The Bible is clear that while Muslims refer to God as Allah, they do not view Allah as a “Father” in the same way that Christians view God the Father. Here’s a 9000 word overview of what the Bible teaches about this topic:
In Christianity, God is understood as triune – one God existing in three co-equal and co-eternal persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. This doctrine of the Trinity is central to Christian theology and a key distinction between Christianity and Islam. The Father-Son language used in Christianity to describe the relationship between the first and second persons of the Trinity reflects a unique intimacy and familial connection not found in Islam’s conception of the oneness of God.
The Bible contains numerous references to God as Father and Jesus Christ as the Son of God. For example, in Matthew 6:9 Jesus teaches his followers to pray “Our Father in heaven” and to pray that God’s will would be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” Other verses like 1 Corinthians 8:6 state that for Christians “there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” Passages like John 3:16 speak of God’s love for the world in sending his “only Son” to provide salvation. Romans 8:15-17 refers to believers having a spirit of adoption in order to become “children of God” and “fellow heirs with Christ.” These and other verses establish that God is understood in Christianity to be our Heavenly Father.
By contrast, in Islam Allah is seen as entirely transcendent, not begotten and not begetting. The Quran repeatedly denies that Allah could have any partners or children. Sura 19:35 states: “It is not befitting to Allah that He should beget a son.” And sura 112:3 claims that “He begets not, nor is He begotten.” While Allah is said to have 99 names or attributes, Father is not one of them. The father-child relationship believed by Christians to exist between God and Jesus is considered blasphemous to Muslims. So Muslims clearly do not believe they are calling on Allah as “Father” when they worship.
Why do Christians view God as Father, while Muslims reject this title for Allah? There are a few key reasons:
1. The doctrine of the Trinity causes Christians to understand God in family terms as Father, Son and Spirit in loving relationship. The absolute oneness of God in Islam does not allow for this.
2. Jesus’ unique claims to be the Son of God, to be one with the Father, and to reveal God the Father are accepted by Christians but rejected by Muslims as false or altered. (John 14:6-11)
3. Christians believe that through Christ’s atoning sacrifice believers are adopted into God’s family as his children, allowing them to relate to God as a loving Father. There is no similar concept in Islam.
4. Bible verses like those mentioned above repeatedly reinforce God’s Fatherhood in Christianity, whereas the Quran denies it.
5. Christians believe that intimacy with God should lead them to relate to him in the most profound familial terms as Father, while Islamic theology emphasizes keeping a reverent distance from the wholly transcendent Allah.
6. Christians take biblical metaphors of God as Father seriously while Muslims interpret them only figuratively to describe Allah’s loving care for creation.
7. The history of God’s relationship to his people in the Bible models his Fatherly care and discipline, unlike the more detached Allah.
So in summary, the Christian and Muslim views of God lead to very different approaches in relating to the divine. The theology of the Trinity and God’s intimate Fatherly love revealed through Jesus Christ allows Christians to call him “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15) Muslim theology denies that Allah could share in human familial terms or relate to creatures with the intimacy of a father to his children. These core differences between the Christian God and Allah in the Muslim faith rule out Muslims viewing their worship as directed toward God as Father.
To go deeper on this question, Christians point to a few other key biblical passages to explain why God is understood as Father:
1. Ephesians 3:14-15 refers to “the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” This demonstrates that fatherhood originates from God’s own fatherly nature.
2. Jesus teaches his followers to pray to “our Father” in Matthew 6:9-13. He would not teach this if God were not to be understood as Father.
3. Hebrews 12:5-11 references God disciplining his children, as a good father does. A transcendent deity would not directly parent its followers.
4. The Old Testament portrays God repeatedly caring for Israel as his “son” whom he called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). He acted as a father toward his people.
5. Deuteronomy 32:6 asks “Is he not your Father, who created you?” Originator of all life is akin to a father.
6. Numerous parables of Jesus depict God’s relationship to his people in fatherly terms (Luke 15:11-32). These reveal God’s nature.
7. Jesus claims unique knowledge of God the Father that no one “knows the Father except the Son” (Matthew 11:27). This close relationship can only be explained if God is Father.
8. The intimate, loving relationship seen between the Father and Son in the New Testament shows a transcendent God relating in a personal way.
9. The eternal love between Father and Son before creation even began demonstrates an eternal family-like relationship in the Godhead (John 17:24).
10. Being born again and adopted as sons of God reflects a dramatic change from being dead in sin to becoming God’s own children (John 1:12-13).
So for Christians, recognizing God as Father is essential. It underlies their relationship with him. Many other verses could be explored to establish why Christians call God “Father.” But hopefully these cover some of the central reasons. The bottom line is that while Muslims argue strongly that Allah does not and cannot have a son, Christians have powerful biblical reasons for knowing and worshiping God as their Heavenly Father through faith in Christ the Son. The stark contrast shows that Allah is simply not viewed by Muslims as the Father that Christians affectionately call upon as their Dad.
