PART A – IN BRIEF:-

I. Similarities between the Qur'an and the Bible

1. sent by God to the people of Israel

2. received the Gospel

3. begotten with no part from a man (virgin birth)

4. the only man in the Qur'an that remained without sin

5. performed miraculous signs (healed blind, raised dead)

6. ascended to heaven (Christ is alive, Muhammad is dead!)

7. will return at the end of times

8. is accorded the highest titles of honor that a man ever had

II. Differences between the Qur'an and the Bible

1. After His second coming will convert all Christians to Islam!

2. He neither died nor was He crucified (Q 4:157), rather, the Jews killed somebody who resembled him

a) therefore Christ did not die for our sins = denial of the core of the Gospel

b) and Christ did not rise from the dead = denial of our hope for eternal salvation

c) thus Christ is not our Savior - therefore He is not called JESUS, but 'ISA

3. Christ is not the Son of Allah: "Cursed be whoever says, Christ is Allah's Son!" (Q 9:30)

a) therefore Allah is not Father: "Allah did not beget nor was he begotten" (Q 112:3)

b) and Muslims have no Holy Ghost: 1 Corinthians 12:3 and Romans 8:15f

c) thus Allah is not the Father, Son and Holy Ghost

III. Conclusion

Every Christian dealing with Muslims must be conscious of the fact that Muslims believe in Christ! If you compare what the Qur'an and the Muslim scriptures say about Christ, then you may be astonished that there are many similarities between Islam and Christianity in this point. Here are some of the amazingly similar teachings:

PART B – IN DETAIL:-

I. Similarities between the Qur'an and the Bible

1. Muslims believe that Christ was sent by God to the children of Israel. (Suras Al 'Imran 3:49, al-Saff 61:6; see also al-Nisa' 4:157, al-Ma'ida 5:75)

2. They believe that He received the Gospel (Injil) and preached it. (Suras Al 'Imran 3:48, al-Ma'ida 5:46+110, al-Hadid 57:27; see also Al 'Imran 3:3, 65, al-Ma'ida 5:47)

3. Every pious Muslim believes that Christ was born with no part from a man. The virgin birth does not pose a problem for a Muslim. (Suras Al 'Imran 3:47, Maryam 19:19-20, al-Tahrim 66:12; see also al-Mu'minun 23:50 and all verses in which the Qur'anic Christ is called the Son of Mary)

4. The Qur'an teaches that Christ was the only man who remained without sin. All human beings have sinned and sin. Even the Prophets and Messengers of Allah have sinned according to the Qur'an. Also Muhammad had to ask for the forgiveness of his sins. Only Christ remained without sin. (Sura Maryam 19:19)

5. Muslims believe that Christ performed miraculous sings: He made the blind see, He healed the lame and He even raised the dead! Sometimes Muslims therefore come to Christians if they or their relatives are seriously ill and ask these Christians that they pray for them to Christ that He may heal them. For they, as Muslims believe that Christ is the miraculous healer. (Suras Al 'Imran 3:49, al-Ma'ida 5:110)

6. Muslims even believe, like we do, that Christ ascended to heaven. Christ is still alive for Muslims. He is in heaven above, close to God. (Suras Al 'Imran 3:55, al-Nisa' 4:158; see also Al 'Imran 3:45) Therefore a Muslim must admit that this statement is correct: "Christ is alive, Muhammad is dead! Christ is in heaven, Muhammad is buried underneath the ground!" Muslims know the grave of Muhammad. Many Muslims go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Muhammad in Medina after they complete their pilgrimage to Mecca.

However, orthodox Muslims know of no grave in which Christ is lying. This Islamically legitimate statement "Christ is alive, Muhammad is dead!" has caused many a Muslim to ask himself: "Why do I follow the religion of a dead man and not rather the proclamation of one who is alive?" On the basis of such questioning some have undertaken their first steps in the direction of the Gospel of the living Christ.

(Remark: Muslims believe that Muhammad also ascended to heaven. Only, his ascension to heaven is different from that of Christ: At night he was transported from Medina to Jerusalem with a fast horse; there he climbed to heaven on a ladder starting at the al-Aqsa mosque; after that he climbed down that ladder from heaven and in the same night was transported back to Medina by the horse Buraq. According to a Muslim tradition (hadith) his young wife 'A'isha reported that during that night Muhammad had uninterruptedly slept on her lap and then upon waking up said that in that night he had ascended to heaven from Jerusalem. However, according to the teaching of the Qur'an, Christ ascended to heaven without returning back to earth. He is still there in heaven with God even today!!)

