The Christian’s Place in Islam
Our question is : What place does the Christian occupy in Islam ?

Here are some answers :

1. The seventy-second verse of the Surah "The Table Spread", which we have cited earlier, says : "They do blaspheme who say : 'Allah is Christ the son of Mary'".

There is a group of Christians, whom the Church considered heretics, who said in the fifth century : "God is Christ", thus denying the human nature in the person of the son of Mary and rejecting the idea that "the Word of God and the Holy Spirit" were incarnated in the human body. Worth noting is the fact that Allah - the Great and Almighty - did not call the Christians by their name nasara in the seventy-second verse above, for He said : "They do blaspheme who say …", which implies that the reference here is to a particular group, not to all the Christians.

Whether for the Christians or the Muslims, Allah is the same : the Creator of the Heavens and the earth, and of things seen and unseen. Those who say that Christ is God are heretics in Christianity, and unbelievers in Islam. They are rejected by both Christianity and Islam.

2. The seventy-third verse of the same Surah says this : "They do blaspheme who say : Allah is one of three in a trinity …".

Our brief remark is that the Christians say that God is the first of three, not their third. The group of theologians who say that God is one of three in a trinity are, in the view of the Christian orthodoxy, heretics; that is, unbelievers.

The Third in a Trinity is the Holy Ghost which the Holy Quran has mentioned more than once : "We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit", [The Cow : 87], and "Then will Allah say : 'O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favor to thee and to thy mother, Behold! I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit", [The Table Spread : 110].

What makes us say with certainty that Islam does not regard the Christians in general as unbelievers are the Koranic verses which consider them believers. Of such verses we will quote the following :

1. "Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians, any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve", [The Cow : 62]. This verse needs no further comment. The Christians are regarded as believers.

2. "Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (for the right); they rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in Allah and the Last Day", [The Family of Imran : 113]. We have already cited these two verses when dealing with the anchorites.

3. In Arab culture and traditions, food is a token of friendship and socialization : "This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them", [The Table Spread : 5]. It would not be logical for the believers to eat the food of the unbelievers, and vice-versa.

4. The Quran permits the Muslim to marry a Christian woman : "Lawful unto you in marriage are (not only) chaste women who are believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book", [The Table Spread : 5].

However, marriage with an unbelieving woman is not lawful :

"Do not marry unbelieving women until they believe", [The Cow : 221].

If the Christian woman is an unbeliever, the Quran will treat her the same way it treats an unbelieving woman; that is, she will have to believe (to embrace Islam) so that the Muslim can marry her.

While we notice that in Verse 57 of the Surah "The Table Spread", the Quran forbids the believers from taking the Jews and the unbelievers as friends and protectors, we find that in Verse 78 of the same Surah, it praises (albeit indirectly, but clearly) Christ Jesus, the son of Mary who pronounced curses upon them :

"O Ye believers! Take no friends and protectors those who take your religion for a mockery or sport whether among those who received the Scripture before you, or those who reject faith".

- and :

"Curses are pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected faith, by the tongue of David and Jesus, the son of Mary, because they disobeyed and persisted in excess".

These two verses make clear : abundantly that the Jews and the unbelievers are in one camp, and that the believers and the Christians are in another. "Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and the Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say 'We are Christians' : because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant", [The Table Spread : 82]. As in the two previous verses, the prevalent meaning in this verse is also very clear : Christians are believers.

The Surah of "Al-Buruj" (The Mansions of the Stars), which we will discuss immediately in Chapter 6, proves that the Christians are "believers".