The Qur’an and the ‘Abrahamic religions’

In modern discussions of religion and its place in a pluralistic
society, much is often made of three ‘great monotheisms’ – Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam – and their apparent similarities. Liberal apologists
for Islam in particular like to refer to the shared backgrounds of these
‘Abrahamic faiths’ and to claim that the Qur’an shows respect for Jews
and Christians as fellow ‘people of the Book’. As it turns out, when
looking at what the Qur’an actually says, it is by no means clear that
Muhammad had a lot of respect for Jews and Christians, and there is little
consistency in his message regarding them and their respective religions.

According to the Qur’an, it contains a ‘perfect’ message from the
creator of the universe, and it is held that previously two peoples have
been granted books similar to the Qur’an – Jews and Christians – but that
they have somehow deviated from and corrupted the original revelations.
As such, Jews and Christians are held to be Muslims who have strayed from
the original path given by Allah, and the Qur’an is seen to ‘correct’ the
supposed ‘errors’ found in the Old and New Testaments (i.e. wherever they
disagree with the Qur’an) and to finalise God’s message to humanity.

By way of contrast, a rather more obvious and plausible intepretation
of the elements of the Qur’an that overlap with Judaism and Christianity
is that Muhammad took what he liked from the Old and New Testaments and
ignored the rest; or, in the case of Jesus, simply fabricated new sayings.
Muhammad clearly admired aspects of Judaism and Christianity and when he
set out creating his own Arab monotheism borrowed heavily from their sacred
texts, in particular from the Hebrew Bible. In the Qur’an, we find many
of the Israelite characters taken over by Muhammad as ‘prophets’ of Islam,
with their Jewish names replaced by Arab names. Likewise, Jesus becomes
‘Isa’, a ‘prophet’ of Islam who bears almost no relation to the Jesus of
the New Testament and is instead found exhorting his listeners to follow
‘Allah’. The claim that the Qur’an shows respect to the ‘prophets’ of Judaism
and to Jesus is rendered problematic by what the Qur’an does with these
characters. Take Abraham, for example – a foundational figure in Judaism.
In the Qur’an, Abraham becomes ‘Ibrahim’ and it is claimed that he was
a Muslim; indeed, Adam is presented as the first Muslim, and every character
‘borrowed’ from the Old and New Testaments are seen as Muslims, not Jews
in the religious sense:

And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right
course. Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif,
and he was not one of the polytheists (2.135).

Ibrahim was not a Jew nor a Christian but he was (an) upright
(man), a Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists (3.67).

Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and
what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the
tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their
Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do
we submit (3.84).

And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely
to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith
of Ibrahim, the upright one, and Allah took Ibrahim as a friend (4.125).

Surely We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh, and the
prophets after him, and We revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq
and Yaqoub and the tribes, and Isa and Ayub and Yunus and Haroun and
Sulaiman and We gave to Dawood (4.163).

Surely Ibrahim was an exemplar, obedient to Allah, upright, and
he was not of the polytheists (16.120).

Then We revealed to you: Follow the faith of Ibrahim, the upright
one, and he was not of the polytheists (16.123).

And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and
with Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, son of Marium, and We made with
them a strong covenant (33.7).

And so on.

In the Qur’an, we find numerous references to the Biblical Lot
(‘Lut’ in the Qur’an) and his escape from the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, including the assertion (taken from the Old Testament) that
one of the ‘sins’ leading to God’s wrath was homosexuality:

And (We sent) Lut when he said to his people: What! do you commit
an indecency which any one in the world has not done before you? Most
surely you come to males in lust besides females; nay you are an extravagant
people. And the answer of his people was no other than that they said:
Turn them out of your town, surely they are a people who seek to purify
(themselves). So We delivered him and his followers, except his wife; she
was of those who remained behind. And We rained upon them a rain; consider
then what was the end of the guilty (7.80-4).

And (We sent) Lut, when he said to his people: What! do you commit
indecency while you see? What! do you indeed approach men lustfully rather
than women? Nay, you are a people who act ignorantly. But the answer
of his people was no other except that they said: Turn out Lut’s followers
from your town; surely they are a people who would keep pure! But We delivered
him and his followers except his wife; We ordained her to be of those
who remained behind. And We rained on them a rain, and evil was the rain
of those who had been warned (27.54-8).

