Does Jesus fulfill the criteria of being Deity according to the Qur'an?

A while back, Sam Shamoun wrote an article concerning Jesus deity according to the standard set forth by Islamic sources, namely the Quran. Predictably, one Muslim apologist Sami Zaatari had an attempt at damage control. As per usual, these sub-par "responses" only seem to highlight even more egregious errrors than I could of possibly imagined.

I recommend reading both articles before continuing. 

Before I address Zaatari, I will go over the basics of the original argument:

According to the Quran, false gods, namely what the pagans reckon to be "partners" of Allah, cannot, create, resurrect, give or control life:

Is He then Who creates like him who does not create? Do you not then mind?... And those whom they call on besides Allah have not created anything while they are themselves created; Dead (are they), not living, and they know not when they shall be raised. S. 16:17, 20-21 Shakir

And they have taken besides Him gods, who do not create anything while they are themselves created, and they control not for themselves any harm or profit, and they control not death nor life, nor raising (the dead) to life. S. 25:3 Shakir

These attributes therefore belong to God alone. Yet if these attributes belong to God alone, how are Jesus (and other figures in the Qur'an) able to perform these functions unless they too are God?

As pointed out by Shamoun in his article:

And he shall be a prophet to the people of Israel (saying), that I have come to you, with a sign from God, namely, that I will CREATE for you out of clay (annee AKHLUQU lakum mina ALTTEENI) as though it were the form of a bird, and I will blow thereon and it shall become a bird by God's permission; and I will heal the blind from birth, and lepers; and I will bring the dead to life by God's permission; and I will tell you what you eat and what ye store up in your houses. Verily, in that is a sign for you if ye be believers. S. 3:49 Palmer

When God shall say, O Jesus son of Mary, remember my favour towards thee, and towards thy mother; when I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, that thou shouldest speak unto men in the cradle, and when thou wast grown up; and when I taught thee the scripture, and wisdom, and the law, and the gospel; and when thou didst CREATE of clay (wa-ith TAKHLUQU mina ALTTEENI) as it were the figure of a bird, by my permission, and didst breathe thereon, and it became a bird by my permission; and thou didst heal one blind from his birth, and the leper, by my permission; and when thou didst bring forth the dead [from their graves], by my permission; and when I with-held the children of Israel from [killing] thee, when thou hadst come unto them with evident [miracles], and such of them as believed not, said, this is nothing but manifest sorcery. S. 5:110 Sale 

These two passages demonstrate that Christ has the breath of life and can create in exactly the same way God creates: 

HE it is Who created you from clay (Huwa allathee KHALAQAKUM min TEENIN) and then HE decreed a term. And there is another term fixed with HIM. Yet you doubt. S. 6:2 Y. Ali  

Note the connection between God breathing his Spirit into man with Christ being strengthened with the Holy Spirit, breathing life into clay birds and resurrecting the dead. And also notice that Christ created a living bird from clay just as God created man from clay. These passages therefore teach that Christ had the same life-giving Spirit of God!

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I am about to create man from clay (innee KHALIQUN basharan min TEENIN): When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him." S. 38:71-72 Y. Ali

And also:

"O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): verily! Those on whom you call besides Allah cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought." S. 22:73

Even though Jesus didn't create a fly, he did create a bird and breathed life into it just as Allah did to Adam!

The syllogism is as follows:

1. God alone creates, resurrects, give and controls life (in Islam)
2. Jesus creates, resurrects, gives and controls life (in Islam)
3. Therefore Jesus is God alone

However what Muslims expect us to believe is:

1. God alone creates, resurrects give and controls life (in Islam)
2. Jesus creates, resurrects, gives and controls life as given by the power of God (in Islam)

Already this is an invalid argument. The second premise does not follow the first premise. If God alone performs these functions, then 2 does not follow from 1 since God alone is capable of creation, Resurrection, giving and controlling life, and no one else is capable of such functions.

Zaatari contradicts himself several other times in his article. He is quite happy in some places to admit that Jesus performed these miracles himself by the power given to him from God, he admits that God in fact indeed gave Jesus these powers credited to him. While on the other hand Zaatari says Jesus is not the one performing these miracles with these powers, since in-fact God is performing these miracles and no one else.

