God of the Bible and Allah of the Quran

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

PART ONE:

A recent article in Christian Post (dated Aug. 24, 2026) titled “James Talarico claims Muslims ‘worship same God as Christians,’ ‘love Jesus,’” pointed out that Talarico, Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, claimed in an interview that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Do they? This article seeks to answer that question from a biblical perspective.

As a Christian who believes in the inspiration, reliability, and authority of the Bible, I cannot accept the claim that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. While there are similarities in the concept of God in Christianity and Islam, it does not automatically follow that Christianity and Islam are speaking about the same God. Both religions believe in monotheism, both religions speak of God as creator and sustainer of the universe, both religions speak of God as revealer of scripture, both religions speak of God as Judge, and so on. However, there are irreconcilable differences between the Christian God and the Muslim God.

It is easy for a Muslim to say that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This is because Quran 29:46 says, “Do not argue with the People of the Book unless gracefully, except with those of them who act wrongfully. And say, “We believe in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to you. Our God and your God is (only) One. And to Him we (fully) submit.” By this verse the Muslims mean that the God Muhammad spoke of was the God of Abraham of Old Testament times and the God of Jesus of the New Testament times. In other words, according to the Muslims, Muhammad was not introducing any new God, he was speaking of the same God spoken of in the Old and the New Testaments.

However, this is not true.

The God of the Bible and the God of the Quran are two different Gods. For a Christian to say that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, he would have to give up foundational teachings of the Christian faith. A Christian cannot say Christians and Muslims worship the same God without distorting the doctrine of God (theology), the doctrine of Christ (Christology), the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology), the doctrine of Trinity, the doctrine of salvation (soteriology), the doctrine of the church (ecclesiology), the doctrine of mission (missiology), and the doctrine of end times (eschatology).

In other words, if a Christian claims that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, he has a very low view of the Bible (a low view of its revelations, a low view of its inspiration, a low of its authority, and a low view of its relevance for today).

Someone who holds a high view of Scripture – a high view of biblical revelation (its inspiration, authority, and relevance) cannot come to the same conclusion.

James Talarico has a low view of Scripture.

In the rest of the article, I will outline why I hold that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Here are ten reasons:

First, the Bible reveals God as triune.
The Quran explicitly rejects this doctrine. The God of the Bible is one God who has revealed Himself in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of Trinity. The Christian view of God is not tritheism or polytheism. It is trinitarian monotheism.

The Quran outrightly rejects this. Quran 4:171 is as follows:

“O People of the Book! Do not go to extremes regarding your faith; say nothing about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger of Allah and the fulfilment of His Word through Mary and a spirit (created by a command) from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers and do not say, “Trinity.” Stop!—for your own good. Allah is only One God. Glory be to Him! He is far above having a son! To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And Allah is sufficient as a Trustee of Affairs.”

More verses can be quoted in this regard, but the one above should suffice. Time and space does not allow discussions on what the Muslims think about the Trinity. Muhammad did not even know who the three persons of the Trinity were – he misidentified them in Quran 5:116:

“And (on Judgment Day) Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you ever ask the people to worship you and your mother as gods besides Allah?” He will answer, “Glory be to You! How could I ever say what I had no right to say? If I had said such a thing, you would have certainly known it. You know what is (hidden) within me, but I do not know what is within You. Indeed, You (alone) are the Knower of all unseen.”

Muhammad thought that Mary was a member of the Trinity.

One thing is clear, the Quran denies the doctrine of Trinity – one of the core doctrines of Christianity. The Trinity is not a peripheral issue; it concerns who God is.

Second, the God of the Bible is Father.
The Allah of the Quran is not Father in that sense. In the Bible, God is revealed as the Father of the eternal Son. Jesus repeatedly spoke of God as “my Father.” Jesus has a unique relationship with the Father.

John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” In John 17:5, Jesus describes his eternal relationship with the Father “before the world began.”

The Quran rejects the idea of the Fatherhood of Allah. Quran 19:88-92 says:

“They say, “The Most Compassionate has offspring. You have certainly made an outrageous claim, by which the heavens are about to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to crumble to pieces in protest of attributing children to the Most Compassionate. It does not befit (the majesty of) the Most Compassionate to have children.”

Again, we can point to other verses in the Quran. However, that is not necessary. What is important is this: the Fatherhood of God in relation to the Son of God is fundamental in the Christian understanding of God. Of course, the Bible does not say that the Father had any sexual relation with Mary. This is what Mohammad thought and this is what the Quran faultily assumes.

