Tawhid: Understanding the Oneness of God in Islam
Christian and Sami chat over a coffee. They compare how the Bible and the Qur’an picture God, and asking not ‘is God one?’ but ‘what is the one God like?’
Sami: Salaam. Something you said last week stuck with me - that the big question between us isn’t “is God one?” but “what is God like?” We both say God is one. So what did you mean?
Christian: Hi Sami. Well, you could learn a hundred facts about me - my age, my job, where I live - and still not really know me. You only know a person through their story. It’s the same with God. And here’s the thing, [m]the Bible and the Qur’an tell a lot of the same stories, but they tell them differently. And when the story changes, the God in the story changes too.
Sami: Can you give me an example?
Christian: Take the beginning. In Genesis, God says “Let us make man in our image,” (
Genesis 1:26-27) we are made for relationship with him, and when Adam falls into sin God at once promises to put it right (
Genesis 3:15, Geneis 3:21). In the Qur’an, Adam is placed on earth as God’s caretaker. There’s no “made in God’s image,” no deep broken relationship, and no promise of a rescuer. God forgives and gives guidance - but he stays up above, at a distance (See:
https://ccistudyapp.com/promises/adem/). Same man, Adam. Very different God.
Genesis 1:26-27God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 3:15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
Sami: But surely that’s just Islam stripping away later Christian additions to keep God pure and transcendent?
Christian: That’s a fair question: is the Qur’an tidying the story up, or changing it? Take Moses and the burning bush. In the Bible, it is the “angel of the Lord” appears in the fire (
Exodus 3:1) - but then that same voice says, “I am the God of your fathers,” (
Exodus 3:6) and gives his name: “I AM WHO I AM.” (
Exodus 3:14) Someone sent from God, who somehow is God. In the Qur’an, God simply calls Moses and gives him a job. (See:
https://ccistudyapp.com/promises/musa/) The “I AM,” and that mysterious figure who is both sent by God and is God - they’re gone. What’s left is just a boss giving orders.
Exodus 3:1Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
Exodus 3:6Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Exodus 3:14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Sami: And you think that missing bit is a big deal.
Christian: I think it’s everything - and it keeps happening. All through the Jewish Scriptures you get these hints: God is clearly one, and yet there’s someone with him, sent by him, who somehow is him. The Qur’an smooths all of that away into a single, far-off voice.
Sami: All right. But you have to admit our belief in one God is beautifully simple. God is God; nothing is like him. That’s exactly why we can’t accept God becoming a man - God is completely unlike us.
Christian: I really respect that. But let me show you something gently, because it’s not as simple as it first looks. Your own holy book describes God with a face (
Quran 55.27,
Quran 28.88), and with hands (
Quran 5.64,
Quran 48.10) - it even says he made things “with his two hands,” (
Quran 38.75) and that he sits on a throne. There’s a famous saying that on Judgement Day God will “uncover his shin” - his leg. (
Quran 68.42 see also
Bukhari 9.93.532 [shin] and
Bukhari 3439 [eyes])
Quran 55:27There remaineth but the Countenance of thy Lord of Might and Glory.
Quran 28:88And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no Allah save Him. Everything will perish save His countenance. His is the command, and unto Him ye will be brought back.
Quran 5:64The Jews say: Allah's hand is fettered. Their hands are fettered and they are accursed for saying so. Nay, but both His hands are spread out wide in bounty. He bestoweth as He will. That which hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord is certain to increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them, and We have cast among them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection. As often as they light a fire for war, Allah… read full verse
Quran 48:10Lo! those who swear allegiance unto thee (Muhammad), swear allegiance only unto Allah. The Hand of Allah is above their hands. So whosoever breaketh his oath, breaketh it only to his soul's hurt; while whosoever keepeth his covenant with Allah, on him will He bestow immense reward.
Quran 38:75He said: O Iblis! What hindereth thee from falling prostrate before that which I have created with both My hands? Art thou too proud or art thou of the high exalted?
