Just a question. [Archive]

Lulua

02-10-2001, 17:48

Hello, Sarah.

Sorry that you have become discouraged by my lateness in response. Several reasons have kept me from responding immediately, one of them being that the context of your question warrants some quotes and evidences from the Quran...and that is something that I cannot do in a rush.

The word 'messiah', is defined in The Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1979, as: 'the expected king and deliverer of the Jews; or: a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause...i.e. Jesus.

The Jews do not recognize Jesus as that person. In fact, they are still looking for him. That is the basic differentiation between the Jews and the other religions, Christianity and Islam.

The exact translation of the English 'messiah' into Arabic is 'mesih' (with an emphasis on the pronunciation of the final letter 'f', and making the 'i' sound as a long 'e'). For purpose of better understanding who actually is meant or intended when speaking of the messiah, or mesih, and as well as to fit the conformity of the language used in the translation of the Quran into English, you will find in the verses of the Quran, when the Arabic is mentioning the 'mesih', the English translation of that meaning will most generally read 'Jesus Christ', or 'Jesus', or perhaps 'Jesus son of Mary'...something along that lines, which defines exactly who is meant by reference to 'mesih'. (this is all to prepare you for what you will see in the following quotes from the Quran...for although in many cases it is mentioned in the Arabic as 'Jesus the messiah, or mesih', in the English you will find it mentioned as 'Jesus Christ' or the Christ, or 'Jesus son of Mary' or something similar).

To backtrack a little first, Islam recognizes all the line of prophets, and revers each and everyone of them with similar and same reverence, not distinguishing between them any more than their natural tendencies of human traits affords them (as all humans are the same, yet different in small traits), not allowing any of them any higher status than that which they are apt towards and deserving of (i.e. none of them 'supernatural' or 'superhuman'...merely men, humans, but endowed and blessed with special qualities). This is evidenced from the following verse:

2:136 Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam)."

Some other relevant verses to this would be also: s. 2, v. 253.

One point which is something of confusion and opposition to many Christians, is the Islamic opinion and understanding that what is remaining of the Bible is something which is not entirely God's revelation. This can be proved by seeing the many contradictions on any one topic within the bible itself. Another point to consider, is the self-descriptive point of the bible that the gospels were something written by men, some time after Jesus had left them, (I will not say die, because the Islamic understanding is that Jesus did not yet die...he was lifted up to God...but will not delve further into that just right now), and not even the exact quotes of Jesus himself. Although we as muslims DO recognize the gospel, in that it was the scripture or message which God gave to Jesus. This is evidenced by the following verse:

3:3 It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).

An example of evidence that Jesus did not die is this:

3:55 Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.

4:157 That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- 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 no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-

The mere being of Jesus, or his conception itself was something of a miracle, but we are also reminded that the miracle of his coming into being is no more miraculous than the miracle of that of Adam:

3:59 The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.

More examples of Jesus' miraculous conception and birth are just the beginning of the many miracles of Jesus' life:

3:45 Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah.

*(If you would continue to read the passages before and following the previous verse, you will understand better the whole story surrounding Jesus' conception, and truly realize the miracle of his existence...being born unto a virgin. Also, other verses will tell you of the miraculous and clean and pure life and existence of Mary herself.

And some mention of the miracles that Jesus did perform (although not mentioned in such detail, perhaps, as is found in the Bible, with names and such...still evidence of the miracles which he (Jesus) was endowed with). You will notice that the mention of the miracles is that Jesus did not have that power on his own, but it was something of a blessing granted upon him (much as was with all the prophets) by the will and permission of the Creator, God.

5:110 Then will Allah say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: 'This is nothing but evident magic.'

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Sarah...and anyone else viewing this...there is much more on Jesus in the Quran, in reminding people of what exactly was his mission as well as his message, and reminder and warning that the misinterpretations that people have accustomed themselves to in defining the 'trinity' are a blaspheme, as well as many other mentions of Jesus, Mary, and many others of the prophets as well.

If you wish to study these things for yourself, there is a good data base and search mechanism at many sites, one of which is:

www.islamicity.com or www.islamicity.org

When you get at the main opening page for that site, simply go to the search mechanism, and click the search choice to show 'Quran' and then type in the space available the name or word of the subject of the search that you wish to search for.

If you are simply interested in reading the Quran throughout, there are links as well which will help you to do so.

Another good site for this sort of study is:

www.islamworld.net

Again, sorry for the delay. I have been having some computer problems, and may be offline for a day or more...uncertain of that right now.

Please do continue to ask, and be patient, even if our responses are a little delayed at times. We will eventually get to it, inshaAllah. So, if you reply soon and ask some more, and do not get immediate reply from me, please do not give up...I or others will be responding as soon as it is convenient or possible to do so.

Sometimes answers like this need not merely a yes or no answer, but need some evidences to back up the claim as well. Hope that you understand.

Bye for now.

Lulua.

Lulua

02-10-2001, 22:48

Hi, again, Sarah.

Ok...for my previous post...sorry again for the length..I know that I get like that at times, getting into rather lengthy explanations, buy felt like that you should see some evidence from our Book of Guidance, the Quran, as to why we believe as we do.

Now, to approach this on simpler and easier to understand terms...

Again, the Jews do not recognize nor consider Jesus as the Messiah that they are looking for.

The Christians do consider Jesus as the Messiah, as well as they also recognize and believe in his miraculous birth, and the miracles that he performed (by the will of God, of course) which were in part proof to the people of his mission and position as a prophet of God. The Christians also apparently consider Jesus as the son of God, in the sense that he is the ONLY son of God, and not in the sense as some people refer to all of human kind as the children of God. This is apparently the belief of modern day Christians, but something that is questionable as to whether or not those of Jesus' times and soon afterwards actually thought or believed in that manner.

The Muslims believe in the prophethood of Jesus, his position having been chosen from amongst mankind not only to be a prophet and messenger of God, but to be THE Messiah (which was predicted or told of in the Jewish scriptures). They also believe in Jesus' miraculous birth as having been conceived to a virgin woman, and therefore born without biological father, only on the will and permission of God. They also believe in the various miracles that Jesus was endowed with, miracles which helped some people to believe in his claim as prophet and messenger of God. But they do not believe in Jesus' status as the son of God, (as the Christians do), nor do they believe in the trinity of God, which incorporates Jesus as the son, yet part of the God-being. The Muslims believe strictly in the UNITY or ONENESS of God...that God is only one being, and that Jesus was a man, a human, a part of creation as all other humans are part of creation, much as Adam was a part of creation.

Hope that this helps to clarify things a bit, coupled perhaps with the verses quoted in the previous message.

Lulua.