It is no surprise now to those who have spent enough time witnessing and/or debating Muslims that the Islamic god prays and worships in a similar fashion to the way Muhammadans do. This is affirmed by the following Quranic passages:

Upon them rest the prayers and mercy from their Lord (salawatun min rabbihim warahmatun), and those — they are the truly guided. S. 2:157 Our translation

Contrast this with the following English version:

They are those on whom are the Salawat (i.e. blessings [sic], etc.) (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones. Hilali-Khan

There’s more:

He it is who prays (yusallee)¹ for you and His angels too, to bring you forth out of the darkness into the light, for He is merciful to the believers. S. 33:43 (Edward Henry Palmer, The Qur’an, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

Here’s  a rather interesting footnote from Palmer regarding the Quranic usage of the Arabic word for “prays”, e.g. salla:

145:1 The same word is used as is rendered ‘pray’ in ALL THE OTHER PASSAGES in the Qur’ân, though the commentators interpret it here as meaning ‘bless.’ So, too, in the formula which is always used after Mohammed’s name, zalla ’llâhu ‘alâihi wa sallam, ‘may God bless and preserve him!’ is literally, ‘may God PRAY for him and salute him!‘ (Bold and capital emphasis ours)

Palmer’s comments show that Muslims have no way around the fact that their deity prays much in the same way that creatures like angels do, since the Arabic word used here always means prayer whenever it is used in the Quran.

Allah even joins his creation to pray for Muhammad:

Verily, God AND His angels PRAY (yusalloona) for the prophet. O ye who believe! PRAY (salloo) for him and salute him with a salutation! S. 33:56 Palmer

The ahadith also confirm that Muhammad’s deity prays along with his creation:

1387. Abu Umama reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “ALLAH AND His angels AND the people of the heavens AND the earth, EVEN the ants in their rocks AND the fish, PRAY for blessings on those who teach people good.” [at-Tirmidhi] (Aisha Bewley, Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the Righteous), Book of Knowledge, 241. Chapter: the excellence of knowledge; capital and italicized emphasis mine)

1397. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As reported the Messenger of Allah says, “Anyone who says a prayer on me, Allah will PRAY on him ten times on account of it.” [Muslim] (Ibid., 243. Chapter: Book on the Prayer on the Messenger of Allah; italicized emphasis mine)

2685. Abu Umamah al-Bahili narrated: “Two men were mentioned before the Messenger of Allah. One of them a worshipper, and the other a scholar. So the Messenger of Allah said: ‘The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like my superiority over the least of you.’ Then the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Indeed ALLAH, His Angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earths – even the ant in his hole, even the fish – SAY SALAT upon the one who teaches the people to do good. (Hasan)

[Abu ‘Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Gharib Sahih… (English Translation of Jami‘ At-Tirmidhi, Compiled by Imam Hafiz ‘Eisa Mohammad Ibn ‘Eisa At-Tirmidhi, From Hadith no. 2606 to 3290, translated by Abu Khaliyl (USA), ahadith edited and referenced by Hafiz Abu Tahir Zubair ‘Ali Za’i, final review by Islamic Research Section Darussalam [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, First Edition: November 2007], Volume 5, Chapter 19. What Has Been Related About the Superiority Of Fiqh Over Worship, p. 80 – listed as number 70 in the ALIM online version of at-Tirmidhi’s hadith collection; capital and italicized emphasis mine)

What may come as a total shock for most is that rabbinic Jews believe that their god also prays!

In fact, the god of rabbinic Judaism (who is not the true God of the Holy Bible) even asks people to pray blessings upon him.

This comes right out of the Babylonian Talmud, just as the following citations proves:

אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי יוֹסֵי: מִנַּיִן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִתְפַּלֵּל? שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וַהֲבִיאוֹתִים אֶל הַר קָדְשִׁי וְשִׂמַּחְתִּים בְּבֵית תְּפִלָּתִי״, ״תְּפִלָּתָם״ לֹא נֶאֱמַר, אֶלָּא ״תְּפִלָּתִי״, מִכָּאן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִתְפַּלֵּל.

