Concept of God in Christianity and Islam ( Shabir's Opening Statement - 2 of 3 )

What is God like? Do Muslims believe the Judeo-Christian god is the same god as the Muslim god? Do Christians believe that the Muslim god is their god, worshiped differently? How many gods do Christians have? A truly remarkable series of four debates held at four Canadian universities on four different questions. Representing the Muslim perspective was Shabir Ally: Shabir Ally has earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, with a specialization in Biblical Literature, and an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Quranic Exegesis. He is now in his fourth year of Ph.D studies in Quranic Exegesis at the University of Toronto. He is the president of the Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International in Toronto where he functions as Imam. He travels internationally to represent Islam in public lectures and interfaith dialogues. He explains Islam on a weekly television program called "Let the Quran Speak. He's the author of the book " Is Jesus God? The Bible Says No ! " Representing the Christian side was Dr. William Lane Craig: Dr. William is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Jan and their two teenage children Charity and John. At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). Tape 3: "The Concept of God in Islam and Christianity", Craig argues for a Trinitarian concept of God and objects that the Islamic concept involves inadequate doctrines of divine goodness and omnipotence, while Ally argues that the primitive Christian concept of God was Unitarian and that the Islamic conception of God is not morally defective. The Topic of Debate: The Concept of God in Christianity and Islam. Shabir Ally (www.Shabirally.com) vs. Dr. Willam Lane Craig (www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/) (McMaster University, Canada, March 6, 2002)