I’m curious to know what Islamic belief truly is when it comes to the person of Jesus, because to me, it seems somewhat minimalist or indeed not something a lot of emphasis is placed on, in comparison to that of Mary. I hear often about how Mary is just as revered in Islam as in Catholicism and that made me start questioning why, given that Islam doesn’t hold to much else of Christian teaching.
- Mary with Jesus
Why is it that Islam places reverence on Mary (a fallen, sinful human being) to the point of agreeing with the Catholic Church that she was a “perpetual virgin” while ignoring the Deity of Jesus. But more than that, I also wanted to point out something I find odd in that respect. If Mary is held in reverence because she gave birth to ’nothing more than’ a prophet (as Islam contends Jesus was), then why did God send an angel (Gabriel no less!) to give her the news (which Islam accepts)? No other mother of a prophet in the history of the world ever had her child’s birth announced to her by an angel – not even Muhammed!! Muhammed did indeed have a visit himself from apparently that very same angel but only to provide him with a “new revelation.” Jesus, on the other hand, didn’t need to have another visit from Gabriel after his birth because He IS the “new revelation” – but not only of scripture, rather of God Himself. And why was there a particular significance about Jesus being born to a virgin if He was purely going to be a only a prophet – the greatest prophets in the world before Him weren’t born to virgins so why is His birth so different, and necessarily so??
Isa 7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
For me at least, it goes back to how God has continually revealed Himself in scripture – primarily in the Torah of Judaism where He has placed numerous prophecies that foretell the future – many of which have already been fulfilled, and many others soon to be. But the bulk of all of those prophecies relate specifically to the Messiah of Israel and they are so specific that aside from Jesus, the chances of anyone else ever coming close to fulfilling even 1% of those that Jesus has, is so utterly remote, there wouldn’t be room here for all the zero’s!! Check out Jesus is Messiah for more on those if you’re interested.
But the particular one of interest here at least is the one pertaining to Mary and her virgin birth since this is really the reason she stands out in history – she gave birth to not only a prophet, but the Messiah Himself.
I find it quite ironic in some ways that Islam would hold her in reverence while Jews ignore her entirely, and yet again, that just confirms the facts because having missed Him when He came, Jesus stated they would lose that opportunity to know Him until “the fullness of the Gentiles is come in.”
Matthew 23:39 For I say to you, You shall not see Me from now on until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Romans 11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, lest you should be wise within yourselves; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations has comes in.
On another note, God actually states in the Bible that He has a Son!!
Proverbs 30:4 Who has gone up to Heaven and has come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in His garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know.
Psa 2:5-9 Then He shall speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in His wrath. Yea, I have set My king on My holy hill, on Zion. I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. (the very terminology used of Jesus’ birth!) Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Are you willing to deny He has spoken the Truth?? Then where will you stop? If you cannot accept this portion of scripture being Truth, then you cannot accept that any other portion is true – it’s either all true or it’s not, otherwise God cannot be trusted for anything because you have no reference point on which to stand to proclaim your beliefs.
And finally, while I’m asking these questions, I’ve one final one. If the Koran is supposed to be the final “word of God” to the nations and it specifically speaks about how it is coming after the Bible and is the “last revelation” of God, why is it that the God of the bible and the god of the Koran are 2 diametrically opposed Beings?? The God of scripture desires a relationship with His creation to the point of giving up His Son to provide for it, while the god of the Koran is unknowable and no Muslim would ever consider themselves to know him, much less be able to have any sort of “relationship” with him. The God of scripture promotes Life with a capital L, while the god of the Koran promotes death – and preferably dying while killing a lot of other people into the bargain. The God of scripture provides hope, peace and joy to those who repent and submit to Him, while the god of the Koran might provide some form of peace, but certainly not hope nor even joy because there’s no repentance or forgiveness of sins to allow for that. There is indeed only One God hence it must either be Jehovah or Allah – it can’t be both for they are absolutely not the same in any respect of nature, character or behaviour.
I would urge any Muslim reading this to not make the assumption that what you’ve been taught is the Truth, because if it was, it would line up much more with the Bible -check out Answering Islam do a comparison and see what you discover. Your eternal future depends on it.
7 comments
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May 23, 2009 at 13:59
Tim A.
This is a great article. Good questions too.
God bless you
T.A.
September 1, 2009 at 11:21
biocharme
the mother of Jesus, is considered the most righteous woman in Islam. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an – her name is mentioned more than it is in the New Testament.[1]
According to the Qur’an, Jesus (called ‘Isa in Arabic) was born miraculously by the will of God without a father. His mother is regarded as a chaste and virtuous woman and is a highly respected figure in Islam. The Qur’an states that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth, but that neither Mary nor her son was divine.