Along the same lines, Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Yosei: From where is it derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, prays? As it is stated: “I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in the house of My prayer” (Isaiah 56:7). The verse does not say the house of their prayer, but rather, “the house of My prayer”; from here we see that the Holy One, Blessed be He, prays.

מַאי מְצַלֵּי?

The Gemara asks: What does God pray?

אָמַר רַב זוּטְרָא בַּר טוֹבִיָּה, אָמַר רַב: ״יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנַי שֶׁיִּכְבְּשׁוּ רַחֲמַי אֶת כַּעֲסִי, וְיִגּוֹלּוּ רַחֲמַי עַל מִדּוֹתַי, וְאֶתְנַהֵג עִם בָּנַי בְּמִדַּת רַחֲמִים, וְאֶכָּנֵס לָהֶם לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין״.

Rav Zutra bar Tovia said that Rav said:

God says: May it be My will that My mercy will overcome My anger towards Israel for their transgressions, and may My mercy prevail over My other attributes through which Israel is punished, and may I conduct myself toward My children, Israel, with the attribute of mercy, and may I enter before them beyond the letter of the law.

תַּנְיָא, אָמַר רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּן אֱלִישָׁע: פַּעַם אַחַת, נִכְנַסְתִּי לְהַקְטִיר קְטוֹרֶת לִפְנַי וְלִפְנִים, וְרָאִיתִי אַכְתְּרִיאֵל יָהּ ה׳ צְבָאוֹת, שֶׁהוּא יוֹשֵׁב עַל כִּסֵּא רָם וְנִשָּׂא, וְאָמַר לִי: ״יִשְׁמָעֵאל בְּנִי, בָּרְכֵנִי!״ אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ: ״יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ, שֶׁיִּכְבְּשׁוּ רַחֲמֶיךָ אֶת כַּעַסְךָ, וְיִגּוֹלּוּ רַחֲמֶיךָ עַל מִדּוֹתֶיךָ, וְתִתְנַהֵג עִם בָּנֶיךָ בְּמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים, וְתִכָּנֵס לָהֶם לִפְנִים מִשּׁוּרַת הַדִּין״. וְנִעְנַע לִי בְּרֹאשׁוֹ. וְקָמַשְׁמַע לַן, שֶׁלֹּא תְּהֵא בִּרְכַּת הֶדְיוֹט קַלָּה בְּעֵינֶיךָ.

Similarly, it was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, the High Priest, said: Once, on Yom Kippur, I entered the innermost sanctum, the Holy of Holies, to offer incense, and in a vision I saw Akatriel Ya, the Lord of Hosts, one of the names of God expressing His ultimate authority, seated upon a high and exalted throne (see Isaiah 6).

And He said to me: Yishmael, My son, bless Me.

I said to Him the prayer that God prays:

“May it be Your will that Your mercy overcome Your anger, and may Your mercy prevail over Your other attributes,  and may You act toward Your children with the attribute of mercy, and may You enter before them beyond the letter of the law.”

The Holy One, Blessed be He, nodded His head and accepted the blessing. This event teaches us that you should not take the blessing of an ordinary person lightly. If God asked for and accepted a man’s blessing, all the more so that a man must value the blessing of another man. (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot, Chapter 1, 7a https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.7a?lang=bi)

Here’s another English rendering:

