Chapter 2: JESUS AND MUHAMMAD

Nothing brings out the contrast between Islam and Christianity so much as a comparison between the Islamic attitude towards Jesus (pbuh) and the Christian attitude towards Muhammad (pbuh). For, while Muslims believe in Jesus as a great prophet of God and love and respect him as the Prophet Muhammad, the Christians not only reject Muhammad, but are never tired of speaking of him in the most disparaging manner.

An impartial study of their lives will, however, show that the prophets of Islam and Christianity were both godly men, completely dedicated to the task of preaching God’s Religion, of delivering men from error and sin and making the Will of God prevail in the world.

The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ (pbuh) was born about 7-5 B.C. in a humble home in Palestine. Very little is known about the early years of his life. All we can say, in the words of Luke, is that he “increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men”. When he was between thirty-three and thirty-five years of age, a prophet appeared in Palestine preaching “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin.” The name of this prophet was John the Baptist, and Jesus went to him and was baptized by him. At that moment, it was revealed to Jesus that he had been chosen by God as the Messiah of the Jews to revive the true Religion and complete the long line of Israelite prophets.

The Religion of God was not unknown to the children of Israel, but at the time when Jesus began his ministry, the spirit of true Religion had been stifled by the worldliness of the Sadducees and the formalism and trivial legalism of the Pharisees. They declared, in the words of the Talmud, “He who lightly esteems hand washing will perish from the earth”. And Jesus rebuked them, saying “Full well ye reject the Commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” They had absurd rules about the Sabbath. For instance, a man might walk two thousand cubits on the Sabbath, but no more. Vinegar, if swallowed, could be used to relieve a sore throat but it could not be gargled. In case death threatened, a physician could be summoned, but a fracture should not be attended to on the Sabbath. Jesus impatiently brushed aside all such elaborate and artificial regulations. He told them that the Sabbath was for man and not man for the Sabbath, and he warned them:

“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel”

The essence of his religion was the Love of God and the love of His fellow-men, which he tried to instill into the hearts of his people by means of his inspired sermons and beautiful parables.

The Sadducees and Pharisees, instead of acknowledging him as the Messiah about whose coming the earlier lsraelite prophets had given glad tidings, turned to be his mortal enemies and pressed the Roman Procurator to pass the sentence of crucifixion on him.

This man who was treated as a common malefactor by his blind people was one of the most inspiring characters of history. He led a pure, noble and godly life. He showed a rare combination of mildness and courage in doing the Will of God and in dealing with his misguided compatriots. He was all gentleness, selflessness and humility; serving his friends and praying for his enemies. He worked many wonders, yet never took pride over them, ascribing them always to the “Finger of God” and even admitting others ability to do the same. His compassion for the sinners and sufferers was truly admirable. About him it may well be said that he had conquered the Devil.

The Prophecies of Jesus about Muhammad The crime of Jews against Jesus (pbuh) deprived them of God’s Blessings and Favors. Jesus told them that after him no prophet would appear among them and that the Kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a nation more worthy of it. Moreover, he announced that the stone which the builders had rejected, the same had been chosen by God to become the corner-stone. Meaning thereby that the children of Ishmael, whom the children of Israel had rejected and disowned, were chosen by God for His greatest Blessings. The World Prophet would appear from among the Ishmaelites. Jesus (pbuh) gave the prophecy of his coming in no uncertain terms:

“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”

(John 16: 12,13)

In a non-canonical Gospel, the Gospel of St. Barnabas, Jesus mentioned the Spirit of truth or the Comforter – the Prophet who was to come after him to guide the world “into all truth” – by name thus:

“Then said the Priest, ‘How shall the Comforter be called, and what signs shall reveal his coming? ” Jesus answered, ‘ The name of the Comforter is admirable, for God gave him the name when he had created his soul, and placed it in Celestial Splendour. God said: (Wait Muhammad, for thy sake I will create paradise, the world, and a great multitude of creatures, whereof I make thee a present, in so much that whoso shall bless thee shall be blessed, and whoso shall curse thee shall be cursed. When I shall send thee into the world, I shall send thee as My Messenger of salvation, and thy word shall be true, in so much that heaven and earth shall fail, but thy faith shall never fail} Muhammad is his blessed name. Then the crowd lifted up their voice saying: O God, send us thy Messenger. O Muhammad, come quickly for the salvation of the world.”[1]

[1] The Gospel of Sr. Barnabas, edited and translated from a Manuscript in the Imperial Library at Vienna by Lonsdale and Laura Ragg, Oxford.

