Thomas: (Pt.4) Why did Islam become Anti-Trinitarian?

Thomas now has his own YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXPr9Vbibc7wIXJT3_ym-dQ So, exactly which anti-Trinitarian influences existed in the 7th century in the East which had an influence on what later became Islam, and how did the church react? To answer that Thomas gave us an exciting 'overview' of what exactly was happening in the 7th and 8th centuries within Christian circles in the East, which had an impact on what then became an anti-Trinitarian Islam, begun with Abd al-Malik in the late 7th century, but then carried on throughout the 8th century, until it was picked up by the Abbasids, embellished and then made canonical by the them, first in their holy book the Qur'an, and later in their theological treatises against Jesus, his divinity, and the trinity. But to understand what he is saying, we need to first recap what we have learned. Thomas tells us that the Eastern (Sassanid) Syrian Christians were not Hellenistic, like their counterparts in the West. They based their teaching on the Old Testament, and thus considered Jesus as 'Son of God' as merely an honorary title, and not divine at all. Following the 410 AD 'Council of Ctesiphon', the Nestorian church in the East adopted the 'Nicene Creed' as their theological authority and thus introduced a more Hellenistic Western view of Jesus' divinity onto the Eastern Persian churches, which forced the anti-Trinitarianists into smaller and outlying pockets, primarily in the East. The Qur'an came from these anti-Trinitarian pre-Nicene Arab Syrians, who followed a strict monotheism, which confronted the trinity, and adopted legalistic subservience to Jesus and the Law, whose model was later transferred to Muhammad. One can see examples of their changing theology in the Qur'an itself, such as passages found in Surahs 10:3; 16:2; and 17:85, where references to the Logos are considered merely the spirit, or an angel from god. Furhter examples are in the Meccan Surahs, which Thomas believes are early sermons of early Syrian missionaries. The Old Testament, and the Jewish Apocrypha were important to them, and they followed the Aramaic Diatesseron as their gospel account of Jesus life and sayings, later replaced by the 4 gospels, leading many to suggest that Gospels had been changed, a view of falsification which exists even today. As the Arabs from the East began to take over the church in the Middle East, there were Christian leaders who began to react to this Arab Hagerism. Three of them are important to note: 1) Iso'yaw III (d. 659), the Patriarch of the East (a sort of 'pope' of the Nestorian church) wrote that he considered these Hagarene Arabs (note, not Muslims) friendly, and helpful, and even preferred them to the Byzantine Monophysites. 2) Anastasius Sinaita (d. 700), from Orthodox Catholicism, warned about these Arabs, who had false assumptions concerning Christianity, suggesting Christians believed in 2 gods, and so warned Christians to be careful of them. 3) John of Damascus (d. 750), a Catholic Theologian in the Caliphal court in Damascus, considered the Arabs as a Christian heresy, and wrote polemically against them in his book on the Heresies. He believed that they rejected Jesus' crucifixion, though it is hard to know if this was his original text, since we don't have any extant manuscripts of his writings, and we do know that some of his references to heresies were later interpolations. Note how the reaction of these three Christian leaders in the East become increasing alarmed and more polemical over the course of 90 years, suggesting that the new Arab anti-Trinitarianism did indeed become an increasing problem for the church during this period. The word 'MHMT' was first introduced on coins in 660 AD which were minted in the East (Persia), and not in the Hijaz. From there the word moved West. In 693 AD Abd al-Malik mints a coin with an image of someone holding a large 'flamed' sword at his side. Most believe this is an image of abd al-Malik himself, in a triumphalist defiance of his conquest of Justinian II a year earlier. Volker Popp (and Thomas) believe its an image of an eschatological Jesus at the end of time, and the sword is for the final execution. The staff on the reverse, according to Popp and Thomas, was a competing new form of Christianity, throwing out the Byzantine cross, and replacing it with a mere staff on a pedestal, as the Eastern anti-Trinitarians did not believe in the role of the cross, since they considered salvation was attained not by God, but by following the example of Jesus himself. So, what exactly is Abd al-Maliks role in bringing in this anti-Trinitarian ethos into Islam? That is the next area Thomas will look at, because of his influence on what subsequently will become Islam during the later Abbasid period. © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2021 (60,300) Music: "Travels" by Aleksound, from filmmusic-io