R. Johanan says in the name of R. Jose: How do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, says prayers? Because it says: Even them will I bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer.¹ It is not said, ‘their prayer’, but ‘My prayer’; hence [you learn] that the Holy One, blessed be He, says prayers. What does He pray? — R. Zutra b. Tobi said in the name of Rab: ‘May it be My will that My mercy may suppress My anger, and that My mercy may prevail over My [other] attributes, so that I may deal with My children in the attribute of mercy and, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice’.² It was taught: R. Ishmael b. Elisha says: I once entered into the innermost part [of the Sanctuary] to offer incense and saw Akathriel Jah,3 the Lord of Hosts, seated upon a high and exalted throne. He said to me: Ishmael, My son, bless Me! I replied: May it be Thy will that Thy mercy may suppress Thy anger and Thy mercy may prevail over Thy other attributes, so that Thou mayest deal with Thy children according to the attribute of mercy and mayest, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice! And He nodded to me with His head. Here we learn [incidentally] that the blessing of an ordinary man must not be considered lightly in your eyes.

1. Ibid. LVI, 7. ‘In the house of My prayer’.

2. I.e., not exact the full penalty from them.

3. Lit., ‘crown of God’. (Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth, Folio 7)

So there you have it. The gods of rabbinic Judaism and Islam pray and worship much like their devotees do.

And yet both these groups have a problem with Christ being God in the flesh solely because he is depicted in the Gospels as praying to God the Father!

The beams in the eyes of these rabbinic Jews and Muslims are really thick and long, to say the least.

FURTHER READING

The Issue of God Praying According to the 3 Abrahamic Faiths

The following is taken from the late biblical scholar and linguist Dr. Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, published by Zondervan Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 1982, pp. 57-59.

Do the names for God in Genesis 1 and 2 show a difference in the authorship of the two chapters?

It is true that throughout the thirty-one verses of Genesis 1 the only name for God used is Elohim, and that the personal name for God, i.e., Yahweh, becomes prominent in chapter 2. Nevertheless this distinction of usage in the two chapters furnishes no solid evidence of difference in authorship. This theory was first brought into prominence by the French physician Jean Astruc back in 1753. He felt that Genesis 1 must have been taken from some earlier literary source produced by an author who knew of God only by the name Elohim, whereas Genesis 2 came from a different source that knew of God as Yahweh (or “Jehovah”). J. G. Eichhorn of Leipzig extended this Yahwist-Elohist source division to the rest of the chapters of Genesis all the way to Exodus 6:3, which was interpreted by him to mean that according to that “source” the name Yahweh was unknown until Moses’ time. This implied that all the references to Yahweh occurring in Genesis must have come from a different source (J) that supposed that He was known by that name before Moses’ time.

Exodus 6:3 says, “And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by My name Yahweh I did not make Myself known to them.” This might seem to imply that the name itself was unknown before Moses’ time, but such an interpretation goes against actual Hebrew usage. There is a very special significance to the phrase “to know the name of Yahweh” or “to know that I am Yahweh.” This expression occurs at least twenty-six times in the Old Testament; and in every instance it signifies to learn by actual experience that God Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God who chastens cares for, and delivers His covenant people from their foes. Thus we read in Exodus 6:7, “You shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Even the Egyptians were to learn this from bitter experience, according to Exodus 14:4: “And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh”–as a result on of the ten plagues that were to fall on them.

Obviously Pharaoh knew that the name of the God of Moses was Yahweh, for he so referred to Him in Exodus 5:2: “Who is Yahweh that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” Therefore we are to understand Exodus 6:3 as meaning “I showed Myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the all-powerful Ruler of creation and Sovereign over all the forces of nature [i.e., as El Shaddai, God Almighty], but I did not show Myself to

57 them as a covenant-keeping God in the miraculous, redemptive way that I am about to display in the deliverance of the entire nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage.”

“Yahweh” connotes God’s faithfulness and personal care of His covenant people-though this pertains to His dealing with individual believer as well. Thus in His relationships with Abraham and his family all through the Genesis account, God is referred to as Yahweh. But it was reserved for the generation of Moses to behold the wonder-working power of God on their behalf on an epoch-making scale. The Exodus record is marked by one redemptive miracle after another, with chastening judgments visited on Israel as well, in their times of rebellion and apostasy, until finally they were brought safely into the land of Canaan under Joshua, there to establish a new commonwealth under the guidance of the law of Moses. This, then, is the way we are to understand the true intent of Exodus 6:3, rather than in the simplistic way that Eichhorn and his followers of the Documentary (JEDP) school have construed it.

