The Quran

Preface

قُل يا أَهلَ الكِتابِ تَعالَوا إِلىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَواءٍ بَينَنا وَبَينَكُم أَلّا نَعبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلا نُشرِكَ بِهِ شَيئًا وَلا يَتَّخِذَ بَعضُنا بَعضًا أَربابًا مِن دونِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن تَوَلَّوا فَقولُوا اشهَدوا بِأَنّا مُسلِمونَ

Yusuf Ali

Say: “O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but God. that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God¹.” If then they turn back, say ye: “Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to God’s Will).

In the abstract the People of the Book would agree to all three propositions. In practice they fail. Apart from doctrinal lapses from the unity of the One True God, there is the question of a consecrated Priesthood (among the Jews it was hereditary also), as if a mere human being-Cohen, or Pope, or Priest, or Brahman-could claim superiority apart from his learning and the purity of his life, or could stand between man and God in some special sense. The same remarks apply to the worship of saints. They may be pure and holy, but no one can protect us or claim Lordship over us except God. For Rabb, see 1:2, n. 20. Abraham was a true man of God, but he could not be called a Jew or a Christian as he lived long before the Law of Moses or the Gospel of Jesus was revealed.