The Attributes of God According to Non-Muslims (The Christians)
The Attributes of God According to Non-Muslims (The Christians)
The Christians ascribed to the God they worship that which is not acceptable to man's sound, good nature; rather, it scorns and opposes it. They have deigned to describe Him in terms unacceptable to honest, straightforward reason; in fact, it objects to it and deems it improper.
The belief of the Christians about their God and Creator is a muddy, unclear belief that no simple person can understand, because it confounds the thinking and overwhelms the mind. It is nothing but man-made philosophy. To explain:
Allah (Glorious & Exalted) did not create His slaves and send them prophets and messengers for them to complicate matters of religion and belief for them or for them to complicate them for each other. The clear, correct belief which man's pure, good nature accepts must necessarily be free of any flaws or murkiness so that all people can understand and accept it, no matter what the level of their intellect. This is part of the Wisdom of Allah (Glorious & Exalted).
As for beliefs that present difficulty and distress to the thinking and to the mind, no one understands them except a limited group of people. Thus it can be said that, without a doubt, any books that come with such troublesome, depraved beliefs must have been corrupted and ruined by human hands and banished from the sphere of Divine guidance for human beings.
To explain in the context of Christianity, they believe in God the Creator saying:
They acknowledge One God (because the Torah says so), but at the same time, they say that He has three persons or substances. Then they try to solve and untangle this riddle between there being One God, as in the Torah, and there being three, according to their doctrines.
They claim that the three persons of the Divine Essence, or the three substances, are: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and by this they also mean that these have existence, life and knowledge. Yet, among them there is great disagreement and division.
They said that the Father is the Origin, from Whom the Holy Spirit proceeded, and from Whom the Son was begotten, or generated, by force and necessity, so that no time elapsed between His Existence and the Existence of them both, as this took place since the Existence of the Father Himself.
As such, they do not acknowledge any superiority between the Father and the other two persons, because they are all the same without distinction or difference. Then they gave each of these three supposed persons a special job. Yet, in the end, they proceed together, as one power. May Allah be greatly exalted above the likes of such falsehood.
Then, they claimed that the Son is a god—that he is one of the three persons, incarnate in the form of a human being (the Christ) to offer himself up as a sacrifice. The secret of this, they claim, is in a strange story.
They say: when the Lord created Adam, He placed him in Heaven and ordered him to eat from every tree, except one. This story is told in the Book of Genesis: "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." [Genesis 2: 16-17]
Then they claimed that Adam ate from the tree, and therefore deserved death as threatened by the Lord God, except that the Lord God did not execute His threat, for He was overcome by mercy for Adam. However, it was necessary to achieve mercy and justice together. And so it was as though the Lord God had not expected Adam to eat from the tree, and it thus became a problem, a crisis, and a conflict. Because of this contradiction between mercy and justice, and how to achieve them both, together, God Himself offered the Son for ransom ages and ages later (since the creation of Adam and his descendents after him) to be humiliated, crucified, and executed as a criminal, in order to fulfill the principle of justice and to atone for his sin and mistake (eating from the forbidden tree) and to atone for the sins and errors of his descendents (among them, prophets and righteous men) and of their father, Adam. That is, after the Lord God showed mercy to Adam by not executing him when he ate from the tree.
Then they claimed that the Divine Son was humiliated, crucified, and executed when he offered himself up as a sacrifice, but only after trying to escape, and after asking and pleading with the Divine Father to save him. Then he remained dead, hanging on the cross (which they also worship since their 'God' was crucified on it) until he was buried in a sepulcher. Then he left the grave and ascended into heaven. May Allah be greatly exalted above all these lies.
