Thoughts for a Merry Christmas
Dec 25, 2019 06:40 UTC
Although Muslims, as well as, many learned Christians well-versed with the history and development of their faith, do not believe that Prophet Jesus (peace upon him) was born on December 25, the advent of this day every year affords us the chance to dwell on the Prophet of Peace, whose teachings have sadly been distorted beyond recognition by those who have turned him into a godhead.
It is also a fact that today’s self-styled Christian powers, like the Americans and West Europeans, feel no inhibitions in lusting for war, bloodshed, oppression, depriving people and nations of their inalienable rights, indulgence in the most sinful pleasures of the flesh, destabilizing countries – such as Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Bahrain – by supporting terrorist outfits and Salafi terrorist regimes, and committing all sorts of vices, but at the same time resorting to hypocrisy to blame Islam and Muslims for their own crimes against humanity.
The following is a special feature on Christmas Day, especially the position of Jesus in Islam, as specified by the holy Qur’an and the Hadith of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).
“Indeed the case of Jesus with God is like the case of Adam: He created him from dust then said to him, “Be”, and he was. This is the truth from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters."
What you heard were ayahs 59 and 60 of Surah Ma’edah of the holy Qur’an where God Almighty informs us of the creation and birth of Jesus through the Virgin Mary, without the association of any male. Indeed the birth of Jesus is one of the miracles of creation that modern science cannot even contemplate. There are lessons for believers in this regard. And in order to discover the true personality of Jesus, it is essential to study the holy Qur’an and the Hadith literature.
God Almighty also informs us in ayahs 22 to 27 of Surah Marium, which stands as lasting honour to his mother Mary in the holy Qur’an: "Thus she (Mary) conceived him and withdrew with him to a distant place. The birth pangs brought her to the trunk of a date palm. She said: I wish I had died before and become a forgotten thing beyond recall. Thereupon he (the angel) called from below her (saying) do not grieve! Your Lord has made a spring to flow at your feet. Shake the trunk of the palm tree, freshly picked dates will drop upon you. Eat, drink and be comforted. Then if you see any human, say, indeed I have vowed a fast to the All-Beneficent, so I will not speak to any human today. Then carrying him she brought him to her people..."
Although December 25 is not the day Jesus (PuH) was born in his native Palestine and it was only in the 5th century AD that the day was designated as Christmas for the first time in order to replace the Bacchanal depravities rampant in newly converted Roman Europe, the day is an opportunity for us to focus on the mission of the Messiah or the divinely anointed. In view of the fact that the calendar in vogue among his people was lunar, it is believed that he was born on the 25th of Zil-Qa’dah.
Anyway, irrespective of the date, the birth of Prophet Jesus, without the association of a male, is indeed a miracle, which no scientific research into stem cell technology can achieve. His birth from a chaste and virgin mother, the Lady Mary (peace upon her), was intended by God Almighty to serve as proof of His Majesty till Doomsday. The Holy Qur’an refutes the slander and accusations of the ever-rebellious Israelites to whom Jesus was sent, and vouching the virginity of his immaculate mother, it says in ayahs 34 and 35 of Surah Marium:
“That is Jesus, son of Mary, the Word of the Truth, concerning whom they are in doubt. It is not for God to take a son. Immaculate is He! When He decides on a matter, He just says to it, “Be” and “it is”.
Jesus (PuH), who is considered one of the five greatest prophets by Muslims – the others being Noah, Abraham, Moses and the last and greatest of them, Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) – has a special place in Islamic texts. Here are some passages from a Hadith Qodsi, which the Lord Most High conveyed to the Prophet of Islam through the Archangel Gabriel. These self-explanatory phrases are the words of the One and Only God to the Son of Mary:
“O Jesus, I am your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. My name is One, and I am the Unique Who created everything individually. Everything is My made and everything will be returned to Me.
“O Jesus, you are the Messiah according to My order. You create (things) from mud on My permission and enliven the dead on My words. Long for Me and fear Me. You will not find anyone that protects you from Me except Me.
“…I declare that you are My servant and the son of My she-servant… Trust in Me and I will protect you. Do not follow anyone other than Me lest, I will disappoint you.
