ST.

PAUL UNIVERSITY

STUDENT: JANNY NALEPO NKAIWAUTEI

LECTURER: PROF DIPHUS CHEMORION

CORSE: CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW

COURSE CODE: UCC 101

SUBMISSION DATE: 28/2/2022

QUESTION 3

Examine the Christian teaching of God as a trinity and compare it with the Islamic

understanding of God.

INTRODUCTION

CHRISTIANS TEACHING ON GOD AS A TRINITY

Christianity has become one of the most widely spread form of religion in the world. It

has spread to many parts of the world compared to other form of worship. Through this

widespread, Christianity has had a huge influence over many people, groups and parties lives in

extra ordinary ways with main way being its beliefs and practices among Christians (Carson et al

2016). Christianity has over the years succeeded in organizing its beliefs into a systematic

theology which are depicted and picked from the traditional teachings, sacred writings which

they have succeeded to teach Christians who have held them without failure of contradiction.

These beliefs have been set out in a simple understandable manner that can be easily understood

by all Christians. They include: The Divinity and Humanity of Jesus Christ, The Death of Jesus,

Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ on the Cross, The true Nature of God and the holy

Trinity, Revelation and Salvation of human beings (Carson et al 2016).

Trinity according to Christian teachings and practices is the GodFather to Christians as

one God in three entities. The three entities are: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy

Spirit. The three being are in a harmonious relationship. They are all important in any aspect but

their roles and positions differ in authority. The three beings do not have any creation period
where they were created since time immemorial and they too had no beginning. The three

entities are not separate parts from God but are one name for God because the three beings exist

as one entity God. The word Trinity is a Christian doctrine for GodFather. It is not used in the

bible but it is evident in most scriptures used by Christian’s world over. It is considered to be

divine and remains a mystery beyond human comprehension (Coplestone 2006).

God the Father is the supreme head of the trinity making Him first in authority. Luke

Chapter 24 verse 36 says “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels

of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Here we see the Father in the trinity being the first

in authority where the other two have no power above the Father. This verse does not make the

son or spirit to be of less value but it is their roles in authority that comes after the Father. Here

we see with great power comes the great authority and responsibility. The Father having great

responsibility but yet still remain equal to the God the son and the God Holy Spirit, the Son

comes second in authority but still remains equal to the God the Father and the God Holy spirit

in the trinity (Dever & Mark 2005). John 14:31 says “but I do as the Father has commanded me,

so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here” 1st Corinthians 11:3

say, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her

husband, and the head of Christ is God.” The Holy Spirit is third of the three beings. John 14:26

says “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you

all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”. (Dever & Mark 2005).

God the Father is in control of all things and can act according to His will and he can

think for himself and has thought just as any person. The son on the other hand is human, he

cried when he saw people’s suffering, took care of people and loves people as unconditionally.
God the Holy Spirit is also able to think and acts for himself. He has emotions and grief and can

go anywhere he feels to and want to be(Disomimba et al 2017).

. The New Testament never explicitly refers to the Trinity, but contains references to

Economic Trinity “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). In Christians liturgical

practices during the baptism ceremonies, the baptismal words used “ In the name of the Father,

the Son and the Holy spirit” are sacred and shows the Christians acknowledging the holy trinity

in their daily liturgical practices (Disomimba et al 2017).

Islamic understanding of God: Tawhid.

In Islam, their God Allah is supreme being, the only deity who is all knowing and exist

as one unlike in Christians who have Godin three deities know as holy trinity. According to

(Q.3:5.7, 29,109), Allah know and owns all things. All other gods are considered Idols and are

not venerated in Islamic worship at all. They believe Allah alone is uncreated being who is

eternal, self-existent, hard to describe, can never be imagined, has no associates, the sole creator

and sustainer of the whole universe(Abdullah, 2006). Allah has ninety nine names that describes

him in Islamic faith community due to his attributes even though he is unknowable and never

interacts with his creations. Allah stands alone and does as he pleases being absolutely sovereign

(Q3:189). He has a will that none can deviate from since he supersedes all his creations and has

destined all things in prior to their happenings (Abdullah et al 2011).

According to Muslims Allah is pure and is majestic. He controls all things and enjoys the

status as the only being with such powers. He has neither beginning nor end of his ruling and he
passes on justice to his creations at his own free will and how it pleases him. Since he is all

knowing, he can lead his creation into straight paths or mislead them alike since no one can

question Allah. Thus, a Muslim fashion their lives around Allah ways and his will. Failure in

doing so attracts expenses, both in this life and the next life as well (Abdullah 2006). Those who

obey his will take care of creation as their own, animals species, all plants in the world etc. and

those who are found pleasing in his sight, they will be rewarded in paradise with fruits and

gardens with streams flowing underneath (Q3:148, 160, 169, 195; 4:122). Allah is merciful,

forgiving, stays near to his creation (Q4:125), pardoning the repenting (Q3:135). Allah is the

self-sufficient one (Q2:267; 3:2), he needs nothing from human or anywhere else apart from his

own sufficient supply. He does not sire or wed and get sons, daughter or wives to mean he can be

dependent upon them and that cannot and never will be Allah’s wants. Allah is regarded to be

spirit and hence has no business with human priorities or should never be regarded with human

priorities at all (Abdullah et al 2011).

