How the Graeco- Roman would understand this

Written by Ijaz Ahmad

On Qur'an 5:116 - The verse in part reads: "And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?'" He will say, "Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right." This verse is pretty stunning on multiple levels if you understand Graeco-Roman literary devices and early Christian heresiology. Allow me to explain. 1. This is the only place in the Qur'an where we have the construct "did you say" (a-anta qulta), it's a very strange question. Why is God asking 'Isa peace be upon him if he said this? Well, in Graeco-Roman literature, there is the concept of ipsissima verba and ipsissima vox. The very words, meaning the actual words used by a person and the very voice meaning the words attributed to a person even if they did not say them. Attributing a quote to someone who had not said it was not seen as a form of fabrication, because it was then believed that if you thought the person would have said it, then it's the same as them saying it. In essence, this is a rhetorical question on multiple levels that effectively demonstrates that no, this is a lie and this can't be said to be my words (verba) or even in my voice (vox) and that nothing to this effect was taught to the people by 'Isa (peace be upon him) himself. 2. The follow up to the initial answer is where we have an emphasis logically following from the above, that even if the possibility of ipsissima vox (very voice) was taken into consideration, 'Isa peace be upon him rejects that idea outright as he explicitly and emphatically denies having any right himself to such a claim, thus anyone implying he would say such a thing was being grossly dishonest. 3. Many uneducated Christian apologists take this verse as an example to mean that the author of the Qur'an thought that the Trinity contains Mary (may Allah be pleased with her), but this is due to a general ignorance of church history. The Eastern Church refers to Mary as theotokos, or the Mother of God. Today's many Christians will tell you that to use such a term for Mary is to impart divinity upon her and they point to John Calvin's quote where he says that not only is it wrong, but ignorant and superstitious! The Bible does not attest to such a title for her though in Luke 1:43 she is greeted as the mother of "my master". There is also the case of the sect of the Collyridians that indeed directly worshipped Mary. Conclusion: The Qur'an displays an in-depth understanding of the misguidance of the Christian faith and the arguments normally used to defend them at a sophisticated level.