Quran 68:42On the day when it befalleth in earnest, and they are ordered to prostrate themselves but are not able,
Bukhari 9.93.532Narrated Anas: The Prophet said, "The believers will be kept (waiting) on the Day of Resurrection so long that they will become worried and say, "Let us ask somebody to intercede far us with our Lord so that He may relieve us from our place. Then they will go to Adam and say, 'You are Adam, the father of the people. Allah created you with His Own Hand and made you reside in His Paradise and ordered His angels to prostrate… read full verse
Bukhari 4.55.649Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet mentioned the Masih Ad-Dajjal in front of the people saying, Allah is not one-eyed while Masih Ad-Dajjal is blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a bulging out grape. While sleeping near the Ka`ba last night, I saw in my dream a man of brown color the best one can see amongst brown color and his hair was long that it fell between his shoulders. His hair was lank and water was dribbling from… read full verse
Sami: It does. And honestly, we don’t all understand these concepts them the same way. Some take them as metaphor; others say “bilā kayf” - we affirm them “without asking how.” God has a hand and a shin but we don’t ask what that means.
Christian: And that’s the puzzle, Sami - and I say it as a friend. You tell me God can’t come close as a human because he’s totally unlike us. But your book pictures him with a face, hands, a leg, a throne - and the answer is “believe it, don’t ask how.” You’ll accept a leg you can’t explain… but not a Son?
Sami: That’s a hard one. But “don’t ask how” is about showing respect, not dodging the question.
Christian: I take that seriously. Here’s one more thing, and then I’ll stop poking. Muslims say the Qur’an is God’s word, and that it has always existed - it never began; it’s eternal, like God himself. Is that right? (
Quran 85.21–22,
Quran 56.77-80)
Quran 56:77-80That (this) is indeed a noble Qur'an In a Book kept hidden Which none toucheth save the purified, A revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
Sami: Yes. God’s word isn’t created. It has always been.
Christian: Then look what you’ve already got. God has always existed - and his Word has always existed too. It’s with him and it’s his very own, and yet it isn’t a second God. Sami, that is so close to what we say about Jesus. The Bible opens: “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God.” (
John 1:1-2) We’re not sneaking in a second God. We’re saying the very thing your own faith almost says - that God’s eternal Word is God.
John 1:1-2In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
Sami: I can hear the echo. But the Qur’an is clear: “Don’t say ‘Three.’” (
Quran 4.171) And how could God have a son without a wife? (
Quran 6.101) That’s putting others next to God.
Quran 4:171O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have… read full verse
Quran 6:101The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort, when He created all things and is Aware of all things?
Christian: And it’s right to reject what it’s describing! Look closely: in one place the Qur’an pictures the “three” as God, Jesus, and Mary (
Quran 5.116) - three gods, with Jesus born the ordinary way. But that has never been what Christians believe. We have never, ever said Mary is part of God. And “Son” doesn’t mean God took a wife and had a baby. It means Jesus shares God’s own life and throne - it’s family language, not a birth story. The “three gods” your book turns down (
Quran 5.73), we turn down too. It simply isn’t the Trinity.
Quran 5:116And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? he saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then Thou knewest it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy Mind. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower of Things Hidden?
Quran 5:73They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no Allah save the One Allah. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.
Sami: So the Qur’an is arguing against something you don’t even believe.
Christian: That’s worth sitting with, isn’t it? And it brings us back to the start. We both agree we could never work God out on our own - he has to show us. So which picture did he show? Your faith says: prophets came, people spoiled the message, and the Qur’an sets it straight. Mine says: God told one long story, kept his promises, and finally came close enough to stand in front of us and say “I AM.”
John 8:58 John 8:58Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
Sami: Two very different pictures.
Christian: Two very different Gods, maybe. One who stays high above, giving orders - great, but far away. And one who is just as holy, just as much one God, but who steps into the story, comes near, and lets himself be known. We’re not really arguing about whether God is one. We’re asking what the one God is like. That’s the question I’d love you to take home: not “is God one?” but “what is he like?”
Sami: You’ve given me a lot to think about. I still hold to my faith. But that “eternal Word” idea is going to stay with me.
Christian: Then do one thing for me - read the first page of John’s Gospel this week, slowly. Same coffee next week? I’d love to hear what you make of it.
Sami: Sure. Thank you, my friend.