Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus God?

30 Proofs from the Old Testament, New Testament, rational thought and history

to prove that Jesus Christ (son of Mary)

was a human and a Prophet from his Lord and Creator (God)

and that he was not God or the son of God

Majed S. Al-Rassi

Translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab

June 2021

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Introduction

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the prophets.

Before Jesus Christ (son of Mary) began preaching, the people in Palestine regarded him as a human like themselves. When he began preaching to his people, the Jews, they divided into two groups:

The first group believed in him and accepted his message; they believed that he was a human prophet sent to them by God.

The second group rejected him and did not believe in him; they accused him of being a false prophet.

A few years after Jesus was taken up to heaven, along came Paul, who claimed that Jesus was God and the son of God. His followers became a third group.

· The response to this idea (that Jesus is God and the son of God) will be presented in thirty arguments, eleven of which are textual (from the Old Testament and New Testament), sixteen of which are rational (based on reason, logic and sound thinking), and two of which are historical (that is, there is historical proof to indicate that this doctrine is a human invention and does not come from the Lord of humankind, namely God, and that Jesus was not aware of it when he was on Earth). The final, concluding argument is proof from the Qur'an which proves that Jesus was human and a Prophet, not God or the son of God.

I have divided this research into five sections, according to the types of proof, as follows:

· Section 1: Textual proof

· Section 2: Rational proof

· Section 3: Historical proof

· Section 4: Qur'anic proof

· Section 5: Appendices

***

Section 1: Textual proof

This section contains eleven points from the Old Testament and New Testament to prove false the belief that Jesus is God.

The First Proof

How can it be correct to say that Jesus is God or the son of God, when there is not one single clear, unambiguous statement to that effect either in the four Gospels or the twenty-three Epistles that follow them? Nowhere do they state that Jesus ever said clearly that he was the son of God (in the sense of claiming descent from Him or having been begotten by Him), or that he was part of God, or that his essence was divine, or that his actions were divine, or that his will was equal to the will of God, or that he was a creator or provider, or that he shared with God any of His divine attributes? (Exalted be God far above that!)

If Jesus were in fact God, or a creator or provider, then you would find abundant references to that in the Gospels, because this is a fundamental matter of doctrine. Since he never made any such claim for himself, he cannot be described in such terms, for he knew himself better than others.

Anyone who reads the Gospels and reflects on them without bias, in a fair-minded manner, will find in them words narrated from Jesus which completely contradict the description of him as being the Lord or God. The Gospels say that he was a servant of God who prayed to Him, and that he had no will alongside the will of God. The one who reflects upon the texts will find that Jesus expressed his weakness, helplessness and fear; he stated that he was human and a servant and prophet of God. We will quote a great deal of proofs from the Gospels later.

Moreover, if Jesus was God or the son of God, he would have called on people to worship him, and that would have been narrated from him frequently in the Gospels. God calls people to worship Him, for He is their Lord Who created them, grants them provision, causes them to die and gives them life; therefore He alone deserves worship. But in fact, there is nothing narrated from Jesus, not even one clear phrase, suggesting that he called people to worship him by saying, “Worship me." Far be it from him to say such a thing. God spoke the truth in the Qur'an when He described His prophets, who are the elite of His creation:

{No human being to whom Allah has given the scripture, wisdom and prophethood would ever say to the people: Be my worshippers rather than Allah's.}[Al 'Imran 3:79]

This verse means that it is not appropriate for any human being to say to the people, “Be my worshippers rather than Allah's," after Allah sent down His Book, granted him wisdom and made him a judge between people, and chose him as a prophet. Rather, a true prophet would call people to worship God and would not transgress the limits set by his Lord.

The Second Proof

In addition to that, there is no proof for this idea (that Jesus is God or the son of God) either in the revelations that came before the revelation given to Jesus, such as the Torah and Psalms, or in the revelation which came after it, namely the Qur'an.

Neither the Torah nor any other divinely-revealed Book ever foretold that God Himself would come down from above His seven heavens, and manifest Himself in Jesus, and the two shall be one flesh walking on the ground, speaking to people, calling them, eating and drinking with them – exalted be God far above that – let alone that He would be humiliated, struck on the back of the head, and hung from a wooden cross with people spitting in His face. Exalted be God far above being subjected to such mistreatment and humiliation; exalted be He far above allowing His enemies to humiliate His Prophet Jesus.

The Third Proof

On the contrary, there are more than thirty texts in the Bible which clearly prove that Jesus had an essence, that God has an entirely different essence, and that the essence of God is completely separate from the essence of Jesus. This indicates that Jesus Christ is not God or the son of God, and it also indicates the falseness of the doctrines of the incarnation and the Trinity. We will quote these texts below:

There are twenty-five Old Testament texts which affirm that God is one in His essence:

[1] Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one[Deuteronomy 6:4][1]

This text is also mentioned in the New Testament:

“The most important one [i.e., commandment],"answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.'"[Mark 12:29]

The relevant point in this text is that if Jesus were God, he would have said, “The Lord is Jesus," or “Jesus is your God," or “I am your Lord and God." But he said, “The Lord our God," speaking of an essence that was completely different from his own essence, and affirming that God is the God of all people. This implies that he himself worshipped God and took Him as his God. This renders invalid the idea that Jesus is God and that he called people to worship him or his mother. Far be it from him to do such a thing. In fact, he called people to worship God alone, with no partner or associate, as all the prophets did.

[2] For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all. [Wisdom 12:13, New American Bible]

[3] And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth…Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God." [2 Kings 19:15, 19]

This also appears in Isaiah 37: 16, 20, with a slight change in wording.

[4] I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. [Isaiah 43:11]

[5] “This is what the Lord says –

Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:

I am the first and I am the last;

apart from me there is no God…

Do not tremble, do not be afraid.

Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?

You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?

No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."[Isaiah 44:6, 8]

[6] Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me. [Isaiah 46:9]

[7] “I am the Lord; that is my name!

I will not yield my glory to another

or my praise to idols."[Isaiah 42:8]

[8] “…Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no God apart from me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none but me.

“Turn to me and be saved,

all you ends of the earth;

for I am God, and there is no other."[Isaiah 45:21-22]

[9] I am the Lord, and there is no other;

apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

though you have not acknowledged me,

so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

people may know there is none besides me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other. [Isaiah 45:5-6]

[10] …no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. [Isaiah 64:4]

[11] Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone do we honor." [Isaiah 26:13]

[12] “…They will bow down before you

and plead with you, saying,

'Surely God is with you, and there is no other;

there is no other god.'"[Isaiah 45:14]

[13] Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? [Malachi 2:10]

[14] There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon his throne…" [Sirach 1:8,Douay-Rheims]

[15] Prophet Solomon said, when conversing with his Lord:

Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. [2 Chronicles 6:19]

[16] You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. [Nehemiah 9:6]

[17] And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that they may shew forth thy wonders. [Sirach 36:2,Douay-Rheims]

[18] Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;

no deeds can compare with yours.

All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God. [Psalms 86:8-10]

[19] And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world. [Daniel 3:45,Douay-Rheims]

[20] so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.[1 Kings 8:60]

[21] “There is no one holy like the Lord;

there is no one besides you;

there is no Rock[2] like our God." [1 Samuel 2:2]

[22] “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears." [2 Samuel 7:22]

[23] “O God, who art mighty above all, hear the voice of them, that have no other hope, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear."[Esther 14:19,Douay-Rheims]

[24] I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing." [Psalms 16:2]

[25] The king shouted with a loud voice, “You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel, and there is no other besides you!"[Daniel 14:41, NRSVCE]

· Summary

All of these texts from the Old Testament affirm the same thing, which is that God is one in His essence, not three. This proves false the idea that Jesus is God, or that he is the third of three (in a Trinity). Based on that, whoever does not believe that God is one, and not three, in His essence has disbelieved in the texts quoted here from the Old Testament.

There are ten texts in the New Testament which affirm that God is one in His essence:

[1] Jesus once said to a woman:

“…Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" [John 20:17]

The fact that Jesus said, “to my God and your God" indicates that he recognized that God is his God and the God of all people, and that Jesus himself was not God; rather he was a servant of God like all other human beings, because his God was the God of his people to whom he addressed this statement, namely the Almighty. If Jesus were God, it would be meaningless for him to say, “I am ascending to… my God." To whom would Jesus be ascending if he himself was God?

Similarly, the fact that Jesus described his people as being his brothers indicates that he was human like them and was not their God. If Jesus were their God, it would not be correct for him to describe them as his brothers. This is quite clear.

The fact that Jesus described them as being his brothers means that they were his brothers in lineage, because they were all of the same tribe, namely the Children of Israel. So it was correct for him to describe them as being his brothers, because of the lineage that they shared.

It is interesting to note in this context that the Qur'an (the 'constitution' of the Islamic religion) mentions in five places that Jesus acknowledged that God was both his Lord and the Lord of all people. It says that the Messiah said to his people:

i. “…O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever ascribes partners to Allah, then Allah has forbidden paradise for him, and the fire will be his abode. For the wrongdoers there will be no helpers."[al-Ma'idah 5:72]

ii. “…I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord."[al-Ma'idah 5:117]

iii. “Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path."[Mary 19:36, Al 'Imran 3:51,az-Zukhruf 43:64]

To sum up, the Gospels prove that Jesus used to affirm that God was his Lord and the Lord of all the people; the Qur'an also proves this, contrary to the prevalent belief among the Christians that Jesus himself is the Lord and the son of God.

· Important note

It is known that what is meant by the word Father in the Gospel sources is the one who takes care of someone; it does not mean a father in the sense of a progenitor or one who begets, whereby a son is born from a father and mother as a result of sexual relations. The proof for that is the fact that Jesus described the Lord as being the Father of all people when he said “'I am ascending to my Father and your Father" [John 20:17]; no one suggests that God is the father of all people in the sense of being a progenitor in the usual sense.

Based on that, what is meant by Father here is the one who takes care of and looks after someone. It is well known that God is the Creator, Provider and Controller of the affairs of all people.

[2] Jesus says:“for the Father is greater than I."[John 14:28]

If God and Jesus were equal and shared the same essence, how could God be greater than him?

This is clearly contradictory. It indicates that the essence of God is not the same as that of Jesus; rather, each of them has a different essence. God is above His seventh heaven, on His throne; He is not mixed with His creations on the earth.

[3] Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.[John 17:3]

[4] “The most important [commandment],"answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one…'"

“Well said, teacher" the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him."[Mark 12: 29, 32]

[5] There is an indication that the essence of God is not the same as the essence of Christ, for when a man called out to Jesus, addressing him as “Good teacher," Jesus responded by saying: “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone." [Mark 10:17-18]

[6] The same is mentioned in [Luke 18:19] where it says:

“Why do you call me good?"Jesus answered. “No one is good – except God alone."

[7] “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"[John 5:44]

[8] Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"[Matthew 4:10]

Note: This is in accordance with the verse in the Qur'an which says:

“You [Alone] we worship, and You [Alone] we ask for help."[al-Fatihah 1:5]

[9] “Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" [Mark 2:7]

[10] “Who will not fear you, Lord,

and bring glory to your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed."[Revelation 15:4]

***

· Conclusion

The Gospel texts quoted above indicate that Jesus used to affirm that God is one in His Essence, and that He was his God and true Lord, and indeed He is the God and Lord of all people.

The Fourth Proof

The fourth indication that disproves the notion that Jesus is God is the fact that Jesus himself said things that prove he was human and of human origin:

· Jesus said of himself: “The Son of Man came not to destroy souls." [Luke 9:56,Douay-Rheims]

This text clearly states that Jesus is not the son of God; rather he is the son of man, who is a human being.

It is well-known that he was the son of Mary, who carried him in her womb until she gave birth to him as all women give birth to their children.

· So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." [John 8:28]

Does this text not clearly indicate that Jesus was human?

If Jesus were God, he would not have described himself as human by calling himself “the Son of Man."He would not have said, “I do nothing on my own", because the Lord of the universe does all things and controls the affairs of the entire universe. Based on that, it is not rationally possible that Jesus could have said, “I do nothing on my own," while at the same time being the Lord of the universe; otherwise, he would have been speaking deceitfully – and far be it from him to do such a thing.

· Jesus said of himself, speaking to a crowd: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking." [Matthew 11:19]

· Jesus said to those who wanted to kill him:“As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things." [John 8:40]

· It was said to Jesus, “You are the son of God," and at the end of his response to that, he called himself the Son of Man. See John1:49-51.

· In the Gospels, there are other verses that call Jesus the Son of Man; see Luke 17:22 and 18:8, Matthew 12:32.

The fact that Jesus repeatedly and explicitly described himself as being human and “the Son of Man" clearly indicates that he was indeed human. It is not possible, in the case of one who said such words, that the thought could cross his mind that he was God or the son of God, or that he came down to earth to call people to worship him; otherwise, he would be someone who was trying to deceive people – and far be it from Jesus to do such a thing.

From these texts, it becomes clear that the notion that Jesus is God is entirely false, and that the truth which is established in the Gospels is that he was human.

The Fifth Proof

The fifth indication that Jesus was human is the fact that the Gospels and Epistles describe him as having human characteristics, including the fact that he was not all-knowing. They say that he was unaware of certain things and that he forgot others; they also say that he got tired, desired food, got thirsty, grieved, became depressed, felt pain, slept, was afraid, wept, and prayed to God – all of which indicates that like us, he was human with some shortcomings. If he were God, he would not have experienced these things that humans experience, because God is perfect in His attributes and does not have any shortcomings whatsoever.

There follow some of the biblical texts in which these human characteristics of Jesus are mentioned:

…Jesus said, “I am thirsty." [John 19:28]

…But Jesus was sleeping. [Matthew 8:24]

…and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. [John 4:6]

“Jesus wept." [John 11:35]

Jesus used to pray, feel sorrow, and be distressed:

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray."He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch."Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. [Mark 14:32-35]

It is appropriate here to ask a very logical question: To whom was Jesus praying? Was he praying to himself? Or was he praying to someone else, namely, God?

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. [Luke 22:14-15]

Not only that, but Jesus was afraid that the Pharisees would kill him:[3]

So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, 'What do you think? Isn't he coming to the festival at all?' But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.[John 11:53-57]

· Comment on the above:

· Is it possible that one who is like this could be God?

How can it make sense for the Messiah to be God when he got thirsty, slept, got tired, was astonished, got depressed, wept, reclined, desired to eat, suffered, and felt fear?

What is the difference between him and any human being then?

God is independent of means and strong; He is the Creator and is perfect in all His attributes. Based on that, it makes no sense to suggest that He would create something (like food or drink) and then need it, or that He would need anything else to help him live, because if He needed something else, He would not truly be God. In the Qur'an, God says about Himself:

“I have not created the jinn and humans except to worship Me. I seek no provision from them, nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allah Who is the Provider, Lord of Might, the Powerful."[adh-Dhaariyaat 51:56-58]

The Messiah, on the other hand, ate and drank, and the one who has needs cannot possibly be God.

· Moreover, the fact that the Messiah had these characteristics (eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing and so on) implies that if these things had not been available, he would have died, because he needed these things, which were necessities, in order to stay alive. He would not be subject to dying if he were God, because God is ever living and does not die. Rather death is something that happens to human beings, from whom the Messiah was born.

· Similarly, one who eats food must excrete waste, which is something that normal human beings are embarrassed to mention, because it is a kind of shortcoming and involves something that is regarded as filthy. So how could it be appropriate for the Messiah to be God when he had this significant shortcoming that humans are embarrassed to mention and find repulsive?

All of this definitively indicates that it is false to ascribe divinity and lordship to the Messiah.

· Furthermore, the Messiah spent nine months in his mother's womb, and was born in the usual manner, then his mother wrapped him in a cloth, like any other human infant. Therefore, it is not possible that one who was like that could be God. Such a suggestion makes no sense at all.

Another proof showing that the Messiah had human characteristics is the following passage:

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard him say it." [Mark 11:11-14]

· Comment

In this story, we see that Jesus got hungry and that he thought that the fig tree had borne fruit. When he came to it, he did not find any fruit – meaning that before he reached the tree it was not clear to him whether it had any figs or not, and he did not know that it was not the season for figs. Thus, he went to the tree at the wrong season, when he should have been aware of the season if he was truly God.

This story tells us that he got angry with the tree and prayed that it would never bear fruit again, thus he deprived the people of its fruit.

All of these characteristics (being hungry, thinking, not finding something, something not being clear to him, and not being aware, praying against the fig tree, and getting angry with the tree) indicate that he was human, not God; otherwise, what is the difference between him and humans?

Moreover, if he was really God, why did the Messiah not command the tree to bear fruit so that he could eat its fruit and solve the problem?

If he were really God, this is what would have been most appropriate.

Is that not better than praying that the tree would never bear fruit again, thus depriving himself and other people of its fruit forever?

The Sixth Proof

Another indication that the notion that Jesus is God is false is the fact that the Bible says:

“No one has ever seen God." [John 1:18]

Jesus said these words as he was standing before them, which clearly indicates that he was not God. If Jesus had been God – exalted be God far above that – he would have said to them, “You see God in front of you, for I am He; look at me!"

This is a very clear proof.

The First Epistle to Timothy says:

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. [1 Timothy 1:17]

So the true God, to Whom be glory and Who cannot be seen, is definitely not Jesus, son of Mary, because people saw Jesus and touched him.

The Seventh Proof

The seventh indication that disproves the notion that Jesus is God is the fact that according to the biblical sources, Jesus himself said that he was a Prophet. If Jesus were truly God, it would not make sense to be a Prophet at the same time; whose prophet would he be then?

Jesus always reminded his disciples that he was a Prophet from God to them, that he was a teacher, and that only God was God; he was merely a Prophet to the Children of Israel, sent by God to teach them about their religion. Here we will quote nearly twenty texts to support this from the Gospels that the Christians believe in:

[1] Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people. [Matthew 4:23]

[2] From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." [Matthew 4:17]

The fact that Jesus said, “Repent" indicates that he was a prophet who was urging the people to repent from their sins.

[3] Jesus said to his disciples:

“…for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

This, then, is how you should pray:

'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven…'" [Matthew 6:8-10]

From this text, we also learn that:

§ Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. Therefore, he was a prophet, because the role of the prophets is to teach. This is the point.

§ God is in heaven, because Jesus said, “Our Father in heaven." This indicates that God has an essence, which is in heaven, whilst the Messiah has a different essence on Earth, and that they are not mixed or united (in one essence).

§ The word “Father" in this text means one who cares for or looks after a person; it does not mean a father in the sense of a progenitor. If it meant a progenitor, then God would be the father of all people, because he said “Our Father" and not say “My Father."

Conclusion: This common prayer clearly refutes those who say that God is the father of Christ in the sense of being the progenitor, and that this is a counterpart to Mary being the mother of Christ. This is a grave error, because what is meant by being a father here is taking care of or being in charge of a person's affairs. Based on that, God is the father of all people, in this sense.[4]

[4] Here is a clear statement that Jesus was a Prophet who proclaimed the good news (also known as preaching the gospel)[5] and taught the people goodness:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." [Mark 1:14-15](ESV).

From this text, we also learn that:

§ the Messiah was a prophet, because he proclaimed the Gospel of God and instructed the people to repent to God, which is the role of the prophets; he also instructed them to believe in the Gospel that he brought.

§ the essence of God is not the same as the essence of Jesus, because Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand." If Jesus were God, he would have said, “My kingdom is at hand."

§ Jesus instructed his disciples to believe in the Gospel of God. If Jesus were God, he would have said to them, “Repent and believe in my Gospel."

§ The true revelation from God to Jesus (Gospel of God) is not one of the four well-known Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), because Jesus called it the “Gospel of God", whereas the four Gospels are known by the names of their authors.

[5] Here is a very clear statement on the part of Jesus that he was a Prophet:

“Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority." [Luke 4:31-32]

Then he said to the people, who wanted him to stay with them:

“I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. [Luke 4:43-44]

His words “I was sent" indicate that he was a prophet, as do his words “proclaim the good news" and Luke's words “preaching." All these phrases indicate that he was a Prophet sent by God to teach people the good news (or Gospel).

[6] Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd. At the end of the story, the townspeople said:

“A great prophet has appeared among us".[Luke 7:16-17]

This text clearly indicates that the Messiah was a great prophet, not God or son of God.

[7] Another text clearly indicates that the Messiah was a Prophet; it says that Jesus prayed to his Lord and said:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." [John 17:3]

[8] There is the testimony of a large crowd of the Children of Israel calling Jesus a prophet:

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?"

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." [Matthew 21:10-11]

What proof for the prophethood of Jesus could be clearer than this?

[9] Jesus consoled his disciples, urging them to bear with patience the persecution they faced at the hands of the Jews:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."[Matthew 5:11-12]

The words “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven" indicate that the one who will grant recompense and reward is God, who is in heaven, not Jesus. If Jesus were God, he would have said to them: “because great is your reward from me."

The words “for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" refer to the Jews, for they persecuted the prophets who were before him.

The words “the prophets" indicate that he was one of these prophets who faced persecution. If the Messiah were not a prophet, these words of his would have no meaning – far be it from him to speak in such a manner.

This biblical text indicates that Jesus was not God or son of God; rather he was a prophet, because he was subject to persecution at the hands of the Jews, as were other prophets. If Jesus were God or the son of God, he would never have been persecuted because humans cannot cause suffering to God, Who created everything and is stronger than everything in His creation.

Gustave Le Bon writes, “Jesus believed that he was a prophet and a successor to the prophets who had appeared before him."[6]

[10] Jesus said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, 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. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." [Matthew 5:17-19]

The words of Jesus – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them" – clearly indicate that he was a prophet, before whom other prophets had come, and that he was one of them, because the one who came to fulfil the Law that came before him – namely the Torah, the Law of Moses – and fulfil what Moses and the prophets before him had established, could only be a prophet like them.

This is confirmed in the Qur'an, where God tells us that the Messiah said to his people:

“And [I have come] to affirm that which came before me of the Torah, and to make lawful to you some of the things which had been forbidden to you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear Allah and obey me. Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path."[Al 'Imran 3:50-51]

So Jesus was no more than a prophet whom God sent to follow the Law of Moses; to make permissible some of that which God had forbidden to the Children of Israel; to call the Children of Israel to worship God alone, with no partner; to revive what had been lost of their religion; and to spread among them the light of faith that had been extinguished due to their wrongdoing, stubbornness, and distortion of the words of God.

Undoubtedly, Jesus is no more than a link in a chain of prophets; he was not, as the Christians believed, God.

[11] Jesus said:

“And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form," [John 5:37]

This text clearly states that Jesus was a Prophet, because he said “[He] sent me."

[12] To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

“If you were Abraham's children" said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God…'

…I have not come on my own; God sent me." [John 8:31-32, 39-40, 42]

In this text, there are three proofs that Jesus was a human Prophet sent by God, and he was not divine:

The phrase “my disciples" could not be applicable to Jesus unless he was a teacher and a Prophet.

The words “[I am] a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God" are clear words that Jesus was human, sent by God.

The words “God sent me" is a clear statement that Jesus was a prophet from God.

These biblical texts clearly state that Jesus is not God or the son of God; rather, he was a human whom God created, and a prophet from God. This is what is dictated by logic, reasoning, and sound understanding. These texts do not need a scholar or a specialist in theology to explain them; rather a child or an ordinary person can easily understand them.

[13] There is a statement that God sent the Messiah as a Prophet and teacher:

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.'"[John 3:1-2]

The words of this Jewish leader to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God," are an affirmation that Jesus was sent by God to the Jews as a prophet and teacher, because the prophet teaches people the knowledge with which God sent him, and it is well-known that Jesus taught the people the revelation he was brought with, guided them to goodness and warned them against evil.

Here, the reader may note that the Jewish leader did not say to Jesus that he had come as a redeemer or savior, or that he was the son of God, or that he was God, or any of the other statements that are prevalent among the Christian masses. Rather, he said to him that he had come as a teacher, and Jesus confirmed what this Jewish man had said. He did not tell him, “No, you are wrong." If that Jewish man had been wrong, Jesus would not have approved of his words; he would have objected and corrected him because that was his role as a teacher; otherwise, he would not really be a teacher.

We may also note another, subtle implicit meaning in what this Jewish leader said to Jesus: “For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him." This proves that Jesus was a prophet, because God does not support anyone with signs and miracles except the prophets, so that they can offer tangible proof of their prophethood to the people, so that they will believe in him. That is because when the people saw the prophets doing extraordinary feats that no one but God could do, they would realize that God had caused these things to happen at their hands so that the people would know that they were prophets. For example, Jesus revived the dead, healed the lepers and the blind, and told people what they ate and what food they stored in their houses. He did all of that with God's permission; the Messiah had no independent ability or knowledge because he was human, no more and no less.

[14] Another incident which proves that Jesus was a Prophet from God is when he went to the temple during the annual Feast of Tabernacles, and taught the people.

The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?"

Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him." [John 7:15-18]

The Jews were amazed at the beauty of the teachings that Jesus was spreading among the people, and they were impressed by them. Jesus explained to them that they came from God Who had sent him; he received these teachings from Him through the greatest of the angels, namely Gabriel, and he conveyed them to the people. This was his role as a Prophet; those teachings were not something that he made up by himself. If Jesus were God, he would have said, “These teachings come from me, " instead of, “They come from God." Based on that, Jesus was not God or the son of God.

[15] Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me." [John 7:28-29]

[16] Jesus told his people that he was a Prophet:

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me..." [John 7:32-33]

[17] “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life..."[John 5:24]

[18] Here is a statement that is as clear as day that Jesus was a teacher:

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

“I have spoken openly to the world", Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret." [John 18:19-20]

This indicates that Jesus was a teacher who had disciples or students; this is a characteristic of the prophets.

[19] The final proof from the Gospels which proves that God sent Jesus as a Prophet is this text in which Jesus said:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." [Matthew 15:24]

What proof could be clearer than this?

To sum up: Jesus was a prophet from God, and this is in accordance with the verse in the Qur'an in which God says:

“The Messiah son of Mary was no more than a Prophet, and [other] prophets passed away before him. His mother was a woman strong and true in faith, and they both ate food. See how We make Our signs clear to them, then see how they are diverted [from the truth]!"[al-Ma'idah 5:75]

What this verse means is that Jesus , the son of Mary, was no more than a prophet like those prophets who came before him, and his mother was a woman who was strong and true in faith, meaning that she believed with certainty in the word of her Lord. That is reflected in her knowledge and righteousness. Both the Messiah and his mother were like any other human beings in that they needed food. The one who needs food in order to live cannot be God.

Then God says, addressing His Prophet Muhammad, “See how We make Our signs clear to them." That is: reflect, O Prophet, upon the condition of these people, how We explained to them the falseness of their claim that the Messiah was the son of God, yet despite that they drifted away from the truth that We told them to follow, then see how they were diverted from the truth after it had been made clear to them.

The Eighth Proof

Another set of proofs that the notion that Jesus is God or the son of God is false is the reports which state that he prayed to God, and that he told his disciples: Wait for me while I pray. He used to go to the Temple and pray and worship there. It is well-known that prayer can only be offered to a God who is worshipped, whom the worshipper believes is greater than himself or herself, and whom he or she believes has the right to be worshipped and turned to. If Jesus were God, he would not have needed to pray to God, because that would have been pointless; in that case he would have told the people, “Pray to me and worship me. I have no need to pray to anyone because I am God." But that did not happen, and based on that, it is not possible that Jesus could have been God.

The Ninth Proof

Another proof against the notion that Jesus is the son of God is the fact that Jesus himself forbade saying such a thing. If Jesus were truly the son of God, he would have approved of the words of those who said that, and he would not have rebuked them. When the devils said to Jesus, “You are the son of God," he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak, as it says in Luke 4:41,“But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah". This very clearly indicates that the Messiah is not the son of God.

The Tenth Proof

Moreover, Jesus was compassionate and gentle with people. If this belief (that he were God or the son of God) were true, he would have repeated it and explained it clearly, until it was instilled in people's minds, and it would have been mentioned very clearly in the four Gospels and the twenty-three Epistles of the New Testament. Jesus would not have merely hinted with regard to such momentous matters, and he would not have refrained from stating it in clear words – since he used clear statements with regard to less significant matters – because the matter has to do with people's ultimate fates and their beliefs. The entire religion is based on it, and a person's fate in the hereafter, whether it be heaven or hell, depends on it.

· It is worth noting in this context that there is a text which states that Jesus was always very clear:

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

“I have spoken openly to the world, "Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret." [John 18:19-20]

· We may also see how clearly Jesus spoke:

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one." [Mark 12:29]

If Jesus were God, he would have said, “I am your Lord," instead of, “the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

This text clearly indicates that God is the Lord of all people, including the Messiah and others.

Does it make sense to overlook this clear text and ignore its meaning, to say that Jesus was God or the son of God, that God was incarnated in him, or the like?

· We also see how clearly the oneness of God is affirmed in these words of God:

Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me.[Isaiah 46:9]

If Jesus were the son of God, or God, God would have said in the text quoted above, “I am God and there is another God, namely Jesus," because God speaks clearly, and He wants that which is good and to guide all the people; He does not want to confuse people or say ambiguous things (that could mislead them), because that would be a lack of clarity, and a lack of clarity is a shortcoming, but God is far above having this or any other shortcoming. But that is not the case, and thus it is known that the truth is what is well established: God is one and has His own essence, and Jesus has his own essence, and neither is incarnated in the other.

The Eleventh Proof

The eleventh proof that disproves the doctrine of the Trinity, which is based on the belief that Jesus is God, is the fact that this doctrine is not known in any earlier or later divinely-revealed religion. This doctrine was not known to the earlier prophets of God who are acknowledged by the Jews and Christians, such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac and Jacob (peace be upon them). In fact, this doctrine was not known to or mentioned by any of the Israelite prophets whose stories reached them, such as Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David or Solomon (peace be upon them).