To say that the Christian God and the Muslim God is the same would imply, for the Christian, denying the Fatherhood of God – something that is fundamental to the identity of the God of the Bible.

Third, the Bible says Jesus is God.
The Quran says that Jesus is only a messenger. All Christian denominations agree on this fact: Christ is God. The New Testament is very clear on this. In fact, even the Old Testament that foretells the coming of Christ points to the deity of Christ in multiple places. Here is one example: Is. 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Muslims assume that the followers of Jesus deified Jesus or made him God. However, hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, the Old Testament speaks of the divine identity of the Coming One. Here is another example in Jeremiah. 23:5-6:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.”

While the Bible is emphatic on the deity of Christ, both in the Old and New Testaments, the Quran is emphatic in the denial of the deity of Christ. While the Quran does affirm that Jesus is historical, and that he was born of a virgin, among other things, it denies his deity.

James Talarico can say that Muslims “love Jesus” because they affirm some of the things that are told about Jesus in the Bible. However, he forgets the fact that he who denies the deity of Jesus has completely misunderstood the identity of Jesus. The verses quoted above show that the Quran denies the deity of Jesus emphatically.

It is clear: the God of the Bible and the God of the Quran are not the same.

Fourth, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, fully God and fully man, entered the created world as a Man.
The Logos (the Word) who was with God from the beginning, who created the universe, “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

The Old Testament has many prophecies about the Christ to come. Some of those spoke of his incarnation. Isaiah. 9:6 (quoted above) speaks of a child that is to be born. This child will be a male. What is the identity of this child? The identity is clear from the titles given to him in the same verse. He is God. He is called Everlasting Father and Mighty God. These titles can be used only for God. Who is this male child that Isaiah is talking about? Christians read this passage every Christmas because this verse is talking about the birth of Christ. The birth of God as a human. God in human flesh. This is what the Old Testament prophesied. This is what the New Testament testified about. God becoming Man.

The incarnation of Christ is not a small, peripheral, side-issue in Christian doctrine. It is one of those hinges on which hang many other doctrines of Christianity. Deny the deity of Christ, and Christianity crumbles. One cannot be a biblical Christian and deny the deity of Christ.

In order for someone to say the Christian God and the Muslim God are the same, they have to deny the incarnation of Christ. One cannot deny this doctrine and be justifiably called a Christian. The God of the Bible sent His Son to this earth. The Son of God tabernacled among us. The Quran denies the incarnation. The God of the Quran denies that happened. Through the Quran, the God of Islam asks his followers not to believe the ‘lie’ of incarnation.

The God of the Bible sent His Son into the world as a Man. The God of the Quran denies that this happened. The God of the Bible and the God of the Quran are not the same.

Fifth, according to the Bible, the Holy Spirit is God.
This article is being written for a Christian readership. I don’t need to prove the deity of the Holy Spirit here. All the three main branches of Christianity – the Catholic Church, the Protestant Churches, and the Orthodox Churches – have historically and traditionally affirmed and believed in the deity of the Holy Spirit. This again is central to our understanding of God. It is not a peripheral issue. It is a very foundational doctrine.

It seems Mohammed did not even have a clear idea about the Trinity. He was misinformed about who the three persons of the Trinity. He was ill-informed about what the Christians believed about the relationship between the Father and the Son. He assumed that the Christians believed that Jesus was the biological son of God. This the Christians did not believe at all.

Once again, when the Quran denies the Trinity, they deny a fundamental doctrine of Christianity. This is not a peripheral teaching of Christianity where we can all agree to disagree for the sake of peaceful co-existence.

One cannot be a knowledgeable, historical, and biblical Christian and say that the Christians and Muslims follow the same God. One who says so, as a Christian, has to get out of the boundaries of biblical-historical-traditional Christianity to do so.

A Christian who says Christians and Muslims worship the same God does not believe in the authority of Scripture. They have a low view of the Christian Scripture and a high view of the Muslim Scripture because they are affirming the Quran.

This concludes part 1 of this article. Part 2 will discuss how a Christian will have to give up fundamental biblical teachings on salvation, church, mission, judgement, and end-times, in order to say the God of the Christians and God of the Muslims are the same.

In fact, it would require you to reinterpret your entire Christian faith. One cannot be a biblical Christian and say ‘God of the Bible and God of the Quran are the same.’

James Talarico is not a biblical Christian.