Jesus in Islam and Christmas
Many Christians are unaware that the true spirit of reverence which Muslims display towards Jesus and his mother Mary spring from the fountainhead of their faith as prescribed in the Holy Quran. Most do not know that a Muslim does not take the name of Jesus , without saying Eesa alai-hiss-salaam i.e. (Jesus peace be upon him).
Jesus in the Quran
Many Christians do not know that in the Holy Quran Jesus is mentioned by name twenty-five times. For example:
.. We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. .. Quran 2:87
Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah gives thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah. Quran 3:45
.. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah .. Quran 4:171
And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him .. Quran 5:46
And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous: Quran 6:85
The Quranic Titles of Jesus
Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran he is also addressed with respect as: "Ibne Maryam" - son of Mary; as Masi (Heb) Messiah - translated as Christ; "Abd-ullah" servant of Allah; "Rasul -Ullah" - Messenger of Allah.
He is spoken of as "the word of God", as "the spirit of God", as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this great Messenger of God, and over the past fourteen hundred years Muslims continue to hold Jesus as a symbol of truth.
Christmas and 25th of December
Jesus is commonly considered to have been born on the 25th of December. However, it is common knowledge among Christian scholars that he was not born on this day. It is well known that the first Christian churches held their festival in May, April, or January. Scholars of the first two centuries AD even differ in which year he was born. Some believing that he was born fully twenty years before the current accepted date. So how was the 25th of December selected as the birthday of Jesus ?
Grolier's encyclopedia says: "Christmas is the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated on December 25 ... Despite the beliefs about Christ that the birth stories expressed, the church did not observe a festival for the celebration of the event until the 4th century.... since 274, under the emperor Aurelian, Rome had celebrated the feast of the "Invincible Sun" on December 25. In the Eastern Church, January 6, a day also associated with the winter solstice, was initially preferred. In course of time, however, the West added the Eastern date as the Feast of the Epiphany, and the East added the Western date of Christmas".
So who else celebrated the 25th of December as the birth day of their gods before it was agreed upon as the birth day of Jesus ? In India there is the Hindu festival to honor the Hindu deity, Ganesha, where people rejoice, decorate their houses with garlands, and give presents to their friends on this day. The people of China also celebrate this day and close their shops. Buddha is believed to have been born on this day. The great savior and god of the Persians, Mithras, is also believed to have been born on the 25th of December long before the coming of Jesus .
The Egyptians celebrated this day as the birth day of their great savior Horus, the Egyptian god of light and the son of the "virgin mother" and "queen of the heavens" Isis. Osiris, god of the dead and the underworld in Egypt, the son of "the holy virgin", again was believed to have been born on the 25th of December.
The Greeks celebrated the 25th of December as the birthday of Hercules, the son of the supreme god of the Greeks, Zeus, through the mortal woman Alcmene Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry among the Romans (known among the Greeks as Dionysus) was also born on this day.
Adonis, revered as a "dying-and-rising god" among the Greeks, miraculously was also born on the 25th of December. His worshipers held him a yearly festival representing his death and resurrection, in midsummer. The ceremonies of his birthday are recorded to have taken place in the same cave in Bethlehem which is claimed to have been the birth place of Jesus .
The Scandinavians celebrated the 25th of December as the birthday of their god Freyr, the son of their supreme god of the heavens, Odin.
The Romans observed this day as the birthday of the god of the sun, Natalis Solis Invicti ("Birthday of Sol the invincible"). There was great rejoicing and all shops were closed. There was illumination and public games. Presents were exchanged, and the slaves were indulged in great liberties. These are the same Romans who would later preside over the council of Nicea (325 CE) which lead to the official Christian recognition of the "Trinity" as the "true" nature of God, and the "fact" that Jesus was born on the 25th of December too.
In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says: "The Roman Christians, ignorant of his (Christ's) birth, fixed the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or Winter Solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of Sol " vol. ii, p. 383.
Christians opposed to Christmas
There are several Christian groups who are opposed to Christmas. For example, they take the verse from the Bible in Jeremiah 10:2-4 as an admonition against decorating Christmas trees.
The King James Version reads: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen.... For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."
In order to understand this subject, it is helpful to trace some of the history of Christmas avoidance, particularly its roots in Puritanism.
The Puritans believed that the first-century church modeled a Christianity that modern Christians should copy. They attempted to base their faith and practice solely on the New Testament, and their position on Christmas reflected their commitment to practice a pure, scriptural form of Christianity. Puritans argued that God reserved to himself the determination of all proper forms of worship, and that he disapproved of any human innovations - even innovations that celebrated the great events of salvation. The name Christmas also alienated many Puritans. Christmas, after all, meant "the mass of Christ." The mass was despised as a Roman Catholic institution that undermined the Protestant concept of Christ, who offered himself once for all. The Puritans' passionate avoidance of any practice that was associated with papal Rome caused them to overlook the fact that in many countries the name for the day had nothing to do with the Catholic mass, but focused instead on Jesus' birth. The mass did not evolve into the form abhorred by Protestants until long after Christmas was widely observed. The two customs had separate, though interconnected, histories.
As ardent Protestants, Puritans identified the embracing of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early 300s CE as the starting point of the degeneration and corruption of the church. They believed the corruption of the church was brought on by the interweaving of the church with the pagan Roman state. To Puritans, Christmas was impure because it entered the Roman Church sometime in this period. No one knows the exact year or under what circumstances Roman Christians began to celebrate the birth of their Lord, but by the mid-300s CE, the practice was well established.
