Jesus’ Devotion to God: A Muslim Perspective
Christ said, “O Children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. (Quran, 5:72)
There is no gainsaying the fact that Jesus Christ is one of the most fascinating figures of human history. When a Muslim reads the New Testament, he discovers one prominent feature about him that holds the key to the charm of his personality. That feature is no other than his unqualified and all-pervasive devotion to God whom he prefers to address as ‘Father’ more often than not. (See Isaiah, 64:8) It is not because God has no name and only a relationship. God revealed His personal name ‘Jehovah’ to Moses. (Exodus, 6:3)
Jesus is aware that God has beautiful names. It is possible that God might have revealed another name of His to Jesus as this verse indicates, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name- the name you gave me.’ (St. John, ) It is unfortunate that this name has not been made as explicit as ‘Jehovah’.
Hebrew words for God are el, eloah, elohim. The first word indicates strength etymologically. The second word is spelt as elah in Aramaic and is closer in pronunciation to Allah. The Hebrew suffix –im in the third word is indicative of plurality as in seraphim and cherubim.
Knowledge about God: The foremost claim that Jesus makes about God is that He knows Him. (St. John, , , ) “No one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (St.Luke, ) Jesus seems to imply that, like other prophets who preceded him, he knows God and that the truth about God can be ascertained only from a prophet and from nobody else. After the martyrdom of John the Baptist, Jesus was the only prophet left among the Jews and he alone had the authority to reveal God.
God is greater than all: The first fact about God is that He is the greatest and second to none. “The Lord is greater than all gods (prophets?)” (Exodus, ) Jesus explains that those who received the word of God are described by David (Psalm, 82:6) as gods’. St. John, ) “ Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory.’’ (1 Chronicles, 29:11) “Behold God is great.” (Job, 36:26) “ Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.’ (Psalm, 48:1) “Great is our Lord and of great power.” (Psalm,147:5) “ O Lord, my God, thou art very great, thou art clothed with honour and majesty.” (Psalm, 104:1) In keeping with this Jewish tradition about God, Jesus Christ not only says, ‘‘my Father… is greater than all,’’(St. John, ) but also concedes,” The Father is greater than I”(St. John, ). He makes this statement as an illustration of a general rule. No servant is greater than his master nor is a messenger than the one who sent him. (St. John, ,). A student is not above his teacher. (St. Matt.,) This statement of Jesus’ inferiority vis--vis God confirms the Quranic statement,” And there is none comparable unto Him.”(112:4)
The New Bible Dictionary (NBD) rejects any essential or circumstantial inferiority but concedes that Jesus finds it ‘natural and necessary’ to subordinate his will to the Father’s will. (p.560) Under the influence of St. John, 1:1, St. Augustine asserts, ‘‘As the Word, he (Jesus) is in no middle place, since he is equal to God, and God with God, and together one God.” (Confessions, Translated by John K. Ryan, 1960, p.274) St. Paul says that Jesus deliberately made himself nothing and that God exalted him. (Philippians, 2:79)The Quran includes among Jesus ibadum mukramoon- the exalted prophets. ()
A Muslim will prefer to take Jesus at his word as it is in keeping with the Quranic monotheism and the Old Testament extracts given above. A prophet’s word carries more weight than a saint’s.
Metaphysical Attributes of God:
Moreover, Jesus does not confine himself to just one statement that God is greater than he is. In several ways he demonstrates how God is God and how he himself is devoid of certain metaphysical attributes. According to the NBD,(p.476)transcendence comprising self-existence, eternity, omniscience, etc. is an incommunicable attribute of God.
Jesus says, ‘‘I live because of the Father,”(St. John, ). A Muslim finds denial of self-existence and of eternity in this statement. As long as the Father wants, one lives and when He decides to take life away, one goes. William Barclay says, ‘‘ Paul was quite certain that Jesus Christ died on behalf of men.” ( The Mind of St. Paul, 1965, p.75) Death is the negation of eternity. “ (The Father) has granted the Son to have life in himself.” (op.cit.5:26). This explains that the self-existence of Christ is a gift unlike the self-existence of God but then gifted self-existence is a contradiction in terms.
