World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Not The Son Of God
In the same chapter, following the above quotation, God assured Muhammed
(PBUH# ) 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.
(Qur'an 19:34-5)
After this strong statement about the nature of Jesus, God directed Muhammed
to call the Christians to a fair deal: to worship the one God:
Surely God is my Lord, and your Lord, so serve Him (Alone).
This is the straight path.
(Qur'an 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
AlI-merciful to take a son. None is there in the heavens and earth but
he comes to the All merciful as a slave.
(Qur'an 19:88-93)
The Qur'an recognises 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 from dust, then said He unto him, "Be", and
he was.
(Qur'an 3:59)
The Qur'an rejects the concept of the Trinity 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 (trinity)!" Refrain, better is
it for you. God is only One God Glory be to Him (Far Exalted is He)
above having 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,
He will assuredly muster them to Him, all of them.
As for the believers, who do deeds of righteousness, He will pay them
their rewards in full, and He will give them more, of His bounty; as for
them who disdain and wax proud, them He will punish with a severe
punishment, and they shall not find for them, apart from God, a
friend or helper.
(Qur'an 4:171-3)
The verses continue to draw the attention of people, all people, to the
proof, which Muhammed brought. God knows that people frequently inherit
certain ideas and beliefs which include, among other things, the mistakes
and interpretations of previous generations. They have no way of discovering
such mistakes for themselves. Thus God presents the Qur'an as a
proof to such people. He says:
O men, a manifest proof has now come to you from your Lord;
we have sent down to you a clear light. As for those who believe in
God, and hold fast to Him, He will surely admit them to mercy from
Him, and bounty, and will guide them to Him on a straight path.
(Qur'an 4:174-5)
The denial of Jesus' divinity (and for that matter Mary's
divinity) is presented in the Qur'an as a topic of dialogue at the
Day of Judgement between God Almighty and Jesus. All the messengers
and the nations will be gathered in front of God and He will ask the
messengers how they were received by their peoples and what they
said to them. Among those who are going to be questioned is Jesus:
And (Remember) when God will say (on the day of
Resurrection): "O Jesus son of Mary, did you say unto men,
'Take me and my mother as gods, apart from God?'" He will
say, "To you be glory! It was not me to say what I have no right (to
say). If I indeed said it, you would surely have known it, knowing what is
within my soul, and I do not know what is within your soul; you know the things
unseen. I only said to them what you did command me: 'Worship
God, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness over them, while
I remained amongst them; but when you did take me to yourself, you were
yourself the watcher over them; you are the witness of everything. If you
punish them, they are your servants, if you forgive them, you are the Almighty,
the All-wise." God will say, "This is the day the truthful shall
be profited by their truthfulness. For them await gardens underneath which
rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, God being well-pleased with them
and they well-pleased with Him; That is the great success
(Paradise).
Now one might ask: If the Qur'an denies the Trinity and the sonship
of Jesus, what was the real mission of Jesus according to the
Qur'an?
Jesus was
a link in a long chain of prophets and messengers sent by God to various societies
and nations whenever they needed; guidance or deviated from the teachings of God.
Jesus was especially prepared by God to be sent to the Jews who had deviated
from the teachings of Moses and other Messengers. As he was miraculously
supported by God in conception, birth and childhood, he was also supported by
numerous miracles to prove that he was a messenger from God. However, the
majority of the Jews rejected his ministry. The Qur'an tells us about Jesus'
mission in the following verses which are a continuation of the verses quoted earlier
in which the glad tiding was brought to Mary:
And He (God) will teach him (Jesus) the Book,
the wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel and make him a Messenger to the children
of Israel saying, "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I will
create for you out of clay as the likeness of a bird: then I will breathe into
it, and it will be a bird, by the power of God. I will also heal the blind and the
leper and bring to life the dead, by the power of God. I will inform you too of
the things you eat, and what you treasure up in your houses. Surely in that is a
sign for you if you are believers. Likewise I will confirm the truth of the Torah
that is before me, and to make lawful to you certain things that before were
forbidden unto you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: so fear
God, and obey me. Surely God is my Lord and your Lord: so serve Him.
This is a straight path.
