Yaqub
Member
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
As a Muslim, I believe that Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) is the promised Messiah and a true prophet of God. However, I reject the belief that he was killed on the cross, which Christians believe. This is because, if indeed he was killed on the cross and died an agonizing, disgraceful death, than the Jews are justified in rejecting him as the Messiah. That is because, the idea of the Messiah is that he will be a glorious ruler who will bring about a reign of total peace and tranquility. This is why actually many of the Jews reject Jesus (peace be upon him) as the Messiah, because they say he died a disgraceful death on the cross, therefore, how can he be the Messiah which we are eagerly awaiting?
Of course, as a Muslim, I believe firmly that Jesus (peace be upon him) was saved from the evil conspiracy of his enemies to crucify him, and that God raised him up to Himself, and that presently he is alive in the heavens. Before the Day of Judgment, he will return to the Earth to slay the Antichrist and establish a reign of peace and harmony in the world.
Christians often quote from their Bible prophecies that predict the Messiah will suffer and die. One such prophecy they quote is Psalm 22, which they claim is a clear prediction of the suffering Jesus (peace be upon him) would endure in his life. The famous quote of "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me", the prophecy that his hands and feet will be pierced, and his garments will be parted, etc., are all apparently found in Psalm 22.
However, this is also true that if indeed Psalm 22 is referring to the suffering which the Messiah must endure, it is also a prediction that God will save him from being killed by his enemies:
"But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns." (Psalm 22:19-21)
Now it becomes clear that if Psalm 22 is a prophecy about the Messiah, indeed he will be suffering at the hands of his enemies, but in the end, God will save him from the sword and from the lion's mouth, that is, from being killed.
According to the Bible, the Jews challenged Jesus (peace be upon him) to have God display a heavenly Sign in his favor, so that they might believe in him. In response, Jesus (peace be upon him) is quoted as saying:
"An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:39-40)
Anyone who knows the story of the Prophet Jonas (peace be upon him) knows that he was thrown overboard from a ship and cast into a stormy sea. Logic dictates that he should have died by way of drowning. But, as a Sign of God, he was miraculous saved, and a whale swallowed him up. There too, naturally he should have died, but he miraculously remained alive for three days and nights, until the whale vomited him out onto the shore, all the while he had been alive.
Jesus (peace be upon him) prophecised that God would display a similar Sign for him as well, but that, instead of being in the belly of the whale, he would be in the heart of the Earth, for three days and nights. Jonas (peace be upon him), was alive throughout his entire ordeal, as a miraculous sign of God. Therefore, in order for the ordeal of Jesus (peace be upon him) to also be a miraculous sign, he too must have been alive. When he was put on the cross and taken down, he must have been alive, despite natural expectation to the contrary, and when he was buried in the cave, he must have been alive, as he mentioned he would be, for three days and nights. And when he finally emerged from the heart of the Earth after these three days and nights, he would be alive, in fact, he would have to have been alive the whole time, just like Jonas was.
It is for this reason that Allah (God) says in the Holy Quran:
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلاَّ اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا
And they said (in boast): "Verily, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah." - But they killed him not, nor did they crucify him, but rather, it was made to appear to them as such. And those who are in doubt about it have no knowledge thereof, they follow nothing but conjecture. Of a certainty they killed him not. (4:157)
And they said (in boast): "Verily, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah." - But they killed him not, nor did they crucify him, but rather, it was made to appear to them as such. And those who are in doubt about it have no knowledge thereof, they follow nothing but conjecture. Of a certainty they killed him not. (4:157)
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