considered the ways I could answer. Sitting down next to them, I nodded toward their mother and asked them a question in return: “Do you love your mom?”

  Slightly taken aback, they answered emphatically, “Of course!”

  Smiling, I asked them a simple question: “When she asks you to do something, like clean your room, what do you think would make her happier: if you cleaned your room because you love her, or if you cleaned your room because you were afraid she would punish you?”

  Without hesitation, the sister answered, “Because we love her.” And as the words left her lips, the realization was apparent on her face: obedience under the shadow of threat is hardly obedience at all, but compulsion. Christian obedience, devoid of threat and rooted in love, is what God truly wants.

  I began to explain to her and her brother that when we respond to the gospel and live as children of God, our Father changes our hearts and makes us want to obey out of love. For the next few minutes they continued asking me questions in earnest, clearly unfinished when their mother whisked them away.

  CHAPTER 4

  DIAGNOSIS AND DELIVERANCE

  In the spring of 2009, as I was graduating from medical school, I undertook a project working as a volunteer with a humanitarian organization called Physicians for Peace. They were doing excellent work around the globe, and the project that I chose to help with was geared toward educating young mothers in the barrios of Santo Domingo.