Symposium of Abrahamic Faiths

bismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The following is selected from An Nawawi foundation’s paper by  Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah.
Today, it has become part of the generally accepted ecumenical lexicon to speak of the “Abrahamic faiths, ”since the expression accurately reflects that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam invoke the God of Abraham a.s and share a host of monotheistic beliefs and values. The Qur’an calls Islam the religion of Abraham a.s (millat Ibrahim).

From the Qur’an:

“Then we revealed unto you (Muhammad) that you follow the religion of Abraham, who did not belong to those associating false gods with God.” (Surah An Nahl[16]:123)

 

The thesis that Muslims worship the God of Abraham a.s is so central to Islam that even Muslim school children know it well. Muslims invoke salutations upon Abraham a.s and his family in their daily prayers, and the annual rites of pilgrimage to Mecca and the House of Abraham a.s (the Ka’ba) are tied to the Abrahamic story at every point. Islamic scripture repeatedly asserts the belief that Islam represents a pristine model of the Abrahamic dispensation.It instructs Muslims to declare their allegiance to Abraham’s God and his primordial teaching:

“Say(all of you): ‘We believe in God and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes of Israel and what was given unto Moses and to Jesus and what was given to all the prophets from their Lord. We draw no distinctions between any of them, and we are a people who submit themselves (willingly) to God.” (Surah Al Bakarah[2]:136)

From the Qur’anic standpoint, Muslims, Christians, and Jews should have no difficulty agreeing that they all turn to the God of Abraham, despite their theological and ritual differences. Historical arguments between their faiths have never been over what name to call Abraham’s God. As for Muslims, the Islamic concept of salvation history is rooted in the conviction that there is a lasting continuity between the dispensation of Muhammad (s.a.w) and the earlier ones of Abraham a.s, Moses a.s, Jesus a.s, and the Biblical and extra-Biblical prophets a.s. The Qur’an instructs Muslims to acknowledge openly and forthrightly that their God and the God of the followers of Biblical religion—Jews and Christians—is the same:
“Do not dispute with the people of the Bible (the Book—Jews and Christians) but in the best of manners, excepting those of them who commit oppression, and say (to them): ‘We believe in what was revealed to us and what was revealed to you. Our God and your God is one, and we are a people in (willing) submission to him.’” (Surah Al Ankabut[29]:49)