Why am I writing this? Looking at the genocide happening to Palestinians, I wonder what we as humans are capable of. Then I wonder what kind of anger or motivation a human can have to inflict this pain on another life. It is easy to pick a side when you are a spectator to a king’s fight with peasants. The stakes for picking the peasants’ side are very high. Raising our voices has serious consequences that can impact people’s livelihoods. While there are a few brave souls on the peasants’ side who are not afraid of any consequences, most of us (I am one of them) are afraid of losing our jobs, status, being jailed, or losing our immigration and social statuses.

Among my worldly fears, I then wonder what the motivation is for the king and his supporters, including most of the countries in the West and the Islamic world, to support this fight. The first thing that comes to mind is race: maybe the motivation is based on race. But, as I wrote in my previous post, even if they are pure Arabs, most Arabs are also descendants of Prophet Abraham and, as Allah says, cousins of Jews. We know that there are all kinds of races in this region and I doubt there is a pure race (whatever “pure” means). We also know that many people in the history of the region converted to Islam. So there are many Muslim descendants of Jews.

Some other motivations come to my mind, like the Riviera project on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, natural gas reserves off the coast of Gaza, the transit route from Asia to the Mediterranean, the war economy (some people think the West needs wars to improve its economy; of course, similarly, some need the West in a war to weaken its pressure on them), etc.

Of these motivations, the most striking one seems to be a Christian belief (not a mainstream belief, but one that evangelists hold) that a greater Israel (that is going to be established on the bodies of many innocent lives) is needed for Jesus to come down to Earth so people can get salvation. From this, I want to write a Muslim perspective on the coming of Jesus (PBUH). But before doing that, I want to clarify some of the beliefs we have in Islam, especially what a prophet is in Islam and how it differs from Christianity and Judaism.

A few things I believe as a Muslim

God I believe God is the creator of everything from a simple particle to the universe. He directs everything, and nothing can happen without His permission or power. Nothing has the power to make a single movement on its own.

  • God has many names. They are all beautiful and mean good things. God does not wish for bad; He is the most perfect…

    17:111 Say, “Call upon Allāh or call upon the Most Merciful [ar-Raḥmān]. Whichever [name] you call - to Him belong the best names.” And do not recite [too] loudly in your prayer or [too] quietly but seek between that an [intermediate] way.

  • God does not look like any creatures or shapes we know. He cannot be confined to any space or any time. Therefore, He is neither inside nor outside the universe. His image cannot be comprehended, drawn, or captured by any being (including humans, Jinn, or prophets). For example, in the Quran, Allah says when He manifested Himself to the mountain, the mountain turned to dust:

    7:143 And when Moses arrived at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.” [Allāh] said, “You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.” But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, “Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first [among my people] of the believers.”

Human We Muslims believe God created humans from mud and Jinn from fire (Jinn cannot be seen, but they may manifest in different forms). He gave them free will to choose to do bad or good, unlike angels, who only follow their Creator’s orders and do good. He created us and Jinn because He wanted to be known and worshipped, and we humans, with our free will, can know Him and become closer to Him by worshipping Him.

51:56“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”

Since Allah gave humans the choice of believing or not believing, there is no forcing in this. Everybody is free to choose. The worth of a human being lies in its capability of believing in Allah by using his/her free will.

World When Allah created human souls, He asked them if they believed in Him. And all souls testified that they believe in Him. Allah then sent humans to the world through birth as babies (in Islam, we believe the soul is given to the baby on approximately the 120th day (4th month)).

The world is created as a test bed for humans (and Jinn, who were created much before humans and live much longer). Allah says He sent us down to the world to see who among us is good and who is not.

18:7 “Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed.”

29:3 “But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allāh will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars.”

How a human can know why he is created and what is good and what is bad Allah gave humans reasoning and thinking capabilities (mind, intellect, wit) along with the free will to decide what to believe and what to do. The capabilities of humans differ. Some of us are created, for example, smarter or more powerful than others. But a human mind is capable of knowing or finding that there must be a creator of this universe. This creator cannot be the things he sees, such as the sun, moon, or a particle. It cannot be a thing that changes over time: something that becomes better or worse, old or young. If there is a change for better or worse in something over time, that thing is confined by time. That thing has the possibility of being weak or more powerful, stupid or smarter, in time. That gives a possibility for that thing to be weak at some point in time and a possibility of not existing at some point. Something weak cannot be the All-Mighty God, whose power is above everything, who is the First (Al-Awwal) without beginning and the Last (Al-Akhir) without end.

