Trinity in the Quran

From the Quran,
“People scripture!
Don’t exaggerate in your faith
And don’t attribute to God except the truth!
The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary is
A messenger of God and His Word
That was cast[1] upon Mary,
And a spirit from Him.
So, believe in God and His messengers,
And don’t speak of trinity
To cease, that is best for you
God is one sole divinity
For it is too removed from His transcendent majesty
To have a son,
For in His possession is all in heavens and in earth
And God is sufficient as a guardian.
The Messiah can’t decline to be a servant of God
Nor are the anointed angels.
And those who decline to serve God, being too proud to do so
God will assemble them to account
As for those who believe and do good works,
God will pay them their reward in full
And give them more of His divine bounty
But those who are proud and arrogant
God will punish them with torment
And they will not be able to find a protector
Or supporter against God.”

Quran, 4:171–173

Despite the very high position that Jesus occupies in Islam, the Quran rejects the notion that he or anyone else could be considered as the son of God.

Going back in history to the early Christian movement, we will discover that the first people to come up with the concept of trinity were the Cappadocians who employed a formula that God maintains a single essence, ousia, that people could not understand, but also three expressions hypostases that rendered him comprehensible. That was followed by Augustine who defined the trinity in his treatise de Trinitite as the soul, memory and understanding and all these mental activities can essentially be considered as one since they are not constituted by three separate minds. That was extended to the three divine qualities of God, and thus, the trinity.

Islam totally rejects that notion throughout the Quran. Some of those reasons are given in the above verses and others will be covered in future articles. The above verses confer a unique status upon Jesus in that he is a “word” of God and a “spirit” from Him. Lest some interpret those words to mean that Jesus is then the son of God, the Quran uses the word “cast” in delivering the spirit to Mary (see the footnote below) to remove any doubts about the relationship.

All great philosophers throughout history tried to discover the identity and composition of the creator. Humans by inclination, always returned to their gods for help in their distress not knowing his identity. He is the sun, the moon, the wind, the fire, the god of love or fertility etc. It was and still is impossible for humans in their minute understanding to obtain enough knowledge to describe God and that is why, in my opinion, God sent His messengers to provide that link to Him though scriptures and oral teachings.

I will close by quoting what Benjamin Franklin, a practicing Christian, wrote about God:

“That there is one god, who made all things
That he governs the world by his providence,
That he ought to be worshipped by
Adoration, prayers and thanksgiving
But the most acceptable service of God
Is doing good to man
That the soul is immortal
And that god will certainly
Reward virtue and punishes vice,
Either here or hereafter.”

[1] Cast, my translation of the Arabic word “Alki” or “alkaha” properly conveys the intended message, because it implicitly sets a separation between sender and receiver, which other translations fail to offer.

Trinity in the Quran

Written by Zag Kadah