We can agree with both statements in the Qur’an, acknowledging that Muslims make reference to the one God of Abraham, but at the same time insisting that in the incarnation and in the Spirit’s coming, the one God of Abraham has revealed Himself in a way that cannot be rolled back. To deny the witness of the incarnation and the resurrection is to de

For Christians, the deity of Jesus, the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son, and the personality and deity of the Spirit are not side issues that can be relegated to the realm of “excesses.” These define the object of our worship; they define our relationship to God.

The answer is to be found in first recognizing its positive claim. The assertion is that since Abraham, the Prophets, and even Jesus actually were Muslims who all confessed “there is no god worthy of worship but Allah,” then it follows that we are all talking about the same God (the God of Noah, Abraham, David, and Jesus). However, this must be joi

One great irony regarding tawhid is that the word itself, in that form, does not appear in the Qur’an. The root, wahad, appears numerous times, but the very form that has become enshrined in Islamic theology is not in the Arabic text. This is relevant only in light of the frequent apologetic assertion that since Trinity does not appear in the Bible

Ask any sincere follower what defines Islam, and they will answer quickly. Tawhid, the glorious monotheistic truth, the heart of Islamic faith, is to the Muslim what the Trinity is to the Christian: the touchstone, the nonnegotiable, the definitional. Tawhid defines Islamic worship and proclamation. You must embrace it to enter into the faith, for

The Qur’an is just over half the length of the New Testament[25] and about one-fifth as long as the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).[26] It contains 114 surat,[27] roughly equivalent to the concept of a chapter, divided into ayat[28] of varying lengths, roughly equivalent to verses. Normally, the surat are named according to something mentioned i

Modern Islamic orthodoxy identifies Muhammad as the ideal man, the model to which all should seek to conform their behavior and lifestyle. Yet here, plainly the Qur’an displays acute embarrassment and must provide an apologetic, a defense of his actions.

This brings us once again to the problem of setting up Muhammad as the paragon of moral virtue for all people and for all time. He was a man of his day, deeply influenced by the mores and traditions of seventh-century Arabia. It’s when those mores and traditions are made specifically normative for all cultures and all times[17] that conflict is sur

Without question, the harshest denunciations of Muhammad have been based upon his marriage to the young Aisha, who was betrothed at age six. Islamic sources are almost unanimous in saying the marriage was consummated at age nine (one major source saying ten). The idea of a fifty-three- or fifty-four-year-old man together with a child of nine is the