AL-QURTUBI & THE UNCREATED CHRIST
Sunni scholars have appealed to the following text to prove that the Quran is the uncreated speech/word of their deity:
Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, and He is firm in power; He throws the veil of night over the day, which it pursues incessantly; and (He created) the sun and the moon and the stars, made subservient by His command (bi-amrihi); surely His is the creation AND the command (al-khalqu WA al-amru); blessed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds. S. 7:54 Shakir
These Islamic authorities argue that the aforementioned verse explicitly and clearly distinguishes and separates Allah’s command from the creation, thereby proving that it is uncreated. They reason from this that since Allah’s command includes or is synonymous with his words, and since the Quran is Allah’s word, Allah’s words and, therefore, the Quran cannot be a part of creation.
Here is the explanation given by renowned medieval Muslim commentator al-Qurtubi:
Both creation and command belong to Him.
Allah is truthful in saying this. He owns creation and He has command. He created creatures and commanded them to do what He loves. This command necessarily also entails prohibition. Ibn ‘Uyaynah said, ‘There is a difference between creation and command. Whoever makes them one thing is an unbeliever. Creation is created and the command IS HIS WORD ‘Be’, which is not created: “His command when He desires something is that He says to it ‘Be’ and it is.”’’ (16:40)
This difference between creation and the command is clear evidence of the incorrectness of anyone who says that the Qur’an is created, since if His words, which are the command, were created, He would be saying here, ‘Both creation and creation belong to Him.’ That would be a clear error of expression and defective and corrupt. Allah is too exalted to say something that has no benefit in it. This is corroborated by His words: ‘Among His Signs is that heaven and earth hold firm by His command’ (30:25) and: ‘The sun, moon, and stars are subservient to His command.’ (7:54) So He tells us that creatures stand firm by His command. If the command were created, it would need another command to establish it and that command would need another command ad infinitum. That is impossible. It is confirmed that His command, WHICH ARE HIS WORDS, is timeless, pre-eternal and uncreated in order for it be the case that creatures are sustained by it.
This is also indicated by His Words: ‘We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them except with truth.’ (15:86) He reported that He created them with truth, namely, the word which is His command to beings: ‘Be’. If the truth were created, it would not be valid for creatures to be created by it because what is created cannot create what is created. This is indicated by Allah’s words: ‘Our Word was given before to Our slaves, the Messengers’ (37:171): ‘Those for whom the Best from Us was pre-ordained, will be far away from it’ (21:101) and: ‘But now, My Words are shown to be true’ (31:12). This all indicates that the Word preceded the existence of time, which makes its pre-eternal existence necessary. This is sufficient to refute them. (Tafsir al-Qurtubi: Sūrat al-An’ām – Cattle & Sūrat al-A’rāf – The Ramparts, translated Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley [Diwan Press, 2023], Volume 7, p. 282; bold and capital emphasis mine)
Pay careful attention to the fact that both the truth and the command of Allah, which are supposed to be his words, are said to be uncreated.
This now puts Muslims in a dilemma since the Quran attests that Jesus is the preexistent Word of Allah who came down as a Spirit into Mary in order to become flesh from her:
People of the Book! do not go to excess in your deen. Say nothing but the truth about Allah. The Messiah, ´Isa son of Maryam, was only the Messenger of Allah and His Word, which He cast into Maryam, and a Spirit from Him (wa’kalimatuhu alqaha ila maryama wa’roohun minhu). So have iman in Allah and His Messengers. Do not say, ´Three.´ It is better that you stop. Allah is only One God. He is too Glorious to have a son! Everything in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Him. Allah suffices as a Guardian. S. 4:171 (Aisha Bewley https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/4/st6.htm)
The following ayah is quite interesting:
“Behold,” the angels told Mary, “God has given you the glad news of the coming birth of a son whom He calls His Word, whose name will be (ismuhu) Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, who will be a man of honor in this life and the life to come, and who will be one of the ones nearest to God.” S. 3:45 Muhammad Sarwar
Note carefully that the Word is not a mere abstraction or command, but an actual person, since the verse explicitly ascribes a personal name to it. I.e., the name of the Word is Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, which proves that the Word itself became incarnate in the Person of Christ.
This in itself refutes the oft-repeated Muslim argument that Jesus is only called the Word of Allah because he is a by-product of Allah’s Word, being brought into existence by the creative command of Allah. The text emphatically affirms that the Word didn’t make Jesus, but rather the Word IS Jesus himself.
