Some Trinitarians, devotees of the cross, have distorted this expression and claimed that it means, “God is with us.” One of their more fair-minded scholars (1)—who let reason prevail over whim, whom Allah guided to the truth and freed from blindness—replied to them, saying: “Was it the Messiah who declared, ‘I am the Lord; there is no god besides Me; I give life and cause death, create and provide’ (2)? Or was he the one who said to God, ‘Indeed, You are the only true God, and You sent Jesus Christ’ (3)?”

He went on: “The first claim is decisively false; the second is what the Gospel itself bears witness to. The Gospel must therefore be believed, and anyone who alleges that the Messiah is a deity worthy of worship must be refuted.

“Nor is the Messiah uniquely designated by this name, for ‘Immanuel’ is a name by which both Christians and Jews call their children. The practice is still found in our own day, and among them the name simply means ‘of noble rank.’

“Likewise, the Syriacs name their children ‘Immanuel,’ and Muslims and others say to a man, ‘Allah be with you.’ If someone were actually named with the phrase ‘Allah be with you,’ it would be nothing more than a way of seeking blessing through the meaning of the expression.”

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If, further, you deem him divine on the strength of what you attribute to Habakkuk—namely, that “God appears on earth, mingles with people, and walks among them” (4)—and from what Jeremiah says