بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِِ

Al Islam

The Official Website of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
Muslims who believe in the Messiah,
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian(as)Muslims who believe in the Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (as), Love for All, Hatred for None.

The Christian Deity

In the present age, this disease is not specific to a particular group; as it afflicts the Christians, so too it afflicts the Muslims. To their individual extent, the people of the East and the West have equally partaken of this ill. There is a difference, however, between the Muslims and Christians. The Muslims are heedless of the true and mighty God due to their negligence, even though He has always manifested His light upon them, and in every age, has drawn them towards Himself, and many blessed individuals partake of this light. But the Christians have long forgotten God, firm faith in whom brings about a pure transformation and cognisance of whose majesty and grandeur produces true aversion from sin. Instead of believing in an Ever-Living and All-Sustaining God, such people proclaim a humble man, Christ the son of Mary, to be God. However, he can neither answer prayers, nor speak to anyone himself. It is beyond him to manifest even his own greatness and power to say the least. How then can true purity be attained through him? The manifestations of his power are well-described in the scriptures. He suffered all sorts of grief at the hands of the Jews; his night-long prayer was not accepted; a shameful allegation was levelled against his mother, but he was unable to defend her through any display of divine power. His miracles, even if considered true, do not possess any excellence, which is not to be found in the miracles of other prophets. In fact, the miracles of the Prophet Elijah and his resurrecting the dead are a manifestation of divine power far greater than the miracles of Christ. Similarly, certain miracles of the Prophet Isaiah are truly matchless when compared to the miracles of the Messiah. Moreover, the prophecies of the Messiah are so utterly meaningless that when a person reads them they cannot help but laugh—let alone be positively impressed—at the nature of these prophecies, which foretell the coming of famines, earthquakes and wars, when all this was already prevalent in the land even before these prophecies. So, how can a wise person believe in such a god? These are old tales. God knows the degree of truth in these accounts and the extent to which they are ridden with falsehood. In any event, it has become increasingly difficult for the people of this age to believe in this new god, the slightest trace of which is nowhere to be found even in the Jewish teaching. For these people have neither witnessed with their own eyes the resurrection of the dead, nor evil spirits being driven out of the sick. Further, the promises made with respect to these people were not fulfilled either. For example, they were told that poison would have no effect if they drank it, and mountains would move at once on their command, and they would hold serpents in their hands but they would not bite. Now we observe that plenty of Christians in Europe die of suicide and poison begins to take its toll on them in a heartbeat. Let alone a mountain, they cannot even do so much as flip an overturned shoe without using their hands. Moreover, snakes and other such poisonous creatures kill them all the time. It may be argued in response that these verses should not be taken literally, but metaphorically. For instance, drinking poison implies that they swallow their anger and serpents signify the wicked who can do them no harm. However, before we delve into these interpretations, we would be justified in posing a question. All these claims were to serve as signs and the Messiah repeatedly declared that the signs which he showed would also be displayed by his followers. Now if all this was figurative and metaphorical in nature and no real sign was implied, then why should this not categorically prove that all the miracles attributed to the Messiah are also to be taken as metaphors? For he has frequently said in the Gospels that whatever miracles he manifests, his true followers would also show the same.

Now when we demand such miracles to be shown, the answer we receive is that these statements do not refer to miracles, but merely to the moral state of the Christian people. Why then should it not be said that the miracles of the Messiah too are of the same nature and not actual miracles? In short, this question is one of insurmountable difficulty for the Christians to which they have no answer. In fact, at this instance, if one reflects further, it becomes clear that a Christian does not face one but three difficulties in this regard.

Firstly, the words of the Messiah that miracles equal to and even greater than those shown by him, would also be shown by his followers, proved to be plainly false. Secondly, the non-fulfilment of this prophecy also proves that the Messiah did not work any miracle. For if he had manifested any miracles, his followers ought to have possessed the power to show the same. Thirdly, we could hypothetically assume that the Messiah did manifest miracles and ignore such sections of the Gospels which state that: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it.” However, the divinity of the Messiah cannot be sufficiently established through miracles, which are no greater than those of the earlier prophets, but rather inferior. Now, when no intelligent individual can firmly believe in the divinity of the Messiah, how then can it prevent sin? I have already pointed out that the foremost thing which restrains one from sin is firm faith in the existence of God. In other words, complete certainty in the fact that there is a God who punishes sin. But how can one develop such belief in the Messiah? Would anyone care to tell us what distinguishes him from the dead? We and any wise person know well that there must be a distinction between God and His creatures. However, let alone this distinction, in Christ we do not observe even the distinction found between a dead person and one who is living. Sadly, the Christians clamour and cry to establish the divinity of the Messiah, but we are prepared to accept them if they are even able to establish him as a living man.