Note:
The case of the Christians in these lies and false claims is the same as the legend of Ashtar and Baal. The Christians claim the existence of a Divine Son who sacrificed himself, was crucified, executed, and buried, and then rose again, ascending into Heaven, in order to cleanse and purify mankind of their sins as a result of Adam eating from the forbidden tree. Then Saul of Tarsus (who changed his name to Paul and corrupted the religion of the followers of Christ) began calling him the Savior and Redeemer. Likewise, in the legend of Ashtar and Baal, it is claimed that Ashtar was the Queen of the Sky, who would send her son, the sun-god, Baal, in the middle of the summer to save the earth from its barrenness, but the gods of the underworld captured him and he died. Then the mother, Ashtar, would come down to save him from their hands on December 25th, and so on. Thus, the weakening of the sun is the death of the Divine Son (Baal), and the return of the sun to its full glory and strength is the rebirth of the Divine Son (Baal).
Just as the Messiah who was called the Redeemer dies and descends into the underworld and then rises again after death to save mankind from its sins, Baal saves mankind by rescuing its agriculture from the barrenness of their land.
At the beginning of the 4th century CE, there appeared the Byzantine Emperor, Constantine, who used to worship Baal by the name of 'the unconquerable sun.' So the worshippers of the cross turned the pagans into Christians and made the first day of the week, 'Sunday' (the day of the sun), a holiday for Christians, and the birthday of Baal on December 25th became the birthday of Christ.
And so, it was at this time that the Roman Catholic Church arose, built on the worship of the Mother (the Virgin Mary) and the sacrificed son (Jesus). In fact, if we wanted, we could say that the mother is Ashtar and the son is Baal.
Thus the popes of the church continue to this day to follow the path of Constantine. May Allah (Mighty & Majestic) be greatly exalted above all these falsehoods.
With that, the key to the riddle of corrupt Christian beliefs comes clear. It was thrust into the embrace of a number of ancient pagan traditions, and therefore lost the Divine sanction necessary for the guidance of humanity.
Before refuting such lies and delusions, we ask in astonishment:
Could any pure nature and sound mind accept such wild and farcical stories about God, the Creator, the Lord of Heaven and Earth?
Of course not!
Man's pure, good nature and sound reason do not accept anything like that or even less than that about their God, the Creator, Who should be glorified and exalted.
In order to clarify the ignorance and falsehood of these accusations, we pose the following rhetorical question:
1. If the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father by force and necessity, without will, intent or choice, was the so-called Father aware of this or unaware?
And if He was aware, then the Son and the Holy Spirit did not proceed from Him by force and necessity, which proves the inconsistency of the beliefs they claim.
And if He was not aware of the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeding from Him, as in their claim that the Son and the Holy Spirit both came forth from Him by essential consent, we would ask them, according to their lies:
If we were to concede for the sake of argument that this is possible, then did the so-called 'Father' know of the proceeding of the Son and the Holy Spirit from Him afterwards or did He not know?
Then, if He knew of the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeding from Him afterwards, then this proves that something new was added to the knowledge of God, the Father, that was not there before. So, either what He learned came to Him from some other source, or He learned on His own after not knowing, according to what they claim.
Both purported statements are impossible and corrupt things to say about God, which brings us to the conclusion that the basis of this belief is incorrect and ignorant, and that it is nothing but a false accusation, which Allah (Noble & Sublime) has not authorized.
The so-called 'monotheism' of these Christians is figurative, not literal. In fact, they call it: complex monotheism. In other words, it is not true monotheism, so simple people do not understand it, which confirms what we have demonstrated previously.
Thus, we ask another rhetorical question:
2. If God, the Son, was begotten by God, the Father, and was incarnated in a human body with his own special nature for the sake of being humiliated, crucified, and executed in this purported sacrifice, then what is to prevent this Divine Son from being incarnated in any other creature, such as an angel, jinn, or some fantastical being? What is to prevent the purported sacrifice—the humiliation, the crucifixion, and the execution—from happening to him again, or even something more terrible and horrific than that? What is to say that what happened to him hasn't happened many, many times before (even before Adam was created)?
We say this merely as a point of rhetoric to refute the lies of the Christians and their egregious statements about Allah Almighty.
