Need clarification in regards to Allah/God

[Martha200]

Ok, am I right in thinking that when Muslims mention Allah, this is the same God that Christians talk about, but what they both believe about God/Allah is very different, or is it offensive and actually Allah should be thought of as Allah and not God..
if that makes sense?

The reason why I ask is ds (6) asked me a question the other day, and I asked him what he thought. He is learning about Islam in RE, and I know the school would deliver this is a professional manner as they would do with the rest of the curriculum, but his answer made me and I can't have him thinking what he said. I'm not even sure what gave him the idea of what he said, but it made me think I really need to be up to scratch on my basics of the major beliefs in religion.

being a linguist i would like to explain the term Allah to clarify the matter if possible without using the heavy linguistic jargon which can be baffling: Al in Allah is the Arabic equivalent of THE and so the actual meaning of Allah is: so The God which is in reference to there being only ONE God or one Diety as opposed to what was prevalent at the time Islam emerged where there were endless gods. So it is not one word but as time passed it has served the purpose of defining the Diety which Muslins believe in which is pretty much the same in terms of " general function" as Christians and Jews minus the concomitant aspects to do with the practice of the faith not the concept of Diety. So i would tell my child that people have different names for God but people also pray to their God in different ways. hence one can point out the Mosque, the Church and the Synagogue depending on how old the child is.. hope this helps!

Whilst I agree that all these religions serve one god each, I do still think you do all faiths a dis-service when you sweep all their individual aspects aside and say it's all the same.
Many muslims would agree (although not all), as would many (although, again not all) christians and jews.
I understand that some people believe in 'a higher power' and don't adhere strictly to the Qu'ran, Torah or Bible, but if you believe this I would suggest that you fall into a fourth category of faith which is none of these.
No offense intended to anyone - just wanting to engage in discussion.

Just realised I hadn't read that second link through fully. I only meant to point out that 79% of evangelicals were upset about bush's statement that Allah and God are the same

I don't mean to ignore the differences between faiths - if I didn't think those mattered I'd describe myself as some sort of "Universalist theist" rather than as a Christian. And obviously if aspects of one faith are correct, then that automatically means that some aspects of other faiths cannot be. Jesus can't be both God incarnate and just a man for example.

But I still believe that the differences and disagreements are because we are all only managing to partially experience the one-and-only God, not because some religions are following a non-existent figment of their imaginations.

Therefore, it is not (to my mind) a situation where there is one correct God and lots of people following false or non-existent gods, but all religions struggling to comprehend the same God, and some of them perceiving different qualities than others, due to differences in personality, culture, tradition, etc.

But that denies the word of god being the qu'ran or the bible, because they conflict. The 'elephant' works only when the children are blind but also deaf. When the king says 'This is an elephant. You are feeling the face.' That would not contradict 'This is an elephant and you are feeling the tail.'
The analogy doesn't allow for God to speak to us and reveal who He is.
For example:
"He [Jesus] said: 'I am indeed a servant of God. He has given me revelation and made me a prophet; He has made me blessed wheresoever I be; and He has enjoined on me prayer and charity as long as I live. He has made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable. So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)!' Such was Jesus the son of Mary. It is a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) God that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter, He only says to it, 'Be,' and it is" (19:30-35).
Which is the direct words of Allah is in complete contradiction to the christian Gods words in John 3:16 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
The idea that it is all one God is a faith, that many people ascribe to, but it is not the christian, muslim or jewish faith (in their fundamental forms)

Just on the elephant thing:

That concept only works if there is a sighted person who can see that it is in fact an elephant. Those who like this analogy, are you saying that you can tell that it is in fact an elephant and not a fan, a hose or a wall?

It's the same idea with the 'there are many paths up the mountain but they all lead to the same place' analogy. The only person who can tell that they all lead to the top of the mountain and not off a cliff is someone at the top of the mountain. To claim that all religions lead to God or all religions are in fact talking about the same thing is to claim that you have that ultimate perspective.

I think the first version of the elephant story I heard had them wandering in the jungle and meeting the elephant by chance, which maybe works better . Though then I might worry what a group of blind men were doing wandering in a jungle, and whether elephants live in jungles anyway...

