Responses to Jamal Badawi's "Radio Al-Islam Channel RA 200"

Jesus in Islam IV : His Nature and Mission


Introduction

In this segment, Dr. Badawi repeats several old, and incorrect arguments, such as the Isma doctrine. He proceeds to attempt to downplay the significance of Jesus [since he considers Muhammad the final and greatest “Prophet”], while at the same time, citing passages from the Qur’an in which Jesus performed miracles - keep in mind that Muhammad did not give any signs at all.

Welcome to another episode of Islam in focus today we have our 4th program on Jesus beloved messenger of Allah to date we will be discussing the nature of Jesus and his mission. I'm your host Hamad Rashid and I have joining me on the program as usual Dr. Jamal Badawi.

Host: I wonder if I could ask you to very quickly highlight points out that we touched on in our last program, concerning this topic.

Jamal Badawi: Dealing with the nature of Jesus we talked of the miracle of Jesus is speaking as an infant that is not in the New Testament but is in the Qur'an we also discussed the notion that since because Jesus did not have a physical father, does that mean he's the be gotten son of God and we discussed again that this has no such implication we made the comparison of Adam who was created from neither father nor mother we also discussed a little bit about the unique birth of Jesus the Virgin birth why it is unique and that other prophets had other unique miracles as well we also discussed the meaning of the term word of Allah or spirit proceeding from Allah or the spirit from Allah to describe Jesus in the Qur'an and we indicated can decided that neither of these things has anything to do with attributing divinity to him in, and finally we tried to comment on the mistaken notion that Qur'an only condemns the ideas that Christians consider to be heretical such as believing in Mary as a goddess herself or believing that Jesus and the father are the same person not too different persons in the triune Godhead. We indicated that these are all that these are all forms I should say any forms of the deification of Jesus has been the negated in the Qur'an. it includes everything and I would like to quote one particular verse the deals for the Trinity.

The problem here is that the Qur'an clearly misrepresents orthodox Christian beliefs, all of which existed both long before and during the time of Muhammad. The notion that Christians believed Mary was equal to God, as well as other inaccuracies in the Qur'an (ie that Ezra was considered to be the Son of God by the Jews) demostrates Muhammad's ignorance of orthodox Christian and Jewish teachings. These passages are overwhelming evidence that the Qur'an is not from an all-knowing God, but is the product of humans with imperfect information and deficient knowledge. The possibility that a heretical group, which regarded Mary as divine, may have existed, and had influence on Muhammad's thinking, is further evidence of the Qur'an's human origins and does not excuse the Qur'an from this grossly inaccurate statement.

Host: Because of the particular importance of the subjects I would like you to expand and comment a lot more about it is any additional corroborating evidence from the Qur'an to explain which you just explained in terms of the humanity of Jesus.

Jamal Badawi: Well in several places in the Qur'an, he is described as a messenger and prophet of Allah and you cannot say that at the same time he is God incarnate, it does not go together. For example in Sura 3:49 it says an and appoint him a couple of how It says and appoint him Jesus and apostle a messenger to the children of Israel with the message that I've come to you with the signs from your Lord.

The Sura says [Yusuf Ali]:

"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;

Apparently, Muhammad copied this story from the Apocryphal "An Arabic Infancy Gospel", verse 46:

Again, on another day, the Lord Jesus was with the boys at a stream of water, and they had again made little fish-ponds. And the Lord Jesus had made twelve sparrows, and had arranged them round His fish-pond, three on each side. And it was the Sabbath-day. Wherefore a Jew, the son of Hanan, coming up, and seeing them thus engaged, said in anger and great indignation: Do you make figures of clay on the Sabbath-day? And he ran quickly, and destroyed their fish-ponds. But when the Lord Jesus clapped His hands over the sparrows which He had made, they flew away chirping.

Muhammad, and Dr. Badawi, completely miss the significance of, and symbolism behind, this event. In this story [which has no parallel in the New Testament], Jesus, who is believed to be no more than a Prophet by Dr. Badawi, has created life - something that only God can do. Also, according the Apocryphal story, Jesus did this on the Sabbath! Working on the Sabbath is something that only God, and God alone, is permitted to do!

