Do We Worship the Same God?: Comparing the Bible And the Qur'an

In Do We Worship the Same God? Comparing the Bible and the Qur’an, George Dardess writes that the book was designed as a guide for individuals and study groups. At the end of the introduction, the author, a permanent deacon, includes a prayer that opens with an invocation to God by the Qur’anic epithet “master of the universe” (sura 1:1) and concludes with a petition that seems a parody of ecumenical silliness: “Help us instead to keep our minds open, our spirits free, and our hearts joyful as we ponder: whether the God we both worship is you.”

Surprisingly, the book is much better than the above prayer would lead one to expect. Mr. Dardess, a permanent deacon, has devoted fifteen years to studying Arabic and the Qu’ran and is quite adept at selecting and commenting on parallel passages from the Bible and the Qu’ran that illustrate Christian and Muslim beliefs about topics such as the Creation, the birth of Jesus, the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and the Holy Spirit. Commendably, he does not try to minimize differences or claim that they are unimportant on an esoteric level, but in fact uses them to illustrate essential differences that lie at the heart of the two faiths. For example, in the final chapter, he quotes two very short passages from the Bible and Qu’ran to illustrate the very different feelings that Christians and Muslims have when thinking about God:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NRSV)

Say, O Mohammad: “He, God, is One. God is eternal, self-sufficient. He does not beget offspring, nor was he begotten. To him there is absolutely nothing comparable. (sura al-ikhlas “Purity” 112: 1-4)

For Christians then, God is distinguished principally by his mercy and loving-kindness; for Muslims by his oneness and incomparableness. Such an insight goes a long way to explaining the different psychologies of Christian and Muslim believers.

In other areas, the author is on less secure ground. Nowhere is this more apparent then in his discussion of jihad. Like some modern Muslims, Dardess much prefers to concentrate on the “greater jihad,” the inner struggle with oneself. As far the “lesser jihad” is concerned, the author treats it as little more than defense of the Muslim community, forced on Mohammed when his nascent religion was surrounded by hostile unbelievers. In contrast, the great scholar of Islam, Bernard Lewis, has written that “the overwhelming majority of early authorities, citing the relevant passages in the Qu’ran, the commentaries, and the traditions of the Prophet, discuss jihad in military terms” and that offensive jihad “is an obligation of the Muslim community as a whole”

Do We Worship the Same God is an intelligent and well-written introduction to the comparative study of Christianity and Islam. Its main weakness lies in the author’s enthusiasm for his subject, which leads him to ignore aspects of Islam, such as jihad, that undermine his ecumenical outlook.

(Published in Catholic Library World, June 2007) ( )