 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Wassallallahu ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi juma'in. This is Ali Ata'i, Lecture of Comparative Theologies at Satuna College. We have reached in our Ramadan series entitled The Courageous Five, The Great Iconoclastic Prophets. We have reached our master Isa alayhi salam, the prophet Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. Isa ibn Maryam alayhim as-salam. Jesus, the son of Mary, peace be upon both of them. Jesus, peace be upon him, is unique amongst these five in the sense that he was actually deified by many of his followers. And today, the belief that Isa alayhi salam is God, is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is far and away the dominant theology amongst the Christian community. The verse that I'm going to use to set the stage as it were for this session is at the end of Surat al-Ma'idah, ay number 116, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa idhqala allahu ya'isa ibn Maryam. Idh, first of all, the particle idh, according to Imam At-Tantawi, is a particle of futurity, dorfun l-zaman il-mustaqbal. However, the verb that comes directly after idhqala, qala is past tense, it's perfect tense. However, the meaning is future. So this is called a prophetic past tense. This happens from time to time in the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, for example, qad aflaha al-mu'minoon. And usually this is translated, the believers will prevail or will win. But here the verb is past perfect. Or Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, speaking directly to the prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, inna a'utainaka al-kawthar. A'utah is past tense, but usually translated, we will give you kawthar. What is kawthar? One of the meanings is nahrun fil jannah, a river in jannah. But the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does not have access to this river while he's living in Mecca. So what is the import of this prophetic past? We also find it in the Hebrew Bible. In Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, it says, qiyyeled yulad lanu. Indeed a son or a child will be given to us. But this verb in the Hebrew yulad is pu'al perfect passive, but it's translated in the future. What is the rhetorical import of the prophetic past is that it represents a guarantee, a guarantee from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that this conversation will take place between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the Isa alayhi salam. When will it take place? According to Imam al-Suyuti, fil qiyyama on the day of judgment in front of the whole of humanity, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will say, wa idhqal allahu ya'isa bnamanyam. God will say, oh Jesus, the son of Mary. And interestingly, ibn Maryam, this guttural aleph is retained in the orthography to emphasize as it were that Isa alayhi salam is not the literal son of God. He is the son of Maryam. And Maryam alayhi salam is great in her own right. In fact, Imam ibn Hazam and Imam al-Qurtubi, both of them insist that Maryam alayhi salam was actually a prophet. So what is the question that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to pose to Isa alayhi salam in front of the whole of humanity? He says, a anta qultal dinnaas. Ah, this Hamza at the beginning of this statement is istifhamiyya. In other words, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is asking a question here. And he says anta qultal dinnaas. Very interesting in its syntax, in its construction here. The verb qulta, the morphology of this verb suggests second person masculine singular, right? Did you say, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here, he says anta also. This seems somewhat redundant. But the rhetorical import of that is to stress, did you actually say, did you say to humanity? What did he say? What is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asking? It taqiduni wa umya ilahini min dunillah. Did you ever say to the people? And it taqadah form eight, it's reflexive. Did you ever say, take me for yourselves and my mother as deities other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Imam Abdullah ibn Ali al-Haddad as well as Imam al-Siyuti, both of them say here that when this question is posed to Isa alayhi salam, he begins to tremble. He begins to shake and quake from the force of the question. Now interestingly here, Western polemicists, they look at this eye of the Quran and they say, look, the Quran has it wrong. The Quran has a strange conception, an erroneous conception of the Trinity that the Quran conceives it as being somewhat of a holy family, the father, son and the holy mother. But this is not a necessary conclusion. I don't see this verse as denouncing the Trinity, at least not in this verse. I see this verse as denouncing what's known as Christometry, the deification of Christ alayhi salam and Mariolatry, the deification of Maryam alayhi salam. And we're going to talk about how Christ was deified, but how was Maryam alayhi salam deified? A quick example, the Third Ecumenical Council and 431 of the Common Era, the Council of Ephesus, it was voted upon by the proto-Orthodox bishops that Maryam alayhi salam is theotokos, which some have translated as the mother of God, but a more accurate translation is the bearer or carrier of God. So to suggest that an entity has the power or capacity to carry or bear God, to handle God is to impute upon that entity a divine quality. So I don't see this verse as denouncing the Trinity, nor intermediacy through Maryam, nor even the explicit worship of Mary, but rather assigning Mary divine attributes deifying Maryam alayhi salam. Now listen to the response of Isa alayhi salam. Qala subhanaka. He says, glory be to you. And linguistically here, this is called maf'ul mutlak bi fi'al ma'hoof, an absolute, an infinitive absolute for an apocopated verb. So it's very direct, it's very exclamatory. Glory be to you. Now I'm reminded of Matthew chapter seven versus 21 to 23. And the parallel of this is found in Luke chapter 13, which means it originated from the Q source document, which scholars of Western Academy believed to be the best and most accurate source of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is what Jesus is reported to have said in Matthew seven, 21 to 23. He says, not everyone who says to me, kuriye kuriye in the Greek, master master shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one hapoion thelema to patras, but only the one who does the will of the father. Now let's take a quick excursion here to talk about the term father in the New Testament. Imam al-Ghazali as well as Ahmad ibn al-Alawi, they both say that when you read the term father in the Injil in the New Testament, think rab. Ab means rab, who is your rab? The rab is the one who takes care of you in stages as our parents take care of us in stages. So there's a relationship here, between the rab and ab. Interestingly enough, if you look at these five great prophets, at least four of them did not have their biological fathers in their lives. If you look, for example, at Ibrahim al-Salam, Ibrahim al-Salam, his father was not Azar, that was his uncle, and it's permissible to call your uncle ab. Well, like he says in Surah Maryam, he says, According to Ibn Hisham, the name of the father of Ibrahim al-Salam was Tariq or Teraq, as he's called in the book of Genesis. So Ibrahim al-Salam has Tarbiyya Rabbaniya. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who raised him. In that sense, Ibrahim al-Salam is the son of God. In that metaphorical sense, not in the literal sense. And this is what Imam al-Ghazali is trying to impart upon us. If you look at Musa al-Salam, he did not have his biological father. He was raised in the house of Thiraun, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took care of him and raised him. He is Tarbiyya Rabbaniya. Isa al-Salam did not have a father to begin with, Tarbiyya Rabbaniya. The Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, his father died before he was born. He was raised by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in that sense that Allah was taking care of him. Alam ta'ala khaifa fa'ala Rabbuka bi ashabil fil. Allah speaking to him directly. The verb is second masculine, singular, Rabbuka. Have you not seen or understood the significance of your Lord as to what he did to the companions of the elephant? In other words, why do you think I did that? I was taking care of you. That was the year that you were going to be born. Alam yajid kaya timan fa'awa wa wa jadaka da'alan fa'ada Did he not find you an orphan and give you shelter? Did he not find you searching and enamored and give you guidance? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reminding the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam that he raised him up in stages. This is the meaning according to the New Testament of pater, of abba, of father. It means the Rabb, the one who takes care of you. It denotes God, imminent. And we find this analogy, this terminology in the Old and New Testament. In the New Testament, of course, Isa alayhi sallam, as reported to have said, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Syriac, his actual language, he said, abundavashmayo nithkatashmuk our father who art in heaven. All of us, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. If we look into Psalm 82.6, it says, kulla kambane el-yon. All of you are sons of the Most High God. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 64, one of the prayers of the Prophet Isaiah is, atta adonai avinu, you are the Lord our Father. So this is very hebraic type language. And it's meant to be majaz. It's meant to be figurative language, denoting an intimate relationship between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his servants. So let's go back to Matthew 721. Only those who do the will of the Father, he continues, on that day, many will come to me and say, kuriye kuriye, master master, did we not prophesize in your name, cast out demons in your name, and in your name perform many dunamis, which is a Greek word, means miracles of power, healings, raising the dead, walking on water. Listen to the response of Isa alayhi sallam, as recorded by Matthew. He says, then I will tell them plainly, budeh pate agnon humas, never did I know you, apokorate ap emu, apokorate present active imperative. In Greek, it calls for the action to be prolonged, meaning depart from me, and stay away from me. hoi ergazamanoi tein annumian, you workers of lawlessness, of ainomos, you anti-nomians, you rejecters of the sharia. You see, without the sharia, to ground them in sound theology, many took to deifying Isa alayhi sallam. Some have dubbed this as Ghazalian mirror Christology, that when the light of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reflected off the purified heart of Isa alayhi sallam, those who weren't grounded in sound theology, those who did not follow the sharia, they didn't know the mitzvot of Bani Israel, when they saw that reflection, they mistook the illuminated reflection for the illuminating source and began to deify Isa alayhi sallam. It is as if they saw the reflection of the moon in a still lake and jumped into the lake in hopes of grabbing the moon only to find themselves drowning, yet how great is the difference between the actual moon and its reflection in the lake, how much more vast is the difference between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a human being, like a myth that he's shay'un. There's nothing like the likes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala whatsoever. We'll continue with this discussion next time, insha'Allah ta'ala. Wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. This is our second session. We're talking about Sayyidina Isa alayhi sallam, our master Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, the son of Mary, peace be upon her. So last time we were talking about this verse at the end of Surah al-Ma'idah, ayat number 116, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the yawm al qiyamah, we'll ask Isa alayhi sallam, did you ever say to humanity, take me or my mother as gods, in addition or other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we said that the initial response of Isa alayhi sallam is direct and exclamatory. He says, Subhanaka, glory be to you. He continues according to the Qur'an. Ma yakounu li, ma yakounu, yakounu is an imperfect tense verb. And usually in Arabic, the imperfect tense is negated with a lam alif, like la yaf alu. But the ma is used for strong negation. For example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa najmi i thahawa, taking an oath by the star when it goes down, ma dallah sahibukum wa ma gawa. Your companion, meaning the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, is not a stray or being misled, wa ma yandiku, wa ma yandiku anil hawa. And he never speaks from his hawa. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, everything he says is wahi, is guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He said, sallallahu alayhi sallam, wa li li ba'athani bil haqq, la yukhruju minhu illa al haqq. He says by the one who sent me in truth, nothing comes out of this, pointing to his blessed mouth, except for the truth. So Isa alayhi sallam's response here, ma yakounu, never will it be for me li, khabar kana mukaddam, never will it be for me to say what I had no right to say. This is his response. Isa alayhi sallam according to the Qur'an, he continues, in kuntu qultu, if I said that, in is a conditional particle, faqad alimta, then you would have known that, ta'alamu ma fee nafsi walaa aalamu ma fee nafsik, inna ka anta, aalamu al ghuyub. You know what is in, ta'al, you know what is in myself? Well I do not know what is in yourself. Verily you are the knower of the unseen. Interestingly, if you look at the Gospel of John, chapter 12 verse 29, which is usually the Gospel that most Christians will point to, to sort of prove that Isa alayhi sallam is God. However, in the Gospel of John, it will analyze some of these ayat in coming sessions, these verses in the Bible, in coming sessions. John 12, 29, he says, according to the Greek, he says, harte ego ex emau tuuk aleilasa. He says, from myself I have said nothing, al ha pimpsas me patras, but the Father who sent me, houtasmoy entolain edokin, he has given me a commandment. Isa alayhi sallam is saying in the Gospel of John, in the Gospel of John that God is commanding him. We read in the Quran that Isa alayhi sallam is reported to have said, wa awusani bussalati was zakati madum tuhiya. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he has commanded me to prayer and charity as long as I live. But going back to John 12, 29, that he has given me a commandment, taiti lalayso. What to say and how I should say it? Both of these Greek verbs are in the subjunctive. In other words, Isa alayhi sallam is receiving the ipsisamavarba, the very words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as a prophet, he is speaking the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but also he speaks with the ipsisamavoks, the voice of God. He speaks with God's authority as a prophet. In John chapter 16, verse 24, he says, The word you hear or the teaching you hear is not mine. He continues in John 14, one. He says, Again, in Greek, the present active imperative calls for the action to be prolonged. He says, Definite article in Greek means God with a capital G. Believe in the God, believe in God and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He continues, And also believe in me. Believe in God and also believe in me. Believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and believe in the messenger of Allah. Clearly here, God and Isa alayhi sallam are mutually exclusive. He continues according to the Quran. I did not say anything to them. And if you look at this from a standpoint of syntactical exegesis, you have maa and then you have illa. This is called an affirmation after a negation. If bat, ba'da nafyan. And this is one of