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

Jesus in Islam III : His Nature


Introduction

In this segment, Dr. Badawi continues to claim, incorrectly, that the parakletos is Muhammad. He then continues his discussion on the birth of Jesus attempting to make sense of the virgin birth of Jesus in terms of Islamic theology.

Welcome to another episode the Islamic focus. Today is the third program of Jesus beloved messenger of Allah we will be talking more specifically about the nature of Jesus. I am your host for today's program, Muhammad Rashid and I have joined me on the program Dr. Jamal Badawi. I wonder if I could have you very quickly, summarize or highlight the main points that we touched on in the last program.

Jamal Badawi: The last program was a continuation of what the Qur'an, the last revelation, says about the prophet Jesus and more specifically we discussed the similarities and parallels between John the Baptist and Jesus on one hand and tried to tie that also to the mission and parallels between Jesus and Muhammad - in the sense that both of them, that is John the Baptist and Jesus, paved the way and talked about their successors.

Jesus DID NOT talk about any successors in the Bible. Many Muslims, including Dr. Badawi, attempt to claim that the parakletos refers to Muhammad and not the Holy Spirit. This is completely wrong and is discussed in several articles including Samuel Green's and Sam Shamoun's response to your pamphlet "Muhammad in the Bible".

And most of the time was spent however trying to explain and comment on one of the crucial sections in the Qur'an pertaining to the nature of the prophet Jesus that is in Sura 19 passages 16 through 36 more specifically, how Mary became aware that she will conceive Jesus what was the nature of the pregnancy and childbirth the type of delivery of baby Jesus and the miracle of the Prophet Jesus speaking while even in his mother's arms - when people started to accuse his mother after childbirth.

Host: I would like to pick up on that last point that you just mentioned. Does this passage in the Qur'an mean that Jesus spoke while he was still an infant or a baby and if this is so why is it not commented on by our Christian friends?

Jamal Badawi It is mentioned in the Qur'an and it is quite clear context of the passages and the Qur'an and I will just mention some of the symbolic things that were spoken by the infant Jesus while in his mother's arms. I don't know of any particular parallel to that miracle in the canonized Gospels but in any case there is some literature that has not been accepted by the official church but in any case I have indicated several times that the Qur'an is not based on canonized or not canonized religious literature or writing of any human being or interpretation is the divine revelation given by the creator has last messenger the prophet Muhammed.

Sura 19:33 claims that the baby Jesus spoke in the crib saying:

"So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"!

This verse raises some very serious concerns about the validity of the Qur'an since it not only contradicts the claim of Sura 4:158 (that Jesus did not die), it also says that Jesus, after his death, will be raised up to life again! This incident has no parallel in the Bible and can be viewed as a sign and prophecy. If the words of Jesus did not come true (that he would die and be raised to life), then He does not deserve the title of "prophet" which Muslims give him. The issue of what happened to Jesus [according to the Qur'an] will be discussed later.

After all one has to realize the writers and biographers of different prophets and the disciples are followers even with all good intentions is possible that some things might be left out or forgotten I clearly separate the word of Allah are the final criteria because Allah doesn't have any mistake or doesn't forget anything does however in addition to this possible reason to explain why that particular to the following information has not been included in the new testament because quite possibly can be human imperfection like humans tried to record the life of Jesus if we look at it more objectively to remain the possibility of another explanation because when any biographer disciple wants to convey that miracle he would not simply say that Jesus spoke as an infant, it would be essential to say what did he says with what did he say as an infant and a baby?

I agree that God does not make mistakes, however, the Qur'an contains far too many mistakes to be trusted, or to be from God. Once again, the words that Jesus is said to have spoken in the crib:

"So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"! Sura 19:33

contradicts Sura 4:158 [that Jesus did not die], OR, if Sura 4:158 is true, then these words of prophecy spoken by Jesus in His crib were wrong and, therefore, He does not deserve the title of "Prophet".

If we go to the words of Allah in the Qur'an actually Jesus said as a baby I am the servant of Allah of he has given me the book and the wisdom and he has made known a prophet in other words this message from the Qu'ran removes any doubt or concern that the proof that Jesus described himself as the servant of Allah and a messenger.

There are several problems with this statement.

