He who comes to God: A comparison of the religious experience of Paul and Al-Ghazzālī

Abstract

"He that cometh to God must believe that he is." Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) The search for the divine is one of the basic intuitions of man. Every religion represents a human attempt to search for God. Both Christianity and Islam call mankind to an encounter with the living God. Yet in each religion there is also the awareness that man must come on God's terms. Christianity calls upon mankind to seek God through faith in Jesus Christ. In Islam there is the awareness that if man is to stand before God, he must come to Allah with a sound heart, (Sura 26:89), that is, a heart cleansed from the disease of disobedience. Both Christianity and Islam emphasize faith in God; in Christianity this faith in God is expressed by surrender to Jesus Christ, while in Islam faith in God is expressed by dependence on the validity of man's own works.