Indeed, there is nothing in the Old Testament ̶in which the Christians believe, and which tells the stories of these prophets and their message ̶to suggest that these prophets called people to worship a God of three beings, or that they ever uttered the word “trinity" or the like. Instead, what is narrated from them is that they brought the same message as all the prophets from Noah to Muhammad,[7]calling people to worship one God with no partner or associate. This is something that is written in the Old Testament.

For example:

· In the Old Testament, God says to Abraham:

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you." [Genesis 17:7]

· On Mount Sinai:

“God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you."[Exodus 3:15]

· After Moses threw his staff on the ground and it became a snake, God told him that this was:

“…so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has appeared to you." [Exodus 4:5]

· Jesus mentions similar words in the Gospel of Luke 20:37, he said: “But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'".

· In the Book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament, it says:

“This is what the Lord says –

Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty:

I am the first and I am the last;

apart from me there is no God." [Isaiah 44:6]

· Hezekiah, one of their prophets, said, addressing the Lord:

“…you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth." [Isaiah 37:16]

· Moreover, the religion that came after the religion of the Messiah –the one religion, Islam – does not acknowledge this doctrine of the Trinity. On the contrary, it denounces it, as God says in the Qur'an:

“They indeed have disbelieved who say that Allah is one of three, for there is no god except One God. If they do not desist from what they say, a painful punishment will certainly befall those of them who disbelieve. Will they not then turn to Allah in repentance and seek His forgiveness? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a Prophet, and [other] prophets passed away before him. His mother was a woman strong and true in faith, and they both ate food. See how We make Our signs clear to them, then see how they are diverted [from the truth]!"[al-Ma'idah 5:73-75]

And God says:

“They indeed have disbelieved who say that Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary. Say: Who could prevent Allah, if He so willed, from destroying the Messiah, the son of Mary, his mother, and all the people of the earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. He creates whatever He wills, and Allah has power over all things."[al-Ma'idah 5:17]

“They indeed have disbelieved who say that Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary. But the Messiah said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever ascribes partners to Allah, then Allah has forbidden paradise for him, and the fire will be his abode. For the wrongdoers there will be no helpers."[al-Ma'idah 5:72]

“O People of the Book, do not exceed the bounds [of truth] in your religion, and do not say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was [no more than] a Prophet of Allah, and His word, which He bestowed upon Mary, and a soul created by Him. So believe in Allah and His prophets. Do not say: Three [trinity]; desist, for that will be better for you. Allah is indeed only one God. Glory be to Him, [far exalted is He] above having a son. To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and sufficient is Allah as a disposer of affairs."[an-Nisaa' 4:171]

The words, “Glory be to Him, [far exalted is He] above having a son" mean that God is far above having a son. Having a son is a shortcoming, not an attribute of perfection, because having children would indicate that God needs people. This is a false notion because God has no need of anyone.

Thus, the Qur'an, the constitution of the religion of Islam and the word of God that will be preserved until the Day of Resurrection, explains that the doctrine of the Trinity is false, and that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ is also false. It also explains that the belief that Jesus is the son of God is false. The correct view is that the Messiah is a servant of God who used to enjoin his people to worship God.

Conclusion: Belief in the Trinity implies that all the prophets were misguided and did not know their God and Creator, and that the Christian clergy who came up with the Trinity doctrine were guided to that centuries after Christ was taken up to heaven, in the fourth century CE, in their creed that they agreed upon in the First Council of Constantinople, in 381 CE!

This is clearly wrong.

***

Section2: Rational proof

This section contains rational proof to disprove the false belief that Jesus is God. This section includes sixteen points:

The Twelfth Proof

One fact that refutes the notion that Jesus is God is that it is not possible for a human body to contain the essence of God, for God is great, greater than all things, and exalted far above His heavens and above all things; nothing is above Him. Human beings are the exact opposite of that, so the doctrine that God was incarnated in Christ must be false; it is a lie against God and a failure to appreciate how great God is. Belief in this notion constitutes disbelief in God Almighty, and this will incur an eternity in Hell.

What we must do is venerate God and declare Him to be above the belief that He is mixed or united with His creation. God is high above His throne above the seven heavens, and none of His creation has ever seen Him.

· Note

As proof for the doctrine of incarnation (that God was incarnated in Christ),the clergy quote what Paul wrote:

“Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:

He appeared in the flesh,

was vindicated by the Spirit." [1 Timothy 3:16]

What the Christians cling to of Paul's words is a grave error, because if Paul was correct, he should have proven his claim by quoting the words of Jesus himself, not his own words. Otherwise, he may be regarded as having spoken of something of which he had no knowledge and as having lied at the same time, because it is not possible that Jesus could have concealed this doctrine – the doctrine of incarnation – if it was true, only to have Paul come up with it after he was gone. In fact, it is one of Paul's distortions of the religion of Jesus, by which he misled the Christians and took them away from the true religion of the Messiah.

We will discuss Paul and his destructive distortion of the religion of Jesus in more detail later.

The Thirteenth Proof

How could Jesus be God, when millions of people were created and existed before he was created?

It is assumed that God the Father creates His (physical Son) before He creates others (if this is true), not the other way around. Otherwise, how could Jesus be their God if they existed before him and he never saw them?!

This notion is utterly contrary to reason.

The Fourteenth Proof

Moreover, God has no beginning, whereas Jesus had a beginning.

Why God the Father begot His physical son Jesus (if this is true) only nearly 2000 years back? Why not before?

Why should their union (if it is true) have occurred only nearly 2000 years back?

In other words, why should this occur at a specific time, and not at any other period of time?

What is the logic behind that?!

The Fifteenth Proof

Why didn't God create Jesus – if he is really His son – before He created humankind?

It would have been more appropriate for him to have been created before humankind – if he was indeed the son of God.

Why was he created later, even though he is their Lord – according to the claim of those who believe as such?

The Sixteenth Proof

How can Jesus be Lord when he was not aware of the people who lived before he was born?

The Seventeenth Proof

Moreover, how can it be correct to say that God has just one son? Why does He not have many sons, as is the custom of kings, rich men and prominent figures?

If having many sons is a characteristic of the rich, and God is the richest of all, why did He not have many sons, if the attribute of having a son is truly a divine attribute? Exalted be God far above that.

The Eighteenth Proof

If Jesus is indeed God and divine, then why did he not ward off death from himself, according to the claim of those who believe that he died on the cross?

It is not possible that Jesus could be God and then be killed by human beings, for two reasons:

Firstly: God is not subject to death because death is an attribute of imperfection and a shortcoming. God possesses attributes of perfection; He is ever-living and does not die.

The nineteenth Proof

Secondly: God is stronger than His creation, so it is not possible that a group of human beings (the Jews) could have the power to kill and humiliate Him, spit on Him, place a crown of thorns on His head, crucify Him, and bury Him in a tomb!

This idea – that Jesus died on the cross – contradicts every aspect of the idea that Jesus is God.[8]

The Twentieth Proof

How could Jesus be God if he did not at least know about the plot the Jews made to kill him?!

The Twenty First Proof

Moreover, the notion that Jesus is God contradicts the notion that Jesus died on the cross, because if Jesus was God, then he died, then the Father must also have died with him, because both are united, according to their claim!

The Twenty Second Proof

Furthermore, everyone knows that God was not born, whereas Jesus was born of his mother. This indicates that they [God and Jesus] are two completely separate essences, not combined into one essence. Regarding them as one essence is completely antithetical to sound reasoning.

The Twenty Third Proof

If Jesus is really the son of God, then why are the Christian masses more attached to him than to God the Father Himself, and they call upon him, put their hopes in him and venerate him more than they venerate God the Father Himself?

The natural behavior is to be more attached to God the Father, because He is the Father of Christ, according to their beliefs, and He is the One Who created him.

What does this contradiction mean? Does it not indicate that this notion is flawed?

The Twenty Fourth Proof

Similarly, if Jesus were indeed God, the Christian people would not have differed concerning his nature. They would all have had one view and would not have differed and contradicted one another. The fact that conflict occurred among these views indicates that they are all flawed, and that the truth is in one valley, and all these views are in a different valley.

The Twenty Fifth Proof

It is well-known that God is merciful to humanity; He has no interest in complicating things and stirring up confusion among the Children of Israel or anyone else.

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace."[1 Corinthians 14:33]

Once this is established, it must be the case that Christian doctrine was made so complex by humans, not by God. This is indeed what actually happened when Paul distorted the original beliefs taught by Jesus, by introducing ideas that were not part of them, especially that Jesus was the son of God.

If you were to stop a child and ask him to explain to you the doctrine of the Trinity, he would not be able to do it, whereas any doctrine having to do with God should be readily understandable to anyone, whether one is a child or adult, whether one is illiterate or a nuclear scientist.

If you were to present the teachings of Islam, telling the child, “The One Who created you and created everything in this universe is God alone, so worship Him and do not worship anyone except Him; God is independent of means and does not have a son", he would understand that right away, and he would be convinced of it. He would not need any more than that.

The Twenty Sixth Proof

The doctrine of the Trinity is alien to the religion of the Messiah. Jesus did not order worshipping a God of three Persons, and the words “Trinity" or “Persons" are not narrated from him in any of the four Gospels or in any of the twenty-three epistles of the New Testament, even though the Trinitarian doctrine is now the foundation of Christian belief.

The French-language encyclopedia Encyclopédie Larousse confirms this. Concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, it says:

It [this doctrine] is not found in the books of the New Testament or in the Acts of the Apostles, or in the books of their closest disciples. However, the Catholic Church and the traditional Protestant denominations claim that the Trinity doctrine was accepted by Christians in all eras.

In English encyclopedia by Butrous al-Bustaani, who is a Christian, it says: “The word 'Trinity' is not found in the Bible."

Hence we may conclude that if the Trinitarian doctrine were true, it would have been mentioned in the New Testament because it is regarded as the foundation and essence of the teachings of Christ – according to what the Christian masses believe. But in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. This terminology (Trinity, or God in three Persons) is not mentioned even once in the whole Bible. Thus, it is concluded that this doctrine has been introduced into the religion of Jesus; it is alien to it and was not originally part of it.

A word to the clergy: Since it is now clear to you that the Trinity doctrine is false, you should not impose it on people because this is contrary to academic integrity and to personal freedoms.

Similarly, it is well-known that adding things to religion is not allowed because this is regarded as interfering in a matter that is for God alone. It is God Who prescribes religion, and humans (Pope or others) have no right to add or subtract anything when it comes to religion. What human beings are required to do is to follow the teachings as they are, without adding anything to them, subtracting anything from them, or distorting them. In this manner, they may become true servants of God, whereas those who introduce their own ideas will be as if they believe themselves to be partners to God with regard to prescribing doctrines and laws. This is a kind of associating others with God, something which incurs eternal punishment in Hell. Unfortunately, for Catholics, the Pope can change some things in the religion.

The Twenty Seventh Proof

If Jesus were God, he would have clearly ordered the people to worship him, but in fact, he clearly forbade them from doing that. He was reported to say: “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules." [Matthew (15:9) & Mark (7:7) ]

On the Day of Resurrection, those who used to worship Jesus will find that their worship of him was in vain and not acceptable to God, and they will deserve punishment in Hell for all eternity because they worshipped someone other than God, Who alone is deserving of worship. In fact, they will be shocked to see Jesus disavowing their worship of him, as God says in the Qur'an:

I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. I watched over them whilst I was amongst them, then when You took me up to You, You [alone] were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things.

If You punish them, they are indeed Your slaves; if you forgive them, verily You are the Almighty, the Most Wise.

Allah will say: This is the day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness; theirs will be gardens through which rivers flow, to abide therein forever. Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him. And that is the supreme triumph.

To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and He has power over all things.}[al-Ma'idah 5:116-120]

· Commentary on the above passage:

In these verses, God tells us some of what will happen on the Day of Resurrection, which includes His asking the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary – although He knows best what the answer is: {Did you say to people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?}

Jesus will reply, declaring God to be far above that: it would not have been proper for me to tell the people anything but the truth, and it never happened that I instructed the people to worship me or to worship my mother. If I had instructed them to worship me or to worship my mother, You would have known it, O God, for nothing is hidden from You. You know what I know, but I do not know what You know. Indeed You are the Knower of all things, visible and hidden.

Then Jesus will say: O Lord, I only told them what You revealed to me and commanded me to convey to the people, which is to single You out for worship. I was a witness over them and their deeds and words whilst I was among them, then when You took me up to You and lifted me up to heaven, You were the one who could see what was in their hearts, for You are witness to all things, and nothing is hidden from You on earth or in heaven.

If You punish them, O God, they are Your servants and You know best about them. You do to them whatever You will: if You will, You will punish them by your justice, and if You will, You will forgive them by your mercy. You are the Almighty who cannot be overcome, and the Most Wise in Your controlling and managing of all affairs.

At that point, God will say to Jesus: This is the Day of requital on which the monotheists[9] will benefit from their affirmation of their Lord's oneness, their submission to His law and their sincerity in their intentions, their words and their deeds. Therefore, their reward will be gardens beside the palaces of which rivers flow, in which they will abide forever. God will be pleased with them and will accept their good deeds, and they will be pleased with Him and with what He will give them of immense reward. Attaining that reward and God's being pleased with them is the greatest victory.

On that Day, those who used to worship Jesus will come to know that they were deceived, first by Satan and then by humans like themselves, who prevented them from hearing the Qur'an or even mixing with Muslims so that they might hear the truth. Their good deeds will become like scattered dust, and they will feel regret at a time when regret will be to no avail.

To sum up, Jesus will not be pleased with their worship of him, for he used to instruct the people to worship God alone and not to ascribe any partner to Him.

***

At this point, a thinking man or woman may ask a logical question:

If the Biblical sources state that Jesus was human and a Prophet, that he was a servant of God, and in nowhere in the Bible he said (worship me) or said (I am the physical son of God), then why don't the Christians believe in him as such, and talk about him as such?

Where did this deviation from the teachings of the Messiah come from, and how did it ultimately lead to what the Christians believe about the Trinity and so on?

Why did the clergy of the churches say that Jesus is God, and the son of God, and one of three, and that God was made flesh and incarnated in Christ?

What is the basis on which they came up with these ideas and beliefs that are so far removed from what is mentioned in the texts of the Old and New Testaments, which we have read and which clearly state the opposite of what the churches preach?

What is their reason for not allowing their intelligent men and women to simply ask about these matters, let alone for objecting to questions and punishing those who ask, as being practiced widely in Arab churches?

Where is the application of the idea that “God is love?"

What is the reason for this?

The answer is: History proves that the message of Jesus was subjected to a vicious campaign of distortion throughout the first six centuries after he was taken up to heaven. This led to fundamental changes to his message, turning it into a different religion altogether, an idolatrous religion that has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus or the worship of God. Now we will begin to examine the stages of this distortion, so that the reader will have a clear understanding of the matter.

***

Section 3: Historical proof

This section contains historical proof to prove that the belief that Jesus is God is something that was fabricated by human beings; the same also applies to the Trinity doctrine.

The first proof has to do with the so-called apostle Paul; the second has to do with the ecumenical councils that were supported by the government of the Roman Empire.

The Twenty Eighth Proof

1. Historical proof of distortion: Paul's role in distorting the message of Jesus:[10]

· Introduction

History shows that the belief that Jesus is the physical son of God was not known to his followers until after he was taken up to heaven. The one who introduced this idea was a Jewish man called Saul, who later became known as the Apostle Paul. He fabricated this doctrine and other doctrines, and introduced them all into the original religion of Jesus, claiming that he was an apostle sent by Christ to the people. He preached these doctrines and spread them among the people, and eventually the Christians were in fact no longer following the religion of the Messiah Jesus who had brought it from God; rather they were following a deviant religion that had been invented by Paul.

Paul was originally a Jewish man – as noted above – who emerged approximately three to five years after Jesus had been taken up to heaven. He turned suddenly, without any preamble, from being a criminal enemy whose enmity towards Jesus and his message and followers was extreme, to an apostle who (allegedly) received revelation from God and from Jesus. He made five claims, as follows:

1. That he was an apostle appointed by Jesus

2. That Jesus had revealed a gospel to him

3. That Jesus was the son of God

4. That the sin of our forefather Adam and our foremother Eve – namely eating from the tree – had not been forgiven, and that human beings had inherited that sin down throughout the centuries. This is known as the “Original Sin".

5. That God sent Jesus, who came down to Earth to be crucified and tortured in order to redeem humanity from the sin of their parents Adam and Eve.

· Paul's ultimate goal was to achieve two aims:

Firstly: He aimed to destroy the religion of Jesus from within, by distorting it, twisting it and turning it into a completely different religion that was essentially different from the religion of Jesus.

Secondly: He aimed to soften the hearts of the pagan Romans towards the new religion that he designed for them, by making it in harmony with their pagan beliefs.

In order to easily achieve his aim, and avoid confrontation with the followers of Jesus, Paul first entered the religion of Jesus (outwardly), in order to deceive the true followers of Jesus. He pretended outwardly to follow and love Jesus, but inwardly he was concealing disbelief in him and his message. In other words, Paul used his hypocrisy as a cover and a starting point to begin his wide-ranging plan to destroy the message and religion of Jesus Christ.

After this brief introduction, we will move on to a detailed discussion in order to understand the role that Paul played in distorting the message of Jesus. This will be made clear in six points, which we will list briefly and then discuss in detail:

1. Paul showed great enmity towards Jesus and his followers before his conversion.

2. Paul claimed that he was an apostle appointed by Jesus, and turned suddenly from being a vicious enemy of Christ and his message to being an “apostle" who received revelation from Christ himself!

3. Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God (exalted be God far above having a son).

4. Paul claimed that Jesus was God (exalted be God far above that).

5. Paul claimed that the sin of our father Adam remained, that people inherited it from one another, and that God sent His son Jesus as a redeemer to be crucified and to die to save them from the sin of their father Adam, thus pleasing God and bringing about reconciliation between Him and humanity.

6. Paul was lying in his claim that Jesus had sent him, and in other claims that he made.

***

· Detailed discussion

1. Paul showed great enmity towards Jesus and his followers

Introduction:

Before Jesus, son of Mary, began preaching, the people in Palestine regarded him as being human like them. After he began to preach to his people, the Jews, they split into two groups in response:

The first group were people who believed in him and in his message, and they followed him. They believed that he was a prophet who had been sent by God to them.

The second group were people who rejected him, did not believe in him, were hostile towards him and accused him of being a false prophet.

The enemies of Jesus among the Jews tried hard to stir up trouble between Jesus and the Roman authorities who were ruling Palestine at that time, trying to incite the authorities to kill him. They spoke ill of him to one of the disbelieving kings who ruled at that time, and he issued orders that he be crucified and killed. So they surrounded the house in Jerusalem where he was, on a Friday afternoon, the eve of the Sabbath. The cause of that enmity was that when God sent Jesus son of Mary with clear proofs and guidance, the Jews envied him for what God had bestowed on him of prophethood and dazzling miracles, for he used to heal those born blind and the lepers, and revive the dead by God's leave; he would fashion the shape of a bird out of clay, then breathe into it so that it became a bird that could be seen flying, by God's leave. And there were other miracles with which God honored him and caused them to happen at his hands, so that the people would know that he was a prophet. But they rejected him and opposed him, and they tried to harm him by all possible means, to the extent that Jesus could not live in the same city as them; rather he and his mother Mary travelled about and hid from them in different cities. But they did not stop until they went to the imperial legate in Damascus at that time, who was a polytheist man who worshipped the stars. They told him: In Jerusalem there is a man who is causing confusion and misleading the people, turning the subjects against the governor. The legate got angry at that, and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem – whose name was Pontius Pilate – instructing him to arrest this man, crucify him and put a crown of thorns on his head, and put a stop to his bothering the people. When the letter arrived, the governor of Jerusalem complied with these instructions. He and a group of Jews went to the house where Jesus was, with a number of his disciples, of whom it was said there were twelve or thirteen, or seventeen. That happened on a Friday in the late afternoon, on the eve of the Sabbath. They surrounded him there, then when they were about to enter the house, God caused one of the disciples present to resemble Jesus, and Jesus was taken up to heaven through a gap in the roof, as the people in the house were looking on. The police came in and found that young man who had been made to look like Jesus, so they arrested him, thinking that he was Jesus. They crucified him and put a crown of thorns on his head to humiliate him; they bragged about that, and the majority of Christians believed the claim of the Jews that they had killed Christ, because they were not aware of the truth of the matter, and they had not seen what happened inside the house. Therefore, they thought the same as the Jews, that the one who had been killed and crucified was the Messiah, and thus they clearly went very far astray.[11]

Here someone may ask: Why did the Jews hate Jesus?

The answer is: The message of Jesus and his peaceful teachings were contrary to the attitude of the Jews, and their hard and arrogant hearts. When he came to them, advised them and instructed them to follow him, they accused him of being a false prophet, and they rejected the signs and miracles that confirmed his prophethood, saying that they were done with the help of the devils.

A few years after the Messiah was taken up to heaven, along came Paul, who had all the traits of the Jews, and used to persecute the followers of Jesus. So he pretended to embrace the religion of Jesus in order to gain the trust of the people, after which he hatched a terrifying scheme to corrupt the religion of Jesus by making certain claims, chief among which was his claim that Jesus was God and the son of God. Some of the people followed him in this belief, and thus there emerged a third group to be added to the two groups mentioned above.

A list of texts which prove Paul's enmity towards Jesus, his religion and his followers:

· But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. [Acts 8:3]

· For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. [Galatians 1:13]

· Paul said to King Agrippa:

“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities." [Acts 26:9-11]

· When Paul began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God, all those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn't he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" [Acts 9:20-21]

· “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

“Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." [Acts 9:1-6]

These texts, which are the words of Paul himself, clearly show how he really was before he claimed to be an apostle; he was extremely hostile towards Jesus, his religion and his followers.

2. Paul claimed that he was an apostle appointed by Christ, and he turned suddenly from being a vicious enemy of Christ and his message to being a “prophet" who received revelation from Christ himself!

· Paul said to King Agrippa:

“ 'On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads."[12]

'Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?"

'“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," the Lord replied. “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."'" [Acts 26:12-18]

· Comment

What is written in this passage, “I am sending you to them," is nothing but a claim that Paul made for himself, for which there is no proof. Anyone can make such a claim, and it will become clear that this claim was false from what he said later.

· Paul wrote to the Galatians:

“Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead… I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." [Galatians 1:1, 11-12]

Paul said:

“Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" [Acts 22:21]

And:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. [1 Timothy 1:1]

· The outcome

Some people believed Paul's claim to be an apostle sent by Christ, and that Christ had revealed a gospel to him. Thus, he acquired all the authority that Christ had, and he took his place in their view. He also pulled the rug from under the true disciples of Christ who had learned directly from Christ, because he became higher in status than them due to his claim that he was an apostle. Naturally he took the place of Christ in their view, and he gained the right to complete legislative and executive authority, able to formulate whatever doctrines he wished and to erase whatever he wished, however he pleased, and the people believed his lies. Thus, he spread his myth-based religion among the people.

The seriousness of Paul's claim that Christ had revealed a gospel to him becomes clear from the number of his epistles that are included in the New Testament, which the Christians took as part of their faith. The number of epistles in the New Testament is twenty-three, of which fourteen are attributed to him. In other words, 61% of the epistles were written by Paul. Exalted be God far above the fabrications of this man.

· A comment on the texts quoted above, which affirm that Paul made a sudden shift from being an enemy of Christ and his religion and followers, to becoming an apostle who received revelation from Christ:

Shaykh Mutwalli Yoosuf Shalabi said of Paul:

Here the reader will notice a gap, because Paul shifted suddenly from being an enemy to being an apostle, from being a hater to being a preacher of that which he used to hate.

Would God choose His apostles from among evil people or those who are opposed to His religion?

Is it possible – from a psychological point of view – that a man could shift from showing enmity towards a thing to believing in it all at once, let alone becoming one of the pillars and founders of the teachings that he used to disbelieve in, and used to kill and terrorize those who believed in those teachings?[13]

I will leave it to the reader to decide.

Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“That man who had plotted against Christianity and persecuted its followers to this great extent, suddenly embraced Christianity without any preamble or precursor."[14]

3. Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God (exalted be God far above having a son).

· “At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, 'Isn't he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?'" [Acts 9:20-21]

4. Paul claimed that Jesus was God (exalted be God far above that).

· Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [Romans 5:11]

· If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [Romans 10:9]

What was the outcome of Paul's affirmation of this creed (that Jesus is Lord and the son of God) among the Children of Israel (the Jews)?

The answer is: Christians become believing in two Gods: God the Father, and God the son. Thus, they began to offer supplication to Jesus, in addition to the Father (God), and to worship Jesus, after they had been worshipping God the Father alone. Through this distortion, polytheism (association of others with God) crept into the worship of God, and became widespread among the followers of Jesus under cover of religion.

But we should point out that this association of someone else with God in worship was not something official or compulsory at this stage. The situation remained like that, with some supporting this notion and others opposing it, until the doctrine of Christ being divine and the son of God was confirmed and imposed by force three centuries later, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, three hundred years after Jesus was taken up to heaven.

5. Paul claimed that the sin of their forefather Adam remained, that people inherited it from one another, and that God sent His son Jesus as a sacrifice to redeem them from Adam's sin by being crucified and dying, so that God would be pleased with humanity and reconciliation between Him and humanity would be attained.

· Introduction

Paul did not stop at the distortions he introduced into the clear message of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, which are represented in his claim that the Messiah is the son of God, and that the Messiah revealed a gospel to him. Rather he added another distortion, which later developed until it became one of the most central tenets of the new [Pauline] Christian religion. From the story of Adam and Eve going against the command of their Lord and eating from the tree that He had forbidden them to eat from, Paul invented the new doctrine of original sin. Paul claimed that this sin that Adam committed was a very serious sin; God did not forgive Adam and Eve for it, and no number of animal sacrifices could possibly atone for that sin. Humans had inherited that sin from one another for millennia, generation after generation, from the time of Adam; no child is born but he bears that sin, and the only way to atone for that sin is for God to send His only son Jesus to earth in human form, to be killed on the cross and thus be the sacrifice – according to Paul's claim – which would atone for humanity and cleanse them of that sin. Whoever believes that Christ is the son of God, and that God sent him to atone for humanity and cleanse them of that sin, and worships Christ, Christ will save him from that sin and its consequences; whoever does not believe in that will remain bound by his sin and his ultimate fate will be Hell.

Generations of Christians were deceived by this (flawed) notion, thinking that they had actually inherited that sin and that the only way to rid themselves of that sin was to believe that Jesus was the savior, and that Jesus would never save anyone unless he worshipped him, prayed to him, and believed that he was the son of God and the savior and redeemer from that (fabricated) sin.

The Christians actually believe in that, without giving the matter any thought, relying on the words of Paul, despite the fact that they never played any role in this supposedly inherited sin, and despite the fact that Adam repented from his sin and God forgave him. Thus, the matter of that sin ended there and then, many centuries ago, and that sin no longer existed at all!

The specialist researcher, Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya (may Allah preserve him) said:

Based on what was widely believed about the Jews having killed Christ on the cross, Paul turned that incident into one of the most important articles of faith in the new religion that he slowly began to develop and shape on the remains of the original message of Christ, focusing on the two doctrines mentioned above that he fabricated, namely the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine that Christ is divine and the son of God.

Paul claimed that since God's attributes include justice and mercy, His justice dictated that He should punish all of humanity for that first sin, which was passed down from their parents, Adam and Eve. His mercy dictated that He should forgive humanity for that sin, but since it was so immense, no sacrifice of sheep, cattle or other animals, no matter how great in number, could atone for it. There was no other way for God (glorified and exalted be He far above what they say) to atone for that sin on behalf of humanity, reconcile His justice with His mercy, and bring about conciliation with humankind except by sending His only son Jesus. Thus, Jesus was incarnated in human form and came down to Earth to be humiliated, made to suffer and killed on the cross. He was content to be a sacrifice, or the redeemer or savior who offered himself to save all those who believe that Jesus is the only son of God, and that he was killed on the cross to ransom them from that sin by offering himself, and to reconcile them with his Father, God (glorified and exalted be He far above what they say),Who was angry with them.

Paul also claimed that three days and nights after Jesus was buried, he rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples and others. Forty days later, he was taken up to heaven and seated at the right hand of God, and he will return to earth once more, to bring the living and the dead to account.

This is the explanation and argument on which Paul based his claim that Jesus, son of Mary, was divine. He presented Jesus to the European pagans and other peoples of the Roman Empire, not as a Prophet sent by God to the Children of Israel, but as the son of God, who came down to Earth to be humiliated and killed on the cross in order to redeem them by offering himself as a sacrifice, to save them from the wrath of his Father, God, so that God might forgive them for the sin of their forefather Adam and their foremother Eve, which they had inherited from them in what was known as the original sin.

With these pagan beliefs, the numbers of European pagans and others who entered this new religion increased, as it was close to their own concepts and beliefs, and what they were used to; this new religion later became known as Christianity.[15]

A selection of quotes from Paul which prove that the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine of redemption came from him and were not part of the teachings of the Messiah:

· And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. [Romans 3:24-25]

· But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [Romans 5:8-11]

· If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [Romans 10:9]

· For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," [1 Corinthians 15:3-4]

· But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. [Galatians 4:4-5]

· Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written:“Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." [Galatians 3:13]

· Comment:

From the quotations of Paul's words given above, it is clear that he is the author of this doctrine, namely the doctrine of original sin and redemption, and that these doctrines do not come from God. If they had indeed come from God, then Jesus himself would have affirmed them, and that would have been narrated from him in the words that are attributed to him in the Gospels. But that is not the case.

This also demonstrates that the doctrine of the crucifixion of Christ, which was taught by Paul, is also false, because he claimed that Christ came down to earth to be crucified, humiliated, killed and buried.

The truth that was affirmed in the Bible, and then in the Qur'an, is that God took the Messiah up to heaven without him being harmed.[16]

· Note

Think about Paul's hatred for the Torah, and how he described the Law (that is, the Torah) as being a curse.