In the Qur’an, no other woman is given more attention than Mary. The nineteenth sura of the Qur’an is named after her and is, to some extent, about her life. Of the Qur’an’s 114 suras, she is among only eight people who have a sura named after them. In Islam, she is generally referred to as Maryam, Umm Isa (Mary, the mother of Jesus). For Muslims she is a symbol of submission to God and piety.
Mary is one of the most highly-regarded women in Islam; there are several verses in the Qur’an praising her and confirming that she was an extremely chaste and pious woman. Other righteous women in Islam, although not mentioned by name in the Qur’an, include: Bithiah (Asiyah in Arabic), foster mother of Prophet Musa (Moses); Khadijah wife of Prophet Muhammad; and Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad.
please view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_view_of_Mary for the whole story
September 1, 2009 at 14:31
Ha Tikvah
Yes, but again, I question WHY? Why is she SO important to Islam over other women if not because of the uniqueness of her life and the Son she bore. WHY would Jesus be born of a Virgin birth if not because He was divine? Otherwise if it was only because He was a prophet, then ALL other prophets surely should have been born in likewise manner? What makes her different to the other women mentioned in the Qur’an if not her role in giving birth to the Saviour of the world??
I’m truly asking all Muslims to seek to answer these questions for themselves and to take time to truly discover the True Jesus through the writings of those who walked with Him, in the New Testament, and not through other writings of those who never knew Him i.e. Muhammad. Thanks for taking the time to share your views though – truly appreciated.
September 3, 2009 at 23:47
Simon Holloway
“No other mother of a prophet in the history of the world ever had her child’s birth announced to her by an angel”. What about Judges 13:3-5? You might argue that Samson wasn’t a prophet, but that only strengthens my point, a fortiori. You find it surprising that Islam might accept a visitation from Gabriel for only a prophet (as opposed to the son of God himself), but here we have an instance where a visitation from an angel announces the birth of somebody who is not even a prophet.
Thoughts?
October 9, 2009 at 12:24
shamstar
pbuh = peace be upon him/her
pbut = peace be upon them
Now please read on
Simon makes an excellent point and one that can’t be countered.
There is a chapter dedicated to Mary in the Quran, which amongst other things explains that ‘Hannah’ pbuh, the mother of Mary pbuh longed for many years for a child and when she was eventually blessed with one, she dedicated that childs life to the service of God Almighty as her way of giving thanks.
From a very young age Mary pbuh was raised within the temple. She remained there until the Angel Gabriel informed her that he was sent with tidings of a son, the Messiah and it was Gabriel who ‘blew the soul’ of Jesus into Mary.
Adam pbuh on the other hand was created ‘directly’ by God Himself (no mother or father) who directly breathed the soul of Adam into him. Surely according to criterion it is Adam & not Jesus who as the only man created solely through the divinity of God should inspire people to mistakenly call him the ’son’ . However, we do not claim Adam pbuh to be divine regardless that he comes directly from the Divine and is the father of Mankind.
In fact Adam pbuh was made by the hand of God and without any aspect of his creation being carried out by any other of God’s creations – not Angel nor man. It is not fitting that partners should be associated with God and for our Creator it is a simple thing indeed to be created by the Will of God, just as He created man in the name of Adam, He shall resurrect us all.
I’d also, like to remind you that Jesus may peace be upon him, never claimed divinty and issued the law that he is not to be worshipped.
October 9, 2009 at 13:01
shamstar
“On another note, God actually states in the Bible that He has a Son!!”
Errm sorry, but No He doesn’t!
According to scholars and academics, Proverbs 30:4 is one of those verses that some Trinitarians have tried to make into a powerful Trinitarian verse, but to their own embarrassment. Not only does this verse fail to confirm that God is a Trinity or the existence of an eternal Son, but a proper interpretation of the verse in its context will demonstrate that this verse has nothing to do with God.