If a person accepts and condones in his beliefs and convictions any attribute that is imperfect or reproachable in the God he worships, when he must necessarily exalt and glorify Him above such things, when he should not equate His Actions with those of human beings or any other creature that Allah Almighty made from nothing, then it would be no surprise to find him accepting and condoning in his beliefs and convictions a second attribute that is imperfect or reproachable, or a third…in his God and Creator, Who he should exalt and glorify instead of reproach and find fault with.
If God had taken the Messiah as His son—even if only figuratively—then what would prevent this God from taking another son, or more, from among the Heavenly Hosts of Angels, who are more noble in form than human beings? Or why wouldn't He take a son from the jinn—even if only figuratively—due to a special nature He shares with them? Furthermore, why wouldn't He take one or more wives from among the jinn or others due to a special nature He shares with them, too?
We say this to rebuke and refute their lies.
Allah forbid that among His Attributes there should be such blatant falsehood!
To ask another rhetorical question:
3. If the Christians believe about the Messiah that he is a god or the son of a god—according to the differences between their heretical sects—because he was born without a father, then what should we say about Adam (peace be upon him), when Allah (Mighty & Majestic) created him without a mother or father? Should we ascribe divinity or partial divinity to him, too? Should we claim that he was a god or the son of a god, too?
God forbid! Of course not! May Allah be exalted high above such wicked falsehoods!
To pose yet another rhetorical question:
4. If the Christians believe in the divinity of the Messiah due to the miracles that occurred at his hand—as support from Allah (Mighty & Majestic) to establish the truth of his message—then what should we say about Muhammad (pbuh) and Moses (pbuh) and all the other prophets and messengers? They came with many, many miracles and wonders, granted to them from Allah (Glorious & Exalted), to support them in the truth of their prophethood and message. Does this force us to believe in their divinity?
We ask again, rhetorically:
5. How did the Virgin Mary, a human being, carry a god or the son of a god in her womb?
How can a lesser being contain a higher being?
How could such a divine being come out through the birth canal as a little child, opening its mouth at its mother's breast?
What if a human being were to marry a cow? What if human nature were to blend with animal nature? Would the progeny be half human and half cow?
Does it make sense for divine nature to mix with human nature?
God forbid! Of course not! Such a corrupt belief and murky legend cannot be acceptable to man's pure, good nature, nor can it be accepted by a rightly-guided, superior intellect.
The Christians are equal to those who worship cows and other pagans, since they worship a human being, from among the creatures Allah Almighty created. They ascribe to him divinity, or partial divinity, or his nature, according to their misguided sectarian differences due to the falsehood they are swimming in.
So we ask again, rhetorically, since straightforward and honest logic won't accept this:
6. What would force God, the Creator, to do something repulsive like that, when it does not agree or befit His Divinity, when He is Able to create and do what He wills?
How could he leave the 'son of God' to be humiliated by the Jews—as they claim—and then crucified and executed without protecting Himself?
If He was unable to protect Himself from those who would insult and humiliate him, then how could God, the Father, leave His 'son' to be humiliated and then crucified, and then to die without protecting him?
If the 'Divine Son' was willing to offer himself as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of Adam and his descendents after him, then why did he try to run away and ask God, the Father, to save him? Wasn't he a god or a willing sacrifice?
How could God leave His son to be humiliated and killed by the Jews who disbelieved in him and called him a liar and claim that this was a cause for the remission of the sins of the children of Adam, when he had no part in these sins?
What would force Him to do that when He is God, the Creator, to Whom belongs the Power to forgive, without any need for such make-believe stories and wicked falsehoods as the Christians believe in?
Does it make sense that the children of Adam bear responsibility for their father, Adam's, disobedience of his Lord when he ate from the tree that he was forbidden to eat from?
Does it make sense that the son bear the sins of his father or even part of them when he had no relation to those sins?