The Quran even attests that Allah sent John the Baptist to bear witness of the fact of Jesus being the actual Word from Allah:
Then the angels called to him as he stood praying in the sanctuary: That Allah gives you the good news of Yahya verifying a Word from Allah, and honorable and chaste and a prophet from among the good ones. S. 3:39 Shakir
Note how the Muslim commentators interpreted this particular text:
And the angels namely Gabriel called to him standing in the sanctuary in the temple at worship that anna means bi-anna; a variant reading has inna implying a direct speech statement ‘God gives you good tidings read yubashshiruka or yubshiruka of John who shall confirm a Word being from God namely Jesus that he is God’s Spirit; he is referred to as God’s ‘Word’ because he was created through the word kun ‘Be’; a lord with a following and one chaste forbidden from women and a prophet of the righteous’ it is said that he never sinned and never so intended. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=3&tAyahNo=39&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)
(believing in the Word from Allah) Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas said, and also Al-Hasan, Qatadah, `Ikrimah, Mujahid, Abu Ash-Sha`tha, As-Suddi, Ar-Rabi` bin Anas, Ad-Dahhak, and several others said that the Ayah…
(believing in the Word from Allah) means, “Believing in `Isa, son of Maryam.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir http://www.alim.org/library/quran/AlQuran-tafsir/TIK/3/38; bold and underline emphasis mine)
Allah says: “Confirming a word from Allah.” (3:39)
Yahya confirmed ‘Isa when he was three years old. He testified that he was THE WORD OF ALLAH and HIS SPIRIT. It is said that he confirmed him when he was in his mother’s womb. Yahya’s mother said to Maryam, “I feel what is in my womb BOWING TO what is in your womb to greet him.” (Qadi ‘Iyad Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Kitab Ash-shifa bi ta’rif huquq al-Mustafa (Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen One), translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley [Madinah Press, Inverness, Scotland, U.K.; third reprint 1991, paperback], p. 51; capitalized bold emphasis mine)
The ahadith provide further corroboration for Jesus being Allah’s very own personal Word and his Spirit sent down from above to become Man from the holy Virgin:
4435… “They will go to ‘Isa and say, ‘O ‘Isa! You are the Messenger of Allah and His Word which He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him. You spoke to people while in the cradle. Intercede with your Lord on our behalf. Do you not see what we are suffering?’ ‘Isa will say, ‘My Lord is angry today with such anger as has never existed before nor will again,’ AND HE DID NOT MENTION A SIN. ‘O my soul! My soul! My soul! Go to someone else. Go to Muhammad.’” (Aisha Bewley, The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Chapter 68. Book of Tafsir; bold, capital and underline emphasis mine)
It is narrated on the authority of Ubadah b. Samit that the messenger of Allah observed: He who said: “There is no god but Allah, He is One and there is no associate with Him, that Muhammad is his servant and His messenger, that Christ is servant and the son of His slave-girl and he (Christ) HIS WORD which He communicated to Mary and is HIS SPIRIT, that Paradise is a fact and Hell is a fact,” Allah would make him (he who affirms these truths enter Paradise through any one of its eight doors which he would like. (Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 0043)
There’s more.
According to the Quran Jesus creates in the exact same way that Allah creates:
As a messenger to the Children of Israel: “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord; that I CREATE for you FROM CLAY the form of a bird, then I BLOW INTO IT and it becomes a bird by God ‘s leave, and I heal the blind and the lepers, and give life to the dead by God ‘s leave, and I can tell you what you have eaten, and what you have stored in your homes. In that is a sign for you if you have acknowledged.” S. 3:49 Quran: A Reformist Translation (QRT)
God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, recall My blessings upon you and your mother that I supported you with the Holy Spirit; you spoke to the people in the cradle and in old age; and I taught you the book and the wisdom, and the Torah, and the Injeel; and YOU WOULD CREATE FROM CLAY the shape of a bird, then BLOW INTO IT and it becomes a bird by My leave; and you heal the blind and the leper by My leave; and you brought out the dead by My leave. I have restrained the Children of Israel from you, that you came to them with proofs; but those who rejected amongst them said, “This is an obvious magic!” S. 5:110 QRT
Now compare this with the way Allah created and animated Adam:
WE CREATED man FROM DRY CLAY, from black moulded loam, and before him Satan from smokeless fire. Your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am creating man from dry clay, from black moulded loam. When I have fashioned him and breathed of My spirit into him, kneel down and prostrate yourselves before him.’ The angels, one and all, prostrated themselves, except Satan. He refused to prostrate himself as the others did. ‘Satan,’ said God, ‘why do you not prostrate yourself?’ He replied: ‘I will not bow to a mortal whom YOU CREATED OF DRY CLAY, of black moulded loam.’ ‘Get you hence,’ said God, ‘you are accursed. The curse shall be on you till Judgement-day.’ S. 15:27-35 N. J. Dawood
Jesus is depicted as possessing Allah’s power/ability to create and breathe life into things!
