Actually this is not the case. Otherwise there would be doubts about all the prophets as well as Mary, the mother of Jesus, all of whom claimed to have experienced (a) vision(s) from God and/or interaction(s) with angels, including the Angel Gabriel with regard to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Furthermore one could also make the same claim regarding Jesus when he spoke about Moses and the prophets on numerous occasions. The fact is, Christianity has it roots in Judaism and Islam has its roots in both Judaism and Christianity since all three Abrahamic faiths believe in the one, same God. Furthermore if the Christian Old Testament was radically and completely different than the Torah version and the Qu’ran was radically and completely different than the Torah and portions of the Christian New Testament, there would be a serious credibility issue since the One and same God would be unrecognizable depending on which scriptural work was read.

Of course, this explanation still did not satisfy him. “But I heard…” he began. Knowing where the conversation was headed, I stopped him. Sure people have maliciously and falsely demonized Mohammad as a pedophile, delusional and violent, but this should not invalidate his vision, redefine him as a person, nor subvert the Islamic faith as an apostasy. After all Jesus was falsely called a “sorcerer” and accused of leading Israel to “apostasy” [Baraitha Bab. Sanhedrin 43a] and the “illegitimate” son of “Stada” (which means “prostitute”) Sanhedrin 67a known as “Mary the hairdresser” [Tract Chagigah 4b]. Yet this equally revolting language does not strip Jesus of his messianic status to Christians, invalidate the Christian faith nor redefine his persona.

The fact is, society does not choose a prophet – God alone does. And when He does, many come from the lower echelon of society, lack education and defy existing social standards. For example God chose David to be king over his seven older brothers in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 and Jesus who had been born to a humble carpenter’s family that lacked wealth and status, revealed his resurrection first to Mary of Magdala in the patriarchal world of the day based on John 20:11-18. Therefore why wouldn’t God reveal Himself to Mohammad? After all Mohammad, unable to read and write was a good representation of the majority of the Arabian population of the day who were simple, primitive and lacked knowledge of His being and thus was easy for them to relate to.

God first revealed Himself to the Jews c. 609 BC since they were the “Chosen people.” He then revealed Himself to the Gentiles (“non-Jews”) through Jesus and the apostles starting around AD 30 since the God of love (1 John 4:8 and 16) could not remain hidden from the rest of His creation even if He did grant all salvation thanks to the power of the resurrection. From a narrower sense “Gentile” connotates best with Greek and Roman; Arabic peoples can be considered a cultural and distinct offshoot – thus God revealed Himself to Mohammad c. AD 610 to spread the Word among these peoples.

A millennium earlier when Xenophanes (570-475 BC) wrote, “God is one… The whole [of God] sees, the whole perceives, the whole hears… [H]e sets in motion all things…”[Xenophanes, fragments 1-3] a classic description of the Jewish God, Yahweh who was deemed as the one Creator who is all-powerful and all-knowing, possibly because of Judaic influence sometime in his life, the polytheistic society of Greece that could not identify with one who held a lofty status in society, rejected his premise. It was not until AD 51 when the Apostle Paul spoke in Athens the Greek people were ready to accept the monotheistic Judeo-Christian Creator (subsequently the same God of Islam) and Jesus, the Messiah.

“I never thought of it that way,” my Christian friend then declared. “Now it makes sense!”

The fact is, believers should not be separated. God has led each of us to the optimal path for our spiritual growth. We must not allow ourselves to be divided or turn against one another since in reality, the true measure of one’s faith is how God-like we are – thus by how much we love others. As ”God is love” [1 John 4:8 and 16] we are all called to love as He loves us, as difficult as that may be at times.

And so, as Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, whose life meant a lot more to him than his own life, we too must be willing to make our own sacrifices to spread God’s love through tolerance, respect, empathy and compassion – a message that should resonate among all faiths.

Finally as Muslims commemorate “Eid al-adha,” which in reality should be honored by Jews and Christians since it is equally a part of the Judeo-Christian heritage, and all of us should remember what true faith is, we can be reminded of the Prophet Mohammad’s words when he said, “You… will not believe until you love one another.”[1]

Abraham’s Sacrifice Riza-I Abassi (Stories of the Prophets) of Ishaq Nishaburi (Supp. Persan 1313, 40 r.) – Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Date: c. 1595.