Responses to Jamal Badawi's "Radio Al-Islam Channel RA 200"

Jesus the beloved messenger of Allah : Introduction


Introduction

This segment is the first of a series called "Jesus : Beloved Messenger of Allah", which attempts to convince us that the Muslim view of Jesus is correct and the Christian view is incorrect. Dr. Badawi will claim that many Christian beliefs are not found in the Bible [when, in fact, they are] and will claim that the early Church was Unitarian [when, in fact, it was not].

In this program, Dr. Badawi will attempt to lessen our reverence for Jesus by claiming that all Prophets are sinless. In Islam, this is known as the Isma doctrine - an idea which is contrary to the teachings of the Qur'an and Ahadith. After the Isma doctrine is discussed, Badawi will then proceed to tell us the Qur'an's story of Jesus - most of which was borrowed from the Apocrypha.

Host : Dr. Jamal, The title of this topic sounds rather unusual, I would assume, to many of our viewers maybe I will ask you to clarify and ask how this relates to a previous discussion on the topic.

Jamal Badawi : It was indicated in the topic on prophethood that belief in all of the prophets and messengers of Allah is part of the Islamic creed and denying and rejection of any of these prophets and messengers is tantamount to rejection of all of them and the person cannot remain a Muslim if he has left out any of these prophets.

This is a very interesting statement. How does a Muslim believe in a Prophet? Do they simply need to believe that the Prophet existed, or do they need to study, understand, and believe the messages of the Prophets. Another problem is : how does one test a man in order to determine if he is a Prophet, and of God? The Qur'an does not provide us with guidelines, it only asks us to believe Muhammad - a "Prophet" without prophecies and miracles.

It was indicated also that these prophets and messengers were infallible in a sense that there is nothing that they committed that would blemish their moral character or show any confusion about matters of belief. And we indicated how that is different from the profile that we find for example in the Bible, in the Old Testament.

Where is it indicated, in the Qur'an, that Prophets are sinless [Isma doctrine]? God chooses Prophets for his own reasons to serve His divine will. No one, other than Jesus, is without sin and all fall short of the glory of God. How sinless are the Prophets according to the Qur'an and Hadith?

Muhammad said :

"No child is born, but that, Satan touches it when it is born whereupon its starts crying loudly because of being touched by Satan, except Mary and her son" (al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, p. 54). In other words, all people are born sinners except Jesus. Muhammad is also reported as saying: Every son of Adam is a sinner, and the best of sinners are those who repent constantly" (Karim's Mishkatul-Masabih, Vol. 3, p. 360). Muhammad clearly did not believe in the doctrine of Isma. What about the Prophets? What were their sins according to the Qur'an? What does the Qur'an say about the Prophets?

Adam

Sura 20:121:

"In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them: they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden: thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced."

Disobeying the commands of God is the very definition of sin! Later in this Sura, the Qur'an records an account of Adam's repentance. In spite of this repentance, the fact remains that Adam, considered the first Prophet by many Muslims, sinned against God.

Noah

Sura 11:47 tells us that :

"Noah said: "O my Lord! I do seek refuge with Thee, lest I ask Thee for that of which I have no knowledge. And unless thou forgive me and have Mercy on me, I should indeed be lost!"

Why did Noah ask God to forgive and have mercy on him if he was sinless? If Noah was without sin, what did God forgive?

Jonah

Sura 21:87 says :

"And remember Sun-nun (Jonah), when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! But he cried through the depths of darkness, "There is no god but thou: glory to thee: I was indeed wrong!"

Jonah departed from God in wrath and admitted that he "was indeed wrong"! Jonah defied the commands of God and, in this passage, admitted his sin.

Abraham

Sura 6:76-78:

When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: "This is my Lord." But when it set, He said: "I love not those that set." When he saw the moon rising in splendor, he said: "This is my Lord." But when the moon set, He said: "unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray."