Think also about how he described Christ as a curse, as he spoke of him “becoming a curse for us." [Galatians 3:13]!

Then after that, this man said, in order to deceive people, that Christ had revealed to him that he was an apostle whom Christ had sent to the people.

How strange it is that the Christians venerate him and believe in his claim that he was an apostle sent by God and by Christ!

· Important summary of Paul's role in distorting the religion of the Messiah

Paul turned the people's beliefs about Jesus from the belief that he was a prophet, sent by God with a message connected to the law of Moses and addressed to his people, the Children of Israel, alone, to the belief that Jesus is the son of God who was incarnated in human form and came down to Earth.

Moreover, Paul presented this belief to the Roman pagans, the subjects of the Roman Empire, who originally believed in a number of gods who came down to Earth and lived among the people in human form. They had believed before in gods who had human children, so it was easy for them to accept the new belief and additional god (Jesus), who came down from heaven, lived among the people, and then was killed on the cross. The Romans had no reservations whatsoever about what Paul told them, because the belief that he presented was similar to their own beliefs and concepts, and it would not take much effort to convince them to add this idea to the beliefs that they already held.

At the end of this book you will find a section which discusses the beliefs of the Romans at that time, before they entered the religion presented to them by Paul, so that it will become clearer to the reader how Paul, with his subtle and devious scheme, was able to kill two birds with one stone: corrupting the religion of Jesus on the one hand, and bringing the Romans into this corrupt new religion that he invented, on the other hand.

What made it easy for Paul to bring about this distortion was the fact that there was no one to deter him. Jesus did not have a state to protect him and support his religion, for the pagan Romans were the ones who had power, whereas the disciples of Jesus were in a state of fear and panic, having scattered after the Jews, supported by the Roman police, had attacked the place where Jesus was. Thus, Jesus' presence on earth ended suddenly, and this violence was an immense psychological shock to the disciples and followers of Jesus, who were weak in physical, psychological and academic terms; not one disciple among them had any power or status, such that the others could turn to him. The main concern of each of them was to save his own skin, lest he be tortured and pursued by the authorities if he continued to spread the teachings of Jesus after he had been taken up to heaven. Thus, the disciples gave up the idea of preaching altogether, which led to the message faltering in its spread at the public level. This gave Paul the opportunity to begin to spread his corrupt and distorted teachings, which outwardly bore the name of Christ but in reality completely contradicted the teachings and religion of Jesus.

6. Paul was lying in his claim that Jesus had sent him, and in other claims that he made; this may be explained in nine points, as follows:

[1]

Paul changed his name from Saul to Paul the Apostle. Why did he change his name?

[2]

If Paul was really an apostle, he would have completed the preaching that Jesus had started, and he would have conveyed the teachings of Jesus without alteration; he would have taught the people the Torah and the revelation revealed to Jesus, and he would not have come up with something new. But in fact, he brought new laws and new beliefs that were contrary to the teachings of Jesus, namely: the divinity of Christ, the notion that Christ was the son of God, his claim that Christ had sent him, his denial that Jesus was a prophet, the doctrine of original sin, and the crucifixion.

This indicates that Paul was lying when he claimed to be an apostle sent by Christ, because he completely undid and demolished what Jesus had preached. How could Paul be an apostle sent by Christ, when he destroyed the message that Jesus had brought?

In fact, Jesus had not foretold the coming of Paul. The four Gospels, written by people who came after Jesus, bear witness to that. In the Gospel of Matthew, there are three texts in which Jesus warned against those who would claim to be prophets after he was gone. (See Matthew 7:15-16, 24:11, 24:4-5.)

· Note

The Gospels foretold the coming of the true Prophet, namely Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam. There are nearly thirty texts in the Gospels and other Biblical texts which foretell his coming.[17]

[3]

If what Paul said was true, that Christ was the son of God, Jesus would have spoken of that himself, for it would be more appropriate for him to do so than Paul, as it would be an honor for him, if it was true, and Jesus did not and would never conceal the truth from people and leave it for those who came after him to disclose it, especially since Jesus came to guide the people.

[4]

Jesus was a prophet from God. Based on that, he did not have the authority or power to appoint anyone by himself, because the selection of prophets is something that is only for God, and not for the prophet. God chooses and selects prophets from among the people as He wills, otherwise what is the role of God then?

Based on that, Paul's claim that he was an apostle sent by Christ is pure fabrication.

[5]

The prophets are the elite and the best of mankind. Jesus was born of a pure and pious mother, namely Mary, the daughter of 'Imran. 'Imran was a good and righteous man who was devoted to worship; his lineage went back to Israel (Jacob), a prophet and righteous man.

As for Paul, he was a man who had the blood of the righteous on his hands, for he had imprisoned them and tortured them, so how could he be an apostle?

[6]

Another indication that Paul was lying in his claim to be an apostle is his character. In his view, the ends justified the means, so in order to achieve his aims, he would do anything. This opportunistic character is not the character of a prophet – far be it from them to have such an attitude, for the prophets are the purest of people in heart. Rather Paul exposed his character when he said:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.[1 Corinthians 9:19-23]

· Comment

Are such words appropriate for an apostle who was sent from God?

Or are they more appropriate for an opportunist of the first degree?

Paul clearly stated that he would change his colors according to the interest he hoped to achieve.

Thus, with those who believed in the Torah, he would pretend that he was with them, in order to win them. With those who did not believe in the Torah, he would pretend that he was not one of those who believed in it, in order to win them.

[7]

One of the proofs that Paul was lying is the fact that the message of Jesus was addressed to the Children of Israel only. As for Paul, he widened the circle on his own initiative, and called the Roman pagans to his religion that he invented, claiming that the religion of Jesus was universal and for all people, so that they would enter it. Jesus said:

I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. [Matthew 15:24]

On the other hand, Paul claims that God said to him:

“Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles." [Acts 22:21]

Look at the difference between the words of Jesus, the true Prophet, and the words of Paul, the false apostle.

From this, the lies and fabrications of Paul will become clear.

[8]

Another proof that Paul deceived people and distorted the religion of Jesus is that he made many religious compromises, by gradually abolishing teachings mentioned in the Torah in order to encourage the new people to whom he was preaching – namely the Roman pagans – to enter his religion, so that it would not be difficult for them to do so. He began by abolishing the law of circumcision for male pagans in his Epistle to the Galatians (6:15). He made it permissible for Jews to eat meat slaughtered by pagans, and to eat pork, and he permitted mixed marriages between Jews and pagans. He also abolished all painstaking methods of physical purification that are enjoined in the Torah. All of this was aimed at attracting the Romans to enter the new religion that he presented to them, because they did not have any inclination to follow the divinely-revealed laws and teachings, for they were pagans and idol-worshippers who did not have any understanding of what is permissible and what is prohibited, and they did not believe in the prophets. So Paul waived the law of the Torah for them, so as to encourage them to enter his religion.

By doing this, Paul was making himself a “lord", prescribing whatever laws he wanted and waiving whatever he wanted, and was not acting only as a prophet, as he claimed, for prescription of what is prohibited and permitted comes from God, not from the prophet; the role of the prophet is only to convey the law from God, not to introduce a new system of laws or to change and alter an existing system of laws as Paul did.

Then came the second major step, when this man abolished what remained of the Torah in order to remove this huge obstacle that was preventing the pagans from entering his religion that he had invented for them, building it on the ruins of the religion of Jesus. He said in his Epistle to the Romans:

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. [Romans 7:6-7]

· Comment

As you see, Paul did not stop at abolishing the Torah; rather he accused it of being the source of knowledge about right and wrong, as he says: “I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law."

[9]

One of the greatest proofs of Paul's deceiving the people is the fact that his abolishing of the Torah is contrary to the purpose for which Jesus came. Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the Torah; rather he came to fulfill it and complete it, as it is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew that he said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, 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. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." [Matthew 5:17-19]

If Jesus warned against merely changing one letter or the least stroke of a pen in the Torah and the revelation revealed to him, and said that whoever did that would be called least in the kingdom of heaven and earth, then what can we say about Paul, who abolished the Torah in its entirety?

Paul's abolishing of the Torah, in and of itself, is regarded as a great betrayal of the religion of Jesus, and it is indicative of Paul's lies. Would that the Christian clergy were aware of that and taught it to the people, instead of following in the footsteps of the bishops and misleading the people who follow them (their flocks), for that only increases their sin and will incur punishment for all of them on the Day of Resurrection.

· The painful consequences of Paul's role

With these wicked lies and this great Jewish plot, Paul was able to turn the religion of Jesus upside down, and introduce into it that which was not part of it, changing the religion of Jesus from monotheism (affirming the oneness of God) to polytheism (associating others with Him). Unfortunately, the response of the majority of Christians was to believe Paul's claims, and they began to follow him blindly; this has continued up to the present day. The followers of Christ gave up worship of the Creator, namely God, and instead turned to worship of created beings, namely the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, and his mother; they turned from veneration of God and describing Him as having no need of His creation, to describing Him as needing them, based on the claim that He had taken a son from among His creation.

Finally, we may sum up the role of Paul in distorting the religion of Jesus in the following five points:

1. Paul claimed to be an apostle appointed by Jesus.

2. Paul claimed that Jesus had revealed a gospel to him.

3. Paul claimed that Jesus was the son of God.

4. Paul claimed that the sin of our father Adam and our mother Eve was not forgiven, and that this sin was passed down from generation to generation; this is known as Original Sin.

5. Paul claimed that God sent Jesus down to earth to be tortured and crucified as a ransom for humanity from the sin of their parents Adam and Eve.

Thus, Paul brought the Christian masses out of the true religion of Christ, which called people to worship God alone and not to worship anything or anyone except Him, to a religion that has nothing to do with the religion of Christ at all; rather it is idolatry, which is the worship of idols, (inanimate objects that are lifeless, such as rocks, images, graves and crosses) and the worship of humans (such as Jesus, his mother, the saints and the clergy).

In brief: the religion of Jesus was turned by Paul from worship of the Creator to worship of created beings, from following the true prophet – namely Jesus – to following a false prophet – namely Paul.

Paul continued his mission (the mission to distort the religion of Jesus) for more than thirty years after Jesus had been taken up into heaven. His mission began between three and five years after Jesus had been taken up into heaven; in other words, between 33-38 CE, approximately, and it lasted until 67 CE. Thus, his mission lasted for approximately thirty years, until he was executed in Rome by the Emperor Nero, who accused the Christians of burning the city of Rome. Nero executed Paul and, alongside him, Peter, the senior disciple of Christ, according to the description of him given in the Gospels; they were executed by crucifixion. Then Nero began to torture the Christians in various ways, such as feeding them to hungry dogs or pouring oil on them and turning them into torches to light the gates of his palace.

See how God punished Paul in this world, and how his enmity towards Jesus and his religion ultimately backfired on him, and imagine how his sin of distorting the religion of Jesus and misleading many people away from the true religion of Jesus resulted in painful punishment to himself in this world. In the beginning, he used to torture and imprison the followers of Jesus, then he entered the religion of Jesus hypocritically, in order to corrupt the religion from within and make it a religion suited to the pagans, so that they would embrace it. But in the end, God punished him at their hands, as the head of the pagans (Nero) utterly crushed him.

Thus ended the first stage of the distortion of the religion of Jesus, which happened at the hands of Paul. Therefore, Paul and the clergy who came after him, who spread his religion will bear the responsibility and carry the burden of sin of those generations who embrace his religion because of them until the Day of Resurrection. So let the wise priest (or anyone who preaches this doctrine) think about where he is taking the people – to heaven or to hell?[18]

· Note

There is nothing strange about how fast Paul was able to spread his corruption, which he achieved within thirty years, because it was corruption from within. This man pretended to enter the religion of Jesus and claimed that he was an apostle sent by God, and the people believed him. He introduced his corrupt ideas, which the people accepted, and he corrupted the clear and pure religion of Jesus, who had called people to worship God alone, and mixed it with pagan beliefs in the name of Jesus. This audacious corruption is nothing strange on the part of the Jews, because they are the ones who had plotted to kill Jesus, and what audacity could be greater than that? If they were capable of that, how could they not have had the audacity to corrupt his religion?

· The status of Paul in Christianity

Based on the above, Paul is the true founder of the Christian religion in its current form, and the Christians are his true followers in word and deed; they are not truly following the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, even though they are called Christians in reference to Christ (the Messiah).[19] Paul is the one who sowed the seeds which were watered by the ecumenical councils later on, with the support of the Romans, leading to further distortion and misguidance. Paul was the first calamity that befell the religion of Jesus, for he is the one who corrupted it and changed its framework to one that is entirely pagan, as is reflected in the worship of idols, rocks, statues, images, crosses, and individuals such as prophets and saints.

Gustave le Bon said:

St. Paul had a very vivid imagination, and his mind was filled with memories of Greek philosophy and Eastern religions. He established a religion in the name of Jesus, which Jesus himself would not have understood if he were alive.[20]

And he said:

Paul founded in the name of Jesus a religion which Jesus would not have understood if he were alive, and if it were said to the twelve disciples that God was incarnated in Jesus, they would not have understood this scandalous notion, and they would have raised their voices in protest.[21]

Michael Hart wrote, “St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament."[22]

Based on the above, the founder of the Christian religion in its present form is definitely Paul and not Jesus.

· The Christians' attitude towards Paul

The Christians venerate Paul and believe that he was indeed an apostle, as he himself said; they consider him an apostle to the Gentiles and a saint. Many churches are dedicated to him, such as the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome, which is the second largest church in the city, containing many carvings and much architectural embellishment. At the entrance to the church, there is a large statue of Paul. All of that has nothing whatsoever to do with the original religion of Jesus, because Jesus came to bring people forth from the worship of anything other than God to the worship of God alone, and to apply the teachings of his revelation. But his religion was changed to what you see now; it changed to the worship of images, statues and icons, and in some churches, cups of wine are passed around. All of that is contrary to the religion and teachings of Jesus.

· The attitude of Jesus' earliest followers towards Paul

For a while, the early followers of Jesus lived in accordance with the sound belief that Jesus had taught them, but during that time they suffered a great deal of persecution from the Jews, especially from Paul, who went to extremes in his persecution of the Christians, the followers of Jesus. When he found that violence had not yielded any results, and would never do so, he resorted to the tactic of hypocrisy. Therefore, he claimed to believe in Jesus and strove to learn his teachings, until he became one of the most knowledgeable among them. After that, he lied to them and said that Christ had revealed a gospel to him, and some of them believed him. Then he began his wicked mission, the aim of which was to distort the religion of Jesus by introducing into it that which was not part of it. He invented a new doctrine, saying that Jesus was the son of God, then he introduced the doctrine of original sin, then the doctrine of redemption. Many of the followers of Jesus opposed him, as is indicated by what Paul said of himself in the Second Epistle to Timothy:

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me... [2 Timothy 1:15]

In the same Epistle, he said:

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. [2 Timothy 4:16]

***

The Twenty ninth Proof

Further historical proof of distortion: the role of the ecumenical councils in distorting the message of Jesus[23]

We noted above, in point number 28, the clear historical role played by the Jew Saul (who later called himself Paul) in distorting the religion of Jesus, and this represents the first historical stage in the distortion of the religion of Jesus.

Here we will describe briefly the second historical stage, in which ten further distortions were made by ecumenical councils which were attended by large numbers of bishops, patriarchs and clergy. Nine of these distortions occurred within the first nine centuries, under the auspices of the Roman state and its successors. The Roman state collapsed at the end of the fifth century, due to decline and disintegration, and the Catholic Church dominated Europe for the next ten centuries; this period is known as the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages. Then, at the beginning of the sixteenth century CE, the final great schism in the Catholic Church occurred, and the Protestant faction emerged. This was the tenth and last distortion of the religion of Jesus up until now. God knows best whether there will be any further distortions and divisions in the future.

· The first ecclesiastical distortion, which was the second calamity to befall the religion of Jesus (after the first calamity caused by the distortions introduced by Paul)

At the beginning of the fourth century CE, conflicts and disputes intensified among the Christian bishops about the nature of Christ and whether he was human or divine. An Egyptian priest called Arius had presented to his church his view that God was one and had no son, and he supported that view with sound, rational proof. A dispute arose in the Egyptian church and then spread to the church in Rome, and there were many disputes among the Christian clergy, between those who supported this idea and those who opposed it. The Roman Empire was in power at that time and had not yet embraced the Christian religion; they were still pagan and worshipped a number of gods, such as gods of agriculture, gods of warfare, gods of livestock, and so on. They did not believe in any prophet or in any divinely revealed religion.

The Roman Emperor, Constantine, decided to try to bridge the gap, which could divide the people under his rule and undermine internal security. He ordered that a general council of bishops and patriarchs be held in one of his palaces in the city of Nicaea – near what is now the city of Istanbul – to discuss these contentious issues and resolve them, and to come up with a unified decision before the conflict spread further and spiraled out of control, which could lead to the breakup of his state from within. This council was held in 325 CE and the number of attendees was 2048, of whom 318 (approximately 16 %) believed that Jesus was divine, whereas the remainder, 1730 (84 %) believed that Jesus was human.

Since Constantine's religious belief was pagan from the outset, he was inclined to favor the view that Jesus was divine and the son of God, even though its supporters were fewer in number. He fully supported that view, and after meeting for more than three months, the Council determined that Christ was divine and the son of God. They made that statement part of the Christian code of faith (creed) that was issued by the Council. Thus, those who believed in the divinity of Christ gained the upper hand, with the support of the emperor, after they had been in the minority. Finally, Paul's version of Christianity officially prevailed, approximately three centuries after his death.

With this decision, Constantine united his internal front at the expense of the original religion of Jesus, in order to unite his realm and put a stop to this dispute. This is nothing strange on the part of such rulers, whose aim is to justify the means, for his goal was to unite the church and put an end to its divisions, so that he could then focus on confronting competitors for power from within and enemies from without. His decision was not based on any conviction about this doctrine, for he was not even Christian at that time; he did that because division in the Christian community would weaken his state from within, and he wanted to put a stop to that. Constantine banned the view suggested by Arius, that Jesus was human and not divine; he exiled Arius and those with him, and declaring them his opponents, outlaws who were going against the public order of the Roman Empire. He ordered Arius' books burned; if anyone kept any of his writings, his punishment was execution.

This decision was the second calamity that befell the religion of Jesus (after the calamity of Paul's distortion of it). Constantine gave these distortions an official status and supported them with his authority; this had not been the case previously.

It may be noted that Constantine did this before he had embraced Christianity.

It may also be noted that Constantine's imposition of his decision was limited to the Christian community because the dispute was limited to them. They were like a community with its own religion that was living in the midst of the pagan Roman Empire. The Romans – who were the majority –continued to follow their own religion until Constantine became a Christian, a few years after the Council of Nicaea, and imposed Christianity on all the inhabitants of the Empire, as we shall see below.

It may also be noted that Constantine imposed the doctrine that Christ was divine despite the fact that those who held this view were a minority in the Christian community (approximately 16%), in contrast to those who believed that God was one in His essence, and had no son, who formed 84 % of the total number of attendees of the Council of Nicaea. Constantine chose the minority view and imposed it by force on the Christians because it was closer to his pagan belief, which stated that gods came down from heaven. Hence he naturally preferred it to the other view.

Will and Ariel Durant said:

Due to the efforts of Constantine, Christianity became both a state and a religion. It became a vessel into which was poured European literary and intellectual life for fourteen centuries.[24]

· Note

The Council of Nicaea could not erase the belief in the oneness of God that the bishop Arius promoted. Monotheism was the dominant view among the Christians in Constantinople, Antioch, Babylon, Alexandria, Asyut, Jerusalem, Caesarea (in Palestine) and Tyre. The non-monotheistic bishops began to gain control over the Christians through what they claimed to see of visions and dreams, until the monotheistic view disappeared,[25] and there was nothing left except belief in the divinity of Christ.[26]

How strange it is that the bishops did not come to agree on the idea that Christ was the son of God until three hundred years after Jesus had ascended to heaven!

Is it possible that this doctrine could have been correct after such a long period of time, when it was not correct during the time when Jesus lived on earth?

· Other decisions of the Council of Nicaea

We have noted above that the main decision of the Council of Nicaea was adopting belief in the divinity of Christ, and that he was the son of God. Other human-made decisions were also taken on this occasion, which also undermined the religion of Jesus. They were:

[1]

Only four Gospels were adopted as canonical, which are the first four books of the New Testament. Other Gospels, of which there were more than seventy – including the Gospels of those who affirmed the oneness of God, such as the Gospel of Barnabas – were regarded as fabricated and not canonical; they were banned and were to be burned immediately. The Christians were forbidden to read them, and the punishment for anyone in whose possession they were found was execution.

[2]

This Council recognized only sixteen Epistles of those whom they called apostles. The Council regarded them as valid, whether with regard to their contents or with regard to their attribution to their authors, and they included them with the four Gospels (in the New Testament). All other epistles were regarded as fabrications that were falsely attributed to their alleged authors.

Subsequent councils added seven more epistles to the New Testament that had been rejected by the Council of Nicaea, which had declared them to be fabricated and falsely attributed to their alleged authors.

[3]

The Council of Nicaea rejected some books of the Old Testament – which is the Torah and books that are connected to it – as they regarded them as fabricated and falsely attributed to their authors. After that, other councils reinstated those books.

[4]

Those who disagreed with the decisions of this Council were anathematized, banished and excommunicated. Foremost among them was the monotheist Egyptian bishop Arius, who believed in the oneness of God. His books were burned and those in whose possession they were found were executed.

[5]

It was determined that monks could not be married. This decision was contrary to sound human nature, and was the cause of innumerable tragedies and sexual problems for those monks.

The Qur'an mentions the Christian monks, who imposed strict rules of their own invention on themselves which had no basis in the original true revelation to Jesus or even in the Gospels, including the prohibition on marriage:

As for monasticism, We did not prescribe it for them; they invented it, seeking thereby the pleasure of Allah, but they did not observe it faithfully.[al-Hadeed 57:27]

What this verse means is: those who claimed to be followers of Jesus invented monasticism by going to extremes in worship that God did not enjoin upon them; rather they are the ones who imposed it on themselves, with the aim of pleasing God. But in fact, this monasticism has nothing to do with pleasing God, because God did not enjoin that on the lips of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. How could doing something that God did not enjoin be a means of pleasing Him?

· The third calamity to befall the religion of Jesus: Constantine becomes Christian and imposes Christianity by force on Roman society

Constantine became a Christian a few years after the Council of Nicaea, leaving behind his old religion, which was pure paganism. This in turn led to huge support for Christianity, which was strengthened thereby. The first instance of that was when he imposed the embrace of Christianity on all inhabitants of the Empire, even though Jesus himself was only sent to the Children of Israel, not to the Romans, as he said:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." [Matthew 15:24]

The Christian historian Sa'eed ibn al-Batreeq mentions a historical note having to do with Constantine's use of his power as ruler to spread Christianity:

When the Emperor Constantine became a Christian a few years after the Council of Nicaea, he issued orders that the idols be broken and those who worshipped them be executed, and he limited positions of leadership in the army to Christians only.

Then he issued orders that a search be made for the gravesite and cross of Jesus. His mother Helena undertook this mission herself; she travelled to Jerusalem, where she built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which still exists until today, on the site where it is claimed that Christ was buried for three days, before rising from his grave. Hence this church is known as the Church of the Resurrection [it is also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre].[27]

Helena looked for the cross on which it was claimed that Christ had been crucified, which had been buried. She brought it back to her son, the Emperor Constantine, after wrapping it in gold. Then the Emperor Constantine issued orders that the Jews be expelled from Jerusalem, and orders to kill anyone who did not become a Christian. Many of the Jews and pagans became Christians, and the Christian religion prevailed.[28]

I say: This was a new development for Christianity at the time of Constantine. After the Council of Nicaea, Constantine wiped out the belief that Christ was human, which Arius had tried to promote, and instead promoted the belief that Christ was both God and the son of God. This action of Constantine's did not, however, affect the majority of Christians who were under the care of the church, but after he became a Christian, he began to force all people to become Christian, by which I mean the Roman pagans who had not yet become Christian.

· The second ecclesiastical distortion of the religion of Jesus after the Emperor Theodosius I becomes Christian and there is a mixture between Christianity and Roman paganism

In 380 CE, there began the rule of the Emperor Theodosius I, who embraced Christianity, and thus the Roman Empire officially embraced Christianity in its new form, that had been tailored by Paul and adopted and supported by Constantine. This opened the door fully for the pagan peoples of the Roman Empire to enter Christianity, even though they were not among the Children of Israel to whom the original message of Jesus had been addressed, as we have mentioned above. They entered the new religion in crowds, voluntarily or otherwise, for there was no other choice when confronted with the Emperor's sword except to become Christian. So those millions of people, with their beliefs, rituals and traditions (such as worshipping images, statues and so on), entered the Christian religion, which made matters worse and the introduction of distortions to the religion of Jesus increased greatly. There was more mixing between Christianity and pagan Roman beliefs, and this was the fourth calamity to befall the religion of Jesus, after the distortion of Paul (the first calamity), then Constantine's support for Paul's distortion, which he made church law (the second calamity), then Constantine's becoming a Christian himself and imposing Christianity on Roman society by force (the third calamity).

· The third ecclesiastical distortion

During the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I, a new, fifth, calamity befell the religion of Jesus, furthering the distortion thereof. New theological disputes arose concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit, and his connection to the Father and Son. Until that time, the people had believed in two gods, namely the Father and the Son (God and Christ, according to their beliefs). When the disputes referred to above, concerning the Holy Spirit and his nature arose, the Emperor Theodosius I held a meeting with one hundred and fifty leading Christian clergy, including cardinals, patriarchs and bishops. He brought them together in the First Council of Constantinople, which took place in 381 CE. This was the second Council, after the Council of Nicaea. The Emperor ordered them to discuss and resolve this newly-arisen dispute, and they came up with a new doctrine, the doctrine of the Trinity, which is the belief that God is three persons, namely the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In brief, the pure religion of Jesus, which called people to believe in the oneness of God and worship Him alone, was turned into a belief in Trinity, which is the belief that God is three persons. There is a vast difference between these two beliefs.

· The fourth ecclesiastical distortion

In 431 CE, a sixth calamity befell the religion of Jesus, with the emergence of Nestorius, who was the patriarch of the Church of Constantinople. He came up with a doctrine which said that Christ, Jesus son of Mary, had two natures: divine and human, which were separate from one another.

What this implied was that Mary did not give birth to the divine Jesus; rather she gave birth to the human Jesus!

So she was the mother of the human Jesus, not the mother of a divine Jesus.

As a result of this, there was a fierce debate among the senior Christian clergy, who decided to hold a council to examine the doctrine of the patriarch Nestorius. In the same year, a council was held in the city of Ephesus in what is now Turkey, which was called the First Council of Ephesus. It was attended by two hundred patriarchs and bishops, who decided that Christ had two natures, divine and human, but these two natures were united and mixed, and were not separate as Nestorius believed. Based on that, Mary was the mother of the divine Jesus just as she was the mother of the human Jesus.

When Nestorius insisted on his doctrine, they dismissed him from his post as patriarch and anathematized him.

But the doctrine of Nestorius spread in Syria, Iraq and Persia, and the followers of this doctrine are called Nestorians, after the patriarch Nestorius, who died around 450 CE.

· Comment on the doctrine of Christ having two natures, which was propagated by Nestorius

This doctrine, which Nestorius came up with, was based on a myth, as it was originally based on another mythical doctrine, namely the doctrine that God was incarnated in Christ, which was thought up by Paul. We have discussed this doctrine above and explained that it is false. Moreover, there are four further reasons why this doctrine is false:

Firstly: assuming that God was incarnated in Christ (exalted be God far above that), then what could rule out the nature of Christ being one thing and the nature of God being something else?

Based on what Nestorius affirmed, the body is one thing and the nature is something different.

Was Nestorius a god who had knowledge of the unseen?

The issue of having one nature or two natures is regarded as a matter of the unseen, which eyes cannot see.

This highlights the role of the clergy and patriarchs in distorting the religion of Jesus by subjecting matters of the unseen to their own rational thinking and trying hard to understand them. Thus, they went astray and led astray those who listened to them. Exalted be God far above their fabrications and lies.

Secondly, this idea (that Christ had two natures) would imply that his divine nature depends on his human nature, and this is false, because how can what is divine depend on what is human?

Thirdly: their notion that Christ had two natures in one body is very self-contradictory. One essence cannot have both divine attributes and human attributes at the same time, because they are diametrically opposed to one another. God has attributes of perfection and humans have attributes of imperfection, so it is not possible that God could know everything and not know everything at the same time.

Fourthly: another indication that this claim (the claim that Christ may be divided into divine and human) is baseless is the fact that this was a novel claim that Jesus did not teach to the Children of Israel. If it were true, he would definitely have taught it to them, because that would be an honour for him, and it is something for which there would be a strong motive and reason to transmit it so that people would know it, and they should not be left unaware of this matter until it became known four centuries later. Therefore, it is an invented doctrine that was introduced by people approximately four hundred years after Jesus was taken up to heaven, and it was not known before that.

· The fifth ecclesiastical distortion

In 449 CE, a new, seventh calamity befell the original religion of Jesus, when Dioscurus, the patriarch of the Alexandrian church, came up with a new doctrine, which said that Christ had a twofold nature, both human and divine, in which the human element was united with the divine element, thus forming one entity, namely Christ.

Dioscurus held the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 CE, which approved of this doctrine, but other churches – namely the Eastern Church of Constantinople and the Catholic Church in Rome – objected to this decision, thus increasing the divisions in the Christian religion between the churches and clergy.

· The sixth ecclesiastical distortion – the Council of Chalcedon

In 451 CE, the Pope of the Catholic Church, Leo I, along with six hundred Christian clergy, held a Council in the city of Chalcedon, on the shore of the Sea of Marmara in what is now Turkey. They annulled what had been agreed upon in the First Council of Ephesus in 431 CE, and anathematized the patriarch of Alexandria and those who supported him.