KEY

Definitions

Monergistic framework: the doctrine that God acts independently of the human ability/power in the work of miracles. While humans (especially prophets) may pray to God for a miracle, God is solely responsible for orchestrating, conducting and performing the miracle, the miracle is performed by God alone, even if a human requests God for divine assistance or it is said "Bob, then raised him from the dead", a human has no innate powers/abilities given to him/her by God, and therefore God rose him from the dead, because that was his will, and God simply pressed God's heart to pray for this miracle.

Synergistic framework: God and man(especially prophets) acting and working together (with miracles) in a creative,innovative, and productive manner. God endows an agent with power, and together they perform the miracle, or if the agent performs the miracle by himself it is because ultimately God has given him this power.

The black text highlights (monergistic exegesis) where Zaatari clearly admits Jesus did not perform the miracle, it was Allah alone who performed the miracle, Jesus was passive.

The red emboldened text (synergistic exegesis) shows where Zaatari admits Jesus did perform the miracle together with Allah using the power Allah gave him, the red statements show a partnership between Allah and Jesus:

Those very words there refute Shamoun’s entire argument. Note that even before Jesus performs the miracle he says that IT IS FROM GOD. How can Shamoun miss that? Before Jesus performs the great miracle he makes sure to tell everybody it’s not really him doing it! 

Now also note the verses say that all this happens by Allah’s permission. So not only is Allah giving this miracle to Jesus, he is allowing the miracle to work, so hence Jesus really is not doing anything. This once again does not contradict the earlier verses at all, since Allah ALONE does what he wills, and he doesn’t need no permission or help from anybody else. Allah is independent, as we see Jesus is not, he is completely dependant on Allah for all the miracles he has. Had Jesus performed the miracle on his own, without any one else’s permission, then the Christians would have a case. 

As for Christ having a life giving spirit, this is just nonsense on Shamoun’s part, the verse says things become alive by Jesus only by Allah’s permission, hence it is not really Jesus who is giving life it is Allah, put this with the fact that Allah is giving Jesus this power. 

I will explicitly emphasize the contradiction in this last paragraph even further:

1. Things do come alive by Jesus (with the permission of Allah)
2. Things do not come alive by Jesus, since it is only Allah

Zaatari continues:

Shamoun has no case or argument. Jesus’ breath doesn’t give life, it is Allah’s will and power that allows Jesus’ breath to give life, Shamoun seems to forget this. 

Again we have:

1. Jesus breath does not give life (since Allah alone gives life) vs
2. Jesus breath does give life (by Allah's permission)

Thus Zaatari clearly needs to make up his mind. Does he believe Allah gives his power to Jesus, and then Allah and Jesus work together to create life, or does he believe Jesus is an inactive, passive participant who really does not "share" or get "involved" in the function of giving life with Allah, since Allah alone gives life?

Further, clearly Zaatari has mistaken Allah's permission (consent), with Allah's power, more on this later.

Zaatari goes on to say:

The same is for Jesus, he cannot create a single thing on his own, the only way Jesus could create is because Allah GAVE HIM THAT POWER AND ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN, and that my friend is a completely different issue. 

This text clearly shows a partnership between Allah and Jesus. Although Jesus was originally powerless to create anything by himself (according to Zaatari), Allah gave him the powers he needed to create life and in this sense Allah is ultimately responsible for giving life through Jesus, since he gives his prophet the ability to give life this means Jesus is Allah's life giving agent! Funnily enough this is exactly what the Arab pagans believe about Allah's partners! Allah enabled them to create life with the powers he endowed to them.

In response to Shamoun Zaatari says:

(Shamoun): Why would God grant Jesus the abilities and characteristics of Deity? 

(Zaatari): God gave those miracles and power to Jesus to prove to the people that there is God, Jesus himself said the miracle he has is from God, so hence these great things were given to Jesus to prove that there is greater being out there who is God.

Rather than objecting to the fact that Jesus has the abilities and characteristics of Deity, Zaatari admits that God gave these miracles and powers to Jesus, empirically proving a partnership between God and Jesus.

Yet the very next sentence Zaatari contradicts himself :

(Shamoun): Why is God permitting Jesus to perfectly fit the description and fulfill the criteria which places one within the category of God? 

