JESUS
in the QURAN
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, considered
him to be the son of God and worship him as such. Islam
considers Jesus to be one of the great prophets of God and
respects him as much as Ibrahim (Abraham), Moses, and
Mohammed. (Peace Be Upon Them) This is conformity with the
Islamic view of the oneness of God, the oneness of Divine
guidance, and the complementary role of the subsequent
mission of God's messengers.
The essence of Islam - willing
submission to the will of God - was revealed to Adam, who
was passed it on to his children. All following revelations
to Noah, Ibrahim, Moses, Jesus, and finally Mohammed (Peace
Be Upon Them) were conformity with that message, with some
elaboration to define the revelation between man and God,
man and man, man and instructions. Thus, any contradictions
among revealed religions is viewed by Islam as a man-made
element introduced into these religions. The position of
Jesus in the three major religions - Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam - should not be an exception.
Although the Quran does not present a
detailed life-story of Jesus, it highlights the important
aspects of his birth, his mission, his ascension to heaven,
and passes judgements on the Christian beliefs concerning
him. The Quranic account of Jesus starts with the conception
of his mother, Mary, whose mother, the wife of Imran, vowed
to dedicate her child to the service of God in the temple.
When Mary became a woman, the Holy Spirit (the Archangel
Gabriel) appeared to her as a man bringing her news of a
son. We read the following dialogue in the Quran between
Mary and the Angel:
"When the angel said, "Mary, god gives
you a 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 but say to
it, "Be", and it is. (Al-Imran 3:45-47)
In a chapter (Surah) entitled "Maryam"
(Mary), the Quran tells us how Mary gave birth to her son,
and how the Jesus accused her when she brought the child
home:
"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 your mother a woman unchaste. Mary
pointed to the child; but they said, 'Hoe shall we speak to
one who still in the cradle, a little child. And 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/may be; and hi
has enjoined me to prayer, and to give the alms so long as I
live, and likewise to cherish my mother; He has not made me
arrogant and wicked. Peace be upon me, the day I was born,
and the day I die, and the day I am raised up a live.
"Maryam 19:29-33)
in the same chapter, following the
above quotation, God assures Mohammed (PBUH) and through him
the whole world, that what is told above is the TRUTH about
Jesus (PBUH), although Christians might not accept 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, He nut says
to it, 'Be, and it is. (Maryam 19:34-35)
After this strong statement about the
nature of Jesus, God directed Mohammed (PBUH) to call the
Christians to worship the one God: "Surely God is my God,
and your God, so surely serve him. This is the straight
path". (Maryam 19:36)
The rejection of the very idea of God
having a son is restated 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. As if the skies are about to burst, the earth to
split asunder and its mountain to fall down in the utter
ruin for that they have attributed to the All-merciful a
son; and behaves not the All-merciful to take a son. None
there in the heavens and earth but comes to the All-merciful
as a servant" (Maryam 19:88-93)
The Quran 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 more entitled to be the son of God,
because he had neither a father nor a mother, so the Quran
draws attention to the miraculous creation of both in the
following verses; " truly the likeness of Jesus, in God's
sight is as Adam's likeness; He created him of dust, then He
said upon him, 'Be' and hi was. (Al-Imran 3:59)
The Quran rejects the concept of
Trinity God the Father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit -
as strongly as it rejects the concept of Jesus as the son of
God. This is because GOD IS ONE. Three cannot be one. The
Quran addresses Christians in the following verses from the
Surrah entitled "An-Nisaa" (The Women)
People of the Book, do not go beyond
the bounds in your religion, and say nought as to God but
the Truth. The messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only the
messenger of God, and his word (Fulfilment of his word
(Fulfilment of His command, through the word "Be", for the
creation of Jesus) that he committed to Mary, and a spirit
originating from Him (was given life by God). So believe in
God and His Messengers, and say not 'Three'. Refrain, better
is 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 walks proud, He will
assuredly muster them to Him, all of them.
As for the believers, who do deeds of
righteousness, we will pay them their rewards in full, and
He will give them more, of His bounty; as for them who
disdain and walks proud, then He will punish with a severe
punishment, and they shall not find for them, apart from
God, a friend or helper." (An-Nissa 4:171-173)
The denial of Jesus's divinity (and.
