PLEASE DON'T CORRECT THIS TEXT UNLESS YOU ARE A NATIVE SPEAKER. Today we are going to discuss the difference between Jesus and Muhammad. To get straight to the point, I think the most important difference between Jesus and Muhammad is the nature of the God they proclaimed. Both Jesus and Muhammad taught that there is a single God, and yet they said very different things about who that God was and what that God demanded of us. One of the most important differences is related to God’s love towards those who hate him. The Qur’an clearly states that Allah loves those who do good deeds and follow his prophet, but that he hates the disbelievers (3:32), those who inflict injustice (3:57), and the evil doers (2:205). Hence, Allah’s love is conditional. He loves those who love him and hates those who hate him. Now, if you have read the Bible carefully, you would probably tell me that there are passages in the Old Testament that seem to indicate that God hates certain people. One of those passages is the one that says, “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong” (Psalm 5:5). Yet, this passage is nothing but a case of Semitic hyperbole. A Semitic hyperbole consists in stating something in excessively strong language to get one’s point across. However, Semitic hyperboles are not to be taken literally. What God is saying in the passage above is that he is very angry with the sinner, but this does not mean that he actually hates the sinner. We know this because of other passages that teach that God loves the wicked in spite of his wickedness. One of those passages is the following: “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). Therefore, we see that although God is extremely angry with the wicked, he still loves the wicked and wants to save him. The same message of universal love was also proclaimed by Jesus when he said: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:44-48). What Jesus is telling us is that we must love our enemies because we must be like our heavenly Father, who loves his enemies and those who hate him. Jesus is telling us that moral perfection demands that we love everyone no matter what they do. As we well know, this does not come naturally to human beings. As humans, our first impulse is to hate those who hate us. Hence, if man had created God in his own image, as some say, God would hate his enemies, just as men hate their enemies. In fact, although there are many religions in the world, nowhere do we find a God that loves his enemies, except in the Bible.