Islam requires Muslims to respect the faith of others
Regardless of historical facts and theological differences that Christians may have among themselves or theological differences Muslims may have with Christianity we cannot disregard the sentiments of practicing Christians who use this occasion to revere Jesus .
Prophet Muhammad was always very respectful towards the Christians. According to Islamic historians, Ibn e Saad and Ibn e Hisham, once there was a delegation of Byzantine Christians, who were traveling from Yemen to Madinah. The delegation was lead by a bishop by the name of Zqyd al-Usquf , who came to discuss a number of issues with Prophet Muhammad . When the time of their prayer came, they asked the Prophet if they could do their worship in the mosque of the Prophet. He answered, "Conduct your service here in the mosque. It is a place dedicated to God."
A Muslim cannot and should not ridicule the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much they disagree with them. God says in the Quran: "And insult not those whom they worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do". Quran, 6:108
Topics: Christmas, Islam, Prophet Jesus (Isa)
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as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread
over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this
great Messenger of God, and over the past fourteen hundred years
Muslims continue to hold Jesus as a symbol of truth.
What an OXYMORON, dear author endowed with so much wisdom and
understanding!
He that is called "the word of God", "the spirit of God", and
"Sign of God" is not just SYMBOL of truth but THE TRUTH. Blessed
Messiah declared Himself being the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Seeing Him was Equal to Seeing God. Those honoring God were
commended to honour Him as Equal with Him.
Unless anyone considers Him a Fraud, the Word of God reveal He
is God in the flesh. Why should we divert our attention to
MESSENGER leaving the person of Mediator while seeking to build
fruitful relationship with God?
Quran.
Who else is spocken as "word of god" in Quran.
Is Jesus the only charecter in Quran, born of a virgin. What is God
trying to tell here. What is the reason is he born from a virgin.
that you have quoted from Islamic historians Ibn e Saad and Ibn
Hisham.
I have little to say, the text talks by itself , when he talks about the Puritans, the Puritans are extremist, radicals, they are not good in any religion have the example of Hoshama Bin Lader
All religions deserve to be respected and all people deserve freedom of choice, GOD IS ONLY ONE1494
To be a Muslim is to accept other religions as they are and at the same time inform others of our religion.
I'm a Chinese Muslimah from Taiwan. Please clarify as what Chinese holiday you refered to in your article, because as far as I know there is no specific Chinese holiday (in China) set on December 25th. The traditional Chinese holidays follow the lunar calendar. I'm pointing this out in goodwill.
Wassalam
May Allah Bless All of You What You Are Doing for This Umma.
Good work
christmas is paganism only because they worship jesus but there is good deeds mixed in with it.but do not allow the world to deceive us.there is no god but god. one ilah,allah praise be to HIM.WE MUST RECITE THE QURAN FOR GUIDANCE, TO GUARD AGAINST EVIL.To guard against idolatry, in it's most subtle form (christmas!!!) glory be to Allah PRAISE BE TO ALLAH GLORY BE TO ALLAH. THE BEGINNING AND THE END ALHAMDULILLAH.
The biblical man called "Jesus", his true name is Immanuel.
The fact that Muslim reverence him and in the Arabic language he is
recognized as "Isa ibn Maryam", son of Mary (PBUT). An untruth mixed
with truth doesnt validate the untruth. The establishment of
Christianity based upon the truth and reality of who this man was
and truly IS has never been taught wholistically in the Bible. The
fact that he is mentioned in the Quran is a guidance for Christians
and Muslims to follow truth and not the broken, distorted
information taught repeatedly today. So Be It unto You whatever you
believe, however there is a vast amount of material available for
you to come into the reality of whom Immanuel is. However the topic
of the article is about Christmas. As a believer in truth of the
Bible - across the board whether you are a Christian, Baptist,
Methodist, Episcopalian, Jehovas Witness, 7th Day Adventist,
C.O.G.I.C, Missionary Church members or whatever other sect of
religious inclination - when building your faith on and from the
Bible - It "The Bible" teaches to NOT CELEBRATE Christmas! As Muslim
we support the truth of the spirit of Christianity & the Truth that
its rooted in, even far beyond Isa Ibm Maryam / Immanuel (Jesus the
CHRIST).
my Christian friends about the common points between our religions. But then, I quickly
realized that would be impossible once the author started making Christianity "guilty by
association" with a history of paganism, etc. During times of so much misunderstanding
between Christians and Muslims, it would have been nice to have an article providing a
positive way to understand our common points in relation to Isa, peace be upon him.
Instead, I'm afraid this article lends itself to disparaging Christians.
what He taught? Why would you honour what you are ignorant of? Jesus said "why do you
call me Lord but do not do what I say? Why do you call Him, 'Apostle of Allah but don't do
what He says??
Suhih Bhukhari
MERRY CHRISTMAS (-:
There's a detailed dialogue I wrote out and published on web on this topic when a friend of mine argues as pessimisticallya as you did.
http://www.hidayat.org/amoeed/
There're that might be of help to you in order to clear up your mind and see how vasten Islam has made the worlds for us, not at all as narrowed as of your opinion.
I believe and suggest that you must start to think and live outside the box, especially when concerning religion!