For the matter, of Mary's divinity) is presented in the
Quran in the form of a dialogue, at the Day of Judgement,
between the Almighty Jesus. All the Messengers and their
nations will gather before God and He will ask the
Messengers how they were received by their people and what
they said to them. Among those who will be questioned is
Jesus:
"And when God said, 'O Jesus, son of
Mary, did you say unto men, "Take me and my mother as gods,
apart from God"? He said, 'To you be glory! It is not mine
to say what I have no right to. If I indeed said it, you
would have known it, knowing what is within my heart, though
I do not know your knowledge; you know the things unseen. I
only said to them what you did commands me: "Serve God, my
God and your God." (Al-Maida 5-116)
Given that the Quran denies the Trinity
and the son ship of Jesus, what, according to the Quran, was
the real mission of Jesus? The answer is that Jesus was a
link in a long chain of Prophets and Messengers sent by God
to various nations and societies whenever they needed
guidance or deviated from his teachings of Moses and other
Messengers. As he was miraculously supported by numerous
miracles to prove that he was a Messengers from God.
However, the majority of the Jews rejected his ministry.
In another verse of the Quran, Jesus
confirmed the validity of the Torah which was revealed to
Moses, and also conveyed he glad tidings of a final
Messenger who follow him: "And when Jesus son of Mary said,
'Children of Israel, I am indeed the Messenger to you,
confirming the Torah that is before me, and giving good
tiding of a Messenger who shall be the praised one."(As-Saff
61:6)
Note that "praised one" is a
translation of "Ahmad" - The Prophet Mohammed's name.
Careful study of the New Testament shows that Jesus refers
to the same Prophet in John 14:16-17: "And I will give you
another Counsellor (ThProphet Mohammed). To be with you for
ever, even the Spirit of Truth."
The usual explanation of this Prophecy
is that the counsellor referred to is the Holy Spirit, but
this explanation is excluded by a previous verse in John:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage
that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will
not come to you."
The characteristics of this counsellor,
as can be derived from the prophecy, are that he will stay
forever with the believers, he will glorify Jesus; and he
will speak that he hears form God. All four characteristics
apply to the Prophet Mohammed. He came six centuries after
Jesus. He came six centuries after Jesus. He came with a
universal and everlasting message, fulfilling the prophecy
that the counsellor will stay forever with the faithful. He
glorified Jesus as a great Prophet. The Quran attributes to
Jesus miracles not mentioned in the Bible's Old and New
Testaments, as well as specific verses in the Quran show how
the Prophet Mohammad is rejected by Jews and Christians out
of prejudice and misunderstanding, rather that carefully
study the Bible.
It is a sad fact of history that not
many are following the "straight path" to which people were
called by Jesus. He was only followed by a few disciples
inspired by God to support him. The non-believers plotted -
as they would against Mohammed, six centuries later - to
kill Jesus. But God had better plan for him and his
followers, as the Quran tells us:
"And when Jesus perceived their
unbelief, he said 'Who will be my helpers in the cause of
God? The apostles
said, 'we are Gods helpers. We believe in God; so bear
witness of our submission God, we believe in that you have
sent down, and we follow the Messenger. Inscribe us
therefore with those who bear witness. 'And they devised,
and God devised, and God devised, and God is the best of
divisors. When God said, 'Jesus, I will take you to Me and
will raise you to Me, and I will purify you (of the
falsehoods) of those who do not believe. I will make your
followers above the unbelievers till the Resurrection
Day."(Al-Imran 3:52-55)
As the above verses indicate, Jesus was
taken and raised to heaven. He was not crucified. It was
certainly the plan of the enemies of Jesus to put him to
death on the cross, but God saved him and someone else was
crucified:
"And for their unbelief, and their
uttering against Mary a grave false charge, and for their
saying, 'We killed the messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the
Messiah of God"…yet they did not slay him, neither crucified
him, only a likeness of that was shown to them. Those who
are at variance concerning him are surely in doubt the
following of conjecture; and they did not kill him of
certainty…no indeed; God raised him up to Him; God is
Almighty, Allwise. There is not one of the people of the
book but will assuredly believe him before his death, and on
the Resurrection Day he will be a witness against them."
(An-Nissa 4:156-159)
The Quran does not explain who was the
person crucified instead of Jesus, nor elaborate on the
Second Coming of Jesus. However, explanators of the Quran
have always interpreted the last verse of the above
quotation to mean that Jesus will believe in him before he
dies. This understanding is supported by authentic sayings
(Hadith) of the Prophet Mohammed may the peace and blessings
of Allah him and upon all His Messengers.