In a minute
All three faiths begin with one God, Creator of everything, who is not a thing among things. The Shema, the Creed and the first article of Islam each say it in their own way.
Jews and Muslims hold that God is absolutely one. Christians confess one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the main place the faiths part, and it is held sincerely on every side.
This page is a front door. The full answers are on pages that already exist, linked at the end.
Shared ground
One Creator
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Deuteronomy 6:4 · JPS 1917Jesus answered, "The greatest is: 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.'"
Mark 12:29 · WEBBESay: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all!
Qur'an 112:1-2 · Pickthall- Beyond any picture. Maimonides, who begins his list of principles with God's existence, unity and lack of a body, taught that God is not a body and that no unity in this world is like His. The Qur'an says:
Naught is as His likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer.
Qur'an 42:11 · Pickthall
The Nicene Creed speaks of "all that is, seen and unseen". That is why this site never draws God. - One God, many names. Jews say Adonai or HaShem rather than the Name itself. Muslims call on the 99 Names (The 99 Names). Christians pray "Our Father".
Honest differences
Honest differences
- Christians believe that the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that the Word who was "with God" and "was God" became flesh (John 1:1, 14, WEBBE). The Nicene Creed says Christ is "of one Being with the Father". Jewish tradition holds the Shema as a statement of absolute unity, and Islam does not accept the Trinity.
- The Qur'an says "say not 'Three'... Allah is only One Allah" (4:171, Pickthall), and it portrays Jesus himself as saying "Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord" (5:117, Pickthall). Christians do not read the Gospels or the Creed that way.
- Whether Jews, Christians and Muslims worship "the same God" is a question each tradition answers for itself. Some people in each tradition say yes, because all three look back to Abraham. Others say no, because they understand God differently. See Is it the same God? for each in its own words.
- Allah is the Arabic word for God. See what the word means.
A question to carry
If God is beyond every picture, what do you reach for when you want to speak to Him: a name, a word of thanks, or silence?
Read next
- Who is God to Jews, Christians and Muslims?
- Is it the same God?
- Judaism: One God
- Christianity: God the Father and Holy Spirit and Trinity
- Islam: Belief in Allah
Next in this set: Angels and jinn. Back to the overview.