The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 12
CH. 19 MARYAM PT. 16 His attribute "All- Knowing" and when God's knowledge is shown to be defective, He cannot claim to be (All- Sufficient) because the Being Who is J (All-Knowing) must necessarily be (All-Sufficient). interjection, joining the first two contradicts Divine attributes with the last two. Thus the explanation of the combined abbreviated letters would read like this: toes of es i. e. "Thou art Sufficient for all and Thou art the true Guide, O, All-Knowing, Truthful God. " Or expanding its sense a little further the expression would mean, "Thou O God, Who knowest all my secrets and art true to Thy promises and art a true Friend, Thou alone canst satisfy all my needs and Thou alone canst guide me. " The four Divine attributes as represented by the combined letters expose the falsity of the basic Christian doctrine of Atonement, i. e. salvation through the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus which forms one of the principal subjects of the Surah under comment. And if the doctrine of Atonement is proved to be false, the whole structure of the doctrines of the Trinity and godhead of Jesus would automatically fall to the ground. كان Of these four attributes № or and are the principal and basic attributes and and are subordinate ones and flow from the former two and are their inevitable manifestation and result. If God is № (All-Knowing), then there is no place for the dogma of Atonement because this dogma presupposes that God had designed to carry on the business of the world according to a certain plan but His knowledge being defective that plan failed to function and, therefore, God was compelled to offer His own son for sacrifice to save the world. The failure of God's plan In the same way the attribute o (Truthful) and its subordinate attribute to (Guide) demolish this dogma. If God is not the true Guide and salvation without a belief in the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus is impossible, then all Divine Messengers will have to be accepted as so many liars and cheats because, contrary to Christian belief, they preached and taught that salvation was possible only through right beliefs and righteous actions; and a reflection on the truthfulness of God's Messengers constitutes a reflection on the truthfulness of God Himself and consequently on His being the True Guide. Thus in this combination of abbreviated letters a hint is given that in dealing with the beliefs and doctrines of Christians, the best way to drive home to them the untenability of their doctrines is to dwell and lay emphasis upon Divine attributes, particularly on the attributes which are represented by the four letters 5,0, &,00. 1926 i. e. In fact the best and most effective argument to show that the doctrine of Atonement is entirely unfounded, is to prove that Jesus did not die on the cross and if this thesis is proved, then the question that by his crucifixion he carried away the sins of humanity does not arise. For a detailed and full discussion, however, of the subject