Could Not Answer

The expressions used in these verses of the Holy Bible, such as (son of God), (sons, or children, of God) are metaphors, and Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be called (Father) by giving these expressions their literal meanings. Christians also interpret the word (Son) in these verses as (beloved born slave of God) and do not attribute divinity to any of the people mentioned in them. So far, all Christians accept the fact that Allâhu ta’âlâ is the only Ruler. Yet when it comes to Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, they swerve from the right way.]

Misunderstandings have taken place not only concerning the word (Father), but also in the word (Son). As a matter of fact, the Gospel of Luke, while mentioning the genealogy, fathers of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ (may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us from believing or saying so) in the twenty-third and later verses of its third chapter, states that he was the son of Joseph, and lists the fathers of Joseph, finally saying, “... the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” (Luke: 3-23 to 38) Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ is not the son of Allâhu ta’âlâ in the actual sense of the word. Luke attributes Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ to Allâhu ta’âlâ because he was created without parents and Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ to Joseph the carpenter because he was born only without father. [Christians accept Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as a god because God’s spirit was breathed into him. Nevertheless, they attribute Joseph the carpenter as a father to him. Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was born without a father. On the other hand, Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ was created without any parents at all. Accordingly, they ought to accept Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ as a god greater than Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. No Christian has ever said ‘god’ about Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’.]

The word (Son) exists in the Old Testament section of the Holy Bible, too. For instance, it is written as follows in the twenty-second verse of the fourth chapter of Exodus: “And thou shalt say unto pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:” (Ex: 4-22)

It is written as follows in the ninth verse of the thirty-first chapter of the Book of Jeremiah: “... for I am a father to Israel, and E’phra-im is my firstborn.” (Jer: 31-9) [If the word ‘son’ entailed godhood, Isrâil and Efrâyim would have become a god each a very long time before Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Furthermore, they have been attributed the appellation of ‘the first son’, which means that they should have attained divinity long before another son who came later.]

The fourteenth verse of the seventh chapter of Samuel II states as follows about Suleymân (Solomon) ‘alaihis-salâm’: “I will be his father, and he shall be my son. ...” (2 Sam: 7-14)

The first verse of the fourteenth chapter of Deuteronomy states: “You are the children of the LORD, your God: ...” (Deut: 14-1) The nineteenth verse of the thirty-second chapter reads: “And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.” (ibid: 32-19) The second verse of the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah states: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” (Is: 1-2) The first verse of the thirtieth chapter reads: “Woe to the rebellious children, ...” (ibid: 30-1) The eighth verse of the sixty-fourth chapter reads: “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. (ibid: 64-8) The tenth verse of the first chapter of Hosea reads: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” (Hos: 1-10)

Here, [and at many other places we have not mentioned, all the Israelites, and also many other people, are called (sons of God). If the expression (son of God) actually meant, (son of God), that is, if it were not a metaphor, the Israelites and] the Israelite Prophets, such as Isrâîl [Ya’qûb], Efrâyim, Suleymân, and others ‘alaihimus-salâm’, and Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’ should have been gods. But Jewry, being fully cognizant of their native language, Hebrew, understood very well that such expressions as (son of God), (the first son), (sons) and (daughters) were metaphorically used, and thus they did not fall into error [by divinizing these Prophets]. After the Hawârîs (Apostles), however, copies of the Bible and preachings and admonitions of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, in pages here and there, were obtained by this person and that haphazardly, and were translated into other languages. And the translators, in their turn, being ignorant and unaware of the subtleties and the stylistic registers in the Hebrew language, translated whatever they saw, word for word without understanding (the message). Those who saw these translations afterwards did not dare to use the words in the translations in connotations other than their literal meanings. All these eventuated in void arguments, wrong, absurd theories, entirely unreasonable, implausible and bizarre doctrines.

Some hundred years after Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ there appeared a different creed, a different sect with a different Gospel in every country. While rewriting the codices of the Bible, fanatics affiliated with each sect, with a view to propagating their own sect and disproving other sects, inserted some words suitable with their purposes. So many copies of the Bible, and so many resultant controversies among Christians, appeared that in the Nicene Council alone fifty different copies of the Bible that were being read by Christians were rescinded. Hence, none of the four Gospels have the documentary capacity. Yet, as the Christian faith is based on these four Gospels, we, too, base our argument on their testimony in order to convince Christians.

The Taurah, the part of the Bible called Old Testament, contains no document to testify to the Christian doctrine of trinity. [This fact is also avowed by some priests we have met.] Their strongest proof, the Gospel of John, which is the most dubious and complicated of the Gospels, consists of a few ambiguous statements in the details contained in the other Gospels. For instance:

They deduce divinity from the twenty-third verse of the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, where Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ states: “... ye are of this world. I am not of this world.” (John: 8-23) They give such explanations as, “He descended from heaven and changed into a body,” for their attributing godhood to Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The meaning of this verse is: “You are busy with worldly connections. I am not.” This statement cannot be interpreted as divinity. Besides, the Gospels contain verses contradicting this verse.

The nineteenth verse of the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John states: “... ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (ibid: 15-19) The sixteenth and eighteenth verses of the seventeenth chapter state: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (ibid: 17-16) “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” (ibid: 17-18) These statements contradict the verse, “I am not of this world,” in the eighth chapter of John (verse: 23).

In these verses, Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ holds himself and his disciples equal. And the statement, “You are of this world,” means, “You aspire after this world.” Such figures of speech and idioms are used in every language. (In fact, the English language teems with similes, metaphors, synecdoches, metonymies, allegories, symbolisms, hyperboles, litotes, ironies, innuendos, rhetorical questions, etc.) The Arabic language, on the other hand, has the expressions (Ibn-ul-waqt), (Eb-ul-waqt), (ebnâ-i-zamân), and (ebnâ-i-sebîl), which mean, respectively, (son of the time), (father of the time), (sons of the time), and (sons of the way). [Time or way cannot have a son. These are all symbolic expressions.]

Another evidence which Christians put forward in their endeavour to validate trinity is the thirtieth verse of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. This verse quotes Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as having said, “I and my Father are one.” (John: 10-30) This statement cannot be interpreted as divinity or identity, either. For, supposing that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ really made this statement, he was a human being with a (self) when he said it, so it is impossible for him to have united with God. [Christians, who indicate this verse as an evidence to prove the divinity of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ ought to read on to see what comes after the verse. It is written as follows in the thirtieth and later verses: “I and my Father are one.” “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.” “Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” “If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;” “Say ye unto him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.” “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand.” (ibid: 10-30 to 39) People who saw Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ himself did not say be was a god. On the contrary, they attempted to kill him on account of this figurative word. Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, whom Christians accept as a creative god who always has existed and will exist eternally, flees from the Jews. What kind of a god is he who runs away from his creatures?