That resulted in the patriarch of Alexandria becoming extremely angry, and the Coptic Church split from the Catholic Church and from the Eastern Church in Constantinople; thus the divisions between Christian sects were exacerbated.

· The seventh ecclesiastical distortion

In 543 CE, there appeared a priest whose name was Jacob Baradaeus (in Arabic, Ya'qoob al-Baraadi'i), who promoted the doctrine that Christ had one nature, which had been promoted earlier by Dioscurus. Many people followed him, who later became known by the name of Jacobites. Thus, there occurred a new split among the Christians, with the formation of this sect, the Jacobites, who are known in other languages as Orthodox.

· The eighth ecclesiastical distortion

In 680 CE, the patriarch of Antioch, whose name was John Maron (or Maroun), came up with a new doctrine to explain the nature of Christ, or so he thought. He said that Christ had two natures and one will, because the two natures were united in one person. The Church of Constantinople and the Catholic Church opposed him, and held a council which was attended by two hundred and eighty bishops. They determined that Christ had two natures and two wills, and they excommunicated and anathematized the patriarch Maron. The Church of Antioch split, and Maron was persecuted, so he fled to Mount Lebanon. His followers are called the Maronites, and this sect still exists today.

· The ninth ecclesiastical distortion

In 869 CE, the Fourth Council of Constantinople decided that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, and not only from the Father, as was decided in the First Council of Constantinople in 381 CE.

· The tenth ecclesiastical distortion, which appeared at the beginning of the sixteenth century CE and subsequently

A brief overview:

This ecclesiastical distortion occurred as a result of purely historical circumstances, and may be summed up in four stages:

The first stage: The collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

The second stage: The Catholic Church's abusive domination of European society for ten centuries.

The third stage: The discovery of the New World (the Americas) at the end of the fifteenth century, and Australia and New Zealand later on.

The fourth stage: The emergence of the Protestant sect in the New World.

In more detail:

The first stage: The collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

When the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 CE, and the Catholic Church took its place, the Pope became the actual ruler of Italy and other regions in which Roman rule had collapsed. The influence and control of the church increased, and the church became a supporter of the kings of Europe; thus, the church had a hold over them, and in return the kings gave money to the church, which they earned from the people's labour. Any king who objected to the Pope might lose his life, not only his throne.

Among the most significant forms of this domination and control of the Catholics were the following:

[1]

Invention of the doctrine of indulgences,[29] through which the clergy aimed to accumulate wealth. In the Lateran Council that was held in 1215 CE, they claimed that Jesus had granted the Catholic Church in Rome the authority to sell indulgences,[30] so if someone wanted his sins to be forgiven, all he had to do was buy an indulgence from the church, and he would go to heaven when he died, whilst the wealth would go to line the pockets of the clergy.

With this doctrine, the clergy set themselves up as God, for no one forgives sins but He; exalted be God far above their lies.

[2]

Another example of corruption in the church was depravity between monks and nuns. There is no need to discuss this again here. It is widespread until today in Catholic and Orthodox sects in Arab churches. In western churches, a lot of the depravity today is between priests and men or boys.

[3]

The church used force and suppression, one of the outcomes of which was that they regarded any view that contradicted their own – even in the natural sciences, such as astronomy or other fields of knowledge that are not the specialty of the church – as disbelief and rejection of Christian teachings. Based on that, they would decree punishments that might go as far as execution for anyone who did that, whether the doer was a ruler or a subject.

One example of how powerful and dominant the church was is the fact that during the papacy of Gregory IX, in 1213 CE, the Catholic Church set up courts that were known as Inquisition courts. The Inquisition was a vicious, suppressive system the like of which history had never seen before; it would investigate anyone who went against the church, and if the claims against him were proven, he would be subjected to torture with fire until his fat and flesh melted, then his property would be confiscated by the church.

The church would send out spies to talk to the women in their houses, and if a woman told the church representative of any infraction against the church on her husband's part which was then proven, then a terrible fate awaited him.

Jews and Muslims were also subjected to persecution by the Spanish Inquisition; the number of its Jewish and Muslim victims is estimated at 350,000 between 1481 and 1808 CE.

The second stage: The Catholic Church's domination of European society for ten centuries and the story of the collapse of that domination

The church's domination of Europe at the end of the fifth century CE marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, in Europe, which lasted for approximately one thousand years, until the end of the fourteenth century CE, when protests arose against the domination and oppression of the church.

The story of the protests against the church, in brief: With the dawn of the fifteenth century CE, objections and protests began against what people saw of financial and moral corruption in the Catholic Church among the popes and cardinals, some of which have been mentioned above. The people could no longer tolerate that terrifying oppression and dreadful suppression. These objections began as a natural consequence of church suppression, and progressed in secret, peacefully and calmly. They began among the lesser clergy, some of whom objected to the church's claim to have the authority to forgive sins, whether that was through confession to the priest or through indulgences. Some of them objected to the doctrine which said that Christ's death on the cross was an atonement for the sin of Adam, saying that that was not the way to please God and attain His forgiveness for that sin. Some of them called for allowing priests and nuns to marry, and criticized the immoral behaviour of both, describing many monasteries as brothels. But the Catholic Church did not respond to these calls for reform, and it punished some of those who called for reform by burning them at the stake, and imprisoning others until they died.

· A true revolution, as a result of which the Protestant sect was established and broke away from the Catholic Church

When peaceful calls for reform did not bear fruit, the movement turned into a revolution, led by new reformers, against the Catholic Church and its popes and cardinals. The most important of those revolutionaries were the priests Martin Luther and John Calvin, and the bishop Jan Hus.

No one could have foretold that the quiet, peaceful criticism of the Catholic Church, which began at the end of the fourteenth century CE and the dawn of the fifteenth century CE, would develop into a huge wave of confrontation, troubles and religious wars that engulfed the continent of Europe, causing much bloodshed among European Christians, as a result of which the Catholic Church split into two opposing parts, one faction which adhered to the Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope, and another faction which refused to obey the Church and the Pope, and rebelled against them, forming a new sect which was called Protestantism (referring to those who protest or object).

This schism (split), which was successful and gained greater momentum in 1517 CE, is regarded as very significant, as it influenced religious, social and political trends in Europe; it cannot be compared to previous schisms from the Catholic Church, namely the schism of the Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, and the churches that followed it, which was followed by the schism of the Orthodox Church in Constantinople.

It may be noted, however, that the revolt of those priests was focused only on the church system, which was financially and morally corrupt, as represented by the attitude and conduct of the popes and other senior clergy. That revolution did not demand the cleansing of Christianity from what it was contaminated and mixed with of distortions and pagan beliefs which had been introduced by Paul and those who came after him, such as belief in the divine nature of Christ, his crucifixion, and the Trinity doctrine. Rather they rebelled against the domination and control of the Catholic Church and its clergy, which was represented by the position of the Pope and his control over society, and the financial and sexual abuse of people in the name of religion, as mentioned above.

· The church loses control in Britain

Following that split, in 1534 CE, the king of England, Henry VIII, rebelled against the Pope, and withdrew his recognition of the Pope's authority over him. He declared that he – not the Pope – was the head of the Church of England. Thus, the Church of England in London split from the Catholic Church in Rome and rejected the Pope's authority over it. The king allowed the printing of the Bible in English, which had previously been banned. However, the matter did not proceed without some conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Britain.

In France, there was a long series of massacres and civil wars between the Huguenots (Protestants who followed John Calvin) and the Catholics. These wars were especially vicious and bloody, with atrocities committed by each side against the other. These massacres lasted for thirty-six years, beginning in 1562 CE and ending in 1598 CE.

Third and fourth stages: The discovery of the New World (the Americas around the turn of the sixteenth century, and Australia and New Zealand later on), and the emergence of the Protestant sect in the New World

· Mass exodus from Europe, with the Protestants fleeing to the Americas and elsewhere.

The wars between the two sides reignited in 1618 CE, twenty-three years after they had ended, and lasted until 1648 CE, in what was called the Thirty Years War. With the discovery of the New World (the Americas) and of Australia and New Zealand – which coincided with religious upheaval in Europe – Protestants fled from Europe in huge numbers to these regions, because of this conflict and for other reasons, economic and otherwise.

· Protestant sects and denominations

In their new lands, the Protestants established a number of sects, denominations and churches of their own, including the Evangelical churches, which followed the Bible.[31] Other churches followed the views of some of the clergy who rebelled against the Catholic Church, such as the Lutherans who are named after the priest Martin Luther; the Calvinists who are named after the priest John Calvin; and the Hussites, who are named after the priest Jan Hus.

It may be noted that each of these Protestant sects and churches was completely independent from the other churches in the running of its religious affairs. They were not subject to any higher leadership under which they were brought together. Every Protestant sect has the right to understand and interpret the Bible as it sees, as a result of which the Protestants were not bound by many of the Christian beliefs which they inherited. This led to the continual emergence of new sects and churches, which is ongoing. In the United States of America alone, there are more than thirteen hundred Protestant denominations, each of which has its own church, and more are expected to emerge.[32]

The Protestants differ from the Catholics in the fact that they are freer and do not recognize the authority of the clergy over them individually; the clergy no longer hold any sway over them, so their situation is not the same as that of the Catholics. It may be noted that their ecclesiastical system is as follows:

· The position of the pope was abolished, and the pope had no influence over their churches, and they no longer had a religious leadership like that of the Catholics, who came under the umbrella of the Catholic Church in Rome.

· The role of the clergy was limited to preaching and religious guidance only. They were no longer regarded as holy.

· Clergy and nuns are allowed to marry. This is a big difference between them and the Catholic clergy who cannot get married, and in some cases the protestant clergy are homosexual.[33]

· They abolished the rule of confessing sins before the priests, seeking their forgiveness, which was known as the sacrament (or mystery) of confession, but many of the largest mainstream sects do.

· They banned images and statues in their churches, and forbade bowing to them and seeking intercession from Mary and the saints, because they believed that Mary was an ordinary human, unlike Christ. However they did not differ from the Catholics in their beliefs concerning Christ, as they believe that he is God and the son of God.

If we make a brief comparison between the beliefs of the Protestants and the original teachings of Jesus, is it correct to say that this new sect (the Protestants) is following the religion and teachings of Jesus?

If – for the sake of argument – the answer is yes, then if we make another brief comparison between the Catholic beliefs from which the Protestants were fleeing, and the original teachings of Jesus, is it correct to say that the Catholics were following the religion and teachings of Jesus?

I will let the reader decide.

· Summary of the impact of the ecumenical councils on the religion of Jesus

The fair-minded person who examines the first distortion, at the hands of Paul, and the ten ecclesiastical distortions that followed it (giving a total of eleven major distortions of the message of Jesus) will realize without a doubt that contemporary Christianity is a collection of personal views and human distortions that have nothing to do with divine revelation at all. If contemporary Christianity was exactly the same as the religion of Jesus, then it would not need all this human interference to understand the nature of Christ, let alone what was introduced to it of decrees that are contrary to human nature, such as the law forbidding priests to marry, and which contradict – and in fact destroy – the religion of Jesus himself. This indicates that those church Councils were the source of distortion. Moreover, the councils had the support of political forces in concealing the truth, the gravest of which was the banning of seventy Gospels at the Council of Nicaea; those books were burned, and anyone who possessed them was executed for no reason except the fact that they affirmed that God is one in His essence and has no son.

Because Christianity is a collection of human ideas that have nothing to do with divine revelation, the outcome of that is that Christianity itself is divided into numerous sects, each of which claims that it is following the truth and that the others are wrong. These groups and sects are:

1. The Catholics, who are the Melkites.

2. The Orthodox, who include the Jacobites.

3. The Protestants.

4. The Maronites.

5. The true followers of Jesus. They have no presence now. They are the ones who believed that Christ was human and a servant and prophet of God, His Word which God bestowed upon Mary, a soul created by Him; he was not God or the son of God. They were the true followers of Jesus, and if they had lived to meet the Prophet Muhammad, they would have believed in him and entered Islam, because Jesus foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad after him. This is proven in the Bible that exist today, which was written by John and others.[34] The message of Muhammad – which is the religion of Islam – is no more than a continuation of the true message of Jesus, May Allah make us all followers of the prophets until we attain His pleasure and admittance to His Paradise.

Summary of the eight stages of distortion to which the religion of Jesus was subjected over the course of twenty centuries, from his ascension to heaven until today

It should be noted that the original religion of Jesus was based on the following:

1. Worship of God alone

2. Belief that Jesus was human

3. Belief that Jesus was a Prophet

4. Belief that Jesus taught people the Torah and the original scripture revealed to him (Injeel)[35] which was revealed to Moses and Jesus, respectively.

5. Belief that Jesus was the Prophet sent to the Children of Israel (the Jews)

6. Belief that Jesus foretold the coming of a Prophet after him whose name would be Muhammad; he would complete the message of the Messiah, correct the distortions to which it had been subjected, and call people to worship God in accordance with the teachings written in the holy book (the Qur'an), which would guide them to the path that leads to Paradise and warn them against the path that leads to Hell.

In the Bible, there are twenty-eight prophecies, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, that foretell the coming of Prophet Muhammad.[36]

Whereas contemporary Christianity is a mixture of three things:

[1]

Remnants of the religion of Jesus, preserved in the four Gospels.

[2]

The distortions of Paul, which are as follows:

a. His claim that he was an apostle appointed by Christ.

b. His claim that God revealed a gospel message to him.

c. His claim that Jesus was God (and not a prophet).

d. His claim that Jesus was the son of God, and that Jesus was not human, and that God was incarnated in him.

e. The doctrine of original sin, which says that humans inherited and passed down the sin of their father Adam throughout the centuries, and that God did not forgive him for it.

f. The doctrine of redemption, which says that God sent Jesus (as he was His son, according to Christian belief) to redeem and save humanity from original sin.

[3]

The distortions of the ecumenical councils and other distortions that followed them until the emergence of the Protestants. These distortions started at the beginning of the fourth century CE, and are as follows:

a. The Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, in which the divinity of Christ was made official doctrine, and the number of canonical Gospels was limited to four, along with sixteen Epistles. All other Gospels, of which there were more than seventy, were burnt. Marriage for priests was also banned, even though God did not forbid that to them.

b. The First Council of Constantinople in 381 CE, in which the Trinity was made official doctrine.

c. The First Council of Ephesus in 431 CE, in which the division of the nature of Christ into human and divine, and the belief that Christ had two natures, was made official doctrine.

d. The Second Council of Ephesus in 449 CE, in which the division of the nature of Christ into human and divine, and the belief that Christ has one nature, was made official doctrine (in contrast to the decision of the previous Council, which stated that Christ has two natures).

e. The emergence of the Jacobite Orthodox sect in 453 CE.

f. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE, which annulled the decrees of the First and Second Councils of Ephesus.

g. The founding of the Maronite sect at the hand of the patriarch of Antioch in 680 CE, who stated that Christ had two natures and one will. This sect has been limited to Mount Lebanon from then until now.

h. The schism in which the sect that calls itself Protestant split from the Catholic church, which happened in 1517 CE, because of the corruption of those in charge of the Catholic Church, which they could no longer tolerate. Most Protestants then migrated from Europe to the Americas and elsewhere because of persecution.

Based on the above, the religion that Christians follow is not in fact the original religion of Jesus; rather it is a mixture of two things, the distortions of Paul, then the distortions of the ecumenical councils and the resulting theories and individual opinions of some Christian clergy. This led to the formation of a new religion that had nothing to do with the religion of Jesus whatsoever; rather, it contradicts it in both major and minor issues, even though it carries his name.[37]But what matters is the nature of things, not what they are called.

· General summary

The summary mentioned above is a sufficient historical proof to prove that the notion that Jesus is God or the son of God is false. Thus, it becomes clear to the reader who is sincerely seeking the truth that contemporary Christianity is human-made and has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus at all. The original religion of Jesus has been lost, and the four Gospels that were written by four men who came after Jesus do not support the contemporary form of Christianity and its principles; rather they contradict it, as we have noted above. It is clear that these doctrines are nothing but human-made, and that the people were forced into accepting them at the time of the Roman emperors, so they accepted them forcibly; then those who came after them followed in their footsteps, up until the present day, under the influence of society, parents and the church. If these principles of contemporary Christianity had their origin in the religion preached by Jesus, the Roman Emperor Constantine and those who came after him would not have needed to hold those meetings and councils in order to decide on these teachings, then force the people to accept them. This clearly proves that they are not part of the original religion of Jesus, and that the religion of Jesus has been subjected to distortions and changes and became a plaything in the hands of Paul and the Roman emperors and clergy who came after him, who made whatever changes they wished, then lied to the people and told them: This is the religion of Christ, this is the doctrine which all followers of Christ must believe in, even though Jesus himself did not know it and did not teach it to the Children of Israel.

***

Section 4: Qur'anic proof that the notion that Jesus is God is false

The Thirtieth Proof - Last

· A useful summary of the real nature of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, as explained in the Holy Book (the Qur'an)

After the true religion became lost to people, the teachings of the prophets were forgotten, and the people no longer worshipped God alone, instead they began worshipping others such as prophets, rocks, images and so on. In 570 CE, God sent his Prophet Muhammad to all people, to guide them to the true religion with which God had sent all His prophets. God sent him to all of humanity, Jews and non-Jews, Arabs and non-Arabs. He sent down to him His Book, which is protected from any change or alteration. That book is the Qur'an, in which God explained to people the true nature of Jesus, concerning which people had split into sects, factions and groups. The Qur'an speaks the truth about him, teaching that he was human and one of the greatest of the Israelite prophets. It does not raise him to the status of divinity as the Christians had done, and it does not disparage him and say that he had been crucified and killed, and that people had spat in his face. Rather, God states in the Qur'an that He protected him from the schemes of the Jews when they wanted to kill him, and He took him up to Himself in heaven in a divine miracle. Jesus is still there, waiting to come back down to Earth at the end of time, to establish justice for forty years; then he will die as other prophets died, and he will be buried in the earth. Allah will raise him on the Day of Resurrection as He will raise other prophets and other human beings.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

{The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a Prophet, and [other] prophets passed away before him. His mother was a woman strong and true in faith, and they both ate food. See how We make Our signs clear to them, then see how they are diverted [from the truth]!}[al-Ma'idah 5:75]

What God says about Jesus in the Qur'an is the decisive word because He is the Lord of humanity and He knows best about their situations. What God says concerning this matter is in harmony with reason and reality. The fact that Jesus was protected from being killed and humiliated is in harmony with the fact that he was a prophet, and his being taken up to heaven is in harmony with his high status. Saying that he was human and not God or the son of God is in harmony with reason, because all the prophets were human too, and because God has no need of a son; He has no need of any of His creation. It is not befitting for Him to create people and then need them. This is clear – praise be to God – to all those who seek the truth and devote themselves to it, and who are sincere towards God in their search for the true religion.

· Further comments

The Qur'an pays a great deal of attention to the issue of God's Prophet Jesus, the son of Mary. It begins telling his story by mentioning the birth of his mother Mary and her upbringing, which was founded on purity, chastity, worship and devotion. Then it tells how God honoured her by blessing her with a baby boy without a father. God sent Gabriel, the greatest of His angels, to give her the glad tidings of this child and to breathe into her so that she conceived Jesus. Then the Qur'an tells us how God took care of her during her pregnancy and during childbirth, how she spoke to the Children of Israel when they rebuked her for having a son when she was not married, and how Jesus spoke in the cradle, stating that he was the servant of God and a prophet sent by God.

Then the Qur'an tells us the story of Jesus after he grew up, when God sent him to the Children of Israel, supported with many miracles to prove that he was indeed a Prophet sent by God, so that the people would realize that no one could perform such miracles except a Prophet sent by God, as was also the case with other prophets. Then it tells how the Jews tried to kill him, and how God saved him from them by means of a divine miracle which had never happened to any prophet before him, in which God took him up to heaven with dignity and honour. This is in contrast to what the Christians and Jews believe, that the Jews spat in his face, placed a crown of thorns on his head, then crucified and killed him on a wooden cross– far be it from him to undergo such a thing.

As noted above, with regard to belief in the Messiah, Islam took a middle path between the approaches of the Jews and the Christians. The Christians venerated him and elevated him above the human realm to the realm of the divine. They pretty much all say that he is God, he is the son of God, and yet that he is one of three. With this belief, they contradicted the other belief that they hold concerning him, which is that the Jews killed him, spat in his face, and crucified him on a wooden cross. How could he be the Lord of this universe or a son of God, when he was subjected to all this grievous humiliation?

Why did God not defend His son, if he were really His son?

The Jews, on the other hand, held beliefs concerning the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, that were diametrically opposed to the Christian beliefs. They said that he was illegitimate (God forbid), out of envy that God had made him a prophet, for despite that, they did not believe in his prophethood.

But a few of the disciples of Jesus, son of Mary, continued to adhere to sound belief in him. They continued to adhere to his religion even after he had been taken up to heaven. They have nothing to do with the exaggeration of the Christians regarding him, and the scorn of the Jews towards him.

As noted above, Islam came and clarified the matter approximately six centuries after Jesus was taken up to heaven. That is because God is most merciful towards His slaves, and He would not leave the Children of Israel to continue in their confusion without sending any guidance to them. He sent His Prophet Muhammad to all humanity, both Jews and non-Jews. He sent the Qur'an down to him and guaranteed to protect it from the distortion and alteration to which the Torah and the true revelation revealed to Jesus had been subjected, which had led to confusion in Christian doctrines about Christ himself and their differences concerning his nature. The Qur'an explained the truth about him; it did not leave any specious argument without dispelling it, and it did not leave any truth without clarifying it and explaining that he was a human being like any other, one of the great prophets of the Israelites, whom God sent to enjoin them to worship Him alone and to give up the worship of all else. God revealed the true revelation (Injeel) down to him, in which there was guidance and light, and he forbade them from worshipping anyone or anything other than God. The Qur'an states that God abrogated the laws of Jesus and of previous prophets, replacing it with the law of Islam, which He commanded to supersede the laws that came before it. He preserved the Qur'an, protected it from distortion and loss.

In the Qur'an, God denounces the belief that He has a son:

{They say: The Most Gracious has begotten a son.

Indeed, you have uttered something atrocious,

at which the heavens might almost be torn apart, the earth split asunder, and the mountains come tumbling down,

at their ascription of a son to the Most Gracious,

for it is not befitting for the Most Gracious to beget a son.}[Mary 19:88-92]

The name of Jesus is mentioned twenty-five times in the Qur'an, and he is mentioned as the Messiah nine times. The name of his mother, Mary, is mentioned thirty-one times. In all cases, they are mentioned in a context of respect and veneration, as is appropriate for humans like them, without believing that they have any divine attributes. They are human beings like us; they worshipped God as we worship Him, and they hoped to be admitted to Paradise and to be saved from Hell just as we hope for the same.

Not only that, but Jesus is also described as being one of the prophets of strong resolve, which refers to their patience and determination.

The prophets of strong resolve are the greatest of the prophets, and they are five: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Blessings and peace of God be upon them all.

***

· God describes Jesus as being the “word of God" and “a soul created by Him," and what is meant by that

In several verses in the Qur'an, God describes Jesus as being the word of God and a soul created by Him:

{The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was [no more than] a Prophet of Allah, and His word, which He bestowed upon Mary, and a soul created by Him. So believe in Allah and His Prophets. Do not say: Three [trinity]; desist, for that will be better for you. Allah is indeed only one God. Glory be to Him, [far exalted is He] above having a son. To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and sufficient is Allah as a disposer of affairs.}[an-Nisaa'4:171]

{Remember [when] the angels said: O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him, his name will be the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the hereafter and one of those granted nearness [to Allah].}[Al 'Imran 3:45]

{And [there is another example] in Mary, the daughter of 'Imran, who guarded her chastity. We blew into her [garment] through Our angel [Gabriel].}[at-Tahreem 66:12]

Prophet Muhammad also described the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, as being the word of God and a soul created by Him. It was narrated by 'Ubadah ibn as-Samit that Prophet Muhammad said:

<>[38]

According to another version:

<<… Allah will admit him through whichever of the eight gates of Paradise he wishes.>>[39]

What is meant by Jesus being the word of God is that God created the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, by means of a word that He spoke, as a result of which Jesus came into being and was conceived in his mother's womb without a father. It is the word “Kun (Be!)", whereupon Jesus was in his mother's womb. This is the word by means of which Jesus was created and came into being. This miraculous way of creation is similar to the creation of our father Adam, for God created our father Adam with a word (“Kun (Be!)"), and Adam came into being, with no mother and no father, as God says:

{The likeness of Jesus before Allah is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, 'Be!' and it is.}[Al 'Imran 3:59].

What is meant by God describing Jesus as a soul created by Him is that the beginning of his soul was with God, for He created it, so it is one of the souls that God created, like the soul of any other human.

The one whose soul is created cannot possibly be God, because God is not created.

In the phrase “word of God", which is used to describe Jesus, the word is attributed to God, just as the soul [and the creation thereof] is attributed to Him in the phrase “a soul created by Him". This serves to highlight the honorable status of Jesus, as God connected the word and the soul to Himself.

This pregnancy occurred in Mary's womb, and Jesus was born from a mother, without a father, as noted above. That is easy for God, and the wisdom behind his being created in this manner is so that this would be a sign and proof to people of two things.

Firstly: It is a sign of the perfect nature of the might of God, Who varies the ways in which humans are created. He created their father Adam from clay, from neither a male nor a female. He created Eve from a male without a female; and He created all of their progeny from both male and female ̶except for Jesus, whom God created from a female without a male. This is indicative of God's perfect might and the greatness of His power. It is not difficult for God, for the creation of the heavens and earth is greater than the creation of people, but most people do not realize.

God is able to create humans from males and females, as is the case for all people, but He may create without a male or female, as in the case of our father Adam, or He may create from a male without a female, as in the case of our mother Eve, whom God created from the rib of Adam. Or he may create from a female without a male, as in the case of Jesus son of Mary. He may create from an elderly man and a woman who had not been able to have children, as in the case of Prophet Abraham and the wife of Prophet Zachariah. He might not create anything from male and female, granting no children, whether sons or daughters, as in the case of those who are infertile. Or He may create from a male and female couple: males and no females, females with no males, or both males and females. Allah is able to do all things, and when He wills something, as He says in the Qur'an:

{When We will something, We merely say to it, 'Be!' and it is.}[an-Nahl 16:40]

{They say: Allah has begotten a son. Glory be to Him! Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth; everything is subservient unto Him.[He is] the Originator of the heavens and the earth: When He decrees a matter, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is.}[al-Baqarah 2:116-117]

These verses, in which God gives Mary glad tidings of the birth of Jesus, are an affirmation of the divine will that knows no limit. God tells us that Mary said:

{O my Lord! How will I have a son when no man has touched me? He said: Thus Allah creates what He wills.}[Al 'Imran 3:47]

Whatever He wills, His might brings into being.

{When He has decreed something, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is.}[Al 'Imran 3:47]

It is well-known that God created everything in the universe, whether the creation follows the natural order or differs from it (as in the cases of Adam, Eve and Jesus). This indicates the greatness of God, Who brought it into being from nothing. God instructs us to reflect upon this important truth, saying:

{In the earth are signs for those whose faith is certain, and also in your own selves. Will you not then see?} [adh-Dhariyat 51:20-21]

In the creation of your own selves, there are signs of God's might and lessons which point to the oneness of your Creator, and that you have no god deserving of worship except Him, even if you pay no attention to this fact and no longer see the wisdom of God and His purpose in creating what He created.

Secondly: The fact that the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was created born from a mother without a father is proof of his prophethood. God supported him with many miracles as proof of his prophethood, the first of which was his creation in this manner, after which he was given the Injeel (true revelation) and other miracles.

· Note

In the Qur'an, God tells us that He created our father Adam and breathed into him the soul which He created for him. This is mentioned in two verses in the Qur'an, the first of which is:

{Then He fashioned him and breathed into him the soul which He created for him. He gave you hearing, sight and intellect; little it is that you give thanks.}[as-Sajdah 32:9]

In the second verse, this is mentioned in the context of the story of God commanding the angels to prostrate to Adam as a greeting and honour to him:

{So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him the soul which I created for him, fall down in prostration before him.} [al-Hijr 15:29]

· Another note

In the Qur'an, the Prophet John the Baptist, son of Zachariah, is described as believing in or affirming the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. In this context, Jesus is referred to as a word from Allah, when Allah says of the Prophet Zachariah:

{While he was standing in prayer in the chamber, the angels called unto him: Allah gives you glad tidings of John, who will believe in a word from Allah. He will be a leader and abstinent [from women], a Prophet from among the righteous.}[Al 'Imran 3:39]

What this verse means is that John the Baptist would believe in a word from God, namely Jesus; he was the first one to believe in him.

***

Finally, believing in Jesus in this manner is the kind of belief that is acceptable. Whoever does not do that has gone against God's command and has disobeyed Him and disbelieved in Him, and thus deserves to enter Hell, because he has rejected what the Qur'an says.

***

The high esteem in which Jesus and his mother are held in Islam

In the Qur'an, the name of the Prophet Jesus is mentioned twenty-five times, and he is mentioned as the Messiah nine times, whereas the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned only four times.

Jesus is mentioned in the Qur'an by a number of titles and names: Jesus son of Mary, the son of Mary, the Messiah, the slave of Allah, and the Prophet of Allah.

The name of his mother, Mary, is mentioned thirty-one times in the Qur'an, whereas no mention at all is made in it of the names of any of the daughters or wives of the Prophet Muhammad.

It is also worth pointing out that one of the chapters of the Qur'an is named after Mary, while no chapter is named after any of the daughters or wives of Prophet Muhammad. This is an indication of the honorable status of the Virgin Mary in Islam; in contrast, no book or chapter of the New Testament is named after her.

Every time Jesus and his mother are mentioned in the Qur'an, it is in the context of respect, veneration, and honour, as befits them both, without implying that they have any attributes of divinity at all. They were human like us; they worshipped God as others worship Him, and they hoped to attain paradise and be saved from hell, just as others hope.

