Glossary Term
Risk: Critical- Approved rendering
- Mwana wa Mungu
- Transliteration
- Mwana wa Mungu
- Rejected alternatives
- mjumbe wa Mungu (messenger of God, an explicit downgrade and rejected)
Son Of God
CRITICAL: Mwana wa Mungu is the accurate and required full phrase. This is one of the most theologically fraught doctrines for Swahili’s Muslim-influenced readership: Quran 112 (Surah al-Ikhlas), among the most widely memorized verses in Islam, explicitly states ‘Allah does not beget, nor was He begotten.’ The phrase must never be softened to ‘messenger of God’ or otherwise adjusted to avoid this tension; instead, this curriculum must explain that ‘Son of God’ in Romans denotes eternal, unique divine relationship, not physical begetting, directly addressing the most common Muslim objection rather than avoiding it.