Another point here is the thirty-fourth verse, “I said, Ye are gods,” which Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ quoted in order to prove his statement, “I and Father are one.” It is written in a footnote of the copy of the Bible we have that this verse is the sixth verse of the eighty-second chapter of the Zebûr (Psalms) in the Old Testament. The final part of this verse reads as follows: “... and all of you are the children of the most High.” (Ps: 82-6) According to the facade meaning of this verse and the statement made by Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, in addition to Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, people who are addressed as, “You are gods”, become gods. We wonder if any Christian has ever accepted them as gods. Christians, who have posed the statement, “I and Father are one,” of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ as a testimony for his divinity, reject the gods who are declared in the continuation of the discourse, thus becoming sinners and rebels by disagreeing with Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, whom they recognize as a god. Will a god lie? If you ask Christians why they do not accept that part, they will say, “Well, that statement is figurative. The statement, ‘You are gods,’ cannot be taken in its literal sense.” If you ask, “Isn’t the statement, ‘I and Father are one’, of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ figurative?”, they will answer, “Jesus the Lord is divine. This is the basic doctrine of Christianity.”] Another explanation which Christians make of these statements in the Gospel of John is that “Jesus Christ is not only a perfect human being but also a perfect god.” Yet, since the human properties cannot be separated from man, actual unity of man and god is out of the question. Moreover, Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ uses this expression not only for himself, but also for the Hawârîs (Apostles).

Here are some verses from the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John: “... as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: ...” (John: 17-21) “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” (22) “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (23) The expression ‘being perfect in one’ in these verses means ‘stringent obedience to religious commandments and doing pious deeds,’ in which case nothing pertaining to divinity will even occur to one’s mind.

Another document which Christians have recourse to as an evidence for trinity is the following episode narrated in the eighth and later verses of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John: “Philip saith unto him, Lord shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John: 14-8, 9)

This argument is false from two different points of view:

Firstly: It is a fact admitted by Christians as well that it is impossible to see Allâhu ta’âlâ in the world. In fact, this ma’rifat (of seeing) is interpreted as ‘knowing’ in the introduction of the book Iz-hâr-ul-haqq. Knowing the Messiah does not mean knowing physically. Hence Christians deduce that it is knowing the Messiah as regards divinity and unification. This deduction is mandatory according to Christians who believe in trinity. Yet this deduction is wrong, too. For deduction should not be contrary to logical proofs and authentic narratives. This deduction is contrary to logical proofs. For, as we have mentioned earlier, Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ holds the Hawârîs equal to himself.

As it is known by historians, the doctrine of three hypostases, or trinity, is not something new; it is a credo adopted from polytheistic cults. As the number of gods increased so as to attract the attention of the nescient populace and stir up feelings of alertness in them, notables of a polytheistic community would arrange the gods in order of superiority, appointing some of them as chiefs and others as their inferiors. They decided to keep the investigation of this arrangement as a secret among themselves. Zerdusht (Zoroaster or Zarathustra), [the founder of magi, the basic religious system of ancient Persia], chose two of their idols, Yezdân (Ormuzd or (Ahura Mazda) and Ehremen (Ahriman), as two hypostases, and established an unprecedented system of belief which was based on a curious conflict between Yezdân the god of light and good and Ahriman the god, or spirit, of darkness and evil.^[56]

Maz-hâr Jân-i-Jânân,^[57] a great Indian savant, states in his fourteenth letter: “Brahminism was a heavenly religion. It was degenerated afterwards.” The expression ‘three hypostases’ was first heard from these people (Brahmins).

[It would be more correct to call it a philosophy, or a doctrine, instead of a religion. It is understood that it was founded by the mutilation of a heavenly religion seven hundred years before Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The agent of this mutilation is Brahma. (In Sanskrit) Brahma means holy word. This expression has been used for Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ in Christianity. When Christians are questioned about the divinity of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, their first evidence to prove it is some verses in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, which are, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” [John: 1-1], and “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father,) full of grace and truth.” [ibid: 1-14] An exact analogue of Brahminism.] Likewise, members of the Brahministic caste believe in a deity who became a reality in the name of (Brahma). According to their doctrine, a most perfect, ever silent god is the real essence of all. Yet this god does his work through two other gods: Vishnu and Siva (or Shiva). They say that they are one god manifesting in a triad.

According to Brahmins, (Brahma) is the creator of all and the world. He does all the work of creating, and his symbol is the sun. Vishnu is reason. He is a god protecting all. He rules over the time lived in. His symbol is water. And Siva is the god of life and death. He rules over the time lived in and future. Justice and vengeance are his responsibility. His symbol is fire. [Brahmins believe that their god Vishnu lives in heaven. The other gods tell Vishnu that some demons have appeared on the earth and deranged the quietude and order of the earth, and therefore he must be born incarnate on the earth for the chastisement of those demons. Vishnu accepts this suggestion and incarnates as Krishna, the warrior, being born from a virgin of a warrior family in order to purge the earth of evils and demons. The virgin has dreamt of this event beforehand. Krishna learns all knowledge in sixty-four days. He works as a shepherd. He travels far and wide. He displays wonders in places where he travels. Upon seeing this, Brahmins accept him as a deity that has descended to earth in a human figure. Many other myths are told about Krishna by the votaries of Brahma.

Likewise, Buddhists accept Buddha as a deity. According to Buddhists, Buddha lived in heaven before descending to earth. He looked for a place to appear on earth and eventually decided to be born as a member of the Sudhodana family. (The myth is as follows:) His mother, fasting as she is, falls asleep on the roof of the palace, and has a dream. In her dream a white elephant emitting haloes all around itself descends from heaven and, to her astonishment, enters her womb from her right flank. Many symptoms are seen towards Buddha’s birth. His mother leaves her town and delivers her divine son under a tree. Buddhism teems with things which reason or logic could never accept. Brahminism, Buddhism, and the Christian credo, trinity, are analogous, similarities between them, such as a god’s entering a virgin and being born from her and people’s accepting him as a deity. Here are some of them.

1 — According to Christians, Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ died, and resurrected three days after death. Krishna, too, resurrected after death, and ascended to heaven.

2 — Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ resurrected from his grave, and Buddha from his coffin.

3 — Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ said beforehand that he would be killed, saved the souls in dungeons, that is in Hell, and after resurrecting from his grave sat on the right hand side of God. And Buddha said he would withdraw from the world and go to nirvana.

4 — When Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ went up to heaven, he took over and began to control all the matters of the universe. Likewise, Buddha established the sultanate of heavens and began to dominate over the universe.

5 — The Gospels unanimously enumerate the fathers of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ up to Dâwûd (David) ‘alaihis-salâm’, whom they call the first Melik (King, Ruler). Likewise, Buddha’s genealogy is said to begin with Makavamat the first Ruler.

