Holy Qur’an surah 5 verse 116
When God says, ‘Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, “Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God”?’ he will say, ‘May You be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say – if I had said such a thing You would have known it: You know all that is within me, though I do not know what is with You, You alone [see Mark 13:32] have full knowledge of things unseen – I told them only what You commanded me to: “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. [see John 20:17]”
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The Quran has an enduring truth to teach us. For most Christians in the 7th century and today Mary is a quasi divine figure: they pray to her, call her the “Queen of the Universe”, “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” (ie wife of God), “Mother of God”, etc.
Jesus too was a man who said “why do you call me good?” (Mark 10), who worshiped and prayed to God yet is also accorded divine status: “Jesus is God” etc
God says to Jesus,
“Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, “Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God”?’ he will say, ‘May You be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say”
The Quran corrects these egregious errors.
Categories: Art, Christianity, Quran
Blogging Theology 
It’s been 99 years and still no consecration of Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
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Surah 5 verse 116 could be a prophecy indicating that a time will come when the majority of Christians will become extreme in their reverence of Mary (as), even more than Catholics are today. This is just my opinion.
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Muslims should hope for that since its the only reason it can salvage that verse. It certainly isn’t true now or in the 7th Century.
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Not really.
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Hi Alan.
Do you pray to Mary, “the mother of god”? the Church had affirmed her god’s mother status (the very thing the Qur’an criticises) and continues to pray to Mary as if she is a co-partner in the work of salvation alongside Jesus long before 7th century.
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The Quran is correct in my view. For most Christians in the 7th century and today Mary is a quasi divine figure: they pray to her, call her the “Queen of the Universe”, “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” (ie wife of God), “Mother of God”, etc.
Jesus too was a man who said “why do you call me good?” (Mark 10), who worshiped and prayed to God yet is also accorded divine status: “Jesus is God” etc
God says to Jesus,
“Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to people, “Take me and my mother as two gods alongside God”?’ he will say, ‘May You be exalted! I would never say what I had no right to say”
The Quran corrects these egregious errors.
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If the verse is addressing Catholics who pray to Mary then they are even more wrong. If a Catholic praying to Mary therefore making her divine, then why not mention all of the other saints that we pray to? If they’re divine as well then the Quran gets the number wrong. It’s far more than three so one way or another according to your standard the Quran is in error.
Muhammad thought the Trinity was three separate God’s, The Father, The Mother, and the Son. Similar to what the Meccans believed about their gods. This makes sense. He had probably stumbled upon some Byzantine Icons of Mary and then thought that the Trinity that the Christians believe must be a God family of the Father, Mother, and Son. He made a mistake since he didn’t know that in Byzantine Iconography the Holy Spirit is depicted as a dove. He just saw the mother and the son and said: “That’s the Christian trinity, the father, the mother, and the son.”
Regarding Mark 10, it doesn’t disprove the divinity at all. Jesus was asking questions to get him to think. He does this many times in Mark and if you look closely, he never denies being good. He says “Why do you call me good?” and not “Don’t call me good!” It’s similar when God said to Adam: “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”” Obviously God knew where he was but he was trying to get Adam to think. This is a standard way of Jewish and Greek argumentation and is found in both testaments. So rather than Mark 10 denying Christs divinity it proves his divinity because he never denies being good.
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Allan,
The Quran does condemn saint-worship as well:
“They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One Allah: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him)” (Surah At-Tawba, 9:31).
Christians have had competing theologies throughout history. One such theology literally regarded Mary as a goddess. Therefore, the Quran is correct in both regards. It condemns the Catholic veneration of Mary as well as the literal deification by certain Christian sects.
Your attempt to explain Mark 10 is a circular argument. This is the typical argument I have heard from Christians. To explain Jesus’ statement “why do you call me good”, you assume from the start that he is “God”. Then, with that assumption, you say that Jesus was actually saying that he was good.
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Interesting points.
I have an off-topic question. Do you have a book or paper that responds to the allegation that Islam really started in Petra and not Mecca? I’ve come across a lot of this lately and would like to read the other side. Any recommendations?
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Are you referring to the work of Dan Gibson? As far as I am aware, his theories are not taken seriously by most scholars. A quick Google search only yields random websites and blogs, none of which are academic in nature.
I actually remember having a conversation with a Christian on this topic a few years ago. You can see it here:
http://www.islamicity.com/forum/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=31944
In this discussion, I referenced the following article: http://www.academia.edu/1391820/Early_Islamic_Inscriptions_from_Danqur_al-Khaznah_at_Petra
It states:
“”To conclude, judging from the clues attested in the historical chronicles as well as the nature and amount of archaeological remains in the area, it isevident that Islamic occupation at Petra was very limited and Petra throughout the Islamic periods‘‘had long been what it is today; a field of ruins largely buried beneath drifts of sand’’ (Simms &Russell 1996: 27).”
Hope this helps.
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Yeah, specifically the book Quranic Geography by Dan Gibson. A few Christian apologists have told me to read it but I said I want to read the other side. The book is 2011 so its relatively new. Thanks for the references.
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Allan,
I think you will find that Gibson’s theories lack any empirical evidence. In the first link I gave, I dealt with some of his specific claims.
The fact that even after 5 years, there has not been much interest in the scholarly community shows that Gibson’s claims are not really being taken seriously. There is so much historical evidence for the Muslim presence in Mecca rather than in Petra and one wonders if Gibson is even aware of such evidence.
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i really don’t see what the christian problem is with mary being god or part of god
dr ehrman says
quote:
In Greek circles there were religions that maintained that Sophia was indeed a divine being. She (the word Sophia in Greek is feminine, so the divine being is always imagined as female) is especially prominent in forms of Gnosticism. But Sophia also came to be thought of as a (subservient) divine being in Jewish circles as well. Speculation on Sophia begins with the Hebrew Bible, especially Proverbs 8. Read it and you’ll see: “Wisdom” is said to have been with God in the beginning when he created all things, and to have participated with God in the creation (since he made all things using his wisdom). In fact, she is said to be the master creator herself through whom God created and even God’s consort in the beginning. In some Jewish circles Sophia, then, came to be thought of as not simply something people have, but as a divine hypostasis that is in the world. This view probably came to influence the Gospel of John, for whom a male hypostasis – the Logos (or “Word”) – was with God in the beginning, was himself God, yet was distinct from God, and was the one through whom all things were made (see John 1:1-3).
http://ehrmanblog.org/readers-weekly-mailbag-january-2-2016/
now why would they say “maryam devotion could be extremely dangerous”
?
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” He says “Why do you call me good?” and not “Don’t call me good!” It’s similar when God said to Adam: “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”” Obviously God knew where he was but he was trying to get Adam to think. This is a standard way of Jewish and Greek argumentation and is found in both testaments. So rather than Mark 10 denying Christs divinity it proves his divinity because he never denies being good.”
17As jesus started on his way, a man ran up and knelt before Him. “good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18“Why do you call me good? jesus replied, “No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, and honor your father and mother.’”…
so good is coming from a good god.
jesus told him to “know ” the commandments which are suppose to be good because they come from a good god.
in other words he is saying “my level of good is not on par with gods good”
it makes sense, “…except god alone”
so he clearly separated himself from god.
“why do you call me good”
me = one person
and it is logically part of the word “one” in “no ONE is good except…”
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