Yasir Qadhi – Ask Shaykh YQ #83 – Responding to the Accusation that the Quran is Incorrect About Christian Theology

			Begin with our first question from brother in normal help, who says that he has a colleague at work
who is a believing Christian? They're having a lot of discussions about Islam and the Quran. And he
has questions that He has for me, one of them is that his Christian colleague is saying that the
Koran does not understand Trinity, and that according to him, I will add the prophecies and made a
mistake in that the Koran says that Christians believe in three gods and the Quran says that Jesus
and Mary are a part of the Trinity. And his Christian colleague is saying that this is completely
false. No Christian has ever said that there are three gods and that Jesus and Mary have never been
		

			considered to be a part of the Trinity. So our brother anomaly is asking how do we understand these
verses in the Koran
		

			one
		

			out of seven sell me Kobe league in
		

			new he him first blue, Lake Erie.
		

			Now, the primary verses that deal with Christian theology there are three so pay heed to these and
and inshallah we'll dissect them and explain to them explain the Michelle in a holistic manner.
First is sort of the nice that verse 171, that Allah subhana wa tada says, For Ave Bella he will do
su li wala ta colusa believe in a line is messengers and do not say three, what are 202 thelotter.
Notice three here is three not the word used is terasa, which is 3123. And it's not the Arabic word
for Trinity, which is the athlete or other words that are used. So the point being that this word
three is being understood to mean three actual entities. And then Allah says, into hurdler, calm,
		

			stop saying three, it is better for you. So the nice avarice 171 the second sort of endeavor 73
Allah says, laco the car for a lead in a call in a lotta lethal selasa. Those who say that a lot is
the third of a three have committed, Cofer, excuse me, those who say that a lot is the third of a
332 thalassa. So there are three entities, and Allah is one of them, the third of them. The third
here doesn't necessarily mean in chronological order, it simply means one of the three is a lot.
Once again, what is being affirmed are three entities and that a lot is one of those three. So Allah
is saying anybody who says that a lot is three or a part of a three, or one third of a three, that
		

			anybody who says this has committed for one Amen, Elijah and Elijah whom why there's only one God
and lastly certain verse 116, where Allah subhana wa tada says, that
		

			URI seminar Maria Maria map and holter in NASA to his own your own Mia Illa Haney mundo de la, he
said will be asked on the Day of Judgment By Allah, that did you tell the people Oh, Jesus, did you
tell people to take you and your mother as Gods instead of Allah? So here, Allah subhana wa tada is
asking, reserved, Imodium? Did you tell people to take you and your mother as Gods Illa Haney to
God's besides Allah subhanho wa Taala. And Elisa will say, Glory BTR could never say anything other
than what you commanded me to say. And the verses go on. Now, these are not the only three but these
are the primary three verses in the Koran that deal with Christian theology. Now, of course,
		

			mainstream Christian doctrine, which has been fairly consistent since the Nicene Creed of the third
or fourth century is that there is one God, but that one God is exists in three co eternal con
substantial, substantial persons, sorry, code, concepts, dangerous or innocuous, substantial
constant potential. And the technical technical term is hypotheses, that these three are distinct,
and yet they are one in substance and one in nature. So the three hypotheses are one. And so the
doctrine of Christianity is that there are no three Gods rather that there are three distinct yet
one in substance and one in nature. Now, obviously, there's a lot of internal discussion what this
		

			means. But the point that this Christian colleague is telling his Muslim colleague is that no
Christian sect has ever said that there are three gods and no Christian sects ever made marry a part
of the Trinity. So he is saying, according to this prayer, and this is of course, a very common
theory by
		