Going back, then, to the explanation for the difference in the name-usage followed in Genesis 2 as opposed to Genesis 1, the reason for this distinction is perfectly evident in the light of the previous discussion. “Elohim” was the only name of God appropriate in a narrative of God’s work of creation as Ruler over all nature and the universe. But in chapter 2 He comes into a personal covenant with Adam and Eve; and therefore to them God (Elohim) displayed Himself as “Yahweh,” the God of grace and covenant. Therefore, throughout the chapter, in all eleven occurrences, Yahweh occurs in combination with Elohim, never alone. This clearly implies that the same God who made the universe in six creative stages is the very same Lord who loved and cared for Adam and His son, created after His own image. The same is true throughout chapter 3: “Yahweh” is never used alone but only in combination with “Elohim.” Not until we come to Eve’s comment in Genesis 4:1 do we encounter the first occurrence of “Yahweh” (or LORD) alone, without Elohim.

In view of this consistent combination of the two names throughout chapters 2 and 3, it is difficult to imagine how Astruc, Eichhorn, or any other scholar could have come up with the theory that there ever was a prior source that knew of God only by the name Yahweh. In view of the constant joining of the two names together, one would have to suppose that some later redactor chose to glue together by dint of scissors and paste a snippet of “J” ending with “Yahweh” with a snippet of “E” or “P” that began with “Elohim.” Such an artificial and bizarre process of combination extending through two entire chapters has never even discovered in the literature of any other nation or time. It calls for an extraordinary degree of naive credulity to suppose that it could have been so in the case of Genesis 2 and 3.

Before closing this discussion, it ought to be pointed out that, on the basis of comparative literature of the Ancient Near East, all of Israel’s neighbors followed the practice of referring to their high gods by at least two different names–or even three or four. In Egypt Osiris (the lord of the netherworld and the judge of the dead) was also referred to as Wennefer (He who is Good), Khent-amentiu (Foremost of the Westerners), and Neb-abdu (Lord of Abydos); and all four titles occur in the Ikhernofer Stela in the

58 Berlin Museum. In Babylonia the god Bel was also know by his Sumerian title of Enlil and by Nunamnir as well (cf. the Prologue of the Lipit-Ishtar Law Code). Similarly the Moon god was both Sin and Nanna, and the great goddess Ishtar was also known as Inanna or Telitum. In the pre-Mosaic Canaanite culture of Ugarit in North Syria, Baal was frequently called Aliyan (and that too in successive stichoi of parallelistic poetry, just as in the Hebrew Psalter), whereas the king-god El was also known as Latpan, and the artificer god Kothar-wa-Khasis was also called Hayyin (cf. Pritchard, ANET, p. 151, in connection with Aqhat).

In Greece the same practice held true: Zeus was also Kronion and Olympius; Athena was Pallas; Apollo was Phoebus and Pythius as well–all of which appear in parallelistic verses of Homer’s epics. To insist that this same phenomenon in Hebrew literature must point to diverse prior sources is to ignore completely this abundant analogy from the literature of all of Israel’s neighbors. It is difficult to see how source division on the basis of divine names can be accepted as intellectually respectable in the light of the known facts of comparative literature.

Doesn’t Genesis 2 present a different creation order than Genesis 1?

Genesis 2 does not present a creation account at all but presupposes the completion of God’s work of creation as set forth in chapter 1. The first three verses of Genesis 2 simply carry the narrative of chapter 1 to its final and logical conclusion, using the same vocabulary and style as employed in the previous chapter. It sets froth the completion of the whole primal work of creation and the special sanctity conferred on the seventh day as a symbol and memorial of God’s creative work. Verse 4 then sums up the whole sequence that has just been surveyed by saying, “These are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made heaven and earth.”

