JESUS: A PROPHET OF ISLAM

Transcription

1

2 JESUS: A PROPHET OF ISLAM Introduction Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi بسم اهلل الرحمن الرحيم الحمد هلل رب العالمين والصالة و السالم على محمد و آله الطاهرين. I would like to begin with the Islamic greet of peace, as-salãmu alaykum, and welcome you to first Open House at the Ja fari Islamic Centre. Tonight we would like to share our views about Jesus, the son of Mary, as a step in creating a better understanding between Muslims and Christians, especially in the wake of the tragedy of September 11 th, year A. Jesus in the Islamic Theology Islam is a religion; but in just the conventional meaning of that word; it is a way of life. The Islamic faith can be divided into two components: the beliefs and the deeds. The belief component, that is, theological aspect, is the root and the foundation of Islam. In a broader sense, we can summarize the Islamic beliefs into three issues: 1. The concept of monotheism: belief in the One & Only God. 2. The concept of divine guidance: belief in representatives of God sent to guide the human society. These representatives were known as prophets and messengers of God. 3. The concept of the life in hereafter: belief in the Day of Judgment, and its consequences in form of Paradise and Hell. 1

3 The first is the beginning of the universe, the third is the end of this world and what happens after it, and the second is the process of divine guidance during this phase of our existence. So let us now turn to the second of these three concepts: divine guidance. In the Islamic worldview, God sent many prophets and messengers to guide mankind; the number given in our traditions is 124,000 prophets. The first prophet was Adam, the first human being, and the last Prophet was Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon all of them). However, not all of the 124,000 prophets were of the same rank and status. 1 Five of these prophets are given the highest rank in the spiritual hierarchy: and they are Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and, of course, Muhammad (peace be upon them). Addressing Prophet Muhammad, God says in the Qur ãn: We made a covenant with the prophets: with you, with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus son of Mary 2 A Muslim is required to believe in all the prophets otherwise he or she cannot be considered a Muslim. 3 If a person, for instance, says that I believe in Muhammad and Jesus and Abraham and Noah but not in Moses as one of the prophets of God, then he cannot be accepted as a Muslim; similarly, if a person believes in all the prophets but refuses to accept Jesus as one of the prophets of God, then he is not a Muslim. 4 1 The Qur ãn, 2:253; 17:55. 2 The Qur ãn, 33:7. Also see 42:13: He has made plain to you the religion that He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We have revealed to you, and that We have enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus 3 Say, We believe in God and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and to the prophets from their Lord we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit. (The Qur ãn 3:84) 4 It is because of this concept that Islam considers the Christian and the Jewish communities as the People of the Book or the People of the Scripture. In a way, accepting them as people who follow the Prophets who had access to the divine revelation. 2

4 B. The Birth & Life of Jesus in the Qur ãn Prophet Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary, are mentioned many times in the Qur ãn, the holy book of the Muslims. 5 In fact, the nineteenth chapter of the Qur ãn is named after Mary. There are many similarities in the beliefs of Christians and Muslims concerning Jesus. 1. The Qur ãn talks about Mary s birth and her childhood: Remember when Hanna, the wife of Imrãn, said, My Lord, I vow to dedicate the child which is in my womb to You for Your service, therefore accept it from me. Surely You are the Hearing, the Knowing. So when she gave birth to the daughter, she said, I have named the child Mary, and I commend her and her offspring into Your protection from the accursed Satan. And God gave Mary into the custody of Zechariah. Zechariah placed her in the innermost part of the synagogue. Whenever Zechariah entered the mihrãb to see Mary, he found food with her although no one else used to enter her room. Therefore, he asked her, O Mary! From where does this food come to you? She said, It is from God. Surely God gives subsistence to whom He pleases without measure The Qur ãn talks about Mary being chosen by God for the birth of Jesus: And when the angels said, O Mary! God has chosen you from the family of the prophets, purified you and chosen you for the birth of Jesus over all the women of the world of your time. O Mary! Be obedient to your Lord, prostrate and bow down in prayers with those who bow down. 5 The name of Mary (Maryam, in Arabic) has occurred 34 times in the Qur ãn whereas the name of Jesus ( Isa, in Arabic) has occurred 25 times. 6 The Qur ãn 3:34-36 (The words in italics are explanatory remarks added by me to clarify the meaning of the Qur ãnic verses. See my An Explanatory Translation of the Qur ãn, vol. 1 [1984].) 3

