The Quran

Preface

وَقالَتِ اليَهودُ وَالنَّصارىٰ نَحنُ أَبناءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبّاؤُهُ ۚ قُل فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُم بِذُنوبِكُم ۖ بَل أَنتُم بَشَرٌ مِمَّن خَلَقَ ۚ يَغفِرُ لِمَن يَشاءُ وَيُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَلِلَّهِ مُلكُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ وَما بَينَهُما ۖ وَإِلَيهِ المَصيرُ

Yusuf Ali

(Both) the Jews and the Christians say: “We are sons of God, and his beloved.”¹ Say: “Why then doth He punish you for your sins? Nay, ye are but men,- of the men he hath created: He forgiveth whom He pleaseth, and He punisheth whom He pleaseth: and to God belongeth² the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between: and unto Him is the final goal (of all)"

Sons of God: Cf. Job, 38:7: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” In the 29th Psalm, 1st verse, the authorised Translation “O ye mighty” should apparently be “O ye sons of Elim”. El being a name of God. Cf. also Genesis, 6:2: “The sons of God saw the daughters of men.” Beloved: Cf. Psalms, 127:2: “He giveth his beloved sleep.” If used figuratively, these and like words refer to the love of God. Unfortunately, “son” used in a physical sense, or “beloved” in an exclusive sense as if God loved only the Jews, make a mockery of religion.
This refrain in the last verse negatives the idea of sonship, and in this verse negatives the idea of an exclusive “Beloved”. In both cases it means that God is independent of physical relationships or exclusive partiality.