My dear Muslim friends,
That Allah does not love the sinner is abundantly clear in the Quran. Note just a few of the many passages in the Quran addressing this topic:
“God loves not transgressors.” (2:190)
“He loves not creatures ungrateful or wicked.” (2:276)
“God loves not those who do wrong.” (3:57, 140)
“God loves not the arrogant the vainglorious.” (4:36)
Who is a sinner? Certainly the Quran regards anyone who rejects God as a sinner. But there is another person the Quran regards as a sinner. The person who once obeyed God, but turned away.
“Say: ‘Obey God and His Apostle; but if they turn back God loves not those who reject Faith.” (3:32)
The Quran has dozens of passages like this. It is a fact, nowhere in the Quran is God ever reported to love someone who does not love Him first, nor is Godi´s love ever used as the primary motivation to draw someone close to Him. In contrast, both the Torah and Injeel record that God loves everyone regardless of their sin.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:3-5)
Note the contrast between this passage and the Quran in 2:190
“God loves not transgressors.”
In both passages, people who have not yet turned to God are in focus. What a contrast! In the Quran, God simply does not love them. But if they turn, then God will love them. Whereas in the Injeel, God loves them and it is because of His love that He pursues a relationship with them.
In the Prophets, God’s love for man is illustrated by His willingness to endure our sin as He waits for us to come to our senses about His character.
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again and love Gomer, who is loved by her husband [Hosea], yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods….” (Hosea 3:1)
It is interesting that such a huge variance in the character of God’s love should exist between the two books? Mohammed claimed He was revealing the will of God, who also sent the Prophets and Isa. Both Moses and Isa characterized God as loving the unrighteous and desiring to draw the unrighteous to Himself by means of His love. This is something the Quran does not do.
Take your own normal relationships as an example. Certainly your ability to love and express your love is imperfect, being that you are only human. Yet the Quran ascribes a lesser ability to love, on the part of God, than even normal human beings who have rejected Him. Consider this: The vast majority of parents love their children unconditionally. Even when their children do wrong, their parents still love them and express their love to them in some fashion. There are many parents whose children have turned to gross immorality, or violence as a lifestyle. Some even turn against their parents more directly. Yet in the majority of cases, though those parents know their children have filled their lives with evil, they still love them and hope that their expressions of love will eventually turn their children back from the brink of destruction.
Nowhere in the Quran is God ever described in this manner. In fact, the opposite is true. He only loves those who obey or love Him first. The God of the Injeel loves deeply and unconditionally.