Surely, there is only one Creator; Qur'an introduces Him by different names, certainly God is not one of those names; but the word god -which itself seems to have Biblical roots- has been used as the English translation for any deity of worship; i.e. even an idolatrous individual, calls his idol, god.

Therefore firstly, when we hear someone using the word god, we should not automatically assume that he is a monotheist and worships the one and only God.

In addition, secondly, in the case of Jews, Christians and Muslims, we should also consider another very important issue; i.e. not even every Jew, Christian or Muslim who calls god, is actually addressing the one and only, Omnipotent and Omniscient God!

The one and only God -Allah- is a real Existence, and not an imaginary one. He is the only Ever-Existing phenomenon, He does not change; He has always been as He is, All-Perfect, and He shall always be. He has introduced Himself to humankind through human "Fetrat", and all His chosen Prophets -from Adam to Mohammad (PBUT)- have reminded humankind, not to forget the one and only Creator whom they know in their hearts and souls.

Throughout history -due to all distortions- instead of the Prophets' pure remindings of the one and only real Creator, humankind has adopted distorted visions of imaginary gods; for instance, a weak god who comes down and wrestles with his own creation and loses, or a limited god who fits in a mortal body with all its needs and weaknesses and … (please also see the article: "Scientists' views" in this site). These imagined gods are not the real one and only God; i.e. these are imaginary creatures created by human mind; in the same manner that idols are created by human hand. So, when we hear a Jew or a Christian praying to god, unfortunately he is only talking to an imaginary deity, even though he is using the word god, and that is so sad, and it is surely breaking the pure and heavenly hearts of the Prophets Moses and Jesus (PBUT); because Divine Prophets never wished these distortions and imaginations,, and the teachings of all Divine Prophets (PBUT) were essentially and originally -i.e. before distortions- monotheistic, and human distortions made them what they are.

Ironically, the Jews and Christians who have studied Qur'an, and had previously confessed that Qur'an is talking about the same God of Moses and Jesus (PBUT), and since at the same time, they have been unable to justify all illogical claims of the Bible, and therefore as the result they have actually no way but confirming the indications of Qur'an in regard to the distortions of Bible, thus they have lately changed gear and said that the God of Muslims is different from the god of Bible; i.e. they are propagating that Allah is the deity of a man called Mohammad!!!

They are making this false claim while even Christian historians have verified the distortions of Bible, and not of Qur'an; for instance, "Ernest Renon" has proven that many of the words mentioned in the Old and New testaments were not invented at all, at the times when it is claimed that these books were written. Surely with these new advertising methods they can only touch the unknowing public; because the knowing intellectuals never accept any undocumented and unscientific claims (we also refer readers to the article: "…Jesus…Mohammad…(PBUT)" in this site). Yes, the world we are living in, is a complicated one, full of dangerous games of power and money and … .

Thirdly, last but not least, there is another vital issue. It is not enough to call Allah; without believing in the "Baab" (Gateway) whom Allah has specified, calling Allah will not do us any good.

Mohammad son of Moslem -a very highly respected companion of the Imam- told the Imam that he was observing lots of worship and humbleness in some of the ones who did not accept and believe in the Imam, then Mohammad asked the Imam, whether their worship would be beneficial to them; the Imam (PBUH) responded:

O' Mohammad! Surely their parable is like the parable of a Group in Bani-Israel whom, after forty nights of obedience and worship, the signs of God's answer to their prayers, used to become evident for them. Once one of them endeavored and worshipped forty nights and then prayed, but did not see any sign of Allah's answer, so he went to the Prophet Eesa (Jesus) son of Maryam and complained, and asked Jesus to pray for him; Eesa (PBUH) washed up and prayed; Allah responded: O' Eesa! He is entering from other than the "Baab" and gateway that he must enter from, he is calling Me while he has doubts in regard to you in his heart; if he prays until his neck breaks, and his fingers fall, I will not answer his prayers. Following this Divine Revelation, the Prophet Eesa told that man: You are calling your Lord while you have doubts in your heart about His Prophet! The man responded: Yes, it is true, ask Allah to remove this from me and eliminate my doubts about you. Eesa (PBUH) prayed and Allah accepted, and that man became one of that Group whom after forty nights of praying, their prayers were answered… .

(Behaar-Ol-Anwaar, vol. 27, p.191;… )

As we have read in this Narration, that man believed in Allah and even generally accepted His chosen one, but had doubts in his true value; doubting and not realizing the Divinely bestowed status of the chosen ones as the Gateways and Means toward Allah's Acceptance, actually blocks our communication with the real God, because it is a direct disobedience of Him, If we wish to communicate with the real one and only God -not the god with our specifications- , it should be done as He has commanded; i.e. just saying that we believe in God and His chosen ones as conveyors of His Message, will not do; in addition, we have to go through the specified Means whom Allah has commanded and believe in their true value (please also see the articles: "Only God" and "Toward God" in this site). In the continuation of the same Hadith, we read:

…Then the Imam continued: Such is the case with us the Ahl-Ol-Bait; Allah does not accept the deed of a person while he has any doubt about us.

We -the Shi'ah- have many Ahl-Ol-Bait recommended prayers in which we call Allah directly and say, O' Allah!, but the key point for acceptance of Allah, is the confession and submission to the Ahl-Ol-Bait's "walaayat" with all our hearts and souls while we call Allah, because that is His command; of course, in other prayers we call the Ahl-Ol-Bait and ask them to pray for us, because that is also Allah's command; in both cases Allah is the goal, and the Ahl-Ol-Bait (PBUT) are the Allah-commanded Means and Gateways to achieve that goal.

Thus the difference between "O' Allah!" of the Shi'ah, and "O' Allah!" of the Sunni, is the Divinely commanded Walaayat; i.e. the difference between obedience and disobedience. The Shi'ah believes in Allah and the "walaayat" of Mohammad and his progeny, and not just in Mohammad being a delivery person as the Sunni does.

Let us look at another Hadith -among many such Hadithes- which again clarifies this vital difference; Imam Ali (PBUH) has said:

He who loves us the Ahl-Ol-Bait, his Faith will benefit him and his deeds will be accepted from him; and he who does not love us the Ahl-Ol-Bait, his Faith will not benefit him and his deeds will not be accepted from him, even of he constantly tries hard, nights and days.

(Behaar-Ol-Anwaar, vol. 68, p. 95;… )

At the end, we have to ask a question from those who say "O' god!", but believe in no religion and Prophet; how can you claim that you love God, without getting to know him and listening to what He has to say?!!! When a person does not care enough to find out what God likes and dislikes, and does what he/she desires, then he/she is actually worshiping his/her desires, and not the real one and only God; "Do you not see he who takes his desires as his god…" (Qur'an, Surah Jaasiah, verse 23; Surah Forqan, verse 43;… ). In regard to this issue, we invite you to look for the article: "Finding God" in this site.

O' our beloved Mahdi! Your and your fathers "walaayat" is that which has encompassed our hearts and souls; we are eagerly counting each and every moment, until your glorious Appearance when all humankind shall confess to your "walaayat", and will truly say: O' God!, O' Allah! … .

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