Knowledge Every Muslim Should Know (Book One)

Explanation to a Christian: Jesus, Sects, and Polygyny

EXPLANATION TO A CHRISTIAN: JESUS, SECTS, AND POLYGYNY

Jesus

Allah often mentions the Messiah Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) in His Book the Qur’aan for a number of reasons, including the following: 

1. He is one of His Prophets, indeed he is one of the Messengers of strong will whom He sent to His creation and His slaves. It is obligatory to believe in him as in all the other Prophets, as enjoined by Allah in the verse (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us and that which has been sent down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma’eel (Ishmael), Ishaaq (Isaac), Ya’qoob (Jacob), and to Al-Asbaat [the offspring of the twelve sons of Ya’qoob (Jacob)], and that which has been given to Moosa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus), and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam).”[al-Baqarah 2:136] 

2. The first people whom we should be concerned about when calling others to Islam are the People of the Book, i.e., the Jews and the Christians, because they are the closest of later nations to whom the later Messengers were sent. Both the Jews and the Christians knew of the coming of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his attributes were written in their books, the Tawraat (Torah) and Injeel (Gospel). So they should not deny what they find in their books and they should hasten to believe in him, because they already believe in the Messengers who came before him, unlike other nations who worshipped idols. Because they did not believe in the Last Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as they were enjoined to do, they had to be refuted and shown how they had distorted the message of divine Oneness (tawheed). This is why they are frequently mentioned in the verses of the Qur’aan. 

3. Tawheed (the Oneness of God) is the basic principle upon which everything else, both religious and worldly affairs, is to be built; through tawheed, people will be saved from Hell and admitted to Paradise. This means affirming that Allah is One. We see that the Jews and Christians differed concerning Isa ibn Maryam. The Jews said that he was a charlatan who told lies about God, so he had to be killed. The Christians differed from them greatly; some of them said that he was God, and some of them said that he was the son of God, but was one with Him in the Trinity, so that outwardly he appeared to be the son of God but he was in fact God. And some of them said that he was the third person of the Trinity which is a rejection of tawheed. Others said that he was a Messenger from God and was human like the rest of mankind, but that Allah singled him out to perform miracles in order to establish proof against people. The last group are the ones who were right. So it was essential to explain the matter and describe Isa in befitting terms. As with all the other Prophets and Messengers, it is not inappropriate to say that he was a human being, created from clay, whom Allah chose from among all of mankind to be created without a father, as a manifestation of the power of Allah to create a man outside the usual means. The likeness of Isa before Allah is like Adam, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Verily, the likeness of Isa (Jesus) before Allah is the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then (He) said to him: ‘Be!’ — and he was.” [Al-Imran 3:59] 

This is the correct belief concerning the creation of the Prophet of Allah Isa, which was a miracle for all the people to see. 

But the miracle of Adam’s creation is greater. For Isa (peace be upon him) was created without a father, but Adam was created without a father or a mother, and this is more expressive of the power of Allah to create; it is more miraculous than the creation of Isa (peace be upon him). For all these reasons and others, it was essential to explain the issue of Isa (peace be upon him) and put matters straight.