The Prophet Muhammad

The Comforter, the Spirit of truth, the Messenger of God, about whose coming Jesus (pbuh) had given the good news, was born in Arabia in the year 571 A.C. At the time of his birth the true Religion had been forgotten or distorted all over the world. T The people among whom he was born, the Ishmaelite Arabs, were polytheists and idolaters. They were sunk in vice and superstitions of every kind. There was no law among them except the law of the jungle and, perchance, a few primitive tribal mores.

Among these people who had drifted far from God’s Way, Prophet Muhammad grew up to be a Man of God. He was conspicuous among them by his pure and spotless character, his love of truth and compassion towards the poor and the downtrodden. They called him Al-‘Amin the trustworthy, the faithful.

As he grew older the superstitious and evil ways of the people caused greater and greater sorrow to his heart. He spent many hours in communion with his Creator and in meditation on the end or object of man’s life. He longed to bring people to the Straight Path, to “render God unto man and man unto God.” When he was forty years of age Gabriel, the Messenger of God, shone the Divine light in its full resplendence in Muhammad’s heart.

He preached to them One and Only God, the Loving Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds. He exhorted them to shun all kinds of evil and cruelty and to love one another. He told them that real Religion was the removal of the want and suffering of others and the selfless service of fellow-men, that the religious ceremonies were entirely useless if they did not train and

discipline man to become more righteous and to work for the good of others:

(Hast thou observed him who belieth religion? That is he who repelleth the orphan, and urgeth not the feeding 0f the needy. Ah, woe unto worshipers who are heedless of their Prayers; who would be seen or worship, yet refrain from works of mercy!)

(The Qur’an 107)

He struck at the root of the false superiority based on color, caste, race or nationality, declaring that all human beings were equal brothers.

The treatment meted out to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) by his people was not different from that meted out to the earlier prophets. He was rejected by people with vested interests and subjected to all kinds of cruelties. Many of those that believed in him were badly tortured. A combined attempt was made by all the tribes of Mecca to put an end to his life. After bearing these tortures and cruelties for thirteen long years with almost superhuman patience and forbearance, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) at last migrated to Medina, where a large number of

people had already embraced Islam and become his followers. This was the turning point in his life. The people of Medina not only believed in him and his message but also made him the

head of their new Islamic state. Here Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), in addition to his moving appeals for individual change of heart and transformation of character, worked out the social

implications of his message. The many revolutionary changes that he introduced included the raising of women to a position of equality with men, taking steps to abolish slavery, total

prohibition of all kinds of intoxicating drinks and of gambling, putting an end to exploitation of every kind, doing away with priesthood and granting religious freedom to all individuals and

communities, bringing into force the most enlightened code of laws ever known to man and the establishment of a welfare state and a form of administration which was an ideal blend of justice and mercy. He brought into being a universal brotherhood in which there was no distinction whatsoever on the basis of race, color, language, wealth or sex. The distinguishing feature of those who joined this fold was zeal for the Worship of One God and of humanity. After accomplishing his mission, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) the last prophet of God, departed from this world in the year 632 A.C., leaving behind the Glorious Qur’an which was revealed to him by God, and his own sayings, to guide people for all times to come.

The Ideal Character

The Prophet of Islam lived a life which can only be described as godly. He was the model par excellence for men in various situations and walks of life, as the Glorious Qur’an says:

(Verily in the Messenger of God ye have a perfect example for him who looketh unto God and the Last Day and remembreth God much.)

(33:21)

(0 Prophet! Lo! We have sent thee as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner, and as a summoner unto God by His Permission, and as a lamp that giveth light.?

(33:45,46)

He lived up to the highest ideals of the Glorious Qur’an and exemplified in his life the virtues mentioned in the Book of God. When his wife, ‘Aishah, was questioned about his morals, her

reply was, “His morals are the Qur’an.” Conversely, when she asked to explain certain ethical injunctions in the Qur’an she did so by illustrating them from the Prophet’s life and behavior.

To say that he was sinless would be only a negative description of the Man of God who had conquered all temptations and passions and lived only for the Sake of God and in complete accord with the Will of God:

)Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for God, Lord of the worlds.)

(Qur’an 6: 162)

He was, as the Qur’an describes him, a “mercy to all nations”. His compassion extended to friends and foes alike. “Do you love your Creator? Love your fellow creatures first”, was his advice to his followers. He felt extremely concerned at the depraved and corrupt state of the people around him. It grieved his heart very much when as the head of the state, he had to pass an order of punishment on any one for the sake of justice or for the security of the young republic. But for his own sake he never even lifted his finger against any one. When at a critical moment someone asked him to curse his enemies and perse-cutors, he replied:

“I have nor been sent to curse but as a mercy to mankind. O Lord, guide my people for they know not.”[1]

At the conquest of Mecca (to give just one instance out 0f many) he freely forgave all his enemies, who had spared no effort to annihilate him, his Religion and his followers, and were

guilty of murder and persecution. He told them. “This day there is no reproof against you.” Here is a practical example of the maxim “Love your enemies.” He had come to reclaim and reform the fallen humanity and he won the hearts of the anti-social elements of his time by love and kindness. His charity and readiness to help the people in all possible ways were proverbial. He was the greatest friend of the poor and the downtrodden.