Please remember that the Prophet Abraham, before God revealed Himself to him, worshiped nature!

Muhammad

Was Muhammad without sin? What does the Qur'an say about the sins of Muhammad? Sura 48:2 says:

"That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favor unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path."

Clearly, not only did Muhammad sin in the past, God knew that he would sin in the future!

Did Muhammad ever claim that he was without sin? No, in fact, Muhammad once prayed:

"So forgive the sins which I have done in the past or will do in the future, and also those (sins) which I did in secret or in public, and that which You know better than I. None has the right to be worshiped but you". (al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, p. 403)

Clearly, the doctrine of Isma has absolutely no foundations in the teachings of the Qur'an or in the words of Muhammad.

It was indicated also that there have been so many prophets and messengers who have gone by in history in some traditions the number is as much as 124,000.

How did you arrive at the number 124,000? Did someone actually list all of these people, or is this hyperbole?

We indicated that out of all of these, there are five who are the purest of the pure, the most of major of all of these Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, these are the major ones. All of these prophets were Muslims in a sense that they are ones who submitted consistently, willingly, and lovingly to the command and actions of Allah the creator and carried one basic message to humankind. Now, the basic message is to worship Allah alone and to shun false gods, it was a duty to bring humanity from darkness to light, from the darkness of sin and false doctrines and ignorance to the light of faith in Allah and obedience to him the light of knowledge, understanding, and truth.

This is an interesting statement. Why would God send Jesus to the Jews to preach monotheism? The Jews were strictly monotheistic and, on several occasions, wanted to kill Jesus because He claimed equality with God. The Qur'an presents most of the Prophets as somewhat one-dimensional, very little is mentioned concerning theirs lives and teachings.

In this way, people can achieve happiness and felicity in this life and in the hereafter. It is within the context of this understanding that the messengers and there duties that we study the personality, life and mission of Jesus is very important for at least two reasons:

1. There has been a great deal of controversy and difference of opinion throughout history as to what exactly is the nature of Jesus, was he human, divine or both? Did he therefore have this humanity and divinity that coincided with each other have the finite and infinite were combined Because of this I think that it is very important for the Muslim to understand what Islam teaches about this great messenger and beloved of Allah Jesus and compare that with the other views and information that some of our Christian brothers may hold and look at the program of interest and general benefit to realize that we are not Muslims, in the same way to also recognize to help the Muslim viewer and quit confident that many viewers will find the series of some help in settling the controversy one way or another but I am also realistic and confident that it may not do so for other viewers, but after all tolerance, and particularly religious tolerance, is a much cherished value by the sincere followers of various religious faiths. The facts must be test and hopefully rational and hopefully objective examination of various issues such as this one it might be of some help after all the Qur'an indicates clearly that there is no compulsion in matters religion of religion and belief. After all , every human individually is held responsible before the creator for what he or she believed or what he or she did.

If we honestly read the Bible, there is no question that Jesus was fully God and fully man and Jesus did, in fact, claim divinity according to the Bible!

Mark 14:61-64:

But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Is Jesus claiming to be "just a Prophet" in this passage as Dr. Badawi suggests?

Matthew 16:15-16:

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Did Jesus object to Peter's statement? Did Jesus tell Peter that He was "just a Prophet"? No!

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

John 5:17-19:

Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

How did Jesus respond to this? Did he say that He was "just a Prophet" doing and saying what God told him? No. Please pay special attention to this passage because Dr. Badawi will quote it out of context throughout his series on Jesus:

Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does

Please think about what Jesus said in this passage and remember the message because Dr. Badawi will attempt to distort it out of context. Jesus cannot do anything by himself and can only do what the Father does because He and the Father are One. Jesus does not say that he can only do what the Father tells Him to do, He can only do what the Father does, making Him equal to the Father. In fact, Jesus is doing what God is doing, which makes them One! If you question my interpretation, ask yourself one question: why did the Jewish leaders want to execute Jesus for blasphemy if He was merely saying that He can do only what God allows, or tells, Him to do? Unlike Dr. Badawi, these men understood exactly what Jesus was saying, but like Dr. Badawi, they did not believe.

