People use the word "God" to refer to numerous different ideas they have in their minds, almost to the point that the term has become practically meaningless for providing clues as to what the person is talking about or referring to, or which religion or scripture or whatever.
What most people call God, that is really not the same as what the Qur'an describes as Allah in detail.
It is an attempt at Muslim Propaganda and Apologetics when they say "God and Allah are the same" and it is true that Muslims frequently use the word "God" and "Allah" to mean the same thing, but when people are talking about "God" and aren't Muslims, they are not referring to what the Muslims refer to as Allah. Even among Muslims, they differ regarding Allah, but much less so than the people who are not Muslims. Also, Muslims don't "own" the word "Allah", they are just the ones dominantly using it or using it most frequently and have a massive population overall.
This might encourage me to make my thread idea about the different sorts of Gods people have and dividing them into a few neat factions jumbled together to make it easier.
It can also be said, and more confusion is added by this, that the Jesus of the Qur'an differs from the Jesus of the Gospels, the Moses differs from the Moses of the Bible, the Noah is different, they are all different, even though they are meant to refer to the very same figures, the stories that are told even resemble each other, but the characters and their psychology and behaviors appear to be somewhat different or even different enough to consider them totally different characters who are not even the same people, like two different movies played by two different people representing some version of some similar stories and other different stories.
The Qur'an and the Bible are not really as compatible as people make it seem, and even less compatible is Christian Theology and the Theology of the Qur'an.
The Muslims also differ among each other or in their Theological ideas sometimes from what the Qur'an seems to clearly present.
So, if someone says they believe in Allah, I will assume they are possibly trying to speak favorably of the Islamic God, but overall, it means practically nothing, possibly only a little more than someone saying they believe in "God" or "God is Allah".
What people say is God, all differ from one another quite a bit, and practically none of them match up to what the Qur'an describes as Allah except in the very most vague sort of way. If someone says "Believe in Allah!" they won't even be able to confirm what it is the person believes if they say "Yes! I believe in Allah!".
Allah in the Qur'an is a very specific theological concept, and how to acquire knowledge of that particular theological concept, is to collect and remember all the descriptions provided throughout the Qur'an of Allah's qualities and actions and then it builds up so that one can understand what the Qur'an is talking about when it says The God or Allah.
Similarly, if someone says they worship Shiva, it means practically nothing to me, it informs me of practically nothing about their beliefs except that they are using a term popular among some people. There are lots of different ideas people have when they use the term. Allah and Shiva and God are all referring to the very same theological concept (ONLY SOMETIMES, BY SOME PEOPLE/TEXTS) and by others, these same words relate to entirely different ideas, ideas so different from each other they could never be considered the same, or even acceptable by the Theology seemingly presented in the Qur'an or certain Saivite texts or writings of certain Theologians or Philosophers.
All the term "Theist" even tells us, is that this person likes to present themselves as believing in some sort of power, generally an intelligent power, that had or has some sort of influence of some kind maybe, but really, nothing much is elucidated by one identifying as such.
I've even tried to question people on the particulars of their thoughts and theology and concepts, and mainly most people have under-developed seeming ideas, they haven't thought about it much it seems, and they find it much easier to just sort of get away with vaguely using terms and never thinking about it much, finding solidarity in their never being very clear or specific, even to themselves.
Mainstream Christians are not Muslims, and Mainstream Christianity is completely incompatible with Mainstream Islam, and the issues are all generally theological ones, and come down to who and what they are each referring to as God and who and what they consider their guide-books or rule-books or scriptures.
I use many different scriptures, to find quotes that seem to match up well with my own beliefs and reasoned ideas and concepts that I think are the truth, and so I find these quotes among these writings to present a compatible picture, but the followers of these various religions typically do not understand these things in these ways, and have very different ideas about things or ideas that may be unclear but "they know it ain't that!".
God, the Real God, My God, the Only God (haha, lol, everyone says that!) has certain signatures or clues which make it clear the same being is being referred to, or something more closely the same.
These are unusual little clues though, and clues that many can't accept.
A God who is "The Source of Evil" is one such clue, and another is "Controls Everything Whatsoever" is another clue, and also "Is Void / Absence of Limitations or Form", and "Is the Source of Change / Difference" might be thrown in, but a lot get credited with that, but not a lot of people understand or hear about this Void thing, Total Control, Source of Evil, or even one can add "Writer of All Experiences / Fates / Destiny".
If a God is "Only Good, Didn't Create Everything, Didn't Create Evil, Didn't Create Ex-Nihilo" this is not the same being, even if they are all calling it God.
So who are the ones who match up to this?
Also "Deluder, Misleader, Leading Some to Good, Some to Bad".
There is "Male God", "Androgynous God", "Void God", "Female God", and "No God At All".
Furthermore, there is "Good Only God" "Evil Source God" "Neutral / Passive God".
Most people who use the term "God" are speaking of "Good Only God" and sometimes also "Male God". Many who might mention "Void God" if they ever do, take it as "Neutral and Passive God" now.
The God that matches up across scriptures, is sometimes located also in the "Enemy Figure".
The Devil to the Christians matches up much better to Allah than the Trinitarian Omnibenevolent God does to the Qur'an's Allah.
Ahriman also matches up much better to Allah and Shiva than to the Christian Omnibenevolent God who matches more closely to Ahura Mazda in some ways, due to what writings like the Bundahishn claim of Ahriman, and other writings which make Ahriman to be "Void" and "Source of Evil" even "Source of Change, Movement, Differences".
Mara in Buddhism is again credited as being an evil being, and in many ways might match up to qualities and policies similar to those of Allah, but matching even better perhaps are those Mahayana terms like Avalokitesvara, Amitabha, Vairocana, Dharmakaya, Sunyata, and things like that, but these get split up between Void and Evil Source God.
The Kabbalistic writings might mention "Ayin" that is Void again, and the Old Testament clearly credits God as being the Source of Evil and Everything, Controlling Everything by Words or Narration of what is occurring or going to occur or whatever, yet it also presents writings which people have taken very literally which describe a God who is entirely not compatible with Allah due to anthropomorphic ideas (especially if taken very literally, as many today seem to be doing).
Very few Muslims even know that Allah is "Subhan" and still might have erroneous ideas, or think that God doesn't really create and control every single moment of their experience, or that God isn't actually the one who brings about all things we consider Evil, creating the concept as well as its execution and is not Omnibenevolent at all, and also turns "what is not so" into "what is so" and "what is so" into "what is not so", so is the true controller of all Truth and Untruth.
Few people acknowledge these things, and thus they are "calling upon" a "different number", they are dialing up a different idea, a different God. It ain't my God they are talking to, and that may also be why their only responses come in the form of imaginary things in their minds that have no reality, and they think God is far away or something or busy or not talking to them or whatever. That is likely because none of these Gods exist at all, they are non-existent, and they have no idea about what does exist.
What is Allah? Whatever you want it to be! So each of us should clarify, in as much clarity and detail as possible, what we are calling upon when we call upon God or Allah or Shiva.
I get away with using practically any name for God, and the reason for this is that I am very clear about how I am using these names and what I am referring to, and what I consider real and unreal.
Other people may use the same words, they may call upon Odin, but it ain't my Odin, nor is it even any "real" "anything". If you're not calling upon what is "real" you are not calling upon "anything", and it doesn't matter what name you use in the end, if your meaning is entirely wrong, and you are referring to something which has no existence at all, that is like crying in the wind, putting your face in water and yelling out.
