A B C Of Christianity - Lessons From History

A B C Of Christianity

According to the Qur’an, there has been only one true religion throughout human history, i.e., Islam; all other systems of belief and worship, as they exist today, are nothing but corrupted and distorted replicas of the originally pure and simple teachings of the various messengers of God. Most versions of these teachings have been perverted beyond recognition, and the historical continuity and doctrinal similarity of only two of them — Judaism and Christianity — can at present be linked with Islam. 

Among these three major faiths, as mentioned earlier, only the followers of Judaism and Islam can be described as Ummahs: Jews or the Israelites as the previous Muslim Ummah, and the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as the present and final Muslim Ummah. According to the prophecies as they appear in the Hadith literature, the ultimate conflict of the future is going to take place between the Jews and the Muslims, although a very significant initial role will be played by the Christian nations. In order to correctly interpret and fully comprehend   these   prophecies,   it   is   imperative   for   us   to understand the nature and history of Christian faith.

A set of three doctrines is common to the followers of most of the Christian denomination, viz., the Trinity, Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Atonement. The most basic creed of modern Christianity is, of course, the belief that God is one, in three persons, and in one substance: God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit are not three gods, but one God. The Holy Qur’an  emphatically  rejects  and  condemns  this  polytheistic view.

O People of the Book, do not be fanatical in your faith, and say nothing but the truth about God. The Messiah who is Isa, son of Maryum, was only a messenger of God, and a command of His which He sent to Maryum, as a mercy from Him. So believe in God and His messengers, and do not say “Three.” For God is only one God. (Al-Nisa 4:171)

They are surely infidels who say: “God is the Messiah, son of Maryum.” …Disbelievers are they surely who say: “God is the third of the Trinity”; but there is no god other than God the One. (Al-Ma’ida 5:72,73)

The  Holy  Qur’an  also  repudiates  their  belief  that Prophet Isa (AS) was humiliated and executed on the cross, and thus indirectly refutes the theory of Atonement — the belief that the  great  sacrifice  from  the  so-called  “Son  of  God”  was necessary to remove the burden of the Original Sin from the shoulders of humanity. According to the Qur’an:

And (the Jews were punished, among other things, because) of saying, “We killed the Messiah, Isa, son of Maryum.” — who was  a  Messenger  of  God  —  but  they  neither  killed  nor crucified him, though it so appeared to them. They have no knowledge about it, other than conjecture, and surely they did not kill him. (Al-Nisa 4:157)

Although  the  myth  of  the  Crucifixion  of  Prophet Isa (AS) is narrated in all the four Gospels, there is absolutely no substance whatsoever in them for the doctrine of Trinity or that of the Divine Sonship of Jesus. The earliest evidence of the last two doctrines first appeared in the writings of St. Paul, and these were adopted as official beliefs of Christianity only after extensive debate, and following a long-standing controversy which included, at times, violent episodes between Unitarians and  Trinitarians.  These  dogmas  were  confirmed  as  official beliefs  of  the  Church,  after  much  deliberation,  during  the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E., almost three centuries after the departure of Prophet Isa (AS).

Source:Lesson from History (Book) by Dr. Israr Ahmad