As I was "searching", this was one of the criteria that I felt in my heart that a true religion had to speak of....namely, Jesus. I've always felt something and believed in the person of Jesus (peace be upon him), and I knew that he was from God.
And upon searching, Islam answered all of my questions regarding Jesus and Mary and the status of those who believe in them.
What does the Qur'an say about Jesus (peace be upon him)? The Qur'an describes his birth in the most beautiful Arabic.....so beautiful that grown men often weep when they hear it recited in prayer.
"Behold! The angels said: 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the Messiah; held in honor in this world and in the next. And he will be of the company of the righteous.' Mary said, 'O my Lord, how shall I have a son, when no man has touched me?' Even so, when Allah decrees a plan, He merely says to it, 'Be' and it is."
From the above passage, it is clear that Muslims accept the virgin birth of Jesus (peace be upon him). And the few verses prior to these go into detail about how righteous Mary (may God be pleased with her) was and that God has chosen her above the women of all nations. In fact, there is an entire chapter of the Qur'an named Maryam, or "Mary". And another chapter Ali-Imran is named after Mary's line of descent.
There are other verses of the Qur'an, which explain that God is upset with the Jews for rejecting Jesus and for calling his mother an adulteress.
Now, in terms of Jesus' life (peace be upon him), the Qur'an mentions many of the same miracles that Jesus is said to have performed in the Bible. However, the Qur’anic text is very clear that he was only able to do them because God gave him that power. Also, the Qur'an mentions an earlier miracle, that Jesus performed as a child. After the story of his birth, the Qur'an explains that God ordered Mary to fast (abstain from talking for three days)....and having to flee from the people, she gave birth to Jesus in seclusion. Upon seeing that Mary had left and come back with a child, the people began to charge her with adultery. Since she had vowed to God not to talk to anyone about the matter for three days, she did not speak in her own defense.....instead, she pointed to baby Jesus (peace be upon him), and he spoke in her defense.
Muslims, then, accept his virgin birth and his miracles. Where the Christian and Muslim perspectives begin to differ is on why Jesus (peace be upon him) was even sent to the world......and to whom he was sent. The Qur'an is very clear in stating that Jesus' message was meant only for the Jews.....that God had sent Jesus to bring the Jewish people back to the path of guidance. Jesus (peace be upon him) was sent to correct their extreme legalism and to condemn those responsible for rejecting and killing earlier prophets (peace be upon them all). (Incidentally, the words attributed to Jesus in the Book of Matthew say, "I was not sent, except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And in other passages he orders his disciples, "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles...but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.")
Now we come to the part that is often hard for Christians to accept, but for some reason it spoke to me when I was searching in college. How did Jesus (peace be upon him) leave the world? Obviously, Christianity and Judaism say by death on the cross. The Qur'an says something different....
"[The Jews incurred Divine displeasure] in that they rejected faith; And that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; And that they said in boast 'We killed Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of God.' But they killed him not. Nor crucified him. But so it was made to appear to them. And those who differ therein are full of doubts with nothing but conjecture to follow. For assuredly, they killed him not......Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; For Allah is Exalted in Power and Wise....And all of the People of the Book must believe in him prior to his death. Or on the Day of Judgement, he will be a witness against them."
It is a huge sin for Jews to reject Jesus as a liar and his mother as an adulteress, thus the Jews "have incurred Divine displeasure".
Now, concerning the crucifixion, the Qur'an explicitly states that Jesus did not die on the cross. This is very significant....for Jews, it is the reason they call him a liar. According to the Law of Moses (peace be upon him) contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, anyone that dies on the cross or by hanging from a tree is accursed by God. So the Jews were, in effect, testing Jesus and God by attempting to put Jesus up on the cross.....because, if he died there, then that proved that he was a liar and they were not responsible for his teaching. The alleged crucifixion is very significant for Christians because that act, they believe, was needed for their salvation.
The Muslim position on that is that he did not die on the cross "but so it was made to appear to them." It was a test. The test is this.....by believing that Jesus died on the cross, the Jews are rejecting two prophets of God (Jesus and Muhammad, peace be upon both of them). Likewise, by believing that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, Christians are violating the first and most fundamental belief....namely that God is One, Unique, and has no partners....That God, the Creator, does not share attributes with creation. And that God has no need for assistance or help. For more on this, go to The Test of the Cross.
The next thing to address is Jesus' death.....Muslims do not believe he died yet. We believe that (as the verse says above) "Allah raised him up unto Himself". That is, that Jesus(peace be upon him) is residing in Heaven right now. And that he will come back in the end of time to rule the earth and defeat the antiChrist. It is when he comes back again, that he will die his earthly death and be buried next to where Muhammad (peace be upon him) is buried in Medina.
It is interesting to note that Islam teaches many of the same Signs before the Day of Judgement as Christianity, but Islam seems to go into more detail about them.
In the verse pertaining to Jesus' death it mentions that all of the "People of the Book" must believe in him before his death. People of the Book is a term of endearment used throughout the Qur'an to refer to Jews and Christians. It is a reference to the fact that Judaism and Christianity are merely historical predecessors to Muhammad (peace be upon him). That is, they were once valid traditions from God. The prophets (peace be upon them all) sent to the People of the Book received prior revelation from God.
The Qur'an often uses examples from history where the People of the Book made mistakes, so as to guide us in how to prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes.....so when it says that the Jews "incurred Divine displeasure" it is not an attack on the Jews, it is an example to teach us. In effect, saying, "They went wrong in rejecting Jesus (peace be upon him), so don't make the same mistake by rejecting Muhammad (peace be upon him)."
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One Way - An article by Abu Aasiya |
Web Author: Abu Aasiya