And (We sent) Lut when he said to his people: Most surely you are
guilty of an indecency which none of the nations has ever done before
you; What! do you come to the males and commit robbery on the highway,
and you commit evil deeds in your assemblies? But nothing was the answer
of his people except that they said: Bring on us Allah’s punishment, if
you are one of the truthful. He said: My Lord! help me against the mischievous
people. And when Our messengers came to Ibrahim with the good news, they
said: Surely we are going to destroy the people of this town, for its people
are unjust (29.28-31).

The Jesus of the Qur’an, ‘Isa’, is also a Muslim and another ‘prophet’
of Allah. So, on the lips of this de-Judaised Jesus we find expressions
such as:

I have come to you indeed with wisdom, and that I may make clear
to you part of what you differ in; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah
and obey me: Surely Allah is my Lord and your Lord, therefore serve
Him; this is the right path (46.63-4).

O children of Israel! surely I am the apostle of Allah to you,
verifying that which is before me of the Taurat and giving the good
news of an Apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad (61.6).

Isa son of Marium said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in
the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause)
of Allah (61.14).

All of this raises the question of how much the Qur’an really shows
‘respect’ for Judaism and Christianity, given it basically raids their
books, renames their ‘prophets’, and places plainly unhistorical Islamic
sayings on their lips. Some say that imitation is the highest form of flattery,
so perhaps this is the most charitable interpretation of this use of
material lifted from the Bible, but when it comes to the Qur’an’s verdict
on Jews and Christians themselves, the flattery is much less in evidence.

The Qur’an and the ‘People of the Book’

Having co-opted key figures from Judaism and Christianity, claiming
them as Muslims in the Qur’an, the question arose as to how to explain
the fact that Jews and Christians largely rejected Islam and proclaimed
doctrines radically different to Muhammad’s. The answer came in the form
of denigrating Jewish and Christian belief as deviant forms of Islam. Given
everyone from Adam onwards is claimed to have been a Muslim, any religion
following from this must by definition be a corruption of the original.
We have already seen some of the volumenous condemnation of Arab polytheists
that is found in the Qur’an, but with Jews and Christians the position is
somewhat more complex.

While creating a narrative which claims figures from the Old Testament
as Muslims, Muhammad nonetheless did not go so far as to write Jews out
of the picture altogether. Drawing on the many instances in the Old Testament
in which the Israelites are condemned for their sinfulness, apostasy,
and so on (condemned in these texts by fellow Israelites and YHWH, the
God of Israel, of course), the Qur’an presents the Jews in an essentially
negative light. We read of ‘the iniquity of those who are Jews’
and ‘their hindering many (people) from Allah’s way’ (4.160), that ‘many
of them certainly act extravagantly in the land’ (5.32), that dietry laws
were given to the Jews ‘on account of their rebellion’ against God (6.146),
and that the Israelites made ‘mischief in the land twice’ and behaved
‘insolently with great insolence’ (17.4). Of the ‘prophets’ sent by Allah,
we read that the Israelites ‘killed’ (2.91, 3.181, 4.155) and ‘slew’ them
(3.21, 3.112). Jews are also held to be responsible for seeking to have
Jesus killed, but in the Qur’anic account, Jesus was not actually crucified
but instead was raised to heaven:

Therefore, for their breaking their covenant and their disbelief
in the communications of Allah and their killing the prophets wrongfully
and their saying: Our hearts are covered; nay! Allah set a seal upon them
owing to their unbelief, so they shall not believe except a few.
And for their unbelief and for their having uttered against Marium a grievous
calumny.
And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium,
the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him,
but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein
are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but
only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.
Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
And there is not one of the followers of the Book but most certainly believes
in this before his death, and on the day of resurrection he (Isa) shall
be a witness against them.
Wherefore for the iniquity of those who are Jews did We disallow to them
the good things which had been made lawful for them and for their hindering
many (people) from Allah’s way.
And their taking usury though indeed they were forbidden it and their devouring
the property of people falsely, and We have prepared for the unbelievers
from among them a painful chastisement (4.155-61).