Having finished the overall survey of the subject, the author then develops in detail one important feature that has already been mentioned: the creation of man. Kenneth Kitchen says,

“Genesis 1 mentions the creation of man as the last of a series, and without any details, whereas in Genesis 2 man is the center of interest and more specific details are given about him and his setting. Failure to recognize the complementary nature of the subjectdistinction between a skeleton outline of all creation on the one hand, and the concentration in detail on man and his immediate environment on the other, borders on obscurantism” (Ancient Orient, p. 117).

Kitchen then draws on the analogy of Egyptian inscriptions like the Karnak Poetical Stela of Thutmose III, the Gebel Barkal Stela, and those royal inscriptions from Urartu that ascribe the defeat of the nation’s foes to their patron god, Haldi, and then repeat the same victories in detail as achieved by the reigning king of Urartu. Kitchen then adds,

“What is absurd when applied to monumental Near Eastern texts that had no prehistory of hands and redactors should not be imposed on Genesis 1 and 2, as is done by uncritical perpetuation of a nineteenth-century systematization of speculations by eighteenth-century dilettantes lacking, as they did, all knowledge of the forms and usages of Ancient Oriental literature” (ibid.).

As we examine the remainder of Genesis 2, we find that it concerns itself with a description of the ideal setting that God prepared for Adam and Eve to begin their life in, walking in loving fellowship with Him as responsive and obedient children. Verses 5-6 describe the original condition of the “earth,” or “land,” in the general region of the Garden of Eden before it had sprouted verdure under the special watering system the Lord used for its development. Verse 7 introduces Adam as a newly fashioned occupant for whom Eden was prepared. Verse 8 records how he was placed there to observe and enjoy the beauty and richness of his surroundings. Gen. 2:9-14 describe the various kinds of trees and the lush vegetation sustained by the abundant waters of the rivers that flowed out of Eden to the lower regions beyond its borders. Verse 15 indicates the absorbing activity that Adam had assigned to him as keeper and warden of this great natural preserve.

From the survey of the first fifteen verses of chapter 2, it becomes quite apparent that this was never intended to be a general creation narrative. Search all the cosmogonies of the ancient civilizations of the Near East, and you will never find among them a single creation account that omits all mention of the formation of sun, moon, and stars or ocean or seas–none of which are referred to in Genesis 2. It is therefore quite obvious that Genesis 1 is the only creation account to be found in the Hebrew Scripture and that it is already presupposed as the background of Genesis 2. Even the animals are not referred to until Adam is assigned the task of examining them carefully, one by one, in order to decide on an appropriate name for each species or bird and beast that was brought before him (Gen. 2:18-20). But before this phase of Adam’s experience begins, he is brought into covenant relationship with God, who grants him permission to eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden except one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17). Verse 18 then shows how Yahweh proceeded to fill Adam’s foreseen need of companionship–first by the fellowship with the animals and birds (Gen. 2:19-20), then, after that proves to be unsatisfying, by the companionship of a wife, who is fashioned from the bone that was closest to Adam’s heart (Gen. 2:21-22). The chapter closes with a vivid portrayal of Adam’s joyous acceptance of his new helpmate and his unreserved commitment to her in love.

The structure of Genesis 2 stands in clear contrast to every creation account known to comparative literature. It was never intended to be a creation account at all, except insofar as it related the circumstances of man’s creation as a child of God, fashioned in His image, infused with His breath of life, and brought into an intimate personal relationship with the Lord Himself. Quite clearly, then, chapter 2 is built on the foundation of chapter 1 and represents no different tradition than the first chapter or discrepant account of the order of creation.

