Amid this warlike sūra, with its many commands to fight, come two powerful verses against the Christian practices of confessing the Messiah as the Son of God and taking the Messiah as Lord (vv. 30–31). These verses evidently represent a strongly felt denial of the deity of Jesus and opposition to those who believe in it. In response to Christians who make this confession, the Quran declares, “May Allah fight them.”

The verse’s description of Christian belief and confession is accurate. From their earliest days following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christians have declared that the Messiah is the Son of God (e.g., Acts 9:20; Romans 1:4). In fact, the Gospel often uses “Messiah” interchangeably (e.g., Matthew 16:16; John 20:31). On the name “Messiah” in the Quran, see the comment at 3.45.

The Quran here uses the expression ibn Allāh , whereas all other quranic passages about “son” of Allah use the word walad . The accusation that the Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah,” however, does not seem to be based in historical reality.