We bear no malice towards any religion. If the son of Mary is God, we should like to be the foremost in accepting him. If indeed he is the intercessor, I desire to be the first of believers. But how can we accept sheer falsehood, utter absurdity and untruth? If God is such a weak and helpless being as Christ the son of Mary, then there is no need to believe in such a God, nor is it possible in any way to have firm faith in him. God Almighty has always established His existence in every age through the prophets as well as independently. Even those who had not heard of any heavenly scripture did not remain ignorant of His being. If this is the case with Jesus Christ, then we are ready to accept his divinity as well. Now is there anyone on the face of the earth who can show us any distinctive feature of the Messiah so that we can hear his voice, and behold the signs of his divinity? For as I have repeatedly written, doubtful faith even in the true God cannot deliver a person from sins. How then, can doubtful belief in the divinity of a self-contrived god who was beaten at the hands of the Jews, deliver one from affliction? The fact of the matter is that belief in that God, who is the True God, can only relieve a person from sin when their belief attains to the rank of certainty.

Therefore, to afford the status of God to a man and not put forth any conclusive arguments in support of his divinity is shameful indeed. In actuality, such people are the enemies of truth. I am unable to understand why these people felt the need to adopt such a shameful dogma. What harm could they have foreseen in believing in the Eternal God, for whom this false deity compensated?

I bear witness that the True God who revealed Himself to Adam and then to Seth, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and all the Prophets and to our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is Ever-Living, Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining. In earlier times, just as He proclaimed ‘I am present’ through the medium of His prophets, so too does He proclaim this in the present age. Just as in earlier times the prophets heard His majestic voice and witnessed His signs, we too hear His voice and witness His signs. Moreover, just as in the past He heard the prayers of His people and answered them, so too does He listen to our prayers and answer them even today. And as the righteous of old attained to true purity by loving Him and beholding His countenance, so too is our case. And so only a blind person who is most unfortunate would abandon such a Powerful and Mighty God. We are absolutely certain that throughout the world, all those who have been set up as false gods, such as the Christ son of Mary, Ramchandra, Krishna and Buddha etc. were deified without any proof. This is no different than suggesting that a goat is human, even though it can neither speak, nor walk like humans. It neither looks human, nor possesses human sense. In short, it possesses no human features. Now could anyone refer to a goat as human even though it possesses certain characteristics found in humans? For example, a goat eats as man eats, and it urinates and defecates as does man. However, can anyone explain whether the Messiah or Ramchandra etc. possess any specific commonality which can be proven to exist in God?

The reason such people are deified is nothing but a phenomenon of extreme exaltation as against extreme denigration. For instance, King Ravana deeply humiliated King Ramchandra and bitterly hurt his people by abducting his wife and taking her to Lanka. Hence, Ramchandra’s supporters at once expelled Ravana from the human race and declared King Ramchandra to be God with such absolute certainty that to this day all Hindus chant the name of Rama instead of remembering their Parmeshwar. In fact, even their words of greeting are: “Ram Ram.” Now, one can deduce from this that the Christians have not yet become as unbridled in deifying Christ as the Hindus have become in attributing Godhead to Ramchandra. This has occurred to such an extent that the Hindus have almost forgotten the name of their Parmeshwar and on every occasion they utter ‘Ram Ram’. Hence, just as King Ramchandra was deified to establish his honour and excessive superiority by way of reciprocation, so too was Christ son of Mary given the status of God. First, the wicked Jews declared the birth of the Messiah to be unlawful and accused Mary of adultery. They further cast grave aspersions on the Messiah’s character. This is evident from various books written by certain Jewish scholars which are in my study at present. These books, as it may be ascertained, have portrayed a terrible picture of Christ’s life. In these days, the books of such Jewish scholars are read in our evening gatherings for the sole purpose that our community may come to know that the attacks made on the life of Christ are far worse than the ones levelled, by way of slander and calumny, against the practical life of our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, by certain ignorant priests. Some of the charges are such that shame and modesty prevents us from even quoting them. A gravely indecent charge is imputed to his mother. Similarly, some of his grandmothers, Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba, were accused of adultery and the Christian priests admit this as well. And the worst allegations are those mounted against the character of the Messiah; that is, how he made recourse to deception in every matter and ultimately how God suffered him to die according to the promise of the Torah. A Muslim cannot read any of these words of disgrace, insult and calumny without being infuriated. When the Messiah was disgraced to a degree that put him lower than even an ordinary person, it was natural for the community who believed in Christ to gradually incline towards exaggeration in praise. Hence, impassioned individuals, who were already enamoured by polytheism, would not be made content with anything less than deifying the Messiah—as if they sought to retaliate against the Jews for their violent attacks made upon the Messiah.