What we see are the basic building blocks for Muslim anti-Semitism
over the centuries: the conviction that Jews are a people in rebellion
against God, a defiant and arrogant people that killed His messengers and
sought to kill Jesus, a people made up of usurers and thieves, and a people
who try to ‘hinder’ Muslims from following Islam.

When it comes to Christianity, Muhammad presents Jesus as a prophet
of Islam, counts his mother as a Muslim, and also views those who agreed
with his supposed Islamic teachings (such as the disciples – see 5.111)
as Muslims. Muhammad appears to know the Jewish scriptures in far more
detail than canonical Christian writings, and offers very few quotes from
the New Testament in the Qur’an (one such example is his use the idea of
‘the camel pass[ing] through the eye of the needle’ (7.40), which on Jesus’
lips refers to the difficulty of the rich entering heaven (Matthew 19:24),
while in the Qur’an this saying is not attributed to Jesus and refers to
those who reject the Qur’an). He certainly does seem to have been influenced
by various non-canonical and heterodox Christian ideas and writings in
circulation at the time. For example, the Qur’an repeats a miracle story
of Jesus bringing clay birds to life (5.110), which is also found in the
pre-Qur’anic non-canonical Christian work ‘The Infancy
Gospel of Thomas‘. Likewise, the idea that Jesus only appeared to
be crucified while actually being raised to heaven (‘they did not kill him
nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so’) was believed in some
heterodox Gnostic Christian circles. In his work ‘Against Heresies’, the
Church Father Irenaeus expounds the doctrine of a Gnostic writer called Basilides,
who claimed of Jesus’ crucifixion:

Wherefore he did not himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain
man of Cyrene, being compelled, bore the cross in his stead; so that this
latter being transfigured by him, that he might be thought to be Jesus,
was crucified, through ignorance and error, while Jesus himself received
the form of Simon, and, standing by, laughed at them.

Amongst the Gnostic writings discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt
in 1945 there is a Gnostic ‘Apocalypse of Peter‘
which also presents a substitute for Jesus being crucified:

And I said “What do I see, O Lord? That it is you yourself
whom they take, and that you are grasping me? Or who is this one,
glad and laughing on the tree? And is it another one whose feet and
hands they are striking?” The Savior said to me, “He whom you saw
on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this
one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly
part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into
being in his likeness. But look at him and me.

Another Gnostic Christian parallel is found in this Jesus passage in the
Qur’an:

And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take
me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee,
it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if
I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is
in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great
Knower of the unseen things (5.116).

The idea of a Trinity made up of a Father, Mother, and Son has never been
a part of orthodox Christian doctrine, but the Qur’an is aware of it,
so one may safely assume that either Muhammad had misunderstood Christian
belief or had encountered Christians presenting this vision of the Trinity.
The ‘Gospel of the
Egyptians‘, another text found at Nag Hammadi, includes the lines:

Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the Mother, (and)
the Son, from the living silence, what came forth from the incorruptible
Father. These came forth from the silence of the unknown Father.

The Qur’an clearly condemns such a conception of God, but also condemns
the orthodox view of Jesus as Son of God, as opposed to simply a human
prophet sent to call the few Jews who had remained true to Islam. The rejection
of Jesus by the majority of the Jews of his time is presented as further
evidence of their deviation from Islam (which their ‘prophets’ supposedly
expounded), while the early Christians are presented as loyal Muslims.
The fact that from early on in Christian history Jesus was presented as
divine, not simply as a prophet, is taken as yet more evidence of deviation
from the true faith. Consequently, while the Qur’an is generally more vocal
in condemning Jews than Christians, orthodox Christian belief is nonetheless
scorned:

O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and
do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa
son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated
to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles,
and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God;
far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the
heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for
a Protector (4.171).

Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son
of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord
and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has
forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be
no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah
is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God,
and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall
befall those among them who disbelieve (5.72-3).

