The Holy Trinity and al_Qur'an
'The Qur'an's
view of the Christian's view of God.'
Muslims
generally reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, one of the primary reasons
given would be the claim that the Qur'an denies this belief. The second reason
is that many Muslims claim that the Trinity purports to believe in three Gods,
whereas belief should be in only one God. I recently looked in the Pickthall
translation of the Qur'an[1], the index page revealed two surahs or verses that
refer to the Trinity, surah an-Nisa' 4:171 and surah al-Ma'idah 5:73[2].
Do Christians believe in three Gods?
The Bible outrightly pronounces that there is only one
God,
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the
Lord is one." Deut 6:4,
Mark 12:29, (see also Romans 3:29-10, James 2:19)
So why do so many Muslims misunderstand Christians as
believing in three Gods? To clear this up we need to read on.
Does the Qur'an mention the Trinity?
The
prerequisite for anything to be denied of the Qur'an is that the subject is
actually mentioned. So if the Qur'an mentions the word Trinity, then we do know
that it is indeed addressing the Trinity. If we look in some translations of
the Qur'an we find the following verses;
"Say not Trinity.. ...Allah is only one God" Surah 4:171 [4]
"They have truly disbelieved those who
say God is one of a trinity" Surah
5:73 [5]
Whilst some translations render the word 'Trinity',
others quote the word 'Trinity' in brackets after the word 'three' to indicate
that three refers to the trinity;
"Say not three! (Trinity) ..." 4:171 [3]
What
is interesting here is that not all translations of the Qur'an actually
translate the word 'Trinity' at all, in surahs 4:171 and 5:73, the Pickthall
translation, renders the word three.
"Say not three!..." 4:171 [1]
"They have truly disbelieved those who
say: Lo Allah is a third of three"
5:73 [1]
Are the translations correct in rendering the word
Trinity? We need to consider the following three facts
·
the Arabic word for the "Holy Trinity" is "al-thaaluuth al-aqdas"
·
The Arabic words used in
al_Qur'an for this verse is 'thalaathatun',
for example "walaa taqooloo
thalaathatun" (Surah an-Nisa' 4:171)
·
The word "thalaathatun" is the usual
cardinal number "three"
In
fact, the word "al-thaaluuth al-aqdas" is not to be found in the original Arabic text of the Qur'an. So in
answer to the question, the Qur'an does not
mention the word 'Trinity'. The next logical step would then be to consider
whether the Qur'an describes the belief in the Trinity and condemns this
belief.
Does Three not indicate the Trinity?
To recap, the word that is being condemned by the
Qur'an is Three rather than Trinity,
but could 'three' be an indirect reference to the doctrine of the Trinity?
Three
does indeed describe an element of the Trinity, but does it describe the full
meaning? In order to answer that question we need to consider what Trinity
actually means. It would be worthwhile pointing out that the word (not the
concept) Trinitas was actually
created by Tertullian in 2nd/3rd Century as a shorthand to express the triune nature of the one God as expressed in the Bible (as
opposed to the belief in three Gods as is commonly misunderstood by Muslims).
The word basically indicates three in one, or tri-unity.
Mentioning
the word 'three', describes only half the concept of trinity and cannot be
construed as addressing the doctrine. It would be similar to me mentioning the
word 'Cat' and expecting the hearer to assume I was talking about a Catfish,
rather than a feline that likes to eat fish. The listener would require more
information in order to grasp fully what I was to talk about. So it is with the
word three it is simply not sufficient to describe the Trinity.
The
Word 'three' does not convey the
meaning of Trinity, but three as a number. So it is evident that the word
Trinity isn't mentioned directly or indirectly in the Qur'an.
What other doctrine does 'three' refer to if not the Trinity?
Rather than speculating on what 'three' means, we should go directly to the Qur'an and let it speak
for itself. The other verse in the Qur'an that expands on the concept of
'three', is the following;
[al-Ma'idah 5:116] And
when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside
Allah? he saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had
no right. If I used to say it, then Thou knewest it. Thou knowest what is in my
mind, and I know not what is in Thy Mind. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower
of Things Hidden ?[1]
This is a very interesting verse, as the Qur'an is
directing itself to is a group of people who believe
·
Jesus and Mary are two
gods - 'me and my mother for two gods'
·
That God is worshipped
with these two other gods - 'beside
Allah'
This verse tells us what the three represents, a belief in a tritheism of Gods Jesus and Mary and Allah. The doctrine of the
Holy Trinity however, reveals the following
·
There is one God
·
The Godhead consists of
three persons Father,Son and Holy Spirit.