(Qur'an 3:48-51)
In another verse of the Qur'an, Jesus confirmed the validity of the
Torah which was revealed to Moses and he also brought the glad tidings of
the coming of a final messenger after him. This is clearly indicated in the following
verse:
And when Jesus son of Mary said, 'O children of Israel, I am indeed
the Messenger of God onto you, confirming the Torah that is before me, and
giving glad tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose name shall
be the praised one (note that this is translation of Ahmad which is Prophet
Muhammed's name).
(Qur'an 61:6)
The messenger of whom Jesus gave glad tidings is referred to in both
the old and new testaments of the Bible. The Old Testament contains
several prophecies that apply only to the Prophet Muhammed. I quote
only one of those which applies to none except Prophet Muhammed.
This prophecy which was addressed to Moses said that God will send
among the Brethren of the Israelites, a prophet like Moses who
will be a founder, a leader, and an exemplar of a community of believers.
We read this in the following verses of Deut. Ch. 18:
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren;
and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that
I command him. And whoever will not give heed to My words which he
shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
(Deut 18:18-20)
Anyone who is familiar with Prophet Muhammed's life can easily
see that no one fits the above description better than Prophet Muhammed.
It was Prophet Muhammed, not Jesus, who like Moses was born from
ordinary parents, got married, founded a faithful community, established
a great law and died a natural death.
Careful study of the New Testament shows that this same prophet is referred to
by Jesus in John 14:16,17:
And will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor,
to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.
John 14:16,17
Later in John specific description of this Spirit of Truth and his role is given
as we read in John 16:13,14.:
When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for
he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak
and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me...
John 16:13,14.
The terms of the prophecy do not warrant the conclusion usually attributed
to this prophecy, namely that it refers to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost
explanation is excluded by a previous verse in John which reads:
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantages that I go
away, for if I do not go away, the counsellor will not come to you.
It is clear from the Bible that the Holy Ghost used to visit men before and
during the life time of Jesus. John was filled with the Holy Ghost before he
was born and Jesus himself received the Holy Ghost in the shape of a dove.
The characteristics of this counsellor, as can be derived from the prophecy,
are the following:
He will not come until Jesus leaves.
He will stay forever, with the believers.
He will glorify Jesus.
He will speak what he hears from God.
These characteristics are applicable only to Prophet Muhammed, as the
following brief remarks show:
Prophet Muhammed was the only messenger that came after Jesus. There
was a period of six centuries between them. Jesus' mission was limited
to the "lost sheep of the children of Israel", but Muhammed's
was a universal message. This explains the second characteristic.
Only Prophet Muhammed's message was intended by God to be a
universal and everlasting message. This agrees with the statement that
the counsellor will stay forever with the faithful.
No other prophet glorified Jesus as much as Prophet Muhammed did. The
Jews called him an impostor and accused his mother of immorality. They
tried to crucify him. Prophet Muhammed considered Jesus as great Prophet
and the "Word of God". The Qur'an attributed to him miracles
that are not mentioned in the Bible. Mary is considered the most chaste woman
and the best of all women in paradise. Thus did Muhammed really glorify Jesus.
The fourth characteristic also applies neatly to Prophet Muhammed.
The Qur'an was revealed to Prophet Muhammed, through the angel
Gabriel. When the angel finished reciting the Qur'an, Prophet Muhammed
used to convey verbatim to his companions what he heard from the angel without
adding, changing or forgetting anything. The Qur'an also describes Prophet
Muhammed saying
He does not speak out of his own fancy, He utters what
is revealed to him.
(53:4,5).
If we compare this with,
"He will not speak on his own authority", we see the striking similarity
between the characteristics of the Counsellor and those of Prophet Muhammed.
These and other prophecies in the old and new testaments predict in unequivocal
terms the advent of Prophet Muhammed who is rejected by the Jews and Christians
on the basis of misunderstanding and bias rather than on the basis of careful study
of the Bible, the Qur'an and modern findings in the field of comparative religion.
*Back
Muslims use the phrase "peace be upon him" or the abbreviation (pbuh) whenever any prophet's
name is mentioned; this is an expression of respect and reverence for him.
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