And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say:
The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths;
they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy
them; how they are turned away! They have taken their doctors of law and
their monks for lords besides Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium
and they were enjoined that they should serve one God only, there is no god
but He; far from His glory be what they set up (with Him) (9.30-1).

They say: Allah has taken a son (to Himself)! Glory be to Him: He is
the Self-sufficient: His is what is in the heavens and what is in the
earth; you have no authority for this; do you say against Allah what you
do not know? Say: Those who forge a lie against Allah shall not be successful.
(It is only) a provision in this world, then to Us shall be their return;
then We shall make them taste severe punishment because they disbelieved
(10.68-70).

And say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has not taken a son and Who
has not a partner in the kingdom, and Who has not a helper to save Him
from disgrace; and proclaim His greatness magnifying (Him) (17.111).

And warn those who say: Allah has taken a son. They have no knowledge
of it, nor had their fathers; a grievous word it is that comes out of
their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie (18.4-5).

And they say: The Beneficent God has taken (to Himself) a son. Certainly
you have made an abominable assertion. The heavens may almost be rent
thereat, and the earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in
pieces, that they ascribe a son to the Beneficent God. And it is not worthy
of the Beneficent God that He should take (to Himself) a son (19.88-92).

Nay! We have brought to them the truth, and most surely they are liars.
Never did Allah take to Himself a son, and never was there with him any
(other) god– in that case would each god have certainly taken away what
he created, and some of them would certainly have overpowered others; glory
be to Allah above what they describe! (23.90-1)

He, Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Who did not
take to Himself a son, and Who has no associate in the kingdom, and Who
created everything, then ordained for it a measure (25.2).

When the Qur’an appears to make favourable mention of Jews and Christians
it is important to bear these texts in mind. It is often asserted that
the Qur’an promises salvation not just to Muslims but also to some among
the ‘People of the Book’ – Jews and Christians – yet in reality the Qur’an
is clear that the only Jews and Christians who will not be sent into the
flames in the afterlife are in fact those who reject core Jewish and Christian
beliefs and submit to Islam. Given holding Jesus to be the Son of God and
believing in a triune God are key Christian beliefs and the Qur’an utterly
condemns them as ‘abominable lies’, it is clear that most Christians are,
according to the Qur’an, ‘disbelievers’ whose ‘abode is the fire’, and that
they are consequently damned to ‘severe punishment’ along with the rest
of us.

In some places, the Qur’an appears to promise salvation for some Christians
and Jews:

Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians,
and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does
good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear
for them, nor shall they grieve (2.62).

They are not all alike; of the followers of the Book there is an upright
party; they recite Allah’s communications in the nighttime and they adore
(Him). They believe in Allah and the last day, and they enjoin what is
right and forbid the wrong and they strive with one another in hastening
to good deeds, and those are among the good (3.113-4).

But these texts, taken out of context, are deceptive. For example, the
Qur’an states that ‘Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and
the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day
and does good — they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve’ (5.69).
On its own, this appears to state that Jews and Christians can gain salvation
along with Muslims. However, a few lines later we read:

Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah, He is the Messiah, son
of Marium; and the Messiah said: O Children of Israel! serve Allah, my Lord
and your Lord. Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has
forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be
no helpers for the unjust. Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah
is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one God,
and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall
befall those among them who disbelieve (5.72-3).

This indicates that where the Qur’an appears to hold out salvation to Christians,
it does not mean actual Christians at all, but rather people who were Christians
and now reject Christian beliefs that do not accord with Islam. The same
also holds true for Jews. Some passages appear to state that Jews can be
saved, but these are not in fact followers of Judaism, but rather Jews who
have accepted Islam.

In places, the Qur’an appears to speak favourably of Christians who have
not accepted Islam. For example, we read that:

Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those
who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will
certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those
who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks
among them and because they do not behave proudly (5.82).