Notice verses 2-3. Agur said, “Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One.” (NKJV) The author is stressing His ignorance in light of the Holy One by exaggeration, claiming that he is more stupid than any man, and then goes on to say that he does not even have the understanding of a human being. He is trying to show how great God is, and how insignificant our understanding of Him is. Compared to God all of us are “stupid.” It is at this point that the author stated the verse in question. Agur asked several rhetorical questions:
1. Who has ascended or descended into heaven?
2. Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
3. Who has wrapped up the waters in their cloak?
4. Who has established the ends of the earth?
Seeing that these rhetorical questions were asked immediately after highlighting man’s ignorance in lieu of God’s wisdom, the expected answer is negative, “Not man!” What man has ascended or descended into heaven? There is no man, thus highlighting man’s insignificance in light of the Holy One. Who has gathered the wind in his fists? There is no man, again highlighting man’s insignificance in light of the Holy One. The same can be said of wrapping up the waters in one’s cloak and establishing the ends of the earth. There is no man who can do such, only God. Only after this series of rhetorical questions does the author ask his readers to tell him who has done these things. The author is not asking what divine being has done these things, but what man has done these things. Essentially he was asking, “If you know a man who has done these things, tell me his name and the name of his son.” (The whole idea of giving the name of the individual and the name of his son serves to identify the man who did these things. It must be remembered that in Biblical times people did not have last names to distinguish themselves from others with the same name. To name one’s son was a further mark of identification, clarifying which individual is being named.) Obviously no man did these things, thus neither he nor his son could be identified. Seeing that no man could be identified (and thus no man’s son) it demonstrated that only God could do these things, and man was nothing in comparison to Him. That was precisely the point the author was trying to stress to his readers. No man can do what God can do. He is so much greater than we are.
This seems so simplistic that I am surprised Trinitarians continue to use this verse to support their theology. This is just another example of Trinitarians scraping at anything in order to find Biblical support for the Trinity. Trinitarians have made such a big deal over this verse because they found something in the OT that mentions the Son, which they do not find anywhere else (to their embarrassment), so they ignore the context to champion their Trinitarian theory when in all reality this passage has nothing to do with God’s identity. Some Trinitarians, such as the translators of the NET Bible, are honest enough to say that this passage may only “hint … of the nature of the Messiah as Son, a hint that will be revealed in full through the incarnation.” Notice the future tense of their words. Those translators did not see this verse as a confirmation of a Trinity in the OT. We can be assured that Proverbs 30:4 does not teach an eternal Son in the Christian Godhead.
“Psa 2:5-9 Then He shall speak to them in His anger, and trouble them in His wrath. Yea, I have set My king on My holy hill, on Zion. I will declare the decree of Jehovah. He has said to Me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. (the very terminology used of Jesus’ birth!) Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Are you willing to deny He has spoken the Truth?? Then where will you stop? If you cannot accept this portion of scripture being Truth, then you cannot accept that any other portion is true – it’s either all true or it’s not, otherwise God cannot be trusted for anything because you have no reference point on which to stand to proclaim your beliefs.”
Sorry, but again you are wrong and there is no mention in psalms 2: 5-9 of God acknowledging He has a son.
v1 Why are nations planning together?
Why are people having such stupid ideas?
v2 – v3 Why are their kings saying,
“We will not obey the LORD”?
Why are their leaders saying,
“We will not do what his Messiah says”?
v4 He that is sitting above the skies will laugh.
The Lord will say that they are stupid.
v5 Then he will say angry words to them.
He will make them very frightened because he is so angry.
v6 He will say, “I myself put my king in Zion.
I put him on my holy mountain”.
v7 I will tell you what God has decided to do.
The LORD said to me, “You are my son.
Today I have given you the *honour that goes with that name.
v8 Ask me for anything! I will give you nations.
The whole world can be yours.
v9 You will rule them with an iron sceptre.
You will break them like a clay pot”.
v10 So now, you kings, be careful.
You world leaders, listen to this:
v11 Become the servants of the LORD.
Remember that he is very powerful.
v12 Kiss his son or God will be angry.
He may be so angry that you will die.
Only the people that come to the LORD are really happy.
He will make them safe.
The Story of Psalm 2:
It is thought by Christian Scholars that David, or his friend Nathan, probably wrote Psalm 2. In verses 1 – 3 he asks, “Why are all the other countries attacking me?” In verses 4 – 6 he says that this will make God very angry. This is because David is the king that God put in Jerusalem. Countries that attack David are really attacking God!
In verses 7 – 9 David says that when he became king he also became a son of God. So God will give him everything that he asks for. In verses 10-12, David tells the world leaders to obey the king. This is what “kiss his son” means! David the king is God’s son in the sense he believes he is protected by God.
October 11, 2009 at 15:29
Ha Tikvah
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post, and at length too – truly appreciated. However, I would disagree with some aspects of your response, and as I accept that we could debate all day 2 opposing views on this subject, I would prefer to allow scripture to once again speak for me as it is inerrant (whether you agree with it or not) because it is inspired by God to those who wrote the words (and yes, I know all the arguments against twisted translations etc, but I’ve no concerns on that score because the Dead Sea Scrolls prove the accuracy of the early biblical works.