It will be interesting to know that the Qur'an actually does say a number of things about

paganism, tri-theism and the Trinity itself. The Qur'an teaches that Allah alone in one unit must

be worshipped; anything deviating from this norm is sin. All other sins may be forgiven but if

one persists in polytheism, they will never receive mercy or pardon in the next life and to some

extent, the present (Q4:48).  Surah 112 states the following:

"Say, 'He is Allah, One

Allah, the eternal Refuge.

He neither begets nor is born,

Nor is there to Him any Equivalent'" (Al Qur'an 2012).

This is a very short but pointed Surah summarizing the Muslim conception of Allah. We

observe that Allah is One unit (see Q4:36), he is eternal and does not have a Son nor is he

created or born. This entirely knocks out the divinity of Christ and the Trinity as a whole. As far

as the Qur'an is concerned, Isa (Jesus) was created in time, akin to Adam and thus cannot be

divine (Q3:59; 5:116). The Qur'an also makes a number of specific statements about Christ,

denying that he is divine. In Surah 4:171, the Qur'an says the following:

O people of the scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah

except the truth. The Messiah Jesus son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word

which He directed to Mary and a soul from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do

not say, "Three"; desist-it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted above having a

son…. From this Surah verse, it clearly seen that Quran only acknowledges two things in the

verse 1) Isa (Jesus) is just merely a messenger, just a man and not divine or one equal to Allah.

2) The trinity is rejected here because Allah is seen to be one and not three numerical beings (Al

Qur'an 2012).

Surah 5:17 directly rejects Jesus' divinity, in effect attacking the very idea of the Trinity;

it says: "They certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, son of Mary. Say 'then who

could prevent Allah at all if He intended to destroy Christ, son of Mary, or his mother or

everyone on the earth?…'" Surah 5:18 says:

"But the Jews and the Christians say, 'We are the Children of Allah and His beloved.'

Say, 'Then why does he punish you for your sins?'"

 The Muslims questions the above verse because they do not understand why God would

leave His only son to be punished and crucified on the cross. They disagree with associating

Allah with any human and regarding Jesus as the son by Christians is a blasphemous action and

practice to Muslims (Abdullah et al 2011).

CONCLUSION

We can safely conclude that Christians and Muslims have different interpretations of the

nature of God. The trinity has become a major discussion topic among the Muslims and the

Christians. The Muslims sees the trinity as practice of polytheism or tri-theism by Christians.

They do no acknowledge Jesus and Holy Spirit as being one with God the father ort Allah

according to them. They cite Allah to be self-reliant and do not need any assistance from any one

hence they disagree with three in one person of God according Christians. This topic of

understanding God and Christian’s beliefs and practices has become a major global debate topic

which is not seen t end in the near future. Many publication, journals and manuscripts have been

written to counter and explain this phenomenon of understanding God among different world

religions (Abdullah, 2006).

 References

Abdullah Ismail. "Tawhid and Trinity: A Study of Ibn Taymiyyah's al-Jawāb al Ṣaḥīḥ"

Intellectual Discourse, Vol 14 no. 1 (2006): 89–106.

Abdullah, Muhammad & Muhammad J. Nadvi. "Understanding the Principles of Islamic

World-View" The Dialogue. Vol VI, no. 3 (2011): 268–289.

Al Qur'an. English translation of the Qur'an. Al-Muntada Al- Islami Trust, 2012.

"Two 'Lost' Surahs of the Qur'an: Surat al-Khal and Surat al-Hafd Between Textual &

Ritual Canon (1st-3rd/7th-9th centuries), Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (2019): 67– 112.

Carson, Don, Netland Harold, Sweeney Douglas. "The Message of Islam vs. the Gospel

of Jesus" The Gospel Coalition, 2016.

Coplestone, F. S. Jesus Christ or Muhammed? The Bible or the Koran? Christian Focus,

2006.

Dever, Mark. The Message of the New Testament. Wheaton: Crossway, 2005.

Disomimba, M. N. S., Ali, K., Disomimba A. S. "Christian Theologians Views on the

Doctrine of Trinity in Islamic Philosophical Criticism" International Journal of Academic

Research in Business and Social Sciences, Special Issue— Islam and Contemporary Issues

(ISSN 2222-6990) Vol 7, (2017): 201–214.