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From: amin@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Aminuddin Ahmad)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Jesus a Prophet of Islam
Message-ID: <14189@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 25 Jul 90 11:53:04 GMT
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Reply-To: amin@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Aminuddin Ahmad)
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 >To: midway!sophist!goer@ncar.UCAR.EDU (Richard Goerwitz) 

  Jesus (Isa) (PBUH)is a messenger of Allah to the Muslims. 
Islamic scriptures, the Qur'an, provides a substantial 
information about Jesus. Some of many are as follows: 
   
In the Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful 

And truly We gave to Moses the Books and We caused a train 
of messengers to follow after him, and We gave to Jesus, son 
of Mary, clear proofs and We supported him with the pure 
spirit (Angel Gabriel) (Qur'an 2:87). 

And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their 
footsteps, confirming what was before him, and We bestowed 
on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, 
confirming that which was before it in the Torah - a 
guidance and an admonition to those who are careful (Qur'an 
5:46). 

...Jesus, son of Mary, said: O Children of Israel! See! I am 
the messenger of Allah to you, confirming what was before me 
in the Torah, and bringing good news of a messenger who will 
come after me, whose name is the Praised One (Ahmad)... 
(Qur'an 61:6). 

   There is actually no basis in the Old Testament for 
Trinity or God-incarnate. There is no conclusive statement 
by Jesus in the New Testament claiming to be God. According 
to history, in the first century after the disappearance of 
Jesus, those who followed him continued to affirm the Divine 
Unity. This is illustrated by the fact that the 'Shepard of 
Hermas', was written in about 90 A.D. was regarded as a book 
of Revelation by the Church. The first twelve commandments 
which it contains begins: 
 
   First of all, believe that God is One and that He created 
   all things and organised them and out of what did not 
   exist made all things to be, and He contains all things 
   but alone in Himself uncontained... (The Apostolic 
   Fathers, E.J. Goodspeed) 

   The teaching of Jesus spreads and came into contact with 
other cultures. It began to be assimilated and adapted by 
these cultures and altered to diminish persecution by the 
rulers. In Greece, especially, it became metamorphosed, both 
by its being expressed in a new language for the first time, 
and by it realignment with the ideas and philosophy of that 
culture. It was the many-gods viewpoint of the Greeks which 
largely contributed to the formulation of this doctrine of 
the Trinity, together with the gradual elevation of Jesus by 
some, notably Paul of Tarsus, from prophet to God. It was 
only in 325 A.D. that the doctrine of the Trinity was 
declared to be the Orthodox Christian belief. 
   
   Arius, one of the leaders of the Christians in North 
Africa stood up and reminded that Jesus had always affirmed 
the Divine Unity. In North Africa and West Asia the 
teachings of Arius were accepted by the majority of the 
people who readily embraced Islam when it later came. 
Because they had held to the doctrine of One-God and the 
pure teachings of Jesus, they recognized Islam as the truth. 
   
  In the Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful 

  O People of the Book! Commit no excesses In your religion: 
  nor say Of God aught but the truth. Christ Jesus son of 
  Mary Was (no more than) An apostle of God, And His Word, 
  Which he bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding From 
  Him : so believe In God and His apostles. Say not 
  "Trinity": desist: It will be better for you : For God is 
  One God: Glory be to Him : (Far Exalted is He) above 
  Having a son. To Him Belongs all things in the heavens And 
  on Earth. And enough Is God as a Disposer of affairs 
  (Qur'an 4:171). 

   Arius refuted that if Jesus was in reality the "son of 
God," then the father must have existed before the son. 
Therefore there is a time upon which the son did not exist. 
Therefore, the son was a creature compose of an essence or 
being which had not always existed. Since God is in essence 
Eternal and Ever-existent, Jesus could not be of the same 
essence as God. 
  
  If anyone is to say that Prophet Jesus (PBUH) is the 
incarnation of God, it should be noted that there is 
actually no basis in the Old Testament for Trinity or God-
incarnate and there is no conclusive statement by Jesus in 
the New Testament claiming to be God! 
   
--->Amin.