the strongest ways to make a statement in Arabic. For example, we all know how to say, There is no God except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Or as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran, We did not send you except as a mercy to all the worlds. So Isa alayhi sallam, according to the Quran here, is saying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I did not say anything to them except what you ordered me to say. Anni' muda'Allahah rabbi wa rabbakum. I told them to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, my Lord and your Lord. Now if you look at the high priestly prayer of Isa alayhi sallam, going back to the Gospel of John, again, this is the Gospel that oftentimes is quoted to prove for a lot of Christians that Isa alayhi sallam is God. In John 17.3, I call the theological anchor of the Gospel of John. This is what Isa alayhi sallam is reported to have said according to the original Greek. He says, This is eternal life. This is eternal life. This is salvation. He's going to tell you, He knows the truth. He's going to tell you. Hina Ginosko sensei, that they might know you. Who is he speaking to? According to John 17.1, he's talking to Hapatras. He's talking to the father, to the Rabb. He's talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Eternal life is to know you, ton manon aleithinon theon in the Greek, which means the only one who is God, the one and only true God, manon and theon. You put them together, you get the word monotheism. He's teaching us to heed that the father, the Rabb, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only one who is truly God. And And to know the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. This is eternal life. To know God, the only true God, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only true God. And also to know the one sent by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that is Isa alayhi salam. Why to know? Ginoscosan comes from the word genosis or gnosis. If you knew Allah on His messenger, if you knew them well, then you would have agape, unconditional love for them. You would have mahabba. As the Quran says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa ma khalaqtu l-jinna wa l-insa illa liya'budun. That I did not create jinn and ins, except to worship Ibn Abbas said, illa liya'budun can be understood as illa liya'rifun, except to know me, to know have ma'rifah, to have knowledge of God, gnosis of God. And if we had gnosis of God, then we would necessarily have mahabba of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that this is the essence of the Abrahamic tradition, the oneness of God and the love of God in humanity. In Mark chapter 12 verse 28 to 31, a Jewish lawyer comes to Isa alayhi salam. According to Mark, the earliest of the synoptic gospels. And he says to him, in the Greek language, poya estin entole pro te panton, according to the Greek of the gospel of Mark. He says to him, master rabani rabai, what is the greatest of the commandments? Listen to the response of Isa alayhi salam. He quotes from the Torah. He says in Hebrew, shema israel adonai ilohinu adonai echad. Here, oh Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. He says one, God is one and one means one. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is wahid an ahad. He is one and he's one and only he is unique. This is the response of Isa alayhi salam to this Jewish lawyer. He continues. He says, vea hafta et adonai. And here in Hebrew, we have a perfect with conjunctive valve, which the meaning is future and there's an element of the imperative. And you will love, you must love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the essence of the Abrahamic teaching. The prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi alayhi wasallam is reported to have said, laa tadkulu jannah ta hatta tu'minu wa laa tu'minu hatta tahabbu none of you will enter paradise until you truly believe and none of you will truly believe until you love one another. Shall I tell you of something that will increase your love? And they said, yes. He said, afshu salam abaynakum spread peace amongst yourselves. Now let's look at one of these so-called proof texts that are often used by Trinitarian Christians to prove that Isa alayhi salam is God. John one one, the very first verse of the prologue of the gospel of John. This is how it's translated usually by Christians. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Why is this important to analyze from the standpoint of syntactical exegesis is because the Quran seems to have an intertextual relationship with this prologue. For example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he refers to Isa alayhi salam is kalimatu minhu a word from him. The only other text that mentions Jesus as being a word of God is the prologue of John's gospel. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says about yahya alayhi salam musaddiqam bi kalimatin minallah that he bears witness concerning a word of God and there's almost the exact same sentiment or statement in the prologue of John's gospel. There's an intertextual relationship between the prologue of John and the Quran. So how do we understand this if it says that Jesus was God and the word was God? Well, let's look at the original Greek. The Greek says en arkay en halagos. It doesn't say in the beginning there's no definite article before beginning. It says in a beginning was the word a relative beginning not the absolute beginning a relative beginning. The beginning of creation was the word and what is the word? The force to Christu according to the rest of the prologue the light of the Messiah the Ruh the soul of the Messiah in other words, one of the first entities that God created was the light or the soul the Ruh of the Messiah and the word was with God. How do we understand that? The light of the Messiah the soul of the Messiah was with God in a state of mystical union with God. We were all there yom alast when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asked us alastu bi rabbikum qalu bala Am I not your Lord? We said yes. Imam Abu Qasim al-Junaid he says this is the goal of this life to get back to yom alast and mystical union al-jama' right what is called Theosis in Eastern Orthodoxy is remembering that great day in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in which we were united with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a dualistic annihilation in God where the wahdaniya and ahadiyya and fardaniya the oneness, the uniqueness and the individuality of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is always upheld it's not a henosis it's not itihad it's not a merging of our essence with the essence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because nothing is ontologically equal with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so this is mystical union that is dualistic and the word was with God and then it says Christians usually translate this last part and the word was God however the Greek says kaithayas ain halagas there's no definite article here before the word God like we had in the previous statement that the word was with ton theon the God God with a capital G so what does it mean and the word was a God well according to Daniel Wallace in his Greek Beyond the Basics he says that pre-verbal indefinite nouns are more often attributive than substantive in the New Testament so what does it mean a God that's pre-verbal it means the word was theistic it was godly it was holy it was sanctified it was lordly you've seen Exodus chapter 7 verse 1 God tells Moses I will send you as Elohim as God unto Pharaoh and Aaron as your Navi does it mean that Moses is God? no it means Moses speaks with the authority of God Moses is sanctified Moses is godly Moses is holy in fact Isa A.S. is quoted in the Qur'an as saying كُنُ رَبَانِيين in Surah A.M. كُنُ رَبَانِيين in Imam Asyuti says there's an alif and a noon there for extra emphasis what does كُنُ رَبَانِيين mean be lordly be godly whereas the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said