In the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
The Christians’ covenant, and ‘God is the Messiah’ rejected (5:14–18)
And of those who say, ‘Verily, we are Christians,’ we have taken a compact; but they have forgotten a portion of what they were reminded of; wherefore have we excited amongst them enmity and hatred till the resurrection day; but God will tell them of what they have done.
O ye people of the Book! our Apostle has come to you to explain to you much of what ye had hidden of the Book, and to pardon much. There has come to you from God a light, and a perspicuous Book; God guides thereby those who follow His pleasure to the way of peace, and brings them into a right way.
They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the Messiah the son of Mary;’ say, ‘Who has any hold on God, if he wished to destroy the Messiah the son of Mary, and his mother, and those who are on earth altogether?’
20 God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two; He createth what He will, for God is mighty over all!
But the Jews and the Christians say, ‘We are the sons of God and His beloved.’ Say, ‘Why then does He punish you for your sins? nay, ye are mortals of those whom He has created! He pardons whom He pleases, and punishes whom He pleases; for God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, and unto Him the journey is.
Jesus and the Gospel (5:46–47)
50 And we followed up the footsteps of these (prophets) with Jesus the son of Mary, confirming that which was before him and the law, and we brought him the gospel, wherein is guidance and light, verifying what was before it of the law, and a guidance and an admonition unto those who fear.
Then let the people of the gospel judge by that which is revealed therein, for whoso will not judge by what God has revealed, these be the evildoers.
The Messiah, the ‘third of three’, and his mother (5:72–75)
They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the Messiah the son of Mary;’ but the Messiah said, ‘O children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord;’ verily, he who associates aught with God, God hath forbidden him Paradise, and his resort is the Fire, and the unjust shall have none to help them.
They misbelieve who say, ‘Verily, God is the third of three;’ for there is no God but one, and if they do not desist from what they say, there shall touch those who misbelieve amongst them grievous woe.
Will they not turn again towards God and ask pardon of Him? for God is forgiving and merciful.
The Messiah the son of Mary is only a prophet: prophets before him have passed away; and his mother was a confessor; they used both to eat food.—See how we explain to them the signs, yet see how they turn aside!
Jesus and David; the Christians ‘nearest in love’ (5:78–83)
Those of the children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus the son of Mary; that is because they rebelled and did transgress; they would not desist from the wrong they did; evil is that which they did. Thou wilt see many of them taking those who disbelieve for their patrons; evil is that which their souls have sent before them, for God’s wrath is on them, and in the torment shall they dwell for aye. But had they believed in God and the prophet, and what was revealed to him, they had not taken these for their patrons; but many of them are evildoers.
85 Thou wilt surely find that the strongest in enmity against those who believe are the Jews and the idolaters; and thou wilt find the nearest in love to those who believe to be those who say, ‘We are Christians;’ that is because there are amongst them priests and monks, and because they are not proud.
And when they hear what has been revealed to the prophet, you will see their eyes gush with tears at what they recognise as truth therein; and they will say, ‘O our Lord! we believe, so write us down amongst the witnesses. Why should we not believe in God and the truth that is given to us, nor desire that our Lord should make us enter with the upright people?’
The signs of Jesus, the table from heaven, and Jesus before God (5:109–120)
On the day when God shall assemble the apostles and shall say, ‘How were ye answered?’ they will say, ‘We have no knowledge; verily, thou art He who knoweth the unseen.’
When God said, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary! remember my favours towards thee and towards thy mother, when I aided thee with the Holy Ghost, till thou didst speak to men in the cradle and when grown up.
110 ‘And when I taught thee the Book and wisdom and the law and the gospel; when thou didst create of clay, as it were, the likeness of a bird, by my power, and didst blow thereon, it became a bird; and thou didst heal the blind from birth, and the leprous by my permission; and when thou didst bring forth the dead by my permission; and when I did ward off the children of Israel from thee, when thou didst come to them with manifest signs, and those who misbelieved amongst them said, “This is naught but obvious magic.”
‘And when I inspired the apostles that they should believe in him and in my Apostle, they said, “We believe; do thou bear witness that we are resigned.”’
When the apostles said, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary! is thy Lord able to send down to us a table from heaven?’ he said, ‘Fear God, if ye be believers;’ and they said, ‘We desire to eat therefrom that our hearts may be at rest, and that we may know that what thou hast told us is the truth, and that we may be thereby amongst the witnesses.’ Said Jesus the son of Mary, ‘O God, our Lord! send down to us a table from heaven to be to us as a festival,—to the first of us and to the last, and a sign from Thee,—and grant us provision, for Thou art the best of providers.”
115 God said, ‘Verily, I am about to send it down to you; but whoso disbelieves amongst you after that, verily, I will torment him with the torment which I have not tormented any one with in all the worlds.’
And when God said, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary! is it thou who didst say to men, take me and my mother for two gods, beside God?’ He said, ‘I celebrate Thy praise! what ails me that I should say what I have no right to? If I had said it, Thou wouldst have known it; Thou knowest what is in my soul, but I know not what is in Thy soul; verily, Thou art one who knoweth the unseen. I never told them save what Thou didst bid me,—“Worship God, my Lord and your Lord,” and I was a witness against them so long as I was amongst them; but when Thou didst take me away to thyself Thou wert the watcher over them, for Thou art witness over all. If Thou shouldst punish them, verily, they are Thy servants; if Thou shouldst forgive them, verily, Thou art the mighty and the wise. God said, ‘This is the day when their confession shall profit the confessors, for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever and for aye.’
God is well pleased with them, and they well pleased with Him; that is the mighty happiness.
120 God’s is the kingdom of the heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, and He is mighty over all.
