FAQ in dawah: Christianity

Last updated: 23 June 2025 From the section FAQ in dawah

It's a collection of books written by different people
Bible means 'the books' or 'scroll'
It's made up of Hebrew Bible (known as 'Tanakh' or 'Old Testament') and New Testament
Tanakh made up of Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim. TaNaKh is an acronym of the 3
Torah, also known as 'Five Books of Moses' or 'Pentateuch', revealed to Moses (born over 3,300 years ago in c.1393 BCE and died aged 120)
New Testament revealed to Jesus (born circa 6 to 4 BCE and died in his 30s)
Jews do not accept New Testament as part of their scripture or as divinely inspired
We Muslims consider both Old and New Testament to be corrupted and not the original revelation sent to Moses and Jesus respectively

What is 1 god + 1 god + 1 god?
Are they co-equal?
Father is superior to Son and Holy Ghost, so there's a hierarchy in Trinity. How is that possible if they're one?
Father knew things which Jesus didn't (e.g. the Hour in Mark 13:32). But god knows everything. So Jesus can't be god and co-equal as one knows (i.e. Father) and one doesn't (i.e. Jesus)
Where in the Bible does Jesus say he's god?
Jesus explicitly mentioned in Bible he's a prophet (John 17:3, 1 Timothy 2:5)
Jesus taught everyone there's one true god (Mark 12:29)
If you believe Jesus is part of god, then why can't you just say god and not 'in the name of Jesus'?
What makes Christianity different to Hindu religion since the Hindus also believe god came in human form?
The idea of god being three divine persons or essence is alien to the teachings of Jesus and all the prophets
In Old Testament, the Lord told Moses 'a prophet like you' will come (i.e. Jesus). He didn't say a god incarnate, fully god fully man, or trinity (Deuteronomy 18:18)
Our natural disposition or 'fitra' (Ar-Rum 30:30) is to believe in one Creator and have basic moral values
Associating divinity to other than God is the greatest sin in Islam. It's unforgivable. And you're condemned to Hell forever

Multiple sons of God in Bible e.g. Jacob (Exodus 4:22), Ephraim (Jeremiah 31:9), Solomon (2 Samuel 7:13-14), Adam (Luke 3:38)
Even common people referred to as 'sons' or 'children' of God e.g. Deuteronomy 14:1, Romans 8:14, John 1:12, 1 John 3:1-2, Job 38:7, Job 1:6, Genesis 6:4, Genesis 6:2, etc.
'Son' not biological but a term of endearment just like a 'father' is in a church

In the Bible, Jesus said "if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). But Moses said nothing about original sin nor the future crucifixion or resurrection of Jesus in Old Testament
Sin cannot be inherited
Parents not responsible for children's sin and vice versa. Each will die for their own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16, 2 Kings 14:6)
Paul the Apostle, also named Saul of Tarsus, wrote 13 or 14 books of 27 books of New Testament. The original sin and crucifixion concept came from him (Romans 5:19)
Paul came up with the idea of shedding blood (Hebrews 9:22)
Muslims reject Christian's doctrine that "sin entered the world because of Adam and Eve disobeying god so god sent his only begotten son to make up for this"
Qur'an says Adam and Eve were deceived by Iblis / Satan to eat from the forbidden tree. But they prayed for forgiveness and were forgiven as Allah is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful (Al-A'raf 7:19-25, Al-Baqarah 2:35-37, Taha 20:115-122)
Allah says he'll forgive anyone if we repent (An-Nisa 4:110, Al-Ma'idah 5:39, Az-Zumar 39:53)
Allah's mercy is greater than His anger (Hadith, Sahih Muslim 37:6626)
Every son of Adam commits sin but the best is those who repent (Hadith, Sunan Ibn Majah 4251)

Can God, the Ever-Living, die? Or be killed?
Where did Jesus go after he died for 3 days (before he was resurrected)?
When Paul was alive, he didn't say anything about having a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus where he was going to persecute the followers of Jesus. This incident is written in the Books of Acts 9:1-6 by Luke, after Paul died
Qur'an says Jesus wasn't crucified and didn't die but "it was only made to appear so" and instead he was taken up alive by God (An-Nisa 4:157-158)

Multiple versions of Bible. Which one is authentic?
Some versions contain books which others don't have, and some have verses which contradicts other Bibles

If so, why didn't the Qur'an copy the errors in the Bible?
Qur'an corrects many mistakes and contradictions in the Bible
All eyes were on Muhammad (pbuh). If he was getting his information from someone or somewhere, his enemies would know
Qur'an is the speech of God and Bible is words of man. And not even Jesus's words but his followers

Jesus (peace be upon him) is a prophet, not god or son of god
A Jew by ethnicity but Muslim by belief as he submitted himself to the One Creator (which is what the word 'Muslim' means)
You cannot be a Muslim if you don't believe in Jesus
Miraculous birth. He's mother Mary was pious and virgin (Ali 'Imran 3:47). She has a chapter named after her in Qur'an (chapter 19 'Maryam')
Mentioned more times than Muhammad in Qur'an ('Isa' 25 times, 'al-Masih' or 'the Messiah' 8 times while 'Muhammad' 4 times and 'Ahmad' 1 time). Chapter or surah 47 'Muhammad' is named after the messenger though
Not killed but taken up and will return again to kill the false messiah and restore peace on earth. Afterward, Jesus will live a normal life and die

Worship the Father or God only
Pray like Jesus by putting head to the ground (Matthew 26:39). And wash or do 'wudu' before praying (Leviticus 16:4)
Men circumcised like Jesus (Luke 2:21)
Don't eat pork (Leviticus 11:7) and forbid drunkness (Ephesians 5:18)
Men keep long beard and wear robe like Jesus
Women cover hair and body like Mary (1 Corinthians 11:5-6), Jesus's mother
Fast like him. Jesus fasted 40 days (Luke 4:2) while Muslims fast 30 days during Ramadan
Greet everyone with 'Peace be upon you' (John 20:21) or 'As-salamu alaikum' in Arabic