Also in Sura 5:75 that we quoted in the previous program which is very important also increased the son of Mary says the children of Israel were worship my lord in your Lord and do not associate others with Allah, Allah will forbid paradise to him - so the term has been used to refer to a messenger of Allah.

Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!

But, once again, the conclusion does not follow the argument! How could a man who has been born of a virgin and had the ability to create life be no more than a messenger? Had any other "messenger" been born of a virgin? Did any other "messenger" create life?

And that is found also in Sura 4:170, Sura 5:114, where he is described as Rassool a messenger another title given as nabi or prophet and that appears in Sura 19:30 and Sura 3:84, he is described in the Qur'an as Abdullah the servant of Allah which God does not serve God this is the exact term once again that is used to refer to other prophets the distinction there is in Sura 19:30 and in 43:59, so in all of these passages and many others is described as a human being is a creature of Allah - an honored creature. One of the greatest messengers of Allah but nowhere in the Qur'an do we find it any trace indicted or indicted that he endowed him with any divine attributes he is explicitly his creator another common argument that tends to support this notion that Jesus was in fact divine was that Jesus was the only sinless person and even the Qur'an acknowledges this particular fact.

Yet the Qur'an provides us with absolutely no insights into the message and mission of Jesus - in spite of the adulation that the book gives Him. Once again, I believe that when Muhammad mentioned Jesus, he was simply attempting to appeal to the Christians and give an appearance of respectability to his own teachings.

Host: What would you say about that?

Jamal Badawi: I would go farther than that not only does the Qur'an and say that he was pure, or Holy, what it does not say that he was divine and I think there is a big difference that he was holy he was sinless but even in some verses in the Qur'an he is called among those who are close to Allah. For example the description as a pure person appears in Sura 19:19 the description as a person who is close to Allah appears for example in Sura 3:45 I have no difficulty at all with the description but an Islamic terminology Islamic belief you're quoting the Qur'an so it must be explained in Islamic tradition we believe that the prophets were sinless all prophets and in a previous program we discussed in detail that the notion of the sinfulness of the prophets and the terrible things that they were accused of doing like rape and incest and getting drunk and committing adultery and getting a little confused about beliefs we refer to the quotations and the Bible and indicated that nowhere in Qur'an do we find any such a parallel Qur'an which consistently describes them all as in sinless people they are humans but they are the best model for humanity Jesus was sinless and so with other prophets according to the Qur'an according to Islamic belief according to the Qur'an. Even more the idea of sinlessness or the idea of being pure has been used in the Qur'an to refer to others then Jesus. more specifically not talking about the general concept of prophethood for example about profit John the Baptist is also described in Sura 19:13 it's a purity for us it's a puritty for humanity and person.

We also responded to this in an earlier segment. Dr. Badawi is not only taking liberties with his interpretation of the Bible, he is actually in total disagreement with the teachings of the Qur'an in this case.

Where is it indicated, in the Qur'an, that Prophets are sinless [Isma doctrine]? God chooses Prophets for his own reasons to serve His divine will. No one, other than Jesus, is without sin and all fall short of the glory of God. How sinless are the Prophets according to the Qur'an and Hadith?

Muhammad said :

"No child is born, but that, Satan touches it when it is born whereupon its starts crying loudly because of being touched by Satan, except Mary and her son" (al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p. 54). In other words, all people are born sinners except Jesus. Muhammad is also reported as saying: Every son of Adam is a sinner, and the best of sinners are those who repent constantly" (Karim's Mishkatul-Masabih, Vol. 3, p. 360). Muhammad clearly did not believe in the doctrine of Isma. What about the Prophets? What were their sins according to the Qur'an? What does the Qur'an say about the Prophets?

Adam

Sura 20:121:

"In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them: they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden: thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced."

Disobeying the commands of God is the very definition of sin! Later in this Sura, the Qur'an records an account of Adam's repentance. In spite of this repentance, the fact remains that Adam, considered the first Prophet by many Muslims, sinned against God.

