the Messiah, son of Mary.” And the Messiah said, “O Children of Israel, worship Allah—my Lord and your Lord. Whoever commits shirk with Allah, Allah has indeed forbidden Paradise to him, and his refuge shall be the Fire. The wrongdoers will have no helpers.” (1)

This verse therefore shows that such a statement is shirk. For although they say, “Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary,” they do not confine the godhead to the Messiah alone; rather, they affirm another existence for Him—namely the Father—who, according to them, is not the Word that is in the Messiah. Their worship of the Father alongside the Messiah is thus associationism, which is then combined with their further claim (2) that He is the very same being and their claim that He is His son. Allah has declared Himself far above both partner and offspring in many places in the Quran, exalting Himself above either notion.

Among His words are:

{And say, “Praise be to Allah, who has never taken a son and who has no partner in sovereignty.”} (3)

And His saying:

{Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion to His servant so that he might be a warner to all worlds—He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, who has never taken a son and who has no partner in sovereignty. He created all things and determined them with precise determination.} (4)

And His saying:

{Yet they have set up the jinn as partners with Allah, though He created them, and they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters without knowledge. Glorified and Exalted is He above what they ascribe.} (5)

Moreover, these doctrines do not accord with what has been mentioned, for those (6) who say that the two natures united and became (7) a single entity also maintain that what united with him (8) was the Word, which is the Son; and those who say that the two are one essence belonging to