Do the Qur’an and Hadith present the right interpretation of what the term “Son of God” means?

    During the last days I’ve been studying about the theological and prophetical meaning of the terms Messiah, Son of Man and Son of God. I’ve been doing a research from both biblical and Qur’anic point of view. I came across the article titled “Jesus Christ – Son Of God?: The meaning of Son of God” (http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/547/). Interestingly, this article presents a view that contradicts the position of other Muslims. It recognizes that:

“No legitimate Christian sect suggests that God took a wife and had a child, and most certainly none conceive that God fathered a child through a human mother outside of marriage.  Furthermore, to suggest that God physically mated with an element of His creation is so far beyond the limits of religious tolerance as to plummet down the sheer cliff of blasphemy, chasing the mythology of the Greeks”. 

  The article concludes agreeing with The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion which “confirms that in Jewish idiom “Son of God” is clearly metaphorical.”

    

    I was puzzled with this assertion and decided to check alternate respected sources to understand what the traditional Muslim scholars thought about this is. First, I reviewed a couple Qur’anic Tafsirs on Surah 6 ayat 101.

[6:101] To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: How can He have a son when He hath no consort? He created all things, and He hath full knowledge of all things.

 

   

    The tafsir of Ibn Kathir (1301 – 1373 CE) presents the following commentary, clearly indicating that calling someone son of Allah means that Allah had a spouse and physically or sexually conceived a child:

”6:101 ’[…] How can He have children when He has no wife!‘

for the child is the offspring of two compatible spouses. Allah does not have an equal, none of His creatures are similar to Him, for He alone created the entire creation.

And they say: "The Most Beneficent (Allah) has begotten a son.'' Indeed you have brought forth (said) a terrible evil thing. (19:88-89) […]

6:101 ‘[…]He created all things and He is the All-Knower of everything.’

He has created everything and He is All-Knower of all things. How can He have a wife from His creation who is suitable for His majesty, when there is none like Him! How can He have a child then! Verily, Allah is Glorified above having a son.”

 

    The tafsir al-Jalalayn (Tafsir of the Two Jalals, classical Sunni tafsir of the Qur'an, composed first by Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli in 1459 and then completed by his student Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti in 1505)  translated the verse as follows:

“He is, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, which He originated uniquely without precedent; how should He have a son, when He has no consort, spouse, and He created everything, that was meant to be created, and He has knowledge of all things?”

 

    Another classic tafsir, the Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas  (one of the most prominent Sunni Tafsir, attributed to Abd-Allah ibn Abbas and hence called "Tafsir Ibn Abbas” collected by Abu Tahir Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Fayruz (1329-1414)),  presented the following commentary:

“(The Originator) the Creator (of the heavens and the earth!) He created them when they were nothing before such creation. (How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort) no wife, (when He created all things and is Aware of all things) of all created beings?”

 

    The Kashani Tafsir (1375 CE) explains with more detail, from the Shia point of view:

"The Originator of the heavens and the earth, that is, One without analogue or equal in the heavens of the world of spirits and the earth of the world of bodies: how should He have a son, that is to say, how can anything be equal to Him, when He has no consort, since a consort can only be [a consort] through a correspondence in genus, whereas He does not share a correspondence with any genus and since He does not share a correspondence in genus with anything nothing can be equal to Him. Thus there can be no equal of Him from whom something would be generated; and He created everything, by His specification [thereof], [each] entified in His essence and is existentiated through His existence and not because that thing is an existent like Him; and He has knowledge of all things: His knowledge encompasses intellects, souls and other things just as His existence encompasses theirs, while these [things] are encompassed and cannot encompass His knowledge and has no knowledge except through His knowledge and do not exist except through His existence. Thus they are not equal to Him since in themselves they are non-existent and how can a non-existent be equal to the Absolute Existent? "

 

    In case our readers are not aware, the word genus is a term commonly used in biology to define the usual major subdivision of a family or subfamily in the classification of organisms. It also means a class or group of individuals, or of species of individuals (source: dictionary.com). So Kashani says how can God have a son of different class than his? Or how can God have a wife, if the wife is of different class or genera? It clearly says How can a Spiritual being like God have a human wife and conceive a human child? It’s clear that the perception from the Muslim interpreters is in condemnation if anyone who claimed that God beget Isa Son of Mary through a physical relationship. However the term "Son of God" in the context of christianity doesn't mean that. For Christians do not believe that Isa was created, but rather He is eternal; christians do not believe that the incarnation occurred through physical mating but through The Power of The Holy Spirit.

 

    Finally, checking the hadith, I found the following comment on the Al-Bukhari book 97 - Oneness, Uniqueness of Allah- Number 65:

“The Prophet then said, "Somebody will then announce, 'Let every nation follow what they used to worship.' […]. Then Hell will be presented to them as if it were a mirage. Then it will be said to the Jews, "What did you use to worship?' They will reply, 'We used to worship Ezra, the son of Allah.' It will be said to them, 'You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son. What do you want (now)?' They will reply, 'We want You to provide us with water.' Then it will be said to them 'Drink,' and they will fall down in Hell (instead). Then it will be said to the Christians, 'What did you use to worship?' They will reply, 'We used to worship Messiah, the son of Allah.' It will be said, 'You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son.”

http://sunnah.com/bukhari/97/65

 

    We have presented sufficient evidence from Sunni Tafsirs, Shia Tafsirs and Sahih hadiths. This evidence lead  to conclude that the Qur’an, the Prophet of Islam and most respected classic scholars understood that the term “Son Of God” meant that God would have had a wife and a son in from the carnal and physical perspective. 

   The main issue with all this is, once again, if the All Knowing God is the Author of the Qur’an, why then does it present a false precept? If The Prophet of Islam received the pure words of God, why then presenting a false testimony about christianity? As the portal islamreligion.com mentioned, no legitimate Christian sect suggests that God took a wife and had a child.

    Please think about it.