“O Jesus! Say to the unjust Israelites not to pray to Me while they keep their ill-gotten property under their laps and preserve the idols in their houses, for I took a pledge on Myself that I will answer him whoever prays to Me, but, for those ones, I will substitute My cursing them until they depart each other, for the answers of their prayers.
“O Jesus! Say to the unjust Israelites: You have cleaned your faces but sullied your hearts. Are you deceived against Me? Or are you challenging Me? You are odorizing yourselves for people of this world while your interiors are same as stinky carrions, as if you are dead people!”
No wonder the Israelites, or more properly those who rejected the mission of the Messiah and became Zionists – continue to slander Jesus and his chaste mother, whose spotless purity the holy Qur’an confirms. In view of these facts, it is rather strange for the Christian World to kowtow to the despicable Zionists and the illegal entity called Israel, while indulging in the most absurd phobia against Islam and Muslims. It seems, depravity has deprived minds in the West of any of spirituality and moral values, as is evident in their Bacchanal celebration of Christmas.
It will not be out of context to cite here, as food for thought, some more passages from Islamic texts about God’s commandments to Jesus that are found only in the Gospel of Barnabas, and completely erased from other versions of the Bible.
“O Son of Mary, that you bring news to the Children of Israel of the Master of the messengers and My beloved, who is Ahmad, having a red camel and a face like the moon, who is a shining light, a pure heart, courageous, venerably modest. Verily, he is a mercy to the worlds, and master of the children of Adam on the day of his meeting Me, the most honored of the foremost, and the last of the messengers from Me, an Arab, a trustworthy person, one committed to My religion, one patient for My sake and one who struggles by his hand against the idolaters for the defense of My religion. Order them to affirm him, believe in him, follow him and help him.”
To quote Imam Ali (AS), the first divinely appointed successor of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny):
“The Messenger of Allah called me and said: O 'Ali! Verily, there is a similarity between you and Jesus the son of Mary. The Christians love him so much that they put him in a position that was not for him; and the Jews hate him so much that they even slandered his mother.”
Imam Ali (AS) adds:
“Two (groups of) people will be ruined because of me; he who goes to extremes in love of me for what I do not have and he who hates me with a hatred that makes him slander me."
Imam Ali (AS), who used to refer to Prophet Jesus as “my brother”, says in sermon 158 of the book Nahj al-Balagha:
“If you like, I will tell you about Jesus the son of Mary. He used a stone as his pillow, wore coarse clothing and ate rough food. His stew was hunger and his lamp in the night was the moon. His shade in the winter was the east of the earth and its west. His fruit and his basil were what grow from the earth for the cattle. He had no wife to try him, and no son to grieve him. He had no wealth to distract him, nor greed to abase him. He had no mount to ride but his feet, and none were his servants but his own two hands."
Jesus (PuH) foretold of the mission of the Prophet of Islam whom he referred to as Hmda, a word translated as Paraclete in the Greek version of the Bible (Comforter in the English translation of St. John’s Gospel), and which in Arabic means Ahmad or Muhammad (the highly praised one). The Holy Qur’an has preserved the original words of the Messiah in ayah 6 of Surah Saff as follows:
“O Children of Israel! Indeed I am the Prophet of Allah to you, to confirm what is before me of the Torah, and to give the tidings of the Prophet to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.”
Although the original version of the Injil or Evangel that was revealed to Prophet Jesus (PUH) no longer exists, the following passages preserved in Islamic texts are a testimony to the true monotheistic message of the Messiah who never claimed to be son of God, as alleged, and who was never crucified, but has been lifted to the heavens and will reappear towards the end of time to serve as lieutenant to the Saviour of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), the 12th and Last Infallible Successor of the Prophet of Islam, in his global government of peace and justice:
“O Jesus! I am your Lord. My name is One and I am the One, the Unique in having created everything. All things have been made by Me and all return to Me.
“O Jesus! Say to the unjust of the Children of Israel that wisdom weeps in fear of Me, while you (Israelites) leave laughing. Has there come to you a reprieve, or is there with you a guarantee against My chastisement, or that you will not be subject to My punishment? I swear by Myself, that I will abandon you as an example for those who remain.
“Thus I charge you, O son of Mary, that you bring news to the Children of Israel of the Master of the messengers and My beloved, who is Ahmad…”
AS/MG