Some of my non-Muslim colleagues insist that it hardly made any difference whether one called God by the name of Jesus, Shiva, or Allah so long as we are praying to the same God. Is their understanding correct?
Answer
It’s not quite as much the name as it is the concept and attributes associated with God that are important. Allah is the name of the one and the only God, who is the creator and the sustainer of the world, He has no partner, no sons, daughters, and no assistants. He hears our prayers and responds to them directly. He clarifies in the Quran that He has always informed humans about Himself in the earlier scriptures the same way as He has done in the Quran. If those who believe that God has partners think they are right, the Quran says, they should either present an intellectual argument for it or they should give God’s own statement to confirm it.
If the understanding about Jesus and Shiva is the same as it is about Allah, the God, as mentioned above, we will have no objections to using them for the God. But are our friends prepared to confirm that these names stand for nothing but the deity whose attributes are the same as that of Allah?