The Belief and Worship of the Jews and Christians Is Void

1-6-2020 | IslamWeb

Question:

On a forum there was a debate about the God of the Jews and Christians and the God of the Muslims, Allah (SWT). Some claimed He was the same others claimed He wasn’t. The most important problem seems to be the name of God. While some said that the name of God is written in the Old Testament and it is “Jahwe” which means “I am” or “I am who I am”, others claimed that this name is false, because it does not appear in the Muslim sources at all. Moreover the name “Allah” does not mean “I am who I am”. Yet no one could say what the word “Allah” means. Then I came across fatwa 103087, where it says that “Jehovah” and “Jah” simply mean “Allah”. But in fatwa 103087 it also says that this God cannot be the same, since the God of the Jews and Christians is not perfect and they ascribe a son unto Him. Then there is a link to fatwa 86991 where it says that Muslims and the People of the Book surely do not worship the same God. So my question is: could the problem with the name of God be simply a result of the distortion of the Bible?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Allah, The Exalted, is our Lord and the Lord of the Jews and Christians, and He is the Lord and Master of all things. However, the worship of the Jews and Christians dedicated to Allah, The Exalted, is invalid and will be of no avail to them on the Day of Resurrection because it is marred with disbelief in Him and ascribing partners to Him. They disbelieved in Him when they ascribed attributes of imperfection to Him, disbelieved in His Messenger Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) associated partners with Him in worship, and took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Him, obeying them as they declared lawful what Allah has deemed unlawful and declared unlawful what He has deemed lawful. Allah, The Exalted, Says (what means): {And most of them believe not in Allah except while they associate others with Him.} [Quran 12:106] Al-Aloosi may Allaah have mercy upon him said in Rooh Al-Ma‘aani, interpreting this verse: “It was also narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas that it refers to the People of the Scripture who believed in Allah, The Exalted, but associated partners with Him by disbelieving in His Messenger Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) or by worshipping ‘Uzayr and ‘Eesa (Jesus), may Allaah exalt their mention.” [End of quote]

Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah may Allaah have mercy upon him said: “The Jews and the Christians say, ‘We worship Allah!’ They think that worshiping Him while associating partners with Him is valid worship, and they are liars in this respect.” [End of quote]

The bottom line is that the deity worshipped by the Jews and Christians, in principle, is Allah, The Exalted, but when they marred their worship of Him with Kufr (disbelief) and Shirk (ascribing partners unto Him), their worship became invalid.

Allah Knows best.

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