OMNISCIENCE:
As regards omniscience, Jesus could tell the Samaritan woman about her five husbands,(St. John,4:18) and Jesus could see Nathanael under the fig tree before Philip called him (ibid.,1:48) and Jesus knew that the woman who brought an alabaster jar of perfume to a Pharisee’s house was a sinner,(St. Luke,7:47).He had foreknowledge of many secret things. In the Gospel according to St. Mark, Chapter 13, Jesus narrates the signs of the end of the Age. However, what God did not tell him, he had no other means of knowing. God keeps the knowledge of the Hour with Him and He does not share it even with His angels and prophets. The Quran says, ‘‘ Allah! With Him (alone) is the knowledge of the Hour.”(31:34) Jesus honestly accepts that ‘‘ No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” ( St. Mark, ; St. Matthew, 24:36)
The Kenosis Theory of the Incarnation asserts that Jesus Christ deliberately and sacrificially emptied himself of the divine attribute of omniscience. Jesus Christ does not say anywhere that he did so. In fact he had foreknowledge of many things, and he informed the world about them. His foreknowledge was based upon what God had told him. ‘Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’(Amos, 3:7) William Barclay is sympathetic towards this theory and yet he acknowledges, ‘It baffles the mind to see how God could abandon His essential attributes and still remain God.’ (The Mind of St. Paul, p.48)
In Ummul Ahadith, it is stated that the archangel Gabriel, disguised as a man, puts questions to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the presence of many Companions (Allah be pleased with them all) about Islam, Iman, Ihsan, and about the Hour and its signs. While replying to the question about the Hour, the Prophet (pbuh) says, ‘The respondent knows no more about it than the questioner.’ The respondent is a prophet and the questioner is an angel. This Tradition brings out clearly the veracity of Jesus’ statement contained in St. Mark, . Instead of taking Jesus’ ignorance of the timing of the Hour as literal truth, the Christian scholars feel obliged to assert, ‘It was not the Father’s will for him to have this knowledge in his mind at that time.’ (NBD, p.560)St. Thomas Aquinas thinks that it is an example of edifying pretence.
The prophets and the angels have their areas of knowledge well demarcated. Consequently, they cannot claim to be omniscient. The Quran makes it clear. ‘Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He wills.’ (2:255) As omniscience is the prerogative of God, Jesus dos not lay claim to it.
Some manuscripts of St. Matthew, 24:36 omit ‘ nor the Son’. This omission does not affect the meaning of the passage nor does it exclude Jesus Christ because the _expression ‘No one’ includes Jesus. The Authorized Version has ‘No man’ and even this includes Jesus because he describes himself as a man (St. John, ) and as a Son of Man in other places. (St. Matt., 12:8) The phrase, ‘The Son of Man’, is taken from Daniel, .
There is another passage which attributes omniscience to Jesus. ‘Now we can see that you know all things.’ (St. John, ) This assertion is made by his followers much too abruptly. If this assertion is true, it cancels Jesus’ ignorance of the Hour. The problem with this cancellation is that it does not make omniscience a constant and integral attribute. The attribute is absent at one stage and present at another. Therefore it is preferable to take Jesus at his word and to overlook the enthusiastic assertion of the followers.
It is strange that Jesus did not check their enthusiasm. There is one incident where such a restraining influence is available. When a man kneels before Jesus and addresses him as ‘Good Teacher!’, Jesus tells him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.’(St. Mark, ) Such a prompt reminder is not available when Thomas addresses Jesus as ‘My God’! (St. John, ) The reply of Jesus given to the kneeling person makes it clear that Jesus honours his Father (ibid., ) and does not seek parity with the Father in the matter of goodness. The holy Quran testifies to the fact that Jesus is sinless. An angel tells Virgin Mary that Allah would give her the gift of a holy son, i.e. Jesus. ()
OMNIPOTENCE:
God is omnipotent whereas St. John attributes tiredness to Jesus in his Gospel, 4:6. In the following anecdote Jesus does not seem to assert that he is omnipotent. In the Gospel according to St. Mark, (-40), James and John make a request, which St. Matthew attributes to their mother (), that they be allowed to sit at his right and left when he would be in his glory (on the Day of Judgment?). St. Mark records Jesus’ reply thus: To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. St. Matthew’s record of the reply has this additional phrase, ‘by my Father’,().It is not clear why St. Mark omitted this additional phrase. Perhaps, he thought the words were too obvious to be stated.
Like omniscience, omnipotence too is readily conceded by Jesus Christ to be God’s alone. Jesus says, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself.’ (St. John, ) He repeats, ‘By myself I can do nothing.’(ibid, ) Even though he has performed incomparable miracles, he gives credit to God for that. He goes one step forward and says, ‘With God all things are possible.’ (St. Matt., ; St. Mark, ) These statements seem to echo Psalm,136:4(Give thanks) to him who alone doeth great wonders.
