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Oneness
of God: The Ultimate Solution to the Trinitarian Controversy
By Dr. Mamarinta-Omar Mababaya
(Especially for Non-Muslim Readers)
(This is the revised version of the excerpts from the Author’s booklet, originally published (without copyright) by the Wisdom Enrichment Foundation (WEFOUND), Mindanao State University, Marawi City, Philippines in 1988; the Islamic Publications (Pvt.) Limited, Lahore, Pakistan, 1990; the Cooperative Office for Call and Guidance at North Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1992; the World Muslim League, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1992; and the International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995.)
The Islamic concept of
God is crystal clear, and it is purely of divine source ¾
not human conjecture. Man, with all his senses, sees God’s creation around him
¾
both animate and inanimate objects. These include the heavens and the
earth, and all between them ¾ mankind, the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, the
mountains, animals, vegetables and all kinds of fruits, and many more.
All these have the same patterns of creation, and are, therefore, clear
signs that there is One and only True God, Allah I
the Almighty and the Supreme Creator. He has asked us to meditate on
those signs, so we would be able to realize that every creation has a definite
purpose ¾
not accidental nor a mere idle sport. Allah I
says: “Not for (idle sports did We create the heavens and the earth and all
that is between!” (Qur’an
21:16) Elsewhere in the Qur’an,
Allah the Almighty likewise says:
“We created not the
heavens, the earth, and all between them, but for just ends.... For verily it is
your Rabb (Sustainer) Who is the Master ¾
Creator knowing all things.” (Qur’an
15:85-85)
“Your God is one
God: as to those who believe not in the Hereafter, their hearts refuse to know,
and they are arrogant.” (Qur’an 16:22)
In order to satisfy
further those with inquisitive minds, they should ponder over the following
explicit accounts of the Oneness of God, as stated in the Holy Qur’an:
“And your God is One
God: there is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.”
(Qur’an 2:163)
“Allah, there is no
god but He, ¾
the Living the Self- subsisting Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His
are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His
presence except as He permits? He knows what (appears
to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they
compass aught of His knowledge except as He wills.
His Throne does extend over the heavens and on earth, and He feels
no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the
Supreme (in glory).” (Qur’an 2:255)
“Verily, verily,
your God is One! ” (Qur’an
37:4)
“Say: ‘He is Allah
the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begets not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto
Him.” (Qur’an 112:1-4)
The foregoing verses
are just some of the numerous Qur’anic injunctions, which clearly manifest the
Oneness of God. But to rectify man’s baseless conjectures, Allah the Almighty
Himself explicitly brands those who adhere to Trinity and other strange
polytheistic beliefs as blasphemers, as manifested in the following verse:
“They do blaspheme
who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God.
If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty
will befall the blasphemers among them.”
(Qur’an 5:74)
The One and Only true
God, Allah, has absolutely no partner. Indeed,
He is selfـsufficient.
He does not need any associate. So, one should not venture into believing that
God shares His divinity with anyone. Indeed, this is a blasphemous belief, which
will only pave the way (for someone who cherishes it) to Hell-Fire. The
following Qur’anic verses elucidate the nature of Allah I,
being the One and Only True God, Who is absolutely devoid of any partner:
“Allah is He, beside
Whom there is no other god; Who
knows (all things) both secret and
open; He Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Allah
is He, beside Whom there is no other god; the Sovereign, the Holy One, the
Source of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of
Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah!
(High is He) above the partners they attribute to Him.
He is Allah, the Creator, the Originator, and the Fashioner.
To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.
Whatever is in the heavens and on earth, does declare His Praises and
Glory and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” (Qur’an 59:22-24)
“One
day shall We gather them altogether: We shall say to those who ascribed partners
(to us): ‘Where are the partners whom ye (in vented and) talked about ?’
There will then be (left) no excuse for them but to say: ‘By Allah our
Rabb we were not those who joined gods with Allah.