Islam teaches that Jesus was very knowledgeable about the religion revealed to him, although he never studied with the Jewish scholars. He was knowledgeable because Allah taught him through revelation. Jesus then taught his disciples and sent them out to people to teach them what they had learned from him.[40]

Section 5: Appendices

1. Chapter (al-Ikhlas) from the Holy Book (the Majestic Qur'an)

2. Verse (al-Kursi) from the Holy Book (the Majestic Qur'an)

3. A brief overview of pagan Roman beliefs

4. The story of the Virgin Mary and her son the Messiah, Jesus

5. A specious argument and the response to it

6. A note about the meaning of the phrase “son of God," which is mentioned in some of the Gospels

7. General notes

8. Sincere words of faith from heart to heart

Appendix 1:

Chapter (al-Ikhlas) from the Holy Book (the Majestic Qur'an)

God says in the Qur'an:

{Say: He, Allah, is One;

Allah, Who is sought by all.

He begets not nor was He begotten,

and there is none comparable to Him.}[al-Ikhlas 112:1-4]

· Meaning of this chapter:

{Say} This verse is addressed to Prophet Muhammad. God is saying to him: Say, O Prophet, to all humanity.

{He, Allah, is One} Allah [God] is the only one Who is unique in His divinity, His Lordship and His names and attributes, and He has no partner.

{Allah, Who is sought by all} He is the one to Whom all creatures turn and seek their needs from Him.

{He begets not nor was He begotten} He has no son, no father, and no spouse, because these are attributes of created beings. As for God, nothing resembles Him, there is nothing like Him, and He knows Himself better than anyone else does.

{and there is none comparable to Him} There is none that resembles Him in His names, His attributes, or His actions. He is blessed, exalted, and sanctified.

The Lord of the Worlds revealed this chapter, which is short yet momentous in meaning, to refute three groups:

1. The polytheists at the time of Prophet Muhammad who believed that the angels were the daughters of God.

2. The Jews who said that Uzayr was the son of God.

3. The Christians who said that Jesus was the son of God.

In these verses, God definitively denies that He possesses these characteristics, namely begetting or being begotten, and that anything else resembles Him.

Prophet Muhammad said:

As for his rejecting Me, it is when he says, 'He will never recreate me as He created me the first time', but the first creation is not easier for Me than re-creating him.

As for his reviling Me, it is when he says, “Allah has a son". I am the One Who is sought by all; I beget not nor am I begotten, and there is none comparable to Me.">>[41]

I ask Allah to make you and me among those who read the Quran and are guided by it to success in this life and to Paradise in the hereafter.

Appendix 2:

Verse (al-Kursi) (the Verse of the Throne) from the Holy Book (the Majestic Qur'an)

We must venerate God and declare Him to be far above any resemblance to His creation, or being incarnated in them, or being one with them. God is God, and Jesus is Jesus. Let us read some of the divine attributes of God that are mentioned in this greatest verse of the Quran:

{Allah: There is no god worthy of worship except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on Earth. Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what was before them and what will be after them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills. His Kursi [42] extends over the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not weary Him, for He is the Most High, the Most Great.}[al-Baqarah 2:255]

This verse is the best and the most awe-inspiring verse of the Quran because of the attributes of God that it refers to. Prophet Muhammad encouraged us to recite it and make it a regular litany to be recited morning and evening, before going to sleep, and following the obligatory prayers.

{Allah: There is no god worthy of worship except Him}:There is none that is rightfully worshipped except Him, for He is the one true God to whom all forms of worship, obedience and devotion should be directed, because of His perfect nature, perfect attributes and immense blessings. The human being should be a servant or slave to his Lord, complying with His commands and prohibitions and firmly believing that worshipping anything other than Allah is invalid and false because everything except Allah is created and controlled by Him, imperfect, and in need of Him in everyway. Nothing else deserves any type of worship, whether it is a human being or an inanimate object ― a prophet, a rock, a cross, the sun, the moon, a grave, or anything else.

** {the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all that exists}: Allah has ninety-nine names, and these are two of the greatest of His names, encompassing all the others. The Ever-Living (al-Hayy) is the one who has perfect life, which includes all other attributes of His Essence, such as hearing, seeing, knowledge, might, and so on. The Sustainer of all that exists (al-Qayyoom) is the one Who sustains Himself and all others; sustaining includes all the actions that are attributed to Him as Lord of the Worlds, such as creating, granting provision, causing death, giving life, and all other types of control.

** {Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him}: Slumber refers to drowsiness, and sleep is well known. Sleep indicates imperfection, for it happens only after one has become tired or exhausted. These are attributes of imperfection, and Allah is far above having any such attributes; rather, He possesses attributes of perfection that are not subject to any shortcomings whatsoever.

{And to Allah belong the most sublime attributes, for He is the Almighty, Most Wise.}[an-Nahl 16:60]

{To Him belong the most sublime attributes [as confirmed by all those who are] in the heavens and on earth, and He is the Almighty, the Most Wise.}[ar-Room 30:27]

** {To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth}: He is the owner of everything in this universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in between. The sun, moon, stars, mountains, seas, human beings, and animals all belong to Him. Allah controls them, and His will concerning them is always done, as He decrees. Yet despite that, He is merciful towards them; He provides for them and answers their supplications. He guides them to the path that leads to His Paradise, so that they may follow it, and He informs them about the path that leads to the Fire, so that they may avoid it.

** {Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His permission?}: No one will intercede for anyone else on the Day of Resurrection, except with His permission, because intercession belongs entirely to Allah on that day. If anyone wants to intercede for someone else to be admitted to Paradise, he will ask Allah for permission first. If Allah gives him that permission and accepts his intercession, the one for whom intercession was made will enter Paradise; if not, that person will not enter Paradise. This indicates that Allah's sovereignty will prevail on the Day of Resurrection, and all other sovereignty will cease.

** Then Allah says: {He knows what was before them}: He knows what is past {and what will be after them}: He knows what will happen in the future. His knowledge encompasses the details of all things past, present, and future; apparent and hidden; whereas people know only what Allah informs them of. He says: {while they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills}.

** {His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth}: The Kursi is the Lord's footstool. No one knows what it is like except Allah; it is a matter of the unseen, which is not shown to us. We must simply believe in it as Allah has instructed us.

** The fact that the Kursi is described as extending over the heavens and the earth indicates the perfect nature of Allah's might and the vast extent of His authority. But the Kursi is not the greatest of Allah's creations; there is something that is greater than it, namely the Throne of the Most Gracious, over which Allah rose. It is also part of the unseen, and Allah refers to its greatness in the verse:

{The Most Gracious rose over the Throne [in a manner that befits His Majesty].} [Ta-Ha 20:5] He ascended and rose over it. The Throne (al-'arsh) is the seat of sovereignty.

** {and the preservation of both does not weary Him}:The preservation of the heavens and the earth, and the controlling of their affairs and the affairs of His servants and all of His creation, is not burdensome for Him and does not exhaust Him, for He alone is the Sovereign, the Creator, the Controller. This belief is known as Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah (the oneness of divine Lordship).

** {for He is the Most High}: He is the Most High in His essence, over His Throne; the Most High in His power and control, for no one can prevent anything that He decrees; and the Most High in His attributes. Thus, He is absolutely exalted in these three aspects.

** {the Most Great}: Before His might, the might of the tyrants is nothing, and powerful kings will be humbled before His Majesty. Glory be to the one Who possesses might, power, prevalence, and dominion over all things on Earth and in heaven.

** As noted above, this verse is the greatest and most awe-inspiring verse in the Quran because of the momentous matters and sublime attributes it refers to. This verse includes ten points:

1. We must worship Allah alone, as He says: {there is no god worthy of worship except Him}.

2. Allah is the only Lord and Sustainer over His creation, as He says: {the Sustainer of all that exists}, {and the preservation of both does not weary Him}.

3. He is unique in His names and attributes, as He says: {the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all that exists}.

4. Allah is above any imperfection or resemblance to His creation, as He says: {Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him}.

5. His sovereignty encompasses all things, as He says: {To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth}.

6. Allah's sovereignty will prevail on the Day of Resurrection, and the sovereignty of all others will cease, as He says: {Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His leave?}.

7. His knowledge encompasses all things, as He says: {He knows what was before them and what will be after them}.

8. People have no knowledge except what Allah has informed them of, as He says: {while they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills}.

9. Allah's Kursi, the Lord's Footstool, is vast, as He says: {His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth}.

10. This verse is regarded as a doctrine that encompasses the names and attributes of Allah, and it refers to all the divine names and attributes. Prophet Muhammad encouraged us to recite it frequently and make it part of a daily litany to be recited in the morning and evening, before going to sleep, and after praying.

***

Appendix 3:

A brief overview of pagan Roman beliefs [43]

The Romans were a misguided and lost people who did not know the true Lord (Allah) or believe in any prophet. They lived like animals; in fact, animals were better than them, because animals know their Lord due to their innate nature, whereas the Romans did not. The Romans believed that the universe around them was subject to mighty, unseen forces that had existed for eternity, which were manifested in various natural phenomena such as the wind blowing, the rain coming down, flashes of lightning that dispelled the darkness of the night, the deafening sound of thunder, the setting of the sun and what followed it of the coming of the night and the emergence of the moon and stars, then the rising of the sun and what followed it of the dispelling of darkness, the alternation of the seasons, the growth of animals and plants, and the development of humans from weakness to strength then to weakness again.

The Roman called these forces “active spirits" or “gods".

The number of these gods, in the Roman view, was immense. For example, there were gods that guarded homes and farms, gods of the forests, gods that controlled violent natural phenomena, such as the turbulent waves of the sea, river floods, strong winds, and the like, gods of warfare, and so on.

The Roman individual's relationship with his gods was purely materialistic, because he believed that they could help him and benefit him in his work. Therefore, he would make offerings and offer sacrifices to them so as to placate them – according to his beliefs – after which they would help him to be very successful in his work, whether he was a farmer, a craftsmen, a soldier who wanted to achieve victory in battle, or anything else.

The Romans had a number of deities in human form, especially those that were the official deities of the Roman state, such as Jupiter who was the greatest of their gods; Minerva who they believed would grant skills in their work to those who used their minds and their hands; Saturn the god of agriculture, and so on.

The Romans believed that the greater the number of worshippers of particular gods, the more ready and willing they would be to reward their worshippers.

What is ridiculous is that when one of the emperors who had achieved great things and great victories died, the Roman Senate would add the name of that Emperor to the list of gods whom they worshipped. Thus, the Emperor would become a god after he had died and turned to dust. This deification happened to a number of emperors, such as Caesar, Augustus, Trajan and others.

It is worth mentioning that the Roman authorities allowed Roman citizens to embrace any foreign religion on condition that that did not prevent him from worshipping and venerating the Roman gods, and joining in their celebrations and rituals, because having everyone participate in veneration of their gods was a symbol of unity and was a means of placating their gods.

In addition to that, it was important that everyone venerate the emperors, by burning incense in front of their statues.

Roman law treated harshly anyone who went against these rules.

Because the Jews went against these rules, the Romans persecuted them harshly in 70 CE and 132-135 CE. Palestine (the land of the Jews and Christians) was under Roman rule at that time.

The Jews took advantage of this power and might of the Romans to try to kill Jesus, as noted above, but Allah saved him from being killed and took him up to heaven without any harm befalling him.

Then after Jesus was taken up to heaven, Paul took advantage of the might and power of the Romans, using them against the followers of Jesus in an effort to wipe out his religion completely and replace it with another religion that outwardly bore the name of Christ, but in fact was contrary to it in all ways. This has been discussed previously in detail.

The Romans remained in power and continued to rule many lands for several centuries, and they continued to distort the religion of Jesus even more, generation after generation, century after century, until it became completely unrecognizable, and transformed to another religion which had nothing to do with the religion of Jesus at all. This has also been discussed previously in detail.

Then approximately six centuries after Jesus had been taken up to heaven, God sent his Prophet Muhammad with the religion of Islam. When the people learned that it truly came from the Lord, and that it was the true religion, they entered it in crowds and the religion of Islam spread. Then the Muslims fought the Romans, because they were not following a true religion; rather they were following a false religion which they had imposed upon the people by force. The Muslims defeated them and gained control of the lands that they used to rule, namely Greater Syria, Egypt, Turkey (Asia Minor) and elsewhere. The true religion that is preserved by God – namely the religion of Islam – took the place of that distorted religion that had been fabricated by Paul and the Roman emperors who came after him. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

***

Appendix 4:

The story of the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus the Messiah

· The story of Mary's birth and upbringing

** 'Imran, the father of Mary, was in charge of the prayers of the Children of Israel, because of his righteousness and piety, and because he worshipped God a great deal. His wife Hannah (Anne ) vowed to dedicate her child to worship God and serve the Temple if God blessed her with a son, and instead she became pregnant with Mary after previously being unable to conceive because of her age. Mary means one who is devoted to worship.

** One of the proofs of the virtue of Mary is that Satan did not poke her in the side as he does to all infants. This was a special virtue granted to her and to her son the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, as is mentioned in the hadith from the Prophet Muhammad which speaks of how God protected Mary, as he said: << There is no son of Adam who is born but Satan touches [44] him, and he begins to cry because of Satan touching him, except Mary and her son.>> Then Abu Hurayrah – the narrator of the hadith – said: Recite, if you wish: {and I seek refuge with You for her and her offspring from the accursed Satan.} [Al 'Imran 3:36].[45]

And it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: <>[46]

** After weaning her, Hannah (Anne) brought her daughter, Mary, to the Temple (Bayt al-Maqdis), where she handed her over to the worshippers in the worship place in which her husband 'Imran used to pray, where he was the prayer leader, so that they might give her an upbringing based on worship and obedience. They disputed as to which of them should be her guardian and take care of her. Zachariah was the prophet of that time, so he asked them to let him be her guardian and to give up their right to guardianship, but they refused even though he was their elder and their prophet. Then they agreed to decide the matter by drawing lots; the person whose name was drawn would become Mary's sponsor, regardless of who he was.

It was Allah's will that the name of Zachariah should be chosen. This is indicative of Mary's virtue, because she was cared for and brought up by one of the prophets, not any ordinary man.

** Thus, Mary grew up under the guardianship and care of the prophet Zachariah. She grew up righteous and devoted to worshipping God. She had a chamber in Bayt al-Maqdis [47] where she used to worship, and miracles happened to her which were indicative of her honorable status before God. Zachariah used to visit her in the chamber, and he would find summer fruits in the winter and winter fruits in the summer. God says of Mary:

{Every time Zachariah entered the chamber to see her, he found some provisions with her. He said: O Mary, where has this come from? She said: From Allah; for Allah grants provision without measure to whom He wills.}[Al 'Imran 3:37]

· The virtues of Mary and her status before her Lord

** One of the proofs of Mary's virtue is the fact that the angels spoke to her and told her that God had chosen her to be the best of the world's women at that time. God says in the Qur'an:

{And [remember] when the angels said: O Mary! Allah has chosen you and purified you – chosen you above the women of all nations [of her own time].O Mary, worship your Lord devoutly; prostrate and bow [in prayer] with those who bow.}[Al 'Imran 3:42-43]

** Another proof of Mary's virtue is that the angels brought her the glad tidings from God that she would become pregnant with a boy whose name would be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. Not only that, but they also told her that her son, Jesus, would not be like other sons; he would be held in high esteem by God and by people, and he would be one of those close to God, who says in the Qur'an:

{Remember [when] the angels said: O Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him: his name will be the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the hereafter and one of those granted nearness [to Allah].}[Al 'Imran 3:45]

** Mary accepted these glad tidings from her Lord, even though she was greatly astounded by this news, for how could she have a child when she did not have a husband?

{She said: O my Lord! How will I have a son when no man has touched me? He said: Thus Allah creates what He wills. When He has decreed something, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is.}[Al 'Imran 3:47]

What is meant by her words {no man has touched me} is that she had not had sexual relations with any man.

This verse means that God has the power to do all things. If He wills a thing, He merely says to it “Be!" and it is. This includes what happened to Mary; when God said “Be!", Jesus came into being in his mother's womb by virtue of this divine word. Hence Jesus is called the “word of God", and the angels said to Mary:

{Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from Him: his name will be the Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary.}[Al 'Imran 3:45]

** It is interesting to note that this Qur'anic text is in harmony with what is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke:

“The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.[48]'

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God.31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. …

'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' …

For no word from God will ever fail.'"[Luke 1:28-31, 34, 37]

** When Mary received and accepted these glad tidings, although she was content with them, it caused her a great deal of worry and distress, for who could convince her people of the truth of the matter, that she had conceived her child in this extraordinary manner, by the command of God? Not knowing the truth of the matter, they would base their judgement on what was apparent, and they would accuse her of fornication. She was extremely anxious and wished to die rather than face her people's accusations.

** It is interesting to note that Muslim women are the best of those who follow the example of Mary, because they prefer death to sexual relations with anyone except their husbands – in contrast to the state of affairs among many Christian women who are very careless about this matter, and boyfriend-girlfriend relationships and sexual relationships outside marriage are very common; even some clergy are not immune to falling into such sins. This is a blatant transgression against women and their husbands, in clear contravention of the teachings of Christ and of all the prophets, and the etiquette to which honourable men and women, especially the Virgin Mary, have always adhered.

Is it possible that this sort of behavior on the part of clergy could be a true reflection of the conduct and character of Jesus? That could never be the case.

** Another proof of the virtue of Mary is the fact that Gabriel – who is the greatest of the angels – gave her glad tidings that she would conceive and become pregnant with the Messiah. We have noted above that the angels had given her the glad tidings before that, then Gabriel – the greatest of the angels – came to give her the glad tidings again and to fulfil these glad tidings. He appeared to her in the form of a man, in some corner of Bayt al-Maqdis where no one could see her, and he informed her that the time had come for the fulfilment of the glad tidings that the angels had brought to her previously, which is that she would become pregnant with the Messiah. Mary was surprised to hear these glad tidings a second time, and she asked Gabriel: How will I have a son when no man has touched me, and I have never been unchaste, committing shameful deeds with men?

The angel Gabriel replied that this was the command and will of God, and we have no choice but to accept God's command and implement it, for God has great wisdom in all things. So Gabriel did what his Lord had commanded him to do; he breathed into the neck of Mary's chemise, and that breath reached her uterus and she became pregnant with the Messiah, as women become pregnant from their husbands. Her foetus remained in her womb for nine months, then she gave birth to him. God tells us his story in the chapter of the Quran called “Mary":

{Recount [O Muhammad] in the Book the story of Mary, when she withdrew from her family in a place towards the east.

She screened herself from them, then We sent to her Our Angel [Gabriel], and he appeared before her in the form of a perfect human being.

She said: I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you; [do not come near me] if you fear Him!

He said: I am only a Prophet from your Lord, [to announce] to you the gift of a righteous son.

She said: How will I have a son when no man has touched me, and I have never been unchaste?

He said: Thus it will be. Your Lord says: That is easy for Me; We will make him a sign to humankind, and a mercy from Us. It is a matter already decreed.

So she conceived him and withdrew with him to a remote place.

The pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Would that I had died before this and had been overlooked and forgotten!

But he [49] called to her from below her: Do not worry, for your Lord has provided a stream close at hand.

Shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you; it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you.

Eat and drink, and be content. And if you see any human being, say: I have made a vow of silence to the Most Gracious, and today I will not speak to any person.

She came to her people, carrying the infant. They said: O Mary, indeed you have done something unthinkable!

O sister of Aaron,[50] your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother unchaste!

Thereupon she pointed to the infant. They said: How can we talk to one who is an infant in the cradle?

Jesus said: Verily, I am a slave of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet.

He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined on me prayer and zakah as long as I live.

And He has made me dutiful towards my mother, and not arrogant or unblessed.

So peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I will be raised up to life again!

Such was Jesus son of Mary, and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt.

It is not befitting to Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is.

Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.}[Mary 19:16-36]

· Commentary on these verses

This pregnancy occurred in Mary's womb, from a mother without a father; it is indicative of the perfect might of God, for it is something that is not easily done, but it is easy for God. The wisdom behind Jesus being created in this manner is that this would be a sign and proof to people of the might of God, Who created them in various ways. He created their father Adam from neither a male nor a female; he created Eve from a male without a female; He created all of their progeny from both male and female, except for Jesus, whom He created from a female without a male. Thus, with the creation of Jesus, the four possible scenarios were completed,[51]and this points to the perfect might of God and His immense power. This is not difficult for God, for the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of human beings, but most people are not aware of that.

God is able to create humans from a male and a female, as is the case for all people, but He may create without a male and a female, as in the case of our father Adam; or He may create from a male without a female, as in the case of our mother Eve, whom God created from the rib of Adam; or He may create from a female without a male, as in the case of the Messiah Jesus son of Mary; or He may create from an old man and a barren woman, as in the case of the Prophets Abraham and Zachariah; or He may not create anything from a male and a female, neither males or females, as in the case of those who are infertile; or He may create from them only males with no females, or only females with no males, or both males and females. Allah has the power to do all things, as God says in the Qur'an:

{When We will something, We merely say to it, 'Be!' and it is.} [al-Nahl 16:40]

God also says in the Qur'an:

{To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates whatever He wills; He bestows female [offspring] upon whomever He wills, and bestows male [offspring] upon whomever He wills,

or He bestows both males and females; and He leaves barren whomever He wills. Verily, He is All-Knowing, Omnipotent.}[as-Shoora 42:49-50]

What this passage means is that God creates whatever He wills, and gives to whomever He wills among His servants female [offspring] only, with no males among them, or He gives to whomever He wills male [offspring] only, with no females among them; He gives to whomever He wills both male and female [offspring]; and He leaves barren whomever He wills, so that they have no offspring. God knows best what He creates, and He is able to create whatever He wills; nothing He wants to create is beyond Him.

Conclusion: The creation of Jesus was a sign and proof, for all people in general and for the Children of Israel in particular, of God's great might and His ability to create whatever He wills. Therefore, we have no option but to believe in that and to venerate the Lord in our hearts.

It is interesting to note that the wisdom behind the creation of Jesus from a mother without a father is mentioned in the references that are in circulation among the Christians today. In the book of Isaiah, there is a foretelling of Mary's conceiving of Jesus, and that his birth would be a sign of God's power:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.[52] [Isaiah 7:14]

“The Lord" is God, and the “sign" is an indication of His might. Immanuel is one of the names of the Messiah.

Despite all that, the Christians do not believe that the divine wisdom behind Mary's conceiving Jesus in this manner was to highlight the fact that this was a sign of the might of God (Who is referred to here as “the Lord").

** After Mary gave birth to Jesus, the first words he uttered when he was in the cradle were an affirmation that he was a servant of God. That was when the Jews asked his mother about this child: where did you get him from? Jesus did not say that he was the son of God; if that were the case, he would have said it, because it would have been an honour for him if it were true, and because the situation demanded that he should say something to ward off accusations from his mother. But in fact, he said:

{Verily, I am a slave of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet.

He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined on me prayer and zakah as long as I live.

And He has made me dutiful towards my mother, and not arrogant or unblessed.

So peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I will be raised up to life again}[Mary 19:30-33]

What could be clearer than this, which proves that Jesus was a servant of God, a human being, and a prophet; and that he was not God or the son of God?

· Mary's mind was put at rest after her son reassured her after she gave birth to him

God tells us in His Book that Mary was very distressed when she gave birth to her son Jesus, because she knew that the people would accuse her of fornication, as it was well-known that she was not married. In their minds, there was no other way for her to get pregnant except through fornication. God says in the Qur'an:

{The pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Would that I had died before this and had been overlooked and forgotten!

But Jesus called to her from below her: Do not worry, for your Lord has provided a stream close at hand.

Shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you; it will drop fresh ripe dates upon you.

Eat and drink, and be content. And if you see any human being, say: I have made a vow of silence to the Most Gracious, and today I will not speak to any person.}[Mary 19:23-26]

But Jesus reassured his mother after she gave birth to him. This was the first sign of his goodness, for he told her to eat the fresh, ripe dates and to drink the water from the stream. He also told her to excuse herself from answering her people when they questioned her as to where she had got him from, by saying that she was fasting, for in their religious laws, fasting meant refraining from speaking. When Mary saw these miracles in her son, she realized that he was indeed a prophet, and she became certain of the promise of her Lord. She did what her son told her to do, because it is not possible that her baby could have spoken such marvellous words except through revelation from God. Thus, her mind was put at rest, and she left the place where she was and went back to her people. When they saw her carrying her infant son, they asked her in astonishment: Where did you get this newborn child? You come from a religious and honourable family, and someone like you does not commit shameful deeds. She responded as one who trusted in her Lord; she pointed to her child, meaning that they should ask him, for he was the one who would answer their questions. They were astonished by her response, for it is not normal for an infant in the cradle to speak and answer the questions of the people around him. But Jesus spoke momentous words that dispelled their astonishment. First, Jesus affirmed that he was a servant of God, saying: {Verily, I am a slave of Allah}, that is, I am not to be worshipped and I am not a son of God; rather I am a servant and worshipper of God. Then he said: {He has given me the Book}, namely the Injeel;[53] God decreed that he would be given this book when he grew up. Then Jesus said: {and made me a prophet}, that is, who has been sent to you. He did not say, “He has made me a god," or “He has made me the son of God," or any other such thing that the Christians said about him after he was taken up to heaven. Instead, he said:

{…and made me a Prophet.

He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined on me prayer and zakah as long as I live.

And He has made me dutiful towards my mother, and not arrogant or unblessed.

So peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I will be raised up to life again!}[Mary 19:30-33]

When Jesus said these words, they realized that he was indeed a prophet, and a prophet speaks only the truth. Mary was reassured at that moment, and this is one of the greatest ways in which Jesus honored his mother.

· The conclusion of Mary's story

Immediately after telling us this momentous story in the Qur'an, God says:

{Such was Jesus son of Mary, and this is the truth about him concerning which they are in doubt.

It is not befitting to Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a matter, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is.}[Mary 19:34-35]

What these two verses mean is: What We have told you, Muhammad, is the story of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. Doubts and confusion arose among the various Christian groups about this, as a result of which they divided into sects and factions.

The reader may note that God attributed Jesus to his mother Mary, and He did not attribute him to Himself, because he was the son of Mary and had no father. If God were indeed his father, He would have attributed him to Himself, because the context would dictate doing so. It is well-known that a person is usually attributed to his father, but as that was not applicable in the case of Jesus, God attributed him to his mother, saying, {Such was Jesus, son of Mary.}

Then God confirms that and says: {It is not befitting to Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him!} It is not possible that God could have a son because having a son would imply that God is in need of His creation, and that is contrary to fact. He is the one Who created them and brought them into being, so how could He be in need of them after that?

God then says, {Glory be to Him!} meaning God is exalted far above that.

Then at the end of this passage, God says: {When He decrees a matter, He merely says to it, 'Be!' and it is}. This is like what He says in another verse, at the end of chapter Al Imran:

{The likeness of Jesus before Allah is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, 'Be!' and he was.

This is the truth from your Lord, so do not be among those who doubt.}[Al 'Imran 3:59-60]

That is: O Muhammad, do not be among those who doubt the story of Jesus, for the truth has come to you from your Lord.

** Another indication of the virtue of Mary, according to Islam, is the fact that two whole chapters of the Qur'an are named after her and her family. The first is called “Mary", and the other is “Al 'Imran."

· The Christians have different beliefs about the status and nature of Mary

The three major groups of Christians differ greatly with regard to what they believe about the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary. The Eastern Orthodox believe that she was born with a burden of original sin just like the prophets, saints, and other humans except Jesus.

The Catholics, as well as the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox, believe that Mary was born free of original sin, as was Jesus.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches believe that Mary was taken up to heaven alive; some believe that before that, she died and was resurrected. They put statues and icons of her in their churches and venerate her. They also pray to her but justify that by explaining that they are praying for her intercession.

As for the Protestants, they regard her as being an ordinary creation like any other human, and they object to praying to her. They believe that she was the mother of Jesus, and she did not give birth to the divine; rather she gave birth to a human body only. Some of them say that she is like the white shell of an egg from which the chick emerges.

The Orthodox and Catholics agree that she was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, meaning that she had no relations with men, and that Jesus had no siblings; in general, Protestants do not believe that she remained a virgin for the rest of her life.

Catholics, Orthodox, and some Protestant sects call Mary the “mother of God," meaning the mother of Jesus, who they believe to be part of the Trinity. Most Protestant sects respect her and agree that her son Jesus was part of a Trinity, but they object to the title “mother of God" and excessive veneration of her.

As for the Jews, their view was the exact opposite of that. They believe that she committed shameful deeds, thus becoming pregnant with Jesus and giving birth to him – far be it from her to do such a thing.

Then Islam came and put an end to this terrible confusion about the Virgin Mary. The Qur'an states that she was devoted to worshipping God, honourable, strong and true in faith, pious and pure. She did not worship anything other than God, and she did not call people to worship her or her son. She is mentioned, with words of great respect and honour, in thirty-one places in the Qur'an. The name of her son, Jesus son of Mary, is mentioned twenty-five times in the Qur'an, and he is described as the Messiah nine times. All of that occurs in a context of respect, veneration, and honour, but only to the extent that is appropriate for a human being; it does not imply any belief that they possessed any divine attributes. They were human beings like us; they worshipped God as we worship Him, and they hoped to attain paradise and be saved from hell, just as we do.

The Qur'an tells us that Mary, the daughter of 'Imran, conceived Jesus by the word of God (“Be!"), and then Jesus remained in her womb, like any other human, until she gave birth to him as all women give birth to their children.

· In the Qur'an, God describes Jesus as being “the word of Allah"

In the Qur'an, Jesus is described as being the word of God, because he was created in his mother's womb through the divine word “Be!" The impact of that word was like the effect of the man's sperm meeting the woman's egg in her uterus, as a result of which she becomes pregnant and bears a child.