However, again, placing this in context, it is followed by the claim

And when they hear what has been revealed to the apostle you will see
their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize;
they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of
truth). And what (reason) have we that we should not believe in Allah and
in the truth that has come to us, while we earnestly desire that our Lord
should cause us to enter with the good people? Therefore Allah rewarded
them on account of what they said, with gardens in which rivers flow to abide
in them; and this is the reward of those who do good (to others). And (as
for) those who disbelieve and reject Our communications, these are the companions
of the flame (5.83-6).

In other words, while Christians are called ‘the nearest in friendship’
to Muslims, they are still condemned if they do not go on to convert to
Islam. Note also the claim that the most violent enemies of Muslims include
Jews: more fuel for the fire of Islamic anti-Semitism.

It turns out that even the apparently respectful references to Christian
priests and monks and the assertion that Christians ‘do not behave proudly’
are torn to pieces in other sections of the Qur’an, where we read:

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do
they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion
of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax
in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians
say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths;
they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy
them; how they are turned away!
They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords besides
Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium and they were enjoined that
they should serve one God only, there is no god but He; far from His glory
be what they set up (with Him).
They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and
Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers
are averse.
He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of
truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though the
polytheists may be averse.
O you who believe! most surely many of the doctors of law and the
monks eat away the property of men falsely, and turn (them) from Allah’s
way; and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend
it in Allah’s way, announce to them a painful chastisement,
On the day when it shall be heated in the fire of hell, then their
foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it; this
is what you hoarded up for yourselves, therefore taste what you hoarded
(9.29-35).

So, while one text speaks admiringly of Christian monks, in this passage
we see them condemned, along with orthodox Christian belief. Muslims are
told to fight Jews and Christians until they submit, and then to impose
a tax on them ‘in acknowledgment of [Muslim] superiority and [that] they
are in a state of subjection’. A response could be that both texts stand,
and that the second refers only to corrupt, wealth hoarding monks. The problem
with this is that the second text roundly condemns orthodox Christian belief
(which was taught by the same priests and monks spoken of as ‘nearest in
friendship’ to Muslims in the first text), as indeed does the first. Neither
text actually shows any genuine respect for Christian belief. The first
text speaks admiringly of Christians, but then goes on to condemn those
among them who will not convert to Islam to hell, while the second speaks
universally negatively of Jews and Christians and also condemns them to
hell. This is also a key text supporting the idea that Jews and Christians
living in Muslim countries should lead a subservient existence as second
class citizens (the Dhimmi) and should pay a special tax to their
Muslim overlords.

Given this, it should come as little surprise to find that the Qur’an
contains many more passages in which Jews and Christians are condemned:

And they say: None shall enter the garden (or paradise) except
he who is a Jew or a Christian. These are their vain desires. Say: Bring
your proof if you are truthful.
Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer
of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no
fear for him nor shall he grieve.
And the Jews say: The Christians do not follow anything (good) and
the Christians say: The Jews do not follow anything (good) while they
recite the (same) Book. Even thus say those who have no knowledge, like
to what they say; so Allah shall judge between them on the day of resurrection
in what they differ (2.111-3).

Surely We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of good news
and as a warner, and you shall not be called upon to answer for the companions
of the flaming fire.
And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until
you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah’s guidance, that is the
(true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that
has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper
(2.119-20).

And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right course.
Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif, and he was
not one of the polytheists.
Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which had been revealed to
us, and (in) that which was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq
and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Musa and
Isa, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do
not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.
If then they believe as you believe in Him, they are indeed on the
right course, and if they turn back, then they are only in great opposition,
so Allah will suffice you against them, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing
(2.135-7).

