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It is from amongst the articles of faith in Islaam to believe in all of the Messengers of God. God Almighty informs us that He sent many Messengers and Prophets, mentioning twenty-five of them in the Holy Qur?aan. God the Most High said:
?And Indeed We have sent Messengers before you (O Muhammad): of some of them We have related to you their story. And of some We have not related to you their story, and it was not given to any Messenger that he should bring a sign except by the leave of Allaah.? [40:78]
And from these twenty-five noble Messengers who have been mentioned is Jesus, the son of Mary.
The Status of Jesus in Islaam
Jesus is regarded in Islaam as one of the greatest Messengers of God. He is among the Messengers who received Divine Books and suffered much hardship and adversity in the way of delivering the message of God Most High: to single out God Alone in worship. God said in the Qur?aan:
?And verily, We have sent among every nation a Messenger (proclaiming): ?Worship God Alone and avoid all false deities.?? [16:36]
Jesus ? peace be upon him- was one of the five Messengers of strong will and resolve mentioned in the Glorious Qur?aan: Ibraaheem (Abraham), Nuh (Noah), Moosaa (Moses), ?Eesaa (Jesus), and His final Messenger Muhammad ? may peace and blessings be upon all of them. All of these illustrious Messengers came with this same noble invitation: Worship God Alone, without any partners, and obey His Messenger. Likewise, they all faced opposition and hardships from their people due to this call.
Jesus (Peace be upon him) in Islaam
His Mother:
It should be mentioned that God not only speaks highly of Jesus in the Noble Qur?aan, but He also speaks highly of his mother, Mary. When Mary was born, her mother prayed that God would grant her daughter protection, dedicating her to the Creator, to worship Him Alone and be obedient to Him. God, the Mighty and Majestic, accepted her supplication and He placed her under the protection of His servant Zakariyyaa (Zachariah), the father of John the Baptist. God said:
?(Remember) when the wife of ?Imraan said: ?O my Lord! I have vowed to You what (the child that) is in my womb to be dedicated for Your services, so accept this from me. Verily, You are as-Samee? (The All-Hearer), al-?Aleem (The All-Knowing).? Then when she gave birth to her child [Maryam (Mary)], she said: ?O my Lord! I have given birth to a female child,? ? and Allaah knew better what she brought forth, - ?And the male is not like the female, and I have named her Maryam (Mary), and I seek refuge with You for her and for her offspring from Shaytaan (Satan), the outcast.? So her Lord accepted her with goodly acceptance. He made her grow in a good manner and put her under the care of Zakariyyaa.? [3:35-37]
His Birth:
Mary had withdrawn herself in seclusion from her family when God sent to her the archangel Gabriel (Jibreel). Gabriel appeared to her in the form of a man, proclaiming to her:
??I am only a Messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son.? She said: ?How can I have a son when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?? [19:19-20]
The Angel replied:
??So it will be, your Lord said: ?That is easy for Me (God): And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (God), and it is a matter (already) decreed (By God).? So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far away place (i.e. Bethlehem valley).? [19: 21-22]
After giving birth to her baby, Jesus, she carried him to her people. After seeing Mary with her baby, they perceived that she had done something shameful:
?O Mary! Indeed you have brought a mighty and strange thing. O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a man who used to commit adultery, nor was your mother an unchaste woman.? [19:27-28]
So faced with the accusations of having committed a shameful act by her people, Mary pointed to the baby in her arms. Then the first of Jesus? many miracles took place:
?Then she pointed to him (the baby, Jesus). They said: ?How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?? He (Jesus) said: ?Verily I am a slave of God, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet; And He has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined on me prayer, and Zakaat (charity), as long as I live. And dutiful to my mother, and did not make me arrogant, unblest. And Salaam (peace) be upon me the day I was born, and the day that I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!?? [19:29-33]
And we should mention that the Power which caused Jesus to be born miracuously to a virgin mother without a father is the same Power which created Adam without a father nor a mother.