Noah

Sura 11:47 tells us that :

"Noah said: "O my Lord! I do seek refuge with Thee, lest I ask Thee for that of which I have no knowledge. And unless thou forgive me and have Mercy on me, I should indeed be lost!"

Why did Noah ask God to forgive and have mercy on him if he was sinless? If Noah was without sin, what did God forgive?

Jonah

Sura 21:87 says :

"And remember Sun-nun (Jonah), when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! But he cried through the depths of darkness, "There is no god but thou: glory to thee: I was indeed wrong!"

Jonah departed from God in wrath and admitted that he "was indeed wrong"! Jonah defied the commands of God and, in this passage, admitted his sin.

Abraham

Sura 6:76-78:

When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: "This is my Lord." But when it set, He said: "I love not those that set." When he saw the moon rising in splendor, he said: "This is my Lord." But when the moon set, He said: "unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray."

Please remember that the Prophet Abraham, before God revealed Himself to him, worshiped nature!

Muhammad

Was Muhammad without sin? What does the Qur'an say about the sins of Muhammad? Sura 48:2 says:

"That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favor unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path."

Clearly, not only did Muhammad sin in the past, God knew that he would sin in the future!

Did Muhammad ever claim that he was without sin? No, in fact, Muhammad once prayed:

"So forgive the sins which I have done in the past or will do in the future, and also those (sins) which I did in secret or in public, and that which You know better than I. None has the right to be worshiped but you". (al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, p. 403)

Clearly, the doctrine of Isma has absolutely no foundations in the teachings of the Qur'an or in the words of Muhammad.

It is also interesting to note that the Qur'an calls Lot [who committed incest] a Prophet while the Bible does not.

And purity it is called purity elsewhere in the Qur'an we find a little boy in the time of the prophet Moses is described as a pure soul. that appears to have had an in sura 18:35 the Qur'an does not negate at all the possibility of purification successful if he or she is purified that's the soul in Sura 87:14 the mission of the profit Mohammed is described in Sura 2:151 to purify them as I said there is a specific reference along with the general references for example John the Baptist nobody said that John the Baptist is sinless according to the Qur'an he must be divine. All prophets are sinless.

No, none of us are without sin! Only Jesus was sinless. John the Baptist was a great man, in fact Jesus said:

I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."Luke 7:28

About being close, to Allah we find that mentioned in Qur'an also about others about profit Moses for example in Sura 19:52 that he was close to Allah. In Sura 4:141 it describes Angels as being closed to Allah I would not say that angels are divine it says that in the day of judgment there is a spring in Paradise from which those who are near to Allah will drink we find a Sura 83:28 there are numerous and numerous references, not making an exhaustive list in the Qur'an where sinlessness or purity as well as closeness to Allah has been mentioned in respect to other great human beings profits messengers and teachers and this is one of them but it is not a sign of divinity.

This is a "strawman" argument! The fact that Jesus is divine is not based solely on the fact that He was close to God, and I am not aware of any Christian who has ever made this argument.

Host: I would like to turn to examination of another area now it has to do with the mission of Jesus according to the Qur'an. could I ask you to begin by describing to whom he was sent.