2. The second reason why this fact is related to prophethood and it is important very in my understanding is that the study person, life, and mission of Jesus is particularly significant for the Muslim because Jesus was the Prophet who immediately preceded the very last of all prophets and messenger the prophet Muhammad and such, he is the closest to him in this long change of prophets, in fact, Jesus and Muhammad and other prophets are partners in the obedience and service to Allah.

I do not believe that Muhammad was a Prophet. However, the Apostles, who lived after Jesus, did provide us with prophecies and, therefore, can legitimately be called Prophets. Also, who, aside from Muhammad himself, said that Muhammad was the last "Prophet"?

We might find out as the series unfolds on the latter topics that according to the Qur'an, Jesus even spoke about the one who to come after him to whom people the whole truth there have been different interpretations of the parkletos mentioned in the Gospel of John especially chapter 14, 15, and 16.

We will see, in latter rebuttals, that these verses DO NOT refer to Muhammad, but to the Holy Spirit. For example John 14:16 says:

"And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever"

Clearly this cannot be Muhammad since he is no longer with us, however, the Holy Spirit is with us!

Another clear passage which demostrates that the paraclete is not Muhammad, but the Holy Spirit, is 1 John 4:4:

"the Spirit who IS IN YOU is more powerful than the spirit IN THOSE who belong to the world."

Clearly, Muhammad is not in anyone!

In any case, this kind of affinity between the prophets and particularly between Jesus and Muhammad is very much affected in one chain of prophet Muhammad as related in both Bukhari and Muslim , this is the voice of Muhammad " I am the nearest to Jesus, the son of Mary in this world and in the next" The prophets are givers, I would say, sons of one father, their mothers are different, but their religion is one.

Clearly, Muhammad was, through this type of statement, attempting to establish legitimacy for his teachings. There is nothing in common between Jesus and Muhammad! This is clearly a fallacy of false equivalence. If you do not believe me, read this tradition from Bukhari and ask yourself if Jesus would have behaved as Muhammad behaved in this situation.

There have been no prophets between us, that is there was no prophet between Jesus and Muhammad - so he is the closest in many respects.

As I mentioned earlier, even if we assume that Muhammad is a Prophet [which is a point that I do not assume], the Apostles, who lived after Jesus, gave us prophecies and , therefore, these men are Prophets.

Indeed, I don't know of any religious faith in the world today outside of Christianity that make believing in , loving respecting Jesus a part of its creed and an article of faith without which a person cannot remain in the confines of the faith, is the faith of Islam. Nor do I know any other world religion that makes as frequent mention about Jesus and Mary in it most sacred scriptures as we find in the case of Islam, the mention in the Qur'an of Jesus.

I do not see any merit in saying "nice things" about Jesus while, at the same time, you completely ignore His Words and teachings. The Book of Mormon also mentions Jesus, yet those who follow this book also ignore His Words.

Host : We are told that Jesus is mentioned in the Qur'an, to what extent is the Qur'anic coverage of the subject?

Jamal Badawi: There are 114 Suras in the Qur'an, there is some mention of his life in the Sura, in 11 there is some mentioned about Jesus or something related to him. Just to give a rundown for those who want to conduct further research on this, I will quickly mention the Suras and the particular relevant passages.

In Sura 2:87, for example it speaks about how Jesus was supported by the Holy Spirit.

We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!

In Sura 3, we find that the title of the Sura is the family of Imran which is the family of Mary's mother. Now, the particular relevant sections here are passages 32-64 which includes a variety of topics about the news of his birth, his miracles, how Allah saved him from the conspiracy to crucify him, how similar he is to the creation of Adam.

In Sura number 4, especially passages 156-159, it speaks that Jesus was not killed or crucified but it was "made to appear to them", this we can discuss latter.