and there's some weakness in the tradition تَخَلَّقُ بِ أخلاقِ اللَّ adorn yourself with the character of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala ibn Ajiba in his commentary on the 99 names of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala he says there are three elements to all of the names of Allah for example the name مَالِك means owner which is related etymologically to مَالِك which means king he says there's تَعَلُقُ of this name تَعَلُقُ means that we have some sort of connection to this name how do we connect to the name مَالِك that Allah is the owner is that we realize that we are His servants this is our تَعَلُقُ then the second element is called تَخَلَّقُ we assimilate something of this name how do we assimilate مَالِك well just as Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the owner of everything and the king and master of everything we need to know how to master our lower selves we become the king of our lower selves and then the third element is تَحَقُقُ to taste or experience the realities become annihilated in God's love and character so that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only object of our love and concern we become sanctified agents of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala upon the earth at this point we're going to stop this session insha'Allah ta'ala we're going to continue next time looking at more ayat from the Qur'an verses from the Bible ربنا زِدنا علمة may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala increase us in knowledge والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وصلى الله عليه وسلم وَلَا أَلِهِ وَسَحْبِ اجْمَعِينَ this is our third session we're talking about our master Isa Ibn Maryam peace be upon both of them we've been talking about ayat number 116 of Surah al-Ma'idah in which Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala will ask Isa A.S. point blank on the Yom al-Qiyamah did you ever say that your God or your mother is God other than Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and the response of Isa A.S. as we said ما يكونوا لي أن أقول ما ليس لي بحق never will it be for me to say what I had no right to say in fact never does Isa A.S. even according to any of the four canonical Gospels in the New Testament never does he say I am God or worship me it simply does not exist now interestingly there's a verse in the Qur'an chapter 3 verse 79 Ali-Imran ayat number 79 or Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says it is impossible for a human being to whom Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gave the revelation and wisdom and prophecy then to say to the people be my worshipers worship me be my slaves other than Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala now Imam al-Suyuti gives us the sabab and nuzul of this ayah he says this was revealed from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala when the Christians of Najran came and they said that ordered us to take him as a Lord and even some of the Muslims requested let's make sajdah to him this ayah was revealed now in the New Testament quite often quotes the Torah it is his most cogent argument Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that that I confirm the Torah which is with me that there's a clear common Abrahamic trajectory of theology that we see with Musa al-Salam with Isa al-Salam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam for example in Matthew chapter 9 verse 13 Isa al-Salam quotes Hosea 6-6 from the Old Testament he says I require mercy not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings it's about mercy and knowledge not sacrifice and burnt offerings in Luke chapter Isa al-Salam will quote from Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 20 when he's being tempted by Satan according to the Gospel of Luke and he says to Satan very interesting Hebrew is not an inflected language there's no Mu'arab like we have in Arabic sometimes we say it's inflected whether it's nominative or accusative or genitive but biblical Hebrew was no longer inflected maybe ancient paleo-Hebrew was according to many linguists but biblical Hebrew isn't so it's very clear the word order is very important you have verb you have subject and object but here in Deuteronomy 10 30 quoted by Jesus in Luke chapter 4 the direct object is brought to the very beginning of the sentence because there is a direct object marker in Hebrew what's the effect of bringing the direct object to the beginning of a sentence this maf'ul muqaddam it's called it denotes emphasis and exclusivity for example in al-Fatiha we don't say na'buduka wal nasta'inuka we worship you and we ask you for help we say we bring the direct object forward which denotes exclusivity and emphasis so here Issa alaihi salam is saying eith adonai the Lord your God only will you fear oto and him alone ta'avud you will worship only the Lord your God now Luke translates this verse into Greek as that you must revere the Lord your God definite article on God again tauntheon means the God Issa alaihi salam is never called hatheos God with a definite article anywhere in the New Testament and then he says and to him alone will you render worship now in Koine Greek in New Testament Greek there are two words for worship used in the New Testament the first word is which is a compound word that comes from the preposition pros which means toward and the word koon which means a dog what do dogs do when they see their masters they kiss their hands so in the New Testament says that the disciples worshiped Jesus usually how Christians will translate proskuneo when the disciples quote unquote worshiped Jesus like the King James version says that the Greek is proskuneo which means they revered him they respected him they kissed his hand in John chapter 9 Jesus heals a blind man he sees him in the temple of Solomon later and this man thanks Jesus and the Greek says he made proskuneo towards him are we really to believe that a Jewish man inside the temple of Solomon is worshiping Jesus as God and committing idolatry? no in fact in the Bible the same verb is used to show respect to Jewish high priests and angels they are not being worshiped as God the Hebrew avad the verb avad the cognate is abada yaabudu is translated as latreyo in Greek and this is the verb for worship that is only due to God it is never used of Isa A.S. in the New Testament in fact Christ himself says in Luke chapter 4 verse 8 kai autoo manu latreyo saes and him alone meaning God you will you render worship as God because he is the only God Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now the first words of Isa A.S. according to the Quran are interesting he says it's the great Quranic ayam statement right there's ayam statements in the Gospel of John that Christians qualify as claims of deity by Isa A.S. I am the way the truth of the life before Abraham was ayam I am the good shepherd so on and so forth here we have an ayam statement in the Quran in me a combination of inna harfa toqit the emphatic particle and anna the independent pronoun meaning I or I am indeed I am the servant of God ahtani al-kitaba wa ja'alani nabiyya he has given me revelation and has made me a prophet wa ja'alani mubarakan aina ma kuntoo and made me blessed wheresoever I am wa awusani bis salati was zakati ma dumto hayya and has commanded me to pray in charity as long as I live also we have the beautiful ayah in surah alai imran ayah number 51 quoting Isa A.S. inna allaha rabbi wa rabbukum fa'budoo haathasiratum mustaqim indeed Allah not inna rabbi Allah inna allaha natalafdun jalala right the expression of exaltation is accusative because it follows inna indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord worship him fi al-amar present active imperative worship him this is a straight path this is eternal life now at the end of the gospel of jaan at the end of the prologue the author says sayan udes hayorakin kupate that no one has ever seen God mano genes huyas mano genes huyas usually translated by christians as the only