Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

Yesterday was Trinity Sunday. Christians love a God who is Trinity, who was born of Mary, who died on the Cross for us, Muslims a God who is and did none of these things. How then can they be said to worship the same God? Yet the word "Allah" simply means "God", in Arabic. God is the supreme being, the One to whom our service and love is due, who made all things.

It seems clear that someone whom two neighbours know as "Jones", who lives in the house on the hill, is the same person, even if each of them knows different things about him, or knows him differently. Each has a drawer full of letters from

Christians and Muslims

In the light of the Common Word initiative, in which 309 (and counting) Muslim leaders and academics from all branches of Islam agree on the truth that Islam and Christianity share common ground in the love of the One God, and love of neighbour, I thought the following passage from the late Fr Marie-Dominique Philippe's book Wherever He Goes: A Retreat on the Gospel of John (pp. 183-5) might be of interest. Fr Philippe is the founder of the Community of St John, and some years ago made several visits to Oxford.

"Apologetic arguments do not carry much weight today – fortunately. The Lord never did apologetics. He spoke the truth. 'The truth will set you free.' This is to be preferred; it is more evangelical. Apologetic arguments are always somewhat rhetorical and express but a partial truth. Today we are in need of a discovery of the truth in all its fullness. 'Why am I a Catholic and not Buddhist?' There are great Buddhists. I have encountered some. [And] I had a Muslim friend who, from what I could gather, had a mystical life, a