A BIBLICAL CASE FOR MARIAN VENERATION

According to the Hebrew Bible, the mother of the Israelite king was given the status of queen mother. In other words, the [O]ld [T]estament shows that it wasn’t the wife of the king that was the queen but rather his mother:

“Also he removed Maachah his grandmother from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And Asa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook Kidron.” 1 Kings 15:13

“Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron.” 2 Chronicles 15:16

“Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, ‘Who are you?” So they answered, ‘We are the brothers of Ahaziah; we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.’” 2 Kings 10:13

“Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘Humble yourselves; Sit down, For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.’ The cities of the South shall be shut up, And no one shall open them; Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; It shall be wholly carried away captive.’” Jeremiah 13:18-19

“Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.(This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)” Jeremiah 29:1-2

The reason why the king’s mother was chosen as queen seems obvious. Since the Davidic rulers and their rivals (i.e., the kings of the northern kingdom in Samaria) were polygynists, it made sense that the mother of Israel’s human potentate would be given that role and position.

After all, not all of the ruler’s wives gave birth to the royal heir, to the son who would reign on the throne on behalf of his father. Hence, it only made sense that the mother of the king-apparent would be designated as queen.

This next case is rather interesting:

“Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established. Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ And he said, ‘Peaceably.’ Moreover he said, “I have something to say to you.’ And she said, ‘Say it.’ Then he said, ‘You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from the Lord. Now I ask one petition of you; do not deny me.’ And she said to him, ‘Say it.’ Then he said, ‘Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.’ So Bathsheba said, ‘Very well, I will speak for you to the king.’ Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand. Then she said, ‘I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.’ So she said, ‘Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.’ And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, ‘Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.’” 1 Kings 2:12-22

Solomon honors his queen mother Bathsheba by bowing down to her and placing a throne for her at his right hand.

Here, once again, is the passage in question:

“Therefore Bathsheba came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose against the coming of her, and worshipped (wayyishtachu) her, and sat on his throne; and a throne was set to the mother of the king, and she sat at his right side. (And so Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose up to greet her, and honoured her, and then sat down on his throne; and a throne was put in place for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right side.)” 1 Kings 2:19 Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

The Hebrew word rendered as “bowed down,” “honoured,” “worshipped,” is shachah, and is the typical term used for the honor and worship which God himself receives. Note how the following passages employ this Hebrew phrase:  

“‘Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.’ So they worshiped (wayyishtachu) the Lord there.” 1 Samuel 1:28

“So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped (wayyishtachu) the Lord.” 1 Samuel 15:31

This next example is most relevant:

“And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped (wayyishtachawu) the Lord, AND the king.” 1 Chronicles 29:20 AV

Here we have the Israelites worshiping or rendering shachah to both YHVH and king David!

The foregoing biblical cases affirm that God permits and even authorizes the relative worship or reverence of his anointed human agents, including the queen mother!

This brings me to my next point.

The Psalms speak of a Davidic Ruler who would be worshiped and praised by both the queen and the peoples since he is the Lord God who comes to reign forever:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord (Adonayik), worship Him… I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.” Psalm 45:6-11, 17

Notice how the Queen is described as being at the King’s right hand, which is reminiscent of king Solomon enthroning his queen mother at his right hand. This provides rather strong attestation that queen mothers would be seated at the right hand of their royal sons.  

CHRIST’S QUEEN MOTHER

The New Testament identifies this divine-human King of Psalm 45 as the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s uniquely begotten Son and co-Creator:

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You’? And again: ‘I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son’? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’ And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.’ But to the Son He says: Your throne, O God (ho Theos), is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’ And: ‘You, Lord [the Son], in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.’ But to which of the angels has He ever said: ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool’? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:1-14

Therefore, since Christ is identified as the God-Man of Psalm 45, the divine King whom all nations shall worship and magnify forever, being the Heir to the Davidic throne,

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’ But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’” Luke 1:26-33

This would make his blessed mother the Queen Mother.