begotten son but mano genes from mano and genus means the one of a kind literally what it means the one of a kind the unique huyas son when you see it as we said before in previous sessions when you see the word father in the new testament think rab God imminent the one who guides us in stages God's imminence not literally God is our father think Lord when you see the word huyas in the new testament don't think literal son think abd think a servant a special and sanctified servant in fact Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verse 14 he says for as many as are led by the spirit of God for as many as are led by the spirit of God the penuma of God meaning they're guided these are the huyoitheyu these are the sons of God therefore we can call God Paul says abd we can call him father why? it's figurative it's majaz it's an honorific title huyoitheyu in the new testament the son of God is called an idafa of takrim and tashrif the annexation of of honor and of majesty like we say the Kaaba is baitullah we don't mean to say literally that God resides in a house no Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is transcendent of spacetime and materiality but to show tashrif and takrim to show honor and majesty to the Kaaba it's called baitullah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran they say God has begotten children bal'ida ibadun mukramun bal'ibadun mukramun rather they are servants raised to honor raised to honor that this is how we should understand manu genes khuyas so let's look at that verse again no one has at any time seen God people saw Jesus therefore he cannot be God the simple deductive argument but the manu genes khuyas the one-of-a-kind special servant of God ha'un eistun kalpun tu patras who is in the bosom of the father who is on the chest of the father who is in the heart of the father what does that mean who is beloved of the father beloved of the Rab Isa alayhi salam is beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a k nas eksay gaysato that one meaning Jesus exejeets literally exejeets the father explains the father reveals the father gives commentary about the Rab about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he's not the God he's not kanthayan he reveals and explains and eksplicates the father Christ is the perfect reflection of God on earth the perfected and sanctified agent of God who reflects God's attributes at a human level just as the moon reflects the sun the prophets reflect the attributes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at a non-absolute and human level this is what Jesus meant when he said in John chapter 10 verse 30 egokaiha pater hen esmen I and the father are one one on the level of obedience disobedience will intention born out of love not one on the level ontology we find this type of oneness in the Quran between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and our master Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as well Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah An-Nisa ayah number 80 mayyuti ar rasul faqad ata'a Allah whoever obeys the messenger is obeying Allah not because the messenger is essentially or ontologically Allah no because the obedience of the messenger is equal, is one with the obedience of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if you obey the messenger it is as if you are obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah An-Fal Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says wa ma ramayta idramayta wa lakinna Allah rama Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that you did not throw when you threw Allah threw are we to believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala incarnated into the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and threw some stones? No, what does it mean? It means that all of the actions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam are guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junaid said about the famous Hadith Qudsiy my servant does not draw close unto me with anything more beloved than his fara'id than his obligations wa la yasalu abdiya taqarabu ilayah bin Nawafil and continues to draw near unto me with his Nawafil hatta uhibba until I love him then I become the eye by which he sees and the hand by which he holds and the foot by which he walks and if you were to ask anything from me I shall surely give it to him are we to believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala literally becomes our eye and our hand and our foot? No, what does it mean? It means that all of our limbs become guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we actualize our Islam that we become sanctified agents of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Another example from Surah Tohba Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says wa la hu rasuluhu wa la hu rasuluhu a haqqu an yurduhu Allah and His Messenger two subjects mentioned it is more befitting that you all please him who at the end the pronoun is third masculine singular not the dual even though there are two subjects so what's happening here? Is this a grammatical error? Imam al-Qurdubi says no it's singular because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to demonstrate an intimate relationship between himself and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the sense that if you please the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam then you are automatically pleasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala one on the level of obedience disobedience will and intention born out of love not one ontologically that is impossible that's not the Abrahamic tradition so in this sense to use Johanin language the language of the Gospel of John the Prophet is in the bosom of God he is in the heart of God he is in the eye of God as Allah says in the Qur'an فَصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبْبِكِ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُونِنَا so be patient as to the coming of the command of thy Lord for verily you are in our eyes what does that mean? in layman's terms it means relax I love you relax I love you that's what it means and the proof that Isa A.S. meant this oneness relationally and not literally is that in his high priestly prayer in John 17 verse 21 listen to what he says about the disciples so that all might be one just as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us so what does that mean? if it's a oneness ontological oneness an essential oneness that they're the same substance or co-substantial is Jesus praying that the disciples also become gods? no he's praying for their mystical union with God that they're united in God in love that there's a unity of will and intention born out of love Jesus tells Mary the Magdalene in John 2017 he says I am going to ascend to my father and your father remember we said when you hear the word think I am going to ascend to my and your love God and my God and your God I am going to ascend to my father and your father my God and your God Jesus says he has a God there is a God of Jesus who is this God of Jesus? if Jesus has a God how can he be God? are there two gods? there's one God the God is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in Mark 10, 18 a scribe comes to Christ and he says according to the Greek didas kale agathay good master what must I do to gain eternal life? point blank question how do I go to heaven? listen to the response of Jesus he says in Greek here Greek is highly inflected Mark brings the direct object forward why does he do that? to emphasize the direct object why me are you calling good? conventional translations don't do justice they say why are you calling me good? no, the object is brought forward why me? he's almost offended why me are you calling good? no one is good but one and that is God follow the commandments he says the mitzvot and you shall enter the life so I want to end this session by reading the first few of the ten commandments that deal with theology this is what Jesus is telling us to