Nicodemus says, ‘No one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God is not with him.’(St. John, 3:2) ‘I have shown you many great miracles from the Father’.(ibid.,) ‘From the Father’ in this passage and ‘in my Father’s name’ (ibid.,) all indicate that Jesus proved God’s omnipotence through miracles. He performed miracles in order to make people grateful to and glorify God. When a paralytic was able to get up, take up his mat, and walk, the people praised God. (St. Mark, ; St. Luke, ) Similarly, when Jesus revived a dead person, the people said that God had come to help his people through a great prophet. (St. Luke, 7; 16) When a boy was healed, the people were amazed at the greatness of God. (ibid., ) Jesus himself advised the man from whom the demons had gone out, ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ (ibid., ) He expected the remaining nine lepers to praise God for their cure as the tenth leper did. (ibid., ) His own disciples praised God for the miracles seen by them. (ibid., ) People, Jesus, his disciples were not the only parties to see the finger of God in the miracles performed. Even the beneficiaries of the miracles thought it fit to praise God. A blind man received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.(ibid., ) Jesus put his hand on a woman crippled for eighteen years and immediately she straightened up and praised God. (ibid., )
On one occasion, before performing a miracle, Jesus looked up and thanked God for hearing him. (St. John, , 42) This must have been his practice.
There are statements attributed to Jesus which seem to imply that he is omnipotent. In contrast to the reply given to James and John or their mother (St. Mark, -40; St. Matt., ) Jesus says, ‘I am going there to prepare a place for you’. (St. John, 14:3) ‘You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.’ (ibid., ) ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ (St. Matt., 28:18) One who receives authority cannot be equal to the One who bestows it. Anyway it is not known if Jesus ever revised the reply given to James and John or their mother.
OMNIPRESENCE:
God’s omnipresence is beautifully brought out through a question, ‘Whither shall I flee from thy presence?’ (Psalm, 139:7) ‘Thou art near, O Lord.’ (Psalm, 119:151) ‘Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.’ (James, 4:8) ‘The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.’ (I Peter, )
Jesus prayed in the synagogue, and on the Mount of Olives (St. Luke, ) or Gethsemane (St. Matt., 26:36) and advised his followers to pray in their rooms (St. Matt., 6:6) because God is omnipresent. William Barclay says that Jesus was subject to the laws of space and time. ‘The Incarnation of God emptied himself of his purely metaphysical attributes, such as omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence.’(The Mind of St. Paul, p.49) The attributes mentioned should be eternally and simultaneously present in the person of God and it is inconceivable to think of God without them.
The passage, St. Matthew, , seems to imply the omnipresence of Jesus but unfortunately it is conditional upon the presence of a gathering assembled in his name.
Moreover, the office of God is permanent and defines an identity which cannot be morphed under any circumstance and in relation to a changing scenario. “The Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.” (Joshua, ) ‘There is no God like thee in heaven above or on earth beneath.’ (I Kings, ; II Chronicles, ) ‘‘ It is He who is God in heaven and God on earth.” (The Quran, 43:84) In the light of these statements, the concept of Incarnation appears incomprehensible to a Muslim.
A Balanced And Comprehensive Attitude Towards God:
A Muslim’s attitude to God has an admixture of love, fear, and hope. ‘Those of faith are overflowing in their love for Allah.’ (2:165) ‘Fear Allah as He should be feared.’ (3:102) ‘Call on Him in fear and hope.’(7:56) ‘I ardently hope, He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment.’ (26:82)
Jesus Christ fosters a similar attitude with its roots in the Jewish tradition. ‘O love the Lord, all ye his saints.’ (Psalm, 31:23) ‘Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.’ (Deut. 10:12)
Jesus advises thus, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. (St. Luke, ) He finds fault with the Pharisees because they neglect justice and the love of God. (ibid., )
With regard to hope, Psalm, 42:11 has this: Hope thou in God. Jesus says, ‘Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it.’ (St. Mark, ) ‘Ask and it will be given to you.’ (St. Matt., 7:7) ‘God will give you whatever you ask.’ (St. John, ) ‘Trust in God.’ (ibid., 14:1)
‘‘Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes, ) ‘‘Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy.” (Psalm, 33:18) Jesus revives these ideas as follows: Fear him, who after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.(St. Luke, 12:5) ‘Be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul.’ (St. Matt.,) Through this advice and forewarning Jesus wants to save those who pay heed to him.
