Jesus' Miracles Based on the Quran - Essay Example

NAME: ADM.NO: COURSE: LECTURER: DATE Jesus' Miracles Based on the Quran Introduction Jesus is widely mentioned and recognized in the Quran from how He came into being, grew up and the things He did including performing miracles. The Quran mentions Jesus as the prophet of God born by Mary. Jesus Christ performed many miracles that included the miraculous nature of His existence. The followers of all divine religions agree that Jesus performed miracles. The Muslims believe the ability of Jesus to perform miracles was due to the support of God the Almighty and not just because of his abilities (Zebiri 72). The Muslims usually believe that Jesus is only a prophet of Allah and they believe in the miracles that Jesus performed. In general, the Muslims always believe that Allah empowered His prophets with the power of performing miracles to support the divine messages that they delivered to the followers (Abedi, Nazari, and Al-Hosseini 134). Moreover, the Quran have mentioned numerous miracles, which were performed by the Jesus Christ. Some of the miracles that Jesus performed include restoring sight to the blind, healing lepers, created a bird from the clay soil and restoring life to the dead people among others (M. M. Ali). In this essay, the miracles performed by Jesus and recorded in the Quran will be presented in details. Jesus’ Miracles as recorded in Quran Miracle 1. Breathing into clay birds that come to life In Quran 3:45-50, the Quran takes into account the things that Jesus did through the permission from Allah. The Quran mentions that the signs that Jesus made were from the Allah and were meant to make people believe in Allah. The first sign that is mentioned is Jesus creating a live bird out of mud. Only one bird is mentioned. The same miracle is recorded in Quran 5:110 where Jesus mention the miracles that He performed and attributes them to His abilities to the disbelievers. Again, one bird is mentioned (M. M. Ali; Djaballah 14–17) . "I create for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird with God’s permission." (Quran 3:49) The In the miracle of breathing clay birds that came to life, Jesus Is depicted as having abilities to create life like God did. There is no other prophet recorded in the Holy Quran who had the ability to create life. The recount of the miracles that Jesus performed in Quran was to make people believe in Allah. In a similar way that God created Adam and Eve, Jesus breathed on clay birds and they came into being. Although the Quran approves that indeed Jesus made live birds into clay, it does not give a detailed explanation of the actual event of how Jesus performed that Miracle. The miracle of making live birds out of clay is not recorded in canonical Gospels. However, a parallelism can be drawn from the second Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas) (Woodberry 176). The Miracle happened when Jesus was five years old. It was after rains that Jesus was playing with other children on a running stream. He was playing in a downstream river where he used soft clay and shaped it into sparrows. He made 12 clay sparrows. When a Jew who was passing by saw them, he reported him to the father (Joseph) for it was on Sabbath when such activities were not allowed. Joseph admonished Jesus for doing wrong things during the Sabbath. Then by just clapping his hands and shouting to the sparrows, the sparrows took off and flew noisily. When he shouted, he told them “Be off, fly away, and remember me, you are now alive!” The Jews reported the miracle to the chief (Infancy Gospel of Thomas-First Greek form Chapter 2) (Masihiyyen). Miracle 2. Curing the blind In Quran Surah 3:49, Jesus explained he had the ability to cure the blind so that the people can know God has sent him. This claim is validated by a Gospel account of a scenario where Jesus cured the blind. In Bethsaida, a crowd of people brought a man who was blind before Jesus and begged him to touch the blind man. Jesus took the blind man by His hand and walked with the man around the village. Jesus splits on the eyes of that blind man and placed His hands on him and asked him whether he sees anything. The blind man replied to Jesus that he is seeing people who are like trees. Once again, Jesus Christ placed His hands on the eyes of the blind man, and his sight was restored, and now the blind man could see all things clearly. After Jesus had restored the sight of the blind man, He sent the man home. "I also heal the blind and the leper." (Quran 3:49) Miracle 3. Healing the lepers 400 The ability of Jesus to heal the lepers is written in Quaran 3:49. Jesus Himself proclaimed he had the ability to heal the lepers as a sign that indeed God sent him to the people. "I also heal the blind and the leper." (Quran 3:49). The ability of Jesus to health the lepers is acknowledged in Quran. However, the detailed account of instances where he healed a leper are found in Gospels. When Jesus Christ was going down from the mountainside, a large crowd of people was following Him. A man who was suffering from leprosy came before Jesus and knelt down before Him and requested Jesus to make him clean. Jesus stretched out His arm, touched the man, and said to him, `be clean `and all over sudden the man was cleansed from his leprosy. After healing the leper, Jesus requested the man to go and show himself to the priests and offer a gift as his testimony to God (“All Qur’anic Passages about Jesus | Jesus and the Quran”; A. Y. Ali; Masihiyyen). Miracle 4. Raising the dead 400 In Surah 3:49, Jesus acknowledges his ability to give life to the dead. Just like He created a live bird from clay, Jesus claimed that through the help of Allah, He could give life to the dead. When Jesus was still speaking to the multitude, some individuals came from the Jairus` house among them was the synagogue leader and said that the daughter of Jairus was already dead hence there was no need of Jesus going to his house. However, Jesus Christ told them not to be afraid that just to have a belief in God. On arrival to the Jairus` house, Jesus requested people to stop crying since the daughter was not dead but was only asleep. Jesus went into the house with the parents of the daughter and the disciples and took the hand of the daughter and said to her, “Talitha Koum” and immediately the daughter woke up and started to walk around. However, the people who witnessed this were greatly astonished, but He ordered them not to let anybody know what has happened (Bailey and O’Brien 150). The Holy Quran, records that Jesus gave back life to the dead. Through God, His father power was given to raise the dead. God had given Jesus the leave to do perform resurrection miracles. It’s also evident that such powers to perform that miracle were never given to Muhammad. "…and I bring to life the dead, by the permission of God." (Quran 3:49) Miracle 5. Speaking from the cradle In Surah 19, another miracle performed by Jesus was his ability to talk to Israelites while he was in infant in the cradle. The Holy Quran records (Surah 19:29-33) that they were astonished at how they could speak to an infant. However, Jesus replies by saying that Allah gave Him the scripture and appointed him a prophet. Therefore, people should listen to him. "I am indeed a slave of God. He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be. And He has enjoined upon me prayers, and to pay the alms, as long as I live and (He has made me) kind to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed. And may Peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and on the Day I shall be raised to life." (Quran 19:30-33) In this miracle, Jesus began his ministry quite early. In Surah 19, Mary gave birth under a palm tree and was accused of immorality by other women. Jesus speaking at an early age would therefore be an explanation to counter the accusations of immorality on her mother. However, Jesus speaks directly about his mission on earth. The miracle of speaking in a cradle is justified by other references made about this incidence in the Quran. In Surah 3, the reference of Jesus speaking in cradle is made by an angel announcing to Mary the birth of Jesus and how the characteristics of His Ministry. The angel said that Jesus would be able to speak as an infant to the people and He would inform them of His righteousness (Surah 3:46). Therefore, a prediction of Jesus talking to people as an infant while in the cradle was made by an angel way before Jesus was born according to the Holy Quran. "He shall speak to people while still in the cradle, and in manhood, and he shall be from the righteous." (Quran 3:46) Miracle 6. (Prescience) Foretelling what people eat and store The miracle of telling what people and store is recorded in Quran Surah 3:49. Jesus explains that he has the divine ability to tell what people have eaten and stored in their granaries. Jesus made these revelations to make people believe in His prophecy and listen to Him (Mdi Team). It depicts the ability of Jesus to foretell the unknown things and to be all knowing. I declare to you what ye eat, and what ye store in your houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe. (Surah 3:49) Miracle 7. Table of food from heaven (feeding multitude) Surah 5:111-115 records God’s narration of how Jesus asked for food from heaven for his disciples. The disciples had begged for a table of food from heaven. Jesus prayed and asked Allah to deliver it as a sign. God delivered the food but asked them to believe him failure to which he would punish non-believers in a way that he has never punished anyone else. The table of food was delivered to them in a special day which the commemorated in future. "When the disciples said: O Jesus, son of Mary! Is your Lord able to send down for us a table spread with food from heaven? He said: Observe your duty to God, if ye are true believers. They said: We desire to eat of it and our hearts be at rest, and that We may know that you have spoken truth to us, and that We may be witnesses thereof. Jesus, son of Mary, said: 'O God, our Lord, send down for us a table laden with food out of heaven, that shall be for us a recurring festival, the first and last of us, and a miracle from You. And provide us our sustenance, for You are the best of providers!" Quran surah 5:112-115 Miracle 8. Miraculous birth of Jesus Surah 19 is the first chapter that records how Jesus was miraculously born. His mother (Mary) had miraculously conceived although she was not married in addition to being a virgin. It is recorded that Mary doubted her ability to conceive when she was virgin. However, the Angel revealed that she would conceive because God intends to use it as a sign to His people. She said: "How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?" He said: "So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, 'that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us': It is a matter (so) decreed." (Surah 19:20-21 Yusuf Ali) The miraculous birth of Jesus is recorded in other verses within the Quran which acknowledge His miraculous birth as the Sign of God. For example in Surah 21:91, a reference is made on how Jesus was miraculously conceived as a Sign for all people. However, in this reference, both Mary and Jesus are referenced as signs. “And (remember) her who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples.”