Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ham@gator.cacs.usl.edu (Hameed Ahmed Mohammed) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Christianity and Islam - Towards a better understanding (II). Message-ID: Date: 22 Jun 91 05:17:13 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: The Center for Advanced Computer Studies, USL Lines: 117 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu This article is the continuation of my article entitled Christianity and Islam - Towards a better understanding. Sonship of Jesus: ---------------- The verses continue: That is Jesus, son of Mary, in word of truth, concerning which they are doubting. It is not for God to take a son unto Him. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing, He but says to it "Be", and it is. (19:34-5) After this strong statement about the nature of Jesus, God directed Muhammed to call the Christians to a fair deal: to worship the ONE GOD: Surely God is my Lord, and your Lord, so serve Him. This is the straight path. (19:36) The rejection of the idea of God having a son is reported later in the same chapter: And they say, "The All-Merciful has taken unto Himself a son." You have indeed advanced something hideous. The heavens are well nigh rent of it and the earth split asunder, and the mountains well nigh fall down crashing for that they have attributed to the All-merciful a son; and it behoves not the All-merciful to take a son. None is there in the heavens and earth but he comes to the All-merciful as a servant. (19:88-93) The Quran recognizes the fact that Jesus had no human father but this does not make him the son of God or God Himself. By this criterion Adam would have been more entitled to be the son of God because he had neither a father nor a mother.So, the Quran draws attention to the miraculous creation of both: Truly the likeness of Jesus, in God's sight, is as Adam's likeness; He created him of dust, then said He unto him, "Be", and he was. (3:59) The Quran rejects the concept of the Trinity as strongly as it rejects the sonship of Jesus. This is because God is One. This is the essence of all monotheistic revelations. Three, by reason and by simple arithmetic, are not oneThe Quran address the Christians as follows: People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the Truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a spirit form Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, "Three", Refrain, better it is for you. God is only One God. Glory be to Him- that He should have a son! To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth, God suffices as a guardian. The Messiah will not disdain to be a servant of God, neither the angels who are close to Him. Whosoever disdains to serve Him and waxes proud,He will assuredly muster them to Him, all of them. As for the believers, who do deeds of righteousness, He will pay them their rewards in full, and He will give them more, of His bounty; as for them who disdain and wax proud, them He will punish with a severe punishment, and they shall not find for them, apart from God, a friend or helper. (4:171-3) The Quran says: O men, a manifest proof has now come to you from your Lord; We have sent down to you a clear light. As for those who believe in God, and hold fast to Him, He will surely admit them to mercy from Him, and bounty, and will guide them to Him on a straight path. (4:173-5) The denial of Jesus's devinity ( and as a matter of fact Mary's divinity) is presented in the Quran as a topic of dislouge at the Day of Judgement between God Almighty and Jesus. All the messengers and the nations will be gathered in front of God and He will ask the messengers how they were received by their peoples and what they said to them. Among those who are going to be questioned is Jesus: And when God said," O Jesus son of Mary, did you say unto men, 'Take me and my mother as gods, apart from God?' He said, 'To You be glory! It is not mine to say what I have no right to. If I indeed said it, You knew it, knowing what is within my soul, and I do not know what is within Your soul; You know the things unseen. I only said to them what You did command me. "Serve God, my Lord and your Lord." And I was a witness over them, while I remained among them; but when You did take me to Yourself, You were Yourself the Watcher over them; You are the witness of everything. If You punish them, they are Your servents, if You forgive them, You are the All-mighty , the All-wise." God said, "This is the day the truthful shall be profited by their truthfulness. For them await gardens underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever, God being well-pleased with them, and they well-pleased with Him; That is the mighty triumph." (5:116-19) * Peace and blessings be upon all the Prophets. note: Remaining part of the article will be continued. God Willing. ---- [Interesting. I'm not sure what your intent is in doing these postings. We've had enough debates about the Incarnation and Trinity that I'm not sure how eager people are going to be to respond to these in detail. Presumably a response would not be that different from the response to other postings we get from time to time that say "Jesus is a great fellow, but what's all this divinity business?". A full response involves a detailed review of Jesus' own statements about his own role, as well as those of the rest of the NT. Certainly your postings help make clear the great difference in how Jesus is treated by the Bible and the Koran, which is certainly worth understanding. A question for you: What authority do Moslems attribute to the New Testament? Do they believe that the statements you quote are consistent with the New Testament, or do they reject it as an authoritative source of information about Jesus? --clh]