THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY

 SESSION 1 

QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY? 

Part 1: Sharia or the Gospel? Two Different Solutions (read Preface and Chapters 1-4) 

Preface 

In his Preface Nabeel writes, "Both Islam and Christianity are monotheistic, believing there is 'no God but one,'but they differ fundamentally on who that God is: Allah or Jesus." What are the four ways that the words "Allah" and "God" are used by Muslims and Christians that may cause some confusion"? 

PART 1: SHARIA OR THE GOSPEL? TWO DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS 

Chapter 1 "The Way to Life" 

1. What are some surprising similarities between Islam and Christianity? 

2. How would you describe "the way to life" in both Islam and Christianity? What was your initial reaction to these two different ways? 

Chapter 2 "Comparing Sharia and the Gospel" 

3. What is the concept of prophet" in Islam and how is it different from that in Christianity? 

4. What is the Islamic solution for the problem of the human condition and how does it compare to the Christian worldview and solution? 

5. What are the Five Pillars of Islam that are the basic requirements of Sharia? 

6."So importantare the hadith that, after the Quran, they form the second rung of sharia." What are the hadith and how do they inform Islam? 

Chapter 3 "Questioning Grace" 

1. Nabeel is often asked an expected question,"If God just forgives all Christians and none of them go to hell, why would any Christian do good when they can sin all they want?" How would you answer this question? 

2. How would you answer a Muslim who asks,"How can God be just if he is willing to forgive serial killers and genocidal dictators? You're telling me Hitler could have gone to heaven if he had become a Christian?" 

3. How does Nabeel answer the common Muslim question, "How can Jesus die for the sins of mankind?" 

4. What reasons do Christians have to do good? 

Chapter 4 "Diagnosis and Deliverance" 

1. In spring of 2009, Nabeel volunteered with a humanitarian organization called Physicians for Peace helping with educating young mothers in the barrios of Santo Domingo. What was Nabeel's point in telling that story? 

2. According to Nabeel how do Islam and Christianity "diagnose" the spiritual condition of humanity? 

3. Nabeel makes three observations to support his view that"the gospel resonates with reality." What observation was most compelling for you? 

SESSION 2  

PART 2: TAWHID OR THE TRINITY? TWO DIFFERENT GODS 

Chapter 5 "The Islamic Inquisition" 

1."Tawhid teaches that Allah is absolutely one; and the conclusion naturally arose among some thinkers that since Allah is absolutely one, he cannot have attributes. Attributes would curb his absolute unity, being things he has as opposed to things he is." 

2. What theological problem did Tawhid create for early Muslim scholars regarding the Quran? 

3. What was the Mihna? What happened to Muslim thinkers who believed in the eternality of the Quran? 

4. What does bila kayf mean and how does it relate to the eternality of the Quran? 

5. What is the Sufi Muslim view, wahdat al-wujud that creates divisions among Muslims? 

Chapter 6 "Comparing Tawhid and the Trinity" 

1. What is the difference between "the eternal Word of God" in Islam and in Christianity and how does each faith have "a physical expression of God" in the world? 

2. Why is the idea-"person is not the same as being"-crucial to the discussion about Islamic Tawhid and the Christian Trinity? 

3. What are the five elements found repeatedly throughout the Bible that are best interpreted through the lens of the Trinity?