After believing in an unknown being as a creator, the second question that comes to a human’s mind is what this creator wants me to do. Am I given some orders to follow? God is the most merciful, so He did not leave humans, His slaves, in limbo. He chose some among them as prophets and sent them His guide for living, informing humans how to be good and how to pass this worldly test.

Prophets Allah has sent His guidance, which ordains what to believe and what to do, many times starting from the first human and Prophet Adam (PBUH) to the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The belief part of these guidances was the same, but the “what to do” part had some differences. For instance, while some were ordered to fast from sunrise to sunset, others from sunset to sunset. For Adam’s children, who were all born as twins, it was permissible for siblings to marry as long as they were not twin siblings. Although the “what to do”s and the amount of ordained prayers were different for different prophets and their people because the times they lived in were different, they were all for bringing out the goodness in people. Allah sent many prophets (some hadith sources say around 124,000) and sent Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as the last one, who brought guidance that completes and perfects all the guidance before him.

Jesus (PBUH)

Well, it took a while to come to Prophet Jesus. Before getting to Prophet Jesus, I would like to first emphasize that there is a difference in the meaning of “Prophet” in Islam compared to Christianity and Judaism.

  • In Christianity and Judaism, prophets can say and do things from their own will which may or may not be against God’s desire. If you read the Bible, you will see that prophets get angry with God or do things without His permission. In other words, a prophet may do things that are not ordained by God.
  • In Islam,
    • although we believe prophets can do some things without a specific order from God, they do not follow their inner desires. If they make a mistake in their decisions, God corrects them. They do not commit any sin or go against God’s order. They only make small mistakes because of errors in judgement. That means everything done or said by a prophet which is not corrected by him later is confirmed by God.
    • all prophets were the best people among their people. They were the best in their deeds.
    • if you do not love every prophet and equally believe in his teachings, you cannot be a Muslim. In Islam, you have to love all prophets more than yourself.
      Do we believe in the Bible then? We believe (and it is also a historical fact) that the guidance Allah gave to Moses and later to Jesus was distorted (some new things were added, and some things were rewritten or discarded). There are parts that contain Allah’s true message, and some parts are distorted. If we hear something from the Bible, if it is not obviously goes against Islamic beliefs, we neither deny nor accept it. Because, it may be the true teaching of God or may not.

In conclusion, we as Muslims have to believe that Jesus was a perfect human being, believe all his teachings, and show the utmost respect when we call his name and the name of his mother, Mary (Maria).

Mary (PBUH)

As Muslims, we believe all mothers, wives, and daughters of prophets are our mothers. We have to show the utmost respect to them. When we talk about Eve, Hagar, Sarah, Aisha, Fatima, or Mary, peace be upon them, we call them Mother Eve, Mother Mary, etc. And we show them equally utmost respect. We believe they were also the best among people.

Mother Mary, peace be upon her, gave birth to Jesus (PBUH) without a father, and she was innocent. In the Quran, there is a whole chapter named after her (see Suratul Maryam ).

Jesus’s Miracles

In Islam, we believe all prophets showed some form of miracle by the permission of God. The miracles Jesus (PBUH) showed:

21:31 And (remember) her (Mary) who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples

2:87 “We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!”

3:46 “He will speak to the people in the cradle and in maturity and will be of the righteous.”

And many others such as healing blind, resurrecting the dead, etc.

Crucifixion in Islam

We believe Jesus was not crucified, and he is not dead! Another person (the one who informed on his whereabouts) was made to resemble him and was crucified in his place. Jesus himself was then in later time raised to the second heaven and is still alive (we believe there are seven heavens (sama), and the universe we see is the first heaven). He will come back, descend, live as a Muslim, and slay the Dajjal (Antichrist).

4:157: And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh.” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.”

4:158: Rather, Allāh raised him to Himself. And ever is Allāh Exalted in Might and Wise.

What does this all tell us?

As I wrote in my previous post, all prophets guide humans to good. If we are committing sins like murder, lying, etc., then we are not following their teachings. And we do not love them as we claim. If we love God, if we love His prophets, we have to be good in this world to pass this worldly test and earn the hereafter.