7. Muslims even believe that Christ will come again from heaven. (This is not reported in the Qur'an but only in the Hadith, i.e. the Muslim traditions) The second coming of Christ at the end of time is a well-established doctrine for every believing Muslim! That which many liberal Christians today can only accept in a metaphorical or allegorical sense, namely that Christ ascended to heaven and will again come back from there, is a doctrine that Muslims hold to as their duty towards God. He may not deny it if he does not want to be suspected of having committed apostasy, with all the serious consequences of such a step.

8. On this background it is no longer surprising that Christ in the Qur'an is accorded the highest titles of honor that any human has ever received from God. (The Qur'anic Christ is: "A word from Allah": Suras 3:39, 45, 64, 4:171 -- "The spirit of Allah": 4:171, 21:91, 66:12 -- "A miraculous sign of Allah": 19:21, 21:91, 23:50 -- "The righteous one": 3:46, 6:85 -- "Not violent": 19:32 -- "Blessed wherever he may be": 19:31 -- "Esteemed here and in the hereafter": 3:45 -- "A knowledge of the hour": 43:61 etc.) If you compare Christ and Muhammad in the Qur'an alone, then Christ in all the points mentioned here stands much higher than Muhammad. Many a Muslim who remarked this turned away from Islam and walked towards Christ until some became Christians!

Looking at these astonishing similarities and taking into account that by far most of the Qur'anic statements about Christ seem to be identical with what Christians believe, then we should be a little more merciful towards liberal Christians. They reproach us by saying: "What is your problem with Muslims? Don't you see that in many points they believe exactly the same as we Christians do? Open your arms to them! Invite them in! Let them celebrate their Muslim feasts and perform their ritual practices in your churches! Because most of their teachings about Christ can hardly be distinguished from ours." And, to be honest, these liberal Christians are right in a certain sense! For, looking at the matter purely statistically, about 80 per cent of what Islam teaches concerning Christ is the same as what we believe.

However, in order to decide whether we can follow the summons of such open-hearted Christians or not, we must look at the complete picture of the Qur'anic and Islamic Christ. To this belong also the differences between the Qur'an and the Bible concerning Christ. We now come to these in the second section.

II. Differences between the Qur'an and the Bible

We have already alluded to this fact: viewed purely statistically, the differences between the Qur'an and the Bible amount to only 20 percent of what the Qur'an teaches about Christ. However, if you look at the content of what is denied in the Qur'an then you can notice that nearly without exceptions - the very foundations and core elements of our Gospel-based faith are touched here. We only look at three such differences now:

1. Christ in Islam will NOT come again as the Judge over the living and the dead.

We have seen: On the one hand it is true that Muslims believe in the secondcoming of Christ. But what He will do when He comes again looks decidedly different among Muslims compared with our faith.

According to the testimonies of Muslim traditions (hadith) Christ at His second coming will not appear as judge over the living and the dead (see 2 Timothy 4:1, Revelations 19:11-16 and also Romans 2:16), but will come back merely as a messenger of Allah. He will convert all Christians to Islam, remove all crosses from churches and Christian houses and will slaughter all pigs, so that Muslims will no longer come into temptation to eat forbidden pork. Then he will destroy antichrist!

Also Muslims believe in a false Christ resp. an antiChrist, who will bring them great calamity at the end of times. He will be vanquished by the returned Muslim Christ. Then the Islamic Christ will marry, procreate and die. According to tradition he will be buried next to Muhammad in Medina. In the immediate vicinity of the sepulcher of Muhammad there is a space where devout Muslims believe that Christ will one day be buried. Only then will the end of days arrive. Then all human beings will be raised from the dead and will be brought to the Throne of Allah - including the Muslim Christ. Everyone must stand there and give answer, and Allah will judge all according to their works, including Christ and Muhammad.

These grave differences in the doctrine about things to come (eschatology) demonstrate to us that we must pay close attention if we discern similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an. Frequently unbridgeable divergences lie hidden under the surface of seeming congruence. This state of affairs must be traced back to the fact that Muhammad during his lifetime also tried to win Christians to his Islam. Therefore he incorporated much of the Christian faith into his Islam in order to appear more attractive to Christians. At the core of the matter, however, he simultaneously denied Christian faith, as the next point will show.

