CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 5-a

Subject: CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 5-a Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:13 am

Chapter Five : Qur’ânic and Biblical Versions

Meeting the Reverend
I was visiting the "Bible House" in Johannesburg. Whilst browsing through the stacks of Bibles and religious books, I picked up an Indonesian Bible and had just taken in hand a Greek - English New Testament, a large, expensive volume. I had not realized that I was being observed by the supervisor of the Bible House. Casually, he walked up to me. Perhaps my beard and my Muslim headgear were an attraction and a challenge? He inquired about my interest in that costly volume. I explained that as a student of comparative religion, I had need for such a book. He invited me to have tea with him in his office. It was very kind of him and I accepted. Over the cup of tea, I explained to him the Muslim belief in Jesus, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. I explained to him the high position that Jesus occupied in the House of Islam. He seemed skeptical about what I said. I was amazed at his seeming ignorance, because only retired Reverend gentlemen can become Supervisors of Bible Houses in South Africa. I began reciting from verse 42 of chapters 3 of the Holy Qur’ân: "'Behold!' The angels said: 'O Mary, Allah hath chosen thee...'" I wanted the Reverend to listen, not only to the meaning of the Qur’an, but also to the music of its cadences when the original Arabic was recited. Rev. Dunkers (for that was his name) sat back and listened with rapt attention to "Allah's Words". When I reached the end of verse 49, the Reverend commented that the Qur’ânic message was like that of his own Bible. He said, he saw no difference between what he behaved as a Christian, and what I had read to him. I said: "that was true". If he had come across these verses in the English language alone without their Arabic equivalent, side by side, he would not have been able to guess in a hundred years that he was reading the Holy Qur’ân. If he were a Protestant, he would have thought that he was reading the Roman Catholic Version, if he had not seen one, or the Jehovah's Witness Version or the Greek Orthodox Version, or the hundred and one other versions that he might not have seen; but he would never have guessed that he was reading the Qur’ânic version. The Christian would be reading here, in the Qur’ân, everything he wanted to hear about Jesus, but in a most noble, elevated and sublime language. He could not help being moved by it. In these eight terse verses from 42 to 49 we are told: (a) That Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virtuous woman, and honored above the women of all nations. (b) That all that was being said was God's own Revelation to mankind. (c) That Jesus was the "Word" of God. (d) That he was the Christ that the Jews were waiting for. (e) That God will empower this Jesus to perform miracles even in infancy. (f) That Jesus was born miraculously, without any male intervention. (g) That God will vouchsafe him Revelation. (h) That he will give life to the dead by God's permission, and that he will heal those born blind and the lepers by God's permission, ... etc.

"Chalk and Cheese"
The most fervent Christian cannot take exception to a single statement or word here. But the difference between the Biblical and the Qur’ânic narratives is that between "chalk and cheese". "To me they are identical, what is the difference?" the Reverend asked. I know that in their essentials both the stories agree in their details, but when we scrutinize them closely we will discover that the difference between them is staggering. Now compare the miraculous conception as announced in verse 47 of the Holy Qur’ân with what the Holy Bible says: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, (as husband and wife) she was found with child of the holy ghost."(Matthew 1:18)

Master Dramatizer
The eminent Billy Graham from the United States of America dramatized this verse in front of 40,000 people in King Park, Durban, with his index finger sticking out and swinging his outstretched arm from right to left, he said: "And the Holy Ghost came and impregnated Mary!" On the other hand St. Luke tells us the very same thing but less crudely. He says, that when the annunciation was made, Mary was perturbed. Her natural reaction was: "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34) meaning sexually.
The Qur’ânic narrative is: "She said: O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man hath touched me?" (3:47) Meaning sexually. In essence there is no difference between these two statements "seeing I know not a man" and "when no man hath touched me". Both the quotations have an identical meaning. It is simply a choice of different words meaning the same thing. But the respective replies to Mary's plea in the two Books (the Quran and the Bible) are revealing.

The Biblical Version
Says the Bible: "And the angle answered and said into her: 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee" (Luke 1:35) Can't you see that you are giving the atheist, the skeptic, the agnostic a stick to beat you with? They may well ask "How did the Holy Ghost come upon Mary?" "How did the Highest overshadow her?" We know that literally it does not mean that: that it was an immaculate conception, but the language used here, is distasteful. Now contrast this with the language of the Qur’ân:

The Qur’ânic Version
"He said (the angel says in reply): 'Even so: Allah (God) createth what He willeth: when He hath decreed a plan, He but saith to it, 'Be,' and it is!' " (3:47) This is the Muslim concept of the birth of Jesus. For God to create a Jesus, without a human father, He merely has to will it. If He wants to create a million Jesus' without fathers or mothers, He merely wills them into existence. He does not have to take seeds and transfer them, like men or animals by contact or artificial insemination . He wills everything into being by His word of command "Be" and "It is". There is nothing new in what I am telling you, I reminded the Reverend. It is in the very first Book of your Holy Bible, Genesis 1:3 "And God said..." What did He say? He said "Be" and "It was". He did not have to articulate the words. This is our way of understanding the word "Be", that He willed everything into being.

Choice for His Daughter
"Between these two versions of the birth of Jesus, the Qur’ânic version and the Biblical version, which would you prefer to give your daughter?" I asked the supervisor of the Bible House. He bowed his head down in humility and admitted "The Qur’ânic Version."
How can "a forgery" or "an imitation", as it is alleged of the Qur’ân, be better than the genuine, the original, as it is claimed for the Bible? It can never be, unless this Revelation to Muhammed is what it, itself, claims to be viz. The pure and holy Word of God! There are a hundred different tests that the unprejudiced seeker after truth can apply to the Holy Qur’ân and it will qualify with flying colors to being a Message from on High.

aznas0429@yahoo.com

» CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 1-2-3
» CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 4
» CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 5-b
» CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 6
» CHRIST IN ISLAM - chapter 7