Jesus Christ not only advises his followers to love God but also practises what he preaches. He says, “I love the Father and …I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”(St John, ) To secure God’s love, followers have to follow the teachings of their respective prophets. Jesus says, ‘‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him.’’ (ibid., ) The Quran contains a similar promise: ‘Say: If you do love Allah, follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you your sins: for Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.’ ()
Jesus did not confine himself to fostering love for and fear of God and trust and hope in Him among his followers. William Barclay says, while explaining the Gospel according to St. John in his Daily Study Bible, p.209, “To know God is therefore not merely to have knowledge of him; it is to have an intimate personal relationship with him.” Jesus demonstrated this intimate personal relationship by offering worship to God and advising his followers to pray to God. “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Deut., ; St., Matt., ) This advice, emphasized by Jesus is given so much importance that Islam makes the Muslims utter frequently, “We worship and serve you only,(O God!)” (1:4)
The concept of Tahajjud Prayer can be visualized in this extract, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went off to a solitary place where he prayed.” (St. Mark,1:35)
Jesus’ obsession with Prayer is reflected in the following extracts. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission”. (Hebrews, 5:7) Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” (St. Mark, ) It was said in a place called Gethsemane. “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”(St. Luke, ) “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly.” (ibid., ) “One of those days Jesus went out into the hills to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” (ibid., ) That night might have been similar to Lailathul Qadr, All scriptures were revealed in the month of Ramadan. In St. Luke, , it is stated, “Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him.” This may be a reference to a group prayer. There is another reference when he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up on to a mountain to pray. (ibid., )
“He went up into the hills by himself to pray.” (St. Matt.,) This may be a reference to evening Prayer.
Rituals of worship are not given in great detail. However, when a man rests his face on the ground in the act of worship, he humbles himself to the utmost and comes closest to God. “And Abram fell on his face.” (Genesis, 17:3) There is a reference to qiyam in St. Mark, , “When you stand praying”; and to sajda in ibid.,, “He fell to the ground and prayed.” “He fell with his face to the ground and prayed.” (St. Matt., 26:39) Jesus demonstrated his utter humility before the Father in this way. The Quran rightly asserts, “Christ disdains not to serve and worship Allah, nor do the angels.” (4:172) According to a Hindu school of thought, God is the Receiver of Saranagati, or Siddhopaaya.
Two main components of Prayer are glorifying the one and only God (Quran,,34) and soliciting in hope His help and favours. (ibid., 40:60) In the act of glorifying God, there should be self-abasement and an _expression of gratitude, praise, love for God and a renewal of exclusive allegiance to Him. “Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.” (ibid., 1:4)
One of the statements that Jesus might have used in Prayer may be this- I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.(Matt., ) In the International Version, this verse is translated as- I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. In Arabic, ‘hamd’ means both ‘ thankfulness’ and ‘praise’ This statement of Jesus is very close to Alhamdu lillahi Rabbilaalameen- an _expression Muslims recite in their Prayers..
In the process of worship, Jesus made supplications and petitions. One of the requests he made on behalf of his disciples was, “Protect them from the evil one.” (St. John, ) According to the Quran, Jesus’ grandmother made a similar request, “ And I commend her and her offspring to thy protection from the Evil one, the Rejected.” () Muslims are advised, “When you read the Quran, seek Allah’s protection from Satan the Rejected One.” (16:98)
A prayer for Simon is expressed thus: I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. (St. Luke, ) This may be in response to a request contained in ibid., 17:5. “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’” Muslims have a prayer similar in meaning, “Our Lord! Cause not our hearts to stray after you have guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from your presence.” (3:8) Allah enabled Muslims to add faith unto their faith at Hudaibiyah. (48:4)
Among other things that Jesus advises his followers to ask for while worshipping are the following:
1. Pray that you will not fall into temptation. (St. Luke, )
2. Lead us into temptation. (St.Matthew, )
3. Pray for those who persecute you. (ibid.,; St. Luke,)
4. Pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen.(ibid., )
Muslims seek Allah’s refuge from the evil of the Anti-Christ. Jesus attached great importance to the institution of Prayer. He advised his followers that they should always pray and not give up. (St. Luke,18:1) In order to make this advice effective and unforgettable he narrated a parable and put a haunting question. “Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (ibid., 18:7)
At the same time, he wanted his followers to avoid the insincere, showy, and gaudy religiosity of the Pharisees. “Beware of the teachers of the law… They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” (St. Luke, 20:46-47; St. Matt., 23:5) The Quran says, “Woe to the worshippers…who want to be seen (of men).” (107:4,6)
Some Important Characteristics of God:
It has already been noted that Jesus does not lay claim to possession of certain incommunicable and metaphysical attributes of God. Instead, he invites people to believe in certain important characteristics of God.
