Overview (Verses 72- 74)

Misconceptions Leading to Disbelief
 
Such was the situation with regard to the Jews among the people of earlier revelations. The situation with regard to Christians is explained in the sūrah in a most decisive manner which clearly fits with its general tone and with the question under discussion.
 
Early in the sūrah, those who claim that the Christ, son of Mary, was God are described as unbelievers. At this point, this description is re-emphasised with regard to those who claim that God is a third of a trinity or allege that Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was God Himself. The sūrah combines this with a testimony by Jesus (peace be upon him) that they are unbelievers. He warns them against ascribing Divinity to anyone other than God Almighty. He acknowledges very clearly that God is his Lord and their Lord. This is concluded by a warning by God Himself against continuing with their unbelief represented by their own statements which cannot be uttered by people who believe in God and in the right faith.
 
Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the Christ, son of Mary.” The Christ himself said: Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners with God, God shall forbid him entrance into Paradise and his abode will be the Fire. Wrongdoers will have no helpers. Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the third of a trinity.” Of certain, there is no god save the One God. Unless they desist from so saying, grievous suffering will surely befall those of them who are unbelievers. Will they not, then, turn to God in repentance and seek His forgiveness? God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful. The Christ, son of Mary, was but a Messenger: other messengers have passed away before him. His mother was a saintly woman. They both ate food [like other human beings]. Behold how clear We make [Our] revelations to them and behold how perverted they are. Say: Would you worship in place of God anything that has no power to harm or to benefit you? It is God alone who hears all and knows all. Say: People of earlier revelations! Do not overstep the bounds of truth in your religious beliefs, and do not follow the vain desires of those who have gone astray in the past, and have led many others astray and are still straying from the right path. (Verses 72-7)
 
We have already given a brief explanation of how and when these deviant assertions crept into the Christian faith, which was preached by Jesus (peace be upon him), a Messenger of God. Like his brothers, God’s Messengers, he preached the principle of God’s oneness in its purity, unadulterated by even the slightest shred of idolatry or polytheism. All Divine messages had the common goal of establishing the principle of God’s oneness, calling on mankind to believe in it, and reject all pagan beliefs. We will mention ere briefly the conclusions which those synods endorsed, advocating the concept of trinity and that of the divinity of Jesus Chris and their subsequent disagreements.
 
Nawfal ibn Ni`matullāh ibn Girgīs of Nazareth says: the Christian faith on which all churches agree and which represents the basis of the constitution agreed by the synod is to believe in the One God: a single father, the Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth and what is seen and what is unseen, and to believe in a single lord, Jesus, the only son born to the father prior to all times and created of God’s light. He is a true god originating from a true god, born but not created, equal to the father in essence and from whom everything derives its existence. It is for the sake of us human beings and for the atonement of our sins he descended from heaven. He took shape from the Holy Spirit, and took form from the Virgin Mary, and was crucified on our behalf at the time of Pilate, and suffered and was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day according to what is written in the books. He then rose to heaven and sat to the right of the Lord. He will come down again with glory to make the living and the dead submit. His kingdom will be everlasting. The Christian faith also requires believing in the Holy Spirit, the lord who gives life and who comes from the father. Together with the son he submits to Him and glorifies Him. He speaks to prophets.
 
In Muĥāđarāt fī al-Naşrāniyah, Muĥammad Abū Zahrah quotes a historian of Christian Faith who mentions that the nature of God comprises three equal consecutive elements: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. To the Father, all creation belongs through the Son; the Son has the atonement; and the Holy Spirit gives purification.
 
Because of the difficulty of formulating a clear concept which combines the three elements in one and reconciling God’s oneness with the trinity, Christian theologians have always tried to evade rational discussion of this paradoxical question. The theologian Potter writes in a paper entitled “Principles and Details”: “We have understood this as far as our reason can cope with it. We hope to understand it more clearly in future when everything in the heavens and on earth will be revealed to us. As for the present, the measure of our understanding is sufficient.”
 
God, limitless is He in His glory, says that all these assertions are false and represent unbelief. As we have seen, they include the claim that the Christ has a Divine nature, and they claim that God is the third of a trinity. God has the final say on all questions. He always says the truth and He guides to the right path.
 
“Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the Christ, son of Mary.” The Christ himself said: Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners with God, God shall forbid him entrance into Paradise and his abode will be the Fire. Wrongdoers will have no helpers.” (Verse 72) We see how Jesus Christ himself (peace be upon him) has warned them, but they paid no heed. After he departed from them, they followed the deviant path he warned them against, because it is certain to forbid them entrance into Paradise and make them suffer in the fire of Hell. They forgot what Christ told them: “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” He declared to them that he and they stood in the same position of servitude to God, the One God who has no partners.
 
The Qur’ān makes a final judgement on all their blasphemous claims: “Unbelievers are those indeed who say: ‘God is the third of a trinity.’” (Verse 73) It states the truth which constitutes the basis of every faith preached by every one of God’s Messengers: “Of certain, there is no god save the One God.” (Verse 73) It threatens them with the punishment prepared for those who make such blasphemous assertions and believe in them: “Unless they desist from so saying, grievous suffering will surely befall those of them who are unbelievers.” (Verse 73) The unbelievers are the ones who continue to make such assertions which God has ruled to be a clear denial of faith.
 
These stern warnings are followed by encouragement and persuasion: “Will they not, then, turn to God in repentance and seek His forgiveness? God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful.” (Verse 74) The door to repentance and forgiveness is, thus, left open. God’s forgiveness and mercy are certain to be forthcoming, if sought before it is too late.
 