On the point of Jesus’ eternal Sonship – let’s go right to the outset of creation in Genesis where God says – “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen 1:26 ) – up to that point we only hear God talk about His Spirit so there were at least 2 aspects of God to start with but spirit doesn’t have form so He couldn’t have been talking about making man in the image of His Spirit, thus He had to have someone else with Him who was like Him in every way, and we fully believe that Person was Jesus in His pre-incarnate form. “Trinitarians” as you so fondly call us don’t believe in 3 Gods, but 1 in 3 persons – huge difference. We absolutely accept that God is ONE as He has stated constantly but He exists in 3 Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you can’t accept Jesus in that state then do you also deny the Holy Spirit in His form. Yet God constantly speaks of His Spirit throughout scripture.
You are quite right in your assertion that “No man can do what God can do. He is so much greater than we are. “ and indeed that is so, but Jesus was no ordinary man, but rather God in human flesh – which is precisely what His Incarnation was all about – the mystery of God entering into His creation in a miraculous way by the power of the Holy Spirit, so He was both human AND divine. His humanity you obviously know about, but perhaps you have missed the evidence of His Divinity – the multitude of miracles He undertook and the way in which He constantly asserted His Divinity through his teachings and practices.
For example, in the Gospel according to John, (speaking of eternal life) Jesus says,
“I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” (John 11:25).
He makes the offer of eternal life conditional on faith in his own person. This would be blasphemous for anybody other than God. This is an incredible claim. Does he give any evidence for his authority to make such claims? The record gives many details of what happened at this particular day, but at the end we read,
“When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, `Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, `Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’” (John 11:43-44).
When you read the Gospels carefully you will find that consistently
* Jesus talks like he is God,
* Jesus acts like he is God,
* Jesus gives evidence for claiming this authority rightfully by performing miraculous signs.
On your point – “I’d also, like to remind you that Jesus may peace be upon him, never claimed divinty and issued the law that he is not to be worshipped” What matters in the end is not the existence of this literal statement, but whether there is clear evidence that he is indeed God, no matter in which form he issued the claim. If there is clear proof for his divine identity, then you have to worship Him even if the wording of his commands is not precisely the way you may think they should be. We cannot become idolators for desiring God to reveal Himself in a different way than He has just because it doesn’t sit comfortably with us.
However, Jesus obviously did state that He was the Son of God at some point to those who heard Him speak, because in John’s Gospel He says this: (John 10:27:33)
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28. And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand. 29 My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one!” 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from My Father; for which of these do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Earlier in John 9 is the story of where Jesus healed a blind man: (Joh 9:32 -38)
“From everlasting it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this One were not of God, He could do nothing.” 34 They answered and said to him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding him, He said to him, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” 36 And he answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and it is He who is speaking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him.”
Rather than belabour the point, I’ll just close with more scriptures that speak for themselves to counter your claim of His not stating He was the Son of God.
John.1:1,14 speak of Jesus the Christ being the Word and the Word also being divine (God), then becoming flesh [human]
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live”.
John 10:36 “.….do you say of Him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, You blaspheme, because I said, I am the Son of God?
John 8:58 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I AM!
John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you shall die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins.”
Matthew 16:15-17 “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” … “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven.”
Luke 22:70 And they all said, “Are you then the Son of God?” And He said to them, You say it, because I AM! 71 And they said, What need do we have for any witness? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth.
Each of those scriptures show that Jesus used the terminology that God Himself used in the Old Testament in referring to Himself as the Great “I AM” as His Name (Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses: ‘I AM THAT I AM’; and He said: ‘Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.’). And Jesus further shows His Divinity by stating that you cannot enter heaven except through Him and His sacrifice on the cross for your sins because He took our sin upon Himself in that sacrifice so as to pay the price we cannot pay to appease God’s judgement on (our) sin. Only Jesus can answer the dilemma of sin for the human race as He is the Only One who provides salvation and redemption from it.
So Jesus showed that He fully believed Himself to be God, and if you disagree with that fact, you therefore have to consider Him not a prophet but a madman unworthy of any praise for anything – at best He was a liar to dare to think He could be equal with God and forgive sins.
If, however, you can now see that He absolutely has shown His Divinity in those statements, I urge you to revisit your knowledge of biblical scripture and to read it more carefully to discover the REAL Jesus – not the one you have been taught about, but the One Who was before time began, and Who will return once again to claim His own and establish His Throne in Jerusalem. Maranatha.