1. The most important commandment is this; “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” (St. Mark, ) God created the world. (ibid., ) Blessed be the Lord of Israel that made heaven and earth.11 Chronicles 2;12.
2. “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (St. Matt., ; Deut., ) Obviously, ‘only’ excludes Jesus too. Jesus himself says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (God). (St. Matt.,) “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” (St. John, ) However, in response to God’s order, “Listen to him” (St. Matt., 17:5) service to a prophet is tantamount to service to God. “My Father will honour the one who serves me.” (St. John, ) There is no order from God to worship Jesus and yet in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, the disciples of Jesus, (28:17) men in the boat (), two women (28:9) worship him.
3. God is the Provider. “Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no store room or barn; yet God feeds them.” (St. Luke,; St Matthew, ) “Give us each day our daily bread.” (St. Luke, 11:3; St. Matt., ) “How many are the creatures that carry not their sustenance? It is Allah who feeds (both) them and you.” (Quran,29:60)
4. God guides through scriptures and prophets. “It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven (the Torah), but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” (St. John,) Jesus is a source of guidance too. “I am the bread of life.”(St. John, ,48) “I have been speaking figuratively.” (ibid., ) “The words I have spoken to you…they are life.” (ibid., 6:63) “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (ibid.,14:6) This statement was made after the martyrdom of John the Baptist when Jesus was the only prophet left. “Every thing that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (ibid.,) “You have one Teacher, the Christ.” (St. Matt.,)
5. God’s grace is needed to benefit from scriptures and prophets. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (St. John, ) “No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” (ibid., 6:65) “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (ibid., ) The Quran says, “It is he whom Allah guides, that is on true guidance.”(17:97)
6. God bears testimony. “His testimony about me is valid.” (St. John, ) “On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (ibid., )Another testimony in Deuteronomy, 32:39 is as follows: There is no god with me; I kill and make alive; I wound and I heal. In the Quran God bears testimony too. “Allah (Himself) is witness that there is no God save Him.” () “Say: Allah is witness between me and you; this Quran hath been revealed to me by inspiration that I may warn you and all whom it reaches.() “Allah knows that you (Muhammad) are indeed His Messenger.” (63:1) “Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets, saying: I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a Messenger , confirming what is with you; do you believe in him and render him help. Allah said: Do you agree and take this my Covenant as binding on you? They said: We agree. He said; Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses. (3:81)
7. God is the Teacher. “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” (ibid., ) “The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.” (ibid.,) The Quran says, “(God) taught man that which he knew not.” (96:5)
8. “God knows your hearts.” (St. Luke, ) “The Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel, 16:7) “He knows well the secrets of all hearts.” (Quran, 42:24)
9. “All healing is from God.” (Eccliasticus:38:2) This healing power of God was made manifest through Jesus. (St. Mark, ;St. Luke, )
10. God governs by paying attention to every small detail. He does not forget anything. “God is not unjust. He will not forget your work.” (Hebrews, ) “Even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” (St. Matt.,; St. Luke, 12:7) “I tell you that men will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” (St. Matt., )
These observations are emphatically reiterated in the Quran. “My Lord never errs nor forgets.” (20:52) “My Lord includes all things in His knowledge.” (6:81) “He keeps count of all things.” (72:28) “He knows that which is said openly, and that which you conceal.” (22:110) “He (man) utters no word but there is with him an observer ready.” (50:18) “And every small and great thing is recorded.” (54:53) “Not a leaf falls but He knows it, not grain amid the darkness of the earth, naught of wet or dry, but (is noted) in a clear record.” ()
11. God is the ultimate authority. Without His permission nothing can be done. Jesus tells Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” (St. John, ) The Quran says, “All affairs tend towards Allah.” (42:23) “All affairs are referred back to Allah.” (57:5)
12. God is alive, never goes to sleep, and discharges His duties as God round the clock. One of the duties of His is to maintain and manage the universe. Jesus says, “My Father is always at his work.” (St. John, ) The Quran says, “Every day in (new) Splendour does He shine.” (55:29)
13. God will be the Judge on the Day of Judgment, He has the right to reward and punish and the effect of both activities will be everlasting. Jesus says, “He is the judge.” (St. John, ) “There is a judge for the one who rejects me.” (ibid., ) The people on the left will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life. (St. Matt., 25:46) “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”(ibid.,6:6) The Quran says, “Allah will judge with (justice and) truth.” (40:20)
14. The best reward in heaven is a vision of God. Jesus conveys the good news, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (St. Matt., 5:8) St. Paul echoes the idea; “without holiness no one will see the Lord.”(Hebrews, )
When Philip says, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” Jesus does not refer to St. Matthew, 5:8, or to Exodus, 33:19-23. He replies, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (St. John,14:9) This reply implies that in this worldly life a look at the Prophet’s face is a very great privilege indeed because a Prophet is extremely close to God and represents Him. Says Jesus, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.” (ibid.,12:44-45)
St. Paul says in 1Timothy, 6:15-16 that no one can ever see God and this statement must be applicable to this world. “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.”
