Christians – Questions Answered
Why do Muslims deny the divinity of Jesus?
Belief in Allah, The Creator, involves
- recognizing only ONE Creator and Lord of all that exists,
- singling The Creator out Alone for worship and joining nothing with him in any capacity in either prayer, supplication or adoration,
- believing in His Absolute Perfection and Singularity in His Names and Attributes and that there is nothing similar to Him in any way.
In Islam, unity in the belief of Allah is the major aspect of both belief and worship. With this foundation of faith, there is no room for Jesus, nor any other divinity in the worship of Allah.
Furthermore, Jesus never claimed any divinity for himself. He was a human being whom God chose to be His messenger to people. On the Last Day, God will ask Jesus if he had instructed people to consider him as divine:
And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, ‘O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people: Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?’ He will say, ‘Exalted are You! It was not for me to say what I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen. I said not to them except what You commanded me – to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness. [Al-Ma’idah 5:116-117]
Why don’t Muslims accept Jesus’ death and resurrection?
Without the doctrine of “original sin”, there is no reason for a “divine death” or “divine sacrifice”. These concepts do not have their origins in the message preached by Jesus, nor are they found in any scriptures from any other messenger of God. If this doctrine were central to man’s salvation, it would have been what every message was about ever since Adam came to live on earth and with every single messenger of God since the beginning of time. It would actually make more sense for Jesus to have come closer to the beginning than the end of the prophethood since his death and resurrection would be the hinge to attaining heaven. However, this is actually a sign that this ideology is a man-made creation and not revelation.
Muslims DO accept the doctrine of the ascension into the skies and the return of Jesus in the end of time to conquer the Dajjal [Anti-Christ], and establish a kingdom of justice on earth.
What is Islamic belief about Jesus and Mary?
As for Mary: Muslims must believe that she conceived Jesus without the agency of any man and his conception was a miracle of God and a sign to mankind.
As for Jesus: Muslims believe his conception was a miracle and his mother a virgin, he was given many miracles as a sign of his prophet-hood, he was given not only a message to deliver to the people but a book / law for them (hence he is a messenger and not just a prophet), he is one of the major messengers of Allah.
He did not die nor was crucified, but it was made to appear so to the masses who wanted to crucify him and he was raised into the skies alive and will return at the end of time. He will fight the Dajjal (Anti-Christ) and defeat him and establish a kingdom of justice on earth. This actually is in line with Biblical scripture that for every soul is but one death. Had he died on the cross, he would not die then at the end of time.
REFERENCES FROM THE BIBLE:
- Hebrews 9:27 ESV And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
Why are Muslims and Jews such bitter enemies?
This is actually a modern issue centered around the 20th century politics rather than an historical fact that was established since the beginnings of Islam. There have been times where there were conflicts between Jews and Muslims just as there were times when there were conflicts between Jews and Christians, Romans, etc. throughout history. However, any cursory study of the history of Jewish / Islamic relations shows more of a relationship of tolerance and cohabitation than war. There were times in history when there were conflicts between Muslims and Christians (Crusades) that the Jews actually would move and follow and live with the Muslims because they enjoyed security that they did not enjoy from the Christian crusaders.
Therefore, a thorough study of modern 20th century history can outline the origins and reasons for the current state of relations in the ME.
A good resource for studying this topic is: Blissful Years of The Jews in The Ottoman State
