Does the Quran Contradict the Bible?

Before we begin, we must emphasize that we will not be dealing with what religious institutions claim. Instead, we will analyze the Bible itself, the Quran, and the arguments used in debates between Christians and Muslims, where the goal of Christians is to prove that the Bible is the only true Word of God, and the goal of Muslims is to prove that the Bible has been altered over time and that the Quran is now where the Word of God is preserved.

Arguments of Jews and Christians Against the Quran

The Sacrifice of the Son: Who is the Rightful Heir?
The Myth of Prophetic Impeccability
Historical Anachronisms: The Sister of Aaron?
The Sabbath and the Law: Abolition or Adaptation?
Chosenness and Sin: Where Did the Institutions Go Wrong?

Arguments of Muslims Against the Bible

Tahrif: Is the Bible Truly Altered?
The Crucifixion of Jesus and the Mockery of Human Arrogance
The Trinity: Mathematics or Substance?
The False Trinity: Jesus, Mary, and the Lord

Arguments of Christians (and Jews) Against the Authenticity of the Quran:

The Alteration of Biblical Stories and Historical Roles

Jewish and Christian theologians point out that the Quran features figures from the Old Testament (the Tanakh) but completely changes crucial parts of their lives:

The First Argument - The Sacrifice of the Son: According to the Tanakh (Book of Genesis), God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, through whom the eternal covenant with the Jewish people flows. The Quran, on the other hand, although it does not mention the name directly in the verse itself, is interpreted through Islamic tradition as referring to Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabs.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: Therefore, as stated, this is a matter of Islamic tradition, not the Quran itself. In the Quran, the son who was meant to be sacrificed is not named.

Moreover, in the early phase of Islam, many great Muslim scholars argued that it was Isaac who was sacrificed! In the first centuries of Islam, two schools of thought existed:

The school that claimed it was Isaac: Great Islamic authorities such as Ibn Abbas (the cousin of Prophet Muhammad), Umar ibn al-Khattab (the second Caliph), as well as early historians like Al-Tabari, held that Isaac was the one sacrificed. They relied on the literal text and a chronology similar to that of the Bible.
The school that claimed it was Ishmael: Later scholars (such as Ibn Kathir) prevailed in favor of Ishmael, using the following logic: “If God had already promised Abraham that he would receive a grandson, Jacob, through Isaac (as written in Surah 11:71), how could He then demand that he be sacrificed as a boy before having children? That would render God’s promise meaningless.”

Thus, within the Quran itself, there is no explicit, one-hundred-percent textual evidence naming the sacrificed son. The traditional stance of Islam that it was Ishmael was built afterward through logical interpretations (tafsir) and later narrations (hadith), whereas the Jewish texts in the Tanakh have no such dilemma and directly name Isaac.

The Second Argument - The Sins of the Prophets: In the Tanakh, biblical greats are depicted as flesh-and-blood humans who make mistakes (e.g., Moses errs at the rock, David errs with Bathsheba). The Quran introduces the concept of Ismah - the belief that all prophets are infallible and sinless, which Jews view as a distortion of the textual context.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: In the Quran, there is not a single verse that explicitly and literally says: “Prophets are sinless.” Furthermore, if we read only the pure text (without tradition), the Quran in multiple places depicts prophets making mistakes and asking for forgiveness. The doctrine of prophetic infallibility (Ismah) was developed later through Islamic theology. Theologians derived it indirectly by combining and logically interpreting several groups of Quranic verses:

The Argument of Absolute Obedience

In dozens of places, the Quran commands people to unconditionally obey the prophets. For instance, in Surah An-Nisa (4:80), it states:

“He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah.”

The logically derived conclusion: If God commands human beings to unconditionally obey another human being, then that being must be protected from sin. Otherwise, if a prophet were to commit a sin or deliver a wrong judgment, God, by commanding obedience, would actually be commanding people to commit sin - which is a contradiction, because God never commands evil.