Problem 1. By making Jesus speak in the cradle [according to the Qur'an's account], God is, once again, working against, what the Qur'an would claim, is His Will. According to Dr. Badawi's argument thus far, God sent Jesus as a Prophet of monotheism to preach monotheism to the strictly monotheistic Jews. Why did He need to do this? According to Dr. Badawi, and the Qur'an, Jesus was "was only a Messenger" (Sura 5:75 ), and should not be viewed as divine. However, if we believe that this was God's Will, then God worked very hard to confuse people and subvert His own goals [if we believe the Qur'an]. For example, if Jesus is to be viewed as human, why did God bring Him into existence without a father? Why did God make Jesus speak in the crib? Why did God [if we believe the Qur'an] deceive the followers of Jesus as well as billions of people throughout history, and deprive them of any chance of salvation, when He "made it appear to them" that Jesus died on the cross! Why would God work against the Will of God? The Qur'an simply does not portray a God who is consistent.

Problem 2. Did the little baby Jesus have a book in His hands? If so, what happened to this book? I find it very strange that a God who can create a child without a father and make a baby speak in the crib cannot protect and preserve a book!

Problem 3. What happened to the earlier revelations [the Old Testament]? There are many prophecies concerning Jesus in the Old Testament, why [if the Qur'an is the word of God], did God change His mind or forget about His earlier revelations to His Prophets? For example, why does the Qur'an not mention Bible passages such as Isaiah 7:14 which predicted this event centuries earlier:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

The Old Testament prophecies are one of the major reasons why I put my eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus Christ. God told us about the birth, life, and mission of Jesus through the Prophets long before He was born. Jesus came with many proofs, including these prophecies, His miracles, and His own prophecies. At the end of the day, our Muslim brothers and sisters are placing their eternal destiny in the teachings of a man without prophecy or miracles. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament and did not contradict the teachings of these Prophets. Muhammad was not prophesized, gave no proof in the form of miracles or prophecy - he was his only witness.

It is obviously that statement is quite explicit and it is quite different from what other groups that try to say that he was divine Man and god the same time that seems to go against the common revelation. However this was the reason for the revelation of that particular miracle and is also the reason why we find that it is not included in other religious records and literature in any case it shows indeed the absolute difference the revelation the profit Muhammad.

The reason that this incident is not recorded in the Gospels is because it probably never happened! Instead of copying the Bible, Muhammad copied his teachings from the apocryphal tales! An even more interesting incident is found in Sura 3:49 and Sura 5:110 where the toddler Jesus created living birds out of clay. Creating life out of non living material is something that only God can do! It is also interesting to note that this very same incident is recorded in the Apocryphal The Infancy Gospel of Thomas and is not in the Bible!

Host: can you explain how what you mean by that?

Jamal Badawi: Well, because the Qur'an very positively and clearly negates any possibility that allah could be Jesus Abraham or anyone for that matter. The Qur'an clearly negates that any creature, of Allah be it Jesus, Abraham or anyone for that matter be divine. the Qur'an clearly negates that there is no creature of Allah who is divinity and is person. Now, when the Qur'an described this wonderful miracle again that is the prophet Jesus speaking as an infant when you find that this is there in the Qur'an and it is not found in any of the Gospels of the New Testament really one has to ask here that the Quran is trying to negate the idea that Jesus was divine.

That is precisely why the Qur'an does not make sense! If Muhammad is the final and greatest Prophet, why did he not perform similar signs?

It is quite clear that a miracle like that could give some excuse for people to deify Jesus, how about this miracle doesn't this show divinity? And if the Qur'an errors in the authorship a and the word of Muhammad as a human being would expect him to drop any types of miracle which may give an indication or impression that Jesus was divine. There's an interpretation that would be an indication that the real fact that the Qu'ran on one hand denies any divinities of any creature of Allah including Jesus at the same time describes a miracle that is not even been mentioned in it shows that this is the truth is this by the creator even though the might of the lost to history banishes the absolute honesty and integrity of Muhammad could not try to ask the politicians and you know and say the things are suitable for his purpose, it to honestly convey was supposed to be written.

No, what this indicates, to me, is that Muhammad borrowed several Apocryphal stories, believing that the represented orthodox Christian beliefs, in order to attempt to "win" converts for his religion. Once again, if we believe the Qur'an, God sent Jesus to preach monotheism to the strictly monotheistic Jews and gave Him a book. However, everything [according to the Qur'an] went wrong! Jesus lost the book that God gave Him [since the Bible is not considered the book according to the Muslim apologetics], and with God's help, when He "made it appear to them" that Jesus died on the cross, he gave billions of people throughout history reason to call Him the Son of God!

In regard to the "honesty and integrity" of Muhammad, you should read this Islamic tradition!

Host: a common point that was often raised that since Jesus did not have any farther he must be the son of God what are your comments on that?

