Are Christianity and Islam Compatible?
Are Christianity and Islam Compatible?
I came into the office last week with the intent of writing a blog piece on another element of our Shared Christian Heritage—Compassion. I was ready to go; fingers were limbered up for a 1,500-word theological deep-dive, but I made the mistake of logging into X (formerly Twitter) and found a particularly disturbing piece by Tucker Carlson in which he makes an impassioned plea to anyone that will listen that “Muslims love Jesus too.”
All thought of a nice, safe blog piece went out the window. But as I considered it over the past long weekend, I realized that perhaps this is exactly where true compassion begins. Real compassion isn’t found in papering over fundamental differences for the sake of political gain; it is found in telling the truth about the only Name by which we must be saved. To suggest that Christians and Muslims worship the same God isn’t expedient or even intelligent – it’s a form of spiritual malpractice.
It’s no big secret that the cultural left has been fascinated with Islam for going on a decade now (much longer in academic circles) and if we are really honest, it’s not hard to understand why. Given the lefts self-loathing of Western culture and history, which are evil and deserve to be torn down, Islam is a natural ally. But recently, a favorable view of Islam is being explored by some on the right.
Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson is one of those venturing into these waters. In Tucker’s mind, the culture of Islam, with its focus on traditional marriage, gender views, etc. is a natural ally in the cultural war against secularism. Let me be clear; secularism and our current brand of progressivism needs to be resisted. Islam, however, is no ally for a number of reasons. I will address three of them below. There are plenty more, but I don’t have that much space. Christians and the cultural right need to reject Tucker’s type of thinking because of 1) How Islam really views Jesus, 2) the theological chasm between real Christianity and what Islam believes and 3) the long, bloodstained witness of the history between Islam, Christianity, and Western culture.
The Jesus of the Quran: A Prophet, Not a Savior
To begin to understand why the claim “Muslims love Jesus” is so misleading, and dangerous, we must first understand exactly who the Islamic Jesus (Isa) really is. The Quran (the holy book of Islam) does mention Jesus frequently. Given that Islam was born in the 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula (specifically the region known as the Hijaz), and the prevalence of Christianity in the surrounding areas at the time, we should not find this surprising.
In the traditional Muslim view, Isa is one of the most important prophets sent by Allah. The Quran affirms his virgin birth to Mary, who, to my knowledge, is the only woman mentioned by name in the whole Quran. He is described as a worker of miracles—he spoke from the cradle and breathed life into birds made from clay—but always "by Allah’s permission." The Quran honors Jesus as a prophet. However, the Quran is very specific in what it denies. Jesus is not the Son of God (Allah has no son). He is not divine. He is not the savior.
To the orthodox Muslim, Jesus is one of the many precursors to Muhammed. He is a man, sent specifically to the Children of Israel to confirm the Torah and to announce the coming of a future messenger named Ahmad (Muhammed). In fact, traditional Islamic eschatology (end times beliefs) teaches that when Jesus returns, he won't return to judge the world as the Son of Man; he will return as a devout Muslim to "break the cross"—a symbolic and literal dismantling of the very heart of the Christian faith.
The Theological Chasm: The Trinity vs. Shirk
The love Muslims have for Jesus is a respect for one prophet among many that pointed toward Muhammed. This creates an irreconcilable theological chasm. Christianity is not a generic monotheism; it is a Trinitarian faith. We worship one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Quran does not merely offer a different perspective on Christian theology; it is an intentional rebuttal of the Christian theology. Take Surah 112, which is a staple of daily Muslim prayer: "He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent." Considering that the Nicene Creed states that Jesus Christ is “the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God…” This is a direct shot across the bow of the confession that Jesus is God. A truth confirmed by the New Testament beyond doubt (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9).
In Islamic theology, to claim God has a Son is the sin of shirk and is considered the highest form of blasphemy. Furthermore, the Quran (Surah 4:157) explicitly denies the Crucifixion, claiming it only appeared to happen. If there is no Cross, there is no Gospel. If Jesus is not the Eternal Son of God, there is no salvation. When pundits, like Tucker, try to tell you we worship the same God, they are ignoring the fact that the Islamic definition of God is built, in part, on the explicit rejection of the Fatherhood of God and the Deity of Christ.
Muslims may "love" Jesus, but only so long as that Jesus is subordinated to Muhammed and stripped of everything that makes him worth worshipping.