Is that Divine Wisdom and Justice which we must glorify and vindicate of all that is not befitting of it?
How strange! What grave could contain the God of the Heavens and the Earth after being humiliated and insulted, crucified and executed, shrouded and buried?
These delusions and wicked assumptions are nothing but fantastic legends like the legends and fables of ancient peoples and nations.
Some intelligent poets rightly rendered such people speechless when they said:
How strange is the Messiah among the Christians,
And to which father is he ascribed!
They delivered him to the Jews and said,
After killing him, they hung him on the cross.
If what they say is true,
And correct, then where was his father,
When His son fell captive to the enemy?
Do you think they pleased Him or angered Him?
If He was pleased with their ill treatment of him,
Then praise them for torturing him.
And if He was angered, then leave Him and
And worship them, for they defeated Him.
Straightforward, honest logic and good, pure nature do not tolerate such folly, such fabrications, and such lies against Allah Almighty, the Creator and Maker. May Allah be glorified above all such wicked falsehoods!
It is also strange because the idea of hereditary sin is rejected in the book they hold sacred. In Deuteronomy 24: 16, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin."
In Ezekiel 18: 20, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
Even though the idea of hereditary sin was rejected as we can see in their books, we find that they still believe in it as doctrine, as we indicated in the story of the so-called sacrifice. They say, "Their mothers bore us in sin"! This contradiction is only due to the corruption and deviation in their books, which led to the defects in their beliefs.
Likewise, we find that the issue of the so-called sacrifice—in which they claim that God, the Son, offered himself up to humiliation, crucifixion, and execution at the hands of the Jews in order to atone for the sin of Adam, who ate from the forbidden tree, and the sins of his descendents after him because of the inheritance of sin—was mistaken.
Thus the nature of the so-called Son was either mortal or immortal: subject to death or not subject to death.
If his nature was mortal, he was not a god, and therefore it is not right to claim that he is a god and a sacrifice at the same time.
And if the nature of the so-called Son is immortal because he is a god, then he could not die. Thus, there would be no sacrifice or any of those other fables and hoaxes. This confirms the falsehood of such corrupt beliefs.
The Christians made God, the so-called 'Father,' an extreme, cruel god. He does not forgive or grant pardon, as with Adam's mistake. According to them, He is incapable of fixing His problem.
From another perspective, they make God, the so-called 'Father,' loving toward mankind, sacrificing for them, and generous of self for their benefit, even though they claim that God, the Son, originally begotten by the Father, may Allah be exalted high above all of this.
The beliefs of the Christians are contradictory in the concept of Divinity itself.
Whereas they describe God as the Creator, we find that they ascribe to Him a son.
Whereas they say that God is One, they say that He is made up of three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and they claim that each one is a god.
In this there is ignorance of basic requirements. They acknowledge three gods, and then make three gods into one, but in making the three into one, and the one into three, they have transgressed the boundaries of reason and sabotaged its necessary requirements.
In fact, a priest has even written a book, called, The Inner God, claiming that God has no external existence, and that faith in God is merely belief in a collection of proverbs and moral principles. This theological denial of the Creator is widespread among the cultured masses of both religions: Christianity and Judaism.
Many Christians have embraced Islam after seeing that the Messiah (peace be upon him) in the Quran in a full picture, free of the contradictions and differences that Christians live with. That is why the church tries to face this by making up lies and misleading arguments. They claim that the Quran acknowledges the divinity of the Messiah by taking ambiguous verses and intentionally interpreting them incorrectly. They do not refer back to unequivocal verses. They do this on purpose to defend their corrupt beliefs and embarrassing positions when many of their fold are embracing Islam, and to support their false doctrines.
Thus, they voluntarily and intentionally claim falsely that the divinity of the Messiah was mentioned in the Saying of Allah Most High, {…and His Word ("Be!" –and he was)which He bestowed on Mary and a spirit from Him.}[Al-Nisaa' 4: 171]
