The Muslim View of Jesus Christ

One of the fastest growing religions in the world today is Islam. The outburst of curiosity of the teachings of this religious system especially in our North American society has grown enormously since the events of 9/11. There are many different means by which we can approach the religion and there are volumes of literature, audio commentaries and good websites[1] for information on this rapidly emerging faith. I would like to concentrate my writing on how different the view of the Lord Jesus Christ is in the mindset of a Muslim in comparison to an orthodox biblical Christian

Let us begin by stating that the Islamic Belief holds Jesus Christ in a much different light then the Holy Scriptures. In the Qur'an the Islamic Scripture we can read verses such as:

Surah 19:30 "He [Jesus] said: Verily! I am a slave of Allah, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet;" (From the Qur'an)

When speaking to a Muslim about who Jesus Christ is, the outset must be to treat them like many other non-Christian groups and ensure that the definition of this precious name is consistent. As we have mentioned when a Muslim uses the term “Jesus” he has a very different description than the Christian does. Let us look at one example in the term Messiah. You can see the misunderstanding of the word, by their usage of it below:

Surah 5:75 The Messiah [Jesus], son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger; many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother [Mary] was truthful, a Beleiver. They both used to eat food (as any other human being, while Allah does not eat). Look how We make the Signs clear to them, yet look how they are deluded away (from the truth).(From the Qur'an)

A portion of that particular chapter is speaking of the false belief of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. Muhammad has instructed people who believed that Allah is not the true God to repent and turn to Him. As we continue through the study of who Muslims think Jesus Christ is one will quickly realize that the Christ of Christianity and the Christ of Islam is very different! The question we will attempt to answer is:  which is the real one? To help us better understand their views, this article has been broken up into sections. The first section is going to be focused upon the Lord Jesus' virgin birth.

JESUS CHRIST'S VIRGIN BIRTH

There are many websites and writings available that attempt to provide substantiation that Christianity and Islam agree on the Virgin Birth of Christ. If we didn’t exam things any further and based our evidence on the quote from the Qu’ran below we could argue that they do believe in the Virgin Birth of Christ in the same fashion as Christians.

Surah 3:47 She said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me." He said: "So (it will be) for Allah creates what He wills. When He has decreed something, He says to it only: "Be!" and it is. (From the Qur'an)

Before we can affirm such a statement however we must take a closer look at it though from Muslim Theologians perspective since it seems to paint a different picture. In David Goldmann's book “Islam and the Bible”, he claims that Muslim Theologian Zamakhsari teaches that the way Mary conceived was, not completely explainable and miraculous in that “...the angel Gabriel blew up her garment.”  To the Christian ear this almost sounds blasphemous and rightfully so. It is very clear that such a view is completely contrary to the record of the Bible.

The Holy Bible however would agree with Surah 3:47 in more then one place. For instance one example that might be provided is in Isaiah chapter 7.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

If you take into consideration the entire view of the Islamic belief concerning the Virgin Birth of Christ, and the actions of Gabriel, you will quickly see that it differs from the Biblical view of the Virgin birth, (see verse below)

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

We must return to our question: Which one is the real one? We believe the Bible on this topic since we feel it is much more trustworthy for a number of reasons. Two of these reasons are simply that Christ is the subject and focus of the Inspired Bible, you can see this in just a small amount of prophecies about Christ, starting from the very beginning of the Inspired Writings:

After Christ’s death and resurrection, the focus is again on Him, with the Christian’s waiting for His return (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Secondly the Biblical documents concerning the things of Christ are much closer to the actual events than the writings of Muhammad. Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. in Mecca; and his writings weren’t collected together until after his death around 632 A.D.  For the New Testament from the 2^nd to the 15^th century there are in existence today approximately 5,000 partial or complete Greek  manuscripts. Not only that, but before Muhammad was even born we can take 7 authors[2], copy their personal writings and have almost the entire New Testament copied from their writings.

THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

One of the most significant items that divide the Christian/ Islamic viewpoints on Jesus Christ is on whether or not the Lord Jesus was God. The Muslim is very vocal on this topic and will happily tell you that Jesus Christ was not and is not God, period! They consider a person who thinks such things to be deluded and to be a blasphemer. The Qu’ran states:

Surah 9:30. And the Jews say: "Ezra is the son of Allah," and the Christians say: "the Messiah is the son of Allah." That is a saying from their mouths. They imitate the saying of the disbelievers of old. Allah's Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth! (From the Qur'an)

Surah 5: 117. "Never did I (Jesus) say to them aught except what You (Allah) did command me to say: 'Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them, but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are a Witness to all things. (This is a great admonition and warning to the Christians of the whole world).

The purpose of this article is to not go into full detail on the defense of the deity of Christ since they simply use bad Jehovah’s Witnesses arguments but we'll briefly look at the subject. Some of the biggest obstacles for the Muslim to understand the teaching of the deity of Christ is their misunderstanding of the Trinity, their misuse of the word “Messiah” and their improper understanding of the term “Son of God”. The term “Son of God” makes them suspect that somehow God would have had to have had sexual relations with Mary to bear the Lord Jesus.

