Judaism and Christianity Corrupted the Monotheistic Religion of Abraham

Just as some people divided the Qur’an into parts, each taking a portion of it: “Those who have made the Qur’an into parts”(453), which is equivalent to abandoning the entire Qur’an, the People of the Book also divided and separated that monotheistic religion. Each sect accepted a part of it and said: “The truth is only this specific portion,” and thus they distanced themselves from the original and authentic religion: “And do not be of those who associate others with God, [Or] of those who have divided their religion and become sects, every faction rejoicing in what it has”(454). Therefore, the Glorious God considers them like other polytheists and disbelievers: “They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘God is the third of three’”(455), “The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of God’; and the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of God.’ That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before”(456).

Based on this, the secret behind God’s statement that Abraham was not a polytheist: “and he was not of those who associate others with God,” is, on one hand, to express that you (People of the Book) are not following Abraham’s religion due to your distance from monotheism, and on the other hand, to state that although Abraham was neither Jewish nor Christian, as both of these creeds are false, there is no room for polytheists to imagine that “since he does not belong to either of these two creeds, then he must be among the polytheists,” because the creeds of that era were only these three types.

The reason for the invalidity of such an assumption is that ḥanīf does not mean polytheist, but rather is opposite to it, as can be understood from the expressions “inclining to God, not associating [anything] with Him”(457), and “So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth, and never be of those who associate others with God”(458).

The Qur’an does not contain logical terminology, but its content is presented in the form of conjunctive or disjunctive syllogisms. Here too, the aforementioned point is arranged in the form of the second figure, as follows: Abraham was not a polytheist. You (Jews and Christians) are polytheists. Therefore, he was not of your religion, just as you are not of his religion.

The Glorious God, by stating Abraham’s freedom from polytheism, commanded the Noble Prophet to accept Abraham’s monotheistic religion free from polytheism, and thus emphasize his own purity from polytheism: “Then We revealed to you, [O Muhammad], to follow the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth; and he was not of those who associate with God”(459). And He called others to this same monotheistic religion.