Are God and Allah one and the same?

seahorse

Please excuse my ignorance, but I know very little about the Islamic faith and I've always wanted to ask someone who knew what they were talking about are God and Allah just two different terms for the one supreme spiritual being?

philologos

Excuse the fact that I'm not a Muslim myself but I've been looking at the Qu'ran for the last while. It says the following about the unity of God.

Surah 4:171 wrote:

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was no more than a Messenger of Allah, and His word which he bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not 'Trinity' desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One God: glory be to Him: (far Exhalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.

wes

Allah is just God in Arabic. Arab Christians say Allah as well. Its just the Arab word for it.

seahorse

wes wrote:

Allah is just God in Arabic. Arab Christians say Allah as well. Its just the Arab word for it.

Oh I see, so it's just the same word translated. Thank you. What a fool am I? lol

Boston

But allah is different to the christian God yes?

seahorse

Jakkass wrote:

Excuse the fact that I'm not a Muslim myself but I've been looking at the Qu'ran for the last while. It says the following about the unity of God.

Oh well, I wont be converting to Islam any time soon so, lol. I do believe Jesus is the son of God, but yes I know there is intense debate among the religions on the subject. The Jehovah's witnesses also belive he's the son of God, but reject the trinity theory. I was surprised when I found that out.

InFront

Boston wrote:

But allah is different to the christian God yes?

I'm not sure, for all the differences between Islam and Christianity, God is the one aspect of unity, we both believe in the omniscient, omnipotent, merciful one God who has used prophets to spread his word.
I think the overwhelming consensus is that when Christians, Muslims and Jews pray, we are all praying to the same God. What varies is our means of worship, our theological beliefs and their applications, but God is one God, across the board, and this is the reason that as Muslims we have a special affinity with Christians and Jews.
I must admit I don't fully understand what implications the Trinity has, however, or how that effects their belief in monotheism.

As has been said, Allah is the Arabic word we use to say 'God'. The two words can be (and are) used interchangeably, although sometimes in the West saying "God" can be preferable because it emphasises the relationship to Christians and Jews, and does not make them feel like Islam is so foreign or alien to them.

philologos

In Islam, as far as I know. They believe that Allah was the same God to bring the Children of Israel from Egypt, and the story of Jacob is in the Qu'ran. The Qu'ran also refers to the desciples of Jesus claiming that they want to spread the word of Allah and follow Him. They also have references to the Jewish Bible and the New Testament (Injeel) but they consider these to have been altered.

Bear in mind the translation to English may bear some innaccuracies. However the Abdullah Yusif Ali translation is widely recognised.