Jesus thru Muslim Eyes

[keith]

I came across this article on the BBC website recently and found it very thought provoking. I am no expert on Islam but it had some interesting history and ideas that I had not heard before. Has anyone else seen/heard of this? Potentially there seems to be some possible lines of communication here between Christians and Muslims.

Here is the web address for those who might be interested.

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/features/muslim_eyes (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/features/muslim_eyes)

Keith

[Solly]

Jesus reinterpreted by the Qur'an is singled out, again and again, as a prophet of very special significance. Uniquely among prophets he is described as a miracle of God, an aya; he is the word and spirit of God; he is the prophet of peace par excellence; and , finally it is he who predicts the coming of Muhammad (pbuh) and thus, one might say, is the harbinger of Islam.

I have heard of a Muslim who was converted to Christianity by that phrase, Jesus is God's spirit. It just wouldn't leave him alone, he was a Muslim apologist in Nigeria.

That is a great article all round, thanks Keith

[endy]

I have heard of a Muslim who was converted to Christianity by that phrase, Jesus is God's spirit. It just wouldn't leave him alone, he was a Muslim apologist in Nigeria.

That is a great article all round, thanks Keith
Exactly Jesus is GOd`s spirit.

Truly, the Messiah, Isa, Son of Mariam, the ambassador of Allah, is His Word that He bestowed upon Mariam; and He [Jesus Christ] is Spirit of Him [God] (Sura Women in Quran 4:171).

We [God] breathed in her [Mariam] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Prophets in Quran 21:91).

We [God] breathed in Him [Jesus Christ] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Forbidding in Quran 66:12).

[InChristAlways]

Exactly Jesus is GOd`s spirit.

Truly, the Messiah, Isa, Son of Mariam, the ambassador of Allah, is His Word that He bestowed upon Mariam; and He [Jesus Christ] is Spirit of Him [God] (Sura Women in Quran 4:171).

We [God] breathed in her [Mariam] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Prophets in Quran 21:91).

We [God] breathed in Him [Jesus Christ] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Forbidding in Quran 66:12).Good post Endy. The jews fail to understand what the Holy Spirit is to this day, though God promised to pour it out on them in the "last days" according to the OT.
The muslims are actually closer to God than the unbelieving "jews" (Israelites) as they are also descendants of Abraham. In fact, if the muslims would read the prophecies of the Prophets, they will see they are almost all against the jews and Jerusalem!!! Some of them may even be of the house of Judah and not know it as jews are ONLY from the house of Judah/Levi.
Isaac was born of the spirit/promise and through Jacob would be born the "children of the promise". But like Esau, the jews turned away from God and gave up their "birthright" and crucified the "heir" that was promised through Abram and may be the SIN that is spoken of in Jeremiah(the "jews" of Judah appear to have lost even their own "heritage"!!!

Jeremiah 17:1 "The sin of Judah written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond [it is] engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars, [i]2 While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills. 3 O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, [And] your high places of sin within all your borders. 4 And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger [which] shall burn forever." I am hoping the muslims will see that God came down to earth in the flesh as prohecied to Moses (a prophet just like him). Jesus is indeed God/Allah and in fact, Jesus could be the "new name" of God as His name is the only way to be saved.

gene 15:3 Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" 4 And behold, the word of the LORD [came] to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir."5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."

Even the muslims share in Abraham's blessings if they come to the faith that is of him through the NAME of Jesus Christ, as ALL his descendants, both of Isaac and Ishmael were born to him, one of the slave/flesh and one of the "spirit/promise". Jesus said no one would ever worship in Jerusalem again as the "spirit" of Christ/God now reigns in us.
Present day Jerusalem now represents Hagar the slave woman, while those of Jesus are in the new jerusalem now, no matter what part of the world we live in. Unfortunately, even the jews fail to see this, as they are still waiting on their "own messiah" but my prayer is the muslims will see this also and know they can also inherit the "promise" through the NAME of Jesus.God bless.

Gala 4:24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar -- 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children -- 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, [You] who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband." 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac [was,] are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him [who was born] according to the Spirit, even so [it is] now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

John 4:21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 "God [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

[moonlight3]

Well spoted article, nice to read. Re the verse of Jesus's Crucifiction:

JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED:

The verse 4:158

157. As well as their statement when they said, we surely killed the Healer, Son of Mary, messenger of God, however, they did not kill him and they did not crucify him but it was perceived by them as such. Furthermore, those who disputed in this matter are doubtful about it. They have no knowledge thereof except following conjecture. Moreover, for sure, they did not kill him.

It is quite clear that the Koran states: Jesus was not crucified but it appeared to them as if he was. There are many interpretations to this verse, depending on what the commentator want to convey. One of them is that Judas was taken in His place! Judas hanged himself. The fact is that what the Koran is saying : Jesus was not killed because how can they kill God, but they thought they triumphed over him, thinking they ended his mission being hanged on the Cross. But how can you kill God! It was an illusion as far as they were concerned, that is the meaning. There is nothing in the Koran that somebody else was crucified in his place, just attempts of interpretation by different commentators. It is also interesting that Jesus was described in this verse as "The Healer". If you come to it, there is so much good things about our Lord Jesus in the Koran, similarly about the Virgin Mary.

