Quran.sh
Misunderstanding the Trinity
Key Points
- The Quran describes the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary, which is not the Christian belief.
- The Trinity is the essential doctrine of Christianity, and the Quran’s misrepresentation of it is a significant error.
- The Quran does not, in a single instance, describe the Christian doctrine of the Trinity correctly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- There is no evidence whatsoever that Muhammed understood that the Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, including the Quran and Hadith.
- Early commentaries on the Quran interpret these verses as describing the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary.
Introduction
The Trinity is an essential and universal Christian doctrine which posits that God consists of three persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit, who are distinct yet co-equal and co-eternal. The Trinity is formalized as early as the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, 200 years prior to the life of Muhammed. The Quran describes the Trinity multiple times as the belief that Allah, Jesus, and Mary are Gods. This is an inaccurate description of the Christian belief of the Trinity.
The Argument
- Premise 1: If a text is the eternal, perfect word of God, it cannot contain misrepresentations or falsehood.
- Premise 2: The Quran contains misrepresentations or falsehoods of the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity.
- Conclusion: Therefore, the Quran is not the eternal, perfect word of God.
Background
Surah 5:116-118 describes a conversation between Allah and Jesus (who is considered a prophet in Islam).
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In these verses, the Quran is describing the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary. Christians do not believe this, and do not worship Mary.
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The Trinity is THE essential doctrine of Christianity and makes it distinct from any other religion. It is important to note that these verses are the ONLY ones in the Quran that mention the Trinity whatsoever. The Quran does not, in a single instance, describe the Christian doctrine of the Trinity correctly as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The author the Quran again in Surah 4:171 describes the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary:
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Lastly, multiple early commentaries on these passages from Ibn Ishaq, Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, and other all interpret these verses as describing the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary.
How Muslims Respond + Counterarguments
The verses were meant for a group that DID worship Mary in Arabia
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A small group of Christians in Arabia may have worshipped Mary as a goddess, although their existence is debated. Their existence is irrelevant to refute this point, as the context of Surah 5:116 is a conversation at judgement day. There is no reason for Allah and Jesus to have a conversation on judgement day about a tiny, fringe group of heretical Christians that have not existed for over a millenia.
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Muslims believe that Christians commit shirk (associating others with Allah) by believing that God is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 2 billion Christians today, in the mind of Muslims, are committing one of the worst sins possible by believing in the Trinity. It is illogical that Allah and Jesus at the end of time would be discussing a potentially non-existent group of heretical Christians in ancient Arabia while ignoring billions of Christians worldwide committing shirk to this day.
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When the Quran mentions groups within Christianity it uses language such as “among the People of the Book” or “among them [the Christians]” (Surah 3:199, 3:113, and 2:62 all use this language). None of the verses attempting to describe the Trinity use these qualifiers, instead using language that refers to all Christians. Surah 4:171 specifically says “O People of the Book!” referring to all Christians before incorrectly describing their beliefs.
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The Quran never correctly describes the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these verses are the only ones that mention the Trinity at all. This implies that the author of the Quran did not actually understand Christian beliefs.
These verses describe idolatry, not the Trinity
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Muslims will cast doubt on the verses, saying that it does not describe the Trinity, and instead condemns idolatry. Surah 5:72-75 further strengthens the argument that the Quran is describing the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary by reiterating the claims of divinity. Surah 5:75 specifically refutes the belief that Jesus and Mary are Gods, saying that Mary was a ‘woman of truth’ and that both Jesus and Mary ate food. Surah 5:73 just before specifically refers to the Trinity, before going on to refute that Jesus and Mary are Gods. Surah 5, in multiple verses, describes the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary while specifically refuting that Jesus and Mary are not Gods.
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Why would Allah choose a tiny, heretical group of Christians that have not existed for over a millenia as an example of shirk? The group he is condemning has not existed for the past 1300 years, if it ever existed at all. Why would Allah condemn this group’s beliefs over the actual beliefs of 2 billion Christians worldwide? It is much more likely that the author of the Quran simply did not understand Christianity and had no clue what most Christians believed.
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As stated before, early commentaries on the Quran interpret these verses as describing the Trinity as Allah, Jesus, and Mary. Only modern Muslims reinterpret these verses to mean anything else.
The word ‘Trinity’ is actually never used
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This is actually true! The word used in these verses is (ثلاثة) which means ‘three’. However, multiple scholarly translations of the Quran translate it to ‘Trinity’ and the context of the verses make it clear that it is trying to refer to the Trinity.
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The verses describe associating 2 others with Allah, making Allah ‘one in three’ along with 2 other Gods. The Quran also states that ‘Allah is one God.’ The context of every verse is attempting to rebuke Christian beliefs. To interpret this any other way instead of an attempt to describe the Trinity is laughable.
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In sum:
- The context is about rebuking Christian beliefs.
- The rebuke is about associating others with Allah.
- The rebuke is about having 3 Gods, 2 equal to Allah.
- Many scholarly translations translate the word to ‘Trinity’.
- This clearly is an attempted description of the Trinity.
Why it Matters
One Mistake in the Quran Refutes it