At the same time, in the Koran, unlike the Bible, there is no idea of the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. Rather, it says that Allah created man in his own image, or in the image in which He willed (see Qur'an 64:3, 82:6-8).

In addition, Islam has the idea that God is the source of not only good, but also evil. It is related to the doctrine of predestination and will be discussed in detail in the next chapter.

What are the differences from Christian teaching?

Naturally, the Muslim idea that God Himself creates all the actions of living beings (angels, people, animals, insects, etc.), including physiological and even sinful ones, contradicts the Christian teaching that God once created the world and the laws by which it is governed and, supporting it by His providence, after six days of creation He does not create anything new; that God has given true freedom to His creation, so that each person is the true creator of his own works, and therefore deservedly bears responsibility for them.

Naturally, the teaching about the Arabic text of the Qur'an as an eternal and unchanging attribute of God contradicts the revelation received by Christians. It is very perplexing to believe that the Arabic language has always existed, and that, for example, the surahs "The Cow" or "The Spider" are attributes of God and existed before the creation of the world, as well as the abuse contained in the Koran against Abu Lahab and his wife, Muhammad's personal enemies, and so on.

It is not surprising that this teaching met with criticism even among Muslims themselves. Thus, in the eighth and tenth centuries, the theological movement of the Mu'tazilites rebelled against the dogma of the uncreated Qur'an, rightly pointing out that the assumption of the eternity of the Qur'an is tantamount to endowing it with a divine property, or, in other words, recognizing a second god along with Allah. Obviously, this violates the principle of monotheism. The Mu'tazilites disappeared under the yoke of persecution, but their arguments are still reasonable today. After all, the Qur'an is not identical with God (no one would call a copy of the book God), and at the same time it is inseparably merged with Him and has divine properties. What kind of monotheism can we talk about here?

However, these are all rather secondary points compared to the main one. As we remember, the central dogma in Islam is the assertion of monotheism. Surah 112 of the Qur'an is considered to be the most accurate expression of it: "Say: 'He - Allah - is one, Allah, eternal; He did not begat or be begotten, and none was equal to Him!'" (Qur'an 112:1-4).

Here the author of the Qur'an consciously separates the Islamic concept of God from the Christian one, where, on the contrary, God is revered as the Begetter (Father), the Begotten (the Son) and the Outgoing (the Holy Spirit): "We confess that God is one, that is, one essence, and that He is known and exists in three hypostases; that is, in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in all things one, except the unbegotten, and the birth, and the procession."9

Elsewhere in the Qur'an, the polemics with the most important Christian dogmas about God – the Trinity and the Incarnation of God – appear even more vividly:

"O Owners of the Scriptures! Do not superfluous in your religion, and do not speak against Allah except the truth. After all, Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, is only the Messenger of Allah and His word that He threw to Mary, and His spirit. So believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not say "three." Hold on, this is the best for you, Indeed, Allah is only one god. He is more praiseworthy than to have a child" (Qur'an 4:171). "How shall He have a child, since He had no mate, and when He created all things?" (Qur'an 6.101)

"Those who said, 'Allah is the third of the three' did not believe, whereas there is no other deity but the one God. And if they do not refrain from what they say, a painful punishment will affect those of them who do not believe" (Qur'an 5:73).

"And they said, 'The Merciful One has taken a son.' You have done a vile thing! The heavens are about to be dissolved because of this, and the earth will be opened, the mountains will fall to dust because they have ascribed a son to the Merciful. It is not fitting for the Merciful to take a son for Himself. Whoever is in the heavens and on earth comes to the Merciful only as a servant" (Qur'an 19:88-93).

At the same time, as can be seen, the author of the Qur'an expounds the Christian teaching about God erroneously, which reaches its climax in the idea that the Christian Trinity consists of God, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary: "And then Allah said: 'O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say to the people, "Accept me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?" (5.116).