WE have now reached the end of this brief study, and one recognises that certain elements of the Christian tradition have not been mentioned. Little space has been given in the above pages to patristic definitions of the Trinity, and this omission has been deliberate, for, in the face of the semi-agnosticism of Muslims who shrink from any discussion of the divine nature, it is wiser to appeal only to Scriptural evidences of the redemptive work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[1] Orthodox Islam, it seems, will go no further in discussing the divine nature than to assert that Allah is an entity which can be ‘pointed out’. Alternatively, when speaking of Allah, it has recourse to those superlatives which are used to symbolize the inexpressible. The Church is not obliged to discuss the doctrine of the Trinity with those who repudiate the possibility of any definition of the divine nature.
It might also appear that there has been a lack of faithfulness in our assumption that questions concerning the appearance of the Eternal Son under the conditions of space and time, are matters for a person more mature in faith than the enquirer from Islam. One may, however, plead in extenuation of this apparent neglect, that Islam also has little to say about the appearance of the Eternal in time. The problem of the connection between Allah’s essence and His seven attributes — particularly His eternal Speech as it is manifested in the Quran — has been a vexed question in the history of Muslim theology which has been shelved rather than solved. How one of the seven attributes — one of the seven which ‘are not Allah, nor are they other than He’ — may find an apparently independent existence in the form of a book is a problem which has defied formal solution.[2] It is far wiser to accept the Muslim admission that the appearance of the Eternal in time cannot be explained by human reason. We have therefore preferred to speak of what God in His holy love has done for man. In so doing, we not only remain within the realities of experience, but we also follow that pattern of proclamation which is to be found within the New Testament itself.
In closing, the writer would solemnly urge his reader not to use the material of this book merely to substantiate an argument that Allah is not God. To say so in set terms is to ensure that Christian preaching will never get a hearing. That such a statement expresses the truth is, of course, the ultimate position to which a Muslim must come, but it is a realisation which a wise use of the material of this study should bring home to him indirectly and in the context of gracious and calm intercourse. The final movement from God to God must proceed from the enquirer’s faith, as he is led by the Spirit of truth.
In this study we have touched on many of the problems which have been present to the mind of Islam during the course of its history. We have discussed the relation between Allah’s attributes and His essence, His continuous creativeness and His creation of human sensation and action, thought and faith. We have spoken of His predestination of good and evil. All these topics have been brought under contribution in our interpretation of Islam, because it is at these points that Islam repudiates the Biblical doctrine of God in Christ. Moreover, the Muslim regards Christian Trinitarian belief as the deadliest of sins. This basic element in our theology makes us guilty of the unforgivable sin in Muslim eyes, and Islam meets our Gospel of salvation not merely with prejudice, but with revulsion. The Muslim says, in effect, ‘I cannot be saved by a religion that I mistrust and by a worship that I abhor.’ The Christian therefore experiences great difficulty in securing any hearing at all for the Gospel. Indeed it is not within the power of man to bring home to Muslims the nature of sin and their need for Christ’s salvation. They are buttressed against recognising this need by their doctrine of Allah; there is only one way in which they can be brought to perceive their condition, and that is to see it in the light of God. Only the Holy Spirit can truly inform the human heart of these things. It is the task of the Christian Church, through the authority and power of its glorious and ancient Scriptures and in the spirit of holiness, to lead the Muslim to seek salvation from the ‘irreconcilable opposition’ of sin.
Walking ‘in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7).
Notes
1 In the traditional statements of Christian theology the Son is spoken of a being ‘of one substance’ with the Father. We are unfortunately handicapped if we speak to the Muslim in such terms by his obstinate assertion that a substance is a material ‘something’ which has accidents. al Juwayni, one of the great Muslim theologians, repudiated the doctrine of the Trinity on such grounds, and we only increase our difficulties if we appeal to a doctrine of ‘one substance’ unless there is faith in the hearer in response to what the Triune God has done to redeem mankind. See Appendix on ‘The Divine Substance.’
2 Nor does orthodox Islam explain how this eternal Speech could be conveyed by means of a created vehicle, i.e., the angel Gabriel.
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