There are a number of objections in the to the main doctrines of Christianity, or what are taken to be these doctrines.
Jesus as God
First is the belief that God had a partner in his generation of Jesus: ‘To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: How can He have a son when He has no consort? He created all things, and He has full knowledge of all things’ (6.101). Also we are told: ‘And Exalted is the majesty of our Lord: He has taken neither a wife nor a son’ (72.3). This implies that Christians believe that God had a physical relationship with Mary, something that the New Testament text does not say. There are verses in the that state, or at least strongly imply, that Christians worship Jesus and Mary in addition to God: ‘In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: “Who then has the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all that is on the earth?” For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is in between. He creates what He wishes. For Allah has power over all things’ (5.17). ‘Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger, many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their food. See how Allah makes His signs clear to them [people]; yet see in what ways they turn away from the truth!’ (5.75).
Here we have the implication that Jesus and Mary are treated by Christians as divine. This is not the case; but they are simply human beings who eat and have no more power than anyone else. Jesus is presented as denying any special authority or power by contrast with the total authority of the deity: when Allah says, ‘O Jesus, the son of Mary! Did you say to men, “Worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah?”’ Jesus says: ‘Glory to You! Never could I say what I had no right. Had I said such a thing, you would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, I do not know what is in yours. For you know completely everything that is hidden’ (5.116).
The Trinity
The concept of the Trinity (5.73) is seen as being very problematic, especially if it means that there are three kinds of deity, or that God needs others to help him carry out his purposes. The idea that God is Jesus (5.17) is also highly objectionable, although again whether this really is a Christian mainstream doctrine is dubious. While Christian thinking about God puts Jesus centrestage in order to see the invisible God, the pushes Jesus to the sidelines with God’s other prophets in order that God’s glorious unity not be obscured or confused. The offers a spectrum of opinions of Christianity, from the friendly—‘nearest among them in love to the believers will you find those who say, “We are Christians’” (5.82); ‘those who believe…and the… Christians any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve’ (2.62; 5.69)—to the more hostile—‘O People of the Book, commit no excesses …say not “three”’ (4.171).
The also portrays Christians as fellow believers in Allah who will receive an eschatological reward (2.62; 5.69). Alongside this is a verse describing them as people having ‘a portion of the Book’ who are ‘invited to the [entire] Book of Allah to settle their dispute’, that is, to repent of their incomplete lives and come to the fulfillment that is Islam (3.23). ‘Come to common terms’, 3.64 exhorts, ‘as between us and you’, terms of theological surrender, recognition that the Muslims worship Allah rightly and are not guilty of shirk as are the Christians. Some Christians and Jews do exactly this (3.199), so that ‘not all of them are alike: of the People of the Book are a portion that stand [for the right]’, having already embraced Islam (3.113–114). It is not clear, however, whether they are accepted as monotheists and broadly on the right path while remaining Christians or whether they have to take the step of actual conversion to receive the ultimate reward of heaven.
The punishment of Christians
Contrasted with these converts are ‘those who reject Faith’ and who ‘will be Companions of the Fire, dwelling therein (forever)’ (3.116). And elsewhere, those that, given ‘a portion of the Book… traffic in error, and wish that you should lose the right path’ (4.44). Christians and Jews, then, are subject to a range of critiques. These have yielded an even greater range of interpretations: convergenceminded texts relying on 5.82 on the one hand and bitter anti-Christian polemics relying on the most critical passages. There is a theme that respects Christians as long as they eventually repudiate their mistaken beliefs and revert to the true Islam, which is after all seen as the original faith upheld by Christians before the Gospels were falsified and erroneous beliefs arose over the nature of Jesus.
The predicts that those Christians who ignore its warnings are subject to apocalyptic divine judgement on the Day of Judgement (4.47–49, 172; 5.73). There is scope for God’s mercy, but also the necessity of God’s desire that ‘the truthful will profit from their truth’ (5.119). The objection to Christian practice is Christianity’s shirk, its worship of Jesus, Mary and the saints ‘in derogation of Allah’ (5.116). There is no justification in believing in the Trinity (5.72), for Jesus never would have condoned such a concept (5.116), viewing it as ‘joining other gods with [Allah]’ (4.116) or saying ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’ (5.73). Such practices inevitably confuse Christians and distract them away from the worship of the One True God. The best description of this material is polemic: it is ostensibly directed against Christians, but its audience is surely Muslim, for Christians would see its account of the Trinity as inaccurate.