Overview (Verses 72- 74)

Misconceptions Leading to Disbelief
 
Such was the situation with regard to the Jews among the people of earlier revelations. The situation with regard to Christians is explained in the sūrah in a most decisive manner which clearly fits with its general tone and with the question under discussion.
 
Early in the sūrah, those who claim that the Christ, son of Mary, was God are described as unbelievers. At this point, this description is re-emphasised with regard to those who claim that God is a third of a trinity or allege that Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was God Himself. The sūrah combines this with a testimony by Jesus (peace be upon him) that they are unbelievers. He warns them against ascribing Divinity to anyone other than God Almighty. He acknowledges very clearly that God is his Lord and their Lord. This is concluded by a warning by God Himself against continuing with their unbelief represented by their own statements which cannot be uttered by people who believe in God and in the right faith.
 
Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the Christ, son of Mary.” The Christ himself said: Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners with God, God shall forbid him entrance into Paradise and his abode will be the Fire. Wrongdoers will have no helpers. Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the third of a trinity.” Of certain, there is no god save the One God. Unless they desist from so saying, grievous suffering will surely befall those of them who are unbelievers. Will they not, then, turn to God in repentance and seek His forgiveness? God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful. The Christ, son of Mary, was but a Messenger: other messengers have passed away before him. His mother was a saintly woman. They both ate food [like other human beings]. Behold how clear We make [Our] revelations to them and behold how perverted they are. Say: Would you worship in place of God anything that has no power to harm or to benefit you? It is God alone who hears all and knows all. Say: People of earlier revelations! Do not overstep the bounds of truth in your religious beliefs, and do not follow the vain desires of those who have gone astray in the past, and have led many others astray and are still straying from the right path. (Verses 72-7)
 
We have already given a brief explanation of how and when these deviant assertions crept into the Christian faith, which was preached by Jesus (peace be upon him), a Messenger of God. Like his brothers, God’s Messengers, he preached the principle of God’s oneness in its purity, unadulterated by even the slightest shred of idolatry or polytheism. All Divine messages had the common goal of establishing the principle of God’s oneness, calling on mankind to believe in it, and reject all pagan beliefs. We will mention ere briefly the conclusions which those synods endorsed, advocating the concept of trinity and that of the divinity of Jesus Chris and their subsequent disagreements.
 
Nawfal ibn Ni`matullāh ibn Girgīs of Nazareth says: the Christian faith on which all churches agree and which represents the basis of the constitution agreed by the synod is to believe in the One God: a single father, the Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth and what is seen and what is unseen, and to believe in a single lord, Jesus, the only son born to the father prior to all times and created of God’s light. He is a true god originating from a true god, born but not created, equal to the father in essence and from whom everything derives its existence. It is for the sake of us human beings and for the atonement of our sins he descended from heaven. He took shape from the Holy Spirit, and took form from the Virgin Mary, and was crucified on our behalf at the time of Pilate, and suffered and was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day according to what is written in the books. He then rose to heaven and sat to the right of the Lord. He will come down again with glory to make the living and the dead submit. His kingdom will be everlasting. The Christian faith also requires believing in the Holy Spirit, the lord who gives life and who comes from the father. Together with the son he submits to Him and glorifies Him. He speaks to prophets.
 
In Muĥāđarāt fī al-Naşrāniyah, Muĥammad Abū Zahrah quotes a historian of Christian Faith who mentions that the nature of God comprises three equal consecutive elements: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. To the Father, all creation belongs through the Son; the Son has the atonement; and the Holy Spirit gives purification.
 
Because of the difficulty of formulating a clear concept which combines the three elements in one and reconciling God’s oneness with the trinity, Christian theologians have always tried to evade rational discussion of this paradoxical question. The theologian Potter writes in a paper entitled “Principles and Details”: “We have understood this as far as our reason can cope with it. We hope to understand it more clearly in future when everything in the heavens and on earth will be revealed to us. As for the present, the measure of our understanding is sufficient.”
 
God, limitless is He in His glory, says that all these assertions are false and represent unbelief. As we have seen, they include the claim that the Christ has a Divine nature, and they claim that God is the third of a trinity. God has the final say on all questions. He always says the truth and He guides to the right path.
 
“Unbelievers indeed are those who say: “God is the Christ, son of Mary.” The Christ himself said: Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners with God, God shall forbid him entrance into Paradise and his abode will be the Fire. Wrongdoers will have no helpers.” (Verse 72) We see how Jesus Christ himself (peace be upon him) has warned them, but they paid no heed. After he departed from them, they followed the deviant path he warned them against, because it is certain to forbid them entrance into Paradise and make them suffer in the fire of Hell. They forgot what Christ told them: “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” He declared to them that he and they stood in the same position of servitude to God, the One God who has no partners.
 
The Qur’ān makes a final judgement on all their blasphemous claims: “Unbelievers are those indeed who say: ‘God is the third of a trinity.’” (Verse 73) It states the truth which constitutes the basis of every faith preached by every one of God’s Messengers: “Of certain, there is no god save the One God.” (Verse 73) It threatens them with the punishment prepared for those who make such blasphemous assertions and believe in them: “Unless they desist from so saying, grievous suffering will surely befall those of them who are unbelievers.” (Verse 73) The unbelievers are the ones who continue to make such assertions which God has ruled to be a clear denial of faith.
 
These stern warnings are followed by encouragement and persuasion: “Will they not, then, turn to God in repentance and seek His forgiveness? God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful.” (Verse 74) The door to repentance and forgiveness is, thus, left open. God’s forgiveness and mercy are certain to be forthcoming, if sought before it is too late.