(Zaatari): Actually this is not true, God creates by himself, he needs no help or permission, Jesus did not do anything or have anything by himself, --->>

(Derek Adams interjection): At this point I have to wonder if Zaatari even read the question? The question doesn't say ""Why is Jesus able to by himself perferctly fit the description...", but rather assumes God grants him these abilities. Shamoun indicates this by saying "Why is God permitting Jesus to..." 

(Zaatari): Allah gave him the miracle and allowed the miracle to work hence Jesus really didn’t do anything. Jesus would fit the criteria of God if Jesus did it alone, needed no permission and so on, he however fails all this.

So Zaatari while assuming in response to Shamoun's question that God can and does give the attributes and characteristics of deity to Jesus (as Zaatari calls it: God gave him the miracles and power) then goes on to try to deny this by saying "Well since God gave him all these powers, Jesus did not do anything".

But what does Zaatari mean when he says Jesus did not do anything? His own explanation seems to suggest "Jesus doing nothing" really means (in my wording):

"It's not that Jesus wasn't involved in the creation process or that he wasn't an active participant, it's that he didn't initiate these powers by himself of his own accord, he was endowed with these powers and utterly and completely dependent on God".

If this is what Zaatari is attempting to say then we must ask the question again, since Zaatari agrees with the premise of the question (that God permits such abilities to Jesus):

 Why is God permitting Jesus to perfectly fit the description and fulfill the criteria which places one within the category of God?

Now I must say it is odd that Zaatari grants that God granted Jesus the abilities and characteristics of deity by saying this is a requirement for supernatural evidence of God, but then negates that Jesus perfectly fits the description and fulfills the criterion set forth by the Qur'an. So which of the two answers is it?

Further more, Zaatari in his monogersitic intepretation of the Quran, says that Allah giving or granting or permitting human beings certain functions means they really didn't do these functions. Of course if we applied this sort of absurd reasoning to everyday constructions or even theology, Zaatari would be laughed out of the Mosque. For example lets rephrase some of Zaatari's statements:

"God gave Sami the power to walk and allowed the walking to work hence Sami really didn’t do anything."

While the first part of the sentence in black is true, the latter half in red is clearly false, Sami did indeed walk whether he was given the ability or not! This is of course unless you are a hard-determinist, hyper-calvinist or Islamic predeterminist (as opposed to soft determinist/compatiabilist, free will etc). But presumably Sami accepts human responsibility and free will, hence Sami's desperate attempt at claiming Jesus really didn't perform this function is as utterly false as me saying: "Sami didn't sign on the internet, it was God who gave him the internet and the power to sign on the internet! Therefore Sami didn't sign in on the internet!".

Two words: Utterly fallacious.

As for Zaatari's last bogus argument that Jesus does not meet the Quranic criterion of deity since Jesus needs permission for his miracles and Allah does not, Zaatari seems to have missed a clear and easy objection. He has falsely equated "permission" with "ability and power". However simply receiving consent to perform a task does not enable a person to have the ability to perform that task.

Further more, the reason why God grants Jesus permission is clearly because Jesus works together with God in perfect union and abides by the will of God, as Shamoun adds:

the Quranic expression simply implies that Christ only exercised his divine prerogatives in accordance with the decree of God, never acting on his own behest or initiative.

But furthermore if Zaatari just rereads the texts we have cited, he will notice the idea that the Qur'an is not rebuking the pagans and their deities because they deny God gave their deities powers to create and rather they accept, that their pagan deities have their own unique powers independent of Allah.

Rather the pagans ironically agree with Zaatari, that all power and abilities come from Allah, and the Quran seeks not to refute the pagans by saying "Hang on, you say your powers come from the deities themselves, but really their powers come from Allah who gave them to your gods". No rather the elephant in the room, standing and sitting on top of Zaatari's face is the fact, that the Quran is asserting, these gods don't have any power whatsoever whether from themselves or given to them by Allah:

Is He then Who creates like him who does not create? Do you not then mind?... And those whom they call on besides Allah have not CREATED ANYTHING while they are themselves created; Dead (are they), not living, and they know not when they shall be raised. S. 16:17, 20-21 Shakir

And they have taken besides Him gods, who DO NOT CREATE ANYTHING while they are themselves created, and they control not for themselves any harm or profit, and they control not death nor life, nor raising (the dead) to life. S. 25:3 Shakir

