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Myths About Islam
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John Henry
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Oct 16, 2006 05:06 PDT
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10 Myths About Islam
- Myth #4
4th Edition
By Timothy W. Dunkin
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(c) 2001-2006, All Rights
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Myth #4
Muslims Reverence Jesus Christ
This is a claim which many Muslims in
Western nations will often make, so as to encourage greater
"dialogue" and openness toward Islam. Because Jesus Christ is
mentioned in the Qur'an, it is said to follow that the Qur'an honours
Him. Islam acknowledges that Jesus Christ was a prophet, that He was born
of a virgin, and even that He was sinless. However, simply giving lip
service to these facts does not necessarily mean that Muslims understand
the significance of these points, or that they are therefore reverencing
the Lord. This is because, in the process of mentioning and teaching
about Jesus, Islam rejects and denies many truths about the Lord which
are of vital importance.
A Short Synopsis of What Islam
Teaches About Christ
The Qur'an mentions quite a lot about Jesus Christ -- some of it
truthful, and some of it rather outlandish. Islam teaches the virgin
birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. "And Mary, daughter of 'Imran, whose
body was chaste, therefore We breathed therein something of Our Spirit.
And she put faith in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of
the obedient." (Surah 66:12, Pickthal translation) And also,
"She said: 'How shall I have a son, seeing that no man has touched
me, and I am not unchaste?' So it will be: Thy Lord saith, 'that is easy
for Me: and We wish to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from
Us': It is a matter so decreed. So she conceived him, and she retired
with him to a remote place." (Surah 19:20-22) In both of these
Quranic passages, we can see that orthodox Muslim teaching holds to the
fact that Christ was conceived in Mary, despite her being a virgin.
Further, it is taught that Mary's conception of Christ was a result of
the action of the Spirit of Allah. The virginal conception of Jesus
Christ is also explicitly stated to have been a sign to men and a mercy
from Allah. Where Islam fails, though, is to understand what this sign
pointed to and what the mercy of God through the Lord Jesus Christ really
is.
The Qur'an also reports that Jesus Christ was sinless in His life on
earth. "He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord, that I may
bestow on thee a faultless son." (Surah 19:19, Pickthal translation)
Christ was therefore described to Mary as faultless, indicating that He
would be sinless. The Yusuf Ali translation of the Qur'an uses the word
"holy" to describe Jesus, which is a word meaning "to be
set apart and separated from sin". This does indeed describe Jesus
Christ, who is sinless and completely separated from any sin in His
holiness.
Some of the events surrounding the birth of the Lord are taught as well.
The Qur'an reports that Jesus spoke at birth. "But she pointed to
the babe. They said: 'How can we talk to one who is a child in the
cradle?' He said: 'I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me
revelation and made me a prophet'..." (Surah 19:29-30) The Bible,
though, makes no record of this event, which appears to be a later Muslim
addition designed to strengthen the doctrine of Jesus' prophethood by
attributing this miracle to Him.
In Islam, Jesus Christ is acknowledged as having performed many miracles.
He raised people from the dead and healed the sick and infirmed. He had
supernatural knowledge of things which people kept secret. He is also
reported to have fashioned a bird out of clay, breathed into it, and it
came to life. "And appoint him a messenger to the Children of
Israel, with this message: 'I have come to you, with a Sign from your
Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a
bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by Allah's leave: And I
heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah's
leave; and I declare to you what ye eat, and what ye store in your
houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe;" (Surah
3:49) Some of these miracles are true to the Biblical record, the miracle
of the clay bird is not. However, we can note that Islam does record
Jesus as having performed miracles, through the power of Allah, and that
these miracles were for the purpose of serving as signs so that the
people might believe.
Islam will even go so far as to teach that Jesus Christ was the Messiah
from God, and that He was God's Word and mediator. In Surah 3:45, we see
the Messianic nature of Jesus Christ supported, "And remember when
the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word
from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in
the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near unto
Allah." (Pickthal translation) The Arabisation of the corresponding
Syriac word, translated as "Messiah" by Pickthal, is
al-masseh, which literally means "the anointed one, the
messiah", just as does the word Messiah in Hebrew. Note the
similarity between the two words in these two related, Semitic languages.
As the Messiah of God, Jesus was then also reckoned by the Qur'an to be
the Word of God. "O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your
religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of
Mary was no more than a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He
bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him..." (Surah 4:171)
The Qur'an even hints at the divinity and intercession of Christ, though
most Muslims probably would not be inclined to accept this. Surah 39:44
states, "Say: 'To Allah belongs exclusively the right to grant
intercession: to Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth:
In the End, it is to Him that ye shall be brought back.'" Hence,
Allah alone has the right to intercede before himself for human beings.
Interestingly then, over in Surah 3:45, we see, "And remember when
the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word
from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in
the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near unto
Allah." That phrase "brought near unto Allah" has been
interpreted by many prominent Muslim scholars, including the authors of
the early commentary on the Qur’an, Al-Jalalan, as indicating a
position and office of intercession with Allah, which we saw previously
is said to only reside with Allah
himself1.
Lastly, and most controversially, the Qur'an appears to teach both the
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Surah 3:55, the
Qur'an says "And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the
period of your stay on earth and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify
you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who
disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return,
so l will decide between you concerning that in which you differed."
(Shakir translation) Pickthal translates the phrase "I am going to
terminate the period of your stay" as "I am gathering
thee". Muslim apologists claim that this does not indicate the death
of Jesus Christ, but that Allah merely brought Him up to him through
ascension. However, Dr. Anis Shorrosh makes the statement,
"This phrase in the Arabic language, 'Inni mutawaf-feeka,' is
translated as "I am gathering thee." Some say the word does not
indicate death, while others affirm that Christ did actually die. As an
Arab, I have never known of any other meaning than death for this
expression, within or without the Quran."
2
Likewise, Muslim interpreters clearly understand that the Qur'an
teaches the death and resurrection of John the Baptist in Surah 19:15,
"So Peace on him the day he was born, the day that he dies, and the
day that he will be raised up to life again!". However, almost the
exact same wording in the Arabic is used when the Qur'an reports Jesus as
saying "So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die,
and the day that I shall be raised up to life again!" (Surah 19:33)
Yet, many Muslim scholars will contend that Jesus did not say he was
going to die and be raised up again in this passage, preferring to say
instead that it teaches the "gathering in" mentioned earlier.
They would rather make completely unsupportable textual claims than admit
that their scriptures report the death and resurrection of Christ.
Reverencing the Lord?
So, does all this teaching about Jesus really honour Him, as Muslim
apologists say? And further, do Muslims really even abide by the apparent
teachings of their own scriptures with regards to the Lord Jesus? Not
really. For all that the Qur'an says about Jesus, it still in the main
denies His divinity. "O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in
your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son
of Mary was no more than a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He
bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah
and His messengers. Say not 'Trinity' : desist: it will be better for
you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: far exalted is He above
having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And
enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs." (Surah 4:171) Muslims use
this passage as a source for their arguments against the divinity of
Jesus. Pointing to this, they will say that Jesus was no more than a
messenger of Allah, that He was not part of the Trinity, and that Allah
is far exalted above having a son, so hence Jesus was not the Son of God.
Another Quranic verse which Muslims use to deny the Trinity is Surah
5:116, "And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary!
Didst thou say unto men, take me and my mother for two gods beside
Allah.?" He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I
had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, Thou wouldst indeed have
known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in
Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden."
Muslims have long misunderstood the doctrine of the Trinity, as these
verses demonstrates. The Trinity does not consist of three separate gods.
The Trinity does not consist of God, Jesus, and Mary (as per Surah
5:116). Instead, the Trinity is one God who has revealed Himself to
mankind in three manifestations, each playing a varying role in God's
plan of redemption for mankind. These are three in person, but one in
essence, and all are one God. "For there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are
one." (I John 5:7) This is THE clearest statement of the Trinity in
all the Bible, though by no means the only one. Jesus Christ, the Word of
God, is clearly shown to be God in the Bible. Christ Himself made the
claim to deity. "I and my Father are one." (John 10:30) The men
of Jesus' day knew that He claimed deity, which is why the Jews sought to
lodge blasphemy charges against Him.
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes
sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus
speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately
when Jesus perceived in his Spirit that they so reasoned within
themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be
forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that
ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he
saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy
bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up
the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all
amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion."
(Mark 2:5-12)
What Jesus was illustrating in this passage was His deity. He asks
the rhetorical question of which is more difficult: to forgive a man of
his sins, or to heal a man of his physical infirmities. The answer, of
course, is that it is more difficult to heal the man physically. Jesus
showed that since He had the supernatural power to heal the man without
the least bit of effort, then He also had the power to forgive sins,
which is reserved for God alone. By forgiving sins, Jesus demonstrated
His deity in a way that His audience easily recognised.
Further, it must be understood by all, Muslim and non-Muslim, that Jesus
Himself laid claim to deity in a specific and direct way. When Christ was
being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, there was a point at which
Satan took Him up to the top of the temple and challenged Jesus to throw
Himself down, in an attempt to get the Lord to step outside of the plan
which God had for His ministry (this by engaging in a 'spectacular'
exhibition instead of preaching and teaching and using His miraculous
powers rightly for these ends). However, what is interesting for us here
is the Lord's response to Satan's challenge:
"Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt
THE LORD THY GOD." (Matthew 4:7)
Now, who was present in this dialogue besides Jesus and Satan?
Nobody. Who was Satan tempting? Jesus. Therefore, who ONLY could Jesus
have been saying was Lord and God who was being tempted? Himself.
Islam denies His deity, though, and reduces Jesus to the status of a
prophet only. "He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given
me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet." (Surah 19:30,
Pickthal translation) Hence, Jesus is subordinate to Allah, and cannot be
reckoned as having deity or being Allah. The two are clearly delineated
and declared as separate beings. Similarly, Islam denies that Jesus is
God's Son, using Surah 4:171 where it says that Allah is exalted above
having a son. Most expositors on this that I have seen, though,
consistently think that this idea refers to God physically having a son,
in the same way which a mortal human being would, i.e. through sexual
procreation. However, they fail to understand that the virgin birth of
Christ renders this argument moot. God miraculously caused Mary to
conceive, through the overshadowing action of His Holy Spirit, and thus
Jesus was born without a human father. This is important, also, in that
it confirms His sinless perfection. As Christ was not born through the
means of passing the seed of man down, Christ did not inherit in the
human part of His nature the sinfulness which afflicts the mortal human
race.
Hence, what we see in the way Islam deals with the deity and personage of
Christ is that they will go right to the brink, and then fail to take
that all-important step of faith to trust in His deity. Islam
acknowledges His sinlessness, His virgin conception, and that He was
indeed from God (as far as being a prophet is concerned). Muslims see and
believe that He performed many miracles, and that He is the Messiah who
intercedes before God on behalf of man. Yet, they turn back at
understanding and believing what this all means. Christ's virgin birth
and sinlessness point to His deity. His position as the Messiah, who was
to die for the sins of the world, made Him the only one who could be the
spotless sacrifice for man's sin. God Himself was the only acceptable
sacrifice to God to take away man's sin guilt, as He is the only one who
has never sinned, and thus is spotless and righteous in His own right.
