The Koran and Jesus

The Qur’an or Koran, the holy book of Islam, was written between 610-632 A.D. by the Arabian “prophet” Muhammad. Islamic tradition says the holy book was revealed by the angel Gabriel during the prophet’s life. The book contains many Judeo-Christian themes, places, and people including: Abraham, Moses, and even Jesus called “Isa the Messiah.” After roughly five centuries had passed between the transmission of the New Testament books under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Koran makes a startling assertion about the divinity of Christ. This brief post seeks to examine the defections found in the Islamic view of Christ in light of their revelation.

“O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector. (Sura 4:171)”

“Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve. Will they not then turn to Allah and ask His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. The Messiah, son of Marium is but an apostle; apostles before him have indeed passed away; and his mother was a truthful woman; they both used to eat food. See how We make the communications clear to them, then behold, how they are turned away. (Sura 5:72-75)”

“And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.(Sura 5:116)”

From these passages, one can see that Muhammad really knew very little about the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Muhammad failed to see that the orthodox view of the Trinity is comprised of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He also ignorantly asserted that Christians believed that Marium or Mary was a god. The Arabian prophet fails to understand the Tri-unity of the Christian God in two ways: (1) He assumes a familial relationship between God the father, God the mother, and the divine son Jesus. Sources indicate that he believed that there was a sexual union in the Incarnation of Christ. No Christian would assert such a blasphemous view of the Incarnation. (2) He viewed Christians as “tritheists” rather than Trinitarians. Trinitarians believe the Trinity is the doctrine that there is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence. The doctrine of the Trinity is found all throughout the Bible (Gen. 1:26, 3:22; Isa. 6:8; Matt. 3:16, 28:18-20; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:2-6; 1 Pet. 1:2; Jude 20-22). After thousands of years, Muslims continue to have a defective view of the Trinity, thus entailing a defective view of the divinity of Christ. The weight of evidence and theological trust is immense when one decides to believe the indwelling Spirit, the textual validity of Scripture, and apostolic witness compared to an Arabian “prophet” 600 years after the life of Christ. Dr. William Lane Craig who has debated various Muslims asks a very fitting question. ”Which is more apt to be historically reliable? A collection of documents (The New Testament), which was written down within the first generation while the eyewitnesses where still alive, or, a book (The Qur’an) written 600 years later, by a man, who had not even any first hand contact with the New Testament”