Trinity and metempsychosis, i.e. belief in the transmigration of a dead person’s soul into a new body, existed not only in Indian religions, but also in the ancient Egyptian religions. The best known of the Egyptian deities is (Amonra). His symbol is the sun. He was believed to have created this world with his will and speech. (Osiris), his assistant, is their second deity. Osiris came down to earth, underwent various afflictions, and was killed. He resurrected and ascended to heaven with the help of (Isis), their third deity. Thus Osiris became the god of the dead. Also, in ancient Egypt, kings, or Pharaohs, were believed to be the sons of Amonra (the sun).

Ancient Egyptians believed that when a person died he was called to account by Osiris.]

The inventor of the doctrine of three hypostases in the west is the philosopher Time (Timaios), who lived in the city of Lokres some five hundred years before the Christian Era. He was one of the pupils of Pythagoras. He learned this doctrine of three hypostases [beings, bases]. [Pythagoras was born on the Island of Samos in 580 B.C. It is narrated that he died in Metaponte in 500 B.C. There are differing narratives as to the dates of his birth and death. He came to the Kroton city of Italy when he was young yet. Thence he travelled to various places, having long stays in Egypt and the Middle East. During his stay in Egypt he acquired extensive knowledge about the ancient Egyptian religions and cults. Learning the belief in three gods and metempsychosis from the Egyptians, he accepted them. Another thing he learned in Egypt was Hendese (geometry). The theorem known as Pythagoras’ proposition (theorem) today was known pragmatically in Egypt in those days. They (such pieces of information as this theorem) had come to Egypt from Babylon, which was at that time very advanced in ’ilm-i-nujûm (astronomy), mathematics and astrology. And Babyloneans, in their turn, had been taught these branches of knowledge by the great Prophet Idris^[58] ‘alaihis-salâm’. Pythagoras went to Babylon and learned them well. On his returning to the city of Kroton he opened a school, and established a new way, or a new sect, named after him. His votaries have fabled many myths about him and claimed that he was a prophet, and some of them have professed his deity.

Pythagoras said that the essence of being was numbers (arche). He accepted numbers up to ten as sacred. He accepted the numbers of one, two and three as the three essences. Pythagoreans claim that the number one is the unchangeable and eternal source of the universe and therefore the first hypostasis, the number two is feminine and all the world has come into existence through her and she is the second hypostasis, and the number three is the third hypostasis representing the eternal triad in the universe. They assert that these three hypostases are the essence of the world and of the universe. They interpret the essence of universe as (body, life and soul). They say that the universe consists of three worlds, namely (the natural, the human, and the divine worlds). According to the Pythagoreans, as everything is made up of three, creation originates from this triad, which is made up of the creative will, the current of stars, and the ever improving universe. There is detailed information in the book (La Pensee Grecque) by Gomperz about Pythagoras’ numbers and other philosophical views. According to Pythagoras, the first hypostasis, i.e. God, who is able to do whatever He wishes, cannot be comprehended mentally. The Pythagoreans, who believe that soul is eternal [immortal] and that a dying person’s soul may transmigrate into an animal, do not eat meat. Time, an outstanding disciple of Pythagoras’, followed his master’s way.]

Time states in his book Rûh-ul-âlam (Essence of the Universe): “First of all, creatures have a fikr-i-mithâl-i-dâimî (the eternal ideal pattern), which is the first word, the first hypostasis, which is spiritual, not substantial, and therefore, cannot be comprehended by mind. The second grade is the madde-i-ghayr-i-muntazima, which is the second word pronounced, the second hypostasis. The third grade is the world of son, or meaning, which is the third hypostasis. All the universe consists in these three classes. The son wanted to make a beautiful god, and made a god which was a creature.” These statements, complicated and incomprehensible as they were, reached Plato. [There is a narrative stating that Time was one of Plato’s teachers. For Plato says that his great master Socrates and Time had been together in a gathering. Time had three works, namely (Mathematics), (Life of Pythagoras), and (Essence of the Universe). Two of them were lost. His book (Essence of the Universe), the one which was not lost, should have busied philosophers very much. For there is not much difference between the idea derived from the first six chapters of this book and the idea in Plato’s speech on Time (Timeios).]

Plato modified this idea coming from Time. Plato proposed existence of three gods. He said:

The first one is Father. He is the highest one and the creator; he is the father of the other two gods. He is the first hypostasis.

The second one is the primordial, visible god, who is the representative of Father, who is invisible. It is named (Logos), which means word, reason, (account).

The third one is the Universe.

According to Plato, the essence of beings is meanings [ideas]. [The word idea, which Plato refers to, means entity, conception, archetype. In Platonic philosophy it means the unchanging, eternally existing pattern of which all classes of beings are imperfect copies. Plato divides the universe into two worlds. The first one is the perceptible world of senses. The other one is the real world, that is, the world of ideas. While the real world, or the world of ideas, is eternal, the world of senses continuously changes.] The existence of ideas is not dependent upon our mind or imagination, but they exist in an immaterial life peculiar to them. Plato refers each reality or idea to higher realities. Thus all realities and ideas are referred to the absolute (ONE). This ONE, which is (goodness) consisting of many high realities, is God himself. Other high ideas or realities are in His command. Lower ideas are (evils) and are the devil himself. Other low, evil ideas are in His command.

[Plato said that what he accepted as (ONE), who comprised ideas in Himself and whom he called ‘goodness’ and believed to be identical with God, was the (Father god), who had motion and life and who was the father of the universe. This is the first hypostasis. Father god, that is, the unity of ideas, created a spirit, which gave matter its systematic order and which was quite different from matter. This is the son of Father. This spirit is a being which intermediates between the creator and the creature, and is the second hypostasis.

Plato, as well as all the other ancient Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Time learned their views and observations about the spirit which they called ‘the second hypostasis’ by reading the books of (the Prophets) Âdam and Shiet (or Shis) ‘alaihimus-salâm’, or from religious scholars who had read and knew those books, and attempted to explain them with their insufficient knowledge and short range mentalities, thus distorting them. Plato states in his Menon speech that the soul is immortal, that it has come to earth various times, and that it has seen everything in this perceptible (world) and in the imperceptible (hereafter). In his Phaidros speech he divides the soul into three parts: The first is mind, which has been inclined towards ideas. The second and the third are the parts pertaining to aspirations and sensations. One of them follows the mind and leads to goodness, i.e. to God, and the other leads to evil corporeal desires.] Carcass, or body, is a dungeon wherein soul has been hurled after a preliminary sojourn in the incorporeal world of ideas. [Thus mankind, composed of soul and body, came into existence.] The goal of ethics is to free the soul from the shackles tethering it to the dungeon of body, Seframk says that the way to happiness is in attaining virtue and perfection. Plato says, “Perfection of happiness fully exists in virtue. Virtue and perfection are the health, salvation and balance of soul. For attaining happiness, it will be enough to endeavour only for attaining virtue without thinking of worldly advantages or aspiring for the rewards in the hereafter.

