Islamic Perspective of Jesus - Coursework Example

ISLАM АND JЕSUS Name Institution Date of Submission Introduction Islam and Christianity have been known to have several common similarities. Both religions trace their origin to Abraham. Other common features of these creeds is that they believe in prophecies, scripture, revelations, God’s messengers, the resurrection of the dead, and the supremacy of religious community. Both religions have well established communitarian dimensions: “Umma” for Islam and The Church in Christianity (Marshall, & Williams, 2013 Pg. 161). However, regardless of these several similarities, these major world religions have several differences at the same time. Both of them have documented claims of superiority and truth behind their line of beliefs. Islamic perspective of Jesus, his stories and his relation to other prophets Muslims recognize and worship Jesus as one of the greatest messengers to mankind from God. Jesus was miraculously born by God’s command, similar command that brought Adam to life without any human parent (Meddeb, Stora, Todd, & Smith, 2013 Pg. 16-17). It is written in Quran that Jesus was born by a virgin named ‘Maryam’ to mean Mary. It further describes Jesus as the Messiah who was sent by God to bring light to the world. The Quran further states that his name will be respected in this world and also eternity. However, there are two extremes to which Muslims view Jesus and his stories. Jesus was rejected by the Jews as a prophet and referred to him as an imposter. On the other hand, Christians recognized him as the son of God and worshipped him. Islam religion also considers him as one of the greatest, true and most outstanding of the prophets, and is placed in list together with Moses, Abraham, Noah and Muhammad. His name is of relevance to with the Islamic view of complementary role and mission of Gods messenger, Oneness to God and Oneness to Divine guidance (Marshall, & Williams, 2013 Pg. 102). God’s message to humanity, which is to honor and worship Him and His name only and to live in accordance to his will, was presented to Adam, and it found way through to the Adam’s children. It was further passed from generations to generations from Noah to Abraham’s descendants, Moses, Jesus, and lastly Muhammad. This clearly shows that all these prophets are in conformity with the message originating from God Himself. Therefore, Jesus’ position in the three major doctrines (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) is not an exception. Even though the Quran does not give a complete life-story of Jesus and detailed of the works he did during his time, it focuses only in important aspects of birth, missions he performed, and his rise to heaven. Furthermore, the Quran passes its judgment on the Jewish and Christian beliefs concerning Jesus. Christians unlike Muslims refers Jesus as God’s revelation, and the bible as his witness. They refer the words in the Bible to be written by human authors who were inspired by God. The name of Jesus is mentioned 25 times in Quran which is more often than that of Muhammad. It further explains that Jesus was just a mortal human like all other prophets, who were chosen divinely to spread the message of God. In contradiction with the Bible, the Quran does not refer Jesus as the son of God (Marshall, & Williams, 2013 Pg. 221). However, it recognizes him as one of the four major historical prophets sent by God to guide mankind. It is said that Jesus lived a life of generosity and devoutness, and refrained from eating swine’s flesh or any other flesh from an animal prohibited by Islamic teachings. According to Islamic doctrine, Muslims believe that the Gospel in which Jesus administered originated from God. This Gospel is referred to as Injil according to the Christian’s New Testament. Conversely, Muslims argue that the original message conveyed by Jesus was altered and does not represent God’s intended message to human race. Majority of the Muslims believe that Jesus was not either killed or crucified. They believe that God set it up so that it appeared so to his enemies. However, the Ahmadi Muslims believe the Jesus crucified on the cross, and he survived but he did not bodily ascend to heaven and is still alive. Some scholars from Islamic faith strongly maintain that Jesus was indeed crucified, but he did not die; he rather recovered and he bodily rose to heaven. Others argue that the Romans actually crucified Judas Iscariot by mistake instead of Jesus. Nevertheless, Muslims strongly believe that Jesus is indeed alive in heaven. He will return to defeat the Antichrist when the world is with evil (Meddeb, Stora, Todd, & Smith, 2013 Pg. 67). Muslims rejects the view of the Trinitarian Christian that Jesus is the son of God, and that he was crucified and resurrected in the third day. They do not believe that Jesus ever died