Jamal Badawi: The question that Jesus was born to a virgin is quite obvious from Qur'an describes and then again tries to answer the previous question why was this included in the Qur'an spite of all the confusion about the divinity of Jesus this is the true as Allah revealed to his last prophet but if an argument can be made because the person preceded without a physical father he must be the son of God, then how do we explain the creation of Adam and eve? after all Adam was created from .... the of this that mean he is even more divine than Jesus? We believe that he was created for man's side and Jesus from the a woman does anyone say that at Adam and eve can be regarded as divine? Indeed the Qur'an answers then in a very succinct way, and Sura 3 in passage 58 to 59 the view of Jesus before Allah was much like Adam he created him that is Allah created Adam from in dust then he said to him breath. and he was destined to, become a servant one commentator on the Qur'an explained it rather nicely Allah created human beings in miraculous ways all are miraculous the all of them are amazing it is amazing coming from one little cell and that is miraculous of course that from this very microscopic thing all of this heredity characteristics definitely, come it happened so frequently we often do not wonder what a miracle creation s is second in human is created from number amazing side effects there is one link missing because he a human being can be created from a woman's side and not from a man side and that was prophet Jesus.

There is much more to Jesus' position as the Son of God. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God for many reasons, based on prophecy, including the fact that He was born of a virgin. Please read this this article for more information. However, once again, why [according to the Qur'an] was Jesus born of a virgin?

Host: some people always question about that and the ask why Jesus had to be born in this unique way?

Now, this is what I want to know!

Jamal Badawi: The birth of a prophet Jesus was definitely unique but to say that something is unique is different from saying that something is divine the two are not necessarily synonymous the least as far as we know historically there is no other similar example of what happened to Jesus at least as far as the Qur'an is concerned.

True.

We may come to this point a little later because in the Bible in the book of Hebrews in Chapter 6 verse 3, it speaks about someone who is created from neither a father or mother so will leave that aside and discuss and again in another program that is the nature of the miracles of Jesus whether this has anything to do with his divinity speaking from the Qur'an to only case a virgin birth was that of Jesus indeed every prophet did have a unique miracle Adam was unique the profits of Abraham coming out of the fire without being burned is unique the prophet Solomon some understanding of the language of birds and hearing spirits before anyone heard them is unique the night journey and ascension of Muhammed is unique and his receiving of the Qur'an is also a unique miracle.

Is the Qur'an really a miracle?

But in none of these cases can we say that any of these prophets were divine or was God for was God incarnate the reasons why the miracles of the profits are not exactly the same as it is miraculous in a sense that is there have been variations and that the miracles were suitable to the conditions of the people around them at that time for example to prophet Moses we find that his miracles with the ability to play magic by the time the profits Mohammed came the people were so proud of their eloquence that there has never been a poet or poetry in any that anyone could match to witness of the Qur'an.

Once again, Dr. Badawi cannot see the forest for the trees! Miracles alone are not used to proved the divinity of Jesus. Please see this related discussion. Also, in respect to Dr. Badawi's comments on the Qur'an, what about the Satanic Verses? If we believe Islamic tradition, Muhammad believed that these words were from God, when they were actually from Satan! This means that someone could, and did, produce a verse which matched other verses in the Qur'an and, even more alarming, Muhammad did not know the difference between the words of God and Satan!

The earlier verse about the prophet Jesus for the situation at his time because it that time you know the first of all the discussion was popular cause and affect the advancement in medicine the rituals and materialism among the Israelites which of course made them at times forget about the spirit of law and to stick to the letter of the law and their numerous examples in the Gospels and Jesus speaking against this so this was a very opportune time for people who started almost to reject even the word of spirit or just what only at the materialistic or ritualistic thing that Allah is able to get things that he wanted regardless of what we considered to be a cause and effect relationship regardless of what we as humans define as natural laws so that miracle of birth was very important and that circumstances.

I was not aware that the ideas of cause and effect were so popular during the time of Jesus! Most historians believe that this paradigm came much later with the work of Isaac Newton.

But wait ! , You did not tell me why Jesus had to be born in this unique way! Was the God who created the universe simply "showing off" when He made Mary conceive Jesus? In this larger scheme of events, I place my faith and eternal destiny on the prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. I have absolutely no way of verifying if Mary was a virgin [I believe that she was] or that Jesus spoke in the crib - I have to believe these things on faith. The real proof, in my mind, comes from the the predictions of God's Prophets which were fulfilled by Jesus and recorded by His followers. I can also look to the history written by the non-Christian historians of the era such as Tacitus, Porphyry, Celsus, Josephus, Suetonius, and Pliny to confirm the facts.

Host: the question is in all of the Qur'an is that Jesus is a word from, how similar different is this from the Christian theology?