According to the philosophy of (Rawâqiyyûn), “Goodness alone is virtue, and evil alone is sinful. Health, illness, wealth, poverty, and even life and death are neither good nor bad. It is up to man to make them good or bad. Man has to believe in the preordination of Allâhu ta’âlâ, that is, in destiny, and commit his will to the will of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Humanity is like a flock (of sheep). Their shepherd is the common reason, or (Logos), which is the creative power of nature. All men are brothers. Their common father is (Zoz), or (God). Zoz is the soul of all universe. He is eternal, one. Other gods are his component parts. [Philosophy founded by Zeno and followed by some Greek philosophers is called Rawâqiyyûn (Stoicism).]

Followers of the philosophy of (Ishrâqiyyûn) inculcate peace and mercy; so much so that the pleasure that a person takes in doing good to someone else is more than the pleasure felt when one is done good to, they say. [This philosophy is called (Illuminism), which is an extension of the way followed by Pythagoreans and Platonists. The founder of neo-Platonism is Plotin, who adopted Plato’s theory of ideas.] The statement, “The flavour in giving is more than the flavour in taking”, which the existing copies of the Bible attribute to Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, is identical with the main principle of the philosophy of Ishrâqiyyûn. [This means to say that stoicists and illuminists present the pieces of information they acquired from religious books and religious scholars in a manner as if they were their own views and findings. The great Islamic savant Imâm-i-Muhammad Ghazâlî ‘rahmat-ullâhi ’aleyh’^[59] expounds this fact in detail in his books (Al-munqizu min-ad-dalâl) and (Tahâfut-ul-falâsifa).

The philosophical school founded by Plato lived for seven or eight centuries together with its tenets. The views of this school of philosophy extended beyond Italy, having its most dramatic impact on the Alexandrian school in the third century.] Plato’s doctrine of three hypostases, along with his other philosophical views, had made its way into the schools of Alexandria and was being taught there, when Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ appeared. In fact, even Philo, a renowned Judaic scholar in Alexandria at that time, wished to see this doctrine of trinity among the other tenets of the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. With this desire he said, “The Taurah declares that the world was created in six days; it is true. For the number three is half of six. And the number two is one-third of six. This number is both masculine and feminine. God married reason and had a son by reason. This son is the world.” Philo called the world ‘kelima-i-ilâhiyya (divine word)’, which was a name he ascribed to angels, too. This was an effect of Platonic philosophy. [Platonic philosophy, which was later renamed as neo-Platonism and went on its way, dealt the severest blow on the Nazarene, or Îsâwî, religion. In other words, the third century of the Christian era, when neo-Platonism was at the zenith of its power, was at the same time the period in which Christianity was the religion of the Roman Empire. Adherents of that philosophy defiled this religion of tawhîd (unity), which was based on the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the prophethood of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Later on idolatry, too, was inserted into this religion. Saint Augustine, who lived in the fourth century of the Christian era, (354-430), tried to Christianize Plato. Augustine’s views about God, soul, and the universe, which he proposes in his book (de Trinite), which he wrote with a view to proving trinity, are quite identical with Platonic philosophy. Using Plato’s statement, “Reason, will, and sensation make up a human being,” as a testimony for proving trinity, he says, “Though the Three Persons in Trinity seem to be disparate, they make up one God.” He alleges that Plato and his disciples realized the true God. Taking Plato’s philosophy of ideas as a fulcrum, he argues that the Word is creative and that the Word is Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Augustine, who is esteemed and accepted as a saint amongst Christians, acknowledges that such Christian tenets as trinity, good, and evil exist in their exact identities in Plato’s philosophy. In addition, he cites Plato’s views as a document for proving trinity. The views of a person who died 350 years before the Christian era are identical with the tenets of Christianity: a hard question for Christians to answer. This concurrence shows that Plato was contemporary with Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, which is the truth. And this truth is explained in the 266th letter of the book (Mektûbât) by the great Islamic ’âlim Imâm-i-Rabbânî Ahmad Fârûqî^[60] ‘rahmatullâhi aleyh.”

Furthermore, Saint Thomas, one of the ecclesiastical personages of the eighth century of the Christian era, endeavours to prove the Christian tenets, particularly trinity, by taking the philosophy of Aristotle, who was Plato’s disciple. This book of ours is too small for us to mention all the ecclesiastical saints who were the true defenders of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Yet we shall touch upon an illuminatory fact, which will give our readers a more realistic insight into the matter: Throughout the Middle Ages, even after the realization of the Renaissance in Europe, opposing the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, or refusing it, or even slightly contradicting it was requited with penalty of death by the ecclesiastical tribunal called Inquisition. We wonder how today’s trinitarian Christians should explain this? It is certain that philosophy of Plato (Platonism), philosophy of Rawâqiyyûn (Stoicism), philosophy of Ishrâqiyyûn (Gnosticism), and other Greek schools of philosophy had a major role in the formation of the tenets of Christianity. This fact is explained in detail and with proofs in the book titled (The Influence of Greek Ideas on Christianity), by Dr. Edwin Hatch.]

As is understood from the above statements, such concepts as purging the heart of wicked traits, attaining happiness by adopting beautiful moral habits, acquiescing in destiny, having tawakkul (putting your trust in Allâhu ta’âlâ), accepting human beings as the sons and children of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and Allâhu ta’âlâ as the common father of all, do not belong exclusively to the Gospels. Hundreds of years before the Gospels they were being discussed among Greek philosophers, [and various philosophers were trying to explain them in various ways. For they had been taught about heavenly religions by Prophets]. It is certain that the statements referring to trinity did not exist in the former heavenly religions or in the genuine copies of the Bible, but they were fabricated by Greek philosophers and were inserted into the Gospels that were written after the spreading of Christianity in Greece and Alexandria.

Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was born in a place where people lived up to the principles of the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Until his Ascension,^[61] he acted upon the sharî’at of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. The commandments that were assigned to the Israelites he observed with them. He preached in Synagogues and instructed the tenets in the Taurah (Torah). To those who had wandered from the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ he preached the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, and taught them the manners of observance as prescribed in that religion. He cherished those Israelites who held fast to that religion. Like Jews, he was baptised in the river of Erden (Jordan) by Yahyâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ (John the Baptist). [The river of Jordan is in Palestine and is 250 kilometres long.] He was circumcised when he was born. He did not baptise anybody. He fasted. He did not eat pork. He did not say, “God entered me, I am the son of God eternally in the past and eternally in the future. My person is composed of two components; a mature human being; and the son of God, which is divine.” Nor did he say, “The Holy Spirit acts upon the common commandment of my Father and me. Believe in three deities, who are Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.” He said, “I came to consolidate the Sharî’at (the canonical law of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’), not to change it.” All books of history agree to the fact that there was no such notion as trinity among the Nazarites; neither during the lifetime of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, nor in the Apostles’ Creed.