Therefore, if Solomon’s mother Bathsheba would be so honored as to be enthroned alongside her son, despite her being an adulteress whose husband was murdered to cover up her shame and guilt (cf. 2 Sam. 11-12; Psalm 51), how much more would the perfect Son of God honor his holy and beautiful Mother who conceived and birthed him as a Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit? (Cf. Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:34-35)

And seeing how God permitted sinful human kings to honor their sinful mothers by granting them the status of queen mother, how much more would the holy and righteous Father authorize his uniquely begotten Son, being the absolutely pure and sinless God-Man, to honor his beloved Mother by exalting her to the status of Queen Mother?

Finally, since Jesus is currently enthroned in heaven alongside the Father, and since believers reign as kings and queens alongside the Son,

“So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” Mark 16:19-20

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14-15

“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;” Hebrews 7:26

“Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” Hebrews 8:1-2

“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:24-28

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” Hebrews 10:12-13

“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5-6

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Revelation 3:21

“And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’” Revelation 5:9-10

It only makes sense that the risen Lord’s blessed Mother would be the Queen at his right hand in heaven, seeing that she is the Queen Mother.

And since Mary is the heavenly Queen Mother, whose Son is the King of heaven, then it isn’t a far stretch to conclude that this by extension would make her the Queen of heaven.

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural citations taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Holy Bible.

FURTHER READING

PROTESTANT SCHOLARSHIP ON LUKE 1:26-56 AND MARY AS GOD’S ARK

THE REFORMERS ON MARY’S PERPETUAL VIRGINITY

EARLY CHURCH’S INVOCATION OF MARY

What the Early Church Believed: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Church Fathers on Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

Mary’s Purity and Sinlessness in the Church Fathers

NOTES FOR THE DISCUSSION ON THE MARIAN DOCTRINES

NOTES FOR PERPETUAL VIRGINITY DEBATE

VENERATION OF THE SAINTS: A BIBLICAL OUTLINE PT. 1

VENERATION OF THE SAINTS: A BIBLICAL OUTLINE PT. 2

The Quranic Teaching on Wine and Strong Drink

Most Westerners are at least passingly familiar with the Islamic belief concerning alcoholic beverages. In conservative Muslim countries which have instituted some form of shari’a law, the production and consumption of alcholic drinks is absolutely forbidden, upon pain of death or some other unpleasant form of punishment. The reason for this type of law stems from the Qur’an, presumably the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. The Qur’an has some very strong language with respect to alcohol:”O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.” (Surah 5:90, Yusuf Ali)

“They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: “In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.” They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: “What is beyond your needs.” Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may consider.” (Surah 2:219, Yusuf Ali)

This seems pretty straightforward. Alcohol is a sin, it is Satan’s handiwork. It is something to be avoided by all good Muslims. Yet, we see that the Qur’an then teaches that “Satan’s handiwork” will appear in the Paradise which Allah is said to prepare for faithful Muslims,”(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and Grace from their Lord. (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell for ever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)?” (Surah 47:15, Yusuf Ali)

There certainly seems to be a disconnect in the message presented by the Qur’an on this topic. After all, Surahs 2:219 and 5:90 speak against wine, yet this same beverage flows in Allah’s garden as a river! On the surface this appears to be a basic contradiction in the Qur’an.

Muslim apologists typically rebut by remarking that the wine found in the rivers of Paradise is non-alcoholic. Much of this argument rests on a pragmatic, rather than textual or contextual, foundation. “Even though wine is the work of Satan, if it appears in Paradise, then in that place it must be non-alcoholic”, so the argument generally runs. However, a cross-referential argument is advanced, as well. Many Muslims point to Surah 37:40-47 as proof for the claim of “dryness” in the wine of Paradise:”But the sincere (and devoted) Servants of Allah,- For them is a Sustenance determined, Fruits (Delights); and they (shall enjoy) honour and dignity, In Gardens of Felicity, Facing each other on Thrones (of Dignity): Round will be passed to them a Cup from a clear-flowing fountain, Crystal-white, of a taste delicious to those who drink (thereof), Free from headiness; nor will they suffer intoxication therefrom.“