for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind, and claim that Jesus claims to have none of these things. It further specifies that Jesus will deny all these divinity claims and God Himself will defend him in the last judgment. Like Christians, Muslims also believe that Jesus did perform miracles as one of his missions on earth (Moucarry, 2001, Pg. 142). These miracles occurred under His permission and will since He has control and power over all things. God sent all prophets to the nation with some divine power from God to prove His presence and to support the truth of their message. These miracles performed by these prophets according to Quran were the works of God which were just manifested in man. It is further explained that the same applied to Jesus. Most of the miracles performed by Jesus were of medical nature. This is because the Jews were highly advanced in the medical field, and in order to convince the Jews, he had to prove His message using related miracles. Islam doctrine basically maintains God’s Absolute Oneness. It defines God as a Supreme Being who is beyond human needs, limitation and wants. He is Devine and has no partners. He created everything bit separate from all His creation. Muslims believe that all praises is to be directed to Him alone. All the prophets of God including Jesus came with similar message. The Islamic believers, through the Quran argue that Jesus did not claim any divinity quality and also he never claimed that he was worthy to be worshipped. Jesus never mentioned whatsoever that he was either the son of God or part of the Holy Trinity. He only identified himself as a servant of God sent to the Jews to restore their true religion. Majority of the Quran verses describe Jesus in as a messenger sent by God to pass His message to the Jews. They confirm that Jesus was only used as an object used for worship since people had invented a lot of lies against him. It further explains that Jesus himself denies his worth to be worshipped, supporting the fact that the teachings and parables that God gave him, disclosed his human nature but not his divinity. The message Jesus delivered to the Jews had several similarities with the messages conveyed by the previous God chosen prophets. The major teaching was to worship God alone and obedience to His commandments. Jesus also stands unique of the other prophets as he received several miraculous supports from God during his conception, birth and during his growth from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, the many miracles he performed clearly revealed that he was indeed the messenger of God. However, most of the Jews ignored his prophethood (Meddeb, Stora, Todd, & Smith, 2013 Pg. 117). Jesus did not just affirm the message in the scriptures, but he also prophesied the coming of another prophet after him who was Prophet Muhammad (Swartley, 2005 pg. 75). After Jesus left this world, his message from God was destroyed and did not exactly guided people to worship God and live by His will and teachings. Later after six centuries, Prophet Muhammad came and retold the truth about Jesus Christ. His teachings were therefore externally preserved in the Quran which is referred as the last book of divined revelation. Moreover, majority of the laws of Moses (commandments), that was followed by Jesus were restored in their unaltered and pure form and implemented in a divined and unique way of life referred to as Islam. During the process, the other laws which had been introduced by the other prophets who came in between were be lightened and others being dropped completely. Subsequently, the truth behind the existence of the prophets, their unique way of life which they abided by and their similar message is found to be preserved in Islam religion, which is termed as the only religion pre-arranged by God for mankind. It is said that only Muslims still follow Jesus and his teachings to the later. Their way of life resembles that of Jesus and their practices indicate more respect for Jesus Christ than the Christians of the modern day (Swartley, 2005 pg. 54). Respect and love of Jesus Christ is an Islamic virtue of faith. The importance of belief in Jesus Christ has been emphasized by God severally in the Quran. How orthodox Christians view the significance and life of the prophet Muhammad The Orthodox Christians view Islam as a simple religion. St. John of Damascus gives a clear description of the origin of Islam religion his works as a writer in Orthodoxy. He explains that Islam he witnessed Islam rising as a movement established by a false prophet (Dowling, & Scarlett, 2006 pg. 136). He further states that a portion of some chapters in his book “Concerning Heresy” of the Ishmaelites he strongly opposes disagrees and condemns the Islam faith. There are a lot of superstitions by the orthodox Christians that the Ishmaelites happen to be the