The Long, Bloodstained Witness of History
Even if you completely ignore the theology of the statement, the idea that Muslims love Jesus or Christians, or anyone but Muslims for that matter, completely collapses with a rudimentary knowledge of history. Raymond Ibrahim’s Swords and Scimitars provides a sobering overview of what 1,300 years of interaction between Christianity and Islam actually looks like. Muhammed initially tried to bring the Christian and Jewish populations under the banner of Islam during his early years in Mecca. After being rejected on theological grounds, his “revelations” took a turn. As he moved to Medina, the strategy shifted from religious persuasion to military conquest. Essentially saying, “If they will not be converted by preaching, they will be converted by blood.”
From the 7th-century conquests of the Christian Levant and North Africa to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the expansion of Islam was characterized by systematic bloodshed, treachery, and slavery:
To ignore this history for the sake of a modern culture war alliance, for either the left or the right, is the height of ignorance and for Christians is a betrayal of the memory of the martyrs who died rather than deny the Divinity of the Son.
Standing Firm: Love God, Love Neighbor
As we navigate these shifts, we must recognize that the Church is being squeezed by two competing, yet equally secular, socio-political frameworks.
To our left, we see a fascination with Islam rooted in the language of intersectionality and oppressed classes. Here, any critique of Islamic theology is dismissed as bigotry, and the mission of the Church is replaced by a secular quest for social equity. To our right, we see a growing fascination with Islam as a cultural ally; a partnership against the common enemy of secular progressivism.
As a church, we must reject both.
We cannot accept the narrative of the left, which asks us to stay silent for the sake of political inclusion. To treat our Muslim neighbors as members of a protected class rather than as individuals made in the image of God, who desperately need the Gospel, is not compassion; it is spiritual abandonment. Nor can we accept the emerging narrative of the right, which would have us trade the Scandal of the Cross for an alliance of traditionalism. A culture saved from secularism but lost to a Christless theology is not a culture that has been redeemed.
Our calling is to speak with a clear prophetic voice to a culture that is profoundly confused. We do not look for allies to save our way of life; we look to the Savior who has already won the victory. We should be the best neighbors possible to our Muslim friends in Ledyard and across Connecticut, but we must never stop telling them who Jesus really is: the Son of God, the King of Glory, and the only hope for a dying world.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
I came into the office last week with the intent of writing a blog piece on another element of our Shared Christian Heritage—Compassion. I was ready to go; fingers were limbered up for a 1,500-word theological deep-dive, but I made the mistake of logging into X (formerly Twitter) and found a particularly disturbing piece by Tucker Carlson in which he makes an impassioned plea to anyone that will listen that “Muslims love Jesus too.”
All thought of a nice, safe blog piece went out the window. But as I considered it over the past long weekend, I realized that perhaps this is exactly where true compassion begins. Real compassion isn’t found in papering over fundamental differences for the sake of political gain; it is found in telling the truth about the only Name by which we must be saved. To suggest that Christians and Muslims worship the same God isn’t expedient or even intelligent – it’s a form of spiritual malpractice.
It’s no big secret that the cultural left has been fascinated with Islam for going on a decade now (much longer in academic circles) and if we are really honest, it’s not hard to understand why. Given the lefts self-loathing of Western culture and history, which are evil and deserve to be torn down, Islam is a natural ally. But recently, a favorable view of Islam is being explored by some on the right.
Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson is one of those venturing into these waters. In Tucker’s mind, the culture of Islam, with its focus on traditional marriage, gender views, etc. is a natural ally in the cultural war against secularism. Let me be clear; secularism and our current brand of progressivism needs to be resisted. Islam, however, is no ally for a number of reasons. I will address three of them below. There are plenty more, but I don’t have that much space. Christians and the cultural right need to reject Tucker’s type of thinking because of 1) How Islam really views Jesus, 2) the theological chasm between real Christianity and what Islam believes and 3) the long, bloodstained witness of the history between Islam, Christianity, and Western culture.
The Jesus of the Quran: A Prophet, Not a Savior
To begin to understand why the claim “Muslims love Jesus” is so misleading, and dangerous, we must first understand exactly who the Islamic Jesus (Isa) really is. The Quran (the holy book of Islam) does mention Jesus frequently. Given that Islam was born in the 7th century in the Arabian Peninsula (specifically the region known as the Hijaz), and the prevalence of Christianity in the surrounding areas at the time, we should not find this surprising.
In the traditional Muslim view, Isa is one of the most important prophets sent by Allah. The Quran affirms his virgin birth to Mary, who, to my knowledge, is the only woman mentioned by name in the whole Quran. He is described as a worker of miracles—he spoke from the cradle and breathed life into birds made from clay—but always "by Allah’s permission." The Quran honors Jesus as a prophet. However, the Quran is very specific in what it denies. Jesus is not the Son of God (Allah has no son). He is not divine. He is not the savior.