5 Remember when the angels said, O Mary! Surely God gives you the good news of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, he is distinguished in this world and the hereafter, he will be one of those who are nearer to God, he shall speak to the people while he will still be in the cradle and when he becomes of mature age, and he shall be one of the good people. She (Mary) said, My Lord! How can there be a son for me while man has not yet touched me? God said, In this way, God creates what He pleases. When He has decreed a matter, He just says to it, Be, and it comes to existence The Qur ãn talks about the miraculous birth of Jesus: Remember the story of Mary in this Book: when she secluded from her people to a place on the east of the city-- thus she virtually screened herself from them. Then We sent to her Our spirit (i.e., Jibra il) who appeared to her as a perfect human being. When Mary saw him, she was startled and afraid. She said, I seek refuge in the Beneficent God from you, if you fear Allãh s punishment. The angel said, Do not be afraid, I am not a human being; I am just a messenger of your Lord; I have been sent so that I may give you a pure boy. She said, How can there be a son for me while man has not yet touched me, neither have I been unchaste? The angel said, So shall it be. Your Lord said, It is easy for me. And We are creating your son without a father as We intend to make him a sign for men and a mercy from Us. This is a matter which has already been decreed. So Mary conceived him and withdrew with him to a remote place. The birth pangs forced her to sit by the trunk of a dry palm-tree. She felt very distressed and worried about her reputation. She said, I wish I would have died before this and 7 The Qur ãn 3: Also see the Qur ãn 19:16:20. 4

6 become a completely forgotten person so that no one will slander me! Suddenly, Jesus who was born to her at that very moment, called to her from beneath her: Do not grieve; to relieve you from your trouble, your Lord has made a stream to flow below you, and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards yourself and you will find fresh and ripe dates falling on you. So eat, drink, and be delightful. As for your reputation, do not worry and leave it to me; if you see any human being, say: I have vowed to the Beneficent God a fast of speech, and so I shall not speak to any man today. Then she came with the child to her people while she was carrying him. When the people saw her with a newborn child, they said, O Mary! You have surely done something unheard-of before in your family! O sister of Aaron! What have you done? Your father was not an evil man nor was your mother an unchaste woman. Mary, instead of answering them, pointed to the child. They said, How should we speak to someone who is still a baby in the cradle? At that very moment, Jesus started to talk. He said, I am a servant of God, He has given me the Book, and has made me a prophet and has made me a blessed person wherever I may be. He has enjoined me to pray and to give charity for as long as I live, and also to be devoted to my mother. And He has not made me an arrogant and unhappy person. Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I shall die, and the day I shall be raised to life. Such is the story of Jesus son of Mary. And this is a true statement of his birth concerning which they are in doubt. 8 8 The Qur ãn 19: (The words in italics are explanatory remarks added by me to clarify the meaning of the Qur ãnic verses. See my An Explanatory Translation of the Qur ãn, vol. 4 [forthcoming].) 5

7 4. The Qur ãn confirms the miracles that Jesus was able to perform: The miracle of speech while he was just a baby in the cradle. 9 The miracle of healing the blind and curing of the lepers. 10 The power of bringing the dead back to life by God s permission. 11 The knowledge of the unseen things. 12 C. Jesus in Islam & Christianity: Differences 1. Jesus was not the Son of God: The Islamic perspective of the Almighty is such that God cannot be confined to any material or human dimension; He is the Creator and cannot be envisioned as a created being. And, therefore, the Muslims do not believe in Jesus was the Son of God. The Qur ãn says that even Jesus himself never claimed to be God s son: Verily God is my Lord and your Lord, therefore worship Him, this is the right path. 13 This statement of Prophet Jesus in the Qur ãn is collaborated even by the New Testament. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. 14 From the Islamic perspective, the fact of Jesus miraculous birth does not automatically mean that he is son of God. In the 9 th year of the Islamic era, a Christian delegate came to meet the Prophet Muhammad. They asked him about his opinion on Jesus; 9 The Qur ãn 19:33 quoted in the preceding paragraph. 10 The Qur ãn 3:48 I heal the blind and the lepers, bring the dead back to life with the permission of God and inform you of what you eat and of what you hoard in your houses 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 The Qur ãn 3:51; 19: The Gospel of John, chp. 20, vr. 17. Also see Jesus own description about himself as son of man in Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34; Matthew 8:20; and as servant in Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27; John 13:

