Originally posted by siam
View Post
aHadith---These are a collection of the "sayings" of the Prophet. They were collected many years after his death and so they have varying degrees of authenticity depending on their chain of narration. Context is very important in understanding hadith otherwise it distorts the meaning/intent. (Dr Jonathan Brown explains the topic on the net) Do Christians have many exegesis? If so, are there any particular ones you use/favor?
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it...
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Jesus' disciple Simon Peter] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3)
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it...
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Jesus' disciple Simon Peter] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Corinthians 3)
Arabic---I am not an Arab (I live in the East) so I feel lucky that I can read Quranic Arabic. I do not speak any Arabic dialects. Imran---it seems to me you are under the impression that in all of history, there is only one person that is called Imran?
Such confusion is perfectly understandable, inasmuch as Muhammad is believed to have been illiterate and was reporting thirdhand stories about the tales of Christians and Jews. The Qur'an shows a similar confusion in its critique of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which claims that Christians consider the Trinity to consist of the Father, the Son, and Mary:
They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment. So will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed on before him. And his mother was a supporter of truth. They both used to eat food. Look how We make clear to them the signs; then look how they are deluded. (Surah 5:73-75)
The comment about Mary and Jesus eating food is supposed to be proof that they are not God or gods. This comment would be irrelevant if the author did not believe that Jesus and Mary were held, by Christians, to be divine. And the author is half-right; Christians do believe Jesus is God. But not Mary. There may have been some weird sect of pseudo-Christians who believed that Mary was the third member of the Trinity, but no educated Muslim today would claim that is a feature of normal Christianity. Yet the Qur'an critiques "Jesus was God" and "Mary was God" with equal vigor, as if both were standard Christian beliefs:
And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?'" He will say, "Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen. (Surah 5:117)
Even Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari, commenting on the Qur'an during the 11th century, claims that Christians think Mary is the third person of the Trinity. I trust that you know better though, Siam. The third person of the Trinity is not Mary, but the Holy Spirit, which refers not to God's creation the angel Gabriel, but to a person who is God himself.
Comment