Muslims are right in saying that no creature should be associated with God in religious honors. However, the New Testament explains that Jesus is not merely a creature, but is the eternal, divine Son who humbled himself to share in our humanity to redeem us by his death (Philippians 2:5-8)….As Christians, we should help Muslims see that we honor Jesus in this way because doing so honors God.

[The first four installments of this series are available at Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.]

Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, recently exceeding two billion members worldwide. Its founder, Muhammad (ca. AD 570–632), delivered numerous recitations he said were messages from God in his native Arabic transmitted word for word after being commanded by the angel Gabriel in 610 to proclaim these messages. Those messages were compiled after his death in a book known as the Qur’an (which means recitations).

Arabia during Muhammad’s early years was predominantly polytheistic, worshiping numerous gods represented by manmade idols. However, other religions had a presence. There were settlements of Jews along the western coast of Arabia. The Christian representation consisted mainly of a mix of sects that had become isolated from the mainstream Christian movement, including Nestorians, Monophysites, and Ebionites. Muhammad’s first wife, Khadija, had a cousin named Waraqah who may have been affiliated with one of these Christian-based sects, though which one is unknown. Waraqah is sometimes described as a hanif, an advocate of an Arabic monotheism that traced its origins to Abraham through his first son Ishmael. The hanifs reportedly rejected idols and regarded Allah, an Arab deity not represented by an idol, as the true God. Traditionally, Muhammad himself has been considered as a hanif.

There is some uncertainty about Muhammad’s religious roots, but what we can tell from the Qur’an is that he fit the profile of the hanifs and that he was familiar with Judaism and Christianity but not with the Bible as such. Even granting the sincerity of his claim to have encountered Gabriel, it is evident that Muhammad’s revelatory messages were based on ideas and stories already circulating in his culture. Undoubtedly, the idea of one true God who had created the world, who prohibited all idolatry, and who commanded righteous behavior originated from the Abrahamic religious traditions. Muhammad’s monotheism was obviously superior to Arabic polytheism, but his monotheism came secondhand and was shaped by Jewish and Christian notions that he picked up in his environment.

The Qur’an emphasizes the greatness, mercy, power, and authority of Allah, especially through the use of names such as “the Most Merciful.” The foundational belief about Allah is his oneness (in Arabic, tawhid). In Islamic reflection on the teaching of the Qur’an, everything else that can be known about God follows logically from his oneness. Allah is the sole Creator and Ruler of the world, self-existent, omnipotent, omniscient, and totally unlike anything else. These descriptions are similar to the classical Christian conception of God but are radically understood in Islam based on a rigorous interpretation of tawhid. God does not reveal himself through visible or direct manifestations but instead communicates indirectly through angels and prophets.

The emphasis on the otherness of Allah results in a view of God as predominantly if not exclusively transcendent, arguably at the expense of his immanence (his nearness or presence in the world). In the early centuries of Islam, Muslim thinkers vigorously debated such issues as whether one could speak of attributes of Allah or whether the Qur’an was eternal. People on both sides of these arguments insisted that tawhid required acceptance of their position.

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