Big Question · Each faith in its own words
Is it the same God?
Three faiths, three kinds of answer, each in its own words.
Big Questions · Is it the same God?
Each faith in its own words Updated November 2026
Jews, Christians and Muslims all speak of the God of Abraham (peace be upon him). Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews call Him Allah. But is it the same God? Each tradition answers in its own way.
Christian answers
The same God, differently understood
Catholic teaching since 1965 (Nostra Aetate) says Muslims “adore the one God”. Pope John Paul II told young Muslims in Casablanca in 1985: “We believe in the same God.”
The same God intended
Some say Christians and Muslims mean the same God but describe Him so differently that “same” misleads. Miroslav Volf argues the conceptions are “similar but not identical”.
Not the same
Some evangelical theologians say God is known only as Trinity, so Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God. In 2015 the question divided Wheaton College.
Muslim and Jewish answers
The Qur'an tells Muslims to say to Jews and Christians: “Our God and your God is one” (29:46). Many Muslims hold that it is the same God, misunderstood in part by others; others stress the differences. Jewish thinkers, from Maimonides on, have generally held that Muslims worship the One God, and have debated the Christian Trinity.
What we say
We let each faith speak for itself, and we don't pick a winner. What everyone can agree on is the word: in Arabic, all three say Allah.
