In chapter 5 of the Qur'an, "The Dinner table". There appears to be an obvious flaw in the text. the text in question being:
[5.116] And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.
Well, if this is referring to the Christian trinity, it is incorrect. The Christian trinity is god the father, Jesus the son and the holy Spirit. According to Christians, the mother of Jesus is a saint, not a god!
eeeek. Not liking the title.
The obvious answer to this obvious flaw is that you don't appear to understand Christianity and its history - historically there were Christians who claimed divinity for Marium as well as those who claim it today... Quran is not flawed - other religions are!
Oki Dokey
The Qur'an is not flawed rather perhaps the translation from Arabic to English is wrong hence it is the translator's error not a error in the Qur'an.
(If that makes sense!)
Jihad of the Nafs (The Struggle of the Soul)
The OP is asking a question and it may not be the case of a flawed translation, but of there either having been or still to come a group of christians who do ascribe divinity to Prophet Isa (as)'s mother.
A quick googling throws up an historical sect of christians called the Nazarenes that may have held such a view.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
The translation is fine and not a problem.
There are even Christians in the US who claim divinity to Jesus today...
The other meaning this verse could have, which viable, but less probable in my personal opinion, could be that God will acuse Christians of ascribing divinity to Isa by stating he is God, and by implication, his mother a God (who must be a God having given birth to a God!)...
Either way the verse is fine...
I was reading somewhere that the quranic word used for christians is "Nasaara" which is similar to the word Nazarenes, so they may have a common history.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
As a former Catholic, I think I understand Christianity just fine!
Like I stated earlier, the Christian Holy Trinity does not include Mary, and had ever included. Except for the Choloridians who thought Mary to be divine. But they were few in numbers and considered heretical by the Christians of that day.
Christians do consider Jesus to be not just the son of god, but by extension as God himself. Then they consider the Holy spirit to be the power of God given to men in times of need (prophets and saints performing miracles). Hence this is regarded as the Holy trinity and was held by the Catholic church since before the time of Mohammad. Therefore, the vast majority of Christians believed in the Holy Trinity as god the Father, The son and the Holy Spirit - at that time.
So here is the flaw. If the Quran is the unaltered word of God. Then how did he not know that 99% of Christians did not consider Mary to be a Goddess. But as a saint, mother of their messiah?
So to the believer there are four possible reasons for this.
1. God got it wrong.
2. Mohammad got it wrong.
3. The compilers of the quran got it wrong.
4. The Christians altered their religion and changed their historical documents.
As Muslims we would choose 4 (because we do believe that there were prior prophets sent to all tribes and nations throughout the ages, but that the messages were either ignored lost or altered). In addition to that I would also say:
5. There was a group of christians who thought that Hadhrat Maryan had some form of divinity.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Looks like you don't...
Christians before the advent of Islam and after the advent of Islam claimed Mary was divine - so the Quran is correct in its assertion. Your downplaying this so a "few in numbers" is false - they were and are a lot more than a few.
Furthermore, even if there had not been any Christians claiming this explicitly, one can argue the trinitiarian belief implies it and God can take one to account for the implication of his belief - one does not need to articulate I believe idols are deities, but one can imply it by prostrating to them - thus being questioned along those lines.
Maybe you can point out where in the verse it states that the majority of Christians have this beleif - or are you inserting these terms into the verse and then claiming a flaw?
Number 5 is the Atheist viewpoint! there was a group of Christian heretics at that time who considered Mary as a goddess, but this was far from the accepted orthodoxy of Christianity. These people were the Collyridians.. But to think that Mohammad thought of Collyridianism as mainstream Christianity (IMO) depletes his authority as a prophet, because if this is the case then it shows he got his information from local information instead of divine influence - at least concerning this matter.
you just pulled that argument out of nowhere! You do not cite any quotes or reference anything other than your own opinion, passing it off as fact. and as for rubishing my previous posts, tell me where I am wrong!?
This page does seem to be using the Collyridians as the reason:
So while it may not have been mainstream, if the view was present, then the qur'an was correct to address it. If however this was something no christians believed, they would have been jumpiong up and down to show "how the qur'an got it wrong", but there is no historical evidence of that.
The place where the verse was revealed would also have importance, maybe it was revealed when addressing someone who hd such a belief.
If the qur'anic view was that all christians believed tht Hadhrat Maryam (as) was divine, it would be noted in other places too and would be constantly reminded like it was whenever she was mentioned like the case is with Hadhrat Isa (as), her son, was a prophet and not God.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Education helps to be able to pull arguments out of nowhere - it is called originality and creativity. The verse of Quran however does not state majority - you are reading that into the text.
Likewise you are reading orthodox christians into the text as the text reads God will ask Isa if he told people Marium was a deity - nowhere does it mention anything about orthodox (or even non-orthodox) christians... reminds me of straw man arguments to be honest...
originality and creativity? Otherwise known as bluffing it, when lacking any factual basis.
Okay, so from this I guess God questioned the basis on a few people who took the view that Mary was divine - despite the vast majority of Christians considering Mary to be but a saint. Which in itself poses the question. Why does an all knowing deity have to ask Isa if he had told people whether he or his mother was a God?
Agreed - however in this case, given my point was substantiate as the verse did not use the term akthariyya - majority, it conforms to genuine originality and creativity.
The day of judgment will comprise a trial - people will be allowed to defend themselves, bring their evidences, and evidences against them will also be presented. Isa(as) will be asked if he advocated any of their absurd propositions and his testimony will comprise part of the evidence against them...