May Allah bless us all.
Amen
Please go to Islamicity and read 'Jesus in Islam' it will certainly clear up some misconceptions you have." " There is more information and biographical information on Mary in the Qur'an than can be found in the entire New Testament" Please do some reading on the Council of Nicea...the difference between what is referred to in some literature as Judeo and Pauline Christianity. The former were the earliest contemporaries of Christ. Many of their beliefs, regarding Jesus PBUH came into direct conflict with the teachings of Paul. Pauls teachings with regard to Christ's PBUH divinity, or a human being becomming a God Incarnate, fit in well with the Roman's previously held Pagan beliefs. The Roman's adopted Pauls theological teachings, consequently they impacted which gospels were chosen to formulate official canonical text. What is more significant is perhaps those that were not chosen.It was for these 'politically' incorrect beliefs that the Judeo Christians were persecuted. Pauls teachings formulate the basic beliefs of what is taught by the Church. The beliefs held by the Judeo Christians coincide with many of the Islamic teachings regarding Christ's PBUH nature. It might interest you to know that one of the first people to recognize Muhammed's prophethood was a learned Christian Monk named Waraqa. Also when then early Muslims were persecuted and a group of them fled Mecca,they were given asylum by a Christian King in Ethiopia. The Meccan's enraged by this sent a delegation to Ethiopia's King to try and discredit the Muslims. They advised him to ask the Muslims what they believe about his Christ PBUH. When the Muslims recited what the Holy Qur'an said about Jesus and Mary, the Kind said...the difference between us and you is as a line in the sand.. (please excuse loose translation). He did not turn his back on them and continued to give them sanctuary against the Pagan Meccans.
Please READ. Knowl empowrs us,ignorance breeds intoleranc
I thank ALMighty GOD that the gift of the learned author has been put in a right place. I find the article very thought provoking and educational. Yes, Muslims do revere Jesus ( peace be upon him ) and such reverence is one of the integrals beliefs among the six Islamic Articles of faith. And any Muslims who do not believe in Jesus as the Messenger of GOD, then his faith is questionable. And Mary ( may GOD bless her ) has been mentioned many times in the Holy Quran and is highly respected as the mother of Jesus (pbuh).
The Premier of Britain Tony Blair once admitted that there is more reverence to Mary the virgin in the Quran than the Bible itself. Therefore I call for more dialogues between the different Abrahamic faith and among the followers of various religion. Such a dialogue must be based on a true and genuine sense of respect along with the quest to search and find the truth.
And to the author, Thank you and May ALLAH ALMighty bless you, always.
Your Brother in Islam
"It is not righteousness that you turn your faces toward East or West;
But it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book and the Messengers;
To spend of your substance out of love for Him(God) for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of freeing the bound
To be steadfast in prayer and practice regular charity and to fulfil the contracts which you have made and to be firm and patient in distress and adversity and throughout all periods of panic.
Such are the people of truth, those that mind (God)." (Quran:Baqarah-177).
Every Muslim should do this first. Then he could try to immitate and replicate the life of the prophet,pbuh. Since we aren't prophets, the attempt would be in itself a mockery.
It is a well known fact that neither the prophet nor the companions celebrated Christmas, and the companions did not celebrate the prophet's birthday! So why should any muslim (of the present day) observe any celebration of birth of either self or any of the prophets for that matter.
Yes actions are judged according to intentions, but u can bet those actions MUST fall within the perimeter of Islam. Cos Allah says '..wa adi'u-Allah, wa adi'u-rrasuul..' that is, total obedience is to Allah only and the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and nobody else, not even parents!
Our (muslims) celebrations are on the two Eids (Eidl-Adhha and Eidl-Fitr) and marriage(if possible) only! These are the tenets in Islam as regards festivals. Any other celebration is an innovation and every innovation leads to hell fire wal-'iyazu bil-lah.
Peace.
Whatever you choose to do, remember, God will judge you according to your intention.
Peace to all of you!
"christians and jews were given the security to live amnong muslims unharmed BUT IN ONE CONDITION THAT THEY PAY THE JIZIAH"
The People of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians), on the other hand, were penalized by having to pay the jizya, which could have been financial or in forms of services to the state, especially militarily. Any subjects of an Islamic state are to be given freedom of religion.
You misunderstood the meaning of the word 'jizya'. This jizya, has to pay by the People of the Book (i.e. Jews and Christians),
that time for their protection in the Islamic country, fom the enemies, by war.
In the Islamic rule, Muslims have to pay 'Zakkah', on their income, to the goverment, but non-muslims have not to pay the 'zakkah'.
And some non-muslims was ready to pay the 'zakkah' instead of the 'jizya', which is more higher amount, than jizya.
Once the Khalifa (Islamic ruler) found difficulties to protect them from the enemis, and he given back all jizya collected from them.
Allah Says in qur'an:
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the JIZYA with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.(9:29)
Those who desire to obey Jesus and attain to life eternal must, necessarily, follow the Quran as well as the life of Muhammad (e) which was based on it. That is the path of eternal salvation.
Please read and learn Islamic articles, from the correct source, before you comment something.
Please visit "www.nicheoftruth.org", to read and understand 'who was Jesus Christ'.
There is correspodent course, for non-muslims only, if you are ready to learn and understand.
Do you know how stupid you made yourself look by your stupid comment? One has to wonder your age and your stage of developement. Are you still at stage of infancy? GET YOUR FACTS right for your God's sake!
Next time when you visit Muslim websites, PLEASE DON'T DRINK THE "CIVILIZED FLUID" called BOOZE because according to civilized experts one's comprehension is directly proportional to amount of booze one consumes, meaning more booze you consume in the name of high-spirit, the more stupid one becomes, exactly like your evangelical boy, BUSH JR (the World's MOST WANTED CRIMINAL). Your HOWARD BOY is #3 Criminal in the WORLD.
The bottom line is that Christians still lead in killing. Your crusade boy, Bush jr, just killed more than one hundred thousand Muslims AND Christians and STILL KILLING with his so called "LOVEFUL IDEALOGY" . Your boy himself admitted that he killed around 30,000 innocent Iraqis. Killing = LOVE? Is that peaceful act and NOT violence? Maybe someone should "fly plane" thru your so called "loveful idealogy" to break open the true content of your idealogy. I know that your idealogy is full hate and violence. Your history has proven it.
Since you are from Australia (as you claim to be), do you how many Native Australians you've killed to occupy and oppress the native people in the name of spreading Christianity?
Just Go back to Europe! You've occupied, oppressed, and killed enough. Besides, there is no Caucaus mountain in Australia! Aren't you "mountain sick"? I don't think so...it's your greed that hold you back!
In terms of # of people died in tsunami, Why did Christians die? NOT A SINGLE CHRISTIAN SHOULD DIE if your Christian God is for Christians ONLY.
Boy..This is really getting stupid. MY NAME! I can make you grow-up. But you REALLY sound like a kid. So I am going to leave you alone...
Just don't drink and read the BIBLE at the same time. IT's very healthy!!! TRUST ME!
Is it then a wonder that some of those neighbours think that the death of over 120 000 Muslims in Indonesia has been brought by the Christian God a day after the birth of Jesus to punish the hate promoting Muslims for all the evil thing they have done during the last few years (terrorist action, beheadings, killing of children and so on...)
This is Jesus the PROPHET of Nazareth of Galilee." (Matthew 21:11)
"..Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" (Luke 24:19:)
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying." (John 8:51-55)
"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. (Continued)...
you wrote; "If a book does not reconize Jesus as the Savior and born of a Virgin, and He is God. This book is considere as false writting".
as muslims, we generally agree that Jesus, peace be upon him, was saviour and born of virgin Mary, but we do not beieve he was God.
Now according to your own test if a book does not confirm Christ's divinity, then that book is "false".
Please do us a favour and quote from your Bible verses which actually state that Jesus IS GOD AND that he actually introduces the doctorine of trinity into Judaism, for he was a Jew and as we all know Judaism is like Islam, it does not associate anyone with God. In fact Jews do not even invoke the name of God. They even spell it as such G-d for fear of associating anything with HIM.
So, please put us all out of miseries and let us see those verses from your Bible. Thank you.
You say the hadith in Sahih Bukhari is false? Read it's chain of narrators and you'll see you are clearly in error. It is sick that you do not accept the second coming of the Messiah. There is not just one hadith in Sahih Bukhari mentioning his return bro, there are MANY. Obviously since you believe that the Christ will not return, you OBVIOUSLY have not read the Qur'an, so I will help you with that below:
3:55 Behold! Allah said: "O jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.
4:157 That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
4:158 Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
43:61 And (jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way.
19:33 "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)"!
ASIF... understand that in Islam we believe that Jesus (as) was raised up to heaven, and from the verse of 19:33, Qur'an states "the day that I die" as the words written in the Qur'an...you see, Jesus in Islam was not crucified, and DID NOT DIE YET, he was raised up to be with Allah. Since the Qur'an states that he must die one day and be resurrected, he must return to Earth then die normally and be buried! Can't go against Quran, he's coming back, sorry buddy.
I enjoy the articles and the site very much but, Insha Allah can you please provide footnotes for the hadith or narrations of the Prophet (S.A.W.) especially this one... [Prophet Muhammad was always very respectful towards the Christians. According to Islamic historians, Ibn e Saad and Ibn e Hisham, once there was a delegation of Byzantine Christians, who were traveling from Yemen to Madinah. The delegation was lead by a bishop by the name of Zqyd al-Usquf, who came to discuss a number of issues with Prophet Muhammad . When the time of their prayer came, they asked the Prophet if they could do their worship in the mosque of the Prophet. He answered, "Conduct your service here in the mosque. It is a place dedicated to God." can some please email me at [email protected] with where I can find this at...
Many thanks for your thoughtful comment. I would like to draw some attention of you towards the following:
a) The Holy Quran does regard Prophet Eesa (pbuh) as the Messiah.
b) The Holy Quran also regards that Eesa (pbuh) was born of a virgin mother by the order of God.
c) What Holy Quran does not say is that, Prophet Eesa (pbuh) is not God. He is just a Messenger of God, same as our Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)
The fact that one book says that Eesa (pbuh) as the god and another says he is not, does not necessarily mean that the book is false.
Our God bless you.
There is nowhere in the bible or the quran that he calls himself God so why do you think that we should see him as god.Everything that he did he said i'm doing this through the help of God or my father.
The quran is the only book that explains to us in detail about adam and eve all the way to mohammad(pbbh).All other books explains certain era, example the new testerment.
So i'm calling on all believers; muslims and christians to read both books with open mind to close the gap between the two religions.The quran recognises true believers whethre you're a jew, christian or muslim.Believe in one God,practice regular prayrs,help the needy people and guard yourself from shameful d things you will be saved in the day of judgement.May God bless us all.
Mukhlis
"O God, show as the Truth as truth, and grant us the blessing of following it, and show as falsehood as falsehood, and grant us the blessing of staying away from it."
Such an idea that was invented by man is not found within the Revealed verses of the Qur'an, NOR in the original manuscripts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Sinaiticus). The verses which speak about his returning in the New Testament are omitted from the Sinaiticus.
The ahadith which we find in Bukhari, we do not find any in Imam Malik's book which was written well before Bukhari. Such ahadith are mere fabrications and/or misreported.
If you would like to discuss, email me:
[email protected]
Verily Allah is Ar Rahman Ar Rehem.
Surely God is the Most Gracious, Most Mercifull.
:-)
we undisputably need the rest of the world to recognize that we are different. we need the rest of the world to understand our difference. Allah has also reserve the right for us to defend ourselves when attacked. but as a da'wah worker, i feel hurt whenever i hear of conflicts between muslims and the faithfuls of other religions and muslims because although we have the right to defend ourselves, to forgive is more beneficial, to islam and to our souls. the Prophet (saw)conquered Makkah in this manner.
It is also a lesson for us that in the 21st century where we have the highest standards of knowledge in terms of universities, technology and so on we are still arrogant in our differences. However, if we leave our ego for one moment and think of the big picture which is God and us his servants one will find the truth in her/his heart. Isolation is never an answer to humanity's advancement. God has told us that if our sins were to reach the sky He wills still forgive us.
As a mother I feel humble and in peace when God said that He chose Mary above all women. This shows that Mary May God rest her soul has a special place in our hearts.
I hope we can be patient enough to wait for Jesus(SA) son of Mary returns to earth who will settle our differences. Until such day I would say peace.
Below is a teaching from the Quran on settling our differences where God tells us that:
2:62 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
2:113 The Jews say: "The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and the Christians say: "The Jews have naught (To stand) upon." Yet they (Profess to) study the (same) Book. Like unto their word is what those say who know not; but Allah will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.
2:135 They say: "Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided (To salvation)." Say thou: "Nay! (I would rather) the Religion of Abraham the True, and he joined not gods with Al
I do urge muslin to read Isaiah 54
"unto us a child is born,unto us a son is given. He shall be called counselor....."
My God bless you
hope you like it
http://www.libertybiblechurch.net/Christmass.html
Out of curiosity i did my research on Mithra the so called sun god....and the exercise proved to be rather difi'cult' with one webpage soon going offline and three books ever published ....i gotta acknowledge some of the eesa(pbuh) similarities that you are trying to point out are rather remarkable and make me wonder if some of the bible writers have used the scripts coppied rubbish like celebrate with wine and get baptised to get eternal life....
the choice here is rather clear you have the only 1000% preserved word of god (Allah SWT) so read it open your mind to it your heart will follow....
then you'll realise that the only way to success is to follow THE example
so act upon it
May Allah forgive us All
It is a view of our local imam that we should not congratulate christmass to the christians as this would mean agreeing with their religious beleives to which from hadith is apparently evindent we are not allowed to..
i am very skeptic to some views as i have found our imam to be rather limited in knowledge and always hesitating to give answers too often as he is unsure or doesn't know
may Allah forgive us all
Sincerely Yours,
Nermin Hamid
It always confuses me that at one point Muslims think the bible has been corrupted but at another point they can use it if it jives with the Quran. As I understand it the Quran is complete and really does not need someone looking back at other scriptures to support it. I hope you are not doubting your faith so that you have to reach into the more ancient texts to provide comfort. As for your passage about Muhammed being the one liken to Moses your position is one that has good evidence but has been refuted. If you read the above and below verses that surround the verse you quoted (something that most Muslims tell others to do when they jump to conclusions that Islam is violent) you will see that this person is coming from the tribe of Levi (you'll have to check to be sure but I am sure it is from a tribe of Israel). Anyway, if the bible has been so corrupted I would advise you to stay away from it because it may lead you astray. If you are searching in the bible because you have questions as to the validity of the Quran the website answering islam is quite good. Take care.
it sure is opening a can of worms. one that neither side is going to be able to stop. ahmed, i'm an atheist, btw. sorry if i gave the impression that i was a christian.
Why should not the Bible be interrogated by Muslims? We should not be afraid that by the same token, the Quran will be interrogated by Christians.
Let us use the word studied and not interrogated. When done with an open heart God (both in the Bible and in the Quran) welcomes man's (and woman's) heart to heart questioning. That is precisely the way of God: that we are supposed to question His wisdom and His creation. Otherwise what is the use of this inquisitive mind that HE has given us. QWe are not robots but exalted human being "made in the image" of God.
We have the free will and through our devotion we can be nearer to God than His angels. This devotion is then acquired through fighting with inner self and logically arriving at the result that "There is no god but The One God", and that can only be arrived at by studying His scriptures with an open heart, be it the Bible, the Torah or the Quran.
This religion was sent to the "alameen". That is the whole world. It is not confined to the Arabs.
Peace be on those who look for the devine in a seed of grass let alone His written words.
Our bretheren have been misled. Do you not understand? They have been told since birth that Jesus and Allah are one and the same, that Allah took a human form in Jesus, that being the son of Allah was a way to forge a link between himself and human kind. Now we know that this is not true, and we have had the benefit of the Qur'an to guide us, but they have not. Remember this before you condemn them. The evil that perverted the message of Jesus, pbuh, happened long ago. The present generation simply parrots the sins of those before them. We are the lucky ones, and our mission is to spread this word, to reach out to them, not in arogance and rudeness, but in love and understanding.
It is no accident that Qur'an is revealed at the beginning of the twisting of christianity, that our message, la illaha illallah, comes at the same time as the feast of christmas supplants the pagan holidays, that the divinity of Jesus, pbuh, is gaining popularity at the very time of the Last Revelation. This is no accident, brothers and sisters. Let us be understanding, and informative to our neighbors.
Lucas you called Islam a violent religion mainly because of september 11
well, if you are going to call a religion violent just because of a violent incident. Then you might as well call christainity a violent religion. First you have the crusaders who after the captured Jeruslem they butchered its citizens ( it didnt matter if they where christians, muslims or jews). then you have the massacre of muslims and jews when spain finally conquered the last muslim state of grenada. then you have the massacre of the aztecs and incas and even later you have the massacre of all the indian tribes. I am not here to teach you history, i just want to tell you dont call a religion violent just because you saw someone who believes in the religion do something violent
God bless you .
In America, most of the Christians are Atheist and they don't believe in GOD. I know many Christians accepting their religion as FALSE one. So let us pray to Almighty ALLAH to show them(the Christians) the straight path and accept ISLAM as their true religion.
Well..well..
This can be refuted simply this way...
Ask him, "OK. Lets just say you and I worship 2 different Gods. There will be at least 2 Gods in the entire universe. God of Christians and God of Muslims. Is that what you are saying? OK. Then, these 2 Gods would have at some points in time some kind of War among them to govern bigger slice of the universe, would'nt They?
However, have you ever heard of any reports by NASA of any signs of terrible war happening in the universe that would be caused by the War of Gods? I haven't"
Of course there has never been this war.
The truth it, there is only one God. All mankind worship this same God. However, each religion interpret and explain this same God in their own way and styles. And only one explanation is the truth. Muslims definitely believe Islam's view of God is the truth. While Christians believe their view is the truth. So do other worshippers, such as Jewish, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
At the end of the day, only one view is the truth. This truth can be examined using the intellects God has given to mankind.
Use it and search for that truth.
I have convingly and intellectully found mine
Even though, the origin of Christmas may be impure, but I can't deny that christians do celebrate the birth of Jesus on thaat day. I think Christmas and the days before it are full of love to eachother and full of good human intentions. Rasoolol Allah (S) said " Hadoo, ta7aabo", means "give each other gifts and love one another". I don't even remember when was the last time I gave a muslim brother any gift!! May be the origin of Christmas was so bad and came from people that worshipped many gods, but I also believe that when islam came, there were some good things that the arabs in Jahiliya used to do that Islam kept, but changed its intention towards only Allah. One example is the "Khums" i.e. "the fifth". I don't think celebrating Christmas is evil, because the intention is to celebrate the birth of Jesus AS.
I know they think that Jesus is Son of God or part of God, but they say so because they are mistaken and they don't know the truth. Very very very different from knowing the truth and not wanting to admit it because of pride or afraid to lose power or position in life or even weak to admit the truth. I believe those are the ones that Quran speaks about as " allazeena Kafaro min Ahlulkitab".
As for those who are mistaken and really don't understand the truth, it takes much much more than giving them a Quran or telling them a few verses and asking them " Now you have to believe because you heard it, now u have no excuse". I wish that only this would be considered as Dawa.It would be one of the easiest and simple responsibilities, but it is
Peace.
However, I think that your reference to Jeremiah 10:2-4 may reflect some misunderstanding, since, in my opinion, these verses are about pagan images like those mentioned Genesis 31:19 and 31:30-33 about Rachel's theft of her father's gods, and has nothing to do with "yule-trees".
Old Norse jol, Gothic jiuleis, as in "fruma Jiuleis" i.e. The holy month November = jiuleis in a fragment of an old Gothic calendar written in the same Gothic language as the famous translation by Ulfila from Greek into Gothic of the New Testament and parts of The Old Testament about 350 AD. A beautiful "Silver Manuscript" is kept at the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
The rather new tradition of jule-trees in the 19. centuray is probably a natural development of the very old idea to decorate the house with the ever-green and lovely fragrant spruce at festival and holidays in winter time, - precisely as house and home is decorated during the Islamic Eid-festival.
A burnt tvig of spruce gives a sweet fragrant incense.
Thanks again and best regards, Ole D. Rughede
Now, we must note that Moses (pbuh) and Jesus(pbuh), are not as similar as Moses (pbuh) and Muhammad (saws) are. This is because Jesus (pbuh) did not have a natural birth, a family life and a death, unlike Prophets Moses (pbuh) and Muhammad (saws). Also, Muhammad (saws) is a descendant of Ismael, he is of the Ismaelites, which are the brother-tribe of the Israelites, and this too was promised in the Original Holy Bible. Lastly, the Jews were waiting for the fulfillment of three distinct prophecies, according to the Gospel of John: 1. The coming of Christ, 2. the coming of Elijah, 3. the coming of the prophet. When Jesus (pbuh) was asked whether or not he was these things, he said "NO" to all of them.(John 1:19-21) Thus, we can conclude that the prophet being referred to was not Jesus (pbuh), but Prophet Muhammad (saws). Earlier, in Deuteronomy, we see that God promises to hold to account anyone who does not listen to the words spoken by the Prophet, i.e. Muhammad (saws). Thus, anyone who believes in the Bible, must, by simple logical deduction alone, believe in Muhammad (saws), and they must also believe that Jesus (pbuh) was not "the son of God", he was a messenger of God. Again, why would God need a "son" (Nauzubillah) to carry out his mission, if he had so many prophets to do this? God has no relatives, nor family...He is ONE, ALONE, and He is Our Creator and Master, to whom we must all return, one day. God does not need us, rather, it is US that needs Him.
Thank you.
Those who follow any religion other than Islam, Allah himself condemns.
Additionally, Allah is above that which they associate him with. Most Christians are those whom Allah calls the hyprocrites, the munafiqeen. Allah says the unbelievers are worst than animals (surah 8)
Muslims should not condone anti Islamic holidays in any way, shape or form. If Rasulallah (s.a.w.) did not celebrate Christmas, if the sahabah (r.a.) did not celebrate Christmas, if the tabieen did not celebrate Christmas how can we as Muslims write or say that Christians who celebrate Christmas should not be talked about. Allah is an nafi. His religion, al-Islam is enough for the people. Our religion demands that we speak out against the wrongdoers unless we be destroyed due to their wrong doing.
May Allah guide the Muslims. Ameen.
May He help the Muslims to realize the way of His last prophet is the best way. Ameen.
May He help us to fight against the celebrating of any belief against Islam. Ameen.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity for enlightning you omn this matter, and pease be upon you.
With regards to your comment about Islam having come 600 years after Christianity, well, Allah has sent messengers to people of different times with guidance to the Righteous path. And that Guidance has been the same irrespective of time and that is, 'Worshipping One God and not associating any partners with Him'.
This is the message that was conveyed to people of different times by the Messengers like Prophet Abraham, Prophet Moses, Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon them all) and the final Prophet, Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him). So, the essence of the message is the same where as the name is different. While all the messengers before Prophet Muhammed (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) were sent to their own people, Muhammed (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) was sent as a Guidance and Mercy for all mankind. He is the seal of the Prophets and no prophet is going to come after him to warn the people as he's the last prophet before the Judgement day.
Islam is 'Total Submission' to Allah, and Belief in all the Messengers sent by Allah to people of all times and belief in all the books revealed to all the Prophets. Please look at Muslims and Islam with a Fairmindedness and you should be able to see that it is only Muslims who acknowledge the Original Christianity and the Original Judaism where as the Christians and the Jews openly deny Islam.
Tell me by God, If you say that God sent down His son to be crucified to atone for the sins of the people alive at his time and afterwards, what about those who had come before and died as sinners before the time of Christ, and had no opportunity to know about him and believe in the Crucifixion so that their sins might be forgiven?" Ponder over it.
"You cannot blame the entire community if a handful of bad folks do anything wrong."
Your comment about Islam being a Violent religion is unjustified. Those are the ignorant lot who just take direct verses from the Quran about violence, ignoring the context they were revealed in and the preceding and succeeding verses.
Islam does not advocate Violence at any cost. Muslims are encouraged in Islam to fight those who attack them or their religion unjustly. Muslims are exhorted to fight the oppression.
Neither the Quran nor any other Divine book tells how to make a bomb. Don't be ignorant and get your facts first before spitting your venom against Islam and Muslims.
Don't you see that it is Islam that approves the Original Torah and the Original Bible while it is people like you who continue to deny the Quran and the Prophet Muhammed (Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him).
Please remove the blanket of Hatred against Islam from your eyes and you should see the true light of Guidance. May Allah guide you to the right path! Amen.
Noah: getting drunk and naked in front of his sons. See Genesis 9: 20-24.
Solomon: worshiping false gods, to please his large harem. See 1 Kings 11: 9-10.
David: committing adultery. See 2 Samuel 11:4-5.
Lot: committing incest with his two daughters. See Genesis 19: 31-36. then in the quran God said"Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam)." (quran 2:136)
dear lucas thanks for visiting muslim website and may God bless all of us.
Does God (Allah) need a son to carry out his mission? Adam, and Abraham and Moses (may peace be upon them), before him were not sons. Yet, they had the same message as Jesus and Mohammad (may peace be upon them). None of them said I am God, but they all said God's good words. No lying, no stealing, no adultery, no fornication. Only caring for orphans, the weak, the poor etc. And lead the nations of their times with examples. All monotheistic religions truly praise GOD who doesn't need mans form. They all preach peace. Man has his self-serving motives to change interpretations, cause differences and hence rifts. How could Jesus, may peace be upon him, create the heaven, earth, and all creation? Who will determine salvation Allah, the almighty, or Jesus, may peace be upon him? Who is Jesus,may peace be upon him, answerable to? Why does he have to die for others' sins, if you give him credit of being a god, which he never professed to? Why would God have to "forsake" him for a bunch of ordinary people like us. The fact is we all stand together. Accountable for our own souls and deeds. Allah almighty is the greatest judge of all and doesn't need sons for anything. Not to create the earth, not to forgive the errors commited by those whom He created. He just did us a favor by sending us messengers to warn us of our own ill capabilities and to shape up by living a truly righteous and humble life. By caring and loving one another, rather than dividing and fighting, which the devil sits back and enjoys seeing. Ask Allah to forgive us all. And ask HIM to enter us all into HIS heaven by praising HIM, and giving respect to all those noble well meaning, self-sacrificing messengers of HIS. Truth is no one knows whom Allah will forgive and whom He will punish. So we need to submit to HIM. Peace.
