Surah 112 in Response to a Muslim Apologist

The Meaning of Surah 112 and Islamic Unitarianism

Now, I would like to turn your attention to Surah 112, Al-Ikhlas, the purity, the sincerity. Most Muslims will tell you that this is one of the most important surahs in all of the Qur 'an. The traditions tell us that Muhammad likewise held the view that this was a very important surah, that it expresses something that truly is definitional of the Islamic faith.

It's important to define a term for those who are not familiar with Islam. When Muslims speak of the oneness of Allah, the Taweed, the purity, the simplicity, this in Islam becomes inevitably connected with the concept of Unitarianism.

Unitarianism, what does that mean? Christians are monotheists, but they are Trinitarians. A Muslim is a monotheist and a Unitarian. What is the difference between the two? Both believe that there is one being of God.

But Christians believe that that being of God, that which defines God's nature, is found fully and completely in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And this has eternally been so. We differentiate between the word being, which describes what something is, and person, which describes who something is.

Now a Muslim is a Unitarian. The one being of God is shared by only one person. And so while in the Trinitarian viewpoint expressed in the Bible, you can have God expressing love within himself. There is community within God where the Father sends the Son, and the Father and the Son send the Spirit.

That cannot happen within Islam because Allah is fully transcendent. He is Unitarian. And if there is to be love expressed, it has to be expressed outside of himself. And hence, before creation, love could not be an integral aspect of his nature because there would be no way of expressing it.

So this is the difference between us in regards to the nature of God. We are both monotheists. We both believe there is only one Creator God. But the Christian believes on the basis of all the New Testament teaches, all that the Bible teaches, that that God has expressed himself, has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Surah 112 as a Confession of Faith

Now with that in mind, let's look at al-Ikhlas. And let's look at it as a statement of faith. In fact, there have been a number of Muslim writers, very well-known, well-respected, across the spectrum of Islamic belief who have looked at al-Ikhlas and they have seen it as functioning in this confessional manner.

And notice what it says. Say he is Allah, the one and only, Allah, the eternal absolute. He begetteth not, nor is he begotten, and there is none like unto him. Now, notice what is said here. Say he is Allah, the one and only.

Christians could join with Muslims in saying this as long as we are referring to the being of God, not to the persons. In fact, there are numerous texts, especially in the book of Isaiah, that say exactly this.

Many times in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the false gods are challenged because Yahweh says, I am the one true God, there is none other besides me. And indeed, at one point, Yahweh makes the challenge, is there any other God besides me?

Yea, there is no God, I know not any. God himself says that he knows of no other true deities. Oh yes, God knows about all the false gods that are out there. He has full knowledge of all those false gods, but he does not know of any other true God.

We agree that there is one and one only God. But, when that is joined with the idea of Unitarianism, that's where the problem comes in. The next ayah says, Allah, the eternal, absolute. And again, we believe that God is eternal.

We believe that God is the absolute standard of all things. We do not believe, for example, that the sun came into existence at a point in time. That he was begotten in the sense of, as to his deity, becoming the son of God, or anything along those lines.

And so, we agree that God is the eternal, absolute. But then, the third ayah says, he begetteth not, nor is he begotten. And the background of that, lem yeled walem yuled, is very, very clear. There can truly be no doubt that the Christian faith, and the Christian doctrine of the relationship of the father and the son, is in the background of these words.

And then, the fourth ayah says, and there is none like unto him. Almost exact same language that is used in Isaiah and Jeremiah to describe God. So, please note something. There are only four ayahs in this very short surah.

One out of the four, 25%, one quarter of this self-definition of Islam, involves a denial of the heart of the Christian faith. That's why it's there. Islam, in its own self-definition, denies the Christian faith.

The Denial of the Son in Surah 112 and Isaiah 9

Coming 600 years after the Christian faith and the coming of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the very words of that third ayah, he begetteth not, nor is he begotten. In the Arabic language, the root there is identical to what we have in the Hebrew Old Testament.

In the Hebrew Old Testament, when there's a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ, it is said that a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. When it says a child will be born to us, it uses that same root, Galad.

And it's a normal term for the birthing of a child, because Jesus truly entered into human flesh. But then it says, a son will be given to us. Is that first phrase, a child will be born, is that the human nature of Christ?

Then a son being given to us, the eternal son is given to us, the divine nature of Christ? Whatever the case of that interpretation might be, it is very clear that the very same words that Surah 112 uses, and I don't believe there's any reason to believe that Muhammad would have had access to the original languages of Isaiah 9, so it wouldn't have been purposeful.

But here, using the very same linguistic roots, Surah 112 denies the very truth that it actually had been prophesied by the prophet 700 years before Christ, in the very same language. And so it's vital, I believe, for both Christians and Muslims to understand that the denial of the heart of the Christian faith is definitional of what it means to be a Muslim.

Why Christians and Muslims Must Speak Honestly About Their Differences

And that's what impacts our dialogues. There can be no compromise on these issues. We have to engage one another and openly communicate with one another and do so in honesty. We do not show respect for either of our beliefs when we try to gloss over these differences.

I do not believe that a person can be an honest Muslim and deny what Ali Klaas says. Neither can a person be an honest Christian and not believe what John 1 says, that Jesus has eternally existed, or what John 8, 58 says, that he is the great I am, or Colossians 2, 9 says, that he is the creator of all things and in him all things, all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.

We can't deny what our faith says, and the Muslim cannot deny what his faith says either. And so we have to come together and we have to apply the very same standards of examination to each of our faiths.

And obviously it is my belief that as a Christian, that as I have sought to do that in studying the Quran, in studying the Hadith, in studying Islamic history and comparing these to the Bible and to Christian history, that what we discover is that the reason for these words in the Quran is not due to divine inspiration.

They are due to the misunderstandings of Muhammad in the writing of that book. Now before someone just takes great offense at that, I must believe this to be true. I can't believe something is both true and untrue at the same time.

We have to have the freedom to disagree before we can even begin to honor the truth in examining what the real issues are. Now Ali Klaas is not the only place where Christian truth is denied in the scriptures.

In our next section we will continue and we'll examine further passages in the Quran that expand upon this denial of the Christian faith and we'll be able to test whether Muhammad truly understood the Christian faith or whether he did not.