Wednesday 24 June 2020

Does Quran 9:31 say that Jesus Christ "Al-Masih" is God?

Question:

Does Quran 9:31 say that Jesus Christ "Al-Masih" is God ?

Answer:

Praise be to Allah,

God says in Surat Attawbah Ayah 31:
Sahih International
They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah , and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.
Transliteration:
Ittakhathoo ahbarahum waruhbanahum arbaban min dooni Allahi wa almaseeha ibna maryama wama omiroo illa liyaAAbudoo ilahan wahidan la ilaha illa huwa subhanahu Aaamma mushrikoona

Anyone who knows basic Arabic will know that 'Messiah' (maseeh) in the Ayah above has a fatha at the end of it, which is indicated by 'ha' being added to the word Maseeh. This indicates that it is the accusative (maf'ool bihi) of the Ayah.

The verb in the Ayah is 'they have taken' (Ittakhathoo). Thus, the Messiah is the accusative of the verb, which means that the verse is saying that the Messiah was taken as a lord by those that also took their Rabbis and Priests as lords. 


Not only were the words of the whole Quran memorized by Muslims and mass-transmitted, but also their pronunciation, later which formed into a science in itself called Tajweed. This science meticulously elucidates how each letter is to be pronounced, as well as the word as a whole, both in context of other letters and words. Today, we can find people of all different languages able to recite the Quran as if they are Arabs themselves, living during the time of the Prophet.

Note 1:
If the Ayah means
that they took their priests and rabbis as lords besides taking Allah and the Messiah as lords, then the verse would have said...  waalmaseehi ..with a 'hi' at the end just like the word 'Allah' has right before it (genitive case). However, this is not the case in the Ayah.

Note 2:
The Ayah refer to the fact that rabbis and monks were taken as lords when they prohibited what was allowed for them (Christians and Jews) and allowed what was prohibited, and they obeyed them. Prophet Jesus, on the other hand, was added as a person in the trinity worshipped by trinitarian Christians.

Allah knows best.

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