-45.jpg)
25th December enlightens up the Christian world for the celebrate the birth of a God in human flesh. The history and the Divine Scriptures have been so much twisted and modified to turn a Prophet of God into a human God, something that is against the teachings of Injeel (Bible) wherein Jesus proclaims himself as a servant of God and proclaims whatever he says has been from the Lord. Herein under are some verses from Bible that proclaim Jesus as son of God:
And when Jesus is baptized the Father speaks from heaven and says: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).
God, our Father in Heaven, loves us immensely. His greatest gift to humankind, His Son, Jesus Christ, reflects that love. John 3:16 in the Bible describes God’s love and His plan for the happiness of His children.
And this wrong perception angered the Jews who ultimately had him crucified:
“This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).
The Qur'an too mentions the miraculous birth of Prophet Eesa (Jesus, may peace be upon him) and calls him Son of Mary, for the miraculous birth of Jesus should not equate him as son of God and even make him as par with God. Instead of bowing to God for showing the people of Israel a Divine Miracle, terming a prophet into God is extremely misleading. And it is for this reason that more and more Christians are embracing Islam for Qur'an explicitly removes any misconception about the Prophet Eesa.
Before we share the verses related to birth of Prophet Eesa, let us just share another verse from Surah Maryam, in which those who say that God has had a son are warned for their blasphemous allegations:
- (19:36) (Jesus had said): "Indeed Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so serve Him alone. This is the Straight Way
- (19:88) They claim: "The Most Compassionate Lord has taken a son to Himself."
- (19:89) Surely you have made a monstrous statement.
- (19:90) It is such a monstrosity that heavens might well-nigh burst forth at it, the earth might be cleaved, and the mountains fall
- (19:91) at their ascribing a son to the Most Compassionate Lord.
- (19:92) It does not befit the Most Compassionate Lord that He should take a son.
- (19:93) There is no one in the heavens and the earth but he shall come to the Most Compassionate Lord as His servant.
Now, we share a few verses from Surah 3. Al-i'Imran (The Family of Imran), which too mention the miraculous birth of Prophet Eesa from the time angels approached Mary, mother of Jesus to give her glad tidings of a son:
اِذۡ قَالَتِ الۡمَلٰٓـئِكَةُ يٰمَرۡيَمُ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنۡهُ ۖ اسۡمُهُ الۡمَسِيۡحُ عِيۡسَى ابۡنُ مَرۡيَمَ وَجِيۡهًا فِى الدُّنۡيَا وَالۡاٰخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الۡمُقَرَّبِيۡنَۙ(3:45) And when the angels said: 'O Mary! Allah gives you the glad tidings of a command from Him: his name shall be Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary. He shall be highly honoured in this world and in the Next, and shall be one of those near stationed to Allah.
وَيُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِى الۡمَهۡدِ وَكَهۡلًا وَّمِنَ الصّٰلِحِيۡنَ(3:46) And he shall speak to men in the cradle and also later when he grows to maturity and shall indeed be among the righteous.'
قَالَتۡ رَبِّ اَنّٰى يَكُوۡنُ لِىۡ وَلَدٌ وَّلَمۡ يَمۡسَسۡنِىۡ بَشَرٌ ؕ قَالَ كَذٰلِكِ اللّٰهُ يَخۡلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ؕ اِذَا قَضٰٓى اَمۡرًا فَاِنَّمَا يَقُوۡلُ لَهٗ كُنۡ فَيَكُوۡنُ(3:47) She said: 'O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has ever touched me?' The angel answered: Thus, shall it be. Allah creates whatever He wills. When He decides something, He merely says: "Be" and it is.