It
is quite clear that the belief condemned by the Qur'an is not the
Holy Trinity , more over such a doctrine is abhorrent to Christians as it
is to Muslims.
Who does the Qur'an address if not the Christians?
The verses that are mentioned in the Qur'an, do not condemn the doctrine of the
Trinity, rather there are no references to the Trinity in the Qur'an. So of
whom is this verse referring? Historical sources describe a heretical Christian
sect called the Collyridians or Mariyama, who existed within the same
geographical location and time frame as Muhummad would have. These sects did
believe in such a Tritheism, worshipping Mary the Mother of God through whom a
physical son, who were taken to be as two separate gods besides God.
The Bible does not mention the word Trinity why should the Qur'an?
This
is really a side argument which does not redress the fact al_Qur'an does not
refer to the Trinity.
However,
as mentioned before, the word (not the concept) Trinity was actually created by
Tertullian in 2nd/3rd Century as a shorthand to express the triune nature of
the Godhead as expressed in the Bible. So at the time that the Bible was
written the word, Trinity was not in
existence (although the concept always was), so it's no great shakes that the
Bible does not mention the word Trinity.
But obviously by the time the Qur'an was compiled, the word Trinity had been in existence for
three-four centuries.
But the Qur'an negates certain components of the Trinity
This
argument is only valid when the context
is correct. One particular verse of the Qur'an denies that God is the
Messiah Surah 5:72.
"They surely disbelieve who say: Lo
Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary" 5:72[1]
It is true that the doctrine of the Trinity teaches
that Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God. The concept of Jesus that is
being denied in the Qur'an, is not the same Jesus presented in the Bible. The
qura'nic Isa (or Jesus) is presented simply as a normal human being, this Surah
condemns those who elevate a something from a position of a man to God.
Interestingly
enough, as a Trinitarian Christian I would also agree with this verse in the qura'nic context. As Christians do not
believe in the Jesus as condemned in the Qur'an, who is a normal man elevate by
unbelievers to the position of God, who is a separate god to the gods Allah and
Mary. In the context of the Qur'an this verse simply denies the divinity of the
Jesus worshipped by the tritheistic Collyridian or Mariyama sect.
This
tritheistic belief is not christian, and christians would be among the first to
also condemn such a belief. The Christian belief however, is that the Son being
fully God, (who in union with the Father and Holy Spirit is one God), became a
man for the salvation of the world. Put simply, Christians believe that God
appeared on the earth as man (God becoming man), whereas the Qur'anic concept
condemns a man becoming God, which are two separate concepts, one does not
confound the other. This misunderstanding and mix up of ideas seems to be a
common error, but on further examination they are two separate and distinct
concepts.
What is the Qur'an's view of the Christian Trinity?
The
word or concept of the Holy Trinity as believed by Christians is not denied in
the Qur'an. Rather the Qur'an condemns a tritheism
believed by a non-Christian sect, and commands belief in one God. Such a belief
is taught by the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Qur'an does however encourage it's readership to
refer to the scriptures before it, the Bible and also to enquire of those who
read such scriptures
"And if thou art in doubt which we
reveal to thee. then question those who read the scripture (that was) before
thee" Surah 10:94[3]
Rather than a point of argument, the Qur'an would seem
to present a point of agreement between the Christians and Muslims in believing
in one God.
"And argue not with the
People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such
of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto
us and revealed unto you; our God and
your God is One, and unto him we surrender." Surah 29:46 [1]
The
condemnation of the belief in the Tritheism (three Gods) mentioned in the
Qur'an, is shared by both Muslims and Christians. As soon as the Muslim
appreciates that he/she is building unnecessary walls by falsely claiming that
the belief of the Trinity is the belief in three Gods, then the
Christian-Muslim dialogue can progress a lot further.
[1] The meaning of the Glorious Qur'an - M.M.
Pickthall
[2] Ibid P.463
[3] The Holy Qur'an - Yusuf Ali
[4] The Truth about Xmas - OCAMTI / IPO
[5] Our view of Jesus - Islamic Information Service,
Manchester
Thanks to brothers Muneeb Abdur-rahman, Christoph, James and Toby in helping me produce this document .