Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

10: INVENTING RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

Introduction: The supremacy of God in every aspect has always been a powerful incentive among some misguided people to invent His relatives (son, daughter, wife etc.) from amongst the Prophets, the Angels or the Jinns.  This happens in a background of their fancy desire to upgrade the status of their favorite human prophets or in the case of celestial beings, they are simply driven by imagination.

As examples of this nature, “the Jews used to call ‘Uzair’ (Azra) a son of God and the Christians call Christ the son of God” (9:30), “daughters (of God were imagined) among the Angels” (17:40), Jinns were considered as having “blood relationship” with God (37:158) and so on. Now follows an objective evaluation of any basis for inventing the theory of family relations for God. Obviously, such an attempt will be totally neutral and far from being ill-intended. Be reminded that Islam maintains that Jesus was “held in high honor” and he was “nearest to God” (3:45) and giving him a genuine place in religious system will further heighten his status.

(1) God’s Rejection of the Trinity Concept: The controversial term of Trinity (God as Father, Jesus as Son and Gabriel as Holy Spirit) was first confirmed for use by a group of bishops based in Turkey at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.  In the 7th century Quran, the real God wasted no time in dismissing such unauthorized invention of relatives for Him. “They falsely, having no knowledge, attribute to Him sons and daughters. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouth as a saying” (6:100: 18:5). He then questions “How can He have a son when He has no wife?  He has adopted neither a wife nor a son” (6:101; 72:3). God observes “They do blaspheme who say: God is one of the three in a Trinity as there is no god except one God” (5:73). It is a common knowledge that God produces man as the Creator but not as a parent. Bypassing this reality, if you award a fatherhood position to Him, then questions arises about His marrying a wife, having a wedding party, mating with her, conceiving a child etc. How can you imagine all these in case of Infinite God? God therefore warns of His “curses on them” as well as “grievous penalty” if they do not “desist from their word” (9:30; 5:73).

(2) Difference in Shape: God is shapeless and invisible to human eye even though He exists everywhere. Quite differently, man is His concrete creation that can be seen and touched. How can there be a physical relationship between abstract God and concrete human being? Can you ever add up invisible air with iron bars to get a total count?  Such absurdity in no small measure applies to the case of relationship between God and man.

(3) Difference in Size: Incompatibility of family relation between God and man is not only due to variation in shape but also for their infinite difference in size. Can you imagine a marriage relationship between a giant elephant and a tiny ant? You cannot do that without being ridiculous. Then how can you think of infinite God marrying a human wife and fathering a human child, both measuring only in 5-6 feet. His infinite and immeasurable size makes an imagination of His parental roles totally unrealistic.

(4) Mathematical Puzzle of the Trinity: The Trinity theory has apparent conflict with the single God reality. In order to avoid any bad name linked to polytheism, its proponents among some Christians attempt to explain God as Trinity or ‘One God in Three Persons’ (God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit). Then it clashes against the mathematical fact suggesting that when three add up to one, then each of them must be a fraction i.e. .3+.3+.4=1. But in reality none of the above three components of the Trinity is a fractional entity or incomplete being. Since each of the Three is a whole entity, the Trinity means a combination of three gods instead of one. Thus the Trinity makes the Christianity look like a polytheism of (1+1+1= 3 gods) instead of monotheism. God therefore commands “Do not say ‘Trinity’; Stop (it)” (4:171).

(5) Argument of Whole versus Parts: Another challenge to the theory of Trinity comes from the following argument. If the whole of something comprises of several parts that have independent attributes and can exist separately, then the parts should be considered as separate units instead of being treated as fractions.  For example, if three devices (ex: copier, fax and scanner) are built in one, they are virtually three because if they are built separately with separate functions, then they are indisputably three by counting.  Likewise, all the three members of the Trinity have separate existence, for example, so-called father eternal God, his so-called mortal son Jesus and the holy spirit Gabriel are not same in person. How can you bundle up these three separate entities in order to call them as one God without being unreasonable?

(6) Son Adoption is not a Dignity for God: While the biological fatherhood of God is far from being real, His adoption of a child from amongst His human servants is highly improbable. Why would the Magnificent God let His prestige go down by choosing to adopt a child from amongst His lowly servants? “It is not befitting”, God said “that He should beget a son” (19: 35).

(7) Why Only One Child?  Based on Miracles? Defiant of our common sense is the notion of one child. The question comes to our mind: why God stopped reproduction after having only one child? What is there special with that child? If your answer points to miracles of Jesus such as he healed “the born blind and the lepers” etc. (5:110), then many other prophets (Abraham, Moses, Muhammad etc.) also had many amazing miracles. For example, Abraham could “give life” to birds (2:260), Mohammad was allowed “a tour” to the Heaven to “show him some of Our (divine) signs” (17:1), Moses changed his “stick” into a “snake” (7:107) etc. Then the question naturally arises: why none of these great prophets was fortunate enough to become the second child of God? Also do not miss the point that the prophets were not the originator of miracles which were only “permitted” from God (13:38). Miracles, therefore, can never raise your position to the level of God. As a result, regardless of Jesus’s miracles, God reminded he was “no more than a messenger” who like previous messengers “had to eat (daily) food” and did things like a normal human being (5:75).

(8) Man is Never Close to God’s Qualities: God is separated from all His creations including Jesus by an unbridgeable gap in every aspect. God is Eternal, Infinite and Powerful over everyone. By contrast, Jesus for example, was born of a human womb (of Mary), had a finite human body of about 5.5 feet and limited earthly life of about 33 years and was powerless before human ruler of Rome who apparently crucified him.  He was created by God with a human soul, little over 2000 years ago and that is how he sharply contrasts with the Eternal and Infinite God. Given this reality, under what logical force would you promote Jesus to the position of God while he did not have the power or qualities equivalent of God? An angry God therefore challenges “Who has the power against God if He were to destroy Jesus, His mom Mary and all on earth?” (5:17).

(9) Both ‘Father’& ‘Son’ Deny Their Relationship: The Father God angrily rejects His position of a biological father and talks tough against this false notion: “He procreated (no child), nor is He procreated. The Christians call Christ the Son of God; that is a saying from their mouth; they are in blasphemy” (112:3; 9:30; 5:17). Likewise, the truthful Prophet Jesus did not wait long to protest against his fabricated status as a son of God. He therefore used his God-given miraculous powers to talk as a “child in cradle”, claiming “I am indeed a servant of God” (and not His son) and urging his people “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord” (19:29/30; 5:117). How can you deny the above divine revelations and truthful affirmation of Jesus for rejection of a ‘father-son’ relation between them?

 (10) The Trinity Concept Appears Only in Bible: The holy books before the Bible (including Torah) never documented Jesus as the son of God. Its subsequent holy book Quran affirmed that God has no son (112:3). Only the Bible sandwiched between these two Books has some proponents talking about the Trinity. What is more, there is no any confirmed basis of the Trinity in any accurate version of original Bible. Therefore, even within Christianity, some denominations like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals etc. are among many others who do not agree on the Trinity doctrine. Think about these circumstantial evidences before you choose to believe in the Father-Son theory.

Conclusion: It appears that “God is (exalted) over having a son” or any other relations with human beings (4:171). In fact, there is no logical or real basis behind attributing family relationship to God and this idea will only make God angry as well as punitive.