			polemics by those that are criticizing Islam by
		

			Christians who who try to find fault with Islam, that what they end up doing is that they always
say, Oh, the author of the Quran, and by this they mean obviously the Prophet says Adam, the author
of the Quran didn't know Christian theology, they say, and so the Quranic language is incorrect,
because nobody actually says this. Now, number of points to be said here and obviously this is a
very convoluted topic, we can spend many, many hours talking about Christian theology talking about
these verses of the Quran and how they've been understood by over 5060 you know, more soon
throughout the eras. Obviously, this is a short answer to a much longer topic. However, the claim
		

			that the Quran is unaware that Christians believe in monotheism is simply false. The Quran is very
clear Allah subhana wa tada says to the Lanka booth, verse 46, whether to judge you to Angelica
Tabby illegibility here isin do not argue with the People of the Book except in the manner that is
best and then it the verses go on. And then Allah says and say to them what allow who now what he
that who can warhead wanna Hello Muslim on your ILA, and our ILA is one and the same. You believe in
one God, we believe in one God, and it is the same God and we have submitted unto him so the Quran
is very clear that Christians believe in one God this is explicit in the Quran. So then how do we
		

			understand these other verses that seem to imply that Christians believe in three gods and this is
the term for this is try theism? Try theism is the belief in three gods. Now it is true to say that
some of our more fussy rune did seem to understand this from the Quran. If you look at, for example,
McCarthy, bin Sulaiman and others, they do understand from these verses, the understanding that they
get is that Christians believe in three separate and distinct gods. And of course, as we said, this
is not and has never been the belief of mainstream Christianity. If you look at the majority of
Assyrian, the scholars of the year, they really kind of gloss over this point, they don't really
		

			dive into deep Christology or the beliefs of you know, Christianity is they don't have Christians.
And of course, we excuse them for this because obviously, I mean, even most Christians are unaware
of the development of Christian doctrine and the wordings of the Nicene Creed, the Nicene Creed uses
the term, Homo
		

			homoeostasis, I'm sure I'm mispronouncing the Greek term here, I have not studied Greek,
professionally. But Homer osis is the the term in the Nicene Creed. And what it means is that God
has the same essence, God the Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, they have the same
essence homos the same Moses is the essence here. So the unique in essence, despite the fact that
they are three, now, as I said, the majority of us Iran don't really dissect these verses, they just
give a generic of seed and then you know, they move on. However, some of them clearly the ones that
are more well read in Christianity than others. Some of them do point out that some more unpacking
		

			needs to be done of them as for example, Dino Razi, definitely one of the more well read of our
scholars, he read many other traditions and many other books as well, many other philosophies for
her Dr. Raj, he actually notes he makes a point when he talks about these verses, that no Christian
group ever claimed that Jesus and Mary were gods besides Allah, he actually writes this in his
stuff. And he says, How do we answer The answer this? And he proposes his answer. Other scholars
attempted other explanations of them again. So the scholars that actually dive deep into this are
those that are more well read in Christianity. And again, I've said this a million times, all of our
		

			scholars are humans, all of our scholars, they, they have their their marshmallow strengths, but
they also, you know, they're not all knowledgeable, and especially in Christian theology, one would
expect the majority of our mufa soon have never really, you know, studied in depth. What Christians
say, those that did study were those that interacted with other civilizations, and especially those
that lived in under us, and that is why, for example, even hasm has a position for example, even
hasm said that this must be one of the non existent Christian groups. And he actually mentioned one,
he calls it the barber Rania, the barber Rania group, and he said that this was a group that
		

			believed that Jesus and his mother were to Gods besides Allah subhanho wa Taala. They actually
believe According to him, and he says this sect is now extinct. So the Quran he is saying is
referencing * and she isms that no longer exist anymore. And this notion was taken up by a number
of authors including CLT and his teacher in their tuxedo gela Lane. They also mentioned this point
as well. The problem with this is that Firstly, we are not sure if there was there was any such
sexual
		