It was towards the termination of the second century of the Christian era that the expression ‘Three Persons’ emerged among Christians. Because this doctrine was thoroughly at loggerheads with the religion preached by Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, those who believed in Three Persons concealed their belief from Christians for some time; but they strove to disseminate it in a clandestine way. Meanwhile, upholders of trinity [three gods], with a view to popularizing the course they had taken, published the Gospel of John and the so-called Apostolic epistles, e.g. the Pauline epistles, which were written after the Apostles. This gave birth to a number of controversies, disputes, and strifes amongst Christians. Both the unitarian Christians, i.e. those who believed in the oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and the trinitarians embarked upon an assiduous endeavour to popularize their own credo and to get the better of the opposite side, and scribes on both sides daily wrote Gospels and innumerable pamphlets and epistles that were attributed to the Apostles. Eventually the contentions escalated to their zenith, and the Christian world was divided into two major groups by the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era. A number of Christians professed that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was God Himself without a dissimilitude. Their leader was St. Athanasius, the Bishop of Istanbul. Other Christians, on the other hand, asseverated that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was the most elevated of creatures, a Prophet sent down by Allah, and yet a born slave of Allah. Their leaders were a monk named Arius and Eusebius, the Bishop of Izmit (Nicomedia). [Before them Yûnus Shammâs, the Bishop of Antioch, had declared that Allâhu ta’âlâ is one, and many people had come round to the right course. But later trinitarian priests had begun to worship three gods and tried to spead this doctrine. Thus the number of trinitarians had increased.] The clashes between trinitarians and those who retained their belief in the fact that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the born slave and Prophet of Allâhu ta’âlâ caused mental disturbance among the populace. State administration, on the other hand, could no longer be carried on properly. Upon this, the Emperor, Constantine the Great, decided to put an end to these tumults and convened an ecumenical council in Nicea in 325 (A.D.) Eminent Christian clergy joined this council. After many long debates, the Athanasians gained ascendancy. Three hundred and nineteen priests concurred with full divinty of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, which meant that he was the unique son of God, the offspiring of God, a God from God, a Light from Light, a true God from the true God. The following statements have been derived and paraphrased from the twenty-third chapter of the eighth book of the history of (Nîsfûr) and from the fifth volume of the history of (Baruniyus), which give an account of the Nicene Council: “During the debates between the Arians and the Athanasians, two members of the assembly, i.e. two bishops named Karizamet and Mizuniyus, passed away. When the Council ended, they resurrected from their graves, signed under the written decision of the Council, and died again.” In those times, when it was easy to resuscitate the dead with the point of a pen, even the ecclesiastical historians, who are expected to be trustworthy, succumbed to the zeal of telling such lies as this one. Inserting a multitude of other similar oddities into the Nazarene [Îsewî] religion, they beat about these mockeries in order to, so to speak, popularize such a religion in the name of truth.

[At the end of the Council of Nicea, with the efforts of Alexander, the Bishop of Alexandria, and Athanasius, Arius was declared to be a heretic and was condemned. Arius was born in Alexandria in 270 A.D. [There is a narrative stating that he was born in Binghâzî.] He lived several years after his condemnation. In the meantime, by the intercession of Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia, and the coercion of Constantine, the Emperor, he was forgiven by the church. He was invited to Istanbul by Constantine, who had now become an Arian. He was about to overcome the trinitarians despite the adamant obstructions by the Bishop Alexander, when he suddenly died of a vehement pain, in 336 A.D. After his death his sect spread a great deal and was officially accepted and protected by Constantine’s son Constance and his successors.

St. Athanasius was born in Alexandria in 296. He achieved fame with his views on trinity, which he proposed during the Council of Nicea in 325. He became the Bishop of Alexandria in 326. He was passionately opposed to the Arian sect and to the fact that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was human and Prophet. He was condemned by the supporters of Arius in a Council held in Sur city (Tyre) in 335. Four years later he was made Bishop again at the Council of Rome. He died in Alexandria in 373. He wrote books against Arianism. St. Athanasius’ day is celebrated on 2 May.]

According to the minutes of the Council of Nicea, in that century there were numerous Gospels everywhere and it was impossible to tell which ones were correct and which ones were false. In this Council various discussions were made on fifty-four of these copies of the Bible. Upon reading these copies of the Bible, the priests who were present at this Council saw that fifty of the Gospels were unfounded and rejected them. It was decided that four copies were genuine and the others null and void. Since then [325 A.D.], no copy except these four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) has been credited, and those others that had existed, have been done away with. More than two thousand clergy attended this Council, and most of them agreed with Arius and believed that Allâhu ta’âlâ is One and Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ is His born slave and Messenger; yet because Athanasius was the Bishop of Istanbul, most of those who occupied Bishoprics sided with Athanasius, [for fear of losing office]. Thus Arius and his adherents secured themselves against the jeopardy of being deprived of their posts at the cost of defeat, in such a highly important area as religion, where matters must be settled correctly after minute examinations. Upon this, Arius was excommunicated. Later, Athanasius was deposed from the Bishopric, and Arius was invited to Istanbul. [However, as we have stated earlier, he died before arriving in Istanbul. Constantine the Great had already accepted the Arian sect.] After Constantine’s death in 337 A.D., extensive conflicts broke out between the Athanasians and the Arians. The winning side was the Arians after these commotions. Arianism remained prevalent for a long time. Afterwards, however, the Athanasians attained ascendancy. They subjected the followers of Arius to various persecutions and torments.

[According to the book (Qâmûs-ul-a’lâm), “Emperor Theodosius absolutely prohibited Arianism. He ordered that the adherents of this sect be killed.”]

The doctrine of trinity was established and adopted in the Council of Nicea; yet Rûh-ul-Quds (The Holy Spirit, or Ghost) was still an uncertain issue. The Holy Spirit, too, ought to be given an import. So this issue also was settled in the Council that was held in Istanbul in 381 A.D.. The principle, “The Holy Spirit as well is a God to be loved. [It has the same essence as Father and Son.] It carries out the Son’s orders. It is to be worshipped like the Son,” was added to the decisions taken at the Council of Nicea. Later on, the Roman Church forwarded the concept that the Holy Spirit carried out the commands of Father, thus establishing the tenet “the Holy Spirit carries out the commands of Father and Son.” This decision was sanctioned first in 440 A.D. by Spanish clergy and then in 674 [A.D. 1274] by the Council held in Lion city.

The position of the Holy Spirit having been thus decided upon, it was now hadrat Maryam’s turn. The Council that assembled in Ephesus in 431 A.D. decided that she was truely the mother of God and therefore Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ embodied two natures, i.e. divinity and humanity, in one person. Nestorius, the Patriarch of Istanbul, who was present at the Council, proposed that hadrat Maryam (Mary) be called “The Mother of Jesus Christ”, which won him the infamous nickname ‘Esharyûtî Yehûdâ (Judas Iscariot)’.

