4.13 The answers of Imam Abu Abd Rahman Robert Squires:

“First of all, no human being has any business deciding what God "can" and "cannot" do. Why do you (Christians) insist on looking at this from the standpoint of capability? Capability isn’t the question. We have to base our ideas about God on what He has revealed about Himself, and not on some hypothetical guesswork.

The Muslim scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa’ah (i.e. "Orthodox" Sunnis) have always condemned free-thinking theology, since once people start deciding what God can and cannot do based on their (all too human) reason, the door is open for almost anything. Can God be other than He is? Could He make Himself not exist? Could He make Himself TRULY forget something, but then make Himself remember it again? Is He a prisoner of His attributes? Can He make an object so heavy that He can't lift it?

It should be kept in mind that "freedom" doesn’t always mean freedom to do certain things, but it can also mean being above doing certain things. Also, the fact that Almighty God chooses not to contradict Himself is not a deficiency…many Christians quite often present the "problem" of capability as the essential issue. Such rhetoric may make some people wiggle, but approaching things this way is essentially a misguided (and un-scriptural) exercise.

Personally, this brings to mind a dilemma thought up by (St.) Augustine, which some of us may remember from parochial school. In trying to "explain" the Trinity and Incarnation, (St.) Augustine said: "Did God not want to have a Son who should be equal to Himself, or was He unable to have such a Son? If He did not want to, He is jealous; if He could not, He is incapable." “Unfortunately, this false dilemma is not only not well thought out, but it is arbitrary and un-Scriptural as well.

For starters, both the Old Testament and the Qur’an clearly tell us that God certainly IS JEALOUS, so how could (St.) Augustine believe otherwise? (See Exodus 34:14:“…the Lord, whose name is Jealous”, Deuteronomy 5:9, 6:5 and 29:20.). It seems that (St.) Augustine was giving more weight to his Greek-style logic and pre-conceived notions than to what the scriptures, which he allegedly followed CLEARLY said! Suffice it to say that appealing to the Old Testament nips (St.) Augustine’s little false-dilemma in the bud - before one even has to move on to the “capability” question.

However, since we're already on the subject, we should analyze the oft-quoted verse: “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). This verse is often used by Christians to justify the "Incarnation", but if one takes a look at the context of this verse, it does not mean what they use it to mean. Christians try to use this verse to mean that God can do ANYTHING - even, assumably, the unbecoming things, which I mentioned above. This verse, however, simply means that human being are powerless without God's help, i.e. we can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles if we rely on God and have His support.

Another proof that "all things" doesn't necessarily mean "all things" in an absolute sense is Mark 9:23. This verse says:"…all things are possible to him who believes." Certainly, if "all things" means absolutely "all things", then a believer should be able to not only raise people from the dead and create an independent universe, but also do anything else without limit. May God save us from such foolishness!

So suffice it to say that the phrase "With God all things are possible", if taken in context, does not lend any support to Christian efforts. We should also mention that, from the Islamic perspective, the attribute of "Jealousy" that God ascribes to Himself is an attribute of perfection like all of His attributes.

This is because God’s attributes are not like the attributes of creatures, but are befitting of His Majesty. They should never be thought of as deficiencies, as Christians tend to do when they read about God’s Wrath, Anger or Jealously. All of the attributes that God has authentically ascribed to Himself are befitting of Him and His Majesty.

To deny that God is "Jealous", basically amounts to a denial of the way He has described Himself, as well as an endorsement of idolatry and polytheism - practices which He condemns due to His Jealousy.

So where does this attribute, which is CLEARLY emphasized in something so fundamental as the Ten Commandments, fit into Christian theology? They my have tried to squeeze it in somewhere, but it certainly doesn’t get the EMPHASIS that God Himself put on it!”

Imam Robert Squires goes further by saying:

“Another reason that God-Fearing Pure Monotheists see a "difficulty" in God "putting on" human nature is the simple fact that God himself denied such a thing long before Trinitarian Christian tried to say otherwise. Almighty God has clearly taught that nothing in creation can represent Him: that is: He is Transcendent above creation as well as unchanging. Some of the Bible passages that speak of Almighty God complete in Supreme Excellent are as follows:

“I am the Lord, and I do not change.” (Malachi 3:6, NLT)

“And he who is the Glory of Israel, will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind.” (1 Samuel 15:29, NLT)

“But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you.”
(1 Kings 8:27, NLT)

If God planned on becoming a man, why would he include those verses that are contradictory to Incarnation? That seems like a pretty clear statement to me, and coupled with other explicit statements in the Bible, it puts Christians in quite a dilemma. This stand in glaring contrast to the Biblical statement that “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33, NLT). You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”[1]

In answering the Christian point of view that: “God is so great and so loving that he is ready to come to earth, limit himself, and even suffer death (although death obviously could not hold him), all for our sake”, Imam Abu Abd Rahman Robert Squires:

“You assume He needs to come down to earth, not that He does it just to have a better relationship with us. Jesus may come out looking good, but what does this say about “The Father” or God in general? (Christians believe that God and Jesus are all One – “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30, NLT)

That's the problem with man made ideas, they have unexpected backlashes and consequences. It is ridiculous to say that “God died”, even the New Testament says that “God raised Jesus” (Act 2:32, 4:10) - so why contradict this by saying “God died?”. If God really died, there would be no one around to raise Him. If God was alive to raise Himself then He didn't die! It’s because of such questions that Christians appeal to ‘paradox’ and ‘mystery’.

It is also false to assume that a person can’t have a fulfilled, personal, positive and loving relationship with Almighty God unless He Incarnates himself as “a Man”. May God save us from such falsehood. According to the Bible, Abraham seemed to have a pretty good relationship with God - to put it rather mildly. He is called “Righteous” in numerous places in the Bible (Genesis 18:23, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6 and James 2:23). But he was not the only one. According to Luke 1:6 (NIV), both Zecharias and Elisabeth “were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.”

Sounds like pretty good relationship to me.... it should be kept in mind that “the righteous” people mention above did not adhere (support) to Christian doctrines - since these statements were applied to them prior the Jesus allegedly atoning death. Pure Monotheism, if it was good enough for Abraham and Moses then it’s good enough for me.”[2]

[1] A Muslim Response To A Christian Response Regarding Joseph Smith Paper on Tauhid, 2

[2] A Muslim response To A Christian Response Regarding Joseph Smith paper On Tauhid, 2,