> [!note] New - 2026-03-20 ![[assets/covers/islamic-theology-and-belief.jpg]] Islam is built on theological convictions that have direct parallels and direct contrasts with Christian belief: the Qur'an as the eternal, uncreated word of God; the Sufi aspiration toward love of God for God's own sake; and the Qur'anic principle that religion cannot be coerced. These are not peripheral curiosities but load-bearing elements of the Islamic worldview. ## The Qur'an as Eternal Word The most clarifying comparison between Islam and Christianity is not Muhammad versus Jesus but the Qur'an versus Christ. Christians hold that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated Word of God; Muslims hold the same of the Qur'an. Muhammad is the prophet who received and transmitted that word, not the word itself.[^jabbour-crescent-p36] This structural parallel reframes interfaith dialogue: misunderstanding the Qur'an's status in Islam is like misunderstanding Christology in Christianity. ## Disinterested Devotion The eighth-century Sufi mystic Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya gave voice to a strand of Islamic spirituality that mirrors the Christian mystical tradition at its most demanding. Her famous prayer strips love of God of every instrumental motive: not fear of hell, not desire for paradise, but love for God because God is worthy of love.[^jabbour-crescent-p26] This is the logic of disinterested charity carried to its conclusion. > [!quote] > 'Lord, why do I love you? Do I love you out of fear of going to hell? If this is my sole motive, then send me to hell. Or do I love you out of a motive of wanting to go to paradise? If this is my motive, then deprive me of paradise. O God, please purify my motives. Help me to love you for your own sake. Because you are worthy of all my love and all my worship.' > > *The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*, p. 26 ## No Compulsion in Religion Surah 2:256 declares that there is no compulsion in religion, and for a devout Muslim this is not merely a historical or political statement but a theological one. Ahmad, a Muslim interlocutor in Jabbour's account, cited this verse to signal mutual respect rather than evangelistic indifference: he would not attempt to convert, and he asked the same in return.[^jabbour-crescent-p32] The verse functions as an ethical boundary drawn from within the tradition itself. ## The Same God? 'Allah' is simply the Arabic word for God; it appears throughout the Arabic Bible, and Arabic-speaking Christians pray to Allah. Whether the God Muslims worship is identical to the Christian God resists a clean answer. Muslims affirm most of the ninety-nine names and attributes of God that Christians would also recognise. The decisive divergence is the Fatherhood of God: Islam does not accept that God is Father, which is not a minor addendum but a structurally central claim in Christian theology.[^jabbour-crescent-p298] Jabbour's analogy is illuminating: was the YHWH Jesus spoke of the same YHWH the Pharisees spoke of? Yes and no. The similarities are real; so is the rupture. ## Selected passages > [!quote] > 'A true understanding of Islam necessitates that you compare Christ, the way you understand him, to the Qur'an, the way we understand it. You believe that Christ is the eternal, uncreated word of God, and we believe that the Qur'an, and not Muhammad, is the eternal uncreated word of God. The way you think of Christ is the way we think of the Qur'an.' > > *The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*, p. 36 ## Appearances - [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross (2012)|*The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross*]], Jabbour, Nabeel T. (2012) - Ch. 2 'Why Bother?', p. 26 - Ch. 3 'Ahmad's Worldview', p. 32, 36 - Ch. 17 'Remaining in Context', p. 298 ## Related [[Interfaith Understanding and Christian-Muslim Dialogue]] . [[Disinterested Love for God]] . [[Disinterested Love for God]] . [[Jesus]] . [[Ethnocentrism]] [^jabbour-crescent-p36]: [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross (2012)]], p. 36 . 'A true under-standing of Islam necessitates that you compare Christ, the way you understand him, to the Qur'an, the way we understand it. You believe that Christ is the eternal, uncreated word of God, and we believe that the Qur'an, and not Muhammad, is the eternal uncreated word of God. The way you think of Christ is the way we think of the Qur'an.' [^jabbour-crescent-p26]: [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross (2012)]], p. 26 . 'Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, [...] "Lord, why do I love you? Do I love you out of fear of going to hell? If this is my sole motive, then send me to hell. Or do I love you out of a motive of wanting to go to paradise? If this is my motive, then deprive me of paradise. O God, please purify my motives. Help me to love you for your own sake. Because you are worthy of all my love and all my worship."' [^jabbour-crescent-p32]: [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross (2012)]], p. 32 . 'One of the verses from the Qur'an that he frequently repeated had to do with the fact that "there should be no compulsion in religion" (Surah 2:256). He assured me that he did not want to try to convert me to Islam, and, in humility and with politeness, he asked me not to try to convert him to Christianity.' [^jabbour-crescent-p298]: [[The Crescent through the Eyes of the Cross (2012)]], p. 298 . 'Allah is the Arabic word for God. When I pray in Arabic, I pray to Allah. He is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Allah appears all over the Arabic Bible. We do not have another word for God in Arabic. Does that mean the God the Muslims worship is the same as our God? The answer is yes and no. Muslims believe that God has ninty-nine names or attributes. Christians agree with most of these attributes. One major difference, though, is that they do not believe that God is our heavenly Father.'