Jesus Christ, Christmas and Islam

It is Christmas in the Christian world of faith, a day when the birth of Jesus(Isa) is generally commemorated, although some Christian groups reject the celebration. We Muslims also believe in the birth of Jesus, indeed the Quran describes his birth in beautiful verses.

Jesus occupies very high position within the ranks of the Prophets and Messengers chosen and sent out for the guidance of man, inviting them to their Creator and the Lord of the heavens and the earth. He is indeed one of those five Messengers who are referred to as ‘oolul `Azm’, (Messengers endowed with firmness of resolve): those who were sent for the benefit of the wider ummah of their time to guide people.

That Jesus has no divinity, nor is the son of God, but only a Messenger like other Prophets and Messengers, is a firm teaching of Islam. He was a messenger from Allah, sent out as a Sign for the world. The Quran refutes the claim that Allah had a son in the Christian belief saying: ‘They claim: ‘The Most Compassionate Lord has taken a son to Himself. Surely you have made a monstrous statement. It is such a monstrosity that heavens might well-nigh burst forth at it, the earth might be cleaved, and the mountains fall, at their ascribing a son to the Most Compassionate Lord. It does not befit the Most Compassionate Lord that He should take a son. There is no one in the heavens and the earth but he shall come to the Most Compassionate Lord as His servant’. S19 V88-93

The Quran describes Allah with these beautiful following verses: ‘Say He is Allah, the One and Unique. Allah, who is in need of none, and of whom all are in need. He neither begot any nor was He begotten. And none is comparable to Him’. S112 V1-4

The story of the birth of Jesus is mentioned in the Quran in these following verses:

‘O Mohammad! Recite in the Book the account of Mary, when she withdrew from her people to a place towards the east. And drew a curtain, screening herself from people whereupon We sent to her Our spirit and he appeared to her as a well-shaped man. Mary exclaimed: ‘I surely take refuge from you with the Most Compassionate Lord, if you are at all God fearing. He said: ‘I am just a message-bearer of your Lord, I have come to grant you a most pure boy. Mary said: ‘how can a boy born to me when no man has even touched me, nor I have ever been unchaste?’ The angel said: ‘Thus shall it be. Your Lord says: ‘it is easy for Me; and We shall do so in order to make him a Sign for mankind and a mercy from Us. This has been decreed.

Then she conceived him and withdrew with him to a far-off place. When the birth pangs drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree she said: ‘Oh, would that I had died before this and had been all forgotten’. Thereupon, the angel below her cried out: ‘Grieve not, for your Lord has caused a stream of water to flow beneath you. Shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards yourself and fresh and ripe dates shall fall upon you. So eat and drink and cool your eyes; and if you see any person say to him: ‘verily I have vowed a fast to the Most Compassionate Lord, and so I shall not speak to anyone today’. Then she came to her people, carrying her baby. They said: ‘O Mary! You have committed a monstrous thing. O sister of Aaron! Your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman’. Thereupon, Mary pointed to the child. They exclaimed: ‘How can we speak to one who is in the cradle, a mere child?’. The child cried out: ‘verily I am Allah’s servant. He has granted me the Book and has made me a Prophet. And has blessed me wherever I might be and has enjoined upon me Prayer and  zakah as long as I live. And has made me dutiful to my mother. He has not made me oppressive, nor bereft of God’s blessings.’ Peace be upon me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I will raised up alive’. This is Jesus, the son of Mary, and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt’. S19 V16-34

Yes, Christmas is the time when masses of Christians celebrate the birth of their Christ.  But, surely, celebrating the message of the Christ should be of more importance if the wish is to please God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? Would not Christmas become even more important if questions were asked as to whether Christmas plays any truly religious role in guiding its followers in discovering and following the message brought by him?

The coming of Jesus with a Book Gospel, or what is called in the Quran ‘Injeel’, while it did not follow the same pattern as other Prophets and messengers, contained the same eternal divine message. From an Islamic teachings’ perspective, he is seen as one of the bricks that completed the building of a house; the house being the chain of the prophethood. To affirm his message the Christian hierarchy needs to emphasise the Gospel that was brought and taught by Jesus and not the different versions of so called Gospels that were written down by his disciples.

I would like here to remind everyone that despite Islam’s differences with Christianity, the Quran uses the term ‘Ahl ul kitab’ for both Jews and Christians and promotes a very respectable relationship between Christian and Muslim communities. However, the belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ by the Christian Faith and that God, or God’s son, was born on this day, is a belief with which Islam has never accepted. It is regarded, on the contrary, as the worst kind of fallacious belief that makes no sense and goes against the very foundation of ‘monotheism’, that there is only one God.

The Quran asks the Prophet to proclaim to the people: ‘Say: ‘If the Merciful One had a son, I would have been the first one to worship him’. S43 V81

 But the Merciful One has no son and the Prophet preached exactly that: God has no son but sent down Prophets and Messengers for the guidance of humanity. This message is the only logical one. For Muslims, Christmas reminds them that God sent out Jesus(Isa) as one of his Messengers, so that people may be guided by him to the way of God, as the only God worthy of worship, who has no son and no partner and that ‘He neither begot any nor was He begotten. And none is comparable to Him’.