			There's really no confirmed evidence that such a sect existed. And secondly, even if it did, for
sure it was a very fringe, very small sect, it wasn't mainstream, even at the time of the Prophet
system. Why would the Quran reference something that was never,
		

			you know, common amongst Christians. So and also the main point, we're not even certain whether
there ever was such a sector as well,
		

			in mammals ought to be as well. And again, Toby from Cordova to be interacting with Christians,
again, we expect him to be more knowledgeable of Christianity than many of the other scholars have
seen. And in number two, we also problematizes You know, this notion of Christian theology
viscerally these verses How does one reconcile Christian theology with these verses and emammal to
be a claims that, that even though he says, This is not what Christians believe, so he says, Look,
what the verse is saying outwardly is not the technical, you know, a belief of the Christians, but
then he says, but it is the law ximo Madhavi him it is the, the corollary, or the what the what the
		

			beliefs that the Christians hold what they necessitate. Okay, so imamo portobay points out that even
if the terms that the Koran is using is not the technical terminology, it is what Christian theology
necessitates, okay, so that's what is called the Lazio or madhhab. Or the the corollary is that like
basically, when you say something, what do you necessarily imply by it? So, the Quranic terminology
is not what the Christians say, it is, what is the logical follow up it is the inevitable
conclusions of what they say. Now, obviously, as I explained from the polemical Christian side from
the orientalist and then those that are trying to criticize Islam, they claim that essentially the
		

			Quran is misinformed or the author of the Quran is misinformed or uninformed about Trinity. And this
was a common motif. Even Montgomery was the famous orientalist of one of the probably the most
famous orientalist of the last generation. He also claimed this that it is very clear that, quote,
unquote, the author of the Quran, was unaware of Christian theology. Now, how then do we explain all
of this, I have two explanations, and both of them are valid, there's no either or here. Both of
them are valid. The first thing that we need to do is that we need to actually look up what did Arab
Christians believe when the Quran came down, because you see, most western historians when they talk
		

			about Christianity, they're talking about the Christianity of Rome, or the Christianity of
Constantinople. And they're not really looking at the Christianity of the Arabs and the Arabs at the
time of Islam. When Islam when when the Quran came down, there were two primary Arab Christians, you
had the Christians of Niger on. And then you had the ascendance. These were the two primary
Christians. As for the Hassan IDs, there were a number of altercations between them and the prophets
are some of the Sahaba the even the Battle of Tobruk was basically, supposed to be against them. As
for the Christians of Iran, they're the ones that that came to visit the prophets of the law while
		

			he was setting them, and they stayed in Medina, and they interacted with him.
		

			And Allah revealed Koran regarding them. So these are the two primary Christians that Islam or the
or the early Muslims interacted with. And the Quran is being revealed in that in that context. So
what we need to do is actually understand the theology of Arab Christians, the Christian Arabs of
the fifth and early sixth century. And the problem comes is that we hardly have any remnants of
their teachings of their beliefs, because the era of civilization by and large, did not leave us
records, they didn't have books written at that time, it was a very different time and world in
place. And it is difficult to reconstruct the theology of the detailed theology of the Arab
		

			Christians. Nonetheless, in my research that I've done, I looked up a number of things in this
regard. First and foremost, there is a massive, very, very erudite encyclopedia or encyclopedic
reference by Professor Alphonse Shahid, who's actually an Arab Christian himself, or he's, he's
passed away, whatever the last generation, and he taught to Georgetown for many, many, I think, more
than two, three decades. And he wrote like, I think, a seven eight volume encyclopedia about Arab
Christianity and of course, he himself was Christian Arabs, obviously has a personal interest as
well. And if you look up this book, in volume six, he mentioned some research that he's done again,
		

			it's sketchy he did this three decades ago, I think, in the 60s 70s. I'm not sure exactly one but he
mentioned in this book, that these are sonnets were influenced by the famous Christian theologian,
john floppiness who died 570 ie, at the time the process was born. Basically there was a very, very
famous Christian deal.
		

