Iftiraat al-Munassirin ala al-Quran al-Karim annahu yuayyid zam aluhiyyat al-Masih
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- King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah
Iftiraat al-Munassirin ala al-Quran al-Karim annahu yuayyid zam aluhiyyat al-Masih (The Fabrications of Missionaries Against the Noble Quran Claiming It Supports the Alleged Divinity of the Messiah) is a contemporary polemical and critical study by the Saudi scholar Ali bin Atiq al-Harbi, examining and refuting Christian missionary arguments that allege the Quran affirms the divinity of Jesus.
Background and Purpose
The study was prepared in response to an invitation extended to the author by Muhammad Salim ibn Shadid al-Awfi, Secretary-General of the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran and head of the preparatory committee for the symposium Inayat al-Mamlakah al-Arabiyyah al-Saudiyyah bi-l-Quran al-Karim wa-Ulumih ("The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Care for the Noble Quran and Its Sciences").
Al-Harbi states that his motives for writing the treatise were to defend the Quran and Islam, to address the methods used by Christian missionaries who attack Islam through Quranic verses, and to counter attempts to confuse Muslims by imposing Christian theological interpretations onto ambiguous Quranic expressions (al-mutashabih). The work adopts a dual methodology: an Islamic approach based on the Quran, and a biblical approach utilizing the Torah and the Gospels to counter missionary claims and hold them to their own recognized texts.
Structure and Contents
The work is organized into an introduction, a historical preface, three core chapters, and a conclusion.
- Preface (Tamhid): Provides a historical survey of Christian literature that claims Quranic endorsement for Christian doctrines. Al-Harbi traces the origin of this polemical tactic back to the delegation of the Christians of Najran who debated the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He notes that the earliest written work he encountered employing this method is the polemical letter attributed to Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi addressed to Abd Allah al-Hashimi from the late second or early third century AH, followed by various medieval and modern treatises.
- First Chapter (al-Mabhath al-Awwal): Outlines the three primary claims advanced by missionaries:
- The assertion that divine plural pronouns in the Quran indicate a plurality of divine persons, including Christ.
- The claim that the Quran designates Jesus as a "spirit from God" (interpreting the preposition min as partitive) and as the Word of God incarnated as a human.
- The argument that the miracles attributed to Jesus in the Quran, particularly raising the dead, demonstrate his divinity.
- Second Chapter (al-Mabhath al-Thani): Offers a general refutation by establishing the absolute oneness of God (tawhid) and negating divinity from Jesus through both the Quran and the Gospels, demonstrating his humanity, servitude, and status as a prophet and messenger.
- Third Chapter (al-Mabhath al-Thalith): Details the point-by-point rebuttal across three sections:
- An Arabic linguistic analysis refuting the deduction of the Trinity or Christ's divinity from plural pronouns of majesty.
- A refutation of Christian theological interpretations of the Quranic descriptions of Jesus as a spirit from God and His word.
- A rebuttal to the argument from miracles, demonstrating that Quranic accounts emphasize Jesus performing them only by God's leave (bi-idhni Allah) and noting analogous miracles granted to other prophets in the Quran.
The conclusion summarizes the findings and recommends translating scientific responses into languages spoken in Muslim communities facing active missionary polemics, as well as addressing other missionary arguments regarding scripture distortion, the crucifixion, and alleged linguistic errors.
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