(Surah 21:91) Revelation of the power of Allah through Jesus’ miracles mentioned in Quran only. The Quran has recorded some of the miracles that were performed by Jesus but are not even mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible. Some of these miracles include; creation of bird from clay, speaking to people in the cradle, bringing down a table from the heaven and telling people about what they ate. Therefore, the Muslims always have a strong belief in the miracles that were performed by Jesus Christ. In addition, the Quran also mentions some of the significant miracles that were performed by Jesus with the permission of Allah. Hence, the Muslims usually believe that Allah is the one who empowered Jesus and the other prophets with the power of performing miracles (Larson 336). Moreover, Muslims believe there is no prophet of Allah who had an innate power of performing miracles. All the miracles they performed were through the power of Allah (Larson 336). Islamic religion stresses that such kind of miracles should be associated with the power of Allah but not the power of the prophets themselves. Moreover, the prophets should be viewed as the servants instead of being called the sons of Allah because they are still human beings who have no power of their own. In addition, the Muslims also claim to have a fellowship with Jesus and the Muslim community is still waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ (Milani 55). However, the majority of the people who are not Muslims in most cases tend to be ignorant about what the Quran says. Furthermore, Prophet Muhammad in his Hadiths says that he is the nearest person to Jesus Christ in the whole world and he says that Jesus will come again to the end of the world as it is still believed in the Christian religion (Milani 55; Woodberry 174). Uniqueness of miracles of Jesus recorded in Quran The Quran recognizes that Jesus performed many miracles. "And We gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear miracles" (Quran 2:87). Although the Christian missionaries make an argument that the miracles of Jesus make him be greater than a man, Quran records that miracles were still performed by other prophets and therefore ‘the mighty’ miracles of Jesus were not unique. For instance, Moses still performed the miracle of splitting the seawater as per the Quran and together with his people managed to cross the sea safely. However, immediately after Moses and his people crossed the sea, the waters of the sea returned to normal thus the Egyptian chasers were drowned into water (Bailey, Alan, and Dan, 152). Another miracle which was performed by the Moses according to Quran is turning his staff into a snake. Moreover, according to the Quran verses, it is clearly mentioned that Jesus performed His miracles through the permission of God hence it was He who granted Jesus Christ the authority as well as the power of performing miracles. Therefore, this refutes the notion that Jesus is divine because if He had divinity, then he would not require permission from God to carry out those miracles. However, the main purpose of all these miracles is to show the proofs of God`s power and also to prove that Jesus was only a messenger from the God (Wherry 254–256). Jesus performed many miracles that were not possible with Muhammad as shown in the Quran. It is very evident in the Holy Book of the Muslims that Jesus performed so many miracles; He had the power to give life and bring back dead, heal the leper and those begotten blind by God’s permission among others. Unlike Muhammad who did not do miracles even though, he was named a prophet while other prophets did miracles to prove their prophetic authority (Larson, 330). Muhammad refused to do miracles voluntarily in the name that people did not believe in miracles. However, Qur’an points out that Muhammad acknowledges God performed miracles through his prophets. Again, he admits that Jesus created life and gave life back to the dead. The miracles of Jesus as documented in the Quran draws differences with Mohammad. It’s evident in the Quran that Jesus was born of a virgin unlike Muhammad, Muhammad is not named the Messiah unlike Jesus, and finally, Jesus is the word of God and the Spirit of God, unlike Muhammad. Jesus performed miracles after Holy Spirit strengthening, unlike Muhammad who refused to perform miracles (Wherry 261). Diverse views of Jesus’ Miracles recorded in the Quran Moreover, the views of the Quran concerning the miracles of Jesus differ in several other ways with those of the Christians and other religions. For instance, the Muslims under their holy book Quran disagree over the implication of those miracles, whereas Christians interprets those miracles in their way as a sign of Jesus being the son of God (Milani, 50). According to the Jews religion, Jesus was known to be a good teacher, and therefore His miracles in the Gospels did not represent literal events. Hence, the Jewish people do not believe that miracles are the evidence of a specific religious