The Scriptures teach us that all of humanity, believers and pagans alike, know of God, testifying that...
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. (Rom 1:19).Paul recognizes that the pagans in Athens worship the one true God, although in ignorance:
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:23).Muslims themselves declare that when they use their language's term for "God", that being Allah, they mean the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Do we accuse the French of worshiping a different God because they use the French word for God, Dieu?
Why is it that the Scriptures declare that the world can know of and even worship God (albeit in ignorance), without even knowing His name at all, but we can't admit the possibility that Muslims worship this same God in ignorance, using a different language?
Note, I'm not suggesting the Muslims worship God correctly. I'm merely suggesting that they, like us, are seeking God. Paul says this is by God's design, that God...
has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him. (Acts 17:26ff).Even Muslims are designed by God to grope for Him, in hope of finding Him.
Apollos knew some things about the Lord, but he needed Priscilla and Aquilla to take him aside and explain to him more accurately the way of God (Acts 18:24ff). Muslims also need to have the way of God explained more accurately to them. They recognize that the One, True God exists, and they're willing to worship Him. We should take them aside and explain to them more accurately the way of God, not cast them away as unworthy of seeking Him.
Originally published at:
http://kentwest.blogspot.com/2015/01/allah-is-god.html
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