Immunity to Satan In the stories of creation and the fall of man, the Quran quotes Satan (Iblis) admitting that he will not be able to mislead one specific group of people. Surah Sad (38:82-83):

“He said, ‘By Your might, I will surely mislead them all, except, among them, Your chosen (sincere) servants.’”

The logically derived conclusion: Since prophets are the leaders of those “chosen servants” (sincere believers), they by definition possess cosmic immunity to Satan’s whisperings and seductions.

Protection of the Revelation Itself Surah An-Najm (53:3-4) speaks directly about Muhammad:

“Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed.”

The logically derived conclusion: When it comes to conveying the religious law, the text guarantees one-hundred-percent infallibility. A prophet cannot err in the interpretation of God’s Word.

But what does the pure text say about their human mistakes?

Even though theologians built a wall of sinlessness based on the verses above, the actual written text of the Quran records human moments and missteps:

Adam: Surah Taha (20:121) literally says: ”…And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.”
Moses: While defending a compatriot, he killed an Egyptian with a single blow. Surah Al-Qasas (28:16): “He said, ‘My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me,’ and He forgave him…”
Muhammad: Surah Abasa (80:1-2) criticizes Muhammad because he frowned and turned his face away from a poor blind man who approached him while he was speaking with the wealthy leaders of Mecca. Also, Surah Al-Fath (48:2) says: “That Allah may forgive for you what preceded of your sin and what will follow…”

The Third Argument - Historical Anachronisms: Jewish texts notice chronological errors in the Quran. For example, in the Quran, the Virgin Mary (Maryam, mother of Jesus) is called the “sister of Harun (Aaron)” and the daughter of Imran (Amram), thereby merging two distinct historical figures separated by more than 1,300 years (Aaron’s sister Miriam from the time of Moses, and Jesus’ mother Mary).

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: This is historically the most frequent objection raised against the Quran. In Surah Maryam (19:28), when Mary brings the newborn Jesus, her fellow citizens exclaim: “O sister of Harun (Aaron), your father was not a man of evil…”. Critics say: Aaron (Moses’ brother) and Amram (their father Imran) lived 1,300 years before Jesus’ mother Mary. How can she be their sister and daughter? Interesting enough, this very question was asked by the Christians of Najran during the lifetime of Muhammad himself. In official Islamic collections (Sahih Muslim 2135), the response of Prophet Muhammad is recorded: When asked how Mary could be the sister of Harun who lived long before Jesus, Muhammad replied:

“They (the Jews of that time) used to name [their children] after their prophets and righteous people who lived before them.”

The Islamic explanation is divided into three main arguments:

Idiomatic Expression (Kinship by spirituality/lineage): In Semitic languages (Hebrew and Arabic), the words “brother”, “sister”, “son”, or “daughter” are often not used in a biological sense, but to denote belonging to a lineage or possessing certain traits. For example, in the Bible, a man who is righteous is called a “son of Abraham”. Since Mary (Maryam) was from the priestly lineage of Aaron (she was, through her mother, a relative of Elizabeth, who was from the tribe of Aaron), the people called her the “sister of Aaron” to remind her of her exalted, sacred, and pious origin - in the sense of: “You, who come from such a holy prophetic lineage of Aaron, how could you give birth out of wedlock?”
Metaphor for Piety: In Jewish tradition, Aaron was the symbol of the high priesthood and God-fearing devotion. To call someone a “sister of Aaron” was equivalent to the expression “the epitome of piety.”
A Real Brother: A smaller number of scholars believe that Mary had a biological brother who was simply named Harun (Aaron), as it was the most popular male name in that tribe, so people identified her through him. Regarding the father’s name Imran (Amram), Islam holds that both Mary’s father and Moses’ father shared the same name (Imran), which is not unusual in history where names were passed down from generation to generation within the same families and tribes.

The Fourth Argument (of Jews and some Christians) - The Quran replaced/abolished the Sabbath and certain other commandments.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: The Quran actually does not contain a single sentence that states, “We abolish the Sabbath.” The verse that caused controversy is: 16. Surah An-Nahl, Ayat 124:

“The Sabbath was only decreed for those who differed over it. And indeed, your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.”

Reading the Bible, we can see that the 10 Commandments were only given down to Moses. Moses was born after Abraham, so we have no information from the Holy Scriptures that Abraham observed the Sabbath. Abraham is a patriarch who lived in a time of universal monotheism. This verse does not deny that the Sabbath was entrusted to the Jews, nor does it deny that the Jews were chosen by the Lord. However, even Jews believe that paradise contains only the chosen people of God (their people) and the righteous non-Jews who kept the 7 Laws of Noah. Muslims are precisely those pious non-Jews who keep the 7 Laws of Noah, so neither circumcision, nor the observance of the Sabbath, nor the wearing of fringes on the corners of their garments applies to them.

Some Jews also find fault with the Quran for permitting certain unclean animals, such as camels and all seafood. Looking at the Bible, God allowed certain things that were already deeply rooted in society and were not ideal, such as polygamy. While the Bible records polygamy as a historical practice of the patriarchs, the Quran attempts to regulate and limit it, proving that God’s commandments adapt to human nature through the centuries. But in many places, we can see that polygamy is far from the ideal relationship between husband and wife (e.g., Adam and Eve were in a monogamous relationship, and Jesus confirmed that one husband and one wife should be one flesh). For similar reasons, God allows Muslims (who, we must remember, live mostly in a desert climate) to eat camel meat and seafood, because the conditions of life in the desert are harsh, and many of them would have died if they strictly adhered to a diet given exclusively to the Jews, who possessed more fertile land throughout history and better conditions from the settlement of the land of Canaan until today. Yet, we see that although it is not written in the Quran, Muslims circumcise their children because they consider it a good hygienic practice and because Prophet Muhammad practiced it even though he was not Jewish.

The Fifth Argument (of Jews and Christians) - The Quran claims that we, the Jews/the Church, are not the chosen people.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: The Quran states that the suffering occurring in the world to both Jews and Christians is not accidental. Once, in the theocratic Israel where God was the direct ruler, even when there were wars, not a single righteous and obedient Jew perished. This simply demonstrates that over time, people fell into immense sin, and that being “anointed” based on ethnic belonging or baptism in a church will not set them apart from the gentiles in God’s eyes.

Theologians in debates consider these verses to be contentious:

Al-Ma’idah (The Table Spread), 5:18

“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?’ Rather, you are human beings from among those He has created…”

Al-Ma’idah, 5:13

“So for their breaking of the covenant We cursed them and made their hearts hard. They distort words from their [proper] usages and have forgotten a portion of that of which they were reminded.”

Al-Jumu’ah (Friday), 62:6

Say, “O you who are Jews, if you claim that you are the allies (chosen) of Allah, excluding the [other] people, then wish for death, if you should be truthful.”

Al-Baqarah (The Cow), 2:143

“And thus we have made you a just community (a middle nation) that you will be witnesses over the people and the Messenger will be a witness over you.”

Ali ‘Imran (Family of Imran), 3:110

“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) had believed, it would have been better for them…”

Al-Baqarah (The Cow), 2:61

”…And they were struck with humiliation and poverty and drew from Allah [severe] anger. That was because they [repeatedly] disbelieved in the signs of Allah and killed the prophets without right. That was because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed.”

These verses indicate that after the ancient Israelites repeatedly failed God, killed the prophets He sent them, rebelled against rulers as they did in the bloody Maccabean Revolt, and grew arrogant-expecting a prince on a white horse to rescue them from their poor situation and Roman occupation (instead of turning to their Creator)-after such heavy tramping of the covenant with God, even God simply has a certain threshold of patience. God sent the Messiah and the Gospel of the Messiah to all nations, and no longer exclusively to the Israelites. But this does not mean that the Jews are no longer a chosen people who hold the hardest mission on earth among all believers of Abrahamic religions. God even sent the Messiah to the Israelites first, and only then to the other nations. Jesus did not go around the entire world to preach and then arrive in Israel near the end of his life (although doing so would have left significantly more evidence of his existence, as more nations would have written about Him). The Lord knew that Jesus would be pierced in Israel, yet He still ordained that Jesus be born right there and complete his mission.

Thus, the Jews still have the mission to preserve the biblical faith and play a key role in end-times prophecies (because God chose them forever as His people, but still demands that they respect Him in return), Christians to spread the faith among the gentiles and preserve the Gospels, and Muslims to practically demonstrate the greatest loyalty to God through a daily moral life.

However, in practice, Talmudic and Rabbinic Judaism suffers from many contradictions (for example, the Bible states that the Messiah will come before the destruction of the Second Temple, which is a direct confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah after all other fulfilled prophecies) and over-exaggerations in interpreting individual verses-such as “do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk,” from which they developed dozens and dozens of rules where one must wait several hours between eating meat and consuming dairy products. Also, as the Quran objects, they manipulate the term “Jew” so that “a Jew is only someone born of a Jewish mother or someone who has undergone a rigorous conversion – Giyur.” In practice, based on the biblical story of Ruth (who became Jewish because she spiritually accepted the Jewish faith, not through some Talmudically-conceived conversions), we can conclude that if we want to become Jewish, we can do it ourselves-by accepting the covenant with God. By circumcising our hearts.

Christianity today is mostly “perfect in theory,” but in practice, the most immoral and pagan countries in the world where God’s laws are massively violated are precisely those where Christianity is the official religion. The most wars were fought by “Christian” states, and World War I and World War II had their greatest strongholds and human casualties in those countries. The Inquisition was carried out by none other than “Christians.” These are states where faith was weaponized (missionary work) for the sake of imperial power, colonialism, and geopolitical interests. This turned into a centuries-old pattern that completely mocks Christ’s words about peace and loving one’s enemies. Europeans have historically been by far the most brutal persecutors of the Jews. No other continent or cultural circle developed such a long-lasting, systemic, and ultimately lethal continuity of hatred toward the Jewish people, which lasted for nearly two thousand years. Europeans invented stories that Jews kidnapped Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals. When the plague devastated Europe in the mid-14th century, Christians accused Jews of intentionally poisoning water wells and springs. The result was the burning of hundreds of Jewish villages and the massacre of thousands of innocent people (such as the Strasbourg massacre of 1349). When the influence of religion waned in the 19th century, Europe did not stop the persecution, but raised hatred to a “scientific” level. Theories about superior and inferior races were created, labeling Jews as a “biological threat” to European nations. This centuries-old European antisemitism culminated in the Holocaust (Shoah) during World War II:

Nazi Germany and its numerous collaborators throughout occupied Europe (in France, Croatia, Ukraine, Poland, the Netherlands…) organized a factory-like, industrial extermination of people.
Over 6 million European Jews were murdered, which at that moment constituted two-thirds of the total Jewish population in Europe.

Islam suffers from a theological and practical gap where the text of the Quran itself has remained unchanged, but later human traditions (hadith) and legal schools (fiqh) introduced a rigidity that often chokes the original message of the faith. In early Islam, there was a dynamic nature and freedom in interpreting the text. However, around the 10th century, Islamic authorities declared that all key questions were resolved and “closed the gates of ijtihad” (independent legal reasoning). From that moment on, Islam in practice has suffered from intellectual stagnation and blind imitation (taqlid) of old medieval jurists, making it difficult for the religion to respond to the challenges of the modern era. The Quran promotes justice, the fight against tyranny, and care for the poor. In practice, the majority of Muslim-majority countries today suffer from authoritarian regimes, corruption, social injustice, and a lack of fundamental human freedoms.

Arguments of Muslims Against the Authenticity of the Bible:

The First Argument - The Quran claims that the Bible has been altered.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: The Quran actually does not contain a single sentence that states, “The Bible is altered.” In dozens of places, the Quran explicitly confirms the previous revelations. In the Quran itself, the word “Bible” is not mentioned at all. The Quran speaks of three specific books:

Tawrat (The Torah given to Moses)
Zabur (The Psalms given to David)
Injeel (The Gospel given to Jesus)

Regarding all these books, the Quran says they are “guidance and light” for mankind and that the Quran comes to confirm them (the Arabic expression: Musaddiqan – one that witnesses the truth).
Where, then, did the idea among Muslims that the Bible was altered come from? When analyzing the pure text, the Quran accuses certain people, not the divine books themselves.

The Quran mentions two types of problems:

1. Distorting the words with their tongues (Verbal alteration)

The Quran in Surah Ali ‘Imran (3:78) states:

“And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, ‘This is from Allah,’ but it is not from Allah…”

Objective meaning: The text accuses individuals of that era of reading verses aloud incorrectly or intentionally misinterpreting them (manipulating the meaning) while speaking to uneducated people, in order to hide the truth. The written text itself in this verse is not declared destroyed.

2. Writing false texts for profit

The Quran in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:79) states:

“So woe to those who write the ‘scripture’ with their hands and then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ to exchange it for a small price…”

Objective meaning: This refers to the creation of apocryphal (false) writings. People write their own text and pass it off to the public as the word of God. This does not automatically mean that the original book disappeared, but rather that counterfeits were circulating alongside it.

How did the concept of “Tahrif” (Textual Alteration) come to be?

Later Islamic scholars found themselves facing a serious logical challenge. Since the Quran states that it confirms the Torah and the Gospel, people went to the Jews and Christians, opened their books, and saw that the stories differed drastically from those in Islamic theology (as seen in the examples regarding Isaac/Ishmael or Jesus' death).

Theologians then had to choose one of two explanations:

Either the Quran is wrong when it describes history.
Or the Jews and Christians physically altered the texts they held in their hands over time (the doctrine of Tahrif).

They chose the latter explanation and began to interpret the aforementioned Quranic verses about “distorting with the tongue” as proof that the written text of the Bible itself was altered. However, in the Quran itself, the word Tahrif is mostly used in the context of “distorting the meaning of words” and taking verses out of context, rather than the literal erasing and rewriting of parchments.

Conclusion:
The Quran in its essence confirmed the basic truth of the previous books. It positions itself as a "Muhaymin" (guardian/criterion that oversees). From the perspective of the Quran itself, the Torah and the Gospel are holy books, and the accusations are directed solely against human hypocrisy, mistranslation, and the manipulation of the text by the religious leaders of that era.

The Second Argument - Jesus was not crucified; God raised him directly to heaven.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: Muslims are guided by the following verses from the Quran and the Bible:

Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 157:

“…and [for] their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but it was made to appear to them [as such]. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.”

Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 158:

“Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.”

Deuteronomy 21:22-23:

“If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall bury him that day, for he who is hanged is accursed of God; so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.”

Galatians 3:13:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’.”

Muslims say: “Even if you do not accept the Quran, your own Bible states that everyone who hangs on a tree is accursed.”

Yet, across all these verses, there is absolutely no contradiction. Jesus indeed became accursed by God while on earth because He took the entire weight of our sins upon His shoulders. He suffered so deeply that He said:

Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 27, Verse 46):

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This verse simply demonstrates how much He suffered on the cross. There is no dispute that He agonized as if He were the most accursed man in the entire universe. Interestingly, this verse is also used to deny the Trinity, about which we will say more shortly…

To return to the counterarguments-with these verses, Muhammad was shattering the arrogance of those Jews, telling them that it only appeared to them that they had killed Jesus; it was actually the Romans who did it, while they were merely a subjugated people in an occupied land who could not achieve such a thing on their own. He was saying that their triumph and boasting were pure illusion and semblance, as legally and physically they were not even permitted to do it. Furthermore, Muhammad does not deny the resurrection at all. The resurrection is that very act of the Lord raising him to Himself.

The Third Argument - The Lord God is One and Alone, yet you claim there are three gods. What kind of Word of God would claim that?

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: The accusation that Christians believe in “three gods” (tritheism) is the most common misunderstanding we encounter, but it stems from a superficial reading of biblical mathematics and grammar. Christianity is absolute, uncompromising monotheism. In Christianity, there is only One God, and the Holy Trinity does not consist of three gods, but three Persons within one single Divine Essence. Therefore, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not added together as 3 separate gods-meaning $1+1+1=3$-but are multiplied, as $1 \times 1 \times 1 = 1$.

In the very first sentence of the Torah (the Bible), the Hebrew original states: “Bereshit bara Elohim…” (“In the beginning, Elohim created…”). The Hebrew word Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) grammatically carries the suffix “-im,” which denotes a plural (literally: “gods”). However, the word “bara” (created) is a verb in the singular, not the plural! If the text were speaking about multiple gods, the verb would have to be “baru” (“they created”).

In the Hebrew language, this is known as Pluralis Excellentiae (the plural of majesty or eminence). The God of the Bible presents Himself in the plural because His being is overflowing, infinite, and contains within itself the entire fullness of existence. From the perspective of Christian theology, this was the first hidden hint that within this One God lies an internal communion-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Case of “Two Yahwehs” (The Tetragrammaton Speaking to the Tetragrammaton)

In the Old Testament, there are places where the name Yahweh (the Lord) appears in a manner that implies a divine being on earth is speaking to a divine being in heaven. The most famous example is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24):

“Then Yahweh rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from Yahweh out of heaven.”

(The text literally states that Yahweh on earth draws down fire from Yahweh in heaven). Likewise, Psalm 110:1 states:

“Yahweh said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand…’”

For us theologians, this is not evidence of the existence of two gods (which would be polytheism), but proof of distinct Persons within the same Godhead. The Son (Jesus Christ, who is the eternal Word of God) is that Yahweh who manifests Himself to humans and acts on earth, while the Father is that Yahweh who remains in the heavens. They share the same name, the same power, and the same essence. They are ONE.

How Can One God Be Three? (The Analogy of Mind and Light)

To understand how three Persons make up one God, we must move past material logic, where three individual men always equal three distinct bodies. God is not material.

The analogy of the human mind: You have your Mind, from that mind your Thought (Word) is born, and from them proceeds your Will (Spirit). These are three distinct concepts, yet they comprise a single, indivisible human mind. Jesus Christ is the eternal Thought/Word of God (Logos) that took on human flesh, and the Holy Spirit is God’s Will/Love.

The analogy of the Sun: The Sun is one (the Father), but it simultaneously generates the light we see (the Son) and the heat we feel (the Holy Spirit). You cannot have one without the others, and all three components are the exact same Sun.

Quranic Confirmation: Jesus as God’s Word and Spirit

Even the Quran, which we have been referencing, unconsciously extends a hand to this Christian chronology when it attempts to describe Jesus. The Quran in Surah An-Nisa (4:171) explicitly states regarding Jesus (Isa):

”…The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His Word (Kalimatuhu) which He directed to Mary and a soul/spirit from Him (Ruhun minhu)…”

Although Islam rejects the term “Trinity” out of fear of polytheism, the actual text of the Quran defines Jesus as God’s Word and God’s Spirit. For a mainstream Christian theologian, this is a confirmation of our truth: God’s Word and God’s Spirit are not created beings (like angels or humans), because if they are “from Him,” they share in Divine eternity. God never existed without His Word and His Spirit.

The Bible is crystal clear (Deuteronomy 6:4):

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”

We do not believe in three gods. We worship One God the Father who creates the world through His eternal Word (the Son) and keeps it alive through His Holy Spirit. This is a triumph of monoteism, not its dismantling.

The Fourth Argument - But the Quran explicitly states that Jesus is not God, nor is his mother a god alongside Allah.

[COUNTERARGUMENT]: We will now quote Surah Al-Ma’idah, Ayat 116:

“And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, ‘O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?”’ He will say, ‘Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would know it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.’”

