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One supremely disconcerting challenge revolves around the word, monogenes.
This is the only word in the ancient Greek biblical texts which bears the translation “only
begotten.”66 This term occurs nine times in the New Testament, and the translation of this
term in the Gospel and First Epistle of John form the foundation of the “begotten, not
made” doctrine. Of the nine occurrences of this term, monogenes occurs three times in
Luke (7:12, 8:42, and 9:38), but always in reference to individuals other than Jesus, and
in none of these cases is it translated “only begotten.” That alone is curious. A person
would rationally expect an unbiased translation to render the same Greek word into
equivalent English in all instances. Clearly that is not the case, but again, one would
expect …
Only John applies monogenes to Jesus. 67 The term is found in five of the six
remaining New Testament occurrences, namely John 1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18, and the First
Epistle of John 4:9. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten son …” Such a crucial element of church doctrine, and the other three gospel
authors neglected to record it? The Gospel of John alone does not exactly exorcise the
ghost of doubt when the other three gospels are conspicuously silent on this matter. By
way of comparison, all four gospel authors agree that Jesus rode a donkey (Matthew 21:7,  Mark 11:7, Luke 19:35, and John 12:14), which is relatively high on the “who cares?”
list. But three of the gospel authors fail to support the critical “begotten, not made” tenet
of faith? Hardly a sensible balance of priorities, one would think.
Should the doctrine be true, that is.

So three of the nine New Testament occurrences of the term monogenes are in the
Gospel of Luke, refer to someone other than Jesus, and are selectively mistranslated.
Occurrences four through eight are encountered in the Gospel and First Epistle of John,
and are held to describe Jesus. But it’s the ninth occurrence that’s the troublemaker, for
“Isaac is monogenes in Heb. 11:17.”
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We are led to question biblical accuracy at this point, for Isaac was never the only
begotten son of Abraham. How could he have been, when Ishmael was born fourteen
years prior? Comparison of Genesis 16:16—“Abram [i.e., Abraham] was eighty­six years
old when Hagar bore him Ishmael”—with Genesis 21:5—“Abraham was a hundred years
old when his son Isaac was born to him”—reveals the age difference. This is confirmed
in Genesis 17:25, which tells us Ishmael was circumcised at the age of thirteen, one year
prior to the birth of Isaac. Furthermore, Ishmael and Isaac both outlived their father,
Abraham, as documented in Genesis 25:8­9. So how could Isaac ever, at any moment in
time, have been Abraham’s “only begotten son”?
A lay defense is the assertion that Ishmael was the product of illicit union between
Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. Therefore he was illegitimate and doesn’t
count.

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Excessive Dogma in the Righteous Persons is the Root Cause of Infidelity of Mankind and its deviation from True Religion

The Statement of Allah the Almighty and Most Exalted: “O People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allah anything but the truth…” (4:171)

In the Sahih, Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) commented on the verse: “And they have said: You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd nor Suwa` nor Yaghuth nor Ya’uq nor Nasr (names of the idols).” (71:23)

He said: “These are the names of some righteous persons from Noah’s (Nuh) people. When they passed away, Satan inspired their people to set up statues in their honour and set them in their
gathering places, and to give these statues the names of those departed. They did this but did not worship them until these people passed away and knowledge of their origins were forgotten, then
they were worshipped.”

Ibn Al-Qaiyim (May Allah be pleased with him) said that most of our predecessors have stated: After the death (of the righteous persons), they confined at their graves and made statues and after much time passed they started worshipping them.

Umar (bin AI-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him)) is reported to have said that Allah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not exaggerate in praise of me just as the Christians exaggerated in the praise of Jesus, son of Mary. I am but a slave, so call me Allah’s slave and His Messenger.”
(Al-Bukhari and Muslim) Allah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: “Beware of exaggeration. Your predecessors perished on account of their exaggeration.”

In (Sahih) Muslim, Abdullah bin Mas’ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: “Destroyed are those who are extreme (in religion).” He (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said it three times.

Important issues of the Chapter

1) Whoever understood this chapter and the following two, will recognize clearly the
“strangeness” of Islam and see Allah’s wondrous power and wisdom to change hearts.

2) The first Shirk on the earth happened due to the confusion regarding righteous persons (that they have attributed godly characteristics).

3) The first thing to cause changes in the religion of the Prophets and the reason for that, despite the knowledge that they were sent by Allah.

4) The acceptance of heresy though it is against legal laws and inborn nature. 5) The reason for all of that is the mixing of truth with falsehood: firstly, the exaggeration in the love of the
righteous; and secondly, the action of people with religious knowledge intending to do good (performed with well intentions); but the later generations thought that they intended
something else.

6) Explanation of the verse in Surah Nuh (71:23).

7) Human nature towards the truth weakens in the heart while falsehood increases. (Except upon whom Allah has bestowed His mercy).

8) It confirms the sayings of righteous predecessors that heresy(Bid’ah) is the main cause leading to Kufr (disbelief) [and that it (Bid’ah) is more loved by Iblis than sinfulness because one may repent from sins but will not repent from Bid ‘ah].

9) Satan (the devil) knows what the result of heresy is (and how much will it misguide), even if one commits it with good intention.

10) Knowledge of the general rule that excess and exaggeration (in the righteous ones) is prohibited, and knowledge of what it leads to.

11) The harm of seclusion at the grave even with intention of performing a righteous deed.

12) The prohibition against statues and the wisdom in destroying them.

13) Greatness of the matter within this story and how badly it is needed (i.e. the lesson within) in the face of the heedlessness and neglect of it.