We will also discuss this topic. The Qur'an does not have a consistent account of what happened to Jesus.

Also in passages 171-173, there is an negation of the exaggeration in understanding the nature of Jesus and emphasis on his real status as the servant of Allah, his creatures, and his messengers to mankind.

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. Christ disdaineth nor to serve and worship Allah, nor do the angels, those nearest (to Allah): those who disdain His worship and are arrogant,-He will gather them all together unto Himself to (answer). But to those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, He will give their (due) rewards,- and more, out of His bounty: But those who are disdainful and arrogant, He will punish with a grievous penalty; Nor will they find, besides Allah, any to protect or help them.

My problem with this passage is why would God, who knows all, send Jesus to preach monotheism to the strictly monotheistic Jews? Think about it for a moment. If the Qur'an is correct, then God actually undermined His own teachings by sending a prophet of monotheism to the monotheists, which completely backfired [according to the Qur'an's account] because some of those who heard the words of Jesus and followed him would eventually deify Him! To make matters even worse [if we believe the Qur'an], God tricked billions of people throughout history, and deprived them of any chance of salvation, because He "made it appear to them" that Jesus died on the cross! Once again, the Qur'an simply does not provide us with a convincing argument concerning the life and work of Jesus.

In Sura number 5, we find two references also, in passage 49 indicating that the mission of Jesus was to confirm what remained intact in the Torah and give glad tidings of the one to come after him. Mentioned about him receiving the revelation from Allah and Injil, and how blessed he was. It is in Sura 5 also, in passages 122-123 there is some coverage of the miracles that were done through him about his position on the day of judgment and disassociating himself from those who deified him instead of Allah, or along side of Allah. Indeed the title of that Sura by the way is the "table" which gives the Muslim understanding of what our Christian brothers understand as the Last Supper.

Actually it is Sura 5:46:

And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah.

Also, there is no significance to the title of the Sura [Table]. According to Syed Maududi's commentary on this Sura : This Sarah takes its' name from verse 112 in which the word mai'dah occurs. Like the names of many other surahs, this name has no special relation to the subject of the Surah but has been used merely as a symbol to distinguish it from other surahs.

And then in Sura 9, verses 30-31, there is mention there of negation of Jesus as the Son of Allah and indicating that these kind of teachings were not his teachings but the teachings of other nations before and that was actually incorporated by people who came after him.

In Sura number 19, and by the way it is also called Mary, taking the whole name of the Sura in the Qur'an from the name of the mother of Jesus and particularly passages 16-37, it deals with the story of the birth and life of Jesus also, we find that this is one of the major differences.

This is one of the most erroneous [incorrect] verses in the entire Qur'an!:

The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One Allah: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him).

The Qur'an is clearly wrong in saying that the Jews believed that Ezra is the Son of God. I have read Jewish history and have also consulted several Rabbis concerning this question. The Jewish people DO NOT believe and have NEVER believed that Ezra is the Son of God. Notice that the Qur'an says "The Jews", and not "some Jews"! This wording indicates that this verse is talking about the mainstream majority of the Jewish community. Notice also that this passage says "The Christians" (referring to the majority of Christians) call Christ the Son of God in spite of the fact that there were heretical groups in Arabia who denied this belief.

Since God is perfect and cannot error, He did not produce this verse. So, the question is : how did Muhammad make this error? The first possibility is that Muhammad knew nothing of Jewish theology and beliefs and either thought this in his own mind or heard it from someone else who was equally uniformed. The second, and more likely explanation, is that Muhammad knew the facts (the Jews did not regard Ezra as the Son of God) but distorted the truth to fit his needs of the moment.

In Sura number 21, particularly verse 91, there is mention about the chastity of Mary and how Allah blessed her and her child and it mentions something also about the place of his birth, not the city but a description of the place.

And (remember) her who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples.