To sum up: Jesus was crucified, the Koran says it appeared to them that they crucified him, but they can’t, because he is God Incarnate.

[InChristAlways]

To sum up: Jesus was crucified, the Koran says it appeared to them that they crucified him, but they can’t, because he is God Incarnate. The fact that the bible says there was to be one messenger(John TB) and one messiah that would come to the temple, proves Jesus was the one and only person it could be. Also, most of the OT prophecies are against Judah and Jerusalem, not us "gentiles".

I don't know how the jews interpret this, but if the muslims read this, this shows that John the Baptist and Jesus was to come, and this would have had to be the temple that was still standing in the first century before God destroyed it using the roman army.The unbelieving Israelites though do not believe Jesus came at all, so they in essence are saying God and the Bible lied here in Malachi!!!

Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts. 2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap.

The jews are also under a curse (not us gentiles) so christians and muslims are closer in beliefs in the bible because both religions believe Christ did come to save the world not just the jews. And I believe the book of revelation is showing that destruction of the temple and jerusalem in the first century if anyone would like to discuss it.

Malachi 2:1 "And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If you will not hear, And if you will not take to heart, To give glory to My name," Says the LORD of hosts, "I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take [it] to heart. [i]3 "Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And [one] will take you away with it.

jeremiah 50:6 " My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away [on] the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place.

Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. [i]32 "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' [guilt.] 33 "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: [some] of them you will kill and crucify, and [some] of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

[moonlight3]

Koran Verses about Jesus is God's Spirit:

Truly, the Messiah, Isa, Son of Mariam, the ambassador of Allah, is His Word that He bestowed upon Mariam; and He [Jesus Christ] is Spirit of Him [God] (Sura Women in Quran 4:171).

We [God] breathed in her [Mariam] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Prophets in Quran 21:91).

We [God] breathed in Him [Jesus Christ] of our [Godly] Spirit (Sura The Forbidding in Quran 66:12).

[InChristAlways]

Hi all. I have a question for muslims concerning Moses.
I started reading through Deuteronomy today and while reading through chapt 29 I came across this passage that struck out at me. Maybe it is the way it is worded, but if you read vs 2 it shows Moses talking to the people. Doesn't it appear that Moses is calling himself the Lord your God in vs 6? He even uses "against us" in vs 7 to show he is still the one talking. Both the Lord and the Lord your God are used, so I wonder what the difference is between those 2 names. It is also curious that God buried Him after he died.
The "Messiah" was to be a prophet just like Moses and Jesus even called Himself "IAM" in the gospels. Any thoughts on this? I checked about 9 translations to make sure this was accurate, but maybe someone that knows the OT can help me out on this. Thanks.

deut 29: 1 These [are] the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb. 2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: 5 "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or [similar] drink, that you may know that I [am] the LORD your God. 7 "And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 "We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh.

[Christian2]

Hello to all,

Has verse 4:157 in the Qur'an been misinterpreted?

004.157 YUSUFALI: 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:-

"They" who said in boast are the Jews. Remember when Pilate said to Jesus, "Do you not know that I have power to crucify you, and power to release you?" and Jesus said, "You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above." Do you see that Jesus meant that even the worst evil cannot escape the sovereignty of God and that Pilate had no real control? So the Jews "killed him not, nor crucified him" in that sense. But it "was made to appear to them" that the Jews killed Jesus and crucified Him, but they did not.

If the "boastful" claimed that "WE did it" then maybe this verse can be interpreted that God declares, "It might look to you as if YOU had done it, but as the Bible says it was really the work of the Lord. He Himself has done this wondrous work."

Surah 4:158 says, "Nay Allah raised him up unto Himself, and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise."

Christians could certainly agree with this verse. Jesus was raised to God. This verse doesn't say WHEN Jesus was raised up.

Also Jesus says:

"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." (John 10:17,18

Is this verse 4:157 really denying the crucifixion as a fact, or is it only denying the boastful "We did it" in respect to the crucifixion? Could it be that it only appeared to them that they were in control but they really were only doing as God intended it in His greater purpose?

Keep in mind the verse that says:

2:154 And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: "They are dead." Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not.

I think if you look at verse 4:157 in the light of this verse, it is clear that the case of the crucifixion need not be a special case. There might be a problem in our perceptions of the death of all martyrs. Could it not be that even though Jesus died on the cross [in the way of God, i.e. being obedient to God], He is not dead, but now lives with God, just as it is said of the other martyrs who have undoubtedly died but are counted as alive?

With all of this said, I don't think that the Muslims can ever accept that Jesus died on the cross. I think they are more or less stuck with their interpretation. Why? Because if Muslims all of a sudden say that they were mistaken in their interpretation and Jesus really did die on the cross, then they are left with the possibility that the Christians are correct about the purpose of His death. This would lead to His being our Savior and their savior, too.