Jesus is also described as “a soul created by Him;" that is, the soul of Jesus was created by God like any other human soul, as God says in the Qur'an when He advises the People of the Book – namely the Jews and Christians:

{O People of the Book, do not exceed the bounds [of truth] in your religion, and do not say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah Jesus son of Mary was [no more than] a Prophet of Allah, and His word, which He bestowed upon Mary, and a soul created by Him. So believe in Allah and His prophets. Do not say: Three [trinity]; desist, for that will be better for you. Allah is indeed only one God. Glory be to Him, [far exalted is He] above having a son. To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and sufficient is Allah as a disposer of affairs.

The Messiah would never disdain to be a slave to Allah, nor would the angels who are close to Him. Whosoever disdains His worship and is arrogant, then surely Allah will gather them all before Him.

Then, as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, He [Allah] will give them their reward in full, and will give them yet more out of His bounty. But as for those who are disdainful and arrogant, He will give them a painful punishment, and they will not find for themselves, besides Allah, any protector or helper}. [an-Nisa' 4:171-173]

· The state in which the Children of Israel were before Jesus was sent to them

Introduction

The children of Israel were prophets and were kings after they were possessed by Pharaoh and his people, for God had bestowed many blessings upon them, as He says in the Qur'an:

{And [remember] when Moses said to his people: O my people, remember the favour that Allah bestowed upon you, when He appointed prophets among you, made you kings, and granted you what He had not granted to any other nation in the world.}[al-Ma'idah 5:20]

But the Children of Israel did not praise God for these blessings, and they went to extremes in transgression and wrongdoing. Their hearts grew hard, they forgot what they had been reminded of, and usury and fornication became widespread among them. They used to kill those who enjoined justice, and they even killed the prophets and distorted the Torah that they had. They transgressed greatly against the Book of God and against His prophets, in ways that no one before them had ever dared to do. So God sent the Messiah to them, but they did not believe that he was a prophet, even though God supported him with many miracles as proof of his prophethood. Then they decided to kill him, but God protected him and took him up to Him in heaven.

God says of the People of the Book (the Jews and Christians):

{Has the time not come for the hearts of those who believe to be humbled at the mention of Allah and of what has been revealed of the truth, and they should not be like those who were given the Book before, whose hearts grew hard with the passage of time? And many of them were evildoers.}[al-Hadeed 57:16]

Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said, commenting on this verse:

God forbade the believers to imitate the People of the Book who had come before them, the Jews and Christians, when their hearts grew hard with the passage of time;[54] they changed the Book of God which was in their hands, and ran after money, and threw it behind their backs. They persisted in adhering to various views and false teachings, and they followed human opinions with regard to the religion of God, taking their rabbis and priests as lords instead of God. At that point, their hearts grew hard, so they did not accept any admonition or respond to any promise of reward or warning of punishment.

{And many of them were evildoers} in their actions, so their hearts were corrupt, and their good deeds were invalid. God says elsewhere:

That is, their hearts became corrupt and grew hard, and it became part of their regular practice to distort the meaning of [revealed] words. They abandoned the good deeds that had been enjoined upon them, and they committed actions that were forbidden to them; hence, God forbade the believers from imitating them in any fundamental or minor issues.

Ibn Abi Hatim narrated a hadith from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood, and I have never heard anything more wonderful than it except something from the Book of Allah or something that the Prophet said. He said:

With the passage of time, the hearts of the Children of Israel grew hard, and they invented a book themselves, which they inclined towards and found sweet and pleasant to recite. The truth formed a barrier between them and many of the things that they desired, so they said: Come, let us call the Children of Israel to this book of ours. Whoever follows it with us, we will let him be, but whoever refuses to follow it with us, we will kill him. So they did that. There was a man among them who had great knowledge of religion. When he saw what they were doing, he turned to what he knew of the Book of God and wrote it down on some thin material, then he rolled it up and put it in a vessel, then hung the vessel on a string around his neck. When a lot of killing had taken place, they said to one another: you have killed many of the Children of Israel. Call So-and-so and show your book to him; if he follows it with you, then the rest of the people will follow it with you, but if he refuses, then kill him.

So they called So-and-so, that knowledgeable man, and said: Do you believe in that which is in our book?

He said: What is in it? Show it to me.

They showed it to him, from beginning to end, and then they said: Do you believe in this? He said: Yes, I believe in what is in here – and he pointed to the vessel, so they let him be.[55]When he died, they exhumed his body, and they found that vessel on a string tied around his neck. They found in it what is known as the Book of God, so they said to one another: We have never heard of that; this man must have gotten confused and drifted away.[56]

Then the Children of Israel split into seventy-two sects, and the best of their sects is the people who follow the same path as the one who had that vessel.

Ibn Mas'ood said: Soon, if you – or some of you – live, you will see things that you will disapprove of and object to. You will not be able to change them, but it will be sufficient for any one of you that God knows that he hates it in his heart.

Abu Ja'far at-Tabari narrated from 'Itrees ibn 'Arqoob that he came to 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood and said:

O 'Abdullah, doomed is the one who does not enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.

'Abdullah said: Doomed is the one who cannot recognize in his heart what is right and does not hate in his heart what is wrong. With the passage of time, the hearts of the Children of Israel grew hard, and they invented a book by themselves which they liked and found sweet to recite. They said: We will present this book to the Children of Israel; whoever believes in it, we will let him be, but whoever disbelieves in it, we will kill him.

So one of them put the Book of God in a vessel, then wore that vessel on his chest, then when he was asked: Do you believe in this? He said: I believe in this – and he pointed to the vessel on his chest – why would I not believe in this Book?

Among the best of their sects today is the sect that follows the same path as the one who had that vessel.

· The Children of Israel killed their prophets

God says in the Qur'an:

{As to those who reject the revelations of Allah and unjustifiably slay the prophets, and slay those of humankind who enjoin justice among the people, give them the tidings of a painful punishment.}[Al 'Imran 3:21]

Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said, commenting on this verse:

This is a condemnation by Allah of the People of the Book for what they committed of sins and unlawful acts by rejecting the revelations of Allah in the past and at present, which were conveyed to them by the prophets. They did that out of arrogance and stubbornness towards the prophets, and because they despised the truth and were too proud to follow it. In addition to that, they killed some of the prophets when they conveyed the laws of Allah from Him to them, for no just reason and with no offence on the part of the prophets, except that they called them to the truth.

{and slay those of humankind who enjoin justice among the people} – this is the utmost arrogance, as the Prophet said: <>[57]

Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarraah said: I said: O Prophet of Allah, which of the people will be most severely punished on the Day of Resurrection?

He said: <[killed] someone who enjoined what is right and forbade what is wrong.>>

Then the Prophet of Allah recited the verse:

{As to those who reject the revelations of Allah, unjustifiably slay the prophets, and slay those of humankind who enjoin justice among the people, give them the tidings of a painful punishment.

Such are the ones whose deeds will come to nothing in this world or in the hereafter, and they will have no helpers.}[Al 'Imran 3:21-22]

Then the Prophet of Allah said: <>

This was also narrated by Ibn Jareer, except that he said: <>

When they were too arrogant to accept the truth, and looked down on people, God punished them for that by humiliating them and bringing them low in this world, and by inflicting on them a humiliating punishment in the hereafter. Hence, He says: {give them the tidings of a painful punishment.}

{Such are the ones whose deeds will come to nothing in this world or in the hereafter, and they will have no helpers.}[Al 'Imran 3:22]

End quote from Ibn Katheer.

I say: In his explanation of Quran, Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Qatadah said, regarding the words {and slay those of humankind who enjoin justice among the people}: Those are the People of the Book; the followers of the prophets would tell them not to do [evil deeds] and would remind them of God, so they killed them.

God says:

{They were struck with humiliation and wretchedness; they incurred the wrath of Allah. That was because they rejected the signs of Allah and killed the prophets unjustly. That was because of their disobedience and transgression.}[al-Baqarah 2:61]

Ibn Katheer said, commenting on this verse:

Allah says: {That was because they rejected the signs of Allah and killed the prophets unjustly}.

Here Allah is saying: The requital that We gave them of humiliation and wretchedness, and sending divine wrath upon them, was part of bringing them low because of their being too arrogant to follow the truth, their rejection of the revelations of Allah, and their mistreatment of the bearers of the Law, namely the prophets and their followers, whom they disrespected to the extent that they killed them. No disbelief is greater than that, for they disbelieved in the revelations of Allah and they killed the prophets of Allah unlawfully. Hence in the hadith on the soundness of which there is scholarly agreement it says that the Prophet of Allah said: <>

· The Children of Israel distorted the Torah; the Qur'an says that the original Torah was distorted

God says, describing the Jews:

{But because of their breaking of their covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard. They distort the meaning of [revealed] words and have forgotten a portion of what was enjoined upon them. You will not cease to discover treachery from all save a few of them. So pardon them, and overlook [their misdeeds], for Allah loves those who do good.}[al-Ma'idah 5:13]

Shaykh 'Abdul-Rahman ibn Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his commentary on this verse:

{But because of their breaking of their covenant} that is, because of that, We punished them with a number of punishments:

Firstly: {We cursed them} that is, We expelled them and cast them far away from Our mercy, as they closed the gates of mercy to themselves, and did not fulfil the covenant that was taken from them, which is the main reason for the curse.

Secondly: {and made their hearts grow hard} that is, harsh and tough, so that no exhortation had any impact on them, and they did not benefit from the signs and warnings; they were not encouraged by mention of rewards and they were not deterred by warnings of the consequences. This is one of the greatest punishments a person may receive, for his heart to become like this, with the result that reminders of guidance and goodness only make him persist in evil.

Thirdly: {They distort the meaning of [revealed] words} that is, they indulged in the sin of changing and altering the Scriptures, so they changed the meanings of words to something other than what was intended by Allah and His Prophet.

Fourthly: {and have forgotten a portion of what was enjoined upon them}. They were enjoined to follow the Torah and what Allah revealed to Moses, but they forgot a portion of it. This includes forgetting the knowledge thereof, for they forgot it and it was lost to them, and much of what Allah caused them to forget no longer exists, as a punishment to them. It also includes forgetting to act upon it, which means failing to adhere to it. They were not enabled to do that which they had been instructed to do. This is an argument that may be used against the People of the Book, when they deny some of that which was mentioned in their books or that took place during their time; it is part of what they have forgotten (as indicated in the verse).

Fifthly: Ongoing treachery: {You will not cease to discover treachery from all save a few of them} that is, treachery towards Allah and towards His believing slaves. One of the greatest betrayals on their part is their concealing the truth from those to whom they give religious teaching and those who think positively of them, thus causing them to remain disbelievers. This is a serious betrayal.

This blameworthy characteristic is applicable to everyone who is like them. Therefore, anyone who does not do what Allah has commanded while he has taken a pledge from him to do what Allah has commanded has a share in the curse and hardness of heart, and is indulging in the sin of distorting (revealed) words. He is not going to be guided to the correct path, he will forget a portion of that which was enjoined upon him, and it is inevitable that he will commit acts of betrayal. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.

God calls what they were reminded of a “portion" because it is the greatest portion or share of good fortune, and everything other than that is merely a worldly portion.

End quote from his Explanation of Quranic verses.

***

God rebuked the Jews for concealing the truth that is mentioned in the Torah. He said:

{Say: Who then sent down the scripture that Moses brought as a light and guidance to the people, but you made it into separate sheets, showing some but concealing many.}[al-An'am 6:91]

What this verse means is: You, O Jews, made this Book into separate sheets, showing some of them but concealing many of them. One of those which they concealed was the description of Muhammad and mention of his prophethood.

Shaykh 'Abdul-Rahman ibn Sa'di said in his commentary on this verse:

{Who then sent down the Scripture that Moses brought}, namely the holy Torah,

{as a light} in the darkness of ignorance

{and guidance} away from misguidance and towards the straight path in terms of knowledge and practical application. This is the Book that was well known and held in high esteem. They copied it on separate sheets and used it however they wanted; whatever was in accordance with their whims and desires they would show and make it known, and whatever was contrary to their whims and desires, they would hide it and conceal it. That happened a great deal.

End quote from his Explanation of Quranic verses.

***

God says, highlighting the fact that the Jews distorted the Torah:

{Do you [O believers] then hope that they will respond to your call, when a party among them used to hear the word of Allah, and they distorted it knowingly after having understood it?}[al-Baqarah 2:75]

{Among the Jews are some who distort the meaning of [revealed] words.}[an-Nisa' 4:46]

{O Prophet, do not be saddened by those who rush into disbelief, those who say with their mouths: We believe, but have no faith in their hearts, or those among the Jews who eagerly listen to lies and to those who have not even come to you. They distort the meaning of [revealed] words.}[al-Ma'idah 5:41]

{There are some among them who distort the Book with their tongues, so that you would think it is part of the Book, but it is not part of the Book; and they say: This is from Allah, but it is not from Allah. And they tell lies about Allah knowingly.}[Al Imran 3:78]

What this verse means is that some of the Jews distorted the Torah, switching the words around and changing the word of God to give the impression that these were the words that had been revealed and that this was the Torah, but in fact, it was not part of the Torah at all. They said, “This came from God; God revealed it to His Prophet Moses." But it did not come from God; rather they tell lies about God for worldly gain, knowing full well that they are lying.

***

· The youth and prophethood of Jesus

Jesus did not spend his youth in idle pursuits and play, and he was not distracted, as most of the Jews were, by turning away from the commands of God and the love of wealth and women. Instead, he showed clear signs of having strong faith and of being a man of virtue and dignity. As God tells us in the Qur'an, among his first words when he spoke in the cradle were:

{Verily, I am a slave of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet. He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined on me prayer and zakah as long as I live. And He has made me dutiful towards my mother, and not arrogant or unblessed. So peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die and the day I will be raised up to life again!}[Mary 19:30-33]

This text is in harmony with what is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke:

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.[Luke 2:40]

When Jesus reached the age of thirty, God sent to him the greatest of His angels, Gabriel, and revealed to him the true revelation (Injeel), in which there was guidance and light. This was the beginning of his prophethood. God sent him to the Children of Israel, the Jews, and supported him with miracles which proved that he was indeed a prophet. Some of the Children of Israel believed in him, and others disbelieved in him; they should have believed in him, obeyed him, and respected him because the prophets are mediators between God and His creation, who convey His laws to them. Through them, people learn the way to Paradise so that they may follow it, and they learn the way to Hell so that they may avoid it.

In the Gospel of John, there is a statement that God supported Jesus with clear signs which proved that he was a prophet:

“Now there was a Pharisee,[58] a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.'" [John 3:1-2]

The fact that this Jewish leader said to Jesus, “For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him," proves that God supported Jesus with miracles which proved that he was a prophet, because humans are not able to do such things. For example, he used to bring the dead back to life, he healed those afflicted with leprosy or blindness, and he told people what they were eating and what food they had stored in their houses. All of that was by God's permission; Jesus had no independent power or independent knowledge, because he was a human being, no more and no less.

· A note on the falseness of the doctrine of original sin

Here we may note a subtle point, which is that this Jewish leader [Nicodemus] said to Jesus: “Rabbi,[59] we know that you are a teacher who has come from God," thus affirming that Jesus was sent by God to the Jews as a prophet and a teacher, because a prophet teaches the people the knowledge with which God sent him. It is sure that Jesus taught the people the Injeel (true revelation revealed to him from God) and guided them to do good.

The Jewish leader did not say that Jesus had come as a redeemer or a savior, that he was the son of God, that he was God, or any of the other ideas that are common among the Christians.

Jesus approved of what this Jewish man said, and he did not tell him that he was wrong. If the man had said something wrong, Jesus would have objected and corrected him. In his role as a teacher, he would have told him that he had come as a redeemer or savior, approving of what was correct but correcting any mistakes; otherwise, he would not really have been a teacher.

But unfortunately, the attitude of the Jews to whom Jesus was sent, with signs that he was indeed a Prophet, was not pleasing to God. They turned away from obeying God, and they turned away from following the commands in the Torah. They were too arrogant to listen to the truth, and they resented those people of virtue, such as prophets and reformers, who sought to advise them; in fact, they killed the prophets, as noted above, and venerated those rabbis and priests who deviated from the truth, giving them the right to promulgate laws and dictate what was permissible and what was forbidden. This comes under the heading of associating others with God, for God is one, and He alone has the right to ordain laws, but by their actions they made the rabbis and priests partners with God and equal to Him.

· Jesus gathered his sincere disciples around him when his people stubbornly rejected his call

God tells us what Jesus did when his people stubbornly rejected the religion that he brought:

{When Jesus came to know of their disbelief, he said: Who will be my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We will be helpers [in the cause] of Allah. We believe in Allah; bear witness that we submit to Allah [as Muslims].}[Al 'Imran 3:52]

What this verse means is that when Jesus, son of Mary, realized that they were determined to persist in their disbelief, he called out to his inner circle and most loyal followers to ask who would be with him in supporting God's religion. Those closest to him said that they would support it, call people to it, believe in God, and follow Jesus. They bore witness that they submitted to God, affirming His oneness and obeying Him.

· Jesus sensed imminent danger and realized that the Jews were planning to kill him

Some of the Jews, among whom were the disciples, believed that Jesus was a prophet from God, but many more disbelieved. Palestine at that time was ruled by the Romans who were pagans, who did not believe in God or in His prophets; rather they believed in a number of deified humans that they had made up themselves, a god of livestock, a god of agriculture, a god of war and so on. (See Appendix 3.) They did not care what religion the Jews followed, as long as they did not cause any internal chaos or rebellion that could undermine Roman authority.

To sum up, the Jews could no longer tolerate Jesus, so he began to travel about in secret with his mother, going from one village to another in Palestine, in the company of his disciples. Jesus began to suspect that the Jews intended to kill him.

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.[John 7:1]

Jesus said to the Jews, explaining that they did not believe in the message that he had brought and they wanted to kill him and get rid of him:

I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.[John 8:37]

It is also clearly stated that the Jews were keen to kill Jesus:

At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn't this the man they are trying to kill?"[John 7:25]

And:

So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn't he coming to the festival at all?"But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.[John 11:53-57]

· Jesus is taken up to heaven without any harm befalling him; this proves that the doctrine of the crucifixion is false

When the Jews' pursuit of Jesus grew intense, and he realized that he was in danger of being killed, he told his people that God would take him up to Him, intending to reassure them that his enemies would never be able to capture him and kill him, or even cause him the slightest harm. This is indicative of Jesus' trust that God would help him and protect him.

Jesus informed the disciples of this when speaking to his disciple John:

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast."[Matthew 9:15]

Think about his words, “the bridegroom will be taken"; he did not say “he will be killed," “he will be crucified," or any other phrase that modern Christians use as the basis for their belief that Christ was killed or crucified.

This also corresponds to what is said in [John 3: 14]: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.

Jesus hinted to his people that God would take him up [to heaven] and that he would never be killed or crucified:

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."

The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"[John 7:32-36]

The words of Jesus “and then I am going to the one who sent me," after which he said, “You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come," clearly indicate that Jesus was not the one whom they crucified and killed.

Similarly, if Jesus were the one who was killed on the cross, he would have been found and his location would have been known to them, because they had looked for him and found him in front of them, and they crucified him and killed him – according to those who believe in that. So how could that be in harmony with the words of Jesus, “You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."

These words could not be in harmony except in one of two scenarios: either Jesus was telling lies when he said that they would look for him but not find him, then what happened was that they looked for him and found him – and this is impossible, because Jesus did not and would never tell lies; or Jesus was telling the truth, and later they looked for him but did not find him. This could not have happened except in the scenario that God took him up to heaven and someone else took his place who was made to resemble Jesus, then the Jews killed him, thinking that he was Jesus. This is the truth concerning which there is no doubt, and it is what is indicated by the biblical reports, and also by the text of the Qur'an, in which God says:

{But they did not slay him or crucify him; rather [another man] was made to resemble him to them [and that man was crucified]. Those who differ concerning this matter are in doubt concerning it, with no [certain] knowledge, but only conjecture to follow. But they certainly did not slay him. Rather Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Almighty, Most Wise.}[an-Nisa' 4:157-158]

· Note

The words of Jesus, “I am going to the one who sent me," clearly indicate that he was a prophet sent by God.

· Note on the falseness of the doctrine of original sin

It is very interesting to note that Jesus was keen to avoid being killed. If he were a redeemer or savior, he would have handed himself over to the Jews in order to fulfil the doctrine of atonement and crucifixion in which modern Christians believe. He would not have tried to flee from them and hide with his mother in Galilee and elsewhere.

· A specious argument and the response to it

If it were to be asked: The one who was on the cross said when he was dying: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' (which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34) – who is the one who spoke these words?

The answer to that is very easy: the one who said these words was the person who was crucified, whom God caused to resemble Jesus so they captured him, crucified him, killed him and buried him. It was not Jesus himself, as God tells us in the Qur'an:

· Evidence that Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven in the care of God, and that Jews and Christians who claim that he was crucified are wrong

God says:

{And [the disbelievers] plotted and planned, and Allah also planned, and Allah is the best of planners. And [remember] when Allah said: O Jesus, I will take you back and raise you up to Me and deliver you from those who disbelieve; I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve, until the Day of Resurrection. Then you will [all] return unto Me, and I will judge between you concerning the matters wherein you differed.} [Al 'Imran 3:54-55]

Here God tells us that He took Jesus up to heaven. God took him up body and soul, the same as he was when he was on Earth,[60] and He saved him from the Jews who wanted to harm him and who had incited the disbelieving governor of Jerusalem at that time to kill him.

The story behind that is that the enemies of Jesus among the Jews tried to cause trouble for him with the Roman authorities who were ruling Palestine at that time, so that they would kill him. They told stories about him to one of the disbelieving governors in that land, who issued orders that he be killed and crucified. Hence they besieged him in a house in Jerusalem, on a Friday afternoon, the eve of the Sabbath. The reason for that enmity was that when God sent Jesus son of Mary with clear signs and guidance, they envied him for what God had granted him of prophethood and clear miracles, for he used to heal those born blind and lepers, and bring the dead back to life, by God's leave; he would make the shape of a bird from clay, then breathe into it and it would become a bird that was seen to fly, by God's permission; and there were other miracles with which God honoured him and caused them to happen at his hands, so as to prove to the people that he was indeed a prophet. But they disbelieved him and opposed him, and they tried to harm him in any way they could, until Jesus could no longer stay in the same city as them; rather he travelled about a great deal and hid from them in the land, along with his mother Mary. But they were not content with that, until they went to the governor of Damascus at that time, who was a polytheist star-worshipper. They told him that there is a man in Jerusalem who was confusing the people and misguiding them, turning the subjects against the Roman authorities. The governor got angry and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem – whose name was Pontius Pilate – instructing him to arrest this man and crucify him, putting a crown of thorns on his head, and put a stop to the trouble he was causing to people. When the letter reached him, Pontius Pilate complied with it. He and a group of Jews went to the house where Jesus was, along with a group of his disciples, twelve or thirteen – or, it was said, seventeen. That was on a Friday afternoon, the eve of the Sabbath. They besieged him there, then when the time came for them to enter the house, God caused one of the disciples who were present to resemble Jesus, and Jesus was taken up to heaven through an opening in the roof of the house as the people in the house were looking on. The police came in and found that young man who had been caused to resemble Jesus, so they arrested him, thinking that he was Jesus. They crucified him and put the crown of thorns on his head to humiliate him, and they bragged about that. Most Christians believed the Jews' claim that they had killed Jesus, because they did not know the truth of the matter and had not seen what happened inside the house. Therefore, they, like the Jews, thought that the one who had been killed and crucified was Jesus, and because of that they clearly went far astray.[61]

Here someone might ask: Why did the Jews hate Jesus?

The answer is that the message and teachings of Jesus that called for being gentle and kind towards others conflicted with the materialistic nature of the Jews, and their arrogant hard-heartedness. When Jesus came to them, advised them and told them to follow him, they accused him of being a false prophet, and they disbelieved in the signs that confirmed that he was a true prophet, and they said that these wonders were performed with the help of the devils.

Ibn Abi Hatim [62] narrated that Ibn 'Abbas said: When Allah wanted to take Jesus up to heaven, he came out to his companions, as there were twelve of them – meaning the disciples – in the house. He came out to them from a well in the house, with his head dripping with water, and said: Among you is someone who will deny me twelve times after having believed in me.

Then he said: Which of you will agree to be made to resemble me, and be killed in my stead, and he will be with me on the same level[in Paradise] as me?[63]

One of the youngest of them stood up, but Jesus said to him: Sit down.

Then Jesus repeated his words, and the young man stood up again, but he said: Sit down.

Then Jesus repeated his words again, and the young man stood up and said: I will do it.

Jesus said: It is you who will do that.

So he was made to resemble Jesus, and Jesus was taken up to heaven through an opening in the roof of the house.

Then a search party of the Jews came and arrested the one who was made to resemble Jesus. They killed him then they crucified him. Some of them denied him twelve times after having believed in him, and they split into three groups. One group said: God remained among us as long as He willed, then he ascended to heaven. These are the Jacobites.

Another group said: The son of God remained among us as long as he willed, then God took him up to Him. These are the Nestorians.

And another group said: The servant and prophet of God remained among us as long as God willed, then God took him up to Him, and these are the Muslims.[64]

The two disbelieving groups ganged up on the Muslim group and killed them, after which Islam [in the general sense of submission to God] remained unknown until God sent Muhammad.

Ibn 'Abbas said: This is referred to in the verse in which Allah says:

{Then We helped those who believed against their enemies, so they prevailed.}[as-Saff 61:14][65]

· A history lesson [66]

When the Jews crucified that man, they threw him and the wooden cross into a place which they then made into a dump where they threw garbage, impure things, animal carcasses and other filthy things. It remained like that until the time of Constantine, when his mother Helena went there and brought out the remains of that person whom she believed was Christ. They also found the wood on which the crucified person had been crucified, which they venerated and covered with gold and pearls. Hence they adopted the symbol of the cross, from the shape of which they sought blessings, and they would kiss it. The Empress Helena issued orders that the garbage be removed from that place, and a huge, ornate church was built on that site, which is well known until this day in Jerusalem. It is the church that was called in Arabic Kaneesat al-Qumaamah (lit. the Church of the Garbage Dump), because of what that site used to be, but now they call it the Church of the Resurrection [67], meaning the place where they believe Jesus was resurrected.

Then Helena issued orders that the garbage and filth of the city be placed on the rock which was the direction towards which the Jews faced when they prayed.[68] This is how things remained until the Muslim Caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khattab conquered Jerusalem.[69] He swept away the garbage with his garment and cleansed the place of filth and impurities.[70]

To sum up: Jesus was not the one who was killed; it was someone else. As for Jesus, God took him up to Himself in heaven, in a great miracle which was an honor for him, the like of which had never happened to any prophet before him. God honored him and humiliated his enemies, the Jews and those Roman police who helped them.

This is the correct belief, which is affirmed by the Qur'an, as we have noted above.

· The attitude of the Children of Israel after Jesus was taken up to heaven and Paul emerged

The followers of Jesus continued to adhere to the correct belief that he had taught them for a while, but they suffered extreme persecution during that time at the hands of the Jews, especially Paul, who harshly persecuted the followers of Jesus. When he realized that violence had not produced any results and never would, he resorted to the tactic of hypocrisy. Therefore, he claimed to believe in Christ, and strove hard to learn his teachings, until he became one of the most knowledgeable among them. Then after that, he lied to them, claiming that Christ had revealed a gospel to him, and some of them believed him. Then he began his vile mission to distort the religion of Jesus, by introducing into it things that were not part of it. Hence he invented a doctrine which said that Jesus was the son of God, then he invented the doctrine of original sin and the doctrine of redemption. Many of the followers of Jesus opposed him, as is indicated by the words of Paul himself:

You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me. [2 Timothy 1:15]

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.[2 Timothy 4:16]

· The four stages of the development of Pauline Christianity after Paul's death

In spite of what Paul tried to do, belief in the oneness of God remained prevalent among Christians for three centuries.

Then came the Council of Nicaea, in which belief in the divinity of Christ was imposed with the support of the Roman Emperor Constantine, to put an end to the disputes in the Christian community, which was part of Roman society. Thus, the version of Christianity that Paul had promoted began to advance.

Then Constantine himself became a Christian, a follower of the religion that had deviated from the original religion of Jesus, which had been shaped by Paul, and he imposed it on Roman society. Constantine gave up his old religion, which was pure idolatry that had no connection to Jesus or any of the other prophets. Christianity grew stronger, but the belief in the oneness of God, to which the bishop Arius had called people, was still prevalent among the Christians in Constantinople, Antioch, Babylon, Alexandria, Asyut, Jerusalem, Caesarea in Palestine, and Tyre.

But the non-unitarian [71] bishops began to gain control over the Christians, through claims of dreams and visions, until the unitarian belief disappeared, and there was nothing left except the view that Christ was divine.[72]

In 380 CE came the era of the Emperor Theodosius I, who became a Christian, and the Roman Empire officially embraced Christianity in the form that had been shaped by Paul and confirmed by Constantine. Thus, the door was opened wide for the pagan peoples of the Roman Empire to embrace Christianity.

These are the four stages in the development of Christianity which followed the era of Paul, and which led the Christian community far away from the teachings of Jesus and made Christianity a religion that was nothing but a mixture of the myths of Paul and the beliefs of the pagan Romans.

