What Is the Islamic View about the Belief System of Arianism?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
A few years ago, I read a book called “100 Great People of Islam That Changed The Course of History” by Jihad al-Turbani.
That was when I first learned about Arius and Arianism. Now, I find myself wondering if Arianism was a sound belief.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
Arianism was closer to the truth than Trinitarian Christianity because it rejected the idea that the Prophet Jesus (Isa, upon him be peace) is co-eternal and of the same essence as God. However, it was still not a sound belief.
We do not have reliable evidence that it truly reflects what the Prophet Jesus (upon him be peace) taught.
Also, after the coming of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), the only sound and accepted belief is the complete and final message he brought.
Arius was a priest in Alexandria in the early fourth century. He taught that the person Christians call the Son was not co-eternal with God the Father or of the same essence. Instead, he believed the Son was created by God and was subordinate to Him.
The well-known Arian phrase was that there was a time when the Son did not exist. The main Church rejected this view at the Council of Nicaea in 325, declaring instead that the Son is of one essence with the Father.
This became the foundation of the Trinitarian creed that most Christians follow to this day.
Why It Stood Closer to Monotheism
By denying that the Prophet Jesus (upon him be peace) is co-eternal and of the same essence as God, Arianism came closer to affirming God’s absolute oneness than the Trinitarian creed, which makes Jesus (upon him be peace) a co-equal divine person with God (Allah forbid).
From a Muslim perspective, Arianism moved in the right direction by teaching that God is one and that Jesus (upon him be peace) is not equal to Him.
Why It Was Still Not Sound
Despite this, Arianism cannot be considered a sound belief for several reasons.
Even taken on its own terms, it did not arrive at the pure monotheism that Islam teaches, since it still regarded Jesus (upon him be peace) as a pre-existent, created son and a divine intermediary, whereas the Quran teaches that he was purely a servant and messenger of God, neither divine nor a son in any sense whatsoever.
Allah (Most High) says, “The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul created at a command from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers.
And do not say, ‘Three’; desist, it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God.” [Quran, 4:171]
In addition, there is no reliable evidence that Arius’s teachings truly reflect what the Prophet Jesus (upon him be peace) actually taught. Arianism appeared about three centuries after Jesus (upon him be peace), during a time of internal Christian debate.
Over the years, the scriptures of earlier prophets were changed and distorted, so the texts that remain cannot be trusted as accurate records of Jesus’s original message.
Calling any later theological view the true teaching of Jesus (upon him be peace) goes beyond what the evidence supports.
Most decisively of all, after the final revelation, the only sound and accepted belief is Islam as completed and perfected through the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).
The messages of all the prophets shared a single core, the worship of the one God, yet each earlier dispensation was abrogated by what came after it, and all of them have now been completed and superseded by the final revelation.
Allah (Most High) says, “And whoever desires other than Islam as religion, never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.” [Quran, 3:85]
Even a teaching authentically traceable to a former prophet is now to be embraced only as confirmed and completed by the message of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace).
A Closing Reflection
Learning about someone like Arius is valuable because it shows that even in early Christianity, not everyone agreed that the Prophet Jesus (upon him be peace) was divine. Some people still held on to the original call to worship one God.
The Quran came to resolve this long-standing debate, remove later additions, and restore the pure monotheism taught by all prophets.
And Allah (Most High) knows best.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
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Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.