2. Christ in the Qur'an was NOT crucified, did NOT die and therefore is NO savior.

In addition to such points in which there are both similarities and differences, we find in the Qur'an statements about Christ for which on first sight no similarities can be found when comparing them with our Christian faith. One of these points concerns the question whether Christ was crucified and thus died. Muslims deny the cross of Christ because Allah revealed to them in the Qur'an through Muhammad: "... They (i.e. the Jews) did not kill him (i.e. Christ) and they did not crucify him! Rather, it was made to appear (like that) to them! ... Rather, Allah raised him (i.e. Christ) to himself! ..." (Sura al-Nisa' 4,157). Muslims interpret this passage to say that Christ was not crucified at all, but that he was raptured into heaven without dying and rising from the dead, just like Enoch or Elijah in the Old Testament (see Genesis 5:21-24 and 2 Kings 2:11+12). The Jews are supposed to have captured a man who looked like Christ, mistaking him for the real Christ. Thus they had the wrong person crucified.

Only this one reference in the Qur'an denies the cross of Christ in such an unequivocal way. Those who do not know the Qur'an well must search a long time until they find this verse. Nevertheless, every devout Muslim knows it because it contains a clear criterion for distinguishing between Islam and Christianity. In this way Muslims must deny a simple historical fact which both Christians and their opponents in the whole world accept without contesting, namely that Christ was crucified nearly 2000 year ago and thereupon died.

Looking at the matter purely statistically, this statement of the Qur'an is a mere trifle. As opposed to the many teachings of the Qur'an with which we can agree, this statement seems to amount to just about nothing. But for us as followers of Jesus this is a grave matter. For the denial of the historical fact of the cross of Christ has at least the following three consequences:

a) If Christ did not die, then He was not able to die for our sins. By asserting this, Muslims deny the core of the Gospel. For one of the shortest ways of expressing the content of the Gospel is to say: "Christ died for our sins!" (1 Corinthians 15:3) If He did not die at all, then He also was not able to die for our sins. Thus our Gospel is void for Muslims!

b) If Christ did not die, then He also was not raised from the dead. Muslims thus not only deny our Good Friday but also our Easter. They thereby deny our hope for eternal life. For them Christ is not the victor over death, hell and the devil and therefore not the guarantee for our eternal salvation. So for them "we are of all men most miserable" (1 Corinthians 15:19).

c) If Christ neither died for our sins nor was raised for our justification (see Romans 4:25) then Christ for Muslims also is not our Savior. In my opinion this is the reason why Muslims call Christ not "Jesus", like we do, but "'Isa". The word "Jesus", from its Hebrew root, has the meaning: "the Lord saving" and thus designates the SAVIOR.

Since in Islam Christ is not savior his savior name had to be changed. The Arabic letters of the word "'Isa" can be viewed as a grammatical inversion of the letters that constitute the Arabic name of Jesus: "Yasu'u". Thus 'Isa is one manner in which the Arabic name of Jesus can be pronounced from the end to the beginning of the word. This circumstance possibly constitutes an indirect cursing of Jesus, for during damnation rituals in Semitic cultures the name of an accursed person is pronounced by inverting the order of the letters in his/her name. If this should be the case, then the very name of 'Isa would be an indication that Islam does not only deny core teachings of Christianity but also spiritually fights against them.

3. Christ in the Qur'an ist NOT the Son of God and God therefore is NOT the Father. The fact that Islam spiritually fights against our Christian faith becomes more clear if we turn to the last distinguishing criterion between the Qur'an and the Bible concerning Christ. Muslims deny that Christ is the Son of God. They even go farther, for according to Sura al-Tawba 9,30 Allah commanded them through Muhammad: "... the Nasaara (i.e. the Christians) say, 'Christ is the Son of Allah!' This they (just) utter with their mouths. Therewith they imitate the gossip of those who before them were infidels. May Allah (himself) fight against them! (or: These accursed people!) How much have they deviated (from the truth)!" This clarifies the fact that the Qur'an, and therefore also Islam, does not only deny Christ's sonship of God, but also spiritually fights against it in a most poignant manner.