[Nestorius was a Syrian priest. He was appointed the Patriarch of Istanbul by Theodosius II. He was extremely cruel to the followers of Arius. He had the houses they used for their assemblages burned, together with their inmates. He was opposed to the expression ‘Mother of God=Theotekos’, which was used to mean hadrat Maryam. He knew a monk he could trust. His name was Anasthasius and lived in Antioch. He invited this monk to Istanbul and had him make speeches everywhere. Anasthasius said, “Let no one call Mary the Mother of God, for Mary was a human being, and it is impossible for God to be born by a human being.” His speeches exasperated his adversaries, Cyrillos (Lucaris) and his adherents. Cyrillos reported the speeches of Nestorius and his adherents to the Pope, Celestine I. The Pope, already jealous of Nestorius’s aggrandized influence, and indignant for not having been asked what his opinion was concerning hadrat Maryam, convoked a Council in 430 A.D., whereby he issued a decision in favour of the expression ‘The Mother of God’ about hadrat Maryam and threatened Nestorius with excommunication. This event augmented the agitations all the more. Consequently, the Council of Ephesus, attended by several renowned clergy, was held in 431 A.D.. Priest Cyrillos and his colleagues asked Nestorius to explicate his thoughts in the church called Theotokos. Later, by the unanimous decision of 159 bishops, Nestorius and his credo were excommunicated and condemned. Nestorius was banished to various places. Eventually, he died in the wilderness called Great Oasis in upper Egypt in 451.

Nestorius had three assertions:

1 — Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ embodies two distinct personalities: divine and human.

2 — These two qualities do not unite physically. Their unity is incorporeal.

3 — Hadrat Maryam is the mother of the human Jesus, not of God (Word).

The Christian sect founded by Nestorius was called Nestorianism. Today most of the Nestorians live in Syria.

So the tenets and most important principles of a religion which Protestants and other Christians claim has been sent by God can be established by the concourse of a few hundred clergy. These clergy can freely accept or reject a theory propounded as a religious tenet, or make the changes or alterations they think necessary in their religion. Thus Christianity has become a religion that no one with common sense could accept. It is for this reason that many European men of knowledge and science renounce Christianity and a great majority of them are honoured with Islam.]^[62]

After these convulsions, there arose the question whether it was permissible to worship pictures, statues and idols. For the religion of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ had forbidden to worship pictures or statues. Therefore, during the early days of the Îsâwî religion all the Apostles and their disciples avoided worshipping pictures and statues. [Christianity spread over European countries such as Italy and England.] Having been heathens before, the aboriginals of those countries were inclined to worshipping idols. [For they used to make idols and icons for each deity they believed. So the most common and the most improved art among them was making statues, that is, sculpture.] As Christianity spread over these countries, some priests gave permission to revere and worship [spurious] pictures which were made and ascribed to hadrat Maryam the mother of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Other Christian societies were opposed to this for being incompatible with the essence of religion, and thus disputes and contentions started. The tumults lasted until the 787th year of the Christian era. In 171 [A.D. 787], in the Council that assembled in Nicea, it was decided to worship sham pictures and icons [that were mendaciously posited as pictures of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and hadrat Maryam]. Those who did not approve worshipping or revering pictures, idols [or statues], on the other hand, did not acquiesce in this decision. Controversies and conflicts continued till 842 A.D., when another Council was convoked in Istanbul by the Emperor Michael and his mother. It was decided in this Council that worshipping icons, statues and pictures was one of the Christian principles of belief. It was proclaimed that should anyone be opposed to the practice of worshipping pictures and icons, they would be a heretic.

[Ever since the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, the Roman Church, taking pride in the fact that Rome was the place where Peter and Paul had been killed, had maintained its braggadocio as the kernel of the entire Christendom.] In 446 [A.D. 1054], the Eastern Church unleashed itself from the Roman Church, thus pioneering a new sect disparate from the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Church disagreed with the Roman Church in most of its principles. For instance, the Eastern Christians reject the Pope’s spiritual position, that is, that he is the successor of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and Peter’s representative, that the Holy Ghost carries out the orders of Father and Son and the grade of i’râd in the hereafter. They perform the Eucharist with leavened bread. They approve priests being married. The hatred that the Eastern Christians felt against the papacy and their consequent disunion was an alarm loud enough to wake the popes from their apathy; but they were too conceited and too vain to take any warning. On the contrary, the popes’ arrogance and vanity and the cardinals’ unawareness and indifference kept on increasing. Thus Protestantism emerged in 923 [A.D. 1517], which meant a second splitting of the Roman Catholic Church. In the year 1510 (A.D.), the Pope, Liyman X (Julius II), following the old custom, gave the duty of hearing the German people’s confessions to the Dominican monks. This predilection nettled the Augustinian monks. They chose a Catholic priest named Luther as their leader. [Martin Luther is German. He was born in 1453, and died in Eisleben in 953 (A.D. 1546).] Luther rejected the Pope’s hearing confessions, and proposed ninety-five principles, which formed the Protestant tenets. Most of the German Rulers followed Luther. Protestantism, as founded by Luther, acknowledges no source except the Gospels. It does not accept the Pope, either. It rejects such things as entire withdrawal from the world, matrimonial prohibition for the clergy, and hearing a confession.

Some time after Luther, Calvin came into the limelight and effected some reforms in Protestantism. He established an altogether novel Christian sect. [Jean (John) Calvin is French. He was born in 1509, and died in 1564, in Geneva.] The sect founded by Calvin is called (Calvinism). There is no place for overt (physical) worship in this sect. Nor are there such orders as papacy, bishopric, or priesthood. Calvinists do not believe that the leavened bread consumed in the Eucharist is exactly the same as the body or flesh of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. They give permission to worship the past Christian saints, [especially the Apostles]. They totally strip man of his irâda-i-jüz’iyya (partial will), and hold the belief that whether he will go to Paradise or Hell has already been predestined.

Afterwards, the sects founded by Luther and Calvin were disunited into various subsections. At least five hundred different Christian sects holding the name Protestantism exist in Germany and England today.

As these historical details show, today’s Christian tenets, such as trinity and three hypostases, making worships matters pertaining to the heart and soul alone, and consequently not worshipping in a manner as prescribed by the overt commandments of the Bible, are not true, dependable Biblical commandments. They are things fabricated afterwards because of various doubts or for differing purposes or established by the clergy at ecclesiastical assemblies. Great credal discrepancies have come into existence between Catholics and Protestants in the essentials of Christianity, such as the sacrament of (the Eucharist), the Pope’s being caliph of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and the representative of Peter, sacredness of the past saints, i.e. the Apostles, various diets and feasts, bogus pictures of Mary with, as it were, Jesus in her arms, worshipping portraits and icons, priests’ redeeming sinners from their sins and selling people places in Paradise [in return for a certain amount of money]. The disparities between them have reached such an extent that each party deserves Hell according to the other. According to some other priests, on the other hand, inasmuch as the allegation of deserving Hell made by each party against the other is an inspiration of the Holy Spirit as is believed by both Protestants and Catholics, both parties are true to their allegation. [Both Catholics and Protestants deserve Hell.]