supporters of the Antichrist. They are believed to be the descendants of Ishmael the son of Abraham and Agar. They were worshippers of idols since they worshipped Aphrodite and the morning star. Since that time to the present, Prophet Muhammad, who is referred to as a false prophet, has appeared and remained in their midst. After being passed by the New and Old Testament, the man decided to start his own heresy after arranging with an Arian monk. After winning the grace of some group of people, he presented to them a book claiming to have been sent to him by God. This book, contained several ridiculous compositions and he gave them to his followers as an object of worship. Orthodox respects other religions but it reserves a narrow belief in Islam. This is because it views it as a movement more than it being a religion. Moreover, Orthodox Christians view Islam as a religion which originated from false prophet Muhammad. This religious creed is conflicting to Christianity since it is based on sociopath’s dreams. Since the rise of Prophet Muhammad, there has been a continuous conflict between the orthodox Christians and the followers of Muhammad. The main source of this conflict is misleading contents of his book which he had delivered to them as a gift from God (Hedges, & Race, 2009 pg. 118). Islam has always been a very violent and militaristic religion from the past. It has always been known to conquer for earthly benefits giving Muhammad himself fame, granting earthly benefits such as power, wealth and prestige to him. Muhammad’s followers are ready to die for him having a sword on their hands. This is completely opposite in the Orthodox Christians as they are known to be calm and peaceful who were mostly tortured and accused falsely by the Roman pagans. In Islam, the only source of Quran is Muhammad. There is no other proof to confirm who he claimed he was. Christians doubt the Islamic religion due to the fact that the kill Muslims who convert to other religions. They claim that if Islam was true and valid, then they should be ready to challenge other faiths fairly so as to establish the truth. Muhammad states that his works is in line with the works of other prophets including Abraham, Moses, Job, Jonah, Solomon, David and Jesus. Conversely, Muslims rejects the abilities of the Christian and s Hebrews Holy Bible. They reject the Bible scriptures arguing that it has been corrupted from its initial message diverging from the truth. Muhammad in his defense, contend that he specifically came with a mission to restore mankind to follow the truth as God desires. Islam acts as in a self-driven manner according to Orthodox Christians (Hedges, & Race, 2009 pg. 288). IT fails to recognize the works of historical or archeological scholars who proves that the Bible is true and unchanged. Orthodox Christians believe that Muhammad’s coming as a false prophet was foretold by Jesus. He said that many false prophets will come after him. From a close study of Muhammad’s life, he is a great military, political, and religious genius. The Quran was composed by him, adapting its content from Torah, gnostic gospels, Arabian pagan customs and canonical Gospels. Most of the Islamic believers have great respect and love of God, but they are victims of the environment making them become slaves of social pressures, cultures and threats of death should they disobey the ridiculous Islamic norms. Orthodox Christians therefore reject Islam and Muhammad’s teachings since they are discriminating, misleading, contradictory and is always cruel in relation to the divine revelation of Jesus Christ. It is known to be mixing the lies and falsehood with the true revelations and beliefs of Christianity (Dowling, & Scarlett, 2006 pg. 66). Conclusion When debating the differences in Muslim and Christian worships, it is necessary to consider the external facets in addition to interior aspects of the religions. Muslims commit their whole body in prayer just like some of the Christians (Hedges, & Race, 2009 pg. 277-278). Though, most of the Christians, mostly the Protestants where the church setup include comfortable sitting or standing position it is unimportant. Despite all these, the question still remains regarding where the two religions differ in history. References Dowling, E. and Scarlett, W. (2006). Encyclopedia of religious and spiritual development. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Hedges, P. and Race, A. (2008). Christian approaches to other faiths. 1st ed. London: SCM. Marshall, D. (2013). Tradition and Modernity. 1st ed. Washington: Georgetown University Press. Meddeb, A. and Stora, B. (n.d.). A history of Jewish-Muslim relations. 1st ed. Moucarry, C. (2001). Faith to faith. 1st ed. Leicester: Inter-Varsity. Swartley, K. (2005). Encountering the world of Islam. 1st ed. Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Media. Read More