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In the Messiah’s statement within this glad tiding—“I have no authority over the matter”—there is a clear pointer to tawḥīd, for the entire affair belongs to Allah alone. Hence the annunciation embraces the two foundational principles (1) of religion: the affirmation of monotheism and the affirmation of prophethood. What the Messiah proclaimed here is identical to what his brother, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah, received from his Lord when He said to him, “You have no share in the matter” (Āl ʿImrān 3:128).

Whoever reflects on the condition of these two noble messengers and their respective missions will find them in perfect harmony, matching one another as one arrow-shaft matches another. It is therefore impossible to believe in one of them while rejecting the other; rather, whoever denies Muhammad ﷺ is even more in denial of the true Messiah—Jesus son of Mary, servant and messenger of Allah—while he may claim to believe in a “messiah” that has no reality or existence, which is the most futile falsehood.

John says in the book “Acts of the Apostles,” which they call “Afraxsis” (2): “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Know that every spirit that confesses that Jesus (3) the Messiah has come and was corporeal is from God, and every spirit that does not confess that the Messiah has come and was corporeal is not from God, but is from the Antichrist, who is even now in the world.” (4)

Muslims believe in the truthful Messiah who came from Allah with guidance and the religion of truth—Allah’s servant and messenger, His word that He cast to the virgin, chaste Mary. Christians, however, believe in a “messiah” who called people to worship himself and his mother, and who is the third