"O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): verily! Those on whom you call besides Allah cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought." S. 22:73

In another attempt at damage control Zaatari proclaims:

Anyone who knows how to read and understand properly will see the verse Shamoun puts up means that no one can create anything by themselves.The verse basically means that their supposed God’s cannot create a single thing, they cannot create in the sense to create life, death etc. The same is for Jesus, he cannot create a single thing on his own, the only way Jesus could create is because Allah GAVE HIM THAT POWER AND ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN

Suppose we accepted Zaataris eisegesis, here is what we would to believe the text says:

"O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): verily! Those on whom you call besides Allah cannot create (by themselves without Allah, even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it (themselves without Allah) from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought." S. 22:73

In other words, if Zaatari is right, the Quran is teaching if these pagan deities were actually completely dependent upon Allah, they could indeed come together and create a fly. But is this the real meaning of the passage? Is the author of the Quran trying to suggest these false gods whom the pagan arabs believe in are real entities whom if they only surrended to God's will, he would grant them these abilities? Well Zaatari clearly hasn't thought about his own distortion of his Qur'an. 

The Qur'an is not arguing these pagan deities are real deities and like Jesus they cannot operate on their own but require special permission to create given to them by God. Rather the Qur'an is transparently clear in what it is attempting to establish:

1) No creation can create anything because by it's very definition it is a creation, as opposed to a creator.."they do not create anything while they themselves are created" (There is a single creator who is said to have created everything, all else by default exists in the creation category) 

2) The deities pagans called upon were merely creations and therefore by ipso de facto could never have created anything

Further more, Zaatari seems to forget the pagan deities were represented by symbolic representations formed in the shape of an idol, and the deities were said to inhabit these idols. The deities were not independent of Allah, but rather co-dependent or interdependent upon Allah:

The ancient Arabs, however, at the same time believed in the existence of a Supreme God, whom they called Allah. But this belief was rather vague and their faith in Him was correspondingly weak. They might invoke Allah in time of danger, but as soon as the danger was over they forgot all about Him. They also recognized and worshipped a large number of other subordinate gods along with Him, or at least thought that they would inter­cede for them with Him. Three deities in particular, viz., al‑`Uzza, al‑Manat, and al‑Lat, were accorded special veneration as the daughters of Allah. It was this association of subordinate deities with Allah which is technically known as shirk (association of gods with Allah) and which was condemned by the Prophet as an unpardonable sin. Shirk was held in special abhorrence, as it obscured belief in the oneness of God. (Pre Islamic Arabian Chapter 6 Thought by Shaikh Inayatullah , M.A Ph.D., Formerly, Professor of Arabic, University of the Panjab, Lahore, Pakistan: Source)

In Quran 25:3 , famous commentator Ibn Kathir says:

Allah tells us of the ignorance of the idolators in taking other gods instead of Allah, the Creator of all things, the One Who controls the affairs of all things; whatever He wills happens and whatever He does not will does not happen. In spite of that, they still worshipped others besides Him, idols who could not even create the wing of a gnat, but were themselves created. They could neither do harm nor bring benefit to themselves, so how could they do anything for their worshippers  (and possess no power (of causing) death, nor (of giving) life, nor of raising the dead.) means, they could not do any of that at all; that power belongs only to Allah, Who is the One Who gives life and death, and is the One Who will bring all people, the first and the last, back to life on the Day of Resurrection. (source)

And Ibn Abbas says:

(Yet they) the disbelievers of Mecca: Abu Jahl and his host (choose) to worship (beside Him) beside Allah (other gods who create naught) who are unable to create anything (but are themselves created) while their deities, i.e. idols, are created and carved, (and possess) the idols (not hurt) driving away harm (nor profit) nor obtaining profit (for themselves) or for anyone else, (and possess not death) they have no ability to diminish one's life (nor life) nor to increase one's life; it is also said that this means: they are unable to create a sperm drop nor to place therein the spirit, (nor power to raise the dead) after they die.

Because only Jesus and Allah (and Jibreel) can place the spirit therein!

Speaking of 25:3, Maududi asserts:

Another translation may be: "To Him belongs the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth." That is, He alone has an exclusive right to it, and no one else has any right to it nor any share in it.

