Introduction
Reynolds and Lawrence in their quest to expound on WHO IS ALLAH come out with different approaches explaining the concept Allah. Reynolds concentrates on the comparison between God and Allah. He also compares the context of the Holy Bible and the Quran. Lawrence on the other hand mostly expounds on the history of Islamic civilization. The two approaches major on the following themes:
Power vengeance and anger
The two approaches mainly focus on the power and vengeance of God and humans. Reynolds by quoting the Holy Bible and Quran texts illustrates the power, vengeance, and anger of GOD and Allah. For example, both the Quran and the Bible show God’s power when He delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He sent the ten plagues and separated the red sea waters to create a dry path for Israelites showed the power of God.
Lawrence on the other hand illustrates the theme of power and vengeance by portraying the Islamic religious leaders such as Prophet Mohammed (Gods messenger), Osama bin laden among others. Prophet Mohammed was such an influential leader and he brought all the Muslims together as he was believed to be Allah’s messenger. His influence and power are seen when he died and upon the appointment of Abu Bakr as his successor some tribes tended to withdraw from a treaty that bonded them with Mohammed.
Violence
Lawrence in his approach views Islam as a violent religion. It all starts from Prophet Mohammed who had left his native home mecca and went to exile in Medina due to violence from his Meccan kinsmen and opponents who had resisted Islamic.to counter this Mohammed planned 38 battles among them the battle of Badr, Uhud, and major battle of trench. His successor Abu Bakr waged Ridda wars to tribes that tried to withdraw after the death of Mohammed.
Similarly, Reynolds in his text shows acts of violence such as the battles waged as Israelites occupied the land of Canaan from the battle in Jericho to conquering all the tribes that lived there.
Comparison and contrast
Both approaches recognize God/Allah as all-powerful and he is in control of all humans and their fate. From the Quran we find Mohammed affiliating everything he does to Allah and in biblical context we also see Moses consulting God in most of his affairs.
Both approaches also show the acts of violence and vengeance in God/Allah and humans too.
On contrary, as Reynolds focuses on expounding on the God in the bible and the God in Quran, giving similarities of texts in both, criticizing the flaws in both Lawrence’s focus was on Islamic civilization, citing out occurrence’s from the birth of Islamic religion to 21st century.