The Trinity of the Maryamiyya Sect

Before Islam in the fifth century A.D. a heretical doctrine appeared. (A heretical doctrine is an untrue and strange teaching of an infidel or a heretic.) The adherents of this doctrine were heathens who embraced Christianity. As pagans they worshipped the planet Venus and said that it was the queen of heaven. After embracing Christianity they tried to associate what they had worshipped with Christian doctrine. They considered Mary as queen of heaven or goddess of heaven instead of Venus. Consequently, they called themselves Mariamists. They came to believe that there are three gods: God, Mary, and Christ.

The Christian Attitude towards this Counterfeit Trinity

The Christian Church fought against this heresy as soon as it appeared, opposed their teaching, and deprived them of the communion of faith and excommunicated all their followers. By the end of the seventh century A.D. this doctrine was blotted out, and its adherents had disappeared completely. The Church confirmed its most holy belief that the blessed Mary is a human being and not a goddess. The Church continued to affirm that God is one, with only one essence, speaking the Word, and alive in Spirit. The Word of God dwelt in the body of the Lord Christ, Great is the secret of godliness, that God appeared in the flesh. (I Timothy 3:16)

The Attitude of Islam

When Islam appeared in the seventh century A.D., it also found some adherents of this Mariamist doctrine and their trinity (not the Trinity of Christianity). This is clear from the following verses:

Sura al-Ma'ida 5:116: Then Allah will say, 'Jesus, son of Mary, did you ever say to mankind, 'Worship me and my mother as gods beside Allah?' It is clear that the objection here is intended to be against the Mariamists who proclaimed that Mary is a goddess, and that is what Christianity also denies.

Sura al-An`am 6:110: Lord, creator of the heavens and the earth, how does he have a son when he did not have a wife?! Likewise, this verse objects to the Mariamist teaching that Mary is a goddess, that she became God's wife, and that through her He gave birth to a child.

Sura al-Ikhlas 112: God is one. God is eternal. He did not give birth nor was He born, nor has He an equal. This is the answer to the Mariamist doctrine which purported that, there are three gods - the Father, the mother and the son, and that this son came by procreation.

Sura al-Ma'ida 5:73: Unbelievers are those that say, 'Allah is one of three.' There is but one God. This confirms what was said and denies what Mariamists purport - the existence of three gods!

You can see clearly from this discussion that Islam did not fight the belief of Christianity that God is one. He has one nature, speaking the Word, alive in the Spirit, as the Qur'an says, Jesus the son of Mary is the messenger of God and His word...and a Spirit from Him. (Sura al-Nisa 4:171) But Islam fights another trinity, the trinity of the Mariamist doctrine. They fight those who consider the blessed Mary a goddess who gave birth to Christ by means of procreation after God had married her.

Christianity abhorred and fought against this concept excommunicated its adherents. As for the principle belief of Christianity, it is the belief in one God in a Trinity: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.

External Link: www.the-good-way.com