Growing up in the UK, I had a fairly standard education. It suffered the usual Western flaws, of course, but one thing Britain wasn't terrible at teaching at the time is basic math. I learned how to count, add, subtract, divide, and multiply numbers. Because of this, I of course know the most basic sums, such as 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.
But Muslims would argue that, as a Christian, I'm actually not allowed to acknowledge that fact. Because I am a Trinitarian Monotheist, I must, by their logic, believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. In fact, Muslims are so confident in this argument that they have been trained to give it as a default answer to literally any topic, except the one topic where it is actually valuable. To give a few examples of how this plays out:
Muhammad isn't mentioned in the Bible, as he claimed. "You believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!"
The perfect preservation of the Qur'an is as easily refuted as Bible corruption. "You believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!"
The Qur'an says Jews should believe the Torah and Christians should believe the Gospel. "You believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!"
Muhammad's brazen immorality is one of the largest contributing factors to Muslims leaving Islam. "You believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!"
The scientific miracles in the Qur'an argument has long since been debunked, and even the most popular Muslim apologists now admit it. "You believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1!"
Here is a direct response to the argument that Christians believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. "Your Bible is corrupted, the Qur'an is perfectly preserved right down to the letter, there are scientific miracles in the Qur'an...".
Of course, not all Muslims are like this, which is why I have entitled this article "Basic math for basic Muslims", and not "Basic math for competent Muslims with a measurable degree of skill in apologetics". Any competent apologist will recognise the 1 + 1 argument as a double fallacy. The first is the "red herring" fallacy - it is almost always brought up as a distraction from the issue at hand.
But the second is the straw man fallacy. No Christian has ever believed 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. At least, not if you type it into a standard calculator. However, in math, there is a concept of "units". A unit is a thing which, in and of itself, is considered individually, but is also part of a larger group. An inch, for example, is a unit of measurement, because 1 inch is sufficient to be considered individually, but when you combine 12 of them, you get 1 foot.
Now, if you wanted to be extremely sloppy, you could phrase that as 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 1, and it would seem absurd out of context, but in context, it's a sloppy way of stating a true fact. A better way of stating it is 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch + 1 inch = 1 foot. More efficiently, 12 inches = 1 foot. More sloppily, 12 = 1, another absurdity out of context, but another fact in context.
When Muslims claim Christians believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1, they are stating an absurdity because they are using the units and the whole in an equivocal manner. When they say it, they mean 1 God + 1 God + 1 God = 1 God. But that is not what Christians believe. Rather, we believe the one single God who exists is comprised of three coequal, yet personally distinct persons. Thus, the units are 1 Father + 1 Son + 1 Holy Spirit = 1 God.
Interestingly, this is not a concept that is alien to Islam. Aside from the fact even Muslims believe in basic math, even though they tend to forget it when making this argument, they actually believe multiple units can make up a whole. See, as already noted above, Muslims believe there is only one Qur'an, and actually, there are those who believe (erroneously) that the one Qur'an has been miraculously preserved, right down to the letter, from Muhammad's time until today. Coincidentally, these two beliefs tend to coincide. If you believe Trinitarian Monotheism is mathematically incoherent, you are likely to believe in the perfect preservation myth, and if if you believe in the perfect preservation myth, you are likely to believe the Trinity is mathematically incoherent. They are both low level arguments that tend to be believed and expressed by the same kinds of people.
Now, I actually own two Qur'ans. I assume almost every Muslim I talk to will also own at least 1. How is this possible? Do Muslims believe 1 + 1 + 1 = 1? Of course not! They simply believe the Qur'an has several forms of existence.
The first form is the book form. This is the physical form, which is distributed in a finite manner across the world, and is both created and destructible. They have publication dates, they can be treated with religious care, or they can be destroyed - be it by accident, or as an intentional sign of disrespect.
When the latter happens, the Qur'an itself remains intact. A physical copy is destroyed, but there is a "standard" Qur'an, which I'm willing to bet most Muslims at this level do not know the history behind. Nevertheless, for sake of simplicity, we will stick with the standard Islamic narrative: There was a time when there was no Qur'an on Earth, because Muhammad had not yet revealed it, in whole or in part. Furthermore, because it was initially an oral tradition, and not a book, this form actually preceded the physical incarnation.
Finally, there is actually a third form of the Qur'an. Muslims differ on this, since it is not expressly stated in either the Qur'an or the Hadith (at least, not as far as I know), but the Qur'an is considered the eternal speech of Allah, meaning the Qur'an, while not existing independently of Allah, can actually be neither created, nor destroyed. This particular version of the Qur'an is incoherent, because it includes all the verses which Muhammad revealed as part of the Qur'an, then "abrogated" later. It also includes lost verses of the Qur'an, such as the verses of stoning and breast feeding an adult, which Aisha's sheep ate (Sunan Ibn Majah 1944).
So, here we have 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 in Islam! How? Well, 1 physical nature + 1 standardised nature + 1 eternal nature = 1 Qur'an. If we wanted to get extremely ridiculous, we could even divide up the variants of the physical copies (both different individuals and different translations), and also the different human standards (e.g. Uthman's standard vs. all the others) and show that the Qur'an is significantly more than triune, and that's actually true of any book (yes, including the Bible).
God, on the other hand, is objectively Triune. The Father is one, unwavering, invariable person of the Trinity. There is one of Him, and no versions. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is one, unwavering, invariable person of the Trinity. Finally, there is one, unwavering, invariable Son, and there are no versions of Him. You can pile up thousands of Qur'ans, burn half of them, protect the rest, nothing you do will have any effect on the Qur'an. In the same way, when Jesus, Son of God, was crucified, this does not mean God was destroyed.
But it does mean the Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world. He hung on the cross, His body was broken, and at the end of it all, He said "Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46), and He died. There His body lay, His Godhood unaffected, but His life at a temporary end, until the time was fulfilled, and as Isaiah foretold, the Lord prolonged His days (Isaiah 53:10).
My Muslim friends, He did that for you. As it stands, you are an enemy of God, as are all sinners who stand unrepentant, but unlike Allah, who does not love the unbelievers (Qur'an 3:32), "...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). In Islam, there is no guarantee of salvation. In fact, even though Muhammad promised him paradise, Abu Bakr is reported to have said "I would not rest assured and feel safe from the deception of Allah, even if I had one foot in paradise.’" (Khalid Muhammad Khalid, Successors of the Messenger). But John, an Apostle of the Lord Himself, writes by divine guidance "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13).
There is no assurance of salvation in Islam, and in fact, there is only assurance of condemnation, for Christ said that He, and He alone, is the way, the truth, and the life. But there is assurance of salvation in Christ, the One who bridges the gap between God and man, for He is God and Man. If you truly want to know the one God, abandon the false faith of a 7th century deceiver, and receive the faith delivered once, for all, to the saints in the first century (Jude 1:3).
AI usage
AI was used to create the straw man in the header image.