Common Ground between Islam and Christianity.

By Charles Nelson

In Fountain, A Magazine of Critical, Scientific, and Spiritual Thought, Number 27, July-September
1999, pp. 18-20.

For many, Islam and Christianity have little in common. More than a few Christians
misperceive Islam as a religion of the sword and of oppression, while many Muslims see
Christianity as permissive and rampant with sin. Yet, much of this misperception arises from the
different emphases and vocabulary peculiar to each religion. In fact, most of their practices and
beliefs are quite similar, as they should be, since they came from prophets of Allah (God). By
reading key concepts in the Bible, the Qur'an, and hadiths (traditions of the Prophet), we can see
their common points.
Faith and Works
To receive the favor of Allah, faith and works are crucial. The Prophet Muhammad stated
that faith is required to enter Paradise (Muslim 1:96), and the Apostle Paul wrote that, "the
righteous will live by faith" (Romans 1:17). In both religions faith goes hand in hand with good
deeds and requires them to perfect it (Qur'an 2:177; James 2:22). Indeed, Jesus says that only
those who do God's will can enter heaven (Matthew 7:21).
Love
Just as faith without works is dead (James 2:17), so, too, is it dead without love.
Love of one's neighbor
Muhammad affirmed: "You will not believe as long as you do not love one another"
(Muslim 1: 96) and "No man is a true believer unless he wants for his brother that which he wants
for himself" (Bukhari 1:12). Concurring, Jesus said that to love your neighbor as yourself was like
loving God (Matthew 23:37-39).
Although the word "love" appears less frequently in the Qur'an than in the Bible, the
notion of love permeates it. True love consists of right action towards one's neighbor, of taking
care of others, of and helping those in need. In verse after verse, the Qur'an enjoins believers to
be charitable to orphans, widows, travelers, and the poor. According to one hadith: "The best
Islam is that you feed the hungry and spread peace among people you know and those you do
not know." Similarly, Jesus tied Peter's loving him to taking care of his disciples (John 21:15-17),
and John asserts that those who do not help a brother in need when they are able to do so do not
have the love of God in them (1 John 3:17).
Love of God
Love of neighbors is a cornerstone of both Islam and Christianity, but love of God is the
foundation. Such love is expressed in many ways, but let's look at four: prayer, repentance,
contentment, and surrender to God.
People desire to be with and talk with those they love. Thus, Christians and Muslims who
love God "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and "remember Allah much" (Qur'an 33:21).
Prayer is a cleansing activity, partially because engaging in it allows people to see God's
greatness and their own unworthiness. Such understanding brings repentance, which is essential
to receiving God's approval and forgiveness (Qur'an 20:82; Muslim 2:1142; Matthew 4:17; Mark
1:15; Luke 5:32; 15:7).
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Through cycles of prayer, repentance, and forgiveness, the believers' love of God grows.
This gradually results in a weakening of the desires for worldly things, the cause of discontent.
Becoming content with what God has allotted them, they “give thanks in all circumstances” (1
Thessalonians 5:16-18), whether good or bad. Such believers are loved by people and he God,
as one hadith saps: "Desire not the world, and God will love you; and desire not what men have,
and they will love you.”
To be fully content means lobe surrendered to Allah. a key concept in Islam. Indeed, the
word “Islam” is understood In mean surrender, as it says in the Qur'an (3:19 ): 'The religion before
Allah is Islam," Christianity believes the same, for as Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to
"Love the Lord tour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew
22:37). In other words, give your entire being to God.
Those who completely devote themselves to God are, naturally, are the closest to Him.
Yet God near all believers. Christians believe that God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, lives within
them (1 Corinthians 6:19). For Islam, the indwelling concept is not prevalent, but Gad is nearer to
the believer than his jugular veins (Qur'an 50Y16) and says: “When my servants ask you about
me, tell them I am near, 1 hear the proper of the one who calls upon Me” (Qur’an 2:186).
Paradise
Both Christianity and Islam teach that those mho love God, believe in Gad, and do good
deeds will receive rewards (Matthew 5:5-11, 6:1-6 , 10:41-42, 16':27, 1 Corinthians 3:14, 9:17,
Ephesians 6:8, Qur'an 2:62, 3:144,145.148). The best reward, of course, is eternal life in
Paradise.
Who gets this reward'? In both religions, the answer is quite controversial. There are
those who sat that only adherents to of their own religion - whether Christianity or Islam - go to
Heaven. Morn Christians confidently assert that only those mho believe in Jesus will have eternal
life (John 3:18, 11:25-26), and mane Muslims affirm just as strongly affirm that only those who