وَيُعَلِّمُهُ الۡكِتٰبَ وَالۡحِكۡمَةَ وَالتَّوۡرٰٮةَ وَالۡاِنۡجِيۡلَۚ(3:48) And He will teach him the Book, the Wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel,
وَمُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيۡنَ يَدَىَّ مِنَ التَّوۡرٰٮةِ وَلِاُحِلَّ لَـكُمۡ بَعۡضَ الَّذِىۡ حُرِّمَ عَلَيۡكُمۡوَجِئۡتُكُمۡ بِاٰيَةٍ مِّنۡ رَّبِّكُمۡ فَاتَّقُوۡا اللّٰهَ وَاَطِيۡعُوۡنِ(3:50) And I have come to confirm the truth of whatever there still remains of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of the things which had been forbidden to you. have come to you with a sign from your Lord; so have fear of Allah and obey me
(Verse 47) That is, "Although no man has touched you, yet a son shall be born to you." It should be noted that the same word "kazalika, "meaning "so shall it be," had been used in response to Zacharias' prayer. It, therefore, carries the same sense here. Moreover, the whole context here corroborates the story that Mary was given the glad tidings of the birth of a son without any sexual intercourse, and the birth of Christ, in actual fact, took place in that unusual way. If a son was to be born to her in the normal known way, and if the event of the birth of Jesus had taker. place in a natural way, then the whole discourse starting from verse 33 and ending with verse 63 would become absolutely pointless. Not only that but all other references to the unusual birth of Jesus in the Qur'an would lose their significance and meaning. The Christians had made Jesus the Son of God and worthy of worship simply because of his unusual birth without a father and the Jews had accused Mary because they had witnessed that she had given birth to a child, though she was not married. Had it been otherwise, then the two groups could have been told plainly that the girl was married to such and such a man and that Jesus was from his seed. In that case, one fails to see the reason why such a long introduction and a series of arguments should have been necessary to remove all doubts about his miraculous birth. Then Jesus could have been called the son of a particular man, instead of being called "the son of Mary". The position of those people who, on the one hand, profess to believe the Holy Qur'an to be the Word of Allah and on the other hand try to prove that Jesus was born after the natural coming together of a husband and wife, really try to show that Allah is not able to express Himself as clearly as these people. (May God protect us from blasphemy!)
Muhammad Asad Explanation:
Lit., "whose name shall be 'the Anointed' (al-masih)". The designation al-masih is the Arabicized form of the Aramaic meshiha which, in turn, is derived from the Hebrew mahsiah, "the anointed" - a term frequently applied in the Bible to the Hebrew kings, whose accession to power used to be consecrated by a touch with holy oil taken from the Temple. This anointment appears to have been so important a rite among the Hebrews that the term "the anointed" became in the course of time more or less synonymous with "king". Its application to Jesus may have been due to the widespread conviction among his contemporaries (references to which are found in several places in the Synoptic Gospels) that he was descended in direct - and obviously legitimate - line from the royal House of David. (It is to be noted that this could not have related to his mother's side, because Mary belonged to the priestly class descending from Aaron, and thus to the tribe of Levi, while David descended from the tribe of Judah.) Whatever may have been the historical circumstances, it is evident that the honorific "the Anointed" was applied to Jesus in his own lifetime. In the Greek version of the Gospels - which is undoubtedly based on a now-lost Aramaic original - this designation is correctly translated as Christos (a noun derived from the Greek verb chriein, "to anoint"): and since it is in this form - "the Christ" - that the designation al-masih has achieved currency in all Western languages, I am using it throughout in my translation.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation:
These are glad tidings for Mary about the birth of a child without any role by a male. However, these glad tidings have been given by commencing them only with the word “command” so that the nature of the whole matter remains evident to her and a lady who is a virgin and an embodiment of chastity and modesty is, in the first place, even prepared to listen to what is intended to be said to her.
(His name will be Messiah) This is a title of Jesus (sws). There was a tradition among the Israelites according to which prophets and kings were declared so after a type of sacred oil was rubbed on their heads. For Jesus (sws), it was as if this declaration was made right after his birth in his cradle directly by the Almighty Himself. Thus, this title of Messiah became specific for him. In the Gospels, he is called the Messiah of God for this very reason.
(Jesus, son of Mary) Ie., he will not be the son of a father. In the opinion of Imām Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī by calling Jesus (sws) as son of Mary (sws), the Qur’ān has left no possibility for people who through weak interpretations wanted to alter its clear directives. His words are:
… If Jesus (sws) was the son of a father, then what was the hindrance for the Qur’ān to call him after his father’s name instead of calling him son of Mary (sws)? The Qur’ān could also have called him Messiah son of Joseph, but it did not. Why after all? (Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, vol. 2, 93)
(He shall be noble) The nobility mentioned is the same as the one which is mentioned earlier in relation to John (sws). Imām Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī has shed light on various aspects of this nobility thus:
… It is evident from the narration in Luke that it was at the age of twelve that Jesus (sws) gave instruction for the first time in the temple; however, even in this tender age such was the nature of the wisdom of his words, the eloquence of his speech and the grandeur of his style that the jurists, the Pharisees, the chief soothsayer (kāhin) and all the staff of the temple became dumbfounded. In utter astonishment, they would inquire after the identity of the person who would speak with such majesty as if he was speaking on behalf of God. When he started to preach in the settlements of Judea, it had a great impact all over. People would come to listen to him in multitudes. Both the jurists and the Pharisees were dumbstruck. In order to corner him and reduce his fame among the masses, they would pose different questions to him. Jesus (sws) would answer them in a few words in such a convincing manner that they would have nothing to say in return and would dare not open their mouths. Not much time elapsed before the fame of his nobility spread so much that the masses started to call him the king of Israel and would be full of praise for him. Matters reached such an extent that this issue came before the Roman authorities: Herodotus and Pilatus as a critical issue. However, they too in spite of their power and authority were awe-stricken before the greatness and fame of Jesus (sws).