To the orthodox Muslim, Jesus is one of the many precursors to Muhammed. He is a man, sent specifically to the Children of Israel to confirm the Torah and to announce the coming of a future messenger named Ahmad (Muhammed). In fact, traditional Islamic eschatology (end times beliefs) teaches that when Jesus returns, he won't return to judge the world as the Son of Man; he will return as a devout Muslim to "break the cross"—a symbolic and literal dismantling of the very heart of the Christian faith.
The Theological Chasm: The Trinity vs. Shirk
The love Muslims have for Jesus is a respect for one prophet among many that pointed toward Muhammed. This creates an irreconcilable theological chasm. Christianity is not a generic monotheism; it is a Trinitarian faith. We worship one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Quran does not merely offer a different perspective on Christian theology; it is an intentional rebuttal of the Christian theology. Take Surah 112, which is a staple of daily Muslim prayer: "He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent." Considering that the Nicene Creed states that Jesus Christ is “the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God…” This is a direct shot across the bow of the confession that Jesus is God. A truth confirmed by the New Testament beyond doubt (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9).
In Islamic theology, to claim God has a Son is the sin of shirk and is considered the highest form of blasphemy. Furthermore, the Quran (Surah 4:157) explicitly denies the Crucifixion, claiming it only appeared to happen. If there is no Cross, there is no Gospel. If Jesus is not the Eternal Son of God, there is no salvation. When pundits, like Tucker, try to tell you we worship the same God, they are ignoring the fact that the Islamic definition of God is built, in part, on the explicit rejection of the Fatherhood of God and the Deity of Christ.
Muslims may "love" Jesus, but only so long as that Jesus is subordinated to Muhammed and stripped of everything that makes him worth worshipping.
The Long, Bloodstained Witness of History
Even if you completely ignore the theology of the statement, the idea that Muslims love Jesus or Christians, or anyone but Muslims for that matter, completely collapses with a rudimentary knowledge of history. Raymond Ibrahim’s Swords and Scimitars provides a sobering overview of what 1,300 years of interaction between Christianity and Islam actually looks like. Muhammed initially tried to bring the Christian and Jewish populations under the banner of Islam during his early years in Mecca. After being rejected on theological grounds, his “revelations” took a turn. As he moved to Medina, the strategy shifted from religious persuasion to military conquest. Essentially saying, “If they will not be converted by preaching, they will be converted by blood.”
From the 7th-century conquests of the Christian Levant and North Africa to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the expansion of Islam was characterized by systematic bloodshed, treachery, and slavery:
- Conquest: Two-thirds of the formerly Christian world was subsumed by Islamic jihad within a century of its inception in the 7th century. These wars continued across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe for centuries.
- Treachery: Treaties (or Hudnas) were historically used as tactical pauses to regroup before resuming the fight, a lesson our European ancestors learned at great cost. Deception and treachery in Islam are looked on favorably, so long as they advance the causes of Allah.
- Slavery: Millions of Christians, and others, were abducted under a system of slavery that lasted well into the 19th century. It is estimated that 13-17 million people were abducted from the the regions of the Red Sea, to the villages of Eastern Europe, to the Sahara Desert, and the Indian Ocean.
To ignore this history for the sake of a modern culture war alliance, for either the left or the right, is the height of ignorance and for Christians is a betrayal of the memory of the martyrs who died rather than deny the Divinity of the Son.
Standing Firm: Love God, Love Neighbor
As we navigate these shifts, we must recognize that the Church is being squeezed by two competing, yet equally secular, socio-political frameworks.
To our left, we see a fascination with Islam rooted in the language of intersectionality and oppressed classes. Here, any critique of Islamic theology is dismissed as bigotry, and the mission of the Church is replaced by a secular quest for social equity. To our right, we see a growing fascination with Islam as a cultural ally; a partnership against the common enemy of secular progressivism.
As a church, we must reject both.
We cannot accept the narrative of the left, which asks us to stay silent for the sake of political inclusion. To treat our Muslim neighbors as members of a protected class rather than as individuals made in the image of God, who desperately need the Gospel, is not compassion; it is spiritual abandonment. Nor can we accept the emerging narrative of the right, which would have us trade the Scandal of the Cross for an alliance of traditionalism. A culture saved from secularism but lost to a Christless theology is not a culture that has been redeemed.
Our calling is to speak with a clear prophetic voice to a culture that is profoundly confused. We do not look for allies to save our way of life; we look to the Savior who has already won the victory. We should be the best neighbors possible to our Muslim friends in Ledyard and across Connecticut, but we must never stop telling them who Jesus really is: the Son of God, the King of Glory, and the only hope for a dying world.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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