Jesus & The Bible

Author(s):	Rashad Abdul Muhamin
Date:	2003
Pages:	.....p
Size:	315 KB
Format:	PDF
Language:	English

Description

From book preface

Indeed, All Praise belongs to Allah. We praise Allah, we seek his assistance and we beg his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, no one can mislead and whomsoever Allah allows to go astray, none can guide. I bare witness and give open testimony that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, who has no associates and I bare witness that Muhammad is his servant and his messenger. To proceed:

It is my intention to present a small, concise examination of some key elements from the core beliefs of Christianity from within the Christian texts themselves as well as shed some light on the Islamic perspective of the purpose and message of Jesus (upon him be peace). The goal is to engage the reader in logical analysis of the fundamental creed of Christianity as it is taught and practiced by contrasting these beliefs against the alleged words of Jesus himself as recorded in the four gospels. For the potential Christian reader, it is important to remember that in order to remain open to different ideas; one must approach this topic from an intellectual standpoint as opposed to an emotional one. If one has an emotional commitment to something that cannot be substantiated with reason, especially after clear proof has been given, then one has succumb to what is known as ‘blind faith’. It is the emotional equivalent of being passionately in love with someone who causes one nothing but harm and grief. It is only when a belief system has been held up to scrutiny and has been authenticated that it becomes worthy of an emotional commitment. If it is determined that the foundation of that system stands up to reason and is consistent in all of its sources, then we are obligated to acknowledge it as truth and adhere to it completely. Any creed that does not live up to this standard does not deserve our devotion.

This meager effort is by no means a thorough examination but it is a simple discussion of some very basic concepts of Christianity and how they diverge from the simple message of Jesus. Many works have been authored by many great scholars who have gone into great detail explaining the origins of Christian belief, the Bible, etc. This insha’Allah, (God willing) will serve as an introduction into these issues and I encourage the reader to investigate further. I must point out that from the out-set, it may seem difficult for the non-Muslim reader to take in these concepts from a Muslim perspective (as would a Muslim be hesitant to accept an analysis of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from the Christian perspective). However, one must note that the Islamic position confirms Jesus’ mission from God and seeks to exonerate him from the misconceptions that have arisen concerning him. The 1.5 billion Muslims on the planet Earth unquestionably believe in Jesus and acknowledge him as the Messiah and it would take one out of the fold of Islam to not believe in him, his mission, his birth, his miracles and his return. An analysis of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from the Christian’s perspective is all together different in that the Christian does not hesitate to revile and discredit his mission as well as hurl very personal and derogatory accusations at his person. To confirm the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is to reject the church formulated doctrines of Christianity. If one is honest in his/her analysis of statements attributed to Jesus in the Bible, it becomes clear that at face value, the message of Jesus was the same as all of the other Messengers of God, including

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