Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4, New International Version)
Likewise, Qur'an says that there is only one God - Allah:
1 Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2 Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3 He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4 And there is none like unto Him.
(Surah (chapter) 112, translation of Abdullah Yusufali)
Some Western people think that Muslims believe that Muhammad is God. This is not so. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last God's prophet and a human being. Many Muslims think that Christians believe in three Gods. Again, this is not so. Christians believe that God is one. Christian Trinity is not three separated and distinct God. The Trinity is one God.
As far as I know, Muslims believe that God of Qur'an and God of the Bible is the same God. However, Christians tend to disagree with this statement because Muslims do not believe in Trinity. On the other hand, Christians believe that God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament is the same God. Consequently, they believe that God of Judaism and God of Christianity is the same God. However, Jews do not believe in Trinity.
Muslims believe in God who created the universe, created Adam and Eve, sent people His Scriptures, including Torah (Pentateuch), Psalms, and Gospel, and made some people His prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ismael, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, and John the Baptist. Is this the same God? I think so.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (some parts - in Aramaic), Qur'an was written in Arabic. All these languages are Semitic, and have many things in common. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for God is Elohim. This word is plural from two words - El and Eloah. Both denote God. In Aramaic, the second word is Elah. In Arabic, the word for a god is ilah. Eloah, Elah, and ilah are obviously related.
In Islam, the most common name of God is Allah (it is commonly considered that there are 99 names of Allah, though there are actually more than 99). Some Western researchers say that Allah means "the God" (al+ilah). Al is the definite article in Arabic. However, Muslims reply that "the God" in Arabic is al-ilah.
In Hebrew and Arabic, there is the definite article. In Hebrew, the main form is "ha", in Arabic, the main form is "al". However, in Aramaic, there was no article. Instead, there was so called emphatic form with ending "-a". In some Syrian Aramaic dialect, the emphatic form for God was Alaha. Some scientists consider that Arabs borrowed this word, dropping the ending.
So, it seems that the original meaning of the word "Allah" is "the God" whether this form was constructed by Arabs or borrowed from Syrians. This word comes from the same root as Hebrew Elohim.
There are several opinions why the Hebrew word for God is usually used in plural. Many Christian theologians say that this is a hint that God is triune. However, the Old Testament never says clearly about the Trinity. Some secular researchers say that the plural form means that originally Jew were polytheists and only later became monotheists. However, there is nothing that would support this idea.
The third hypothesis is that Elohim is plural of majesty. The same is with the word Adonai. This word is usually translated as Lord, but literally means "my lords". Also, in some verses, God says about Himself "We". I think that this hypothesis is most probable. In Qur'an, Allah often says about Himself "We". However, Qur'an emphasizes that there is only one God. So, "We" is usually interpreted as plural of majesty. Actually, many other languages have plural of majesty. So, it is not something unusual.
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