14) It is absolutely amazing! And more amazing is that despite their (people of Bid’ah) reading this story in the books of Tafsir and Hadith, along with their understanding of its meaning, and knowing about the obstruction that Allah has put between them and their hearts, they believed that the deed of the people of Nuh (i.e. over praising the dead and memorializing their graves with statues) is the best type of worship. They believed in what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden which is the disbelief (Kufr) that permits the taking of life and wealth …!

15) The declaration that they only wished the righteous ones to intercede for them.

16) Their assumption that those scholars who first shaped the statues had intended so.

17) The tremendous statement of Prophet Muhammad (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) “Do not exaggerate in praise of me just as the Christians had exaggerated in the praise of Jesus, son of Mary”. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him who has conveyed the clear message!

18) The admonition by the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) to us of destruction of those going to extreme in religion.

19) The clear statement that they (the statues) were not worshipped until true knowledge was forgotten. This explains the value of the presence of knowledge and the harm of losing it.

20) The reason for the loss of knowledge is the death of scholars.

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Jesus Begotten?
To create is divine, to reproduce is human. —Man Ray, Originals Graphic Multiples
Christian laity have accepted the doctrines of Jesus being of divine sonship and
”begotten, not made” for so long that these doctrines have largely fallen from scrutiny.
Until three centuries ago, dissenting views were suppressed by means sufficiently horrific
to have driven intellectual challenges underground. Only in recent times have Western
societies been freed from religious oppression, allowing a free exchange of opinions. Not
so in Muslim lands, where these Christian doctrines have been freely opposed since the
revelation of the Holy Qur’an, 1,400 years ago.
The Islamic understanding is that “begetting,” which is defined in Merriam
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as “to procreate as the father,” is a physical act implying
the carnal element of sex—an animal trait light­years below the majesty of the Creator.
So what does “begotten, not made” mean, anyway? Nearly 1,700 years of exegesis have
failed to provide an explanation more sensible than the original statement, as expressed in the Nicene Creed. Which is not to say that the Nicene Creed is sensible, but that
everything else seems even less so. The creed reads, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus
Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father …”
The question has been raised before, “What language is this?” If someone could
explain the above in terms a child could understand, and not just be forced to blindly
accept, then they will succeed where all others have failed. The oft­recited Athanasian
Creed, which was composed roughly a hundred years following the Nicene Creed, bears
such strikingly similar convolutions that Gennadius, the patriarch of Constantinople,
“was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he frankly pronounced it to
be the work of a drunken man.”
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More direct challenges arise. If Jesus is the “only begotten Son of God,” who is
David? Answer: Psalms 2:7—“The LORD has said to me, ‘You are My Son, Today I
have begotten you.” Jesus the “only begotten son of God,” with David “begotten” a scant
forty generations earlier? The label of “religious mystery” may not satisfy all free­
thinkers.
In the face of such conflicts, a reasonable person might question whether God is
unreliable (an impossibility), or if the Bible contains errors (a serious possibility, and if
so, how does a person know which elements are true and which false?).* However, let us
consider a third possibility—that an incorrect creed has been constructed around a
nucleus of scriptural colloquialisms.

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(Allah guides whom He wills)

Allah the Almighty stated: “Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided.”
(28:56)

In the Sahih, Ibn Al-Musaiyab has reported from his father: When death approached Abu Talib, Allah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) came to him and found `Abdullah bin Abi Umaiyah and Abu Jahl in his company.
The Prophet said, “O uncle, say: ‘There is no true god except Allah’, a word which will enable me to plead for you with Him.” The two of them said, “Would you forsake the religion of (your father) ‘Abdul Muttalib?”
The Prophet repeated (the request) and the two of them also repeated (their question). The final word of Abu Talib was about being on the religion of’ Abdul-Muttalib and he refused to say: La
ilaha ilIa-Allah. The Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said, “But I shall continue to pray for your forgiveness as long as I am not prohibited to do so.” It was then that Allah the Almighty revealed the verse: “It is not (proper) for the Prophet and those who
believe, to ask Allah’s forgiveness for the Mushrikin even though they be of kin.”
(9:113)

Allah also revealed concerning Abu Talib: “Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided ones.” (28:56)

Important issues of the Chapter

1) Explanation of the verse: “Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided ones.” (28:56)

2) Explanation of the verse: “It is not (proper) for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allah’s Forgiveness for the
Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire (because they died in a state of disbelief).” (9: 113)

3) It is a major issue in the explanation of the statement of the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) “Say La ilaha illa-Allah.” Differing with those who claim to be possessing (religious) knowledge. (They claim it sufficient to be forgiven by merely uttering Kalimah).

4) Abu Jahl and those who were with him knew full well the intent of the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) when he said to the man (his uncle) “Say La ilaha illa-Allah.” May Allah denounce the ones who were less knowledgeable than Abu Jahl regarding
Islam.

5) The eagerness and intense desire of the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) to convert his uncle to Islam.

6) The denial of those who claim that Abdul-Muttalib and his forefathers were Muslims.

7) Allah did not forgive Abu- Talib despite the Prophet’s initially asking forgiveness for him. On the contrary, he (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was forbidden to do so.

8) The harmful influence that evil companions can have on people.

9) The harm of over praising ancestors and important personalities.

10) The arguments of falsifiers are the arguments of Jahiliyah (pre-Islamic period).

11) An attestation to the weight of the final deeds in one’s life because had Abu Talib confessed it that there is no true God but Allah, he would have been benefited by it.

12) The consideration of the magnitude of this false argument in the hearts of the misguided, because in the story they did not argue except with it despite the intense effort of the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) and his repetition (of the Kalimah).
Because of their tremendous pride (in ancestry) and its distinction among them, they were content with it.

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