Islamic view of the Trinity: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote>They do blaspheme who say: God is the third of three (thālith thalātha): for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.(Qur'an {{cite quran|5|73|style=nosup|expand=no}})</blockquote> |
<blockquote>They do blaspheme who say: God is the third of three (thālith thalātha): for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.(Qur'an {{cite quran|5|73|style=nosup|expand=no}})</blockquote> |
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Masson, William Montgomery Watt and Richard Bell have suggested that this verse criticizes a deviant form of Trinity that overstressed "the distinctiveness of the three persons at the expense of their unity as substance". Griffith |
Masson, [[William Montgomery Watt]] and Richard Bell have suggested that this verse criticizes a deviant form of Trinity that overstressed "the distinctiveness of the three persons at the expense of their unity as substance". Griffith holds that this verse is not a reference to any form of Trinity arguing that the Syriac literature often called Jesus as "the third of three". Griffith holds that this verse, like its neighboring verses 5:72-75, criticizes the notion of the equality of Jesus and God. According to David Thomas, Professor of Christianity and Islam at University of Birmingham, since the verses 5:72-73 begin with the expression "They surely disbelieve who say" ''(laqad kafara lladhīna qālū inna...)'', another possibility is that the Qur'an is intentionally simplifying the two doctrines of humanity and divinity of Jesus, and that of Trinity in order to "expose the weaknesses they each contain when analyzed from the strictly monotheistic perspective of the Qur'an": Verse 5:72 rejects a notion of an eternal God being identical to a human born of Mary. There is a firm emphasis on the human needs of Jesus and his mother. The verse 5:73 rejects the notion of God having partners in his divinity. According to David Thomas, the verse 5:73 teaches that one should not place other beings alongside the true God, and since the verse 5:75 mentions both Jesus and Mary had to eat food, one may infer that the Qur'an is charging Christians for putting both Jesus and Mary alongside the true God. <ref name="EoQ"/> |
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===Verse 5:116 === |
===Verse 5:116 === |
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Revision as of 20:28, 5 December 2008
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Within Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a communion of three distinct persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Within Islam however, such a concept of plurality within God is a denial of monotheism, and utterly foreign to the revelation found in Muslim scripture. The act of ascribing partners to God, whether they be sons, daughters, or other partners, is considered to be blasphemous in Islam.
Three Qur'anic verses may directly refer to this doctrine. The Qur'an asserts that God's absolute oneness rules out the possibility of another being sharing his sovereignty or nature.[1]
The Trinity in the Qur'an
The possible Qur'anic references to the doctrine of "Trinity" are verses 4:171, 5:73, and 5:116.[1]
Verse 4:171
O People of the Book, commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of God anything but the truth. The Messiah Jesus son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him; so believe in God and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist! It will be better for you: for God is One: Glory be to Him! (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs. (Qur'an 4:171)
Verse 5:73
They do blaspheme who say: God is the third of three (thālith thalātha): for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.(Qur'an 5:73)
Masson, William Montgomery Watt and Richard Bell have suggested that this verse criticizes a deviant form of Trinity that overstressed "the distinctiveness of the three persons at the expense of their unity as substance". Griffith holds that this verse is not a reference to any form of Trinity arguing that the Syriac literature often called Jesus as "the third of three". Griffith holds that this verse, like its neighboring verses 5:72-75, criticizes the notion of the equality of Jesus and God. According to David Thomas, Professor of Christianity and Islam at University of Birmingham, since the verses 5:72-73 begin with the expression "They surely disbelieve who say" (laqad kafara lladhīna qālū inna...), another possibility is that the Qur'an is intentionally simplifying the two doctrines of humanity and divinity of Jesus, and that of Trinity in order to "expose the weaknesses they each contain when analyzed from the strictly monotheistic perspective of the Qur'an": Verse 5:72 rejects a notion of an eternal God being identical to a human born of Mary. There is a firm emphasis on the human needs of Jesus and his mother. The verse 5:73 rejects the notion of God having partners in his divinity. According to David Thomas, the verse 5:73 teaches that one should not place other beings alongside the true God, and since the verse 5:75 mentions both Jesus and Mary had to eat food, one may infer that the Qur'an is charging Christians for putting both Jesus and Mary alongside the true God. [1]
Verse 5:116
When God says, 'Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, "Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God"?' he will say, 'May you be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say - if I had said such a thing You would have known it: You know all that is within me, though I do not know what is within You, You alone have full knowledge of things unseen (Qur'an 5:116)
This verse refers to what, in the view of the Qur'an, are the sayings falsely attributed to Jesus by Christians. According to David Thomas, strictly speaking, this verse need not be a reference to refutation of a version of Trinity, but rather as an example of shirk (claiming divinity for beings other than God) and as a "warning against excessive devotion to Jesus and extravagant veneration of Mary, a reminder linked to the central theme of the Qurʾān that there is only one God and he alone is to be worshipped." [1] It has been suggested that the Qur'an states the Christian concept of the Trinity to be God, Jesus, and Mary rather than the Holy Spirit, but this is not certain, since neither 5:116 nor 4:171 does not explicitly state this. Edward Hulmes - who nevertheless believes that the "Trinity" as mentioned in the Qur'an does include Mary - writes that the concern with Mary-worship may simply reflect "a recognition of the role accorded by local Christians to Mary as mother in a special sense."[2]