How do I explain to a friend who believes Christianity and Islam are extremely similar, that they really aren't?

They both worship the God of Abraham

True

They both follow an ancient text

Yeah, but one was written 600 years after the other, and Islam rejects certain parts of the Bible while still claiming that the Bible is the true Gospel

They both follow a prophet

Muhammad was a man who claims God spoke to him through Gabriel, despite having no way to back up what he said as the truth and at first even fearing that the "revelations" given to him by "God" were actually of Satan, became convinced otherwise by his very few followers who we really have no idea about what they were like, and later actually being deceived by Satan which he admitted himself, and then claimed "God" showed him another revelation, a verse that just magically happened to excuse him of his deception. (Sura 22:52 - And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet, but when he desired, the Shaitan [Satan] made a suggestion respecting his desire; but Allah annuls that which the Shaitan casts, then does Allah establish His communications, and Allah is Knowing, Wise.)

They both originated in the Middle East

Except Muhammad tried to gather followers of his religion in Mecca, a country that was dominated by a culture that worshipped multiple gods. Hence, the Satanic Verses. After Muhammad became upset that the Meccans refused to convert to Islam due to the fact that it preached against worshipping more than the one true Allah, he became angry and longed for peace and better relations with Mecca, so he then added the two Satanic Verses to basically please the Meccans and sway them in to converting to Islam. The Satanic Verses and his later statement that he was deceived by Satan is well-documented by several Islamic scholars that were companions of Muhammad at the time.

They both have billions of followers

"You are just like your true father, the devil; and you spend your time pursuing the things your father loves. He started out as a killer, and he cannot tolerate truth because he is void of anything true. At the core of his character, he is a liar; everything he speaks originates in these lies because he is the father of lies." (John 8:44) Muhammad encouraged the murder of all who didn't believe in Allah - who, by the way, was actually one of the 365 pagan gods, the mood god, in Mecca before Islam was created, whereas Allah is actually never used in the Hebrew or Greek translations of the Bible as some Muslims claim. However, the modern Quran now says God instead of Allah, despite Allah being used exclusively in the original versions - and again the part about being a liar can be pointed back to the Satanic Verses, and a true prophet wouldn't spend so much time trying to convince people that he isn't a liar, the Quran even called him a "mad poet" - and Surah 111 is dedicated to cursing his own aunt and uncle because they didn't believe him.

/r/Christianity Thread Parent