Behold! How they lie against themselves but the (lie) which they invented
will leave them in the lurch. ” (Qur’an
6:22-24)
“He knows what is
hidden and what is open: too high is He for the partners they attribute to
Him!” (Qur’an 23:92)
Any rational human
being who sincerely acknowledges the unique attributes of Allah I,
which are absolutely Divine and true to Himself alone, will never associate
anything with Him. Allah I,
the one and only true God, is the sole Living God of the Universe. He is
Eternal, Absolute, Most Compassionate, Most Gracious, Omnipresent, Omniscient,
Omnipotent, Most Powerful and Selfـ
Sufficient. He is the Giver of Life, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth,
and all between them. He is the
best Disposer of Affairs. He is Most High, Great. He is Most Forbearing and the
Best of Planners. He is quick in retribution, but forgiving and merciful. He is
Exalted in power, Wise, free of all wants and worthy of all praise.
He is the Rabb
(Sustainer) of the Throne of Honor. To Him belong the End and the Beginning. He
is above time and space; hence, no vision can ever grasp Him.
The Christian concept
of God includes Jesus Christ as one of three in a Trinity. This is obviously a
sort of misconception, which is based on their allegation that Jesus is the
“Only Begotten Son of God”. Being
All-Knowing, All-Perfect
and devoid of all the animalistic qualities the Christians attribute to Him,
Allah I
categorically rectifies such misconception as the following verses show:
“They say, ‘God
has begotten a son.’ Glory
be to Him! He is selfـ
sufficient. His are all things in
the heavens and on earth! No warrant have you to say this. Say you about Allah
what you know not?” (Qur’an 10:68)
“It is not befitting
to (the majesty) of Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him!
When He determines a matter He only says to it ‘Be, and it is.’”
(Qur’an 19:35)
“They say: ‘(God)
Most Gracious has begotten a son!’ Indeed you have put forth a thing most
monstrous! At it the skies are ready to burst the earth to split asunder and the
mountains to fall down in utter ruin, that they should invoke a son for (Allah)
Most Gracious. For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious
that He should beget a son.” (Qur’an
19:88-92)
“No
son did Allah beget, nor is there any god along with Him:
(if there were many gods), behold! Each god would have taken away what he
had created and some would have lorded it over others. (He is free) from the
(son of) things they attribute to Him.” (Qur’an
23: 91)
“Did He (then)
choose daughters rather than sons?" (Qur’an
37: 153)
The misconception that
Jesus (allegedly being the “Only Begotten Son”) has the same divine essence
as the Supreme Creator is, indeed, a great unforgivable sin. Every Christian
must know that Jesus was a man; and as such, he does not possess any of the
divine attributes of Allah. In fact, the Bible testifies that “God is not a
man”. With this alone, the Christians are either ignorant of their own
scriptures or they are merely blindـfollowers
of a false god. After all, their
Bible tells them more than once that Jesus was a man.
By the same token, the
Bible mentions the weaknesses of Jesus. Just
like any other man, Jesus felt the basic human needs of hunger and thirst. By
the same token, like anyone who needs to rest when the day is gone, Jesus also
slept. The case of Allah is entirely different as “No slumber can seize Him
nor sleep” and “there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him...”
(Qur’an 42:11) Thus, the Christian concept of the deity of Jesus is
absolutely contrary to the Divine Oneness of Allah I.
The Holy Qur’an states:
“They do blaspheme
who say: ‘God is Christ the son of Mary.’ But said Christ: ‘O Children of
Israel.’ worship God, my Rabb (Sustainer) and your Rabb (Sustainer).’
Whoever joins other gods with God, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and
the Fire will be his abode. There
will for the wrong doers be no one to help.”
(Qur’an 5:73)
“Allah has said:
‘Take not (for worship ) two gods: for He is just One God: then fear Me (and
Me alone ).” (Qur’an 16:51)
The Christian doctrine
that Jesus had to die on the cross (because nothing in this world is holier than
his blood to atone for the sins committed by the entire human race) is so
obscure. It is absolutely unthinkable, for instance, that those of the previous
generations who received and followed the divine messages through the chain of
former prophets (Noah, Abraham, Moses and the like) could not attain salvation
simply because they did not affirm Jesus Christ as their savior. Thus, accepting
this misconception would be against all laws ever known to man, let alone the
Divine Law of Allah.