?Verily the likeness of Jesus before God is like the likeness of Adam. He (God) created him from dust and then said to him ?Be!? and he was. (This is) the truth from your Lord, so be not of those who doubt.? [3:59-60]
His Message:
Jesus? message, as we mentioned previously, was the same message that all of God?s Prophets and Messengers came with: the worship of the One true God Alone, without associating any partners with Him in that worship. God said:
?And worship Allaah (Alone), and do not join with Him any partners? [4:36]
And He says: ?Verily, Allaah does not forgive that any partners should be set up with Him in worship, but He forgives what is other than that for whomever He pleases.? [4:48]
So this is the pristine message which all of the Prophets and Messengers called to, singling out God the Most High in worship. And this is the message of Islaam and the foundation upon which it is built. Therefore, as Muslims, we hold that all of the Prophets and Messengers were themselves ?Muslims?, as Islaam means submission and surrender to God Alone, singling Him out in worship. And a muslim is one who submits and surrenders himself to God Alone and worships and obeys Him. The respective names of the message that these noble Messengers came with may have differed, but the message itself was one and the same. We find Jesus himself commanding his people, the Children of Israel, to worship God Alone. God said:
?And will make him [Jesus] a Messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): 'I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I design for you out of clay, a figure like that of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's Leave; and I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allaah's Leave. And I inform you of what you eat, and what you store in your houses. Surely, therein is a sign for you, if you believe. And I have come confirming that which was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden to you, and I have come to you with a proof from your Lord. So fear God and obey me. Truly, Allaah (God) is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him (Alone). This is the Straight Path.? [3:49-51]
And God says in the Qur?aan:
?And (remember) when Allaah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): ?O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto mankind: ?Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allaah (God)??? He will say: ?Glory be to You! ?.Never did I say to them except that which You (God) commanded me to say: ?Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.?? [5:116-117]
Similiarly, we find in the Bible Jesus being asked ?Which is the first commandment of all?? He replied, ?The first of all the commandments is: ?Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One??? [Mark 12:28-29]
Some of The Miracles of Jesus:
Many non-Muslims would be amazed to know that Muslims believe that Jesus, son of Mary, performed some miracles not mentioned in the Bible. One of them, as has preceeded, is his speaking while a baby, defending his mother against the accusations of her people. Another of his miracles that he performed is his calling upon his Lord, the Most High, to send down a maa?idah, or a table spread with food which his disciples ate from as mentioned in Soorah al-Maa?idah, the fifth chapter, verses 112-115. As we have mentioned previously, Allaah said:
?And will make him [Jesus] a Messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): ?I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I design for you out of clay, a figure like that of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God?s Leave; and I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I bring the dead to life by Allaah?s Leave.?
[Soorah an-Nisaa? (4):49]
So Jesus? blowing life into the figure of bird made of clay, healing those born blind and those suffering from leprosy, and bringing the dead back to life were all miracles, performed by the leave of God. God also mentions:
?And I inform you of what you eat, and what you store in your houses.?
[Soorah an-Nisaa? (4):49]
Here, God informed Jesus of the food stuff that the people stored secretly in their homes and ate from as a sign that Allaah is All-Seeing, All-Knowing. Also, Jesus? being raised up to Allaah and descending before the Last Day are also from amongst his miracles.
Jesus? Death:
God informs us in the Qur?aan that the Jews made plans to kill His Messenger Jesus due to his call to the Oneness of God and his refutation of their acts of disobedience and defiance towards God, the All Mighty, All Wise. God says:
?And they plotted [to kill Jesus], and God planned too. And God is the Best of those who plot.?
[Soorah Aal-?Imraan (3):54]
Then the Jews made their attempt to capture God?s Messenger to kill him. According to Islaam, when they entered the place where Jesus had been staying, the Arch Angel Gabriel informed Jesus of what was about to happen, and Jesus escaped. Then the Most Mighty and Wise raised him up to Himself into the heavens and in a manner known only to Allaah. He said:
?And (remember) when God said: ?O Jesus! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you [of the forged statement that he is God?s son] of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you (who worship God Alone) superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute.?
[Soorah Aal-?Imraan (3):55]
And God the Most High explains the truth of what happened:
?And because of their (the Jews) saying (in boast), ?We killed the Messiah Jesus, so of Mary, the Messenger of God,? ? but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Jesus was put over another man (and they killed that man instead), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no certain knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not. But Allaah raised him up unto Himself (into the heavens). And God (Allaah) is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise.?
[Soorah an-Nisaa? (4):157-158]
So Muslims do not believe that Jesus has died. Rather, Allaah took him up to Himself and He will send him back down before the Last Day to break the crosses and make clear the message that he was sent with. Jesus will fight the Antichrist (Maseeh ad-Dajjaal) and slay him, then the time that God has appointed for Jesus to die will come.
Muslims also reject the idea that Jesus, son of Mary, ?died for our sins?, as Allaah says:
?And whoever does evil or wrongs himself, but afterwards seeks Allaah?s Forgiveness, he will find Allaah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. And whoever earns a sin, he earns it only against himself. And Allaah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise. And whoever earns a fault or a sin and then throws it on to someone innocent, he has indeed burdened himself with falsehood and a manifest sin.?
[Soorah an-Nisaa? (4):110-112]
Conclusion:
Muslims do not believe that God All-Mighty is part of a ?trinity? or has a mother, father, nor children. Rather the Muslims believe that God is One and Unique, free from every deficient humanisitic quality, including that of having children, and free from having any partner or associate. He Alone created the heavens and the earth and sustains all that is in them and all that is between them, disposing of the affairs of His creatures without any help from them. So then due to His Uniqueness and Perfection, and His providing for and sustaining us, it is His right upon us to worship Him Alone.
God?s last messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: ?Whoever testifies that there is nothing worthy of worship in truth except God Alone, Who is without peer or partner, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, and that Jesus is the slave of God, His Messenger, and His Word which He bestowed in Mary and a spirit (created) from Him, and that Paradise and Hell-fire are realities, God will admit him into Paradise, whatever his deeds may be.?
So this is a brief look at Jesus in Islaam. May God guide us all to His Straight Path, the path that all of His Prophets and Messengers called to, and keep our feet firm upon it.
?Say (O Muhammad): ?O people of the Book: Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allaah (Alone), and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as a Lord besides Allaah.?
[Soorah Aal-?Imraan (3): 64]
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abu.ibraaheem2
25-09-2002 @ 12:00 AM
01-09-2004 @ 11:01 PM