8 the Prophet replied that Jesus was an important prophet and a messenger, thats all. The Christian delegation then argued that how do you explain the miraculous birth of Jesus. The Prophet used the argument that was revealed unto him by God and that is in the Qur ãn. It says: Surely the example of Jesus (birth without a father), in the view of God, is like the example of Adam s (creation without a father or a mother) God created his (image) from dust and then said to it, Be, and he came to existence Jesus was not crucified: The second significant difference in Islamic view of Jesus visà-vis the Christian view is the issue of crucifixion of Jesus. Muslims agree that the mission of Jesus was to reform the Israelites; and that his enemies eventually conspired to kill him. But what happened after that: was Jesus crucified, did he die on the cross and then rise back to life to ascend to God or did God raise Jesus unto Himself in the heavens before the enemies got hold of him? The Qur ãn clearly states that They did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it only appeared to them so They surely did not kill him; rather God raised him unto Himself. 16 So the Muslims do not believe in the crucifixion of Jesus and, consequently, deny his resurrection after the crucifixion. * * * * * D. Similarity on the Plane of Islamic Eschatology Let me now move to the eschatological part of the Islamic theology where we talk about the future. The question comes up, why did God raise Jesus unto Himself? Did God envision a role for Jesus in the future of human history? 15 The Qur ãn 3: The Qur ãn 4: Also see: Remember when God said, O Jesus! I am going to take you and to raise you unto Myself, and to purify you of those who disbelieved in you (3:54) 7

9 It is interesting to note that in the final stage of the story of Jesus, the Muslims share the Christians expectation of the return of Jesus. In order to show the reason why God raised Jesus unto Himself and has preserved him for such a long time, I would like to use the explanation that I have learnt from my father. And for this explanation, I have to go back to the list of the five great prophets of God mentioned earlier: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (may peace and blessings of God be upon them all). God chose Abraham as an important prophet and messenger. He also decided to select His future representatives from among the descendants of Abraham. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. From the descendants of Isaac, we see a long list of prophets among the Israelites; the most famous among them are Moses and Jesus. Jesus is also the last representative of God from the line of Isaac, the son of Abraham. From the descendants of Ishmael, we see the name of Muhammad, as the last prophet and messenger of God on this earth. From among the descendants of Muhammad, we have the Mahdi, as the last representative of God on this earth. 17 God, in His wise plan, has decided to preserve the last of His representatives from both lines of Abraham s family Jesus and Mahdi and to bring them together in the future. According to the well-known canonical sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus will return to the earth before the end of this world to assist the Mahdi, the Muslim Messiah, in establishing the Kingdom of God on this earth. That will be the dawn of true peace on the earth. * * * * * 17 The Mahdi, according to the Shí a Muslims, is the Twelfth Imam and successor of the Prophet Muhammad; he was born in the year 255 of the Islamic era and is presently in Occultation. He also has been preserved by God and will appear before the end of this world. 8

10 God chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, (& family of Imrãn) above the nations. (The Qur ãn 3:32) Abraham Isaac Ishmael Jesus Mahdi Conclusion As we have seen in this brief talk, the Islamic faith is closer to Christianity than the view that is portrayed in the media. Especially, when we talk about the coming of the Islamic Messiah, the Mahdi, and the return of Jesus, we see a great closeness between these two faiths. With this optimistic view of future, I end with the prayer that may God hasten the special day when peace and harmony will prevail on the global level. Amen, and thank you. * * * * * January 12, 2002 Ja fari Islamic Centre, Thornhill, ON, Canada 9

11 Tabligh / Religious Education and Propagation Islamic Shia Ithna-Asheri Jamaat of Toronto 9000 Bathurst Street Thornhill, Ontario L4J 8A7 Tel: Fax: jtb@jaffari.org Website:

12