Allah the Almighty is
AllـKnowing,
and for sure He is fully aware of how the Christian Church imposed their own
fabricated dogmas (like the divinity of Jesus and blood atonement) on peoples
worldwide. Such dogmas were not at all taught by any of the prophets, including
Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all). In refuting
the Christian concept of salvation (thru Jesus Christ), Allah the Almighty
explicitly emphasizes that one’s own sin is his sole responsibility, and
should not be borne by another. The Holy Qur’an states:
“Say: ‘Shall I
seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things
(that exist)? Every soul draws the need of its acts on none but itself.
No bearer of burdens call bear the burden of another. Your goal in the
end is towards God: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein you
disputed.” (Qur’an 6:164)
For one to attain
salvation (that is, for him to be saved from the torment of Hell-Fire), he has
to firmly believe that there is no god but the One and Only True God (Allah).
Prophet Muhammad
r
says:
“The key to Paradise
is the testimony to the fact that there is no god but Allah.”
(Muslim)
“He who died knowing
(and acknowledging it ) that there is no god but Allah, he is in fact entitled
to get into Paradise.” (Muslim)
By the same token, any
person who deviates from the belief in Allah (the One and Only True God) will
have Hell-Fire as his ultimate abode, as evidenced in the following saying of
Prophet Muhammad r:
“Two things yield
inevitable results.” A person
said: “Allah’s Messenger, what these two things are?”
He r
said:
“He who died associating anything with Allah would definitely enter
into Hell-Fire and he who died with out associating an anything with Allah he in
fact entitled himself to go into Paradise.”
(Muslim)
The foregoing Hadith
conforms to Allah’s saying that He forgives sins other than that of
associating other gods with Him, as the following Qur’anic verse manifests:
“ ... Allâh
forgives not that partners should be
set up with him;
but He forgives anything else, to
whom He pleases; to set up partners
with Allâh is to devise a sin most heinous indeed.”
(Qur’an 4:47- 48)
For anyone to
strengthen his faith and attain salvation, he should, therefore, contemplate the
foregoing verse. He should always bear in mind that, being the Wisest of Judges,
“Allah is never unjust in the least degree...” Furthermore, the following
verses, reflecting Allah’s justice, should inspire every man to seek salvation
through complete faith in Him, instead of irrationally seeking salvation through
blood atonement.
“Whoever works
righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily, to him will We give a new
Life, a life that is good and pure,
and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their
actions.”
“He
that works evil will riot be requited but by the like thereof: and he that works
a righteous deed ¾
whether man or woman and is a believer ¾
such
will enter the Garden (of Bliss ):
therein will they have abundance without measure.”
(Qur’an 40:40)
“That man can have
nothing but what he strives for.” (Qur’an
53:39)
“Then shall anyone
who has done an atom’s weight of good, see it!
And shall anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil, shall see
it.” (Qur’an 99:7-8)
Thus, complete faith
in Allah (the One and Only True God) is essential for one’s own salvation.
Faith becomes meaningful only when it is translated into practice. So, fortunate
is he whose belief and deeds are always meant for pleasing Allah alone.
Summary
and Concluding Remarks
This book has shown
historical facts surrounding the Trinitarian controversy. It has shown that the
Trinitarian doctrine was ratified only in the fourth century, proving that Jesus
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not its own author. Christendom
has for centuries been in disarray, and the real followers of Jesus (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) found the Trinitarian doctrine very strange and
abominable. They not only opposed
it in words, but many of them also stood firmly in defense of the Divine Oneness
of God, a doctrine taught by Jesus himself and all other prophets (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon them all). The leaders and members of the
Apostolic church ¾
a group of the real followers of Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) ¾
died
in thousands as a result of persecution against them by the Romans in
collaboration with those of the Pauline church. The Unitarian Christians
preferred to die for a noble cause (i.e., in their great attempt to defend their
monotheistic belief) rather than accept the mysterious doctrine of Trinity.
The Trinitarian school
of thought dominated the Christian world only after the Pauline church imposed
it by force on those who neither understood it nor sincerely accepted it as a
divine precept. Such coercion was strongly condemned and resisted by those who
believed that Jesus was a mere prophet of God, and not one of three in a
Trinity. Politics, however, played a very significant role in selling the idea
of Triune God to the Christian masses. In fact, it took Christendom more than
three hundred years to ratify the Trinitarian doctrine. But even after
ratification, the Unitarian Christians continued to defy it. Imposition of the
death penalty for those who opposed the Trinitarian system had ultimately given
it a clear commanding edge over the pristine tenets of the Apostolic church.
