Appearance
Excess about the Messiah: “Son of God” and the Trinity
يَـٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَا تَغْلُوا۟ فِى دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلْحَقَّ ۚ إِنَّمَا ٱلْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ وَكَلِمَتُهُۥٓ أَلْقَىٰهَآ إِلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ وَرُوحٌ مِّنْهُ ۖ فَـَٔامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِۦ ۖ وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ ثَلَـٰثَةٌ ۚ ٱنتَهُوا۟ خَيْرًا لَّكُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا ٱللَّهُ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ ۖ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥٓ أَن يَكُونَ لَهُۥ وَلَدٌ ۘ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَكِيلًا
“O People of the Book! Do not exceed the bounds in your religion, and do not attribute anything to God except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of God, and His Word that He cast toward Mary and a spirit from Him. So have faith in God and His messengers, and do not say, ‘[God is] a Trinity.’ Relinquish [such a creed]! That is better for you. God is but the One God. He is far too immaculate to have any son. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, and God suffices as trustee.” (4:171)
لَّن يَسْتَنكِفَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ أَن يَكُونَ عَبْدًا لِّلَّهِ وَلَا ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ ٱلْمُقَرَّبُونَ ۚ وَمَن يَسْتَنكِفْ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِۦ وَيَسْتَكْبِرْ فَسَيَحْشُرُهُمْ إِلَيْهِ جَمِيعًا
“The Messiah would never disdain being a servant of God, nor would the angels brought near [to Him]. And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant, He will gather them all toward Him.” (4:172)
The question
Do Jesus’ titles in the Qur’an, “His Word” and “a spirit from Him”, lend any support to the Christian belief that he is the son of God and one of a Trinity?
Views answered: the Christian belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī reads the verse as the Qur’an’s answer to the Christians’ excess (ghuluww), as the verses before it answered the Jews’ slander of Mary. It calls Jesus the son of Mary, as the Qur’an always does, and only a messenger. “Word” and “spirit from Him” gave room for excess, yet every creature is a word of God, and “from” marks the source of his existence, not a part of God. Every form of the Trinity, whether God as a universal with three instances, a whole of three parts, or three independent gods, is impossible, and the next verse stresses that the Messiah, like the angels brought near, is “a servant to God”.
Views compared
The beliefs are given as al-Tasnim reports them. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
“The son of God” Read →
Christian belief
Jesus is the son of God.Jawādī Āmulī
The Qur’an always names him “son of Mary”, unlike the other prophets, to answer this excess: he was only a messenger of God, born by His will without a father.“His Word” Read →
Christian belief
The title “Word of God” sets Jesus apart as divine.Jawādī Āmulī
All contingent beings are divine words; the friends of God are perfect words, and Jesus, as God’s supreme word, was named a word of God separately.“A spirit from Him” Read →
A Christian physician at the court of Hārūn al-Rashīd
“From” marks a part, so the Qur’an itself makes Jesus a part of God.Jawādī Āmulī
As al-Wāqidī replied, citing 45:13, everything in the heavens and the earth is “from Him”; “from” marks the source of existence, not a part.The Trinity Read →
Christian belief
God, the Messiah and the Holy Spirit, or God, the Messiah and Mary, are three gods and one.Jawādī Āmulī
Every form is impossible: God as a universal with three instances, as a whole made of three parts, or as three independent gods. The verse’s argument reaches every trinity and dualism, for monotheism negates all else.The divinity of the Messiah and the angels Read →
Christian belief; the polytheists
Christians held the Messiah divine; polytheists held the angels to be God’s daughters.Jawādī Āmulī
A servant to God (ʿabdan lillāh), with its stressed preposition, makes the servanthood of both explicit to remove that delusion.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.