			Religion, john Philip Philip Hennessy is well known to Christian scholars. And he is also well known
to Arab, to scholars of Arabic intellectual history, because his works were translated into Arabic.
And he's called the here. And now how we Yeah, and how we joined the grammarian, john Filipinas. And
john Filipinas. Very interestingly, very interestingly, he had an impact on the Ascended Arabs, and
he was considered to be a heretic by the mainstream Christianity of Constantinople. And part of his
heresy was that he was accused by his contemporaries of try theism. This is very interesting. He was
accused, even though he didn't say those wordings, but his beliefs were almost bordering on three
		

			distinct gods. And so in his own lifetime, and after his death, he was accused of being basically
propagating try theism. And we know according to research done, that the Hassan and Arabs had, had
been influenced by john Filipinas, and that they had absorbed this theology. If that is the case,
which does appear to be the case, then in reality, the Quranic language is very, very precise. And
it is amazing that the Quran is using terminology that would not be mainstream in Constantinople,
per se, but it would be mainstream amongst the audience that is being that is listening to the
Koran. Now, this this idea has been further researched a few years ago, by another academic
		

			Professor block, in an article that he wrote for the Journal of Islamic Studies, entitled, Philip
aenean, mono for scientism, in South Arabia, at the advent of Islam with implications for the
English translation of the latha. In the Koran, this is an entire academic article. And by the way,
Subhanallah, there's so much research being done by people outside of our faith. Now, a lot of that
research is obviously, you know, sometimes very problematic, and sometimes it's not. And the point
is that there must be some people who are willing to go beyond because this is knowledge that
really, frankly, our own rula did not and cannot have, because it deals with civilizations and
		

			languages that are not found. And we cannot expect somebody to know, you know, philosophy and
manifest scientism that's going on in in Christian communities and other places in the world. So you
have people that are outside of our faith tradition, doing some really interesting research. And you
know, those that read that research and then take the good from it, because again, wisdom and
knowledge is transcends any one civilization history research, you don't have to be a Muslim, to do
research in science and engineering and history, it's to knowledge is there and those that are
willing and there are capable to they should venture out and get the best of all worlds. And when
		

			they do that, obviously, they will be slightly different than anyway, that's besides the point here,
but my point is that some research has been done. And if you read this journal article, he actually
argues that the Christian Arabs of Iran, so we talked about the Hassan IDs. Now he is saying the
Christian outers of Nigeria another another professor, Professor block, he has done research about
Southern Christianity, Southern Arabian Christianity, and he has concluded that it is very likely
that the Christian Arabs of Iran will were de facto try theistic, ie they actually their beliefs and
their their understanding was that there are three distinct Gods again, being influenced by
		

			filipiniana, ie john Philip and his philippian, mono for scientism. So this was again, the technical
term for his beliefs here. Now, this is particularly interesting because this basically means
because realize sort of the Nyssa and sleutel ma either they will reveal because of the Christians
of Iran, they will revealed after the Christians of Iran visit in Medina, and the Quran is then
addressing them. And it is really impossible for us to imagine that an average person in Arabia
would know the differences between Southern Arabian Christianity versus the Christianity of Rome
versus the Christianity of Constantinople. And only Allah subhanho wa Taala could have been so
		

			precise, that he is speaking to them in a language that they will understand and he's refuting them
directly. And then he's refuting other Christians indirectly and therefore, we will flip it around
this. colleague of our brothers brother in law's colleague is saying that the author is misinformed.
We say rather you are misinformed, and the Quran is being infinitely more precise than it would have
been possible. And the Quran is challenging the beliefs that were in vogue amongst out of Christians
and using the terminology and a language that is rebuking them for what they believe. And the fact
that Allah subhana wa tada distinguished between their versions of Christianity versus others, it
		

