Christians: Monotheists or Polytheists?
Hamzah Yusuf
Hamzah Yusuf: “…now, the Trinity, to be fair to the Christians, and I think this is important, because there are a lot of Muslims that think that Christians are mushrikoon, and there are statements, I mean Ibn Umar (raa) said ‘I can’t imagine anything more associative that to say that Allah had a son… that’s a statement by Ibn Umar…”.
Not only a lot of Muslims think that Christians are mushrikun, but apparently, Allah stated in His Quran and His Prophet, Muhammad, stated in his Sunnah that, Christians are mushrikun.
Allah said, {They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allâh, and (they also took as their Lord) Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), while they (Jews and Christians) were commanded [in the Taurât (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] to worship none but One Ilâh (God — Allâh) Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). Sub`hanahu `Amma Yushrikun (praise and glory be to Him far above the shirk they commit.”} (9:31)
`Adi Ibn `Hatim said that he heard Allah’s Prophet, Allah’s blessings and mercy on him, recite ayah [9:31 about the Jews and Christians], {They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allâh}. `Adi said, “I said to the Prophet, ‘We (Christians) did not worship them (monks).’ The Prophet, Allah’s blessings and mercy on him, said, ‘Do they not disallow what Allah allowed, and you obey them in that, and allow what Allah disallowed, and you obey them in that?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ The Prophet, Allah’s blessings and mercy on him, said, ‘This is worshipping them.’” (Ahmad, and, At-Tirmidhi collected this `hadeeth, which At-Tirmidhi graded authentic from the grade, `Hasan).
Note how in ayah 9:31, Allah stated that Christians and Jews were ordered to worship only one Ilah, before stating that what they committed instead is shirk, by taking others besides Allah as lords.
To continue, Allah stated in ayah 9:31 that for Christians to take Jesus as a rabb (god, lord) besides Allah, they have committed shirk. The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings and mercy on him, asserted the implication of this ayah, by explaining how the Jews and Christians committed shirk which Allah mentioned in ayah 9:31.
Conclusion: Christians are mushrikun.
Hamzah Yusuf says: “That’s a statement for Ibn Umar.” Who is Ibn Umar? Is he not one of the most knowledgeable scholars among the Companions of Muhammad, Allah’s blessings and mercy on him? Ibn Umar’s statement should not be taken lightly as Hamzah Yusuf did here. Who should we believe, Ibn Umar’s statement, or a claim made by an ignorant ‘Giant of Islamic Ilm (Knowledge)?