He strove all his life to lead mankind to the One True God, to make them godly, to rescue them from error, superstitious and sins, but in inviting them to the truth he faithfully observed the

Qur’anic injunction,

© There is no compulsion in religions

(2:256)

He had imbued himself with Divine qualities and caused his fellow-men to take the greatest step towards the Divine . Yet he remained humble and modest, conscious always of his nothingness before God, and from the highest peak of moral and spiritual perfection to which he had attained, he cried out to the people,

(I am only a mortal like yon.)

(Qur’an 41 :6)

Non Mus1ims’ Tributes to the Prophet With the passing of Oriental Studies from the hands of

Christian missionaries and divines into those of independent scholars the appreciation of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his message is growing in the West.

Here are two extracts about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from a recent book by a learned American professor:

“Pure-hearted and beloved in his circle, he was, it is said, of sweet and gentle disposition. His bereavements having made him sensitive to human suffering in every form, he was always ready to help others, especially the poor and the weak. His sense of honour, duty and fidelity won him as he grew older the high and enviable title of “The True’, ‘The Upright’, ‘The Trustworthy One’. Yet despite his concern for others he remained removed from them in outlook and ways, isolated in the midst of an effetic and chaotic society. As he grew from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood the lawless strife of his contemporaries, the repeated outbursts of pointless quarrels among the tribes frequenting the Meccan fairs, and the general immorality and cynicism of the day combined to produce in the prophet-to-be sustained reaction of horror and disgust. Silently, brooding, his thoughts turned inward”[2].

( “In an age charged with a supernaturalism, when miracles were accepted as the stock-in-trade of the most ordinary saint, Muhammad refused to traffic with human weakness and credulity. To miracle-hungry idolators seeking signs and portents he out the issue clean: ‘God has not sent me to work wonders; He has sent me to preach to you. My Lord be praised! Am I more than a man sent as an apostle?’ From first to last he resisted every impulse to glamorize his own person. ‘I never said that Allah’s treasures are in my hand, that I knew the hidden things, or that I was an angel   I am only a preacher of God’s words, the bringer of God’s message to mankind’. If signs be sought, let them be not of Muhamrnad’s greatness, but of God’s, and for these one need only open one’s eyes. The heavenly bodies holding their swift silent course in the vault of heaven, the incredible order of the universe, the rain that falls to relieve the parched earth, palms bending with golden h fruit, ships that glide across the seas laden with goodness for man – can these be the handiwork of gods of stone? What fools to cry for signs when creation harbours nothing else! In an age of credulity, Muhammad taught respect for the world’s incontrovertible order which was to awaken Muslim science before Christian.”[3]

And this is how the well-known historian, Lane-Poole, sums up the character of Prophet Muhammad:

“He who, standing alone, braved for years the hatred of his people, is the same who was never the first to withdraw his hand from another’s clasp; the beloved of children, who never passed a group of little ones without a smile from his wonderful eyes and kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned voice… He was one of those happy few who have attained the

supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the One God; and never to his life’s end did he forget who he was, or the message which was the marrow of his being. He brought his tiding to his people with a grand dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office together with a most sweet humility whose roots lay in the knowledge of his own weakness.’[4]

Major A.G. Leonard refers to the sincerity of the Prophet and the truth of his message in these words in his book Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Value.

“He must at the outset recognise that Mohammed was no mere spiritual pedlar, no vulgar time-serving vagrant, but one of the most profoundly sincere and earnest spirits of any age or epoch. A man not only great but one of the greatest – i.e., truest-men that humanity has ever

produced. Great i.e., not simply as a prophet but as a patriot and a statesman: a material as well as a spiritual builder who constructed a great nation, a great empire, and more even than all these, a still greater Faith. True, moreover, because he was true to himself, to his people, and above all to his God. Recognising this, he will thus acknowledge that Islam is a profound and true cult, which strives to uplift its votaries from the depths of human darkness into the higher realms of Light and Truth.”[5]

Finally, this is what Lamartine, one of the greatest poets of France, writes about the greatness of Muhammad (pbuh`):

“Never has a man set himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which had been interposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos for the material and disfigured gods of idolatry then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design no other instrument than himself, and no other aid, except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered in God’s name Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous Islands of the Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of Gaul.”

