Lesson Overview

The Trojan Horse of Interfaith Dialogue, Part 2 with Shahram Hadian

This session continues Hadian’s examination of the interfaith movement, taking up the remaining claims: that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, that Islam is an Abrahamic faith, and that Muslims already believe in Jesus as Messiah. He closes with the biblical passages he believes settle the question of partnership. Use this overview to review the key points after watching the full video.

Why the “Same God” Question Matters

Hadian argues this is the hinge of the entire debate. If the God of the Bible and the Allah of the Quran are the same, then interfaith partnership makes sense and evangelism becomes unnecessary. If they are not, the partnership rests on a false premise.

He notes several public episodes in which the claim was advanced: a reported effort by a large California church to find shared ground with a neighboring mosque, a professor at a Christian college suspended after asserting that both faiths worship the same God, and statements by prominent theologians and religious leaders affirming the same.

Comparing the Attributes

Rather than argue from impressions, Hadian works through specific points of doctrine.

On fatherhood, he notes that Islam rejects the idea that God has a son, and cites Surah 5:18, which dismisses the claim of Jews and Christians to be children of God. Christianity, by contrast, centers on adoption into God’s family.

On the Trinity, he returns to Surah 4:171, which instructs readers not to say “three.” He restates that Christians do not worship three Gods but one God in three persons, and that the Quranic charge misrepresents the doctrine it rejects.

On the deity of Christ, he cites Surah 5:72-73, which calls those who say the Messiah is God unbelievers and declares paradise forbidden to anyone who associates partners with Allah. His point is that the very confession that makes a person a Christian is, in that text, the thing that excludes a person from paradise.

On the crucifixion, he cites Surah 4:157, which states that they did not kill him nor crucify him, but that it was made to appear so. Hadian argues this is the decisive difference, because if there was no crucifixion there is no resurrection, no atonement, and no gospel.

The Isa of Islam

Hadian addresses the figure of Isa, the Jesus of the Quran and the Islamic traditions. In that account Isa is a prophet rather than the Son of God, and Islamic sources describe him returning at the end of time to break the cross, kill the swine, abolish the tax paid by non-Muslim subjects, and defeat the false messiah, after which all people are to submit to Islam.

His conclusion is that the two figures share a name but not an identity, mission, or nature. When a Muslim says “we honor Jesus,” a Christian hears something quite different from what is being said, and that misunderstanding is what makes the interfaith claim persuasive to people who have not read the sources.

The “Abrahamic Faith” Claim

Hadian challenges the phrase “the three Abrahamic faiths.” He points to Genesis 17, where God establishes the covenant specifically through Isaac, not Ishmael, while still promising to bless Ishmael. He observes that the Quranic account of the near-sacrifice does not name the son, and that the identification with Ishmael comes from later tradition.

He also cites Surah 3:67, which states that Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian but a Muslim. His point is that Islam does not simply share Abraham with the other two faiths; it claims him exclusively and reclassifies the patriarchs and prophets, including Jesus, as Muslims. So the phrase implies a shared inheritance that one side does not actually grant.

What Scripture Says About Partnership

Hadian closes with the passages he believes govern the question.

Second Corinthians 6:14-17 warns against being unequally yoked with unbelievers, asking what fellowship light has with darkness, and calls believers to come out and be separate. Second John 9-11 warns against receiving or greeting one who does not bring the doctrine of Christ. Galatians 1:8-9 pronounces a curse on anyone, even an angel, who preaches another gospel. First John 4:1-3 instructs believers to test the spirits, identifying the spirit of antichrist as that which denies that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh. Jude 3 calls believers to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.

He distinguishes between cooperation and communion. Believers may work alongside others on shared civic concerns, but these passages forbid spiritual partnership that implies the two are proclaiming the same message.

His Call to the Church

Hadian is emphatic that his aim is not hostility toward Muslims. He describes his own conversion and says he speaks because someone loved him enough to tell him the truth rather than affirm him where he was. He argues the interfaith approach is finally an unloving one, because it leaves people in a system he believes cannot save them.

His counsel is for believers to know their own doctrine first, read the primary sources rather than relying on summaries, ask their church leadership directly where the church stands, and then engage Muslims personally with the gospel. He frames the Great Commission as the alternative to interfaith dialogue: not a conversation ending in mutual affirmation, but an invitation to Christ.

A Note for Students

As in Part 1, this message mixes verifiable citations with contested interpretation. The Quranic passages, Islamic traditions, and biblical texts can all be looked up directly. The speaker’s accounts of specific churches, colleges, theologians, and religious leaders describe real public controversies, but his characterizations of those parties’ positions are disputed by them and should be checked against their own statements. Many Muslims and scholars would also describe Islamic teaching on these points differently than he does.

Key Terms

Isa: the Quranic figure named Jesus, honored as a prophet but not as the divine Son of God.

Shirk: the sin of associating partners with God, which Islamic texts treat as excluding a person from paradise.

Abrahamic faiths: the common phrase for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which Hadian argues obscures competing claims to Abraham.

Unequally yoked: Paul’s image in 2 Corinthians 6 for a spiritual partnership between believer and unbeliever.

Another gospel: Paul’s phrase in Galatians 1 for any message that alters the gospel of Christ.

Passages Referenced

Quran Surah 5:18, on the claim to be children of God.
Quran Surah 4:171, on the Trinity.
Quran Surah 5:72-73, on the deity of Christ.
Quran Surah 4:157, denying the crucifixion.
Quran Surah 3:67, describing Abraham as a Muslim.

Genesis 17, the covenant established through Isaac.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17, unequally yoked.
2 John 9-11, receiving those who do not bring the doctrine of Christ.
Galatians 1:8-9, another gospel.
1 John 4:1-3, testing the spirits.
Jude 3, contending for the faith.

Takeaway

The question is not whether Christians should love Muslims, which Scripture requires, but whether the two faiths proclaim the same God, the same Christ, and the same salvation, and Hadian argues that once the primary sources are read, the honest answer settles what kind of partnership is possible.