follow he says follow the commandments let's read a couple and then we'll end this session inshallah ta'ala the first few commandments deal with theology Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 to 5 it says the one who brought you out from the house of Egypt from the house of bondage thou shalt have no other gods before me thou shalt not make the likeness of anything asher bes shamaim immal of anything in the heavens above va asher ba aritz mit tachat or from the earth below va asher ba maim mit tachat la haritz or anything from the seas beneath the earth you shall not bow down to them nor worship them ki adunai ki anukhi adunai ilohaycha because I am the Lord your God this is the theology of Musa alai salam this is the theology that's confirmed by Isa alai salam and this is the theology that's confirmed in the Qur'an by the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam rabbana zidna ilmah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increase us in knowledge we'll pick this up again in the next session wa as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Bismillahir rahmanir raheem wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa la alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een in this session we're going to look at theological consistency of normative Christian theology as relates to Isa alai salam in other words normative Christology in the Christian faith as we said in the last session two of the most iconic and theologically foundational statements of Isa alai salam or in surah Maryam chapter 19 verse 30 inni abudullah that I am indeed the servant of Allah in chapter 3 verse 51 inna allah rabbi wa rabbukum fa abuduh haadah siratu mustaqim indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord worship Him this is the straight path now I want to preface my comments by saying Muslim hermeneutics of the Bible can be a sensitive topic as a Muslim Biblisist myself I propose in my dissertation for example that our approach to the Biblical text must be on the same level as the great masters of religion of the past for example Abu Rayhan al-Biruni or Imam al-Shahristani who is usually considered to be the wadir the founder of this discipline known as al-milal wal-nihal nations and creeds or comparative theology also Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and his Rudd his refutation of Christian theology Ibn Taymiyyah and his Rudd Ibn Umar al-Biqai and his Diya Tessaran his gospel harmony of the four gospels our approach must be what I call polymarenic it's a combination of the word polemic the Greek word polemicos means war-like this is when the text of the Bible and Christianity is attacked with faulty knowledge and the other side of that you have the erenic approach from the Greek word ereni now people who engage with Christianity from a Muslim perspective from an erenical approach they approach the text and say well these are saying basically the same things in Islam and Christianity are no different they tend to syncretize religions to heed and trinity as explicated by Abu Jaffer al-Tahawi and Saint Augustine are really two sides of the same coin and obviously that's not being true to the traditions definitely there are two different religions two different theologies but to be polymarenic means to be critical but also reflects rigorous academic sophistication so I speak now in the capacity of an academic I mean no disrespect to anyone but we are going to be a bit critical theological consistency Isa alaihi salam is reported to have said in the Quran Musaddi qalima bayna yadayya minat taura that I confirm the taura which is with me which is before me now the Nicene Creed was called by Constantine or the Council of Nicaea I should say was called by Constantine the first Christian emperor to solve or to resolve the Arian controversy of 325 of the common era so this is the creedal exposition of the faith by the 318 bishops so I'm just going to quickly go through the Nicene Creed not all of it but most of it do a loose translation from the original Greek just to give you a feel of Orthodox Christian Christology belief about Jesus it says we believe in one God the Father, the creator of all things seen and unseen kai eis hena kuryan eis uchristan ton huyan tuthayu gen eithenta ektu patras manugene tut estin ektes ucias tu patras and we also believe in one kuryan which they translate as Lord the Son of God begotten from the Father uniquely from the same essence as the Father the same ucias then it says tiyan ektayu God from God fos ekfotas light from light tiyan aleithinon ektayu aleithinu true God from true God which is interesting because Jesus in 1773 of John as we stated says that the Father is ton mayon ton manon aleithinon tiyon that the Father is the only true God it goes on to say the famous statement gen eithenta upoieithenta begotten not made begotten not created kama ucian tu patras co-substantial of the same essence with the Father through whom all things were made and in the heavens and the earth and for the sake of us men or human beings and for the sake of our salvation came down and sarcosenta assumed flesh and antropesenta and became a man and suffered and was resurrected on the third day so that's the gist of the Nicene Creed so here's what we know about Trinitarian Christianity what it teaches number one God became a man right? St. Augustine said factus es deus homo that God became a man Augustine said deus incarnatus God became incarnated the incarnated God literally became infleshed so God became a man number two God sacrificed his son who was innocent and sinless in fact technically since the father and son are the same ontologically God actually committed according to this belief an act of self-immolation nonetheless the son was killed and he was innocent number three the son meaning Jesus died to atone for our sins he died for our sins number four he died by being hanged on a tree he was crucified number five he is commemorated by partaking of his blood it's called the Eucharist it's a sacrament in all churches the Catholic, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox the Catholics believe in a doctrine known as transubstantiation in which they believe that at mass the Holy Spirit descends and transforms the essence the essence of the bread and the wine into the literal flesh and blood of Jesus while the accidents of the bread and the wine remain the same now, okay the Torah says let's look at the Torah and Maimonides the great product of Muslim Spain the great Jewish philosopher and theologian said that the Torah the first five books of Moses represents the Ipsisama verba the very words of God similar to our concept of the Quran and the rest of the Old Testament the Nebim and the Ketubim the prophets and the writings is the very voice of God inspired to prophets and sages and historians so the Torah the first five books the Pentateuch for Maimonides has the highest level of revelation numbers 2319 says lo ishe el is very clear God is not a man God is not a man in Hosea 119 if we go to the prophets he says kie el anohi ve lo ishe kie in Hebrew is the equivalent of Inna the harfa tokied the emphatic particle in Arabic indeed I am God and not a man meaning they're mutually exclusive Jesus Christ peace be upon him according to John chapter 4 verse 24 he says penuma ha theos the God is spirit God is a spiritual being he transcends space, time and materiality leis a kamithni he shey'un there's nothing like the likes of God whatsoever Maimonides says in point number 3 of his principles of Jewish emuna of Jewish iman point number 3 of 13 he says einahu guf he is not guf in Hebrew means jisum a corpus a soma a body he is not a body meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wa ein lo sum dim yan kalal and there is not to him the likeness of anything so to say that God became a man is not theologically consistent okay point number 2 in exodus chapter 20 verse 13 we read lo tirsach which usually is translated thou shalt not kill but there's capital punishment in the Old Testament what this really