Islam also tries to deny the death of Christ. Many fairy tales have been
put forth over the years by Muslims wishing to deny the crucifixion of
Christ. It will has been said that He really swooned on the cross, did
not really die, and was taken down, after which He woke up again (similar
to the tale told by liberal infidels in many of our "Christian"
seminaries). Muslims will claim that it was really Judas who died on the
cross, instead of Jesus. They will say that angels removed Him from the
cross before He died. Any number of stories are told to get around the
simple fact, as seen from all four Gospels and secular sources as well,
that Jesus Christ died upon the cross at Calvary. Muslims will make the
argument that saying Jesus died on the cross dishonours God as it
presumes that one of God's servants would be killed by sinner. The fact
notwithstanding that God's Word records MANY of God's faithful servants
who were killed for serving Him faithfully, this argument demonstrates
the ignorance of Muslims as to the PURPOSE of Christ's death on the
cross. The argument that they think is honouring the Lord really
dishonours Him as it denies the very reason He even came among mankind as
the God-man. Jesus Christ incarnated to mankind for the specific purpose
of dying on the cross! It was His whole reason for coming, to consummate
God's plan of salvation for man by serving as the ultimate, final
sacrifice for man's sin.
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot." (I Peter 1:18-19) -
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many..."
(Hebrews 9:28) - "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of
his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight;" (Colossians 1:21-22)
Christ died to serve as the sacrifice for man which would atone for
man's sins. Man cannot save himself through his good works or religious
rituals. Christ, who was completely righteous, took the place of every
man, woman, and child who ever lived and will ever live. He voluntarily
gave Himself to suffer the death penalty, the wrath of God against sin,
so that through Him we all might receive forgiveness of our sins, if we
trust in Him and His sacrifice and resurrection. The Muslim claims that
Christ did not die is an attempt to negate this. While they think they
are honouring Him, they are in fact denying Him, calling Him a liar, and
leaving themselves with no hope of eternal salvation.
Likewise, the resurrection of Christ from the dead demonstrated His
triumph over death and hell, and gives promise of eternal life to all who
trust in Him. His resurrection was a firstfruits of the resurrection to
eternal glory which all who believe on Him will also receive. "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are
Christ's at his coming." (I Corinthians 15:23) Without the
resurrection of Christ, which Muslims deny implicitly when they deny His
death, there is no hope for any man to be saved. "And if Christ be
not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."
(I Corinthians 15:14)
What is amazing in all this is that Islam dimly recognises and honours
the need for a sacrifice to be made in the place of sinful man. Every
year, at the conclusion of the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims
celebrate a three-day festival called Eid al-Adha. This feast period
celebrates an episode in which Abraham was called by Allah to sacrifice
his son Ishmael on an altar, but at the last moment, an angel intervened
and allowed Abraham to sacrifice a ram in the place of Ishmael. This is
very similar to the Biblical account of the near-sacrifice and salvation
of Isaac in Genesis 22:1-18. Isaac, representing sinful man, must die for
his transgressions, but God sends a male ram to die in Isaac's place,
providing a type of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was described
by John the Baptist as "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). The
Muslim Eid Al-Adha, while being transposed to Ishmael, provides a loose
corollary of this event. Yet, the implications of the need for man to die
for his sins, and the provision of God to take man's place under wrath
are not understood by the Muslim world.
The Gospel of Barnabas
A brief mention ought to be made concerning the so-called "Gospel of
Barnabas" (not to be confused with the “Epistle of Barnabas“, a
recognised exhortatory epistle of a second century Christian author).
This work is an extra-biblical book which claims to be an account of the
life and work of Christ. Muslims love this book, and cite it often in
support of the Islamic view of Christ. The reason for this is because the
book conforms very much to Islamic theology concerning Jesus Christ. The
Gospel of Barnabas denies that Jesus claimed deity, denies that He was
the Son of God, and denies His death on the cross (this is partially
where the claim that Judas was substituted comes from). Muslims say that
this book was considered authoritative by the early church, but this
claim is contradicted by the fact that no church fathers ever cited it in
their writings, and that the earliest textual evidence for this book is a
sixteenth century Italian manuscript 3. Some
apologists claim that the Gospel of Barnabas is mentioned in “The
Gelasian Decree” of pope Gelasius (492-495 AD). Now, a “Gospel in the
name of Barnabas” is discussed in that decree, but is rejected along with
a host of other writings as spurious and apocryphal, which had been
attributed to various Apostles and other first generation
Christians4. However, this apocryphal gospel was
dismissed at the end of the 5th century, while the Gospel of Barnabas
preferred by Muslims shows much internal evidence of having originated at
a much later date. Muslims will sometimes also attempt to point to
various other decrees of the early Catholic church as evidence of an
early date for the Gospel of Barnabas, such as the Decree of Pope Sixtus
I, but examination of these documents shows no mention of such a gospel.
Additionally, the Gospel of Barnabas contains many historical mistakes
and anachronisms which date to medieval Europe and which would not have
existed in the first century AD, and the many Islamic influences in the
work seem to indicate the "Gospel" is the work of a medieval
European forger, likely a convert to Islam. The style of quotations from
the Old Testament found in this work are from the Latin Vulgate, which
was not even translated until the very end of the 4th century, and which
remained the standard Roman Bible for most of Roman Catholic history to
the present. The tradition in the Catholic church that Mt. Moriah was the
mount of Transfiguration began only in the 3rd century, yet this is the
place presented in the Gospel of Barnabas. This “Gospel” also contains
several references to medieval elements such as wooden wine casks and
romanticised duals between lovers, which did not exist in 1st century
Palestine. Most revealing are the numerous references to Mohammed (in
chapters 44, 54, 97, 112, 163, etc.) which reveals a post-Islamic origin
for the work.
In fact, the dating for the creation of the Gospel of Barnabas can
positively be placed between 1300 and 1350. This is because of the use by
its author of a centennial Year of Jubilee. In chapter 85, the Gospel of
Barnabas states, “..Years of the Jubilee, which now cometh every 100
years”. In the Old Testament, the Year of Jubilee was set for every fifty
years, and this remained the practice (at least in word even if the
Jubilee was not kept) throughout the subsequent history of both the Jews
and the early and medieval Christian church. Yet, the Gospel of Barnabas
says that the Jubilee was changed to being every 100 years. Why? Gairdner
supplies the answer by noting that after celebrating this year in 1300,
Pope Boniface VII altered the Jubilee to a centennial event. However, his
successor Pope Clement VI reversed this decision and celebrated the next
Jubilee in 13505. Only a person living in that period
between 1300 and 1350 would have considered the year of Jubilee as being
changed to come every 100 years. Further evidence for dating the “Gospel”
to at least this date lies in that it actually, on several occasions,
quotes the works of Dante Aligheri (1265-1321)! All of these evidences,
plus many, many more which will not be listed here for the sake of space,
point to the Gospel of Barnabas as being a complete and utter forgery,
produced by an individual steeped in Muslim theology and tradition, yet
who was also at least marginally knowledgeable of the
"Christianity" of his day.
For much more detailed expositions on the reasons why the Gospel of
Barnabas can be nothing but a forgery, read the section from their book
Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross which deals with
the Gospel of Barnabas, by
Norman Geisler
and Abdul Saleeb, and also the essay on this subject by
Gerhard Nehls. Any serious seeker of truth will be forced to
recognise the fakery behind this pseudographical forgery.
From all this we can see that while Islam says that they reverence and
honour Jesus Christ as a prophet of God, they really call Him a liar and
dishonour Him. Muhammed apparently heard the truth, or at least something
closely approximating it, from Christians in his early life, but could
not accept the claims of Christ. His contact with Monophysite Christians
in Syria warped his theological understanding of Christianity, and
resulted in his denial of the Trinity, and therefore, Christ's deity.
Muslim claims of honouring Christ sound much like those mentioned in
Isaiah 29:13, "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people
draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by
the precept of man."
End Notes
(1) - Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. H.A.R. Gibb and J.H. Kramers,
p. 173.
(2) - Dr. A. Shorrosh, Islam Revealed: A Christian Arab's View of Islam,
p. 97
(3) - L.B. Jones, Christianity Explained to Muslims, p. 79
(4) - C.G. de Boor, “The Gelasian Decree of Books Received and Not
Received“, in Texts and Investigations into the History of Ancient
Christian Literature, cap. xxxviii.4
(5) - W.H.T. Gairdner and S. Abdul-Ahad, The Gospel of
Barnabas: An Essay and Inquiry, p. 19
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