This merely reinforces the fact of Jesus being that very Truth and Word of God, which the Muslim scripture attests were employed to create the heavens and the earth.
The Islamic sources are merely echoing what God’s inspired revelation already proclaimed about Jesus, centuries before the birth of Muhammad:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.”’)” John 1:1-14 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
“We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have seen and heard we also declare to you so that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:1-3 NRSVUE
“Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a scepter of iron; he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’ Revelation 19:11-16 NRSVUE
The God-breathed Scriptures also record the historical Jesus claiming to be the Truth and the Life:
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:6 NRSVUE
Amazingly, Christ ascribed to himself two of the very names, which Islamic theology attributes to the Muslim deity:
Al-Haqq: The Truly Real
The Truth, the Real, the Really-existing, He whose existence and divinity are true, the One who creates according to the requirements of wisdom, justice, right, rightness, the Necessarily-existing by His own Essence, He whose existence is undeniable. Every reality exists from His essence and nothing has any intrinsic reality except Him.
Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety-Nine Names.
“That is because Allah – He is the Truth, and what you call upon besides Him is falsehood Allah is the All-High, the Most Great.” (31:29)
“On that Day Allah will pay them in full what is due to them, and they will know that Allah is the Clear Truth.” (24:25)
“That is because Allah is the Real and gives life to the dead and has power over all things and the Hour is coming without any doubt and Allah will raise up all those in the graves.” (22:6)…
Al-Hayy: The Living
Ever-Living, i.e. Deathless.
Al-Hayy is one of the Ninety-Nine Names.
“Allah, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining.” (2:253)
“Put your trust in the Living who does not die and glorify Him with praise.” (25:58) (Aisha Bewley, The Divine Names)
Herein lies the dilemma for the Muslims, which I sum up for the benefit of the readers.
According to the Biblical and Islamic data:
- Allah’s word and truth are uncreated.
- Allah used his truth and word to create the heavens and the earth.
- Allah himself is called the truth and the living (one).
- The Holy Bible, God’s only inspired scripture, and the Quran agree that Jesus is the preexistent Word that came forth as a Spirit from God to become incarnate from the Virgin Mary.
- Jesus identified himself as the Truth and the Life.
- Jesus created and breathed life into inanimate clay objects, and gave life to the dead in the same way that Allah does.
- Jesus is, therefore, an uncreated divine Person who became a human being.
There’s simply no way for Muslims to get around the logical implications of what their own sources teach in respect to Jesus being the Word and Spirit of/from God.
After all, if as Sunni scholars teach that God’s Word is uncreated then Jesus cannot be a creature seeing that he is God’s Word. Rather Jesus is an eternal, uncreated divine Person who became Man at a specific moment in time.
FURTHER READING
The Quran Testifies: Jesus is the Eternal Creative Word of God
The Quran Confirms the Prehuman Existence And Incarnation of Christ, Pt. 2
Islam Testifies: Jesus is Alive in Heaven Whereas Muhammad is Not!
The Quran on Jesus as the Preexistent Spirit of Allah
ISA RUHULLAH: ALLAH’S UNCREATED SPIRIT BECOMES HUMAN
Jesus – The Preexistent, Divine Word and Spirit from God
WHAT ABOUT JESUS? UNVEILING ISLAM’S OTHER ILAH BESIDES ALLAH
Muhammad Did it Again! More Proof that Jesus is God Incarnate Pt. 1
Uncovering Another Quranic Dilemma Pt. 1
ISLAM TESTIFIES THAT THE BAPTIST WORSHIPED JESUS!
Islam Bears Witness: Christ is Superior to and Greater than the Baptist Pt. 1