The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible: Part 13a: Who Is Allah?

The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible: Part 13a: Who Is Allah?
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

Who is Allah? We’ve looked at Allah’s promises and the end times as well as some aspects of Allah’s character and what Allah insists about Eesa. So, who is Allah?

Ironically, there are a growing number of Christians, including some so-called evangelicals, who insist, in agreement with the Qur’an, that the God of Islam and the God of the Old and New Testament is one and the same. After all, that is something Muslims insist is the case, that Muslims worship the same God as the Jews and the Christians, although the latter two groups have corrupted God’s identity.

Just over a decade ago, the noted Christian theologian Miroslav Volf wrote a lengthy book, “Allah,” agreeing with that claim. He did so by cherry picking several biblical Scriptures and passages from the Qur’an, while ignoring or dancing around others. Curiously, one motivating factor was not based on Scripture, but on his father’s teaching: Allah and God were one and the same. Unfortunately, that claim will probably continue to gain acceptance.

The main reason Volf gives for Allah and God being the same is the commonalities of God’s description in the Bible and in the Qur’an. Both describe God as One, as the Creator and Sustainer, as merciful, and as oft-forgiving. Although Volf admits there are differences in the Muslim and Christian descriptions of God, he posits that given the commonalities, the differences are little more than secondary arguments about God.

Volf dances around the issue of the Trinity. Islam flat out denies that God is a Trinity. To claim that God has a Son is the worst sin one can commit. He claims that what the Muslims reject about the Trinity, Christians also reject. There is some truth in that, as the Qur’an claims the Trinity consists of God the Father, Jesus, and Mary.

Volf also goes back to some Middle Age descriptions of God, replacing “persons” with “essences.” God is thereby described as having three “essences,” and mentions, though without directly endorsing it, the likelihood that God being infinite, has far more essences than just three. Those ideas skirt around the issue Muslims have with “Father/Son.” He also suggests that the idea of “Son” is symbolic. He does admit that the Trinity as classically understood—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is central to the Christian faith. He comes across as trying to redefine the Trinity in ways that Muslims would not find offensive while seeking to stay somewhere within the bounds of orthodox Christianity.

He says next to nothing about passages in the Qur’an that speak of fighting Jews and Christians, the Muslim hadiths regarding their annihilation prior to the day of judgment, their eternal destiny in Hell, etc. He posits that all major Islamic scholars view the Qur’anic passages about fighting and violence as being outdated, that they no longer apply (where he gets that from is a good question). Regarding actual Muslim violence, he dances around that as well, remarking that in evangelism, both Christians and Muslims seek to kill each other.

Regarding the opposing views Islam and Christianity have about the nature of salvation, all he has to say is that he will not discuss that issue here.

Regarding the Islamic blasphemy laws, Volf notes that Christian countries did the same. He neglects to mention that a Christian ruler’s decision is not on the same level as what is required in Islam, nor the difference of the punishment’s severity. He makes numerous suggestions of how Christians and Muslims need to interact both in the West and the Islamic countries; he fails to address the reality of the religious restrictions placed on Christians and Jews by Shariah law within the Islamic countries.

Volf’s thesis, a thesis many find highly attractive, is utterly unconvincing. He omits or skirts around all the biblical and Qur’anic passages that describe God and Allah as vastly different. After all, if Allah and the God of the Old and New Testament are the same, why would that God declare salvation is through faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and not by one’s works within Christianity and then in the Qur’an insist that salvation is through our works alone and that no savior exists? Why would God make such a change, a complete about-face as it were? That does not make any sense at all. One can only conclude that the God of the Bible and Allah are not the same.

So, since Islam’s Allah and the God of the Bible are not the same, who is Allah?

Share This Blog: