[Sūrah v. 76–79]: “They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the Messiah, the son of Mary’; but the Messiah said, ‘O children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord; verily, he who associates aught with God, God hath forbidden him Paradise, and his resort is the Fire, and the unjust shall have none to help them.’ They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the third of three, for there is no God but one; and if they do not desist from what they say, there shall touch those who misbelieve amongst them grievous woe. Will they not turn again towards God and ask pardon of Him? for God is forgiving and merciful.’ The Messiah, the son of Mary, is only a prophet! Prophets before him have passed away; and his mother was a confessor; they used both to eat food. See how we explain to them the signs, yet see how they turn aside!”
[Sūrah iv. 169]: “O ye people of the Book! overstep not bounds in your religion; and of God, speak only truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and His Word which he conveyed into Mary, and a Spirit from Him. Believe, therefore, in God and His apostles, and say not, ‘Three’: (i.e. there is a Trinity)—Forbear—it will be better for you. God is only one God! Far be it from His glory that He should have a son! His, whatever is in the Heavens, and whatever is in the Earth! And God is a sufficient Guardian.”
[Sūrah v. 116, 117]: “And when God shall say—‘O Jesus, Son of Mary: hast thou said unto mankind—“Take me and my mother as two Gods, beside God?” ’ He shall say—‘Glory be unto Thee! it is not for me to say that which I know to be not the truth; had I said that, verily thou wouldest have known it: Thou knowest what is in me, but I know not what is in Thee; for Thou well knowest things unseen! I spake not to them aught but that which thou didst bid me—“Worship God, my Lord and your Lord”; and I was a witness against them so long as I was amongst them: but when Thou didst take me away to Thyself Thou wert the watcher over them, for Thou art witness over all.’ ”
From the text of the Qurʾān it appears that Muḥammad thought the Holy Trinity of the Christians consisted of the Father, the Son, and the Virgin; and historians tell us that there existed in Arabia a sect called Collyridians, who considered the Virgin Mary a divine person, and offered in worship to her a cake called Collyris; it is, therefore, not improbable that Muḥammad obtained his perverted notion of the Holy Trinity from the existence of this sect. From the expression “they both ate food,” we must conclude that Muḥammad had but a sensuous idea of the Trinity in Unity, and had never been instructed in the orthodox faith with reference to this dogma.
Al-Baiẓāwī (A.H. 685), in his commentary on [Sūrah iv. 169], says: “Say not there are Three,” that is, “Do not say there are three Gods,” namely, Allāh and al-Masīḥ and Maryam; or “Do not say God is Three,” meaning that there are Three Aqānīm (اقانيم) or Essences—Ab (Father), Ibn (Son), and Rūḥu ʾl-Quds (Holy Spirit), and interpreting it thus: Ab, the Ẕāt or Essence; Ibn, the ʿIlm or Knowledge; and Rūḥu ʾl-Quds, the Ḥayāt or Life of God.
Ḥusain (A.H. 900) quotes al-Baiẓāwī, and offers no opinion of his own.
The Jalālān (A.H. 911) say “Three” means Allāh and ʿĪsā and his Mother.
The word generally used by Muḥammadan writers for the Trinity is at-Tas̤līs̤ (التثليث). [[TRINITY].]
VIII.—The Second Coming of Jesus.
The Qurʾān has no definite teaching on the subject, but the Traditions have. (See Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ, book xxiii. ch. vi.)