In fact though the ancients used the term to mean that someone was “of the order of”.  It is used in  1 Kings 20:35 when speaking of the sons of the prophets, means the order of the prophets. Or in Nehemiah 12:28 when it speaks of the sons of the singers, it’s the order of singers. They are singers, and one is as much a singer as the other. The same comes to the use of the Son of God. It shows that Christ is on the same level with God the Father. The Ancient Orients and Semitics used the term to mean that someone was the same in nature and equal in being, hence the reason He was charged for blasphemy. He in calling Himself the Son of God, made himself equal with God. [3]

John 19:7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God. (references: Leviticus. 24:16, Matthew 26:64,65)

JESUS CHRIST'S DEATH

Another aspect of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that differs between Muslims and Christian thought is the way they view the death of Christ. The Muslim view of the death of Christ is drastically different that what is told by the eye witness accounts in the gospels. There are some different interpretations by the Muslims on what happened to Christ at Calvary but their common interpretation is to say that Christ didn't really die by crucifixion but that it only appeared that way. Once again, we read from the Qu’ran:

Surah 4:157. And because of their saying (in sarcastic boast), "We killed Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Jesus was put over another man, and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they did not kill him

 The problem with the Islamic view is, as mentioned earlier, the Christian message has eyewitnesses that give much different accounts of the event, then what the Qur’an proclaims. There’s also non-biblical writings closer to the time as well that speaks about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Luke 23:33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

Judas becomes Jesus?

Some Muslim scholars claim that tradition teaches that Barabbas was crucified as well even though the Inspired scriptures of the Holy Bible claims he was set free. Abdiyah Akbar, Abdul-Haqq in his book “Sharing your Faith with a Muslim” states that some Muslims believe that Allah made Judas look like Jesus and that Allah took Jesus straight up to heaven. The issue with that is the closer of the documents claims that Judas went out and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5).[4] 

Luke 24?

Larry A. Poston and Carl F., Jr. Ellis in their book “The Changing Face of Islam in America on page 188 claim that if a Muslim is presented with a verse such as Luke 24:39 about Christ showing the disciples His hands and feet; the Muslim's answer is that Jesus was trying to escape before the officials realized that they had arrested the wrong person.

The problem with this is that in the chapter the disciples began explaining to Him before they realized who He was about the death of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:19-24). After listening to them, Christ told them they were foolish in that it was necessary for Him to suffer those things (Luke 24:25). The generic Muslim response would be to shrug off any scripture that would conflict with what they believe and say it was changed by Christ's followers afterwards. An accusation that falls apart under examination.[5]

Christ could speak of His own death and the purpose of it to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. and that it was much more important then simply coming as a prophet, but Christ came to save His people from their sins and from hell.

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

CHRIST'S LIFE AFTER CALVARY

Another point of contention that is certainly consistent with their denial that the Lord Jesus even gave up the ghost is their denial of the resurrection! As mentioned above the Muslim doesn't believe that Christ even died. Also, in the book “Sharing your faith with a Muslim”, the author claims that some hold to the idea that Allah took Jesus directly to heaven as we have already seen but what is the result of such a view?

They do not believe that there was any time period after Christ's death and resurrection where Christ taught his disciples.  They do believe He will return to defeat the Masih ad-Dajjal (the Anti-Christ) and then He will die. (Taken from the Encyclopedia of Islam)

Christ’s activities after the resurrection are very important because during this time, He gave the disciples the great commission to spread the gospel, and for the reason found in 1 Corinthians 15 as well, which is quoted below.

1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

1Co 15:15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

1Co 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

1Co 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

1Co 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

CONCLUSION

Basing the evidence off historical documentation and eye witness testimony, the Qur'an is seriously lacking on the part of who Salvation is through and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John 14:28

There are many other topics that could be brought up concerning this topic, and perhaps in later writings I will do that. The Muslims, like many other groups generally continue to “play the same song” when attempting to refute the deity of Christ. A common verse they like to raise is one that the Jehovah’s Witness like to use too:

Joh 14:28  You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Context is key to understand this passage. The context is not about Christ’s nature, but about his position while on earth. The Father was greater in position.

“(Christ) is equal to the Father as touching his Godhood and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood”[6]

Mark 14:50

The Muslim claims, based off this verse that there actually were not any eyewitnesses to Christ’s crucifixion.

Mar 14:50  And they all left him and fled.

Using this verse they claim that the Christian has no evidence for the actual crucifixion of Christ, because no one was there. Yet if you read further it would seem to indicate otherwise:

Mar 14:54  And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

It’s also obvious from John 19:25-27, that there were witnesses to Christ’s crucifixion.

Any attempts against the deity of Jesus Christ and the validity of the Bible can not hold their own weight. The Muslims’ thoughts on who Jesus Christ is, is a prime example of what an empty, misplaced faith is. We love the Muslim people, but pray that they will realize who the real Jesus is, and trust Him for Salvation.

John 20:31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.