As to the Bible (or Qu'ran or any other holy book) being the word of God, well I don't believe they are. I believe they are books written by human beings in an attempt to record and explain and discuss the history of their relationship with God. They are therefore the results of our human, fallible, incomplete view of God, and are therefore also fallible and incomplete.

And I very much believe that God speaks to us and tries to reveal himself to us, but we're not very good at making out what He's saying.

And that's absolutely fine AMIS, but that was my point. Christians (in the fundamental use of the term) do believe that the bible is the word of God, and Muslims believe that the Qu'ran is the very direct word of Allah (hence why it is revered and needs to be elevated to the highest shelf in a library, for example).
The point is that whilst you may believe in 'a higher power' or some sort of god that encompasses all religions, the god of each of those religions in their traditional forms would not accept that.

I'm not claiming that I have ultimate perspective on what God is like - I don't have his phone number, and I'm just as poor at understanding Him as anyone else is.

All I'm saying is that there are two hypotheses, and I think one is far more likely to be correct than the other.

1. There is only one God, but we all perceive Him(/Her) in different ways and are trying to find our way to the same destination. There are similarities between religions and religious experience because of there being just the one God at the centre of it, and differences because of our partial understanding.

1. There is one (or fewer!) true Gods and correct religions, and all other religions are following a figment of their imagination. Any religious experience they have is therefore false and misleading, and comes from either human nature or "malign influence" of some sort.

Well, actually, it's perfectly possible to believe in a combination of the two, AMIS...

I am a Christian, and I believe that the Bible is very important. But I do not believe that every word of it is there because God put it there, and I do not believe that it is totally and utterly infallible.

Please don't tell me I'm not a Christian because I am not a biblical fundamentalist. There are many other equally-valid ways of being a Christian.

You reckon, Kay? I just don't get how they can both be true...

AMIS, there's more to religion than monotheism. Another alternative could be:

3. There are multiple Gods, although some of them claim to their believers that they're the only One as they're in competition for believers.

I'm not saying you are not a christian AMIS, please don't mis-understand me. But there is a very broad spectrum of people who are called christian. That is why I was trying to be careful with the phrasing 'fundamental' and 'traditional'.
I am in no way trying to belittle your faith, but just pointing out that your view of the bible is not representative of the entire christian community. Nobodies is. But at the 'fundamental' end of the spectrum they would claim that 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:' 2 Tim 3:16 and certainly that there are areas where a prophet distinctly claims to be speaking the word of the Lord.

Snorbs - sorry yes,, I'm very much listing the monotheistic options there - you're right there could be more than one genuine God, and we could be perceiving different ones. Showing up my Christian assumptions there

AMIS, well, I believe a combination of the two.

I believe that there is one almighty deity, and those who are religious to any degree are in some deep sense aware of this because we're all given an innate imperfect understanding of it. However, I also believe there's only one way to said almighty deity, which necessitates believing that any others are in error to a certain degree.

Doesn't mean I can't respect the differences, of course, and the first part means I happily acknowledge that there is much good in many religions, (and indeed in humanity in general, religious or not).

I don't mind in the slightest if other people think I'm wrong about this - I'm quite used to people thinking I'm wrong about lots of things. I simply think that I'm right and anyone who disagrees with me is wrong

Yes, lots of people of all faiths probably believe that there is only one god and only one correct way to respond and worship.

But in many faiths there are also people who believe the same as I do.

We're not going to know who's right and who's wrong till it's too late to make any difference anyway.

Kay, thanks, that does make sense - so you think that people who are following other religions do have an innate sense of the existence of God, but are looking in the wrong place? But because they're at least looking, they're showing "right" attitudes in some ways at least?

Well, I wouldn't say they're 'showing the 'right' attitudes' because that would be horrendously patronizing of me

I think I'd just say that they are responding to a basic impulse, and in that sense it's not 'right' or 'wrong' it's just neutral.

Nicely said, Kay.

(Btw, someone must be listening to you because my toothache is gone )

Fair enough

Huzzah about the toothache (although I'm sure other people were praying too, He must have listened to them instead... )

(Now there's some dodgy theology, Kay ... )