My question remains : a sign of what? Why did the strictly monotheistic Jews need another monotheistic prophet? Also, what, according to the Qur'an, is the significance of the virgin birth of Jesus? No other Prophet was born this way, why did Jesus need to be born of a virgin if He is "like any other Prophet"? Another problem is : how can Muslims consider Muhammad the final and greatest Prophet when an earlier Prophet (Jesus) was born of a virgin, performed miracles, and foretold future events? Muhammad showed none of these wonderful signs yet he is considered the greatest Prophet!

In Sura number 23, in passage 55, there is mention about again about the place of his birth. In Sura number 43, verses 56-67 there is a discussion about the nature of Jesus, his message, and how the sects differed among themselves after him .

In Sura 57, passages 26 and 27, there is an indication that he comes from the descendants of the family of Abraham, and it praise's them who followed in the exact teaching that he taught not as corrupted by others after him, recorded his exact words.

And We sent Noah and Abraham, and established in their line Prophethood and Revelation: and some of them were on right guidance. But many of them became rebellious transgressors. Then, in their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy. But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah; but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet We bestowed, on those among them who believed, their (due) reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors.

What " Monasticism" was invented by the followers of Jesus, or the early Church? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia , monasticism did not begin until the 4th century.

And finally Sura 61, in passage 6 it speaks how Jesus spoke about the prophet Muhammad and mentioned him by name, Ahmed is another name of the prophet Muhammad, that is coming after him.

There are no parallel passages [similar to this] in the Bible.

This is as far as you know the references which are directly like the other references in the Qur'an which bears some meaning and understanding of the story of Jesus. But I would recommend for any viewer who wishes to examine that issue further, in case you have a translation by Yusuf Ali, this is a very popular translation of the meaning of the Qur'an, in the index there is a special alphabetical indexation of various topics and there is a whole section under Jesus and then under Jesus, it talks about various message and of the missions on various sub-topics there are given there the references for Chapters, or Suras, and verse, or ayah number. So this in an indication, I should say, that there is a fair amount of coverage of the story, nature and mission of Jesus in the Qur'an - the sacred scripture of Muslims.

Host : Very good, Let's examine some of those aspects and maybe we will begin with the lineage of Jesus.

Jamal Badawi : OK, first of all, to give a general indication and elaboration of what I mentioned earlier, turn to Sura number 6, passages 82-85, there is a clear indication that he is of the descendants of Abraham. Now, more specifically, if we turn to an illustration, we have Jesus in Sura number 3, we can actually begin from verses 53 on. In the relation to the verses it simply says that indeed Allah chose, especially chose, the Adam, Noah and the descendants of Abraham and the descendants of Imran above all nations, so there is some mention latter of the family of Imran. And then in this message we have here, I will just read it to continue, remember when the wife of Imran said: My Lord, I gone to you what is within my womb accept it from me to you and only you are the hearer and knower, and when she deliver, she said, my Lord, I am delivered of a female. Allah knew that of what she delivered a male is not as the female and see I have named her Mary and I crave your protection for her and fore her offspring from Satan's outcast.

There are some serious historical problems with the Qur'an's account of the lineage of Jesus. For moe information on this subject, please read Mary, Sister of Aaron and Daughter of Amran.

And headmen accepted her with full acceptance and accorded her a goodly growth and made Zachariah her guardian. When Zachariah went into the sanctuary, that is where she was, he found that she had food. He said, oh Mary, where does this come from? She answered, it is from Allah. Allah gives without stint to whom he will.

There is no evidence in the Bible, or the Apocrypha that Zachariah was the guardian of Mary at any point in here life. In fact, the Apocryphal Protevangelium of James (Chapter 8:1), tells us that Mary was in the sanctuary with her parents (Joachim and Anna) when she was found to have food. It appears that Muhammad copied many portions of the Qur'an's stories concerning Mary and Jesus from the Apocryphal tales, and, to make matters worse, he copied these stories inaccurately and incorrectly.