Jamal Badawi: the Qur'an is quite clear on that and that is also confirmed by the sayings of prophet Mohammed let me start the second part of the sayings of the prophet. It is equated in both have support Bukhari when he indicated that every prophet before him was sent specifically to his people and he was the only one to be sent to the whole world so there's no question about that and the Qur'an consistently speaks about the prophet also even though it said of course at the beginning of his mission that you start with your family and people around you but it definitely says that his mission not the strategy with a divine plan in the message in the Qur'an we find that is for the whole world problem humanity for the worship of the one true God the culmination of missions of all the prophets before him from Adam to Jesus now the other specific reference with respect of the prophet Jesus week finding more than many cases in the Qur'an for example in Sura 3:49 it says and that is Jesus a messenger to the children of Israel specify that a messenger to the children of Israel also in Sura 61:6 it quotes Jesus as saying " children of Israel I am the messenger of God sent to you that is to you children of Israel. In Sura 5: 49 describing the succession of prophets and it says it in their footsteps that its previous prophets to said Jesus the son of Mary the law that came before that is it is confirmation that is the mission of a prophet relating specifically to the Israelites this will come to a separate program of programs the possible bridge in of the understanding of what the Qur'an says at examining what even with the New Testament says about Jesus specifically about some areas of miracles if I may at this juncture just give two or three references in New Testament that this is the way that uses about this mission example Gospel according to Matthew15:24 he says that I am set to lost sheep of the house of Israel he didn't even say that he was sent to the House of a lost sheep of Israel which would not preclude the others but I was not sent but except on to the law sheep of the house of Israel. In the same gospel in Chapter 3:6 in his instructions given to the his disciples he said it clearly the 12 went forth and he commanded them to say go not into the way of the gentiles and into any city of Samaritans enter go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that is also implied in some sense and Matthew 18:28 so it is interesting to notice there is no explicit statements by Jews during his mission in any of the three synoptic Gospels that as Matthew Mark, or Luke to indicate any universality of its mission and not has been quoted before in what we now know as the new revised standard version of the bible it has been dropped or put between brackets that many ancient documents did not include the passages that said that he should go on to the whole world or to all nation's I think that some literally translate the nation might be a reference to a nation of Israel but not really to the whole world so I think that there seems to be corroborating evidence that's the way that Jesus' mission was practically because not happened, how come? What has been quoted before in what we know as the New Revised Standard version of the Bible has been dropped, or put between brackets, in the ancient manuscripts does not include the passages which says to go out and baptize the world or all nations, I think that some translate the nation might be a reference to the nation of Israel, not to the whole world. I think that there seems to be corroborating evidence that the way of Jesus' mission, he is not responsible for what people said, but the mission was explicitly to the house of Israel. Of course that does not say the some of his teachings, moral values which he emphasized based on the Old Testament are invalid or inappropriate for us. That the people were simply saying that his mission was a preparation for the last, and of course universal Prophet who would bring everything to completion and that would be Muhammad.

Jesus said absolutely NOTHING about Muhammad! Also, Dr. Badawi's claim that Jesus came only to Israel is completely wrong and based on a distorted interpretation of the Bible. For more information on this issue, please read : Jesus, Israel, and the Gentiles - A response to the Muslim claim that Jesus was sent to the Children of Israel only .

Host: Well, that was a very helpful answer in terms of explaining the Qur'an's view of why the Prophet Jesus was sent. Could we turn now to an examine of the Qur'an's description of the mission itself of Jesus?

Jamal Badawi: In one way we can say that the mission of the Prophet Jesus was no different than the missions of any of the prophets in human history. Basically to invite mankind to the worship of Allah and to follow his guidance. For example, we find that the Qur'an in particular with respect to Jesus refers to confirmation, to confirm what remained intact of the Torah. Of course not to confirm everything since the words were ....corrupted,... it has to be what remained intact. The Qur'an mentions also that his mission is also was to remove some the restrictions that were made punishment of the Israelites.

Problems:

1. If Jesus, and His mission, "was no different than the missions of any of the prophets in human history", then why was He born of a virgin and, according to the Qur'an, assumed bodily into heaven? The Qur'an's conclusion simply does not follow the argument.

2. What did Jesus "confirm" in the Torah if the Torah was not "intact". At NO POINT did Jesus ever say that the Torah was corrupted or incomplete. If Jesus had made such a statement, His followers would have recorded it and the Jews, most likely, would have killed Him on the spot!

3. What restrictions of the Law did Jesus remove? Jesus said:

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matthew 5:18

And thirdly, also to give the glad tiding of the coming after him, the last Prophet, the Prophet Muhammad.

Why didn't the followers of Jesus record this statement?

Three very specifics that relate to Jesus, and of course I am going to get back to his mission, explain a little bit more, but in the Qur'an, Sura 3:50 it says that I have come to you [that is the Prophet Jesus], to attest or confirm the law, which was before me and to make known to you, you Israelites, part of what was before forbidden you, I have come to you with a sign, from your Lord, so fear Allah, and obey him.

Once again, why didn't the followers of Jesus record this statement?