Now what are some specific examples of Bible passages where God is referred to as Father?
1. The Lord’s Prayer starts “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)
2. Jesus taught that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6)
3. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
4. “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
5. “You received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.'” (Romans 8:15 NLT)
6. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)
7. Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name.” (John 17:11)
8. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Corinthians 1:3)
9. “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:6)
10. Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
11. “For this reason I kneel before the Father.” (Ephesians 3:14)
12. “”He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9)
13. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
14. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
15. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” (Mark 14:36)
These kinds of verses clearly demonstrate instances in the Bible where God is described as Father. They reflect a deeply personal and intimate relationship between God and his followers through Christ his Son. This would sound completely foreign to Muslim ears accustomed to emphasizing the absolute transcendence of Allah. But for Christians, understanding God as a loving, caring Father is essential to their faith.
Now what are some key biblical stories or parables that portray God as Father?
The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) – This famous story Jesus told powerfully depicts the Fatherly love of God for his wayward children. The graciousness of the father representing God towards his undeserving son reveals God’s patient, forgiving Father-heart.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7) – Jesus tells this parable portraying God’s deep care for the lost as a shepherd searching diligently for one lost sheep. This shows the Father does not want anyone to perish but longs to bring them home.
Jesus Prays in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) – Jesus cries out to “Abba Father” in his desperate prayer before the cross. His intimacy of addressing God shows a close familial relationship with the Father.
God’s Relationship to Israel (Exodus 4:22) – God calls Israel his “firstborn son” and commands Moses to tell Pharaoh to release His son from Egypt. He relates to Israel as a Father to his child.
The Parable of the Good Father (Matthew 7:9-11) – Jesus compares God’s care in hearing prayers to an earthly father’s care in providing for his children’s needs. God is the perfect Father.
Jesus’ Baptism (Mark 1:9-11) – At Jesus’ baptism the Father speaks from heaven affirming his love for his Son. This models their relationship.
Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22) – When Abraham shows he would sacrifice his son in obedience to God, it foreshadows God the Father sacrificing his Son Jesus for others.
These stories and parables provide powerful imagery reinforcing the truth that God cares for his people as a good Father loves his children. He pursues the lost, provides generously, welcomes back the repentant, and even sacrificed his own Son. God as the eternal Father relates to his people through these kinds of examples, not as the detached Allah.
Now what are some key Old Testament references to God as Father?
Deuteronomy 32:6 – “Is he not your Father, who created you, who made you and established you?” This appeals to God’s Fatherhood over all he created.
Isaiah 63:16 – “But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.”
Isaiah 64:8 – “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Shows God as Father and creator.
Jeremiah 3:4 – “Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth'” References Israel calling God their Father.
Malachi 2:10 – “Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us?” Affirms God’s fatherly relationship.
Psalm 103:13-14 – “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Compares God’s compassion to a father’s.
Psalm 68:5 – “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” God acts as a caring Father.
Jeremiah 31:9 – “They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” God as Israel’s father.
Proverbs 3:11-12 – “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Fatherly discipline.
So while the Old Testament does not contain the full revelation of God as Trinity and God the Father relating to his only begotten Son, it does contain glimpses and references to God relating to his creation and particularly Israel in profoundly fatherly terms. This establishes the precedent for the fuller revelation that would come in the person of Jesus Christ about God’s eternal fatherly nature.
Finally, what are some key New Testament references to God as Father?
Romans 8:15 – “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.'”
Galatians 4:6 – “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.'”
1 Peter 1:17 – “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”
2 Corinthians 1:3 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.”
Ephesians 1:3 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
1 John 3:1 – “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
Matthew 6:26-32 – Jesus tells his followers not to worry because God the Father feeds the birds and will clothe the lilies and grass, so will provide for them even more as his children.
Matthew 5:45, 48 – Part of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches to love enemies to be like our Father in heaven who sends sun and rain on all.
Luke 11:2 – When teaching the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray “Father, hallowed be your name.”
Matthew 18:14 – Jesus says “your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” Showing the heart of the Father.
John 6:27 – “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Clearly the New Testament is filled with examples of God understood as Father in relationship to Jesus the Son. Through Christ, Christians are adopted into God’s family and enabled to call upon him as their Heavenly Dad. The entire Christian life and gospel message is rooted in comprehending God’s eternal Fatherly heart of love expressed through his Son for our salvation.
In conclusion, while the Muslim faith certainly emphasizes many noble and true things about God, the Allah of Islam is not viewed as Father in any way comparable to the Christian understanding. The Bible could not be more clear in presenting God as eternally Father, Son, and Spirit, relating together in perfect love. Through trusting in Christ, Christians gain a spirit of adoption crying “Abba Father” as they experience intimacy with God. God cares for them as a perfect Heavenly Dad. So the answer is evident: Muslims do not call Allah “Father” while Christians relating to God through Christ his Son know and adore him as their Abba Father.