What is even more surprising is that the Gospels, on whose basis the Christians seek to prove the divinity of the Messiah, are the same books by which a Jewish scholar has attempted to establish that God-forbid, Christ was in fact a materialistic and deceitful man, who neither showed any miracle, nor pronounced a single true prophecy. He writes that whatever the Gospels state regarding the numerous miracles that the Messiah showed to the Jews is belied by the account of the Gospels themselves. For it is established by the Gospel testimony that whenever the elders of the nation would ask Christ for a miracle, it was his practice to make use of vile language and say to the elders in response that no miracle would be shown to them. He further writes that even if we grant that Jesus cured certain ailing people, this does not serve as a real argument for his divinity because his opponents, too, showed similar miracles in the same era. How then can reason accept that such miracles establish the divinity of Christ when other Prophets manifested far greater miracles?

In short, when the Jews subjected Christ to the greatest disgrace, the essential consequence of this was that while one party took a course of extreme denigration, the other responded by adopting a path of excessive exaltation. Thus, when the flood of excessive exaggeration surged forth among the Christians, it was then that the foundation for the deification of the Messiah was laid. This point can be fully understood when we observe the onslaughts of the Jews on the one hand, and closely reflect over the exaggerated statements of the Christians to defend against these attacks on the other. Now, books written by Jews have also been published and certain renowned Jewish scholars have printed them in French as well. Moreover, these books have also been printed in English. So, it is very easy these days for seekers of truth to understand the real state of affairs. All Jewish sects agree that ever since Moses was given the Torah, none of the Prophets who appeared after him from time to time ever brought a teaching of trinity. Conversely, they only taught that God is One and Unseen. The Jews also make the case that when Moses requested God Almighty on Mount Sinai to show His countenance, why did God reply by saying that nobody could behold His countenance? God ought to have shown the face of Christ and said that this was His own countenance. Thus, the Jews have tried to prove that Christianity is a religion that seeks to shred the testament of the Torah, testified to by all the Prophets and is bent upon uprooting the concept of Divine Oneness, which is the corner-stone of the Torah.

In brief, the Christians have sought to propagate an abominable, self-invented creed in the world by presenting a god who is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Divine Being as taught by the Torah and the Holy Quran. They do not concern themselves in the least to rationally prove this new belief, which opposes the Torah and the scriptures of other Prophets. They are strangely indifferent to the way of reason as if rational argumentation has no jurisdiction over religion. According to them, reason has no right to testify in the matter of Divine Oneness or trinity. They are in the habit of criticising and condemning others, yet surprisingly, they do not examine their own doctrine even by mistake. Their foremost objective ought to have been to first prove the divinity of the Messiah, which is rejected by the Torah and the Quran, and reason as well. After this, they could have put emphasis on the self-contrived beliefs of atonement and salvation etc. But they did not do so and whilst ignoring the foundation of their doctrine, have instead become indulged in absurd discussions.

However, I would also like to add here that beneath this error lies a hidden truth, though its face has been blackened by absurd superstitions so that only a ghastly and hideous image of it remains. Nevertheless, a genuine truth does shine forth from this dark cloud and can be seen ever so slightly even in this pernicious belief of deifying the Messiah. To explain, it is evident from the Torah that God created man in His own image, placed His light in him and breathed into him His spirit. The Holy Quran says the same. Now, it is well within the capacity and nature of man for God to descend upon the pure heart of His servant with all His glory so that the grandeur of God is encamped in his heart. Such a person develops a relationship with God that may be likened to iron, which when cast into an intensely scorching and blazing fire, seems to take on the appearance of fire, but in reality it is still the same iron, not fire. And so in actuality, the same relationship exists between God and those who truly love him. Such individuals begin to feel in themselves that God has descended in them. And sometimes in this state of union with God, some of them utter apparent blasphemies; that is to say, they explain this Divine relationship in a manner whereby common people mistake them to be claiming divinity for themselves. Words to this effect are found in all divine scriptures.