A Built in Misunderstanding

There have been many articles written decrying a general lack of understanding of Islam by Christians. While both Christians and Muslims are guilty of ignorance, there is an inherent problem with any Muslim-Christian dialogue. There is a built in misunderstanding of the doctrine of the Trinity within the pages of the Koran.

Surah 5:116 states, "And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah'?" He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden."

In this verse, Allah asks a question of Jesus that implies Christians (no one else worships Jesus) uphold Mary to be a god. If not, then why does Allah ask the question at all, if Allah does not believe any Mary worshiping group ever existed?

This is not the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity is one being with three equal persons/personages all having the same divine substance. One God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Mary is nowhere to be found in this doctrine. Christians do not, and have not, ever believed Mary is a god. Even if there were a group of people calling themselves Christians that had Allah, Jesus, and Mary in their Trinity (and there never has been) this group would not be representative of Christianity. This false Trinity goes against the Bible and historic Christian teaching. How would Muslims react if Christians took a teaching from the Nation of Islam and upheld it as a true Islamic teaching?

Even in the index of my own Koran (translation), given to me by a Muslim organization (Asir Media), the scholar/translator Abdullah Yusef Ali puts Surah 5:116 under the heading, "Trinity, doctrine of, rejected." So it seems that even Yusef Ali perceives the Koran in the same way that I perceive it here. In addition, the Koran falsely charges Jews with calling Ezra (Uzayr) a, "son of Allah" (Surah 9:30), something Jews have never done.

Simply put, the Koran misunderstands the Trinity. The implications of this should be obvious. First, it shows the Koran to be in error, which presents a major problem(s) for Islam. Second, it gives a major incentive for a Muslim to misunderstand/misrepresent the doctrine of the Trinity. If a Muslim were to come to a true understanding of the Trinity (I am not saying to believe in it, but to just accurately understand it), his/her proper understanding would contradict the Koran's understanding of it.

In a Muslim-Christian dialogue, an accurate understanding of probably the most important belief in Christianity is sabotaged by the Koran. How can these two groups truly talk with each other, and not past each other, if the Koran inaccurately portrays the beliefs of Christians? How can Muslims seriously expect Christians, or anyone else, to make the effort to understand their beliefs when the holy book of Islam inaccurately represents the largest religion in the world? Unfortunately, on the contentious issue of the Trinity, Muslims and Christians will continue to talk past each other . . . and the Koran is to blame.