means is thou shalt not commit murder what is murder the killing of an innocent person if a judge orders an innocent man killed to save another then that is a breach of justice and thus murder Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran surah al-ma'idah ayah number 32 wa katabna a la bani israel annahu man qatala nafsan bi ghayri nafsan aw fasad in fi al-ard fa ka annama qatala nasa jami'a that we prescribe for the bani israel the children of Israel that if a person is killed annahu man qatala nafsan bi ghayri nafs if a person is killed for other than justice like someone is murdered then there's capital punishment or for spreading corruption upon the earth then it is as if he has killed the whole of humanity so God ordering the death of an innocent person is not theologically consistent in Deuteronomy 24 17 we read every man shall be put to death for his own sin Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that no bearer of burdens can bear the burdens of another in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20 in the Nabeem in the Old Testament in the Tanakh we read the soul that sins it shall die the iniquity of the son shall not be upon the father the iniquity of the father shall not be upon the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him but if the wicked would turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die what does it mean to turn to God the word in Hebrew is teshuva means toba toba tabayatubu in Arabic in its etymology logatan means to turn to reorient but we use it to mean toba to repent so this is the way to make right with God according to the prophets of Bani Israel is that we make toba in fact remember Matthew chapter 9 when Jesus quotes Hosea 6,6 I require mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings kichesed khafatsdi velozevach vadaat ilohim meoloth the sotereology of Luke Axe the Gospel of Luke in the book of Axe is vastly different than the Nicene Creed and Luke Axe Jesus is only called savior in the sense that he tells you about sin and how to deal with sin he doesn't vicariously atone for sin and this is demonstrated in the beautiful parable of the prodigal son the pericope known as the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15 when a man has two sons one son stays with him the other one is Musraf he's a prodigal he's a spendthrift and he's a sinner and he leaves his father and then he comes back years later and he sees his father from a distance and his father opens out his arms to him and hugs him and welcomes him back what is the moral of this parable is it about blood sacrifice no, it's about toba tshuva it's about repentance this is the teaching of Isa A.S. according to the Gospel of Luke next point verse 4 Deuteronomy chapter 21-23 says whoever is hanged on a tree is qillat ilohim is accursed by God and in fact Paul says in the book of Galatians that Jesus became a curse for us very interesting however the Quran says the opposite waj'alani mubarakan aina ma kuntu Allah SWT quoting Isa A.S. says that he has made me blessed for so ever I am in fact the Quran says wama qataluhu wama salabuhu wa lakin shubya lahum they did not kill nor crucify Jesus and if you look at all of these so-called crucifixion prophecies that trinitarian Christians will say prophesize or foreshadow or our typologies of the crucifixion none of them not a single one of them say the Christ none of them say ha-meshiach or meshiach in the Hebrew absolutely none of them however we read in psalm 20 psalm 20 verse 6 David writes a'ta yada'atiki hushia adunai meshiachu yannahum meshami khudshu b'vuroth yashia yaminu he says I know that God will save his messiah he shall hear him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand in fact the name yashua in Aramaic is a passive participle meaning the one who is saved by God according to lexicon strong's concordance and finally Leviticus chapter 3 verse 17 says Allah SWT says He has prohibited for you prohibited for you the flesh of dead animals that carry on as it were and blood and the flesh of pigs so what we find here is we don't find theological consistency with orthodox Christian Christology or theology we find that the statements of Isa A.S. as recorded in the New Testament are perfectly in line with the statements of Musa A.S. attributed to Musa A.S. in the Torah which has a clear trajectory into the time into the teaching and theology of the Prophet Muhammad SAW Rabbana Zidna Ilma we ask Allah SWT to increase us in knowledge As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh this is our final session talking about the Holy Prophet Isa A.S. I want to in this session look at a verse from the Quran Chapter 4 Surah al-Nisa ayah number 171 in which Allah SWT begins by saying oh people of the book now Imam Al-Tabari as well as Imam Al-Siyuti they take Ahl al-Kitab here to mean specifically Ahl al-Injil the people of the Gospel the Christians others like Imam Al-Baydawi he takes it as Jews and Christians the verse continues that Christ Jesus the son of Mary was only the messenger of God if we take the latter opinion that Allah SWT is addressing Jews and Christians with respect to Jesus do not mention do not maintain that he was a false prophet or born out of wedlock that as is mentioned in the Talmud which is the oral law that was finally regulated to writing and rabbinical exegesis upon it this is considered gholua this is considered an extreme position with respect to Isa A.S. but also the other side of that the other extreme do not make him into a God or the literal son of God this is also gholua this is also a type of excessiveness now the Ulama of Ahl al-Sunnah al-Jama'a they tend to take synthetic or middle positions so you have two extremes and the opinion of Ahl al-Sunnah al-Jama'a is in the middle way what the Buddha would call madhyamika the middle path the middle way for example I'll give you an example the issue of the grave sinner the khawarij said someone who commits a major sin a mortal sin has apostated the religion they're no longer Muslim the latter murji'a they had the diametrically opposed opinion and said if someone doesn't follow the shari'a then it doesn't even affect their iman they were antinomians the shari'a is optional so Ahl al-Sunnah al-Jama'a they said a major sin does affect your iman you're still a Muslim however but now you have to make tauba okay if the former opinion of Imam At-Tabri Imam Sayyuti that Ahl al-Kitab here means the people of the gospel Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is then telling us that the Christians telling the Christians not to go into extremes about Isa al-Islam in the past Christians have maintained that Isa al-Islam was both human and divine and some said he became divine at his birth others said he became divine at his baptism others said he became divine at his resurrection this latter is dubbed exaltation Christology by Bart Ehrman in his new book How Jesus Became God and this seems to be Pauline Christology Paul seems to say that Jesus became divine in some way at his resurrection other Christians say that he was always divine as the pre-eternal son and that while he was caused by God he was caused or generated by God God caused him to be before time so God does not have temporal precedence over the son therefore according to these Christians there is no difference ontologically between the father and the son other Christians said that Jesus is two persons with two natures some Gnostics said that other Christians said he's one person with one nature this is called modal monarchism or patripassianism other Christians said he's one person with two natures and this represents Catholic or Protestant Eastern Orthodoxy others said that he's only divine he's not human at all like the dosetists which comes from the Greek verb doceo which means to seem or to appear that Jesus only seemed to be flesh and blood he was really a phantasm a spiritual being this was the opinion of the Marcianites and many other Gnostics with respect to proto-Orthodox Christianity the first four ecumenical councils reveals an