position. Moreover, since the Judaism religion is not a belief system driven by miracles, the Jewish people do not agree that performing miracles or even other supernatural occurrences are the evidence of a true Prophet. Therefore, according to the Jews miracles are nothing when compared to what God has commanded them. Quran has different views concerning the miracles that were performed by Jesus, but it recognizes Jesus’ miracles. The world has several religions based on believing and having faith in a supernatural being with Christianity having the majority believers followed by the fastest growing religion, Islam. The growth of each religion poses existential threat to the others. This has led to extreme competition and comparison of religions on various concepts. Although the Holy book of Quran has not drawn a direct comparison between Jesus and Mohammed, traits of Jesus such the ability to perform unique miracles compared to Muhammad reveal Him as a super prophet. Besides, Jesus is highly acknowledged apostle of God (Zebiri 88). Besides, Quran acknowledges that Jesus the son of Mary is Christ and company or nearest to God hence recognizing Jesus’s miracles. Jesus also confirms that He is the apostle of God to Israelites and confirms that there will later come an apostle by the name Muhammad. In their holy book, Muhammad is considered the last prophet. It is important to note that, it is only Islam that acknowledge Mohammad as the prophet. Also, it acknowledges that Mary was given a son whose name was to be Jesus Christ whose his doings will take after God’s ones. Muslims believe it is offensive spiritually to talk with the father and the son. However, the Quran admits that God has produced a son and all glory will be unto him hence acknowledging the miracles performed by Jesus (Wherry 252–257). Conclusion Jesus is widely mentioned and recognized in the Quran from how He came into being, grew up and the things He did including performing miracles. Additionally, Jesus is recognized as the prophet of Allah who performed miracles like other prophets such as Moses. However, the Quran records unique aspects of Jesus that are recorded in form of miracles that he performed. One such uniqueness is the way Jesus was conceived and born. A virgin conceived Him. Later on he was able to speak and proclaim his mission on earth while he was an infant on the cradle. In his childhood, he performed other miracles like creating live birds out of cray. All these accounts are recorded in the Quran. Other miracles recorded include healing the sick, raising the dead, foretelling what people ate and stored and feeding his disciples with a table of food from heaven. In all the miracles he performed, it is recorded in Quran that it was a sign of God. It was meant to draw people close to God. Hence, the miracles performed by Jesus were to show the people that he was appointed by God to spread the Gospel and that he was God’s prophet. He performed miracles so that people can trust Him and abide by the teachings of God. The Quran documents that the ability to perform those miracles was derived from the powers of Allah. It is claimed that Jesus himself did not have the ability to perform miracles without the power of Allah. The uniqueness of Jesus’ miracles is recorded in Quran through His ability to perform miracles that cannot be matched to any other prophet other than God. For example the creation of live birds makes the miracles of Jesus recorded in Quran exceptional. Moreover, Mohammad did not make any miracle hence drawing more sharp differences between the two. Works Cited Abedi, Mohammad Reza, Ali Nazari, and Seyed Mahmoud Mirzaee Al-Hosseini. “The Influence of the Holy Quran on Sheikh Kazem Al-Ozri Book of Poem.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 7.3 S2 (2016): 134. Print. Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. Mary and Jesus in the Qur’an. Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 1989. Print. Ali, Maulana Muhammad. Holy Quran. Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore USA, 2011. Google Scholar. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. “All Qur’anic Passages about Jesus | Jesus and the Quran.” N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. Bailey, Alan, and Dan O’Brien. Hume’s Critique of Religion:’Sick Men’s Dreams’. Springer, 2014. Google Scholar. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. Djaballah, Amar. “Jesus in Islam.” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 8.1 (2004): 14–30. Print. Larson, Warren. “Jesus in Islam and Christianity: Discussing the Similarities and the Differences.” Missiology 36.3 (2008): 327–341. Print. Masihiyyen, Masud. “Jesus’ Ministry and Miracles in the Qur’an [Part 2A].” Answering Islam: A christian Muslim Dialog. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. Mdi Team. “Jesus’ Miracles from an Islamic Perspective.” The Muslim Debate Initiative. N.p., 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. Milani, Milad. “Representations of Jesus in Islamic Mysticism: Defining the’Sufi Jesus’.” Literature & Aesthetics 21.2 (2011): 45–64. Print. Wherry, Elwood Morris. “Christ Superior to Mohammed: Fourteen Reasons from the Koran.” The Muslim World 9.3 (1919): 252–264. Print. Woodberry, J. Dudley. “The Muslim Understanding of Jesus.” Word and World 16 (1996): 173–178. Print. Zebiri, Kate. “Contemporary Muslim Understanding of the Miracles of Jesus.” The Muslim World 90.1–2 (2000): 71–90. Print. Read More