Then Zachariah prayed, to his Lord and said, my Lord, bestow on me your bounty goodly offspring see, you are the hearer of prayer. And the angels called to him, as he stood praying in the sanctuary, Allah gives you good news, that is of a son, his name is John, who comes to confirm a word from Allah, lordly chaste a prophet of righteous. He said, my Lord, how can I have a son when age has overtaken me already and my wife is very old. The angel answered, Sir, Allah does what he will. He said, my Lord, appoint a token for me the angel said, the token for you will be that you shall not speak to manning three days except by signs. Remember you Lord much and praise him in the early hours of night and morning.

The Bible tells us that he could not speak until John was born.

Host : That's very good. Maybe you should explain that passage and include a few comment?

Jamal Badawi: OK One, that passage seems to indicates that the mention of Jesus in the Qur'an even goes beyond the birth of Jesus himself it goes back with his family even to the birth of his mother. It seems to indicate to us that the beginning actually starts with the grandmother of Jesus, that is the mother of Mary. This is referred to in the Qur'an as the woman of Imran. So, Imran was believed to be the husband of Mary's mother - that is his grandmother. Now, this woman, and the Qur'an indicates, was a righteous woman, who came from a righteous household we all know, from her associates also, that the mother and grandmother of Jesus, I should say, come from a priestly family, from the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

It is believed also that Imran was a priest was a very righteous person too. Now, the mother of Mary, that is the grandmother of Jesus, became pregnant, and when she became pregnant, she vowed to dedicate the child she had in her womb to Allah. What she meant by that is that she wanted to devote that child, if that child turned out to be a boy, to the service of the temple. Now, once she delivered Mary, she was not really disappointed but she was sorry that she came as a female only for the reason that, according to the Law, only the males could be devoted to the service of the temple. That is why she says that a male is not like a female. However, we find that some interpreters of the Qur'an like Shabir Ally, indicate that the statement that a male is not like a female could have been also a statement of Allah that is to tell the mother of Mary that no man would be like that he made - that you are thinking about devoting a son to the service of the temple but I have chosen her for a role that is much greater than serving a temple- that is to serve the matter of belief and to make her and her son as a sign of my power and omnipotence for the whole world. This is another way of looking at it, but in whichever case, she was wondering what she should do.

Once again, this account inaccurately parallels the Apocryphal Protevangelium of James (Chapter 4:1)

And behold an angel of the Lord appeared, saying unto her: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath hearkened unto thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive and bear, and thy seed shall be spoken of in the whole world. And Anna said: As the Lord my God liveth, if I bring forth either male or female, I will bring it for a gift unto the Lord my God, and it shall be ministering unto him all the days of its life.

Please remember, once again, that Joachim and Anna are the parents of Mary according to the Apocrypha.

Secondly it says that she called her Mary and it is also believed that the name Mary means the one who is worshiper, that is, worshiper of Allah.

No, the name Mary is Hebrew for "bitterness".

Then the mother of Mary made a prayer for Mary and her offspring that it Mary and Jesus as we realize, to protect her and her offspring from the accursed Satan. Obviously, she expected her and her offspring to be pious and to continue in the same goodly and prophetic tradition and household because Satan cannot have any power over the human unless he is away from his creator. Obviously the prayer of the mother of Mary was answered by the creator because we find Mary was chosen for that important role and from her, we all know, the prophet Jesus came. And prophet Muhammad in Bukhari and Muslim expresses this meaning in a very nice way when he says that when every child is born, is poked by the Satan as soon as his birth except Jesus and Mary.

Once again, why? The Qur'an claims that Jesus is only a Prophet. Did any other Prophets have this protection and [if we follow the Qur'an's argument] why not? If Muhammad is the final and greatest Prophet, why was he not protected as Jesus was?

