bless him and grant him peace—have nothing whatsoever to do with the Messiah’s religion, and the Messiah himself disavows them, just as Moses was free of those who distorted his religion and denied the Messiah.

Muslims, by contrast, venerate the Messiah—peace be upon him—and follow him in truth far more than those Christians who altered his religion and opposed him. They affirm everything he said about himself; they do not twist his words from their proper context, nor do they interpret his speech—or the speech of any other prophet—in a sense he never intended, as the Christians have done. They report that the Messiah said, “Baptize the people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” If the Messiah did in fact utter these words, they must be understood according to his own language, his customary style of address, and the conventions shared by the other prophets.

(Nowhere in the words of the Messiah, in the words of the other prophets, or in anyone else’s speech is it ever stated that the Word of Allah that subsists in His essence—glorified and exalted is He—is called a “son” or a “Holy Spirit.” Nor is His eternal attribute ever called “son” or “Holy Spirit,” and in the entire discourse of the prophets the term “son” is applied only to a created being.)

In that idiom the intended meaning is simply that he is chosen and beloved by Allah, just as they transmit that He said to Israel, “You are My first-born son,” and to David, “You are My son…”