The book has likewise examined some if the controversial personalities behind
the success of the Trinitarian doctrine. These include Athanasius, Constantine
and Paul. These individuals were as controversial as the Trinitarian doctrine
itself. For instance, Athanasius was considered by virtue of an imperial decree
as a public enemy who was wanted by the then Emperor Constantius
“dead or alive”, and this happened years after the ratification of
the Trinitarian doctrine. In his attempt to save his life, he resorted to hiding
from one place to another until he discovered a young woman who was known for
her exquisite beauty. Their clandestine affair resulted in an illicit,
adulterous crime by a man who had engineered the Athanasian creed (the
Trinitarian doctrine).
By the same token, Emperor Constantine (who ratified the Doctrine of Trinity)
was himself a tyrant and criminal who thundered his son, his wife and many more,
because of his lust for political power. Neither did he understand the real
theological foundation of Christianity nor was he himself a real Christian. His
crimes, including the murder of thousands of innocent individuals, coupled with
his paganistic belief, were grievous. Ironically, however, life was made easy
for him by the Christian clergymen. They offered him forgiveness, despite the
fact that only God can forgive those grievous sins! So, in return, Constantine
gave them imperial protection; and, subsequently, he ratified for them their
doctrine of Trinity.
Moreover, the very founder of today’s Christianity (Paul) was himself very
controversial. Christians’ belief
that he was a divinely inspired apostle is so obscure. First of all, Paul (who
had never personally met Jesus) was not among the twelve disciples. Second, he
had persecuted many of the real followers of Jesus. Third, Paul’s teachings,
in general, contradict those of Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him). In fact, (large part of the New Testament, which was ratified by Emperor
Constantine during the Nicene Council in 325 A. D., was Paul’s own
fabrications. Specifically, Paul’s letters to the Romans, the Galatians, the
Philippians, and the like were his own making, which do not at all conform to
the real teachings of Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). In fact,
this book has shown that virtually all of the Pauline epistles had no reference
to the practical teachings, personal sayings and real personality of Jesus
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
Based on the historical facts presented in this book, Christians only need to
use their objectivity and rational thinking to realize that the manـmade
Trinity that they have been worshipping all the years is nothing but a product
of political and personal manipulations by such men as Athanasius, Constantine
and Paul. Their criminal backgrounds or immoralities were enough grounds that
they were devoid of any divine inspiration. It follows, therefore, that the
Trinitarian doctrine is human and not divine in nature.
This booklet has also
shown that the mysterious nature of the controversial Trinity can be solved
through the concept of God in Islam. Several Qur’anic injunctions are
presented, which explicitly refute the Trinitarian doctrine and the divinity of
Jesus; affirm the Oneness of God; stress the fundamental Truth that God is selfـ
reliant, hence devoid of any partner; and highlight the belief in Allah (the One
and Only True God) as the key to salvation. On the other hand, joining partners
with Allah is the key to Hell-Fire, so He commands us not to worship anyone
other than Him. Indeed, Allah is selfـ
sufficient; He does not have to share His Divinity with anyone else. Therefore,
Christians who really seek Truth only need to revert to the belief in the
absolute Oneness of God, for them to be able to avoid the confusion or mystery
underlying the Trinitarian doctrine. After
all, Jesus and all other prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them
all) taught the Divine Oneness of
God, which is the very creed of Islam ¾
the peaceful submission to the Will of Allah the Almighty.
Today, Islam has
already surpassed Christianity as the N umber One religion in the world. This is
so, because the real seekers of Truth found Islam as the only religion that
truly advocates the belief in the absolute Oneness of God. Furthermore, Islam is
growing so fast, because many of those who embraced it as their new faith have
played a very significant role in conveying its message to the rest of mankind.
Islam considers salvation as a personal responsibility, that is based on one’s faith , piety, righteousness, steadfastness and noble service ¾ not an object of blood atonement or vicarious sacrifice. It abolishes idolatry, a practice which is commonplace to all other religions. It is the only religion in the world that has upheld the absolute Oneness of God ¾ a divine concept, which in every respect serves as the ultimate solution to the Trinitarian controversy.
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