19.35 – It is not for God to take any son. Glory to Him!
The Quran denies that Allah has taken a son ( walad ). Coming as it does at the end of a long passage on ‘Īsā, Mary, and other Gospel characters, this verse may be taken as a denial of Christian belief in the divine Sonship of Jesus. The reason for the denial in this case seems to be that the Christian belief is understood to impinge on the exclusive authority of Allah.
This denial of divine Sonship shortly after a story about the birth of ‘Īsā is curious because the words of the “spirit” in verses 19–21 make a glaring omission of a Gospel detail about Jesus that contradicts verse 35 (also the speech of the “angels” in Q 3.42–46). In the Gospel according to Luke, Gabriel said to Mary that the child “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Gabriel added – as if to emphasize this point – that because “the power of the Most High” would overshadow Mary, “the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:32, 35).
The expression “Allah has taken a son” appears six other times in the Quran, including at verses 88–92 of this sūra.