Who is Jesus?

Who Is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? Is he as the Christian says God, and the son of God? Or is Jesus as the Muslim says, a mighty messenger and prophet of God, sent unto the children of Israel, the messiah, born of a miracle virgin birth who did mighty miracles among his people.

The Christian for the most part will agree with the Muslim position, the only main difference between the two is that Muslims do not believe Jesus is God, nor the begotten son of God.

Now let us get one thing out of the way, the term son of God, in general Muslims have no problem with the term son of God as the Jews used to use it, to the Jew the term son of God simply meant a servant of God, the son of God never was divine or meant God. So in this sense when Jesus is called the son of God the Muslims have no problems. What the Muslims do have a problem with is the term BEGOTTEN son of God, we believe there is no such thing as the God's true word the Quran tells us Allah begets not nor is he begotten:

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YUSUFALI: He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

Now as I said, Christians agree on most of what the Muslims say on Jesus, they only go a step further saying Jesus is God. Off course we also disagree on the crucifixion and resurrection, but that is a topic for another day, right now we want to establish who is Jesus, God, or prophet Messiah only?

Let us first show what the Quran says about Jesus:

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YUSUFALI: Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah;

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YUSUFALI: "He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. And he shall be (of the company) of the righteous."

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YUSUFALI: She said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man hath touched me?" He said: "Even so: Allah createth what He willeth: When He hath decreed a plan, He but saith to it, 'Be,' and it is!

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YUSUFALI: "And Allah will teach him the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel,

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YUSUFALI: "And (appoint him) a messenger to the Children of Israel, (with this message): "'I have come to you, with a Sign from your Lord, in that I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by Allah's leave: And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah's leave; and I declare to you what ye eat, and what ye store in your houses. Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe;

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YUSUFALI: "'(I have come to you), to attest the Law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was (Before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me.

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YUSUFALI: "'It is Allah Who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is a Way that is straight.'"

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YUSUFALI: When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: "Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah?" Said the disciples: "We are Allah's helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.

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YUSUFALI: "Our Lord! we believe in what Thou hast revealed, and we follow the Messenger; then write us down among those who bear witness."

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YUSUFALI: And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.

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YUSUFALI: Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.

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YUSUFALI: "As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help."

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YUSUFALI: "As to those who believe and work righteousness, Allah will pay them (in full) their reward; but Allah loveth not those who do wrong."

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YUSUFALI: "This is what we rehearse unto thee of the Signs and the Message of Wisdom."

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YUSUFALI: The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.

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YUSUFALI: The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who doubt.

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YUSUFALI: If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge Hath come to thee, say: "Come! let us gather together,- our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!"

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YUSUFALI: This is the true account: There is no god except Allah; and Allah-He is indeed the Exalted in Power, the Wise.

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YUSUFALI: But if they turn back, Allah hath full knowledge of those who do mischief.

This is the basic message of Jesus in Islam, he is not God, but a prophet of God sent unto the children of Israel.

When we turn to the Bible we find the same thing, we find nothing about divinity of Jesus or him being God.

We find out that he sent unto the lost sheep of Israel, and did mighty miracles by Gods help and permission, and that he also preached about the one and true God. Here are the relevant passages:

Mat 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

John 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

John 17:6-8: 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. ( This without a doubt is the shahada! I bear witness that there is only one God and that Jesus is his messenger, this is the shahada of the time back then.)

So as you can see, the Bible shows Jesus being sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and that he did mighty miracles by God's permission, God gave him the miracles and so on. We also see Jesus came to do the will of his Father, and teach the doctrine of his Father, which is to worship one God alone. All of those passages I just quoted from the Bible affirm that Jesus was divine, and that the Quran has no errors regarding Jesus.

In fact Jesus never saw himself as God, it does not get any more clearer than this:

Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments

Jesus here denies that he is good in the sense that God is good which is perfect.

So as we can see, Jesus was a prophet, the messiah, not God, nor ever claimed to be God, just as the Quran tells us.

I could go into much more detail, but why waste so much time, bring 100 different verses, and running around when you can make a short simple study as this?

Jesus is not God, he is a prophet.