The second aspect of the nobility of Jesus (sws) is that in spite of the fact that he was born without a father and in general circumstances, it cannot be imagined that a child who does not have a father seldom would be respected and honoured – the case of Jesus (sws) was just the opposite: since he was born as a result of the word kun, such was the nature of this miraculous command that from the very day he was born he was regarded as noble in the eyes of the masses to such an extent that no one was invested with it in those times. All his life he was surrounded by enemies who were after his life; however, no one could dare call him a child born out of wedlock. If a group from among the Jews were bold enough to make this allegation, it was in later times; no one had the courage to do it in his times. The glad tidings of this nobility were given to Mary (sws) together with the glad ridings of his birth for the reason that she is assured that not being born from a father will not affect the nobility of the child or that of her own.
The third aspect of this is that it negates the nonsensical incidents recorded in the Gospels that the Jews, God forbid, slapped Jesus (sws), made fun of him, abused him and spate on his face. Most of these absurd tales are incorrect, as we shall explain later. The enemies of the messengers of God do dare to disparage them and for this they are even granted an opportunity by the Almighty to some extent; however, they cannot exceed a certain limit; if a nation tries to cross it, the Almighty protects His messenger Himself and such wretched people are destroyed. (Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, vol. 2, 92)
(Surely, God alone is my Lord and yours also; hence, serve Him only. This alone is the straight path.”) The Qur’ān here has corrected the expression “my father” and “your father” which occurs at numerous places in the Gospels. This is what Jesus (sws) had actually said; however, since in Hebrew the word for father and God is the same (ie اب) and so is the word for son and servant (ie ابن), when the Christians invented the belief of divinity of Jesus (sws) they used this similarity of words to their advantage.
Tafsir Qur'an Wiki:
To the human mind, Jesus’s birth remains the greatest of all miracles. According to God’s will, which is free of all restrictions, it is nothing out of the ordinary.
We are told that Mary qualified, through purification, devotion and sincere worship, to receive this honour and to be chosen for this great event. Here she is receiving the news for the first time through the angels in this world and in the life to come, and shall be: “The angels said: Mary, God sends you the happy news, through a word from Him, [of a son] whose name is the Christ, Jesus, son of Mary, honour among those who are favoured by God.’” It is a complete piece of news which tells of the whole affair. She receives the news in a word from God, namely the Christ, Jesus, son of Mary. In the construction of the sentence, the name “the Christ” is a substitute for the term “a word”. Yet, he is indeed the “Word”. What does this expression actually mean?
This and similar statements are of those matters which lie beyond our human perception. There is no way to determine what they precisely mean. They may be part of what God referred to in His earlier statement in the sūrah: “He it is Who has sent down to you the Book, containing verses which are clear and precise — and these are the essence of the Book — and others are allegorical. Those whose hearts have swerved from the truth pursue that part of it which is allegorical, seeking to create dissension and trying to give it an arbitrary meaning.” The matter, however, appears to be much simpler if our purpose is to understand this fact in such a way which keeps our hearts in direct contact with God and His perfect creation, His limitless ability and unrestricted will. It was God’s will that human life should start with the creation of Adam from clay. Whether He has made Adam directly from clay or He made from clay an earlier species which continued to develop until the humankind came into existence has no bearing whatsoever on the nature of the secret which remains known only to God. That is, the secret of life which was given to the first living creature, or given to Adam if he was created directly out of lifeless clay. Both are the same in relation to God’s work. Neither should be considered preferable to the other in explaining existence.
Where has this life come from, and how? It is certainly something different from dust and different from all the lifeless materials available on the earth. It is something extra, something different. It is something which brings about certain aspects which can never be found in dust, clay or in any lifeless material whatsoever. How has this secret come about? The fact that we do not know does not justify our denial of its existence or our indulging in petty arguments as those who believe only in matter do.
They pursue their arguments with a narrow-mindedness which cannot be respected by any man of reason, let alone any scientist. The fact remains that we do not know. All the attempts which we human beings have made with our limited means to determine the origin of life, or to initiate life from something which is lifeless, have achieved nothing.
