Dear Arno Froese, 

Recently, a new religion called “Chrislam” has come to my attention. It is my understanding that Chrislam, sometimes called “the emerging church,” is a blend of Christianity and Islam. Furthermore, it is also my understanding that in Chrislam, they preach from both the Bible and the Qur’an. I pray that you do not get swept up in this movement or new religion.

Many years ago, perhaps as early as the 2005-06 era, you and I exchanged numerous letters or emails wherein you were attempting to convince me that both Allah and Jehovah were one and the same; just as our Jesus and the Hebrew Messiah or Yeshua are one and the same. 

-D. Martinez, FL

Answer: “Chrislam” is an attempt to unite the two religions. That, of course, does not represent true Bible-believing Christianity.

Your statement, “You were attempting to convince me that both Allah and Jehovah were one and the same” is dangerously misleading. We are speaking of languages, not of the identity of the God of Israel or the god of Islam. Most of the European languages utilize Latin letters; thus, we come up with the Arabic word “Allah.” “Jehovah” is Hebrew. When a Muslim prays to Allah, he is not praying to the same God. Just recently, I talked to one of our coworkers in Switzerland, a former Palestinian Muslim who converted to a living faith in Jesus Christ. I asked the simple question, “When you pray, for example, ‘Thank you God,’ how would you say it in your language?” The answer: “Shukran Allah.”

“Jehovah” has been translated in hundreds of languages; in English, it reads “God” but quite differently in other languages. For example: Isten – Hungarian; Gott – German; Bog – Serbian; Dios – Spanish; Jumala – Finnish; Gud – Swedish/Norwegian/Danish; Allah – Arabic; Eloh – Hebrew; Deus – Latin; Duw – Welsh. As you see, the translations are limited to Latin letters; it gets more complicated in other forms of writing.

To help you understand, here is my question: when Mormons pray to the god imprinted on US currency, do they pray to the same God as you?