Thus, the cup from the clear-flowing fountain is a drink which does not produce drunkenness. Therefore, the river of wine in Paradise is non-alcoholic! Unfortunately for the apologists, this argument is based upon some unsound premises. To begin with, it should be noted that the connexion made between Surahs 47:15 and 37:45ff is tenuous, at best. The argument is arbitrary – A is a drink, and B is a drink, thus A must equal B. Yet, 47:15 refers to a flowing river of wine, while 37:45 refers to a cup of unspecified beverage. These are not necessarily the same thing. However, much Muslim exposition on this subject tends to assume just this connexion. While commenting on 47:15, Yusuf Ali discusses the river of wine, one of the four flowing rivers in Paradise:”…(3) wine, not like any wine on earth, for it leaves no headaches behind, and causes no intoxication, which is a kind of madness or poison, but is ever a joy to drink…”¹

His otherwise unqualified statement appears to be drawn from the points in 37:45 about the beverage in the cup from the clear-flowing fountain not causing intoxication. Yet, it must again be noted that it is never specified what the drink from the clear-flowing fountain is! In fact, the description of the fountain and the liquid in the cup as “clear” and “crystal-white” would seem to argue against this beverage being wine. Wine, even white wine, is not white in colour nor entirely free from turbidity. Even white wines have a yellowish tint due to the presence of aromatic compounds², and there will always be some cloudiness due to the presence of fermentation impurities. Further, the very fact that the Qur’an specifically details that the liquid from the fountain does not produce intoxication (37:47) would seem to argue that the author did not have wine (which does produce intoxication) in mind.

Most importantly, however, we should note that the Arabic behind the Quranic statement about wine flowing in rivers in Paradise supports the contention that this wine is alcoholic. Hearkening back to 47:15 earlier, look at the clause “rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink”, which in Arabic (transliterated) says – “…waanhaarun min k^hamrin laththatin lilshshaaribeena…“³. The word translated as “wine” (k^hamrin) in this passage is from the root k^hmr. This is a root which has the general meaning of fermentation or leavening; it can denote both the fermentation of juices to produce wine, and it can also denote the rising of bread due to yeast action. Some examples of its use with respect to wine:l-‘islaam harram l-k^hamir – “Islam declared wine unlawful”

‘itha k^hammar ‘asiir l-‘inab ma yinshirib – “If grape juice ferments, it will not be drinkable”

In both of the above examples, the k^hmr root is used to denote either the process of fermentation, or the result of that process – wine. Clearly, when one speaks of k^hmr in the drinking sense, one is speaking of a fermented beverage produced from grape or other types of fruit juice.

The k^hmr root is completely absent from the passage in 37:40-47, which would seem to suggest that the Qur’an is not speaking of wine or other fermented beverages in that portion. Likewise, due to the absence, it seems highly unlikely that the liquid in 37:45 is the same as in 47:15, where it is explicitly specified as being wine, k^hamrin.

Thus, despite the oft-times question-begging claims made by Muslim apologists about this contradiction in the Qur’an, there is not a good textual or contextual reason to believe that the wine presented in 47:15 as flowing in a river in Allah’s Paradise is non-alcoholic. Rather, it is described using a word in Arabic which specifically refers to fermented, alcoholic beverages and to the process which makes them that way. Thus, we find that the Qur’an is double-minded on the issue of alcoholic drinks. While wine is dangerous and sinful for Muslims, the product of Satan himself, this drink is yet flowing in great abundance in Allah’s Paradise.

End Notes

(1) – ‘Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, p. 1318, Note #4833
(2) – Note: The term is here used chemically, not in reference to its odour
(3) – the information for transliteration of Quranic passages in this article come from http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/