Immediately in the next verse (5:117), Jesus continues and states what he actually said while on earth:

“I said not to them except what You commanded me-to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.”

We will also quote Surah Al-Ma’idah, Ayat 72:

“They have certainly disbelieved who say, ‘Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary’ while the Messiah has said, ‘O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ Indeed, he who associates others with Allah-Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire…”

All the aforementioned Quranic verses from Surah Al-Ma’idah (Ayats 72, 75, and 116) are 100% accurate both theologically and historically. Christianity fully agrees with them when they are correctly interpreted through original biblical Christology.

The Case of the Mother of God and Mary’s Status (Ayat 116)

The Quran rightfully condemns the heresy that elevates Mary into an independent divinity alongside God. Mary was a chosen, pious, and pure maiden, but she is a created being. When Christians use the historical term Mother of God (Theotokos), it never means that she gave birth to the Divine Essence (the Father) or that she gave birth to God before the creation of the world. It simply means that she carried in her womb the human nature of Jesus Christ, in whom the Word of God incarnated. The Quran is correct: Mary is not God, nor do Christians worship her as a part of the Trinity.

The Mystery of Christ’s Humiliation on Earth: Why the Quran Sees a Man Eating Food (Ayat 75)

Ayat 75 emphasizes that Jesus and Mary ate food. Why did Jesus eat food, get tired, weep, and experience limited knowledge regarding the Last Day (Mark 13:32)? The Apostle Paul gives us the answer in his Epistle to the Philippians 2:6-8:

”…Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God… emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself…”

This is the concept of Kenosis. While on earth, the eternal Son of God “locked away” His divine form, power, and omniscience. Why? Because otherwise, sinful human beings would burn from His holiness and glory, just as Moses on Sinai could not see God’s face and survive (Exodus 33:20). Jesus had to become 100% a man of flesh and blood, eat food, and endure human limitations, so that He could be approachable to humans and fulfill the plan of salvation. Furthermore, Jesus wanted to set an example of how a human being on earth ought to live. If Jesus had walked the earth as God untouched by temptation, then the concept would not be nearly as fascinating or convincing to sinners trying to live righteously.

Why the Quran Says: “They have certainly disbelieved who say Allah is the Messiah” (Ayat 72)

This verse is mathematically and theologically accurate. Christianity never claims that the entirety of Divine Reality (God in the absolute sense) is equal to the physical body of the Messiah Jesus. That would be Modalism (a heresy). We do not say: $\text{God} = \text{Jesus}$ (in the sense that the Father is identical to Jesus, meaning the Father died on the cross). We say: $\text{Jesus} = \text{the Word of God (Logos)}$ that became man. God the Father remained in the heavens governing the universe while Jesus walked the earth. Therefore, claiming that the absolute, total God is solely that man, the Messiah on earth, is an error and a misconception, and the Quran rightfully criticizes it.

The Post-Resurrection Transformation and Return to Divine Form

Jesus was no ordinary messenger on earth, for the Quran refers to him as God’s Word and a Spirit from Him, while it does not say this about other prophets. When he finished his mission in the body of an ordinary man, that which the Quran calls “Allah raised him to Himself” took place, which Christians refer to as the Resurrection and Ascension. At that moment, Jesus received back His glorified, divine form which He possessed before the creation of the world, as Jesus himself testifies in the Gospel of John 17:5:

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

Conclusion

The Quran describes Jesus’ state on earth with surgical precision-the state of a humble servant who eats food, does not know the hour, and calls for the worship of the Father. This perfectly aligns with Christian teaching regarding Jesus’ human nature. The Quran nowhere denies that Jesus, by his spiritual origin, is the eternal Word of God who returned to His full divine glory with the Father after his earthly mission.

Ultimately, if we strip away the layers that institutions have deposited over the original revelations for centuries, we arrive at a simple truth: God does not ask us to be part of a corrupt system, but to take responsibility for our own souls. Whether we call ourselves Jews, Christians, or Muslims, the test is identical-do we live by the law of justice and love, or by the law of tradition and hypocrisy?