And certainly Allah made a covenant with the children of Israel,
and We raised up among them twelve chieftains; and Allah said: Surely I
am with you; if you keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and believe in My
apostles and asslst them and offer to Allah a goodly gift, I will most certainly
cover your evil deeds, and I will most certainly cause you to enter into
gardens beneath which rivers flow, but whoever disbelieves from among
you after that, he indeed shall lose the right way.
But on account of their breaking their covenant We cursed them and
made their hearts hard; they altered the words from their places and they
neglected a portion of what they were reminded of; and you shall always
discover treachery in them excepting a few of them; so pardon them and
turn away; surely Allah loves those who do good (to others).
And with those who say, We are Christians, We made a covenant, but
they neglected a portion of what they were reminded of, therefore We excited
among them enmity and hatred to the day of resurrection; and Allah will
inform them of what they did.
O followers of the Book! indeed Our Apostle has come to you making
clear to you much of what you concealed of the Book and passing over much;
indeed, there has come to you light and a clear Book from Allah;
With it Allah guides him who will follow His pleasure into the ways
of safety and brings them out of utter darkness into light by His will
and guides them to the right path.
Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely, Allah — He is the Messiah,
son of Marium. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when
He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Marium and his mother and all
those on the earth? And Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the
earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has
power over all things,
And the Jews and the Christians say: We are the sons of Allah and
His beloved ones. Say: Why does He then chastise you for your faults?
Nay, you are mortals from among those whom He has created, He forgives
whom He pleases and chastises whom He pleases; and Allah’s is the kingdom
of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, and to Him is the
eventual coming (5.12-18).

O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends;
they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for
a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the
unjust people (5.51).

Say: O followers of the Book! do you find fault with us (for aught)
except that we believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us and
what was revealed before, and that most of you are transgressors?
Say: Shall I inform you of (him who is) worse than this in retribution
from Allah? (Worse is he) whom Allah has cursed and brought His wrath
upon, and of whom He made apes and swine, and he who served the Shaitan;
these are worse in place and more erring from the straight path.
And when they come to you, they say: We believe; and indeed they
come in with unbelief and indeed they go forth with it; and Allah knows
best what they concealed.
And you will see many of them striving with one another to hasten
in sin and exceeding the limits, and their eating of what is unlawfully
acquired; certainly evil is that which they do.
Why do not the learned men and the doctors of law prohibit them
from their speaking of what is sinful and their eating of what is unlawfully
acquired? Certainly evil is that which they work.
And the Jews say: The hand of Allah is tied up! Their hands shall
be shackled and they shall be cursed for what they say. Nay, both His
hands are spread out, He expends as He pleases; and what has been revealed
to you from your Lord will certainly make many of them increase in inordinacy
and unbelief; and We have put enmity and hatred among them till the day
of resurrection; whenever they kindle a fire for war Allah puts it out,
and they strive to make mischief in the land; and Allah does not love
the mischief-makers.
And if the followers of the Book had believed and guarded (against
evil) We would certainly have covered their evil deeds and We would certainly
have made them enter gardens of bliss
And if they had kept up the Taurat and the Injeel and that which
was revealed to them from their Lord, they would certainly have eaten
from above them and from beneath their feet there is a party of them keeping
to the moderate course, and (as for) most of them, evil is that which they
do
O Apostle! deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord;
and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah
will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving
people.
Say: O followers of the Book! you follow no good till you keep up
the Taurat and the Injeel and that which is revealed to you from your
Lord; and surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall
make many of them increase in inordinacy and unbelief; grieve not therefore
for the unbelieving people (5.59-68).

According to these passages from the Qur’an, Jews and Christians
are ‘cursed’, ‘apes and swine’, servants of Satan, ‘unbelieving’, and
‘evil’. Muslims are informed that they should not becomes friends of Jews
or Christians who are ‘unjust people’ and ‘friends of each other’ . These
‘companions of the flaming fire’ are presented as corrupters of Islam who
will not rest until Muslims reject Islam and follow them. Despite the apparently
varying positions on Jews and Christians found in the Qur’an, it is very
clear that it shows them no intrinsic respect, condemns their beliefs,
and warns Muslims not to trust or associate with them. At best, Muslims
are enjoined to ‘pardon them and turn away’ (5.13), while at worst they
are commanded to ‘fight’ them ‘until they pay the tax in acknowledgment
of superiority and they are in a state of subjection’ (9.29).

Having already found that large sections of the Qur’an are devoted
to nothing more than claiming Allah as creator of the universe, the finality
and superiority of Islam, eternal rewards for Muslims, eternal punishment
for non-Muslims, and lengthy condemnation of followers of other religions
(often using the most insulting and degrading language), let us now examine
some of its other teachings.

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