Muslim Passion for Christ

[StarGazer]

I thought this article was worth reading and distributing. In light of the recent movie,

"The Passion", the Muslim voice should be heard. Wouldn't it be an excellent article to send to non-muslim friends? I know we've had many discussions at work about this movie. I was wondering if any1 seen it yet?*************************************************

 

Muslim Passion for Christ

 

By Ibrahim N. Abusharif (contact info below)

 

Like everyone else, I was warned about the blood and violence, and braced

for it. But the bit about the English subscripts must have slipped my mind.

One unexpected thing I got out of watching "The Passion of the Christ" is

its affirmation that Jesus never uttered the word "God." Instead, he called

upon the Creator using a name that is very close to what I and other Muslims

often evoke, namely, the word "Allah." (The Aramaic word for God is

transliterated as "alaha.")

 

In a broad sense, "The Passion," as well as the controversy that stalks it,

is an extension of the very long struggle for narrative control over the

life and mission of Jesus. We, the American public, are given the impression

that the discussion about the movie and its main character is a discourse

between folks on both sides of a curious hyphen in the Judeo-Christian

ambit, with Rabbis and Jewish intelligentsia expressing their fears that the

movie will inspire anti-Semitism and with Christians denying that.

 

The irony here is that Muslims are perfectly poised to offer a view that no

one seems to be talking about. What "The Passion" depicted in chilling

imagery is but one narrative among several about Christ. In fact, Gibson

portrayed one "canonized" narrative of Christ (only 12 hours of it) that

received approval some centuries after the Messiah had lived and one that

does not enjoy consensus even in Christian quarters and scholarship.

 

When asked, a Muslim will tell you that Christ was not sent to die, but,

like the prophets before him and Prophet Muhammad after him, he was sent to

live and teach. In short, a Muslim would say there is no Christ killer and,

therefore, no need to associate anyone with that indictment and no need to

cause anyone to fear it. What happened to Jesus at the end of his life was

not about violence, but about honor in the face of vehement rejection. God

raised His prophet to Himself, thus sparing Jesus of the execution Gibson so

graphically detailed and imprinted in the public mind through the very

powerful medium of art and culture. This is a view that was also shared

among some early Christian sects, like the Basilideans, who believed that

Christ himself was never crucified.

 

To vilify Jesus and deny that he is one of God's prophets and messengers is

a cardinal sin in Islam, enough to disqualify one from the faith. To deify

Jesus, however, is considered an affront to the primordial foundation of

the religion project: the oneness of God and His sole divinity. The Muslim

"middle" view here is not a self-conscious act of officiating a religious

debate between Jews and Christians. Our understanding and beliefs regarding

Christ are essentially identical to the beliefs we have about Noah, Abraham,

Moses, and Muhammad: all prophets, all humans, sent by God to teach humanity

certain things that should keep us guided and clear in our very brief lives.

If we are ever to be confused about something, let it not be about God and

His divinity, and humankind and our humanity, especially as it pertains to

our salvation quest. In Islamic theology, the human being is born pure,

brought into this world in a state of grace. The concept of Original Sin is

essentially homeless in our tradition. We inherit eye color and receding

hairlines from our parents, not their wrongdoing. Forgiveness, pardoning,

and mercy are of God's essence, and He generously bestows them for the cool

price of belief and sincerity.

 

In an important way, "The Passion" is an accidental expose about the

religious sensitivities of our times, about a wounded spirituality that

seems to require sensationalism to keep the faithful going. This is a point

that men and women of religion may all agree upon and observe in their

respective flocks. Mel Gibson unwittingly may have done a service in raising

issues indigenous to the human spirit that the postmodern world seems to

shun, issues about God, prophets, salvation, mercy, and hope. It's a vital

conversation with divides and alliances, passions and perils, but a

conversation that nonetheless can stand to hear the "middle" view that Islam

naturally offers. Something of this view, in unavoidably brief fashion, now

follows:

 

 

Muslims love and revere Jesus, and believe in him as a Prophet and Messenger

of God, a great teacher and guide for people. But Muslims do not believe

that Jesus was God or the Son of God. Nor do Muslims believe that he was

slain on the cross, as some early sects of Christians had once believed.

Jesus was sent to the Children of Israel to revive faith and a spiritual

connection with God. All the miracles that Jesus performed were indeed true:

raising the dead, healing the blind and the leper, and more. These miracles,

however, occurred through the auspices of God's power and will, as it was

with the splitting of the sea for Moses, Solomon understanding the

utterances of animals, and many other suspensions of the natural order. God

is the Creator, and when He determines something, He but says to it "Be" and

it is! (as the Quran states). Muslims venerate Mary, the mother of Jesus.

She indeed gave birth to Jesus though she was a virgin. She was a spiritual

woman who was chosen among her people to the office of special contemplation

and prayer. But Muslims do not hold her to be the "mother of God" and

similar attributes. She too was fully human and was a beloved and important

person in a remarkable series of miracles in a special time in human

history. Every biology and miracle, the explainable and the inexplicable,

whether it is the creation of Adam from clay or the conception of any given

child of two parents, goes back to God. It is all the same to Him. All of it

easy. All of it His.

 

In Islamic parlance, Jesus (peace be upon him) is known by the venerable

titles of "Word" and "Spirit," since the Quran tells us that God cast the

"word" or "spirit" upon Mary, the Mother of Jesus. "Indeed, the angels said:

'O Mary! God gives you glad tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the

Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in this world and the Hereafter,

and he shall be among those brought near [to God]. He will speak to

humankind in the cradle and in manhood, and he is of the righteous" (Quran,

3:45).

 

Also, the Quran states: "The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was but a Messenger

of God, and His word which He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit proceeding from

Him" (Quran, 4:171). "And indeed God gave Moses the Book [Torah], and after

him We sent Messengers in succession. We gave Jesus son of Mary clear proofs

and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit [Angel Gabriel]" (Quran, 2:87).

 

The thought life of a Muslim with regard to all the prophets is best summed

by the following verse of the Quran "Say [O believers]: "We believe in God

and [the Book] sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael,

Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes; and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what

was given to [all] the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction

between any of them, and to Him do we surrender ourselves" (Quran 2:136).

*************************************************

 

Ibrahim N. Abusharif is a Chicago-area writer and editor of Starlatch Press.

He can be contacted via e-mail at starlatch@hotmail.com

[Qac Qaac]

Thanks walashiis. is good idea to send to a non-muslim friends... for those of us who have non-muslim friends.