152 |
OBJECTIONS AGAINST CERTAIN LEADING
| |
the Almighty, the All-Wise, the Eternal." So too the belief in the existence of three
Hypostases in the Divine Unity is not contradictory. No perfect
illustration ( مَثَلٌ
mathal) can
be found, but the meaning will in some slight degree be clearer from considering your own nature,
according to the traditional saying of 'Ali, "Whoso knoweth himself knoweth his
Lord" (مَنْ
عَرَفَ نَفْسَهُ فَقَدْ عَرَفَ
رَبْهُ
)1, for the Bible tells us that God created man "in His own image" (Gen. i.
27). You speak of your
Spirit (روحْ
ruh) as "I" (the
Ego, انا
ana) of your
Mind (عَقْلُ
aql) as "I," of your
Soul (نَفْسُ
nafs) as "I": these are
distinct in some measure, and yet your personality is one2. There is no contradiction in
this. In the Divine Nature we are told of three Hypostases, but of only one God.
137. M. Spirit, Soul and Mind are parts of the man; but God has no parts.
C. True, as I have already said. Yet, though the example is imperfect, we may learn something
from it. If you had no Spirit but only Soul and
Γνωθι σαυτον
|
|
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINESTHE TRINITY
| 153
| |
and Mind, or no Mind, but only Spirit and Soul, you would not be a man. These three differ from
one another, though we cannot fully explain in what: yet all three together form what you call your
Ego, and each may be spoken of separately as your Ego. Somewhat similarly "the Father is God,
the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, and yet they are not three Gods but one God." The three
are one in will, nature, power, eternity.
138. M. The "Holy
Ghost" ( روح
القدس
Ruhu’l Qudus) is only another name for
the archangel Gabriel. (Surah XVI., 104.)
C. So Muslims use the words, but the Bible clearly distinguishes between them. Gabriel is a
creature of God.
139. M. There is nothing in the Qur'an to support the doctrine of the Trinity.
C. We accept it on the authority of the Bible alone. Yet there are two facts in the
Qur'an which cannot be properly explained or understood except by accepting the doctrine. The first
is, that God is spoken of as One, He is called
God ( الله
Allah),
Lord (الرب
Ar Rabb) in
the singular, and addressed as Thou. The other is, that He is represented as speaking of
Himself in the plural as We, Us. Examples are found in almost every Surah: for
example, in Surah XCVI., Al 'Alaq, supposed to be the first Surah revealed to Muhammad, God is
called "the Lord" (v. 8), and "God" (v. 13) in the singular, and yet in v. 17,
He says, "We too will summon the guards
|
|