Faith.Browser

Let’s settle this issue once and for all today.

Christians claim a lot of things about Jesus which Muslims deny.

Muslims claim a lot of things about Issa which Christians reject.

The only logical conclusion is:

Jesus is NOT Issa.

Issa is NOT Jesus.

They are two different men!

Let’s find further evidence to see if this could be true.

We don’t need to go into the common differences like:

– according to the Bible, Jesus died on the cross and rose again.

– according to the Quran, Issa did not die but was raised up.

because everyone knows these things and we argue about it everyday.

Let’s look at a few other crucial details for these two men.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Issa was born in an unknown town.

Muslims will say this is an unimportant fact about Isa. That’s why the Quran does not record it.

That’s the thing!  The place of Jesus’ birth is VERY important!  500 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) for the Jews to know their Messiah.  If it was unimportant, why did this prophet of God say it? It is recorded in the Bible.

It is not important where Issa was born but it is very important where Jesus was born!

Two different men.

Jesus said. “My words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31). But according to Islam, Issa’s words, in the Injeel,  passed away, got lost, corrupted and does not exist anymore.

But we believe the words of Jesus did not pass away, just as He promised, and was recorded down by His disciples and exists as the Gospels today for us. We even know who Jesus disciples were, what they preached and taught and wrote down. On the other hand, Issa also had his band of sahabas but they are unknown. They are lost in history, nameless and voiceless.

Again two different men.  You can go on believing that your Issa lost his words and his sahabas failed to carry on his message.  That’s your right.  But we have the assurance from Jesus Himself that we have His words recorded down by faithful men who lived and died as martyrs.

The only common thing I can think of right now between these two men are the name of their mothers. Mary/Mariam.  This does not prove that they are the same person, does it?  Many people are named Mary / Mariam and does not prove that they were the same person.

Besides, according to the Quran, Mariam’s father is Imran. This is not the name of Mary’s father.  His name was Heli. So they are two different women. Obviously their sons must be two different men.

Their mothers had the same name but are the names of their sons the same?

Jesus is derived from His Hebrew name, Yeshua. This would be translated into Arabic as Yasu (يَسُوعَ) and this is the name we find in the Arabic Bible.

Is this the name that we find in the Quran? No. No one named Yasu in the Quran.

What we find in the Quran Issa ( عيسى).  But Issa is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew name Esau!  This is what Ahmed Deedat himself taught.

Jesus is Yasu not Issa.

Issa is Esau not Jesus.

It’s so plain to see. Two different men.

If you do not agree, then you would have to prove that Issa is the same person as Jesus.

The Bible teaches that ALL MEN are sinners.  (Romans 3:23)  This includes prophets too.  ALL.

JESUS alone was sinless.

Most Muslims believe that all the prophets were sinless. Is there a basis for such a belief?

Unfortunately the Quran does not suggest this. On the contrary, the Quran does admit that the prophets sinned.

ADAM sinned.  “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.” Sura 120:121

NUH sinned and asked for forgiveness, “My Lord, forgive me and my parents.” 71:28

IBRAHIM sinned and prayed, “And who I aspire that He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Recompense.” 26:82

MUSA sinned and prayed and said, “My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me.” 28:16

DAUD sinned. “And David became certain that We had tried him, and he asked forgiveness of his Lord and fell down bowing and turned in repentance. 38:24

SULAIMAN sinned. “He said, “My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom” 38:35

MUHAMMAD sinned. Quran and Hadith is clear about this.

“So be patient, [O Muhammad]. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth. And ask forgiveness for your sin..” 40:55

“That Allah may forgive for you what preceded of your sin.” 48:2

Narrated ‘Aisha:

The Prophet used to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge with You from laziness and geriatric old age, from ALL KINDS OF SINS and from being in debt; from the affliction of the Fire and from the punishment of the Fire and from the evil of the affliction of wealth; and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of poverty, and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of Al-Mesiah Ad-Dajjal. O Allah! Wash away MY SINS with the water of snow and hail, and cleanse my heart from ALL THE SINS as a white garment is cleansed from the filth, and let there be a long distance between me and MY SINS as You made East and West far from each other.” (Sahih Bukhari Book 75 Vol 8 Number 379)

What about Jesus? The Bible says He knew NO sin.

Quran says: “Jesus… distinguished in this world and the Hereafter..” 3:45  Not a single other prophet was spoken of in this manner.

In the announcement of the birth of Jesus, He is described as pure, righteous, faultless, holy, in the various English translations of Sura 19:19. (See Sahih International, Muhsin, Pickthall, Yusuf Ali)

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “When ANY human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, EXCEPT Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but FAILED, for he touched the placenta-cover instead.”  (Sahih Buhari Book 54 Number 506)

Do you know where your belief that the prophets are sinless came from? Not the Quran. It came from a scholar only in the 12th century AD, by the name of Abdulrazak who began teaching this falsehood 500 years after Muhammad!

So as not to contradict their own Quran, Muslims now say that the prophets didn’t sin but they made MISTAKES. 🙂 And that they were protected from MAJOR SINS but they were susceptible to minor sins as human beings.   Moses killed a man!  Is this just a little mistake and a minor sin?

The Bible is not afraid to speak the truth about the prophets and even detail their sins.  Muslims try to cover up the sins of their prophets. What is there to hide? The fact is all men are sinners and need the grace of Almighty God who is perfect.

ONLY JESUS WAS SINLESS.

Did Jesus Come To Fulfill The Law?

Muslims say YES.
Christians say YES.

But both have a different understanding of the verse that addresses this question.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

The keywords are “the Law”, “the Prophets” and “fulfill”

When muslims read this verse, they have in mind the laws like not eating pork, etc.