The controversies about the Three Hypostases that started two hundred and fifty years after the beginning of Christianity and which have continued among various churches up to our time are beyond calculable numbers. Nevertheless, all Christian sects agree in the doctrine that God is an Essence composed of Three Persons, which are (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Each sect holds a different belief as to the natures of these three Essences, the nature of their unity and how they are related with one another. According to some of them, by ‘three hypostases’, ‘three attributes of One Essential Person’ is meant, not ‘three distinct Persons’. According to some, the hypostasis of knowledge is (Logos), which has united with Christ’s body. It is a perfect unity, like the uniting of water with wine. According to the Melekâniyya (Melchite) sect, it is like the shining of the sun on crystalline glass. According to the Nestorians, God has changed into flesh and blood and become Christ. According to the Ya’qûbiyya (Jacobite or Monophysite) sect, it is God’s appearing in man. This sort of appearing is like the appearing of an angel in human guise. According to other sects, God has united with man like the uniting of the nafs (self) with the body. Thus, things that could never be accepted by reason or logic have been inserted into the [Nazarene] religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. It has been proven by the ’Ulamâ (savants) of Islam’s knowledge of Kalâm and by owners of sagacity that these creeds are wrong. Those who need more scientific details about the matter may have recourse to the books of those savants. Being unable to answer the responses and objections directed to them in the knowledge of Kalâm, Protestants have had no other way than saying, “This is one of the divine secrets which the human mind falls short of comprehending.” It goes without saying what this answer would be worth in the eyes of reasonable people.

Notwithstanding all these facts, some outstanding Protestants have asserted that Qur’ân al-kerîm (May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us from believing or saying so) is not a true heavenly book because the doctrine of trinity does not exist in Qur’ân al-kerîm. It is like the case of a hashish addict who enters a jeweller’s shop and asks for some hashish. Upon the shopkeeper’s answering that they do not hold any sort of narcotics and that all their wares are precious articles like jewels, he says, “Then you are not a real tradesman.” This statement of Protestants, like their other statements, is of no value.

It is being noticed that this doctrine of trinity is being spread systematically among Muslims by Christian missionaries. And it is being seen with regret that some unlearned Muslims are being deceived by them; for instance, especially when they want to discipline their children by intimidating them, they use such expressions as ‘Allah the Father’ and ‘Allah the Grandfather’, pointing to the sky as if Allâhu ta’âlâ were in the sky. It is declared clearly in the Ikhlâs sûra of Qur’ân al-kerîm that it is never permissible to call Allâhu ta’âlâ Father or Grandfather. Allâhu ta’âlâ has not been procreated or begotten. He is free from being a father, a son, or a grandfather, and from place. Allâhu ta’âlâ is not in the sky, so one should not point to the sky when mentioning His name. Allâhu ta’âlâ is always Omnipresent and Omnicompetent. He governs and owns all. The credo that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ went up to heaven and sat on the right hand side of Allah and that Allâhu ta’âlâ is in heaven is a doctrine that has been interpolated into Christianity later. We Muslims must be extremely vigilant in this matter, and in all such matters alike. We must refrain from words and deeds that may damage, and even destroy our îmân (belief). We must teach about belief and disbelief, words and deeds that cause disbelief to our children and relations, and help them refrain from such acts and words. We must not let them see television programs or motion pictures propagating Christianity or read books of that nature. We must tremble, shudder with the fear lest our most valuable belonging, îmân, may be marred. We must teach our children our blessed religion, Islam, in its pristine purity, as it was handed on to us by our forefathers, who detained it at the sacrifice of their lives, their blood. We must train and educate believing youngsters who will protect this religion and, when necessary, will sacrifice their lives for its sake, and we must entrust Islam only to such youngsters who have îmân.

Before terminating our discourse on trinity, we shall give information about Paul, who is accepted as one of the greatest saints in Christendom. Paul had the most prominent role in separating Christianity from Judaism and converting it into a religion mixed with Greek and pagan elements. H.G. Wells states in the hundred and twenty-ninth and the hundred and thirtieth pages of his book (A Short History of the World) that Paul is the most outstanding figure in the establishment of Christianity. His account of Paul can be paraphrased as follows: “This man had not seen Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’; nor had he heard his preaches. [Being a Jew of Tarsus], his name was Saul formerly. Then he converted to Christianity and changed his name to Paul. He had an extremely earnest interest in the religious trends of his time. He was perfectly informed with Judaism, Mithraism, and all the religious and philosophical schools of Alexandria. He inserted many philosophical and religious terms and tenets peculiar to them into Christianity. He pretended to be striving to promulgate the way, the religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, which was called God’s Spiritual Kingdom of Heavens and which God liked because it guided to Paradise. He did not accept Jesus as the Messiah promised to Jewry. Instead, he considered him to be a sacrifice whose death would be the expiation for the salvation of mankind. This belief originated from heathen cults, wherein the salvation of humanity depended on human sacrifice.”

Being a horrendous enemy of the Nazarenes, Paul gathered a horde of rovers around himself, and with them raided the houses of the Nazarenes in Jerusalem, dragging out whomever they caught inside, men and women alike, and imprisoning them in dungeons. He asked the Jewish rabbis to write letters (of permission) that the Nazarenes living in Damascus and in neighboring cities be caught and sent to Jerusalem. The rabbis gave him letters authorizing him to do so.

All sorts of persecution and torture, including massacres, proved futile in the Jews’ efforts to hamper the spreading of the Nazarene religion. Luke says in the ninth chapter of Acts of the Apostles, “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,” “And declared of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.” “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:” “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: ...” (Acts: 9-1 to 5) After these verses, Luke narrates how the voice told a certain disciple, (namely An-a-ni’as), that he (Paul) would render great services to the Nazarene religion. Then Paul declared his conversion to the Nazarene religion. He changed his name from Saul to Paul. He feigned to be a fervent Nazarene, thus taking up an internal position to change, defile the Nazarene religion, which he had not been able to annihilate by means of all sorts of persecution and oppression. Wherever he went, he said that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ had given him the duty of guiding non-Jewish people to the Nazarene religion. By telling many other lies, he attached the Nazarenes to himself. He was accepted as the apostle for non-Jewish people. He began to spoil the creeds and worships of the Nazarenes. Up until that time the Apostles and other Nazarenes had been following the Sharî’at of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and doing their worships as prescribed by his canon. Paul asserted that by the killing of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ on the cross, [which is a Christian belief], the Sharî’at of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ had been nullified, and so it was no longer valid. He announced that from then on salvation for all people depended on believing in Jesus the Son of God. He called Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ Son of God and Prophet alternately. He withstood Peter, the most prominent of the Apostles of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Peter, who had continuously accompanied Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, was saying that the Nazarene religion had not abrogated but perfected Judaism. As a proof for this fact, he indicated Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ statement, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill,” which is quoted in the seventeenth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Paul made all sorts of food and drink permissible for the Nazarenes, and caused them to cease from many sorts of worships, such as circumcision. This fact is written clearly in the New Testament. Paul states in the seventh verse of the second chapter of the epistle which he wrote to Galatians, “But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;” (Gal: 2-7) This means to say that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, as he is alive, intimates the injunction of circumcision to Peter, his companion, and says that this is a commandment of the Bible. Peter obeys this commandment and teaches it to everybody who accepts the Nazarene religion. And Paul, too, confirms that Peter has been told so. But he changes this after Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ leaves the world.

