Islam Series

But there are some significant differences between what Muslims and Christians believe about Jesus. I will discuss these differences in detail when I talk about the essential differences in these faith groups.

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III. Essential Differences Between Christianity and Islam

As Christians there are several doctrines that we share in common with Muslims. For instance, we believe in a resurrection, the final judgment of God as well as hell and so do they. We believe in angels and so do they. We believe in heaven and so do they (although it is usually called the Gardens of Felicity”).

However, there are some major doctrines that are distinctive to Islam that we do not have in common. And the one place that is the big stumbling block however is over the one book:

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A. The Qur’an

Muslims see our Bible as being corrupted. Muslims also believe that the Torah of Moses (Pentateuch, first five books of the Old Testament), the Psalms of David, and the Gospels given to Jesus are all holy books, but that all of them have been corrupted by Christians and Jews to the point that they are not fully reliable. They do not believe that the New Testament contains the actual words of Jesus, but rather other people’s words about Jesus. Therefore they believe Jesus’ words have been corrupted.

Surah 3:71 says, “O followers of the Book! Why do you confound the truth with the falsehood and hide the truth while you know?”

For Muslims the Qur’an is God’s Word. And there are important differences between the way their scripture presents events that are recorded in the Bible that we use. This chart illustrates some of those differences:

What the Bible Says

God created in 6 days

All of Noah’s sons got onto the ark

Abraham’s father’s name was Terah

Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac

Abraham had 8 sons

Joseph was bought by Potiphar

Zacharias was not able to speak until John the Baptist was born (several months).

Jesus was born in a stable

What the Qur’an Says

God created in 8 days (Surah 41:9-12). The Qur’an even contradicts itself on this point and says in Surah 10:3 that it was done in six days.

One son was left behind (Surah 11:32-48)

Abraham’s father was Azar (Surah 6:74)

Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael (Surah 37:100-112)

Abraham only had 2 sons (Surah 37:100-112)

Joseph was bought by a person named Aziz (Surah 12:21)

Zacharias was only unable to talk for 3 nights (Surah 19:10)

Jesus was born under a palm tree (Surah 19:22-25)

Socrates once said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” That philosophy can also be applied to what we believe. Norman Geisler in Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross, p. 10 says, “The unexamined faith is not worth living.” This is reflected in a Bible event in the early church:

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Acts 17:11, “The people of Berea were more open-minded than the people of Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive God’s message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true.” (GW)

However, Muslims are discouraged from asking questions about their faith.