Proving Unity and Refuting the Trinity with Simple Proofs

The Qur’an is not a purely academic book intended for an audience of experts like books of philosophy, theology, and so forth, but rather it is a light that God has sent for the guidance of both the masses and the elite together. Therefore, alongside profound rational proofs (barāhīn) that are incomprehensible to many people, it has expressed the same precise contents and subjects in a simple and flowing manner and in the form of parables (mathal) so that the masses can understand them. Proving unity (tawḥīd) and refuting the Trinity (tathlīth) through profound argumentation as well as through expression at the level of ordinary people is one of these examples.

The verse under discussion is one of the cases where God, in response to Christians, has simplified the rational proof (burhān) and says in simple language that Jesus, son of Mary, has no position except messengership (risāla), and according to this very position he believed in the lordship (rubūbiyya) of the Lord and called people to unity (tawḥīd), just as many messengers like him came, called to unity with belief in the lordship of the Truth, and passed away: “The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger; messengers have passed away before him.” His mother also confirmed the lordship of the Truth and divine revelation (waḥy): “and his mother was a truthful woman” (ṣiddīqa), and she was devout (qānit), humble (khāḍiʿ), and submissive (khāshiʿ) in the divine presence: “And she confirmed the words of her Lord and His books and was among the devout.”(93) So how is it that you did not issue a ruling (fatwā) regarding the divinity (ulūhiyya) of previous prophets, but you did so regarding him who, like them, will pass away in the distant or near future?

If it is said that Jesus was created without a father, it is replied that if this is so, then Adam, the chosen of God (Ādam Ṣafī Allāh), is more deserving of divinity, as he had neither father nor mother: “Indeed, the example of Jesus with God is like the example of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him: ‘Be,’ and he was.”(94) Why do you not make such a claim about him?

Another proof of the invalidity of this claim is that Jesus and his mother both ate food: “They both used to eat food”, meaning they were beings in need, while God has no need, so those two are not God.(95)