"Islam protects the right of Non-Muslims, who are not belligerent to the Muslims or the Islamic way of life. The Qur'an admonishes Muslims to be equitable and charitable to non-Muslims, especially the covenanted people of the Book; Jews and Christians. The Qur'an says; "Allah forbids you not, to be kind and just to those who do not fight you for your Religion nor drive you out of your homes. Verily! Allah Love those who are just." (Qur'an 60:8). Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: (Whoever hurts a dhimi (a Jew or a Christian) he hurts me and who hurts me he hurts Allah). Islam allows Muslim men to marry Jewish and Christian women. They confide in them, trust them and have their children from them. It was narrated that Safiah the wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and daughter of a Jewish chief came to the Prophet complaining that the Muslim women tease her that she is a Jew. The Prophet said to her; if they tease you next time tell them, that your father is Moses, your uncle is Aaron and your husband is Muhammad. Allah (swt) told Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Qur'an, to exonerate a Jew who was falsely accused by some Muslims of stealing.
Islam allows Muslims to eat the (not forbidden) food of Jews and Christians, visit their sick people and attend their funerals and meetings. Islam protects the houses of worship of Jews and Christians. The Khalifah Umer ibn Al-Khatab (may Allah be pleased with him) got down on his knees and cleaned a neglected Church in Jerusalem. When it became time to pray, Umer refused to pray in the Church for fear that Muslims might take it over and convert it into a Mosque, thus depriving the Christians from the use of their house of worship. Umer prayed outside the Church and on that site a mosque, named Umer Mosque was built opposite to the Church. Thus, demonstrating respect and tolerance of Islam toward other religions."
WAllah oAlam
(http://www.idrismosque.com/islamandmuslim.html)
And may Allah's (i.e., God's) peace be upon you, especially in the hereafter.
The New York-based HRW said in a report released on December 12, that more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians were killed or wounded by the coalition's use of only one type of weapon, 13,000 cluster munitions, containing nearly two million sub-munitions". Please make comments which make some sence.
thank you for letting us readers correct your misunderstanding of the islamic religion.
I am of the opinion that after knowing what sorround the so callled xmas, there is need for enlightement as to what to do and what not to do for a muslim durring this period. This will allow us in a mixed society guide against anything that can easily put us in conflictwith our believe.
Thanks.
NB: please, kindly enghlight me whether Sadam Hussein's captureis an islamic issue. If yes why? And if not why not?
Maasalama
I do agree, that this type of article is good for the dialouge between Christians and Muslims. I understand because of evolving culture, the people of Western Christianity not only equate the celebratory status of Christmas but also equate this joyus event with "Santa Claus" with gift giving. I believe that Christians must understand that through in depth studying it is impossible to know the birth of Christ if you are going on a Biblical standpoint, because the Bible doesn't give references to date. Rather, Christians I'm sure go off from the message of Jesus.
But I think predominantly Christians should go off of the belief that links all believers in the Creator together which is, "la ilaha illAllah" "There is no god except GOD."
I am a theology graduate, and a religious studies teacher in the UK, and I have to admit that there were a few nuggets of information that were new to me here (the extent of the pagan associations of 25th December). So I wish to pay thanks to the author just for that.
As to the question of religious pluralism raised in another comment, I understand very well her discomfort. However, as a Christian that considers himself in a loose sense a Muslim, insofar as I seek to submit to Allah (not always well), I feel that we all need to be open to the possibility that Allah is present in places that we might not have anticipated. That is not to say that we should agree carelessly with people - there might be much to disagree with. But insofar as a faith recognises one true God, and the place of humanity before him, we might surmise that Allah might indeed be present, if not fully understood. Maybe here we are called to draw increased attention to the fullness of God, but at the same time to be patient and willing to enter into dialogue and ultimately to work together for a world where religious strife is less prevelant, if not eliminated.
Once again, thank you to the author and to Islamicity for posting the article.
Secondly, to the Brother who wants to split hairs on what the Prophet's real name is....he should consider the fact that Jesus or Isa was of Hebrew descent and would have been given a Hebrew name...not Arabic....and therefore if the Hellenized name of Jesus is considered wrong, so too should the Arabic use of the name Isa or Ishya be frowned upon.
We all know that Al Qur'an is the words of Allah. None of ayats in the Qur'an mention or name Jesus. SO THERE IS NO JESUS IN AL QUR'AN. The only name found/stated is Isya, Almasih, or Isya the son of Marryam. If Jesus is insisted in Qur'an, do you find any Jesus in arabic characters, as the characters used in the Qur'an, the characters representing the words of Allah?
If we Muslim believe in Qur'an as the words of Allah, why not use the name mentioned by Allah to describe the sone of Marryam? Why changing the name of Isya a.s to Jesus? Of course we have to question who Jesus is. Isn't that abusing the real name of the son of Marryam?