Yet the Christians claim that He begets, that He is begotten, and that He has an equal—as has been explained elsewhere. By contrast, the servitude of the Messiah is affirmed in many passages, such as His—exalted is He—statement:

“When the son of Mary is cited as an example, your people turn away from it”
[al-Zukhruf 43:57] (57)

“They say, ‘Are our gods better, or is he?’ They put this to you only for the sake of argument; indeed, they are a contentious people.”
[al-Zukhruf 43:58] (58)

“He is no more than a servant whom We favored, and We made him an example for the Children of Israel.”
[al-Zukhruf 43:59] (59)

The Exalted also informs us that the very first words spoken by the Messiah were:

“I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.”
[Maryam 19:30]

And He—exalted is He—says:

“When Allah will say, ‘O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah”?’ he will answer, ‘Glory be to You! It is not for me to say what I have no right to say.’”
[al-Mā’idah 5:116] … up to His words, “a witness.”

He—exalted is He—also says:

“O People of the Book, do not go to extremes in your religion and do not say about Allah anything but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, is only a messenger of Allah …”
[al-Nisā’ 4:171]—and all the related verses.

If, then, it is necessarily known from the religion of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—through mass-transmitted reports and the unanimous agreement of his community, an agreement that rests upon