interesting evolving Christology in 325 of the common era the first ecumenical council the council of Nicaea presided over by Constantine they voted the bishops 318 bishops voted and they decided that Jesus is Hama Uzias that the son is co-substantial with the father not Homo Uzias not similar to the father not Hetara Uzias not different essentially than the father but of the same substance as the father this was in 325 of the common era and 381 at the council of Constantinople the Holy Spirit was also declared officially to be co-substantial with the father and the son the council of Ephesus we mentioned in the first session Mary was declared Theotokos the carrier or bearer of God and the council of Calcedon in 451 of the common era Jesus was declared to have two natures he's 100% God and 100% man Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues Innaman Masihu Isbnu Maryam Rasulullah as we said that Christ Jesus the son of Mary was only the messenger of God wa kalimatuhu wa kalimatuhu wa kalimatuhu and his word and we said in previous sessions that this could mean either that he is his special personal creation or his unique pre-eternal impersonal decree that eventually manifested in space-time as Christ alqaha ila Maryam that he cast upon Mary wa ruhum minhu and a spirit from him and he, according to the Mufassadin of the Quran the exegits, the meaning of this is that the teachings of Christ are very ruhani they're very spiritual they're very mystical in nature he was an ascetic in a hadith recorded by Imam Ahmed the disciples came to Isa alayhi salam and they said to him how is it that you can walk on water? Isa alayhi salam said bill yaqeen with yaqeen with certitude and they said we have certitude and he said bring to me three objects bring mud, stones, and gold mud, stones, and gold so they brought these objects and Isa alayhi salam said what do you say about them? they said stones are better than mud and gold is the best he said I don't see a difference between any of them know the secret of this and you can walk on water you can transcend the elements Islamic Christology sees itself as a restoration of the message and status of Christ it is a restored theology of the Evionim the original Christians the Ebianites the Nozrim the Nazarenes that were marginalized into oblivion when Constantine declared hama usias as the official version of Christianity our version our Christology of Christ is that he was only human some have called this Semitic Adoptionism Dynamic Monarchism but he was the messenger of God he was the slave of God par excellence he was the true messiah and he was a forerunner of Ahmed also known as Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa la alaihi wasallam the ayah concludes fa aminubillahi wa rasoolihi so believe in Allah and in his messenger wa la taqoolu thalatha and don't say three don't say trinity intahu desist khayran lakum khayran lakum desist it will be better for you innamallahu ilahun wahid for your God for indeed Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is only one God Subhanahu ayyakunalahu walad glory be to him that he should have a son lahu for him this lamb here it's called lamb tamlik the lamb of ownership that he owns that he possesses maa fissamawati walard everything in the heavens and in the earth wa maa fillard wa kafabillahi wa keela and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is sufficient as a protector now as I said earlier I will end with this inshallah ta'ala as I said earlier nowhere in the New Testament that Isa A.S. ever say I am God or worship me a lot of Trinitarian Christians point to the I am statements the prologue of John's Gospel we dealt with John 1.1 we looked at John 10.30 also John 8.58 is also claimed to be a divine claim of Isa A.S. by mainstream Christian Christian exegetes because Isa A.S. according to this passage he says in the Greek Prin Abraam Genestai ego emmi before Abraham was I am and the claim here is that if you look at Exodus 3 verse 14 when Moses is at the burning bush and he's speaking to God and he says when I go into the Israelites they're going to ask me your name what shall I tell them and God tells him say to them ahye asher ahye I am what I am I am what I am interestingly Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq he noticed in the Quranic version of the story we also have this duplication of I am when Musa A.S. is at the burning bush and Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala tells him but before that when Allah identifies himself he says why according to Imam Ja'far Al-Sadaq and Abul Qasim Al-Junaid the meaning of that is Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala is telling Musa A.S. that he is the only non-contingent being the only necessary being the only one that can truly say I am and mean it in its right well everything else is is contingent and derived from Allah Subhanahu Wa'Ta'Ala so the Christian claim here is Jesus is saying before Abraham was I am God told Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3 I am what I am Jesus is claiming to be God interestingly in 250 before the common era the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek a very famous translation called the Septuagint or the LXX meaning 70 and when the gospel authors when they quote from the Old Testament they're not translating directly from Hebrew they're pulling from the Septuagint and this is what the verse sounds like Exodus 3.14 in the Septuagint God tells Moses I am ho'an ho' is a relative pronoun un-present active participle meaning I am the one who is I am he who is the one who never dies the one who is eternal in the Greek and John Jesus simply says ego emmi he doesn't say ho'an he doesn't say the divine part he simply says I am I am what well if we go back to John chapter 4 we have the first I am statement and this first I am statement is going to guide our meaning right, tafsir by the book tafsir of John by John it'll guide the rest of the I am statements in meaning throughout the gospel of John so Jesus is at the well the woman at the well says to him I know the Messiah is coming who shall tell us all things Jesus responds in verse 26 ego emmi I am he the one who is speaking to you I am what God, no I am the Messiah when Jesus makes his I am statements all throughout John there are claims of being the Christ the Messiah not claims of being God but why say it like this before Abraham was I am the Messiah why say it like that well Jesus could be defending his legitimacy as the Messiah by appealing to his pneumatic temporal precedence over Abraham in other words the creation of his soul predates that of Abraham and this is how we look at the prologue John 1.1 so Issa alaihi salam is using if this verse is authentic he's using a very cogent very strong argument defending his legitimacy as the Messiah that I was in the knowledge and will of God even before Abraham was created but it's not a divine claim is it usual for prophets to speak like this well the prophet salallahu alayhi salam was asked when did you become a prophet he said when Adam was when Adam was between the spirit and the body I am the seal of the prophets meaning that his was already created because the the spirit of a person is that person essentially so the prophet salallahu alayhi salam essentially could say preen Adam genestai ego emmi before Adam was I am this is not a divine claim may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala increase us in knowledge I'm going to end this final session by quoting the motto of Zaituna college like I've done at the end of every other session rabbana zidna ilma we're going to recite it in the plural rabbana zidna ilma rabbana zidna ilma oh our Lord increase us in knowledge may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala bless all of you may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala bless your Ramadan and accept all of our fasting and our prayers and our reading of the Quran and seeking knowledge for his sake alone may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala bless all of you