A person named Paul who has never seen Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ appears, and rejects a commandment of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ transmitted by another person who has seen Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm. He states in his epistle that Peter, the first caliph of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, was with two other Apostles, James and John, who, too, heard Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ enjoin circumcision. He states that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, after ascending to heaven, has shown himself to him and enjoined uncircumcision. And afterwards this statement of his is accepted as a religious injunction by all Christians. On the other hand, the injunction transmitted unanimously by Apostles who have seen Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ in person and who have been his companions is rejected. A single person makes a statement and asserts that it was inspired to him, in his dream or as he was awake, and then this statement of his is accepted and practised as a religious tenet. What a rational basis for Christianity: it depends on reported inspiration from Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’!

Dr. Morton Scott Enslin accepts that Paul’s credo is quite disparate from the creed of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. His account of the matter in the hundred and eighty-second page of the second part of his book (Christian Beginnings) can be paraphrased as follows:

“It has been understood definitely that Christianity, as established by Paul, greatly differs from the Îsâwî (Nazarene) religion as taught by Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. Later, Paul and his colleagues who had interpreted the Bible erroneously were censured harshly. The inner meaning of movement of (Back to Jesus) was (getting away from Paul). Many old Nazarenes and Jews joined this movement and reprehended Paul, but this movement did not yield much fruit. If Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ had seen all the things that were being done in a church in the city of Corinth fifty-four years after his departure from the world, he would have said, ‘Is this the result of my endeavours, of my invitation in Galilee?’ Had Paul not done those changes in the Îsâwî (Nazarene) religion, there would be no Christianity.” [Corinth is a city in Greece.] Paul not only made a discrepancy between Jews and Christians by rendering Christianity a disingenuous credo and Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ a savior god, but also declared the Sharî’at of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ to be (accursed). This case is entirely counter to the rule that not even a letter of the Sharî’at can be changed, which is written in the Gospels, [e.g. Matthew: 5-19].

Christianity, founded by Paul, spread to various countries and was accepted by Jewish communities and by non-Jewish pagan nations alike. For Paul had brought Christianity extremely close to Paganism. The demolition of Mesjîd-i-Aqsâ in Jerusalem and the evacuation of the true Nazarenes and Jews living there in the seventieth year of the Christian era delivered the Îsâwî (Nazarene) religion a blow from which it never recovered again.

Another noteworthy fact here is that Paul could never get along well with most of the Apostles and often quarrelled with them. Paul was apposed to Peter, who is called the greatest saint in Christendom by all Christians. He professed this in the eleventh verse of the second chapter of his epistle to Galatians. And in the thirteenth verse he accused Barnabas of having been taken in by hypocrites. Nevertheless, of the Apostles, he liked Barnabas best. According to the final part of the fifteenth chapter of Acts of the Apostles, Barnabas suggested that they (Paul and Barnabas) visit the Nazarenes in the other cities taking John along with them, but Paul refused. This issue caused a fiery dispute between Barnabas and Paul, which ended up in Paul’s abandoning Barnabas.

A close examination of Paul’s life and statements will clearly reveal his recurrent efforts to revile, downgrade, and contradict the Apostles. Many Christian clergy have looked upon Paul as the founder of Christianity. For according to these clergy Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and his Apostles adhered to Judaism, that is, to the Sharî’at of Mûsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, with respect to belief and worship. Paul assailed this bitterly. He separated Judaism and Christianity from each other and discarded all the Judaic acts of worship. Thus a religion quite different from the teachings of the Apostles came into being. This religion, being based on Paul’s ideas, was quite extraneous to the Nazarene religion which the Apostle Peter tried to preach. Priests, while accusing us of false charges on account of our stating these facts, accept Paul as a Christian (Saint). As a matter of fact, Paul’s epistles, which are at the final section of the New Testament of the Holy Bible, constitute a component part of the Holy Bible. The Book of Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke, consists of Paul’s biography. When this and Paul’s epistles are taken into consideration, it will be seen that the space allotted for Paul in the Holy Bible is not smaller than the space allotted for the four Gospels. And Christianity is essentially based on the things which Paul wrote in these epistles of his. An example of these is this belief: “Wrongdoing and death for soul and body are the consequences of Âdam’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ eating from the forbidden fruit. All people, who are the descendants of Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’, came to the world smeared with the depravity of this (original) sin. God has sent a part of His Essence, His only Son, to the world, thus redeeming (people) of the sin which they had since Âdam ‘alaihis-salâm’.” We spoke with a priest on this subject, and asked him, “If God had sent His only Son earlier, millions of people would have been purified of the innate depravity caused by the original sin and come to the world in an extremely pure state; would it not have been better?” The priest answered, “Then the divinity of Jesus Christ would not have been realized, nor would his value have been appreciated.” This answer of the priest’s reminded us of the paradox that Christians, who on the one hand are said to have appreciated the value of Jesus Christ, have on the other hand held the belief that “He shall enter Hell (for the expiation of people’s sins).” We asked him about it. He denied it. We showed him several passages from the New Testament, which another priest had shown to us and told us that they were evidences to prove it. He read them. Yet he (could not answer). He thought for a rather long time. At last he said that he was the deputy bishop and did not understand Turkish well, adding “This verse is a medjâz (allegory).” We knew then that he understood Turkish well enough to know such a (technical) word as medjâz.

Paul wreaked vengeance on the Nazarene religion by turning the Nazarene religion, a true religion, into Christianity, a false religion. Yet Christians still call him (Paul the Apostle) and accept him as one of the most prominent Christian saints. They build their religious tenets pertaining to belief and worship on the words of a person who never saw Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and never sat in his blessed presence. And they profess that such a religion is the latest and the most perfect religion sent by Allâhu ta’âlâ. On the other hand, Muslims, who are well aware of Paul’s acts of treason against the Nazarene religion, call surreptitious, double-faced, perfidious people ‘Paul the Serpent’.

“Why should we blame the sun if the blind do not see.”]