***

· The Jews' distortion of the Torah and Injeel (true revelation from God to Jesus) with the passage of time is regarded as one of the greatest factors that led to the distortion of the religion of Moses and Jesus

Allah says, addressing the scholars of all the People of the Book (the Jews and Christians):

{O People of the Book, why do you confuse truth with falsehood and knowingly conceal the truth?}[Al 'Imran 3:71]

***

Allah says of the scholars of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians):

{And [remember] when Allah took a covenant from those who were given the scripture, that they should make it known and clear to humankind, and not conceal it; but they cast it behind their backs, and sold it for a small price; what a wretched trade they made!}[Al 'Imran 3:187]

***

Allah says of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians):

{Then woe to those who write the scripture with their own hands, and then say: This is from Allah, in order to trade it for a small price! Woe to them for what their hands have written, and woe to them for what they have earned thereby.}[al-Baqarah 2:79]

This distortion is represented in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written after the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was taken up to heaven. Christian scholars say they are the original revelation that was in the hands of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, and his disciples. But the truth of the matter, concerning which there can be no doubt, is that they are man-made books which were written by four people during the period 37-110 CE [73], after which they began to call each of them a Gospel, to liken them to the original revelation (Injeel) that had been brought by Jesus. This comes under the heading of confusing truth with falsehood. They named them after their authors, calling them the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John, when in fact it would be more honest and truthful to call them the Book of Matthew, the Book of Mark, the Book of Luke and the Book of John, and not to call any of them a gospel.

***

Allah admonished the People of the Book (the Jews and Christians), saying:

{O People of the Book, there has come to you our Prophet, disclosing to you much of what you have been concealing of the scripture, and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear Book.}[al-Ma'idah 5:15]

The word 'Prophet' here refers to Muhammad, and what is meant by “a light" is the Qur'an.

***

The Christian scholars' distortion of their religion is the main cause of the mysteries and contradictions that exist in modern Christianity (by which I am not referring to the religion that was brought by the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary). If the Torah and Gospels that are in the hands of the Jews and Christians now were the original words of God that were in the hands of Moses and the Jesus, there would be no confusion, ambiguity or mysteries among Christian sects, and issues of doctrine would be very clear because God describes the Torah and the Injeel (true revelation from God to Jesus) as being sources of guidance and light, and guidance and light are contrary to the ambiguity and mysteries found in the Torah and Gospels that the Jews and Christians have now.

It is clear that the Torah and Gospels as they exist now are not the originals that God sent down to His Prophets Moses and Jesus. Rather they are books written by human hands some time after the original revelations,[74] and in them there is obviously a great deal of deviation from the original text. Whoever reads the Qur'an with a sincere and neutral heart will clearly see the difference between the words of God and the words of humans. Praise be to Allah for establishing proof and showing us the straight path.

· An important note

With the disappearance of the original revelation to Jesus (Injeel) that had been brought by Jesus, and with the availability of the books written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which are called Gospels, you will find in them some sound reports and stories, because these books are exactly like history books. Hence some of their texts indicate that Jesus was human, and we have quoted a number of these texts in this book. They also contain the foretelling of the true Prophet, namely Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, of whom there are approximately thirty prophecies in the Bible.[75]

· God took prophethood away from the Children of Israel

God took prophethood away from the Children of Israel and gave it to the Children of Ishmael. God decrees whatever He wills, and no one has the right to object to the decree of God; it is for Him alone to decide. He sent Muhammad from among the progeny of Ishmael, the son of the prophet Abraham, to all people, both the Children of Israel and others; He enjoined all people to enter his religion and caused his message to be the completion of the messages of all previous prophets.

· The status of Jesus among the Jews, Christians and Muslims

The Jews went to extremes in their disregard for Jesus. They disbelieved in his prophethood and rejected him, and they accused his mother of shameful deeds – far be it from her to commit such actions.

The Christians went to extremes in venerating him, raising him above humans. They said highly contradictory and illogical things about him: that he is God, the son of God and one of three. Some of them said that he had one nature and others said that he had two natures; some of them said that he had one will and others said that he had two wills.

As for the disciples and the authors of the four Gospels, not even one word was narrated from them to suggest that Jesus ever said of himself that he was God, physical son of God or one of three, and not one word was narrated from him to suggest that he ever told the people to worship him.

The religion of Islam, on the other hand, explains the true facts about the nature of Jesus: he is human and a Prophet whom God created in the womb of his mother Mary by means of the word “Be!" and Jesus came into being in his mother's womb. Then God sent him to the Children of Israel, and he instructed them to worship God alone, as God tells us in the Qur'an:

{But the Messiah said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever ascribes partners to Allah, then Allah has forbidden paradise for him, and the fire will be his abode. For the wrongdoers there will be no helpers.}[al-Ma'idah 5:72]

And God tells us that Jesus said:

{I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.}[al-Ma'idah 5:117]

{Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.}[Al 'Imran 3:51, az-Zukhruf 43:46, Mary 19:36]

And God says:

{No human being to whom Allah has given the scripture, wisdom and prophethood would ever say to the people: Be my worshippers rather than Allah. On the contrary [he would say]: Be perfect in knowledge and in deeds, by virtue of your constant teaching of the scripture and of your constant study thereof.}[Al 'Imran 3:79]

· Commentary on these verses

It is absolutely impossible for any human being whom God blessed with prophethood and sent down with a scripture to say to the people, “Worship me instead of God" or “Worship me alongside God." This is something which is impossible for any of the prophets (blessings and peace be upon him) – whether Jesus or any other prophet – to say, because this is the most reprehensible of notions, to suggest that God would send a man as a prophet, and then this man would set himself up as a god and not as a prophet. It is impossible for any of the prophets to do such a thing, because the prophets are the most perfect of humanity and the most assiduous in worshipping God and in following His commands. What they taught the people was in precise compliance with what God commanded them to do, which was to call people to affirm His oneness and worship Him alone, and to avoid reprehensible actions, the worst and gravest of which is associating anyone or anything with God and taking anyone or anything else besides Him as a god.

The People of the Book, Jews and Christians, used to worship their rabbis and monks, as God tells us:

{They take their rabbis and priests, and the Messiah son of Mary, as lords besides Allah, even though they were commanded to worship only One God. There is no god worthy of worship except Him; glory be to Him, [far exalted is He] above having the partners they ascribe to Him.}[at-Tawbah 9:31]

In other words, they took their rabbis and priests as lords, and they also worshipped Jesus, even though God did not command them to do that. He commanded them to do the opposite, which is to refrain from worshipping anything or anyone except God, and to worship God alone with no partner or associate.

God has explained the true nature of what every prophet commanded his people:

{On the contrary [he would say]: Be perfect in knowledge and in deeds, by virtue of your constant teaching of the scripture and of your constant study thereof.}[Al 'Imran 3:79]

Being perfect in knowledge and in deeds means being wise and having understanding and knowledge. The command to be perfect in knowledge and in deeds is regarded as being incumbent upon the prophets by virtue of what they learned from that scripture which God sent down to them. Moreover, the prophet's teaching the people goodness requires him to comply with what he is teaching them and to set a good example for them.

To sum up: believing that the prophets instructed their people to worship them is false; instead, the prophets instructed them to worship God and forbade them from worshipping anyone or anything besides Him.

***

Appendix 5 A specious argument and the response to it

Some argue that Jesus is the son of God (in a literal sense) and that since he had no human father, his father was God.

The response to this false argument is that God created our father Adam and our mother Eve without either a father or a mother, yet no one says that their father was God.

Moreover, God the Father has the power to do all things, and He is not limited by how things usually happen. Nothing is beyond Him. Therefore, God is able to create a human from a male and a female, as is the case with almost all human beings, but He may create from neither a male nor a female, as in the case of our father Adam. God may create from a male without a female, as in the case of our mother Eve, whom God created from the rib of Adam. He may also create from a female without a male, as in the case of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. He may create from an old man and a woman who had been unable to have children, as in the case of the Prophet Abraham and the wife of Prophet Zachariah, or He may make a couple infertile and not give create any offspring – whether male or female – for them. He may create males and no females from a couple, or females and no males, or both males and females. God is able to do all things; when He wills a thing, he merely says to it “Be!" and it is.

God says in the Qur'an:

{The likeness of Jesus before Allah is as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, 'Be!' and he was.}[Al 'Imran 3:59]

{To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates whatever He wills; He bestows female [offspring] upon whomever He wills, and bestows male [offspring] upon whomever He wills, or He bestows both males and females; and He leaves barren whomever He wills. Verily, He is All-Knowing, Omnipotent.}[ash-Shoora 42:49-50]

What this verse means is that the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and everything in them, belongs to Allah; He creates whatever He wills. He gives to whomever He wills among His servants female (offspring) with no males; He gives to whomever He wills male (offspring) with no females; He gives to whomever He wills both males and females; and He makes whomever He wills infertile, with no offspring. He knows best what He creates, and is able to create whatever He wills; nothing He wants to create is beyond Him.

After noting this, we should ask which idea is closer to reason and logic – to say that God created Jesus in the womb of his mother by means of a single word, “Be!" and Jesus came into being in his mother's womb, or to say that Jesus is the son of God?

I will leave it for the fair-minded and unbiased reader to seek the truth.

***

Appendix 6 A note about the meaning of the phrase “son of God," which is mentioned in some of the Gospels [76]

** The phrase “son of God", which is mentioned in several places in the Gospels, should be understood in the light of the language spoken by Jesus. Referring to the Gospels, we find that the word “son" in this context has connotations of care, love, guidance, faith and honor. This description is applicable to Jesus and his disciples in particular, and it is also applicable to others of the Children of Israel who followed Jesus and acted in accordance with the teachings with which God sent him.

** This meaning is indicated in John 1:12, where the phrase “children of God" refers to those who believed in his name.

** In Paul's Epistle to the Romans, he writes:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.[Romans 8:14]

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. [Romans 8:16]

** In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:

“Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called children of God." [Matthew 5:9]

** [In the same chapter], Jesus says:

“…and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."[Matthew 5:44-45]

The phrase “son of God", which is mentioned in the Gospels and other books of the Bible that Christians have, is used to refer to both Jesus and his followers equally, those who believe in him, lovers of good and peace, and those who are keen to persist in doing acts of worship. This phrase is not applied only to Jesus himself. Thus, the true meaning of this phrase in the Gospels becomes clear; “son of God" does not refer to being a son or child in the literal sense of having been begotten; rather what is meant is care and love for the followers of Jesus.

** Another matter that makes this very clear is the fact that the description of “son" is used in reference to many people who came before Jesus, so this is not something that is unique to Jesus and his followers. One example of that appears in the Old Testament, where God says to David :

“You are my son; today I have become your father.[77]Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance." [Psalm 2:7]

** In fact, in the Old Testament, all the progeny of Adam are described as sons or children of God:

“When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose." [Genesis 6:1-2]

** What also confirms the above is the fact that the phrase “sons of God" is used as a counterpart to the “sons of Satan" and the “sons of vipers [snakes]"[78], as is seen in the Gospels where Jesus describes the Jews as a “brood [sons] of vipers." Everyone knows that they were not literally sons of vipers, and they were not literally sons of Satan; they were described as a brood of vipers because of their scheming and the danger they posed, and their poisonous ideas. They were also described as sons of Satan because of their deceit and lies.

** Conclusion: When the phrase “son of God" appears in the Gospels, it is not meant in a literal sense; rather, it is meant to describe the one concerning whom this phrase is used as being in the care of God and being close to God by virtue of his worship and faith.

The other meaning of being a son is in the sense of lineage or descent, which happens through procreation, in which case the son is part of his father. No one who has understanding, faith and deep insight will doubt that this meaning is not applicable with regard to God. There is no relationship of lineage between God and any of His creation at all, because God does not beget, nor is He begotten. God has no need of His creation; He has no spouse or child, for having a child or spouse is something that is based only on need, and God is above creating something and then needing it. Exalted be He far above that.

What is meant by being the son of God in the Gospels is the first meaning, as stated above.

· Jesus declared himself to be a human being, which puts a decisive end to any disputes concerning this matter

What clarifies the meaning of the phrase “son of God" that is mentioned in the Gospels is the fact that Jesus declared that he was of human, not divine, origin. If Jesus really were the son of God, he would not have said that he was human, because then he would have been lying. Far be it from him to do such a thing.

Jesus Christ described himself as the “Son of Man" in many places in the Gospels, some of which we have quoted above. These texts include the following:

** Jesus says of himself:

“For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village." [Luke 9:56 (KJB)]

This text clearly states that Jesus was not the son of God; rather he was the Son of Man and was a human being.

** In the Gospel of John, it says:

“So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man… I do nothing on my own…" [John 8:28]

Does this not indicate that Jesus was human, with no divine attributes at all?

If Jesus were God, he would not have described himself as human by saying that he was the “Son of Man," and he would not have said, “I do nothing on my own," because the Lord of the universe can do anything, and He controls the affairs of the entire universe. It would not make sense for Jesus to say, “I do nothing on my own" if he were indeed the Lord of the universe.

** Jesus says of himself to the crowd:

The Son of Man came eating and drinking.[Matthew 11:19]

** Jesus said to those who wanted to kill him:

“As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things."[John 8:40]

** In fact, when it was said to Jesus, “You are the son of God," the conclusion of his response was that he was the Son of Man (John 1:49-51).

The fact that Jesus described himself as a man clearly indicates that he was human. Would it ever cross the mind of one who says such a thing that he was God or the son of God?

**For other references to the humanity of Jesus, please see Luke 17:22, Luke 18:8 and Matthew 12:32.

** Hence we may conclude that the word “son", when referring to Jesus, does not mean that Jesus is the son of God in the sense of lineage and procreation. Not at all; what it means is that God was the one who was taking care of him.

· What is meant by the word “father"?

The word “father", which is mentioned in several places in the Gospels, should also be understood in terms of the language spoken by Jesus. By referring to the Gospel of John, we find that the word “father" means the one who takes care of someone and is in charge of something. It is well-known that it is God Who is in charge of the entire universe, including all of humanity; therefore He is the father of the universe in this sense. Jesus said:

“I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.[John 20:17]

The Jews said to Jesus:

“the only Father we have is God himself."[John 8:41]

And Jesus said to his disciples:

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." [Matthew 6:6]

And he said to his disciples:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." [Matthew 6:1]

In the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah says:

“Yet you, Lord, are our Father."[Isaiah 64:8]

Such statements, which are attributed to Jesus and others, are very common in the Bible. All of that attests to the fact that the word “father" is used to describe God as the One Who looks after people, who takes care of His believing servants. It is not used in the literal sense – exalted be God far above that.

Based on the above, when it says in the Gospel that Jesus described God as the “Father", he meant the one who takes care of people and is in charge of all things. He did not mean a father in the literal sense, in which the son is part of his father.

· Summary of the above

The word son may have two meanings: literal and figurative.

An example of the literal sense is if you say “I am Eli, son of Daniel," meaning that Daniel is your father in the sense that he sired you and you are his son.

An example of the figurative sense is saying to a friend's child, when you want to show some kindness, “O my son [or daughter], come, and I will give you some candy."

Or saying to your brother's son, “O my son, do not stay up too late."

In these two cases, you say “O my son" even though he is not literally your son, but you feel that he is your true son because you are very fond of him, and because you show care for him with the advice that you offer to him, so it is as if he were your true son.

Similarly, a principal may say to the boys in his school, “O my sons, do not drive too fast."

And a principal may say to the girls, “O my daughters, help your mothers at home."

In these cases, the principals are saying these words to the students, both boys and girls, even though they are not their children in a literal sense, but they feel as if they are their children because they are raising them.

The same idea applies to the word “son" that is mentioned in the Gospels. It refers to caring, looking after and loving. Hence those who follow the teachings of Jesus are described as the children of God; this is not meant in a real, literal sense of being children through procreation, because God does not beget, nor is He begotten, and none compares to Him. What is meant instead is the second (figurative) meaning.

** The converse is also true. If you call out to an elderly man whom you see in the street, or a friend of your father or uncle, “Father, do you need any help?", what you mean by using the word (father) in this instance is showing respect; you do not mean that he is your father in a literal sense, and that you are his offspring.

Similarly, if you say to an old woman who is carrying some items, or you say to a friend of your mother or aunt, “Mother, do you need any help?", what you mean by using the word (mother) in this instance is showing respect; you do not mean that she is your mother in a literal sense, and that you are her offspring and that she gave birth to you.

***

Appendix 7 General notes

[1] Is the symbol of the cross part of the religion of Jesus?[79]

** The Christians have taken the cross as a symbol; they glorify it, even though it is an inanimate object that can neither benefit nor harm. They make crosses out of metal or wood, and glorify it.

** The idea of taking the cross as a symbol of Christianity is not mentioned in the four Gospels or in the Epistles of the New Testament. History says that the Christians did not take the cross as a symbol until after the Council of Nicaea which was held in 325 CE. The Romans used to force those who had been sentenced to death by crucifixion to carry crosses to the place where they would be crucified.

** The Roman Emperor Constantine I was the first one to use the cross as a symbol on the shields of his troops, although he was still pagan at that time and had not yet become Christian.

The Christian historian Dr. Asad Rustom states that during a battle in 312 CE, before sunset, Constantine saw above the disc of the sun a cross of light on which it was written “In hoc signovinces (In this sign thou shalt conquer)." That night, in a dream he saw Jesus carrying the same symbol, advising him to take it as a banner under which to attack his enemy. When he woke up, he issued orders that crosses be drawn on the shields of his troops, went into battle and was victorious. Thus, this symbol (the cross) later adorned the banners of the Roman state.[80]

** Thus, the flimsy foundations on which Christianity is based become clear. The basis for the cross, which the Christians took as a symbol, is a dream and not revelation from God or teachings of Jesus that are recorded in any of the four Gospels which were written after he was taken up to heaven.

** At best, one may suppose that for the cross to be a valid symbol of the Christians it should at least have been part of the teachings of Paul, but it is not part of the teachings of either Jesus or Paul. Nevertheless, the Christians made it a symbol of the religion of Jesus, but Jesus did not know anything about it and was not even crucified in the first place!

** Furthermore, one would assume that Christians should hate the cross, because it is the thing on which their God was crucified – according to their beliefs.

Is that not so?[81]

[2] The origin of the term “Christianity"[82]

** The terms “Christianity" and “Christian" were not known at the time of Jesus or for some time after that. This word does not appear in any of the four Gospels. This word was coined when the Roman pagans in the city of Antioch and others noticed that there was a clear change that had begun to appear in the group that followed Paul, which was composed of Jews and pagans who had embraced Paul's teachings and had become clearly distinct from the other Jews, who were still adhering to Judaism. So they called that group Christians – after Christ. There follows proof of that:

“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." [Acts 11:26]

That was approximately 15 to 25 years after Jesus had been taken up to heaven.

** This is supported by the fact that the pagans who entered Paul's religion themselves faced the problem of needing an identity as a banner around which they could rally after they had moved away from their previous pagan origins and entered the new religion that Paul had founded for them. They also needed to have a religion that was distinct from the original religion that Jesus had brought, hence they were called Christians.

** Based on that, using the term Christian to refer to the followers of Jesus who lived at the time of Jesus until approximately a quarter of a century after he was taken up to heaven is regarded as erroneous in both religious and historical terms, and it contributes to misunderstanding and confusion between the true religion and the distorted religion on the one hand, and between the followers of Jesus and the followers of Paul on the other hand.

** The religion of Paul, which was later called Christianity, includes pagan beliefs, symbols and rituals, and complex, ambiguous mysteries that no one could and will never be able to understand or even answer questions about them; not even senior Christian clergy have been able to do that throughout the past twenty centuries.

[3] Acts of worship, customs, rituals and pursuit of personal interests that were introduced into the religion of Jesus after he was taken up to heaven [83]

The religion and message of Jesus – before he was taken up to heaven and before they were subjected to distortion at the hands of Paul and those who came after him – were simple and straightforward, free of this complicated clerical system that is found in the Catholic, Coptic and Eastern churches, with their Popes, patriarchs, cardinals and priests. Music was not played in the Temple where Jesus used to pray; no bells were rung, and there were no crosses. There was no confession of sins before the priests and no sale of indulgences. Marriage was not forbidden to priests before the Council of Nicaea, and there were no images of Christ and his mother. There was no celebration of Christmas, and there was no Christmas tree and no Father Christmas (Santa Claus). There were no festivals except those that were celebrated by the people of Jesus, namely the Jews, the most important of which was Passover or Easter. Other than that, Christ did not do and did not command it. The evidence for all of that is the fact that none of these things are mentioned in the four Gospels. If any of that had happened, it would have been mentioned in the Gospels, because these are things that people would definitely have narrated and transmitted stories about. Based on that, all of these customs are things that were introduced later into the religion of Jesus; he did not know of them or do any of these things, and neither did his disciples.

Unfortunately, the majority of Christians do eat pork, and commit adultery (which is having sexual relations outside the framework of marriage), even though it is well known to be reprehensible according to religious teachings, reasoning, and sound human nature. Many of them commit such deeds without feeling any shame before God or people, and this is something that may happen both among the clergy and those whom they call their flock, even though such shameful deeds are forbidden in their Scriptures!

It says in the Gospel of Matthew, concerning the prohibition on adultery, that Jesus said to his disciples:

“You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."[Matthew 5:27-30]

With regard to eating pork, God said to Moses and Aaron, speaking of the animals that it is forbidden to eat:

“And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you."[Leviticus 11:7]

In fact, the Christians – including their clergy – eat pork with relish. In what way are the majority of Christians adhering to the religion of Jesus?

[4] Reasons why the spread of the true message of Jesus was very limited after he was taken up to heaven [84]

** The abrupt ending of Jesus' presence on earth and the violent interference of the Roman government had a great psychological impact on the disciples and followers of Jesus, who were weak in physical, psychological and academic terms. They had no one among them with any type of authority and prominence to whom they could turn to protect the message of Jesus and work to propagate and spread it. They themselves also faced persecution at the hands of the Jews, so their main focus was to save their own skins, lest they be subject to torture and persecution. Hence, they did not think at all of protecting the message of Jesus, and they stopped striving to ensure that it could survive and spread. As a result of that, his message and religion could not spread any further at the public level, and this gave Paul the opportunity to start distorting the message of Jesus, and in fact he had free reign in doing so.

** One of the most significant reasons why the teachings of Jesus did not spread widely is the fact that Paul pulled the rug from under the disciples of Jesus when he claimed to be an apostle appointed by Christ. Hence the people no longer paid attention to the disciples and had no interest in learning the religion from them, because there was a new “prophet" – or so they thought – from whom they could learn the religion directly [namely Paul]. This led to a slowdown in the spread of the true religion of Jesus to a great extent.

** In this regard, it may be said that one of the causes of the slowdown in the spread of the true teachings of Jesus after he was taken up to heaven is the fact that the Jews rejoiced in their victory against Jesus, whom they had killed – or so they thought – so they focused their efforts on the disciples, seeking to eradicate his message and prevent it from spreading further by all means. That took the form of the opportunity that Paul had to begin distorting the message of Jesus and spread the distorted version.

**One of the most significant factors in the slowdown of the spread of the true teachings of Jesus is the fact that the original Injeel (true revelation from God to Jesus) that had been in the hands of Jesus and his disciples was not preserved. Common sense tells us that the Injeel that was in the hands of Jesus, that he preached to the people, is not any of these four Gospels that the Christians have now, and it is not similar to any one of them, because all four Gospels were written after Jesus was taken up to heaven, as were the twenty-three Epistles that are also found in the New Testament. In total there are twenty-seven books, all of which were written by people who did not meet Jesus or see him for even a moment; rather they wrote them after he was taken up to heaven. Hence those books bear their names, and their contents are not identical to one another either in wording or in terms of beliefs and stories, and there are many contradictions and differences between them.

[5] Five reasons why Christian men and women remain Christian despite the contradictions in their religion [85]

Firstly: The Christian masses do not read the four Gospels and the twenty-three Epistles, because the discussion in them is lengthy, complicated, contradictory and not clear [86]. The clergy do not give convincing answers to their questions, because they themselves do not understand the texts properly, but they are not to be blamed for that, because those Gospels are the words of humans like them, and have been translated from another language; their authors are not entirely known, and the process of amendment and translation has been going on for centuries. As a result of all of that, no human could understand them.

Conclusion: The Christians do not read their Gospels because that is not required by their religion, and the one who does read them will not go beyond reading some prayers that are found in them.

Secondly: Due to the nature of Christianity as it currently exists -with its complicated, idolatrous and mysterious beliefs, symbols and rituals, which are contrary to reason and logic -the Christian clergy throughout history have persistently discouraged their followers from asking questions and inquiring about the religion and about their scripture and what it contains of errors and contradictions. They regard merely asking such questions as being indicative of a lack of faith in this religion, in which they must believe without understanding or using reason!

The reason for that ban on asking questions is that they are well aware that if any of the people – especially educated men and women – think about their religion and its pagan doctrines, symbols and rituals, many questions will come to mind, for which they will never find any answers or sufficient, logical explanations, either from the clergy or anyone else. That will undoubtedly lead to confusion and lack of interest in their religion, and they will lose interest in it and will turn away from it.

Therefore, the clergy simply rebuke their flock when they ask questions, or they give flimsy answers that are not worth a penny, when they say, “This is a divine mystery."

It is well-known that the true and sound religion has no mysteries; why would it have any mysteries? How can anyone be walking in the light when it is a mystery and a secret? Moreover, there is no mention in the four Gospels or the other books of the New Testament of anyone ever asking Jesus a question and Jesus not answering, or saying, “This is a divine mystery." He would go to the masses and answer their questions, teaching them how to worship God and convey his message as a prophet. We have quoted above several texts from the New Testament which attest to that.

If the clergy truly followed the example of Jesus, they would do as he did.

If Christians read their scriptures themselves, with reflection and examining them deeply, away from any influence of the clergy, they would discover the truth, which is that these books cannot be the book of God, and they would discover that contemporary Christianity cannot be the religion of Jesus. But most of them follow their Christian community without careful study of its doctrines, following in the footsteps of their parents and society, or because they fear the power of the clergy, or they became Christians because of missionaries taking advantage of factors such as poverty, ignorance or sickness, as happens in Africa, where missionaries entice poor people with medicine, education and money, so this ignorant person enters Christianity (the religion of Paul, not the true religion of Jesus), and thus the missionary achieves his goal.

As a result of what is mentioned above, it is astounding to find that the vast majority of Christians – Arabs and otherwise – do not know their religion or its history; they do not know how it started and how their doctrines, symbols and rituals developed; they do not know about the Gospels and how and when they were written, except for the clergy and professional missionaries, and biblical scholars who specialize in comparative religion.

Thirdly: What Christian society and Christian churches have instilled in ordinary Christians is that their religion is the true religion, and that the path they follow will lead to salvation. This is the assumption that is deeply rooted in their minds -that they are walking in the light and are following the true religion, even though if someone asks them some basic questions about their religion, the answer will either be, “I do not know" or, “You have no right to ask this question." As for their giving a convincing, academic answer, you should never expect that.

Fourthly: Another reason why the Christians continue to follow their religion is the fact that they have no interest in examining the reports that they read in their books and verifying whether they are authentic or not, or checking the soundness of those who narrated them, as they rely on the narrations of unknown people and obscure characters, and they do not care whether these texts were transmitted through a sound chain of narration from Jesus, or they are merely stories or dreams and visions!

The Christians have deprived themselves of using the ability God has blessed them with to examine, reflect and use their reason. Rather, they have handed the rudder to their clergy, who direct them wherever they wish, and dictate to them whatever foolishness and nonsense they decide upon. If one of the flock wakes up and has sufficient courage to ask the priest a logical question, and the priest is unable to give an answer, the priest replies, “This is a mystery that you cannot understand!"

In reality, they do not know the answer and they do not know how to find the answer, and the knowledge of anyone among them who is a beginner in seeking knowledge is equal to the knowledge of the most senior clergy concerning such issues. They do not seek divine guidance to find the light, nor do they follow the guidance of reason.

It is well-known that if there is no textual or rational proof for matters of doctrine, then that doctrine is something that has been dictated by devils and their followers.

Fifthly: Another reason why the Christians continue to follow their religion is the circulation of stories, tales and dreams that the clergy tell to them, with which they fool their flocks and those to whom they preach – as they claim. That started with Paul, who claimed that he had seen Christ in a vision, and Constantine who saw a cross in a dream, and it continues until the present day. You will find clergy telling stories to those to whom they are preaching, saying – for example – that so-and-so saw Christ in a dream, and he told him to become a Christian, so that man became a Christian and a lot of good things happened to him; another person saw himself in a dream in prison, and when he saw the cross, he became a Christian and got out of prison. And they tell other myths and stories. If Christianity were truly the religion of God, and the four Gospels and other books of the New Testaments were truly the Book of God, the clergy would have no need for dreams and visions; rather the priest would refer to these books to find answers and would be able to engage in academic discussions. He would not seek to avoid discussions, or resort to exhorting people by telling stories of dreams, or resort to administering corporal punishment in the church, or try to avoid answering questions by saying, “This is a divine mystery that none of us can know!"

It should be noted that Satan can toy with people's minds in their dreams, so one must be cautious, for the true religion cannot be learned from dreams; it can only be learned from the revelation that is proven to be from God and protected by Him. A person may have a dream and see himself becoming a king or president or a rich man, but when he wakes up, he is still as he was (and the dream did not change anything)!

***

Appendix 8 Sincere words of faith from heart to heart

There follows some sincere words of faith from heart to heart. Understanding these words will remove some obstacles and resolve some matters that prevent followers of the Christian religion from properly understanding and being convinced of the religion of Islam. I ask God to make these words of benefit.

[1]

God sent Muhammad with the religion of Islam to all people, to jinn [87] and humans, to Arabs and non-Arabs, to white and black, to the Children of Israel and others. God says in the Qur'an:

{We have not sent you [O Muhammad] but as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner to all humankind.}[Saba' 34:28]

{And We have not sent you but as a mercy to the worlds.}[al-Anbiya' 21:107]

{Say [O Muhammad]: O people, verily I am the Prophet of Allah to you all.}[al-A'raf 7:158]

The religion of Islam replaced all previous religions, and there is no religion after it. God has enjoined humans and jinn to embrace Islam, for it is the final religion, which is protected from distortion and change.