Many read the not as a criticism of orthodox (i.e. truly Trinitarian and incarnational) Christian theology but of Monophysite and Nestorian Christian theologies that may have predominated in Arabian society in and around the Arabian peninsula. The critique of Christian theology and practice does not ring true of many varieties of Christianity. appeals to Jesus’ true humanity, that he and Mary ‘had both to eat their [daily] food’ (5.75) and that his similitude ‘before Allah is that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”, and he was’ (3.59) are effective only against schools that deny Jesus’ true humanity. Many Christians, like Muslims, would decry those ‘joining other gods with [Allah]’ (4.116). Saying that ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’ (5.73) is more ambiguous. Christians might well argue that worship of Jesus is not worship of someone besides God but worship of God himself. The Three in One doctrine does seem to be very different from the concept of tawhid: ‘For Allah is One God: Glory be to Him: [Far exalted is He] above having a son. To him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. God is sufficient as a disposer of affairs’ (4.171). Christians argue that an emphasis on unity occurs also in the Jewish and Christian bibles, so they would reject the accuracy of this particular version of what the Trinity doctrine means.
Further reading
Goddard, H. (1996) Muslim Perceptions of Christianity, London: Grey Seal.
Robinson, N. (1991) Christ in Islam and Christianity: The representation of Jesus in theand the classical Muslim commentaries, London: Macmillan.
Waardenburg, J. (1999) Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions, New York: Oxford University Press.
to the main doctrines of Christianity, or what are taken to be these doctrines.
that state, or at least strongly imply, that Christians worship Jesus and Mary in addition to God: ‘In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: “Who then has the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all that is on the earth?” For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is in between. He creates what He wishes. For Allah has power over all things’ (5.17). ‘Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger, many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their food. See how Allah makes His signs clear to them [people]; yet see in what ways they turn away from the truth!’ (5.75).
pushes Jesus to the sidelines with God’s other prophets in order that God’s glorious unity not be obscured or confused. The 
offers a spectrum of opinions of Christianity, from the friendly—‘nearest among them in love to the believers will you find those who say, “We are Christians’” (5.82); ‘those who believe…and the… Christians any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve’ (2.62; 5.69)—to the more hostile—‘O People of the Book, commit no excesses …say not “three”’ (4.171).
also portrays Christians as fellow believers in Allah who will receive an eschatological reward (2.62; 5.69). Alongside this is a verse describing them as people having ‘a portion of the Book’ who are ‘invited to the [entire] Book of Allah to settle their dispute’, that is, to repent of their incomplete lives and come to the fulfillment that is Islam (3.23). ‘Come to common terms’, 3.64 exhorts, ‘as between us and you’, terms of theological surrender, recognition that the Muslims worship Allah rightly and are not guilty of shirk as are the Christians. Some Christians and Jews do exactly this (3.199), so that ‘not all of them are alike: of the People of the Book are a portion that stand [for the right]’, having already embraced Islam (3.113–114). It is not clear, however, whether they are accepted as monotheists and broadly on the right path while remaining Christians or whether they have to take the step of actual conversion to receive the ultimate reward of heaven.
predicts that those Christians who ignore its warnings are subject to apocalyptic divine judgement on the Day of Judgement (4.47–49, 172; 5.73). There is scope for God’s mercy, but also the necessity of God’s desire that ‘the truthful will profit from their truth’ (5.119). The 
objection to Christian practice is Christianity’s shirk, its worship of Jesus, Mary and the saints ‘in derogation of Allah’ (5.116). There is no justification in believing in the Trinity (5.72), for Jesus never would have condoned such a concept (5.116), viewing it as ‘joining other gods with [Allah]’ (4.116) or saying ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’ (5.73). Such practices inevitably confuse Christians and distract them away from the worship of the One True God. The best description of this 
material is polemic: it is ostensibly directed against Christians, but its audience is surely Muslim, for Christians would see its account of the Trinity as inaccurate.
not as a criticism of orthodox (i.e. truly Trinitarian 
critique of Christian theology and practice does not ring true of many varieties of Christianity. 
appeals to Jesus’ true humanity, that he and Mary ‘had both to eat their [daily] food’ (5.75) and that his similitude ‘before Allah is that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”, and he was’ (3.59) are effective only against schools that deny Jesus’ true humanity. Many Christians, like Muslims, would decry those ‘joining other gods with [Allah]’ (4.116). Saying that ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’ (5.73) is more ambiguous. Christians might well argue that worship of Jesus is not worship of someone besides God but worship of God himself. The Three in One doctrine does seem to be very different from the concept of 
and the classical Muslim commentaries, London: Macmillan.
