The Quran – The Holy Book of the Islamic Faith
As any student of Islam knows, the Quran denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God or divine in any way. There is no secret about that in the slightest. In fact, this belief of Jesus being the Son of God is so horrific that it’s the justification for Jihad in Surah 9:29.
Surah 9:29 reads:
Fight those who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, nor abide by the religion of truth—from among those who received the Scripture—until they pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly.
In the next verse(30), we read of the justification for this warfare.
The Jews said, “Ezra is the son of God,” and the Christians said, “The Messiah is the son of God.” These are their statements, out of their mouths. They emulate the statements of those who blasphemed before. May God assail them! How deceived they are!
It’s certainly a serious offence. Now, Muslim apologists are quick to point out that many people in the Bible are referred to as the Son of God, not just Jesus Christ. Here are some examples:
And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my first-born son,
– Exodus 4:22
…the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
– Luke 3:38
The title Son of God isn’t necessarily divine but Christians believe it is in the case of Jesus Christ. The Quran thinks it’s a divine title as well. Also, in the Nicene Creed, there is a whole section of Jesus Christ as the Son. Keep in mind, lay Christians in the 7th century would would not have read much or any of the Bible. However, they would have been familiar with the major creeds of the Church including the Our Father, primitive versions of both the Hail Mary and the Jesus Prayer, and the Nicene Creed.
The way that Son of God is used in the Nicene Creed is certainly in the divine way. This was probably what the author of the Quran was exposed to.
Now, a divine title for Jesus Christ is The Word. In the prologue of John, we read:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
– John 1:1
As we read through the rest of the prologue with John, we figure out that this divine Word is none other than Jesus Christ. Now, in the Quran it has no problem calling Jesus the Word.
O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion, and do not say about God except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is the Messenger of God, and His Word that He conveyed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His messengers, and do not say, “Three.” Refrain—it is better for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him—that He should have a son. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and the earth, and God is a sufficient Protector.
– Surah 4:171
Why does the Quran go out of its way to deny a not necessarily divine title and affirm a fully divine title? My guess is that Quran primarily had exposure to the creeds and not in depth theology. It’s simply another piece of evidence that shows the Quran cannot be trusted.
Hello Allan i like this blog very much indeed and have learned a lot from it. As an aside i went to my local RC church yesterday as my wife really identifies as a RC, she is from the Philippines , and interestingly the talk by the priest was on the trinity. i think for the most part it went over the heads of most of the congregation nor did it have much importance to them by all appearances. The abbey we went yesterday to has a very large and expensive school attached to it where the priests are teachers. The priest gave a story about one of the children asking a very well thought of Abbott to explain the trinity to them. The Abbott said to the child ” the trinity is a mystery” and then clobbered the child over the head with a book. The priest thought this was a funny story although it really did happen . I thought it was inappropriate considering a long line of the Abbotts and priests from the school have gone prison for child sex abuse. That aside i thought it was enlightening that even in the RC church the trinity is not understood even after 2000 years.
You have a great knowledge of the jewish scriptures Allan may I ask if you have some sort of Jewish roots yourself as Ruhl sounds like a jewish name no offence intended.
“The Abbott said to the child ” the trinity is a mystery” and then clobbered the child over the head with a book.”
This is really unfortunate. The priest is obviously not doing his job. The Trinity is an important part of our faith and can’t just be shrugged off like that. It also isn’t that hard to explain actually. I hope that you meet better priests in the future.
God bless,
Allan
“Imam, if the Quran is Allah’s word and eternal and uncreated, then is it Allah? But how can that be since Allah is Tawhid?”
“You Mu’tazilite!” and the imam Mihna’d the student.
Also Richard, here is an older post that you might like.
http://allanruhl.com/four-sources-for-trinitarian-apologetics/