Can you explain the Shema, Tawhid, and the Christian declaration of faith to Muslims?
By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10
To explain Christianity to Muslims who are familiar with the Shema in Judaism and Tawhid in Islam, one must begin with the fundamental fact: Christianity is strictly monotheistic.
A common misconception among Muslims is that Christians worship three gods (tritheism) or that God took a consort to produce offspring. Both of these ideas are completely rejected as blasphemous heresies by the Orthodox Church.
Understanding the differences requires looking at how each tradition defines the oneness of God and how the Christian Declaration of Faith (the Nicene Creed) articulates monotheism.
1. The Shema (Judaism)
The foundation of biblical monotheism is found in Deuteronomy 6:4:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
- The Core Truth: The Shema was given to the Israelites to separate them from the polytheism and idol worship of the surrounding pagan nations. It proclaims that there is only one Creator and Master of the universe.
- The Christian Reception: Christians accept the Shema entirely. In the Gospel of Mark (12:29), the Lord Jesus Christ Himself cited the Shema as the first and greatest commandment. However, while the Old Testament established the oneness of God's nature, it contained veiled shadows of the Trinity (e.g., God speaking in the plural in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image", and the activity of the Spirit of God and the Word of the Lord throughout the prophets), which were fully revealed in the New Testament with the Incarnation of the Son of God.
2. Tawhid (Islam)
In Islam, Tawhid signifies an absolute, mathematical unitarianism.
- The Formulation: Expressed primarily in the Shahada ("There is no god but Allah...") and Surat Al-Ikhlas ("Say: He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Eternal Refuge; He neither begets nor is born...").
- The View of God: In Tawhid, God is an absolute monad—a single Person. Any attribution of plurality, even within the inner life of God, is regarded as shirk (association or polytheism).
- The Misconception: The Quranic critique of the Trinity reflects a misunderstanding of Christian theology, appearing to condemn a triad of God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary (e.g., Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:116). Christianity has never taught this; such an idea is a pagan concept that the Church has always condemned.
3. The Christian Declaration of Faith (The Nicene Creed)
The universal declaration of the Christian faith begins explicitly with the confession of monotheism:
"Truly we believe in One God..."
(Note: [Nouti], meaning "God", is a native Coptic word).
Christian monotheism is not unitarianism; it is Trinitarian Monotheism. Christians do not believe in three gods, but in One God in three Divine Persons (Hypostases): the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
How to Explain the Trinity to Muslims:
Early Alexandrian and Arab-Christian apologists (such as Severus ibn al-Muqaffa and Abu al-Barakat ibn Kabar) explained the Trinity to the Muslim world using logic and Scripture:
- One Essence:
- There is only one divine substance, one divine will, one power, and one divine nature. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three separate entities, nor do they divide the divine nature among themselves. They are co-eternal and consubstantial (of one essence).
- The Three Hypostases (Persons):
God is not a static, solitary monad who lacked love or expression before creating the universe. God has an eternal, active inner life:
- The Father: The eternal origin, fountainhead, and unbegotten source of the Godhead. He is God the Essence (Dhat).
- *The Son (The Word / - Pi-Logos, Greek loanword): The eternal Mind, Wisdom, and Reason (Nutq*) of God. He is eternally begotten of the Father before all time—not by physical reproduction, but as light is begotten of fire, or as a thought is generated in the mind.
- *The Holy Spirit (- Pi-Pnevma Ethowab, where Pnevma is a Greek loanword and Ethowab is native Coptic): The eternal Life (Hayah*) of God, proceeding eternally from the Father.
- The Argument of Divine Attributes:
If a Muslim affirms that God is:
- Existing in His Essence,
- Expressing Himself through His eternal Word/Reason,
- Alive by His Spirit,
...then to deny the Word and the Spirit of God their eternal, intrinsic divinity would mean imagining a God who was at some point without Reason (mute) or without Life (lifeless). Christians state that God has never existed without His eternal Word and His eternal Spirit.
- The Incarnation:
In Christian theology, when we say Jesus is the "Son of God," it refers entirely to a spiritual, eternal relationship, not a carnal one. The eternal Word of God took flesh, uniting humanity to His divinity in the womb of the Virgin Mary, to redeem mankind from the curse of sin and death.
Summary Comparison
| Concept | The Shema (Judaism) | Tawhid (Islam) | Christian Declaration of Faith (The Creed) |
|:--- |:--- |:--- |:--- |
| Number of Gods | One | One | One |
| Nature of Oneness | Monotheistic, though the inner life of God is not yet fully revealed in the Old Testament. | Strict Unitarianism (Wahdaniyyah). God is a single, solitary numerical Person. | Trinitarian Monotheism. One single divine essence (Ousia) subsisting in three distinct Divine Persons (Hypostases). |
| The Word of God | Revealed through the Law and the Prophets. | The Quran (uncreated speech of God according to orthodox Sunni theology, yet distinct from a person). | A Divine Person, eternally begotten of the Father, who became incarnate as Jesus Christ for our salvation. |
| Common Misunderstandings | Accuses Christianity of polytheism due to rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. | Accuses Christianity of shirk (association) by wrongly assuming the Trinity means three separate gods or physical fatherhood. | Monotheism is uncompromised: We worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—one God, undivided in essence and glory. |