Muhammad is the final Prophet, so whoever believes in Muhammad must believe in all the prophets who came before him. God says:

{Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Prophet of Allah and the last of the prophets.}[al-Ahzab 33:40]

The Qur'an is the final Book, so whoever believes in the Qur'an has believed in all the divinely revealed books that came before it (in its original form). It is the Book of God that is preserved and is still as fresh as it was when God revealed it fourteen centuries ago. It has not been subjected to distortion and change, as happened to the Books that came before it, and it has not been lost. Its original copy has been preserved as it was fourteen centuries ago, and all copies of the Qur'an throughout the world are copies of that original copy.

Moreover, the Qur'an has been preserved in the hearts of men and women for fourteen centuries. Millions of people have memorized it in its entirety or in part. God has promised to preserve it until the end of time:

{Verily, it is We Who have sent down the Reminder [the Qur'an], and verily it is We Who will preserve it.}[al-Hijr 15:9]

God calls the Qur'an “the Reminder" because it mentions all the beliefs and acts of worship that a person needs to know, and it is a reminder for those who pay heed; it reminds them of their goal in life and of the blessings that God has bestowed upon them by guiding them to the straight path, which leads to paradise and saves from hell. By reading the Qur'an, a person receives exhortation so that he will refrain from what God has forbidden when he reads of the consequences for those who disobeyed Him, and he will be motivated to obey God when he reads of the consequences for those who obeyed Him.

Then God says: {and verily it is We Who will preserve it} [al-Hijr 15:9]; meaning that He protected it from distortion at the time when it was revealed and ever since then. When it was revealed, He protected it from the eavesdropping of every accursed devil, and after it was revealed, God instilled it in the heart of His Prophet, so that he memorized it, and then He instilled it in the hearts of the Prophet's followers until the present day and until the onset of the Hour. God protected its wording from alteration, from anything being added to it or taken away from it, and He protected its meanings from alteration, so if anyone tries to distort any of its meanings, God will inspire someone else to highlight his error and refute it.

[2]

In the Qur'an, we read this divine guidance that God revealed more than fourteen centuries ago, to highlight the truth of the message of Muhammad :

{O humankind, the Prophet has come to you with the truth from your Lord, so believe, for it is better for you. But if you disbelieve, then surely to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth, and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise.}[an-Nisa' 4:170]

{O humankind, proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a manifest light.}[an-Nisa' 4:174]

{Say: O people, truth has come to you from your Lord. So whoever is guided, is only guided for [the good of] his own soul; whoever goes astray, only goes astray to his own detriment. I am not your keeper.}[Jonah10:178]

Let us not deceive ourselves, and let us give up blindly following our forefathers, for this issue will determine our ultimate fate and whether we abide for eternity in paradise or in hell.

Yes, let us be honest with ourselves and turn to our Lord. Let us respond to His call before it is too late, for the opportunity to believe in Muhammad, and to enter the religion of Islam and attain real, eternal salvation is only available in this world. This opportunity is available to you now, while your soul is still in your body and has not yet left it. Whoever takes this opportunity, let them be of good cheer, and whoever misses this opportunity, let them think of what they are doing in light of this verse:

{If anyone seeks a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted from him; and in the hereafter he will be among the losers.}[Al 'Imran 3:85]

Based on the above, what everyone who hears of the religion of Islam must do is enter this religion; otherwise he will be a disbeliever in what God revealed to the last of His Prophets, and he will be exposing himself to great punishment, which is being sent to hell to abide therein for eternity.

And He says:

{Verily, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and has prepared for them a raging fire. They will abide therein forever, and they will not find any protector or helper. On the day when their faces are turned over in the fire, they will say: Would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Prophet!}[al-Ahzab 33:64-66]

And the Prophet Muhammad said: <[i.e., Islam], but he will be one of the people of Hell.>>

Anyone who wants to save himself from being admitted to hell on the Day of Resurrection, and wants to be admitted to Paradise, must hasten to believe in Prophet Muhammad and submit to the teachings of Islam, before the soul reaches the throat (at the moment of death) and he dies without believing in that which God has commanded him to believe in, in which case he will die as a disbeliever and will be admitted to hell, where he will remain forever and ever. Then he will feel regret when regret will be to no avail.

[3]

The religion that the Christians follow now is not the same as the religion that was brought by God's Prophet, Jesus the son of Mary; it is completely different from it. Jesus, son of Mary, did not say to the people, “Take me and my mother as gods besides God." He did not tell the people that he was the son of God, and he did not say that he was one of three – far be it from him to say such a thing. We have affirmed this at the beginning of the book.[88]

In addition, no one can say that the Gospels that the Christians have now – not even one of them – are the same as the original revelation (Injeel) that Jesus brought. We have affirmed that above, with sufficient proof for anyone whose main aim is to follow the truth.

How can it be valid for a man of reason – when this is the case – to take his beliefs from distorted books in order to attain the most precious thing that any rational person could strive to attain in this world, which is God being pleased with him and hence admitting him to Paradise?

Let us put aside the Gospels that we have now, for God has replaced them with another Book, which He has preserved and protected from change, alteration and distortion. Let us turn to it and follow it in order to attain forgiveness and guidance. Let us find out about the true and sound religion, in which there is no ambiguity, mystery or contradiction, the religion that gives a proper understanding of all the prophets, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad and others. God says in the Qur'an:

In this book, with the help of God, I have been able to prove that the religion that Christians follow now is radically different from the true religion brought by Jesus, son of Mary. By His help, I have also been able to prove that in another book, entitled The gradual changes and developments that occurred in the message of Jesus after his ascension over several centuries.[89]

[4]

The only God who deserves to be worshipped is God alone, Allah, and no one else deserves to be worshipped except Him. With regard to Jesus, son of Mary, neither he nor any other person deserves any type of worship directed towards them on our part, because they are human like us. Associating anyone else with God in worship is one of the gravest of sins; it is something with which the Lord of the Worlds – Allah – is not pleased, and it is something that none of the prophets themselves – not Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, nor any other prophet – would approve of.

The prophets themselves used to worship God; they instructed their peoples to worship God and nothing else alongside Him. They explained that this is associating others with God, and God will never forgive a person who dies believing in that. It is one of the sins that doom a person to enter hell – God forbid – and abide therein forever and ever.

Worshipping God alone, while refraining from worshipping anything or anyone else, is the essential call of all the prophets, as God says in the Qur'an:

{And We did not send before you [O Muhammad] any Prophet but We revealed to him: There is no god worthy of worship except Me, so worship Me [alone].}[al-Anbiya' 21:25]

Singling God out for worship is something that is in harmony with sound reasoning because God is the Creator, the Provider and the Controller of this universe, so He is the only one who deserves to be worshipped. With regard to Jesus, he is human and was created, and he needed others. So how can it make sense to regard a human being as equal to the Lord of humankind by worshipping both of them equally?

Jesus' call to the Children of Israel was based on worshipping God alone and refraining from worshipping anyone other than Him, no matter who that person was. God says in the Qur'an, describing the nature of Jesus' call:

God tells us that Jesus said to his people:

{I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.}[al-Ma'idah 5:116]

{Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.}[Al 'Imran 3:51, az-Zukhruf 43:64]

I say: If Jesus were among us today, he would object strongly to what the Christians say about him. God tells us in the Qur'an that he will be asked about this on the Day of Resurrection:

{When Allah says: O Jesus son of Mary, did you say to people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He [Jesus] will say: Glory be to You! It would not have been proper for me to say that which I had no right [to say]. If I had said it, You would surely have known it. You know all that I know, whereas I do not know what You know. Verily, You alone are the Knower of the unseen. I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. I watched over them whilst I was amongst them, then when You took me up to You, You [alone] were the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things.}[al-Ma'idah 5:116-117]

[5]

Read the divine call:

{You will surely find that the bitterest among people in enmity towards the believers are the Jews and those who ascribe partners to Allah; and you will surely find that the closest among them to the believers in affection are those who say: We are Christians. That is because among them are scholars and ascetics, and they are not arrogant.

When they hear what has been sent down to the Prophet, you see their eyes overflowing with tears, because of what they recognize as truth therein. They say: Our Lord, we believe; so record us among those who bear witness [to the truth].

Why would we not believe in Allah and in the truth that has come to us, when we hope that our Lord will include us among the righteous people?

Allah will reward them for their words with gardens through which rivers flow, to abide therein forever. Such is the reward of those who do good.}[al-Ma'idah 5:82-85]

Commentary on these verses:

God says to His Prophet Muhammad:

You will surely find, O Prophet, that the Jews are the bitterest among people in enmity towards those who believe in you and follow you, because of their stubborn denial and their being too arrogant to follow the truth. The same is true of those who associate others in worship with God, such as the idol-worshippers and others; they are the bitterest of people in enmity towards you and your religion.

Then God says: And you will surely find that the closest among them to the Muslims in affection are those who say, We are Christians. That is because among them are scholars and devoted worshippers, and they are humble, not too arrogant to accept the truth. These are the ones who accepted the message of Muhammad when they heard it, and they believed in it and entered Islam.

One of the indications of their being close in affection to the Muslims is the fact that the eyes of some of them flowed with tears when they heard the Qur'an, for they were certain that it was the truth that had been sent down from God; they believed in God and followed His Prophet, and they entered Islam and beseeched God to cause them to be among those who bear witness to the truth, those who bear witness that God is one and bear witness to the message of His prophets, and will bear witness against previous nations on the Day of Resurrection, testifying that their prophets indeed conveyed the message to them.

One of the attributes of these believers among the Christians who entered Islam is that they said: why would there be any blame on us for our belief in God and our belief in the truth that Muhammad brought from God, and our following him and entering his religion? For Jesus called his people to believe in Muhammad when God sent him to humankind, and his message is a completion of the message of Jesus. So what is wrong with our following him, if by following him and entering Islam we will attain the honour of obeying two prophets, namely Jesus and Muhammad, and thus be admitted to Paradise? But if we do not follow him and enter his religion, then we will be disobeying those two prophets and exposing ourselves to the wrath of God, and we will deserve to enter hell.

God rewarded them for the words of truth that they spoke, their pride in having entered Islam, and their seeking to be among the righteous. He rewarded them with gardens through the trees of which rivers flow, in which they will remain forever because they excelled in word and deed.

[6]

The rational person has no choice but to embrace the religion of Islam, which Jesus, son of Mary, instructed his followers to follow. If you accept this, then there is nothing standing between you and entering Islam except uttering the Islamic testimony of faith (shahadah); this is the first pillar of Islam and the key to entering the faith:

Ashhadu an laailaahailla Allah waashhadu anna Muhammadan rasoolullah.

Waashhadu anna al-Maseeh 'Eesaa [90] ibn Maryam 'abduhuwarasooluhu.

Which means:

“I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. I bear witness that the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is His slave and Prophet."

Saying this testimony, the person must believe that Jesus is not God or the son of God. He was not killed or crucified, but he was raised up to Heaven, and the creed of atonement is not true.

This is the common statement that God has commanded all people to agree upon. God commanded His Prophet Muhammad to instruct the People of the Book (the Jews and Christians) and say to them:

{Say: O People of the Book! Come to common terms between us and you, that we worship none but Allah, that we associate no partners with Him, and that we not take one another as lords besides Allah. If then they turn away, say: Bear witness that we submit to Allah [as Muslims].}[Al 'Imran 3:64]

What this verse means is: Say, O Prophet, to the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians: Come to common terms between us and you – that is, a true and just word to which we will all adhere, which is to single out God alone for worship and not associate anything else with Him, be it an image, an idol, a cross, a human being, or anything else, and we will not worship one another. If they turn away from this good call, then say to them, O believers: Bear witness that we are Muslims, submitting to our Lord in servitude and sincerity.

This call to common terms is addressed to the Jews and Christians, and is also addressed to the followers of other religions, because the religion of Islam has abrogated all other religions, and all people must enter it.

***

Afterward

This concludes this book, praise be to Allah. Two things have been proven herein:

Firstly: that Jesus Christ is not God or the son of God or that he is in anyway divine.

Secondly: that Jesus Christ was human like any other human being, a Prophet sent by his Lord and Creator (God).

All of that is based on proof from the Old Testament, the New Testament, logic, history, and the majestic Qur'an.

In conclusion, we call upon God: O Allah, make us a means that leads to good and a means that bars the way to evil. May Allah send many blessings and peace upon His Prophets, Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and all His other prophets.

O Allah, have I conveyed the message? O Allah, bear witness.

Completed with praise and thanks to Allah. May Allah benefit the reader, the writer and the publisher by it.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Majed S. Al-Rassi

majed.alrassi@gmail.com

mob: +966505906761

Glossary

Allah: The one true God, the Creator, Who has no partners. This name is used by Muslims as well as Arabs of other religions to refer to God.

apostle: An envoy or messenger. In Christian tradition, Jesus chose twelve of his disciples to be apostles, meaning those who were sent to preach his teachings. In addition, Paul is described as an apostle because of the belief that he was also appointed by Jesus to do so.

disciple:A follower or adherent of a teacher. In Christian tradition, the word refers to the closest followers of Jesus during his lifetime.

ecclesiastical: Of or relating to a church.

ecumenical councils: A series of historical conferences in which Christian leaders and scholars convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice.

Epistle: A letter. The Epistles in the New Testament are letters written by Paul and other apostles to Christian communities or individuals.

Injeel: An Arabic word referring to the divine message revealed to Jesus; it is often translated incorrectly as “Gospel." It is no longer existing.

Gospel: Literally, “good news." The four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell the story of Jesus' life and are part of the New Testament. They are narratives of incidents from the life of Jesus, written decades after his death by authors who had never met him.

indulgence: In the Catholic church, originally a remission of punishment for sins, for which the recipient had to perform certain good deeds such as prayers, pilgrimages, or donating money for a good cause. By the late Middle Ages, the practice was routinely abused by those in power as a way to raise funds for building cathedrals or mounting the Crusades. The perception that this was simply a means of buying a pardon was one of the main factors that prompted the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation.

jinn: invisible created beings made from smokeless fire; they are accountable just as humans are.

monotheist: One who believes that God is one in His essence and that He alone is deserving of worship, to the exclusion of all others. This is the opposite of the polytheist, who ascribes partners to God in His essence or worships others alongside God.

New Testament: The second part of the Christian Bible, originally written in Greek after Jesus had left the earth. It is considered sacred by Christians and consists of twenty-seven books: the four canonical Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the fourteen Epistles of Paul, seven other Epistles, and the Book of Revelation.

Old Testament: The first part of the Christian Bible, written over centuries by different authors but regarded by Christians as having been divinely inspired. Christian denominations agree on thirty-nine of the Books in the Old Testament, but some denominations include up to ten more.

Pharisees: Members of a Jewish sect who separated themselves from others and were seen as self-righteous about their outward adherence to piety and religiosity; they persecuted Jesus and the early Christians. Paul was a Pharisee before converting to Christianity. Today, the word is used to describe those who are sanctimonious and hypocritical.

prophet: An individual sent by God to convey and teach His message and to act as a role model.

[1] The translations of Bible verses are taken from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated.

[2] The woman who is speaking means that God is a rock, in the sense of being strong and something that she can count on. (She had not been able to have children, but after praying to God, he had given her a baby, and this was her prayer of thanks afterwards.)

In Deuteronomy (in the Song of Moses), God was also referred to as a rock. He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. [Deuteronomy 32:4]

You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. [Deuteronomy 32:18]

Even in English, we might say this about someone who is always there when we need them – e.g., “I couldn't have gotten through this without her. She is my rock."

[3] Pharisees: a group of Jewish extremists who were fanatical about outward adherence to piety and religiosity, which included adhering to the letter of the Law, such as refusing to do any work on the Sabbath, or to mix with non-Jews because they regarded them as unclean. They persecuted the Messiah .Taken from History of Christianity (p. 59). Author: Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya, 1st edition.

[4] There will be a detailed discussion on the meaning of the phrase “son of God" that is mentioned in the Gospels, in Appendix 4 under the heading, “A note about the meaning of the phrase 'son of God' which is mentioned in some of the Gospels."

[5] The word “gospel" literally means “good news." [Translator]

[6] Truths of Life, p. 20. Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931 CE) was a French doctor who wrote many books on psychology, sociology, and anthropology. He travelled in the Muslim world carrying out anthropological research and was fair-minded towards the Arab nation and Islamic civilization; instead of following in the footsteps of other European historians who denied any positive influence that Islam had on the Western world, he acknowledged the debt that European civilization owed to the Arabs. In 1884 CE, he wrote The World of Islamic Civilization, which describes its characteristics and its impact on the world, along with the reasons for its greatness and its decline. (Wikipedia)

[7] Muslims recite a blessing after mentioning Prophet Muhammad, saying “Salla Allahu 'alayhi wasallam (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)."

What is meant by sending blessings upon Prophet Muhammad is praying that God praise him before those on high, who are the angels. In that there is an increase in honour and praise for him, and he is deserving of that, because God guided people through him to the right religion.

The word sallam, which is often translated as “grant him peace" means: May God protect him from troubles such as false accusations against him or slander against his wives, and the like.

Thus, the general meaning of the phrase “Salla Allahu 'alayhi wasallam (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)" is: O God, praise Your Prophet Muhammad before Your angels and keep him safe from aspersions.

This is a phrase of respect which Muslims must utter every time the Prophet Muhammad is mentioned; it is not appropriate for the Muslim to come across the name of Prophet Muhammad without offering supplication for him, as if he is speaking of an ordinary person.

It is also recommended to say 'alayhi 's-salaam (upon him be peace) when any of the other Prophets are mentioned, as a sign of honour and respect for them.

[8] For an explanation on why this doctrine is a myth, please see the book Forty proofs of the invalidity of the doctrine of inheriting sin and the doctrine of the crucifixion of Christ by Majed S. Al-Rassi. This book will be translated to English and made available freely online by Y 2023, by God's will.

[9] monotheist: one who believes that God is one in His essence, and that He alone is deserving of worship, to the exclusion of all others. This is the opposite of the polytheist, who ascribes partners to God in His essence or in worship of Him, so he worships someone else alongside God.

[10] For the sake of academic honesty, I should point out that I took most of the information mentioned about this point from the third chapter of the book: History of Christianity, by Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

[11] See Ibn Katheer, From the Beginning to the End, Chapter: Ascension of Jesus. See also Ibn Katheer, Tafseer al-Qur'an al-'Adheem, Soorat an-Nisaa' 4:157.

[12] kick against the goads: to persist in doing something that is useless (Ed.)

[13] Adwaala al-Maseehiyyah, p. 86.

[14] Muhadarat fin-Nasraniyyah, p. 71.

[15] History of Christianity, pp. 102-103. For more information on the myth of this doctrine, please see: Forty proofs of the invalidity of the doctrine of inheriting sin and the doctrine of the crucifixion of Christ, by Majed S. Al-Rassi. This book will be translated to English and made available freely online by Y 2023, by God's will.

[16] See the references mentioned in the previous footnote. The affirmation that Christ was not crucified and was not harmed at all will be mentioned in Appendix 4: The story of the Virgin Mary and her son the Messiah Jesus son of Mary – the Messiah was taken up to heaven without any harm befalling him.

[17] See these texts in the book The Amazing Prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible, it is available on the Internet.

[18] For more details on Paul's role in distorting the religion of Jesus, please see the book History of Christianity (p. 93 ff). Author: 'Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

[19] The English word Christ is derived from the Greek Christos, which is a translation of the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah). [Translator]

[20] Life of facts (La Vie des vérités), p. 63.

[21] Life of facts (La Vie des vérités), p. 187.

[22] The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Michael H. Hart, an American Jewish astrophysicist, born 1932 CE. In this book, he listed the names of the most influential personalities in history, according to the extent of their influence. At the top of the list of influencers, in first position, he mentioned Prophet Muhammad. His list also includes the names of prophets such as Jesus and Moses, as well as the founders of human-made religions, inventors and those who made scientific discoveries that changed the course of history, such as the one who discovered electricity, and the inventors of the airplane and the printing press, the names of many thinkers, and others. See his biography in Wikipedia.

[23] For the sake of academic integrity, it may be noted that I obtained most of the information mentioned concerning this point from the book History of Christianity (Chapters 4 and 6). Author: 'Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

For more information, please see the book The gradual changes and developments that occurred in the message of Jesus after his ascension over several centuries

Note: This book will be translated to English and made available freely online by Y 2023, by God's will.

[24] Will Durant and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization. Durant (1885-1981 CE) was an American philosopher, historian and writer. One of the most famous of his books is The Story of Civilization, which was written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant. (Wikipedia)Based on that, what he meant by “for fourteen centuries" was from the sixth century CE onwards.

[25] That is, the view that God is one in His essence, and none is deserving of worship to accept Him alone.

[26] See: Lectures in Christianity by Muhammad Abu Zuhrah (p. 161 ff); Romans by Asad Rustom, 1/60, 61.

[27] This church is called the “Church of the Resurrection" in reference to the resurrection of Christ from his grave – according to Christian belief; there is no connection to the Day of Resurrection. [Author]

[28] History of Ibn al-Batreeq, 1/128-130.

[29] Indulgence: originally a remission of punishment for sins, for which the recipient had to perform certain actions such as prayers, pilgrimages, and other good deeds. By the late Middle Ages, the practice had become commercialized and was routinely abused by those in power to generate wealth. It was one of the main factors that prompted the Protestant Reformation. [Translator]

[30] See how the clergy fool people! [Author]

[31] “Evangel" comes from a Greek word meaning “good news" or “gospel". [Translator]

[32] Gustave Le Bon, La Vie des Vérités, p. 81.

[33] Unfortunately, in Arabic churches the women have no choice when the clergy call her to bed.

[34] Allah has enabled me to compile these prophecies, which are twenty-eight, in the book The Amazing Prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible. This book is available on the Internet.

[35] As mentioned in the Glossary, the true revelation revealed to Jesus has no existence now. However, the Gospels include the four famous books, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Some historical report say that they were written between 37-110 CE, and some say 66-110 CE.

[36] See previous footnote.

[37] It is called Christianity in reference to Christ, which is derived from the Greek word for Messiah. [Translator]

[38] Narrated by Bukhari, 3435.

[39] Narrated by Muslim, 28.

[40] For more detail, see "60 proofs on the esteemed status of Mary and her son 'Jesus' in Islamic teachings". (it will be freely available in internet in Y2023), by God's will.

[41] Narrated by Bukhari, 4974.

[42] According to some scholars, the Kursi is the Footstool of Allah, the Most Gracious.

[43] Adapted from the first chapter of History of Christianity (p. 93), by Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

[44] That is, he poked him with his finger to make him cry.

[45] Narrated by Bukhari, 3431; and Muslim, 2366, from Abu Hurayrah.

[46] The barrier was a barrier that God made between Satan and Mary, so when Satan wanted to poke Mary in the side, he poked the barrier instead. The same thing happened to her son the Messiah Jesus son of Mary; when Satan wanted to poke him in the side with his finger, so that he would cry, he ended up poking the barrier that God made between them. Thus God protected him from being poked by Satan, so he did not cry when his mother gave birth to him.

This hadith was narrated by Bukhari, 3286; and by Muslim, following hadith no. 2366.

[47] Bayt al-Maqdis is the Islamic name for Jerusalem, especially for its place of worship, which was built many centuries before Moses and has been destroyed and rebuilt many times throughout history. After the death of Prophet Muhammad, the second Islamic caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, ruled Palestine and built the Islamic mosque that remains in that location today.

[48] The phrase “Blessed are you among women" is omitted in some translations of the Bible. Others, such as the Revised Standard Version, include a footnote with the comment that some ancient authorities include this phrase. [Translator]

[49] The speaker may be Jesus or Gabriel. (at-Tabari; al-Qurtubi)

[50] Aaron was a man from her tribe, known for his righteousness. They called her (sister of Aaron) because they are both true believers and righteous.

[51] What is meant by the four possible scenarios is that people, with regard to the way in which they were created, may be divided into four categories:

1. Created without a male or a female; this is our father Adam, whom God created from clay.

2. Created from a male without a female; this is our mother Eve, whom God created from Adam, from one of his ribs.

3. Created from a female without a male; this is the Messiah Jesus son of Mary.

4. Created from a male and a female; this refers to all other people.

[52] This name means “God is with us". [Translator]

[53] It is mentioned in the (glossary) that Injeel is the true revelation from God to Jesus; it is no longer existing.

[54] Their hearts grew hard with the passage of time: that is, with the passage of time they became heedless and persisted in that, so their faith diminished, and their belief faded, as stated by Ibn Sa'di in his commentary on this verse.

[55] The man pointed to the vessel, and they thought that he was pointing to their book, so they let him be. The man with the vessel did that to deceive them, so that he would be saved from being killed without blatantly lying to them, because lying is abhorrent according to the teachings of all religions.

[56] What their words mean is that they had never heard the words that were written in that vessel, and that the man must have been confused in his religion.

[57] Narrated by Muslim (91) from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood.

[58] We have noted the definition of the Pharisees above, and that they were a group of Jewish extremists who were fanatical about outward adherence to piety and religiosity, which included adhering to the letter of the Law, such as refusing to do any work on the Sabbath, or to mix with non-Jews, because they regarded them as unclean. They persecuted the Messiah. Taken from History of Christianity (p. 59), by Abd al-Wahhab ibn Saalih ash-Shaayi.

[59] In Hebrew, “Rabbi" means my master or my teacher. [Translator]

[60] It is narrated in a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad that He took him up to the second heaven, where he will remain until God gives him permission to come down to Earth at the end of time. See: Saheeh Bukhari, 3207 and Saheeh Muslim, 164, narrating from Anas ibn Malik.

[61] See: The start and the End by Ibn Katheer, chapter Ascension of Jesus to the Heaven; Explanation of the Glorious Qur'an, also by Ibn Katheer, commentary on verse 4:157.

[62] See: Explanation of the Glorious Qur'an by Ibn Abi Hatim, 4:157. Ibn Jareer narrated this story, with its chain of narrators, in his Explanation of the Qur'anic verses, Jaami' al-Bayan, at the end of his commentary on Chapter as-Saff.

[63] He would be with him in the same level of Paradise as a reward for him ransoming the Messiah with his life.

[64] What is meant by the Muslims here are the true followers of Jesus, because the word Islam has two meanings, general and specific. The general meaning is to worship God alone and obey the prophet who was sent to them; in this sense, the word Muslims applies to the followers of every prophet from Adam to Muhammad, including Jesus.

The second meaning of the word Islam is specific to the religion with which Allah sent Prophet Muhammad, whose followers are called Muslims.

[65] Ibn Katheer said: This is a sound chain of narration going back to Ibn 'Abbas.

[66] The start and the End, by Ibn Katheer, from the end of the chapter Ascension of Jesus to the Heaven.

[67] This church is known by most people as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Only the Eastern Christians call it the Church of the Resurrection.

[68] She did that to spite the Jews, whom she thought had killed and crucified Christ.

[69] The second caliph to rule the Muslims after Prophet Muhammad.

[70] This action of the Muslim caliph 'Umar ibn al-Khattab highlights the attitude of Islam, in contrast to the attitude of the Jews. After conquering Jerusalem in 637 CE, he removed the garbage that had accumulated over three centuries, since the fourth century CE, on the rock which was the direction Jews faced in their prayer. How great a favor the Muslims did for them, and how noble is the attitude of Islam and of the Prophet's Companions.

[71] The unitarian belief is that God is one in His Essence, and none deserves to be worshipped except Him alone.

[72] See: Lectures in Christianity by Muhammad Abu Zuhrah, p. 121; The Romans by Asad Rustom, 1/60-61.

[73] Some scholars say that the earliest gospel (Mark) was written around 66-70 CE. So the period was about 66-110 CE.

[74] For more details, please see: Where are the original Torah and Injeel by Majed S. Al-Rassi, which will be available in English on the Internet by Y 2023.

[75] We have noted above that this biblical evidence is quoted in The Amazing Prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible, which is available on the Internet.

[76] For the sake of academic integrity and giving credit where it is due, in preparing this appendix I benefitted from an article by Dr. Khalid ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Abdul-'Azeez al-Qasim entitled 'The doctrine of Trinity'.

[77] In other words, I created you, so you came forth to this world as a newborn from your mother's womb, by God's command.

[78] See [Luke 3/7; Matthew 3/7, 12/34, 23/33].

[79] Adapted from History of Christianity (p. 158), by Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

[80] Ar-Room, 1/53; See also: The Story of Civilization, 11/384, by Will Durant.

[81] See: Forty proof of the invalidity of the doctrine of inheriting sin and the doctrine of the crucifixion of Christ, by Majed S. Al-Rassi. This book will be translated to English and made available freely online by Y 2023, by God's will.

[82] Adapted from History of Christianity (p. 113, 114), by Abd al-Wahhab ibn Saalih ash-Shaayi.

[83] Adapted from Ta History of Christianity (p. 157, 166), by Abd al-Wahhab ibn Saalih ash-Shaayi.

[84] Adapted from History of Christianity, by Abdul-Wahhab ibn Salih ash-Shaya.

[85] This information is taken from the book History of Christianity (p. 267) by Abd al-Wahhab ibn Saalih ash-Shaayi (may Allah preserve him).

[86] Speaking of Catholics, it's important to note that the Bible is not central to their practice of religion at all. (I grew up in a very devout Catholic family; we all went to Catholic school and to Mass every Sunday and other holy days, and my grandmother walked to church every morning to attend Mass. My uncle was a priest... but we NEVER read the Bible - not at home or at school, even in Religion class. During the hour-long Mass every Sunday, they give three short readings from the Bible (one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament, one of which is from the Gospels). Editor.

[87] jinn: non-human, rational beings created by Allah from fire.

[88] With the help of God, I was able to write two books that speak of the true nature of the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, according to the teachings of Islam. They are:

1. Eleven Facts about Jesus in the Biblical and Islamic Teachings.

2. "60 proofs on the esteemed status of Mary and her son 'Jesus' in Islamic teachings".

The first is available freely on-line.

The second will be translated to English and made available freely online by Y 2023, by God's will.

[89] This book is now available in Arabic on the Internet. It will be translated to English and made available on-line freely by Y2023, by God's will.

[90] Eesaa means Jesus.

Is Jesus God?

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