ABSTRACT
William Tisdall (d.1347/1928) begins where the early dialogue left off, at the division between trinitarian versus unitarian monotheism, and the Islamic impression of trinitarian monotheism as tritheism. In Tisdall's text, Jesus repeats Moses' words in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29). 1 Q5:73 and 4:171 are immediately in question, and according to Zwemer, these along with 5:116 are the only Qur'anic verses directly refuting the Trinity. 2 Q5:116 too represents for Tarif Khalidi “the most confrontational” passage in the Qur'an. 3 But do these passages refute the Trinity, or tritheism, or both?
