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The Truth about Jesus

THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS

Book’s introduction

The Islamic view of Jesus lies between two extremes. The Jews, who rejected Jesus as a Prophet of God., called him an impostor.

 The Christians on the other hand, consider him to be the son of God and worship him as such.

 Islam considers Jesus as one of the great Prophets of God and respects him as much as Abraham, Moses and Muhammad.

 This is in conformity with the Islamic point of view of the oneness of God, the oneness of Divine guidance, and the complimentary role of the subsequent messages of God’s messengers.

The essence of Islam, which is the willing submission to the will of God, was revealed to Adam who passed it on to his chidlren. All following revelations to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad were in conformity with that message in addition to some elaboration to define the relation between man and God, man and man, man and his environment, and to live according to God’s instructions.

Thus, any contradiction among revealed r?ligions is viewed by Islam as a man-made clement introduced into these religions. The position of Jesus in the three major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, should not be an exception.

Although the Qur’an does not present a detailed life-account of Jesus, it highlights the important aspects of his birth, his mission, his ascension to heaven and passess judgements on the Christian beliefs concerning him.

MARY

The Qura’nic account of Jesus starts with the conception of his mother, Mary. The wife of Imran, Mary’s mother, vowed to dedicate her child to the service of God in the temple. Zacharia, who took charge of Mary, used to find food with Mary. When he asked her how she got it she answered that it was from God. The Quranic verses read:

When the wife of lmran said, ‘Lord, I have vowed to you, in dedication, what is within my womb. Please accept it from me, you are the Hearer and Knower’.

And when she gave birth to her she said, ‘Lord, I have given birth to her, a female … And I have named her Mary and commend her to You with her seed, to protect them from the accursed Satan.· Her Lord received the child with gracious favour, and by His goodness she grew up comely, Zacharia taking charge of her.

Whenever Zacharia went to her in the sanctuary, he found her provisioned. ‘Mary·, he said, ‘how comes this to you?’ ‘from God’, she answered. Truly God provisions for whomsoever He will without reckoning. (3:35-7)

GLAD TIDINGS AND Jesus’s BIRTH

When Mary became a woman, the Holy Spirit (the Archangel Gabriel) appeared to her as a man bringing her the news of a son. We read the following dialogue in the Qur’an between Mary and the angels:

When the angels said. ‘Mary, God gives you good tidings of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah Jesus, son of Mary; high honoured shall he be in this world and the next, near stationed to God. He shall speak to men in the cradle. and of age, and righteous he shall be.· ‘Lord’, said Mary, “how shall I have a son seeing no mortal has touched me?’ ‘Even so· he said, “God creates what He will.’ When He decrees a thing He does but say to it, “Be”. and it is.· (3:45-7)

Mary conceived the child miraculoµsly and retired to a distant place where she awaited her delivery. The Qur’an in a chapter entitled •Mary’ tells us how Mary felt and what the Jews told her when she brought the child home:

She conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place. And the birthpangs surprised her by the trunk of the palm-tree. She said, ‘would I had died before this, and become a thing forgotten.·

The one from below her cal:?d to hP.”‘, “Do not grieve; see, your Lord has set below you a rivulet and shake toward you the palmtrunk, and there shall come tumbling upon you dates fresh and ripe.

 Eat therefore. and drink, and be comforted; and if you should see any mortal, say, “I have vowed to the All-Merciful a fast, and today I will not speak to any man. ” Then she brought the child to her folk carrying him; and they said, ‘Mary, you have surely committed a monstrous thing.

Sister of Aaron, your father was not a wicked man, nor was your mother a woman unchaste.’ Mary pointed to the child; but they said, “How shall we speak to one who is still in the cradle, a little child?’ He said, ‘Lo, I am God’s servant; God has given me the Book and made me a Prophet.

Blessed He has made me, wherever I may be; and He has enjoined me to pray, and to give the alms. so long as I live, and likewise to cherish my mother; He has not made me arrogant or wicked Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive.’ (19:22-23)

NOT THE SON OF GOD

In the same chapter, following the above quotation, God assured Muhammad and the whole world that what was mentioned above is the truth about Jesus although the Christians might not believe it. Jesus is not the son of God. He was, obviously enough, the son of Mary. The verses continue:

That is Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, concerning which they are doubting. It is not for God to take a son unto Him. Glory be to Him/ When He decrees a thing. He but says to it “Be”, and it is. (19:34-5)

After this strong statement about the nature of Jesus, God directed Muhammad to call the Christians to a fair deal: to worship the one God:

Surely God is my Lord, and your Lord, so serve Him. This is the straight path. (19:36)

The rejection of the idea of God having a son is reported later in the same chapter with even stronger words:

And they say, ‘The All-merciful has taken unto Himself a son.· You have indeed advanced something hideous.

 The heavens are well nigh rent of it and the earth split asunder, and the mountains well nigh fall down crashing for that they have attributed to the All-merciful a son: and it behoves not the All-merciful to take a son. None is there in the heavens and earth but he comes to the All-merciful as a servant. (19:88-93)

The Qur’an recognizes the fact that Jesus had no human father but this does not make him the son of God or God Himself. By this criterion Adam would have been more entitled to be the son of God because he had neither a father nor a mother.

 So, the Qur’an draws attention to the miraculous creation of both in the following verse:

Truly the likeness of Jesus, in God’s sight, is as Adam’s likeness: He created him of dust, then said He unto him, “Be”, and he was. (3:59)

The Qur’an rejects the concept of the Trfoity as strongly as it rejects the sonship of Jesus. This is because God is One. This is the essence of all monotheistic revelations. Three, by reason and by simple arithmetic, are not one. The Qur’an addresses the Christians in the following verses in the chapter entitled “Women”.

People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the Truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a spirit from Him.

So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, ‘Three’, Refrain, better is it for you. God is only One God. Glory be to Him – that He should have a son! To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth, God suffices for a guardian.

The Messiah will not disdain to be a servant of God, neither the angels who are close to Him. Whosoever disdains to serve Him and waxes proud,

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