We do not know, but God, Who has given life, knows. He tells us that life is the breathing of His spirit into something. He further tells us that giving it is achieved by a word from Him: “Be, and it is.” What is this spiritual breathing? How is the spirit blown into something lifeless so as to bring it into existence? This is a secret which remains incomprehensible to human reason. We cannot achieve that understanding because it is not part of our business. To know these answers does not benefit man in the discharge of his mission for which God has created him, namely, to be in charge of the earth. He will never need to create life from death. Hence, what is the value to him of knowing the nature of life, or the nature of the breathing of the Divine spirit, or how it has been given to Adam or to the first creature in the chain of living beings?
God tells us that the breathing of His spirit in Adam is what gave Adam his honourable place and distinction, even above the angels. It must be, then, something different from that mere “life” given to worms and germs. This leads us to consider man as a kind of creation with a separate existence. He has a special place in the general order of the universe which is not shared by any other creature. This, however, is not our immediate subject. We have only made this brief reference to it in order to warn the reader against any doubts which may arise as a result of arguments surrounding the advent of man.
What is important here is that God is telling us about the initiation of life. It does not matter that we remain unable to comprehend the nature of this secret or understand how life is breathed into something lifeless.
It was God’s will, after Adam came into existence in that direct way, to establish a certain procedure for the regeneration of human life. This procedure requires that a male and a female come together and that the female egg be fertilized by a male sperm for conception to take place. Neither the egg nor the sperm is lifeless.
People were familiar with this process for countless generations until God chose to make an exception to it in the case of an individual human being. He made his birth similar to the very first beginning, although not exactly the same. In this case, a female on her own receives the Divine spirit which initiates life, and the process is completed.
Was this breathing of the spirit what is described as the word? Or, was the word the line God’s will has taken? Or, does the word mean the command “be”, which may be taken as it is or may express that God’s will has chosen something in particular? Was the word Jesus, or is his existence derived from it? The pursuit of all such questions can only result in creating doubts. The only true conclusion is that God willed to initiate life in a manner which had no parallel. His unrestricted will accomplished such an initiation of life through a breathing of His spirit, the nature of which remains unknown to us while we understand its effects. There is no reason for us to understand its nature because such an understanding does not add to our ability to discharge our mission on earth, since to initiate life is not part of our appointed task. Viewed in this manner, the whole question becomes easy to understand and raises no doubts in our minds.
The angels gave Mary the happy news of a word from God whose name was the Christ, Jesus, son of Mary. That piece of news included his sex, name and lineage which revealed that he descended from his mother. It also included his qualities as well as his position with his Lord: “Honoured in this world and in the life to come, and shall be among those who are favoured by God.” As given by the angels, that piece of news refers to a miraculous aspect associated with his birth, “He shall speak to people in his cradle,” a glimpse of his future, “and as a grown man,” his character and the type of people to whom he belongs: “and shall be of the righteous.”
Now you may listen to the following short clipped video to explanation of the aforesaid Ayat number 45 by eminent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan:
May Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is embodiment of commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'ān. May Allah help us to be like the ones He loves and let our lives be lived helping others and not making others' lives miserable or unlivable. May all our wrong doings, whether intentional or unintentional, be forgiven before the angel of death knocks on our door.
وَمَا عَلَيۡنَاۤ اِلَّا الۡبَلٰغُ الۡمُبِيۡنُ
(36:17) and our duty is no more than to clearly convey the Message.”
That is Our duty is only to convey to you the message that Allah has entrusted us with. Then it is for you to accept it or reject it. We have not been made responsible for making you accept it forcibly, and if you do not accept it, we shall not be seized in consequence of your disbelief, you will yourselves be answerable for your actions on Day of Resurrection.
Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully. It will also help the Muslims to have grasp over social issues and their answers discussed in the Qur'an and other matter related to inter faith so that they are able to discuss issues with non-Muslims with authority based on refences from Qur'an.
May Allah forgive me if my posts ever imply a piety far greater than I possess. I am most in need of guidance.
Note: When we mention God in our posts, we mean One True God, we call Allah in Islam, with no associates. Allah is the Sole Creator of all things, and that Allah is all-powerful and all-knowing. Allah has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages and Understanding Al Qur'an for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, additional input has been interjected from the following sources:
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Yusuf Ali Translation
- Translation Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Qur'an Wiki
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
- Towards Understanding the Quran
In addition, references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Qur'ān - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.
0 comments:
Post a Comment