Although the Quran approves that indeed Jesus made live birds into clay, it does not give a detailed explanation of the actual event of how Jesus performed that Miracle. The miracle of making live birds out of clay is not recorded in canonical Gospels. However, a parallelism can be drawn from the second Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ (The Infancy Gospel of Thomas) (Woodberry 176). The Miracle happened when Jesus was five years old. It was after rains that Jesus was playing with other children on a running stream.

He was playing in a downstream river where he used soft clay and shaped it into sparrows. He made 12 clay sparrows. When a Jew who was passing by saw them, he reported him to the father (Joseph) for it was on Sabbath when such activities were not allowed. Joseph admonished Jesus for doing wrong things during the Sabbath. Then by just clapping his hands and shouting to the sparrows, the sparrows took off and flew noisily. When he shouted, he told them “Be off, fly away, and remember me, you are now alive!

” The Jews reported the miracle to the chief (Infancy Gospel of Thomas-First Greek form Chapter 2) (Masihiyyen). Miracle 2. Curing the blind In Quran Surah 3:49, Jesus explained he had the ability to cure the blind so that the people can know God has sent him. This claim is validated by a Gospel account of a scenario where Jesus cured the blind. In Bethsaida, a crowd of people brought a man who was blind before Jesus and begged him to touch the blind man. Jesus took the blind man by His hand and walked with the man around the village.

Jesus splits on the eyes of that blind man and placed His hands on him and asked him whether he sees anything. The blind man replied to Jesus that he is seeing people who are like trees. Once again, Jesus Christ placed His hands on the eyes of the blind man, and his sight was restored, and now the blind man could see all things clearly. After Jesus had restored the sight of the blind man, He sent the man home. "I also heal the blind and the leper." (Quran 3:49) Miracle 3. Healing the lepers 400 The ability of Jesus to heal the lepers is written in Quaran 3:49.

Jesus Himself proclaimed he had the ability to heal the lepers as a sign that indeed God sent him to the people. "I also heal the blind and the leper." (Quran 3:49). The ability of Jesus to health the lepers is acknowledged in Quran. However, the detailed account of instances where he healed a leper are found in Gospels. When Jesus Christ was going down from the mountainside, a large crowd of people was following Him. A man who was suffering from leprosy came before Jesus and knelt down before Him and requested Jesus to make him clean.

Jesus stretched out His arm, touched the man, and said to him, `be clean `and all over sudden the man was cleansed from his leprosy. After healing the leper, Jesus requested the man to go and show himself to the priests and offer a gift as his testimony to God (“All Qur’anic Passages about Jesus | Jesus and the Quran”; A. Y. Ali; Masihiyyen). Miracle 4. Raising the dead 400 In Surah 3:49, Jesus acknowledges his ability to give life to the dead. Just like He created a live bird from clay, Jesus claimed that through the help of Allah, He could give life to the dead.

When Jesus was still speaking to the multitude, some individuals came from the Jairus` house among them was the synagogue leader and said that the daughter of Jairus was already dead hence there was no need of Jesus going to his house. However, Jesus Christ told them not to be afraid that just to have a belief in God. On arrival to the Jairus` house, Jesus requested people to stop crying since the daughter was not dead but was only asleep. Jesus went into the house with the parents of the daughter and the disciples and took the hand of the daughter and said to her, “Talitha Koum” and immediately the daughter woke up and started to walk around.

However, the people who witnessed this were greatly astonished, but He ordered them not to let anybody know what has happened (Bailey and O’Brien 150).

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