Similarly, in Sura 61:6, again it says that Jesus cured his people I am the messenger of God who came to confirm that which was before me and give a glad tiding of a messenger to come after me, the "great one" . So these are explicit and clear in the case in the Qur'an about some of the specifics of the mission of Jesus. But as far as I indicated earlier, the broad mission of Jesus is nothing more than the same broad mission of all of the prophets before him to submit to the one true creator and sustainer of the universe, to accept him not only as the spiritual sovereign as well as the legal sovereign, to obey the teachings of the messenger, there is no way but the will of God, of course the teachings of that messenger, to explain to people that Allah has the right alone to command and forbid things, that anything that the humans have legislated should be canceled if it contradicts the teachings of Allah. So this basically the essence of the messages.

The problem with this explanation is that according to Dr. Badawi and the Qur'an, Jesus was a complete and total failure as a Prophet! Jesus came to earth [according to Dr. Badawi and the Qur'an] to preach monotheism to the monotheistic Jews, but something went wrong! The life of Jesus, as well as God making it appear that Jesus had been crucified, convinced people to deify Him! To make matters worse, God gave Jesus a book [the Injeel], and Jesus lost it! Could it be possible that Muhammad twisted the story of Jesus in order to give credibility to himself and his teachings?

But it seems sometimes that some writers and theologians depict the mission of Jesus as basically a passivist type of mission, that he was just interested in rendering unto Caesar, what is Caesar's and unto God what is Gods, which seems to me to be contradictive of what Islam says is the mission of all Prophets who acknowledge only one authority, the authority over all Caesars, that is God and he should be supreme the mission of all prophets does not make a false division between the spiritual and moral realms in life and in other socio-economic things. Or else, how could a person obey Allah, if the people have been oppressed by tyrannical powers. Yes the Bible, the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Qur'an for that matter, talks about loving your neighbor, how could you love your neighbor to implement that and have that under the system of social justice some overthrow of some tyrannical or oppressive ruler controlling the living and livelihood of the people could start being in submission to them instead of being in submission to God. I read an interesting analysis of that in Syed Maududi and there is an article based on that, it speaks of Jesus in a different light quoting from the Gospels themselves, it says that in some sense he was a revolutionary to the circumstances of his time not in the negative sense of a leftist or something, he was someone who like all other Prophets, he was interested in bringing deep rooted change to the social, economic, and political situation by preaching morality and letting ruler do what they know, the circumstances were not really conducive.

Many of the followers of Jesus believed the same thing. However, Jesus said otherwise:

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."John 18:36

For example in Matthew, chapter 2:29-30 Jesus said that one cannot have faith in the kingdom without first binding Satan, whoever is not with me is against me - at one point he expected of some type of confrontation with the oppressive powers of his time.

There is no Matthew 2:29-30, nor is the any mention of "binding Satan" in this Gospel.

In Matthew chapter 10:34-39 we find the rest of his quoted by any creature Think not that I came to bring peace, meaning rather a sword, you so?

Lets take a look at Matthew 10:32-38:

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "`a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

First, Jesus said that He brought a sword - not the sword. In other words, His teachings would turn people, who hated the truth, against those who love the truth. Second, I wonder if Dr Badawi accepts the entire passage, or simply wishes to be selective? Has any other Prophet spoken in this way?

So we have numerous places where Jesus has taken the approach of bringing change rather than imply preaching. We are all familiar with what happened when he entered the Temple, he whipped people and overturned things, the tables of the money changers.

What did Jesus say in this passage?

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" John 2:13-16

Did any other Prophet speak in this way?

Of course, as he said also in the Gospel according to Luke 15:26-53, he also invited people to make calculations and gave the example of someone building a house without an estimate, got stuck in the middle and could not finish it and just leave it as this. Why he was also calling for a calculation it is a reason why he did not carry his struggle in terms of a physical confrontation, otherwise, his follows would not run away from him or fall asleep when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane in the night when he was supposedly arrested, he said that he who has a sword to come and bring it, he who does not have a sword to sell their stuff and buy a sword. But when it was impossible to resist, he told one of his disciples who held a sword to put it back because at that time they were .... outnumbered?? This is not a common profile that is given to Jesus, the silent passivist accepting things, we find ample evidence that was not so.