That is, "He has neither any relation of direct parenthood to anyone, nor has He taken anyone as a son. Therefore, none else in the universe is entitled to worship. He is Unique and there can be no partner in His Godhead. Thus all those who

associate

 with Him angels or jinns or saints as His offspring, are ignorant. Likewise, those who believe that some one, is His "son", are also ignorant. They have no true conception of the Greatness of Allah and consider Him to be weak and needy like human beings, who require some one to become their inheritor. It is sheer ignorance and folly." For further details, see E.N.'s 66 to G8 of Surah Yunus .

The Arabic word mulk means Sovereignty, Supreme Authority, and Kingship. Thus the sentence will mean: "Allah is the Absolute Ruler of the whole universe and there is none other who may have any right to authority; therefore He alone is God." For whenever a man takes anything else as his lord, he does so under the presumption that his deity has the power to do good or bring harm and make or mar his fortune; nobody will like to worship a powerless deity. Now when it is recognized that none but Allah has the real power and authority in the universe, nobody will bow before anyone other than Him in worship, nor will sing anybody else's hymns, nor commit the folly of bowing in worship before any thing else except his real God, or recognize any other as his ruler, because "To Allah belongs the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and to Him alone."

There may be other translations of this also: "He has ordained it in due proportion"; or "He has appointed an exact measure for everything." But no translation can convey its real meaning, which is: "Allah has not only created everything in the universe but also determined its shape, size, potentialities, characteristics, term of existence, the limitations and extent of its development and all other things concerning it. Then, He has created the means and provisions to enable it to function properly in its own separate sphere."

This is one of the most comprehensive verses of the Qur'an with regard to the Doctrine of Tauhid. According to Traditions, the Holy Prophet himself taught this verse to every child of his family as soon as it was able to speak and utter a few words. Thus, this verse is the best means of impressing the Doctrine of Tauhid on our minds, and every Muslim should use it for educating his children as soon as they develop understanding.

The words are comprehensive and cover all the false gods whom the mushriks worship whether they are angels, jinns, Prophets, saints, the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, rivers, animals etc., which have been created by Allah, or those which have been created by man, as the idols of stone, wood, etc.

That is, "Allah has sent down Al-Furqan on His servant so that he may invite the people to the Truth, which they have forsaken due to heedlessness and waywardness, and warn them of the evil consequences of their folly. The Furqan is being revealed piecemeal so that he may distinguish right from wrong and the genuine from the counterfeit."

It is important to notice this verse is not merely meant to be applied to pagan idols, meaning they do not have the attribute of Sovereignty or share in it, but this extends to all of the creation including all of the prophets.

It is therefore unequivocally clear if we read this verse with Jesus (a prophet) in mind it would make no sense:

And they (including Christians) have taken besides Him gods (including JESUS), who do not create anything (contradiction) while they (inc: JESUS) are themselves created, and they (JESUS) control not for themselves any harm or profit(contradiction), and they control not death nor life (contradiction), nor raising (the dead) to life (contradiction). S. 25:3 Shakir

Since Shamoun has already posted all the New Testament evidence in the above article (at the top), specifically the statements of Jesus in the gospel where he claims ALL of these abilities, it is therefore true to say Jesus meets the criterion of Islamic deity perfectly when we judge the New Testament by what constitutes deity in the Qur'an. It is also correct to say the Quran itself contains inconsistencies in itself on these issues since it condemns and rebukes people for taking created beings as deities who can create(with Allah's permission), when the Quran itself asserts the very prophet whom Christian believes is a deity, did create, control and resurrect (with Allah's permission).

If Muslims assert that Jesus must work together with the Father and rely on him, we must say the same about the pagan deities who were also subordinate to Allah (in the belief system of pagans), but even so, Allah rebukes them for believing they could create anything at all. In other words, whether a deity has permission or possesses self-initiative is nothing but a red herring helping Zaatari sleep at night, but now the nightmare has come for him.

In conclusion then:

1. God alone creates life and does not delegate this responsibility to any other agent, since he alone is sovereign
2. Jesus creates life (and cannot possibly be merely a recipient since God does not give away his sovereignty or the attributes and/or powers associated with it)
3. Therefore Jesus is God

To my friends, if I have missed anything, it's late at night, so please supplement the article in the comment section if required.