That’s a very shallow understanding of this verse. Read it again.

“I have not come to abolish the Law”. There were many laws but Jesus specifically said “the Law”.

Every Jew understood what Jesus meant. Even if you ask Jews today, they’ll tell you….

“The Law” refers to The Torah, which are the books of Moses, that is the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

“The Prophets” refer to the writings of all the prophets like Isaiah and others. These are the rest of the books that make up the Old Testament.

So when Jesus said that He had come to FULFILL “the Law and the Prophets”, He was saying that He was going to fulfill the entire Old Testament!

Let this truth sink in.

Now, naturally the next question one would ask is how does Jesus fulfill the entire Old Testament? What does it mean?

What does He FULFILL in the Old Testament?

The answer: He fulfills all the prophecies about Him in the Old Testament.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, “He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be FULFILLED that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44)

Did you see that?

What was written about Jesus in the Old Testament (Law of Moses, the Prophets and Psalms) that Jesus fulfilled?

Throughout the Gospels you will find the answers. Dozens of examples of how Jesus fulfilled what was written about Him in the Law and the Prophets and Psalms.
Let’s look at just a few samples in Matthew.

In chapter 1:22-23 “All this took place to FULFILL what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

2:14 “And so was FULFILLED what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

2:23 And he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was FULFILLED what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Fulfilled…fulfilled…fulfiled….

All these are found just in the first 2 chapters of Matthew alone!

Read the New Testament and see for yourself how many Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled. And there are still more prophecies yet to be fulfilled. These will be fulfilled when Jesus comes again.
This is the meaning of the word FULFILL. In the original Greek, the word used is πληρῶσαι (plērōsai), which carries the meaning: “to make full, to complete”.

Jesus came to COMPLETE the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding himself.

The mistake muslim make is to assume that FULFILL in Matthew 5:17 means OBEY. It is much more than just obey.

If OBEY was meant in this verse, the Greek word used would be hupakouó: which means “to listen, attend to”.

How many of you have read the story of Jesus healing the ten men with leprosy? It’s found in Luke 17:11-17

After they are healed, only one comes back to Jesus to thank him. The rest are gone.

Here’s what I want you to see. Pay attention to the words of the man and the words of Jesus.

15. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!”
16. He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done.
17. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?
18. Has no one returned to give glory to God except this one?

The man came and prostrated before Jesus, basically praising and honoring and thanking and giving glory to Jesus for his healing

Now listen to what Jesus is saying: Are you the only one who has come back to give glory to God?

Do you see it? Jesus is claiming to be God!

Jesus didn’t say: don’t prostrate before me.
Jesus didn’t say: don’t thank me, thank God for your healing.
Jesus didn’t say: give glory to God alone, not to me.
This would have been exactly what a mere prophet, a mere servant, a mere messenger would say.

But, here we have Jesus asking why the others did not come back to Him to give glory to God. Jesus is God.

Once upon a time, there was a great and mighty King. He was wise and strong and generous and kind. He loved his people very much.

But His people were dying of a mysterious plague.  They did not know that their drinking water was contaminated by their underground sewage.

The King sent servants to help his people but he knew their help was only temporary relief for the people.  Only He had the answer and he was prepared to act to save them himself.

The King took off his crown of gold and jewels and set aside his glorious royal robe and he put on the ordinary clothes that the people wore and left the splendor of His palace.  He went into the midst of his own people.  They did not recognize him.

He descended into the sewage and did what had to be done so the people can have fresh, clean water to drink. Eventually a few began to realize who he really was and began telling the good news to others; about how their King sacrificed everything to come down and give them a new lease of life because of his great love for them.

However, most people took one look at the man covered in their own filth and said, “This can’t be our King!  Where’s his crown? Our King is too lofty to ever be dirty like this! Besides, he didn’t say, ‘I am your king; honor me.’”

After the work was finished, the King returned to His palace and put on his crown and royal robe again. The people who recognized who the King was and what He had done for them were filled with gratitude and obtained a new source of life-giving water.

The rest of the people who denied that it was the King, refused to accept what he had done for them and chose to continue drinking from the old contaminated sewage water, not realizing that they were heading for a slow, painful death.

Both Christians and Muslims believe that Jesus is alive in heaven.

He can see us. He can hear us.  He didn’t become blind or deaf after He went to heaven.

Have you ever talked to Jesus?

He was a great prophet; and He was also kind and loving and friendly and always willing to listen.

Are we “qualified” to talk to Him?

Jesus said, “I call you friends.”

Isn’t it so amazing how such a great and holy and perfect man can be humble enough to call us, friends, even though we are weak human beings?

If He said it, He meant it.  And He did not change His character after He went to heaven.

The question is: Are we willing to accept His friendship today?

Of course, by friendship I don’t mean, we can be disrespectful or treat Him lightly or dishonor Him.

By “friendship”, I mean giving Him the honor and respect and love and also having the special privilege of being able to talk with Him anytime!

Do you know you and I can do that today?

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you are tired and heavy-laden; and I will give you rest.”

What an invitation! This invitation is still valid. Jesus never cancelled His call.

This means, when you and I have difficulties and problems that seem hard to handle, we can come and talk to Him. and He will help us and He will give us peace and rest.

Whether you have worries or anxieties or burdens or hurts or sickness, you can talk to Jesus and tell Him about it! Jesus still has the power to heal as He did when He walked on the earth 2000 years ago.

How can we talk to Jesus?

Simply by being honest with Him. We can respectfully talk to Him, like we talk to an honored guest in our home.  He is in heaven and He can hear you. Imagine He is with you in your room; just talk to Him about whatever is in your heart. Example: If someone in your family is sick, tell Him. Ask Him to heal, just as He did before. He is still able to do miracles.