Then the says that Allah accepted her goodly acceptance and that Allah made her grow and goodly growth, that is righteous upbringing. And then it says that she was given into the care of Zachariah. Why? Some historians believe that Imran died, and shortly after her birth, her mother also died. There is another reference in the Qur'an Sura 3:44, about various people throwing lots to find out who should really look after Mary. But it ended up anyway in the care of Zachariah because of the close family relationship, because Zachariah was the husband of Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was the sister of the mother of Mary.

No, Elizabeth was the cousin of Mary and the mother of John the Baptist. Tradition, along with several Apocryphal books such as the The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary and the Protoevangelium of James tells us that Mary parents were Joachim and Anna.

And then it says here about something amazing, something different that when Zachariah entered into the sanctuary, he saw that Mary had food, obviously, that seemed to show that she had provisions other than what he was providing her. So he asked her: where did you get this from? She said it has come from Allah. At that show the beginning of the miraculous life of Mary.

This story is suspiciously similar to one found in the Protoevangelium of James which says:

And her parents got them down marveling, and praising the Lord God because tile child was not turned away backward. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as a dove that is nurtured: and she received food from the hand of an angel.Chapter 8:1

As a result, Zachariah started to call to or pray to Allah to grant him a goodly offspring. Some of us might wonder what is the connection between finding food miraculously with Mary, and asking for offspring. The reason being is that Zachariah was an old man, a very old man, and so was his wife. In addition, his wife was also barren And he was always really hoping to have a child so that the child may carry the prophetic tradition in the household and help maintain the guide humanity. And at that time he was hopeless that he could have any child. Bear in mind that both of them are old and when Zachariah saw that Mary could have food without normal reasons, or normal law, it reminded him that Allah could provide him a son outside of the normal laws even though he is old and his wife is barren, so there is very delicate reference here as to why there is a connection between the two. And then it says that the angels called upon him while he was standing in the floor(?), it actually refers to Jibreel but it gives a picture of the angels coming from different directions as if there are many angels, telling him that Allah gives him a glad tiding of the birth of a child whose name will be John the Baptist whose birth was really a sort of preparing the way for the more miraculous birth of one after him who was Jesus.

Host :That's very interesting and from the way that you have just described this it appears to me that there seems to be some connection between Jesus and John the Baptist. Maybe you can develop this point a little further.

Jamal Badawi: There are indeed a number of similarities of course the most important of which is that in the case of birth of John the Baptist and Jesus there is some aspect of a miracle, one miracle more unusual than the other but both were unusual types of births.

Now first of all, to make the comparison, Zachariah, as indicated, was very old and his wife was barren, so that shows that this birth of John the Baptist was actually miraculous as implied in the Qur'an from Sura 39, that Allah will accomplish what he wills. In the case of the birth of Jesus, we find, again, almost identical terms in Sura 19:9, again so it will be your Lord says addressing Mary that it is easy for me that I indeed create you before many have been nothing, so this is one similarity.

Another similarity that the name of John was given before his birth, the news was given to his parents in Sura 19:7. Also the name of Jesus was given to his mother before his birth in Sura 3:14.

Thirdly, the life of Jesus was unique in many respects so there was some uniqueness also in the life of John the Baptist and that is why the Qur'an refers to him in Sura 19:7 that he was unique in many respects and so was Jesus.

Forth it is known that Jesus, as far as we know, did not marry or beget any children and so was the case of John the Baptist and that is the description given in the Qur'an as someone who shunned away these aspects of life.

Fifthly, that the soul of Jesus continues to live as the Qur'an indicates because the souls of prophets and martyrs continue to live and the soul of John the Baptist does continue to live because we all know that John the Baptist was martyred and, as such, he qualifies and as such his determine the life of his soul. There are a few other comparisons between both of these great figures

Host : Well thank you very much Dr. Badawi and thank you for joining us.

The question here is: what do these "connections" tell us about God's divine plan of salvation?


Andrew Vargo

Responses to Jamal Badawi's "Radio Al-Islam Channel RA 200"
Answering Islam Home Page