Please do not distort the Bible. In Luke 22:38:

The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he replied.

Jesus and His followers were preparing to go to the garden to pray. The two swords were probably for protection against wild animals. I doubt that anyone believed that the disciples could fight off the Roman Legion with only two swords!

He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.Luke 22:36

Jesus was telling His disciples that they were going on a long mission, and that they were provided for without purse or money. They were going head on into a severe trial, therefore, their methods must be different. In other words, the purse and money will now be needed for support, as well as for the usual means of defense. However, in there is no historical record of the followers of Jesus going about as an armed group who bullied others.

Host: That is a very interesting point, we could have a program elaborating on that particular point, but I would like to turn to a discussion of some of the other miracles described in the Qur'an besides the virgin birth and the ability to speak as an infant, could you perhaps comment on that?

Jamal Badawi: There are several and surprising enough some of them are not even mentioned in the New Testament and that again confirms the previous point that there have been no way or no reason to presume that any attempt was made to belittle him or to reduce his status because these are not even in the Canonized Gospels and they are wonderful things and it shows that there is not any divinity. For example in Sura 3:49-50 : ""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; (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. "

And there is not anywhere in the Canonized Gospels where this verse is mentioned, you know like giving life to a bird of clay. It also says that I heal those who were born blind and the lepers and I bring to life the dead by Allah's command. I inform you of what you eat and what you store up in your houses. Surely there is great sign for you in all that if you have a mind to believe. In other words, I do not know what could be more explicit, in a very brief passage like that, describing about a variety of miracles, healing the sick, bringing the dead to life and even things that are not in the canonized Gospels. We find several other references for that for those who wish to check, in Sura 5:110-113, it describes again those miracles and in all cases, of course, it leaves no doubt that as he himself said, that by the power of Allah, by the leave of Allah, just like all other Prophets, they did whatever they did, not because they were divine, but because Allah has blessed them with these sign to help them make the point and bring people to the path of truth.

Once again, this story is mentioned in the Apocryphal The Infancy Gospel of Thomas and it actually undermines the Qur'an's argument that Jesus is not divine.

Host: How about revelation, was Jesus given any scriptures like some of the other Prophets?

Jamal Badawi: According to the Qur'an, yes, he was given an Injeel, which I would suspect would not be exactly equivalent to the Gospels, you might say good news but it is not the one and the same as the four Gospels. Because the four Gospels, as we all know, are biographies written, some by claimed disciples and some by people who were not even eyewitnesses of Jesus. When the Qur'an speaks about revelation it is given to Jesus in the same way that it talks about the revelation given to Moses or Muhammad. or Abraham, or David. It does not talk about something that was written many years after the end on the ministry of Jesus and his mission, so obviously it was is something different than what we find today And that term Injeel, I found according to the concordance, appears 20 times in 6 Suras and many times in the context of other holy books. Of course, where is that revelation or Injeel of Jesus is today is very difficult to say, but as we all know, there are some studies in Biblical circle concerning the synoptic Gospels and the possible sources from where these synoptic Gospels might have gotten their information, but nobody can say really for sure.

Well, what happened to the "Injeel"? Where is it? Was an all powerful God not able to protect a book? Also, we can ask where the Qur'an got its information. There are far too many errors in the Qur'an to claim that it was given to man by an all knowing God.

Host: We may not have time to explore this last question in every detail before we run out of time, but I would like to ask you about the end of the ministry of Jesus according to the Qur'an, could you comment on that? Or should we come back to that in a latter program?

Jamal Badawi: Maybe we can mention something about that from a Qur'anic perspective and then we might turn to some comparative issues there. But according to the Qur'an, it simply says that he was not the one who was killed or crucified. Perhaps I can, since there is not much time just quote a passage in the Qur'an and perhaps mention more at a latter time. In sura 4:156-162:

We will also discuss this in the later programs. It is amazing how confused Muhammad was concerning the end of the ministry of Jesus.

Host: I wished that we had more time to explore that this is an interesting point for many of our viewers.


Andrew Vargo


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