God is Ab Not Rabb

Exodus 4:21-23; Jeremiah 31:9; Romans 8:14-16; Luke 15:11-32

While there is no simple directive that says that a Muslim cannot call God “Father”, the Quran castigates those who say, “we are the children of God”. The Quran poses the question and asks, “why would God punish you if you are really his children?” One might say that this is about those people, not about the faithful believer. Nonetheless, the culture among Muslims developed in this way, so that we don't refer to God as “father”. We refer to him as Lord and Creator. We don't say Ab, but we say, Rabb, our Sustainer and our Cherisher. He is the be-all and end-all. If we start thinking of him as Father, then perhaps this is presuming too much for ourselves as though we are children of God and we have a right over him.