			could not come from an average person living in
		

			Arabia. Now that is my first response, we can add to this response and it is a very good answer as
well. And I also like and agree with this one and there's no contradiction we can give both of these
responses and this, this is a response that has been proposed by a number of researchers and I
myself am very much inclined towards it and of and of the researchers as well that proposes This is
a friend of mine from El Joseph Cummings, we were together in the department and and he has a PhD
about certain issues of this of this nature. And we had a lot of discussion about this while I was
there, and he also has this type of notion and in summary, what it agrees with what sorry, what it
		

			argues is that the Koran is using the language of popular belief and not the language of abstract
Creed's. So in other words, the Quran is dealing with the lived experience of Christians. And the
Quran is calling them out Allah subhana wa tada is rebuking them for essentially deifying, Mary and
Jesus, even if they don't use the word God for Mary, right, because again, the Quran says that you
have taken Mary and Jesus as God's. And the Christian says, We never say Mary is a God. And the
response is, we don't care what you say. Now remember, we're talking about the Christianity pre
reformation. My audience here in America is more aware of Protestant Christianity, Protestant
		

			Christianity, what are the main things that they did? Was that Martin Luther, it is very clear that
he was influenced by many factors, including the Koran, for Luther read the Koran, Martin Luther,
his version of Christianity clearly is closer to our version of tawheed, than Catholic Christianity.
And you have to realize, before Martin Luther, obviously the world, the default was the Catholic
version of Christianity. And in Catholic Christianity, Mary is invoked for one's needs people invoke
the Virgin Mary. And if you go to a Catholic Church, you will find icons of Mary and Jesus and the
bay and you go to a Protestant church, you're not going to find that, right? Because, again, the
		

			whole notion of the iconic cosmic battle between the two groups, which again, not our answer here,
but my point is that Protestant Christianity, which is what most of my viewers are familiar with, is
very different than the Christianity before Christianity before Protestantism, the mainstream
Catholic and Orthodox and whatnot, their version of Christianity really did take Jesus as and marry
as object will even Protestants to Jesus but not marry as objects of worship. And a lot is speaking
to Christians with regards to their lived reality and not with regards to the Creed's that the
advanced councils propagate. In other words, they might say that God is one. But in reality, in
		

			their minds, God is three, they might say that Mary is not God. But when they invoke her, and they
praise her, and they asked her for her needs, they have made her into a god in that they believe she
will respond to them directly. And so in their worship, and in their psychological framework, Mary
is a God, even if they don't use the term God. And so Allah subhanho wa Taala is using terminology
that is very precise, not according to the sophisticated developed statements by the councils in
Rome, or the council's in nicea are the councils in Constantinople, or the councils and in other
places,
		

			they had a number of, you know, like 12 different councils one by one, and each one is named after
the place in the locality. And each of these councils propagated Christian theology so parallel
Allah azza wa jal is basically saying, I don't care about your councils, your councils mean nothing.
What is the lived religion? How do Christians actually live? What do they view the Trinity as how do
they deal with Jesus and with Mary, and so the Quranic terminology is, in fact very precise because
Allah subhanho wa Taala is dealing with the reality as it exists, and not how it is propagated in
fancy councils. And therefore, we say that the Koran is referencing the belief of the common
		

			Christians, and especially the belief of the out of Christians and asking them to correct their
misunderstandings in accordance with their actual shubha to their actual arguments. And as for your
friend who's criticizing Islam, your friend is lost in abstract Creed's. So we say to him, that
rather than trying to find fault with the Koran, he should realize that the Oran is doing a much
better and a much more precise job of challenging Christian belief and refuting and refuting it, and
we say to this friend of yours, and please show him This video clip.
		

			If he is a true Christian, he should ponder over what the Quran is saying. And in fact, even what
the Bible has said, and what Jesus himself has said that neither is there a trinity, nor did Jesus
ever preach at Trinity, nor did Jesus ever preach his own divinity. Nor did Jesus ever say to
worship him or to worship Mary, and this is exactly what the Quran says. And this is exactly what
the New Testament and Jesus Himself said. So that is the response to our first question and Allah
subhana wa tada knows best