Here we must point out again, that, indeed, the Qur'an only rarely, as in this reference, fights against our faith in God's Son, and therefore makes this point appear like a trifle in view of the many seemingly "acceptable" statements of the Qur'an about Christ. However, for us, as God's children by faith, this Qur'anic denial of Christ's sonship of God once more has grave consequences:

a) If Christ is not the Son of Allah, then Allah also is not the Father of Christ. For this reason Muslims repeat 17 times per day, during their five daily times of prayer, what is written in the third last Sura of the Qur'an: "... he (i.e. Allah) was not born, nor did he give birth, and none is his equal." (Sura al-Ikhlas 112:3+4) With these statements Muslims spiritually inoculate themselves many times a day against the truth that God is our loving Father through Jesus Christ His son.

b) If Christ for Muslims is not God's Son, and if for them He is not the Father, then, from the point of view of the Bible, we have to say, that Muslims do not have the Holy Ghost. For Paul confessed that the most intimate prayer of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of those in whom He acts, is summed up in the outcry: "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15) Since Muslims neither can nor may pray this simplest of all prayers, they do not have a Spirit, who himself "bares witness with our spirit, that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16), whereas we, through Jesus, have such a Spirit and accordingly experience God as our Father. In addition, since He is not God's Son, Christ for Muslims is by no means the LORD, but merely a slave and servant of Allah, just like all the other prophets and messengers of Allah before and after Him. Thus, we again have to confess with Paul that Muslims do not have the Holy Ghost, for "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3)

c) Finally, if Muslims neither believe in Christ as God's Son nor in God as the Father and thus do not have the Holy Ghost, then it should be evident, that Allah, the God of Muslims, is not the Triune Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Therefore we no longer will be astonished in finding the Qur'an openly denying the divine Triunity: "... do not speak (in view of Christ's relationship to Allah concerning the Tri-unity). Stop that! It's better for you! Indeed Allah is only one sole God! He is (highly) elevated above having a child. ..." (Sura 4:171) This verse is evidence to the fact that, at least from our point of view, Muslims and Christians do not believe in the same God. How should one and the same God at the time of Jesus send His Son into the world, in order to let Him die for our sins on the cross, how should this selfsame God send a messenger to us more than 600 years later announcing through him: "I have deluded you! He, whom I have sent to you more than 600 years ago in no way was my son and he also did not die for your sins, rather you must work hard to earn your salvation with your own good deeds!" Looking at it in the light of the Bible, the spirit, who in the Qur'an poses as Allah, i.e. as THE God in the absolute sense of theord, this spirit by no means can be the same as the Spirit of the living God, who revealed Himself in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as our loving and almighty Father!

III. Conclusion

On this background, how should we assess the spirit, who is at work in the Qur'an and therefore in Islam? I think, here, those verses are relevant that John addressed to early Christians, when he wrote, "Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: (but) he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:22+23)

We have seen: Muslims deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. For they say, "Not Jesus, the Savior, but 'Isa, the servant, this is the Christ, this is the true Messiah!" By this Muslims unmask themselves as being under the influence of a lying spirit. For only an impertinent LIAR would circulate the blatant falsehood that Christ did not die and thus cannot be the Savior!

Further, we have seen that Muslims do not only deny that Christ is the Son of God and that God is the Father, but that they also openly fight against this truth in spirit. By this they unmask themselves as people who are under the influence of a spirit who is an ADVERSARY to Christ and thus against Christ, i.e. antichrist.

The Greek word for Liar is diabolos. From this is derived our English word "Devil". Therefore, according to the words just cited from John, Muslims stand under the influence of a spirit, who in the original Greek sense of the word is a devilish spirit, because he is diabolic in nature. The Hebrew word for Adversary is shaataan. From this is derived our English word "Satan". Therefore, equally, according to the words just cited from John, Muslims stand under the influence of a spirit, who in the original Hebrew sense of the word, is a satanic spirit, because he is directed against Christ as the Son of God.

If John is right - and we, who follow Jesus, must agree with him, if we believe in the saving crucifixion of Christ and in the divine sonship of Jesus - if John is thus right, then in Islam we are dealing with a spiritual situation that is highly dangerous. Against such a mighty reality as the spirit of the Liar and of the Adversary, who makes people worship him in Islam as THE God, i.e. as Allah, against him we have nothing that could prevail. Only Jesus with His Word, only the Father with His Holy Ghost can do something here! And He is doing quite a bit in the world of Islam today. Let us trust Jesus alone, let us direct our supplication to our heavenly Father, that He would release the Sons of Ishmael and the many peoples that they have brought into the Fold of Is-lam from the binding power of this lying and opposing spirit. For "the things which are impossible with men are possible with God!" (Luke 18:27)