“If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great men in modern history to Muhammad? The most famous men created arm, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything, at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples, and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law, he

created a spiritual nationality which has blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left to us as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality, the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad: the conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason. The idea of the unity of God proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theogenies, was in itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the

ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against the superstitions, of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry; his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years at Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen: all these and, finally his incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayer, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction. It was his conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was two-fold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is; the latter telling what God is not. ‘Philosopher, orator, apostle, legirslator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad’. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask: is there any man greater than he?”[6]

[1] As-Suyuti, Aj-Jarni` As-Saghir.

[2] Huston Smith, The Religions 0f Man, Mentor Books, p.203.

[3] Huston Smith, The Religions of Mon, Mentor Books. pp. 205, 206.

[4] Stanley Lane-Poole, The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Muhammad, Introduction, p. 29.

[5] Maj A.G. Leonard, Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Value, pp. 20-21.

[6] Lamartine, Historic do la Turquie, Vol. II, pp. 276, 277; Quoted by Dr. Zaki Ali in his book Islam in the World.

Historicity

Comparisons are sometimes odious, but even if one was so inclined one would soon find that the Jesus of the Gospels and Prophet Muhammad offer no comparison at all. For, while Prophet Muhammad is a thoroughly historical character, every detail of his life is preserved in critically tested books of Hadith and history, the life and character of Jesus are shrouded in mystery. There are scholars who totally dismiss the historical existence of Jesus and regard him as a character of mythology. But even if we consider this to be an extreme view and grant, as do the Muslims, that a person called Jesus was eventually born in Palestine a few years before the beginning of the Christian era and claimed to be the expected Messiah of the Jews, our information about him is so fragmentary and uncertain that no clear picture of his life and personality emerges in our minds.

There are doubts about the date, place and manner of his birth; there is nothing known about the first thirty years of his life; there are differences on the question of his death. The Gospels tell us only of no more than two years of his life in a manner that can gradually pass that test of historical criticism. In an earlier chapter, Dr. C. J. Cadoux, who was Mackennal Professor of Church History at Oxford, was quoted as having written that many modern scholars and critics regard as hopeless any attempt to separate the historically true from the legendary or mythical matter which the Gospels contain and to reconstruct the story of Jesus out of the more historical residue. As we find him in the Gospels, Jesus seems a shadowy and glorified figure.

Complete Model

Although on the basis of the Glorious Qur’an I regard the characters of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad to be equally godly, pure, noble and inspiring, yet Jesus did not get the opportunity

to become a perfect model for men in all walks of life as Prophet Muhammad did. We have no doubt that if Jesus had got the chance, he would have behaved exactly as Prophet Muhammad

did; for both of them were prophets of the same God.

Jesus never married and so he could not become an ideal husband and father. He did not triumph over his enemies and so had no chance of showing how a victor should behave towards his vanquished foes who have spared no pains to annihilate him and his followers. He did not have his persecutors at his mercy and so had no occasion to show real forbearance and forgiveness. Jesus did not rise to power to become the model of a benevolent and just ruler and judge.

We must turn to Prophet Muhammad, and not Jesus, if we want to see the picture of an ideally happy and pious married life and of a wise, just and benevolent ruler whom nothing could

corrupt or divert from working for the material and moral amelioration of his people. Prophet Muhammad witnessed the phases of both persecution and success. He showed rare patience, fortitude, courage and love for his foes as a persecuted preacher of religion and in the hours of deepest gloom, and unparalleled self-control and mercy when his bitterest foes were helpless before him.

Jesus did not get the chance to put into practice many of his precepts and teachings. For instance, he advised his followers to sell their garments and purchase swords (Luke 22:36), but he could not demonstrate to them the right use of the sword. To resist violence and aggression sometimes becomes our highest duty – for instance, when helpless men, women and children are being slaughtered and the freedom to believe and practice the religion of their own choice is denied by fanatics and tyrants. Lt was Prophet Muhammad who showed how a true soldier of God, the protector of the victims of intolerance and cruel violence, should behave on the battlefield and in moments of defeat and triumph.

The life of Jesus runs parallel to the early life of Prophet Muhammad, but Jesus did not live long enough to give a practical shape to his teachings and work out the social implications of his message. He did not have the chance to enlarge his teachings to cover all the situations of life and to bring about the tremendous social reforms that Prophet Muhammad did. The modern man, who has to lead a life as a son, a husband, a father, a poor worker, a citizen. a neighbor, a despised advocate of new ideas and ways, a victim of religious and political bigotry, a man with authority, a successful leader, a soldier, a business-man, a judge, and a ruler, will find Prophet Muhammad as a perfect model for him in all situations and walks of life.