Dear Hadi,
Dear Tawheed Doubts,
Thank you for your question. It is very important, so let us jump right in – please excuse us for giving a lengthy answer, but your question deserves that and more. First, we recognize that you cannot control what you believe. However, what you believe is often a product of what you know and what you have been exposed to.
Living in our day, the impression we have is that the Divinity of Jesus has always been an unquestioned central dogma in Christianity, and that there are simply two points of view: traditional Christianity, saying that Jesus is Divine, and Islam, saying that he (pbuh) is human. We might then think, since there are two points of view, each widely adhered to by billions of people, who is to really say which is right and moreover, if one is wrong, then theologically it can’t really be a big deal, and would fall under the realm of an understandable error, right?
Let us try to give you a bit of a context in which to re-examine the issue. First, in Islam, while we treat Christianity and Christians with the utmost respect and cordiality, the issue of tawheed is paramount to the creed (yes … while we normally are not dogmatic, we think this is a BIG DEAL). The Quran, in Surat Maryam (19:88-91), makes a clear statement about the enormity of the notion that Jesus (pbuh) is the son of God:
وَقَالُوا۟ ٱتَّخَذَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ وَلَدًا
And they say, 'The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son
لَّقَدْ جِئْتُمْ شَيْـًٔا إِدًّا
Indeed, [by this assertion] you have brought forth something monstrous
تَكَادُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ يَتَفَطَّرْنَ مِنْهُ وَتَنشَقُّ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَتَخِرُّ ٱلْجِبَالُ هَدًّا
whereat the heavens might well-nigh be rent into fragments, and the earth be split asunder, and the mountains fall down in ruins!
أَن دَعَوْا۟ لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ وَلَدًا
That men should ascribe a son to the Most Gracious
We believe that a main purpose (if not the main purpose) of Creation is so that created beings can bear witness to the truth about God, and central to Islam is the creed of Surat al-Ikhlas that God (SWT) is One, and that He did not beget, nor was He begotten.
That means the issue truly deserves your time and attention, so that you settle on one point of view or the other. It will need both study and prayer.
An important aspect to be aware of is the historical context of the traditional Christian view called the Nicene Creed. In the 4th century AD, the Christian Church was deeply divided between the creed of the Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus on the one hand, and the view of Arianism, named after Arius, a bishop from Alexandria. We will quote to you directly from an article on the website Catholic Identity (The Nicene Creed (bne.catholic.edu.au)) and let it summarize the views of Arius:
“Arius sought to safeguard the transcendence of God by teaching that God is unbegotten and without beginning. The Son, because He is begotten, cannot be God in the same sense as the Father is. Arius taught that the Son was created like all other creatures and exists by the will of the Father. “
As you can see, the teachings of bishop Arius are very much in line with Islam. They were not, as sometimes depicted, a fringe set of ideas adhered to by a small minority. Rather, they were widespread enough to cause a schism in the Church at the time. Because of this schism, the Roman Emperor Constantine (who had only recently converted to Christianity), called for a council in Nicea to resolve the matter.
Thus, it was only after the Nicea Council, where the now traditional Christian views were canonized, and Arianism began to be referred to as the Arian Heresy. Moreover, there is a serious thread of Christian academic scholarship which seeks to trace the history of the adoption of the notion of incarnation (the incarnation of God in Jesus) in Christianity. We refer you to a book by a group of Christian theologians titled The Myth of God Incarnate (edited by John Hick). Quoting to you from the back cover of the book, “Here, a group of distinguished theologians and Bible scholars ask whether the idea of the incarnation is essential to Christianity; and they question the whole development of the doctrine.” In that book, the authors advance the notion that Jesus was a man playing a special role in the Divine purpose and that “the later conception of him as God incarnate, the Second person of the Holy Trinity living a human life, is a mythological or poetic way of expressing his significance for us.”
It may surprise you that historical developments may shape religious creed, but that is why we are giving such a long answer. Let us point to another example – the role of Mary (peace be upon her) in Catholic versus Protestant theology. Whereas the schism about the divinity of Jesus in Christianity was settled long ago, a schism about the role of Mary (who you well know is revered in Islam) exists today. The Protestant point of view is that Catholicism has given her an exaggerated status, some say to the point of idolatry, and refer to this adoption of ideology as Maryolatry (you can see this website if you are interested, What the Bible says about Maryolatry (bibletools.org) (Alternate Link)
Of course, we cannot cover either the history or the academic debate here, but wanted to give you context as you study the issue for yourself. Also, we advise you to read the Bible, which we as Muslims revere as well. As you do, alongside the traditional view, you will find verses that may surprise you, and which we feel are perfectly in line with our doctrine of tawheed, and would like to close with them:
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)
In peace.