15. The chief motivating factor for what Jesus says and does is the irresistible urge within him to please God. “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (St. John, ) “I always what do what pleases him.” (ibid., ) An _expression of this urge to please God is this: I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. (ibid., ) Naturally God loves him (St. Mark, ; St. John, ) and is well-pleased with him. (St. Matt., , 17:5)
Jesus advises his followers to be dyed in the colour of God in order to please God. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (St. Luke, ) “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” (St. Matt., 5:7) The effect of this advice of Jesus on his followers, by God’s grace, was great. God says, “We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy.” (The Quran, 57:27) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Show mercy to those who are on the earth, and He, who is in the heavens, will show mercy to you.” The Old Testament (Psalm, 136) repeatedly says that God’s mercy endureth for ever.
God loves all His Prophets and is well-pleased with them. He shows His love to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) too and so do the angels. (The Quran, 33:56) God is well-pleased with the Prophet’s Companions too. (ibid., 98:8)
16. It is to God alone that all return. Jesus does not claim to be an exception. Instead, he says, “You would be glad I am going to the Father.”(St. John, ) “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (ibid., )
The Quran reiterates this concept in several ways. “They bear in mind the certainty that they are to meet their Lord, and that they are to return to Him.” (2:46) “To Allah we belong and to Him is our return.” (2:156) “It would not be reasonable in me if I did not serve him who created me, and to whom you shall (all) be brought back.” (36:22) “Every soul shall have a taste of death, and We test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must ye return.” ()
Summing Up:
“He sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the Lord.” (11 Chronicles, 24:19) Jesus Christ’s mission was to make God the centre of all things. What God wanted him to say, he said; what God wanted him to do, he did. He stands before God as obedience incarnate. (Heb., 5:8) He urged people to love God, to worship and serve Him, to obey His commandments, and to pray to Him always, and seek daily provisions, forgiveness of sins and increase of faith from Him, and to ask Him to deliver them from the evil one. He wanted his followers to be merciful and perfect because God is merciful and perfect. What he preached he practised. There was no hiatus between his precept and his practice. His life was a captivating song of sincere devotion to God whom he glorified by making himself extremely humble. He said that he owed his life, his miraculous powers, his edifying precepts to God. He enunciated a perfect and clear concept of God’s glorious attributes. He presented God as God of Hope and Glory. He wanted people to appreciate sensibly and sensitively the awesome majesty and authority of God to whom they will return to be judged, and then rewarded or punished, as the case may be.
In this world, Jesus was a Teacher (St. Matt., ); and, in the next, he will be a Mediator. (1Timothy, 2:5) These two roles are the roles of every Prophet.
According to the Quran, an angel informs Virgin Mary before the birth of Jesus that God wishes to appoint her son “as a sign unto men and a mercy from Him.” () Jesus grew up to be a wondrous sign of God and a manifestation of His mercy like any exalted Prophet. He made God known to people as “my God and your God” and as “Our Father in heaven”. By transposing ‘My God’ first, Jesus seems to emphasize his loving eagerness and charming haste to own God as his own God first.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.” (St. Luke, ) Peace to Mary who has found favour with God. (ibid., 1:30) Peace to Jesus, whom God selected, favoured, and exalted. (St. John, )
“Say; Will you dispute with us about Allah, seeing that He is our Lord and your Lord; that we are responsible for our doings and you for yours; and that we are sincere (in our faith) in Him.” The Quran, 2:139.
Prof. U. MUHAMMAD IQBAL
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