believe in Allah and accept Muhammad as His Messenger will enter Paradise.
In both religions, however, others disagree. Some Christians claim that it is necessary
only that one has to believe in Gad and try to do good (Matthew 7:21. 10:42, 25:31-46). Likewise,
some Muslims who agree with this view cite the Qur'an (2:62): “Believers, Jews. Sabaeans, or
Christians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have nothing
to fear or to regret."
Adherents to both religions concur, though, that eternal life is a gift of God and based
completely upon His mercy (Romans 9:15-16, Qur'an 3:74, 10:99-100; Bukhari 7:577).
Nevertheless, God does not reject anyone who comes to Him: "Draw near to God and He gill
draw near to you” (James 4:8), and “He who loves to meet Allah, .Allah also loves to meet him…"
(Muslim 2:1120).
Misunderstanding
As the Bible and the Qur’an agree on mane things, why then do Muslims and Christians
perceive each other so differently and so often misunderstand each other? Such a question, of
course, deserves an in-depth. multi-faceted answer; however, we will look at just one of those
facets: a difference of emphasis and vocabulary.
Muslims tend to emphasize right action, while Christians tend to focus on right belief.
Consequently, when Christians hear Muslims say that they are earning merit through their good
deeds, they jump to the conclusion that Islam is a religion of works, not faith, and that Muslims
are trying to earn their salvation, which no one can do. Also, Christians, disturbed by Muslims'
emphasis on imitating the prophet Muhammad, perceive Muslims as legalistic and fixed on
externals rather than on such transforming internals like as love. They not realize that for
Muslims, good deeds earn merit only if one has faith, and that it is love of the Prophet that leads
them to follow his example.
In turn, when Muslims hear Christians talking about freedom and love, they believe that
Christians can sin as much as they want and still enter Paradise, a perception bolstered by the
immortality of not only ordinary people but also of the highly visible religious and political leaders
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in the West. Muslims fail to understand that the love of God prevents pious Christians from
sinning. And there are other similar vocabulary problems resulting in misunderstanding and
misperception that are exacerbated by the natural belief that theirs is the true and final religion.
This misguided attitude causes both Muslims and Christians to exaggerate any potential
difference to its worst extreme, and to forget that their own religions have the same concepts,
albeit sometimes de-emphasized or expressed differently.
Main Differences
Not all differences are a matter of misperception; a few are even fundamental. The most
important one concerns the nature of God. Both Christianity and Islam agree that God is the
Creator of the universe, the source of truth, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, full of
compassion and mercy, but also the One who dispenses justice. Despite this agreement,
however, Christians believe in a Trinity, three persons in one God head: the Father, the Son
(Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. In contrast, Muslims (and Jews) assert that Jesus is not God, but and
that God is one without any has no partners (Qur’an 37:4; Deuteronomy 6:4).
A second major difference, is the concept of atonement. Christians believe, that Jesus
died as a sacrifice for everyone’s sins (Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 1:2, 19; 1 John 2:2), which
becomes effective for the individual upon his or her confession of belief to those, who believe in
Jesus (John 3:15-18; Romans 1:16). In Islam, though, sacrifices do not atone for sin but
represent one’s devotion to Allah. Consequently, no sacrificial intercessor is necessary or
possible (Qur’an 2:256). Instead, God forgive those who sincerely repent and make right correct
their previous wrongs.
Conclusion
Although the disagreement on the tenure of God and on the atonement of Jesus seams
unresolvable, most differences are more a matter of emphasis rather than of disagreement.
Christianity stresses right belief and faith, but no Christian would deny that they should do
good deeds and have good behavior. On the contrary, they “work” hard to please God because of
their faith. Muslims, on the other hand, assuming that faith is necessary, prefer to emphasize the
practical side of perfecting their faith via good works. Christians and Muslims agree that faith is
necessary and that good works are important.
In reality, if one were simply to watch the outward behavior of pious Muslims and
Christians in their lives, it would be quite difficult to know who was a Muslim and who was a
Christian – for the pious of both religions who love their God and who have surrendered their lives
to Him pray much, help needy, and are kind towards their neighbors and their families. Due to its
shortness this article will necessarily make broad generalizations that have many exceptions.
All hadiths not given a source come from the book The Sayings of Muhammad by Allama
Sir Abdullah Alal-Ma’mun Alal-Suhrawardy, who affirmed their authenticity (p.18).