Jamal Badawi: Big difference from the Bible that sometimes when you read the Bible you may not find a complete the logical explanation but I say this quite different from the Greek concept of the logos that it looks like what appears in the Gospel of John. According to John the word was with God the word was God and the word became flesh as many scholars indicated this seems to be an adaptation from Alexandrian and an Gnostic.

No, the Bible has the "logical explanation", please see this related discussion.

When the Qur'an however refers to Jesus as a word, Allah it is absolutely no relevance or relationship to his agent philosophical concepts for theological doctrines the best way to explain this is to refer to it another passage in the Qur'an four the word refers to Jesus in Sura 4 passage 170 the Jesus is the son of Mary was no more than an apostle or messenger of Allah and his word which he described was bestowed by Allah upon Mary and his spirit proceeding from. As the great interpreter Qur'an probably the most famous perhaps all interpreted interpret the word to mean a message that the word or promise was a message from Allah and conveyed to Mary through the agency of the angel Gabriel and another citation in the Qur'an we find that it is it was told to Mary that Allah gives you a glad tiding of the news of a word from him that is Jesus the son of Mary now what should be noted here that the word of God is used in the Qur'an as not to refer is Jesus only but to many other people indeed the are 20 persons in the Qur'an where the word is even included example in Sura 18 passage 110 in 31 passages 27 talks about the word of Allah. in any case there is a passage in the Qur'an that shows at identical message or terms of the word of God that is in reference to Jesus as well as others in Sura 36 passage 82 it shows that Allah the creator intended a thing this command is " be " and it is also in Sura 16 passage 14 Allah speaks in the Qur'an it says anything that he has made all he has to do is say the word "be" and it is. It mentions that Jesus is a word from Allah and mentions that he was not created to any particular note agency the was made for intervention but he was created directly by God through a command from the word "be" is created through the word that he is he was materializing but he is created by the word of "be" I would like to say here that some writers and I don't want to say deliberately it could be a lack of understanding of the Koran and language they say that Jesus is the word of the God as indicating by the Christians, but he is just the word of God .....and they don't make mention anything about a word for him there are words, other words, Allah gave Jesus by his command.

Once again, what is the meaning of all of this? Why did Jesus have to come to earth in this way? Why was Jesus born of a virgin?

Host I would like to pursue this line of questioning and ask a question in reference to the Prophet Jesus in the Qur'an and this has to do with the reference of the spirit from Allah, is there any difference between the meaning of that term too or does this relate to the concept of the Trinity in your view?

Jamal Badawi: No it has absolutely nothing to do with the concept of the Trinity - Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit that is regarded as one person or the third person in the Trinity, the triune godhead . The best way to refer to its is the usage in the Qur'an , and the Qur'an uses the Arab term which was used which is translated as spirit. And if one examines the Qur'an we find that it appears with four meanings, none of which has any relevance to the Trinity. Where it appears in the Qur'an in Sura 58, passage 22 to refer to a spirit that Allah gives to believers at a time of crisis. The believers receive this strengthening from Allah. Secondly, it is used in reference to revelation given to prophets in a number of passages for those viewers who might want to check it on their own: Sura 16:2 . Sura 40:15, Sura 43:52 in all of these it is used in that sense of revelation. Thirdly, it is used to refer to angels and more particularly in places it is used to refer to the angel Gabriel and this appears in 2:87 and in 19:16. I should add here that sometimes in the case of Gabriel he was called holy spirit but as an honored spirit and not as a part of God, but as the servant of God. Sometimes he is refereed to as the honest spirit, but again, there is no part of the Godhead at all. And the forth meaning in the Qur'an is the secret of life and spirituality that Allah gives or endows the human with. Let me refer by quotations in a connection to the examples here between the term for spirit [Roosh] and the nature of Jesus. For example, in Sura 4:170, we find that Jesus is described as a spirit form Allah, that was the passage I read. But if you check in Sura 52:9 we find that Allah has tied the creation of the human in general but he [Allah] fashioned it [the human] in due proportion and breathed into it something of his spirit, some passages speak about Adam in particular and this one speaks of humans in general. Which means that humans are created not only as a word from God but also having been endowed with the spirit from Allah. But no one can argue that since the spirit of Allah has been breathed into them that they must be divine, there is no relevance to that. So the meaning are very different and I should add also add a comment similar to the one I made about the word of God. Some writers again are not perfectly accurate when they say that according to the Qur'an that Jesus is the spirit of Allah. The verse actually says that it is a spirit just like we have a spirit from Allah very identity and existence.

I would not look in the Qur'an for the proof of the Trinity since I do not believe that the Qur'an is the Word of God. However, the Bible contains evidence for the Trinity.

Host: Some orientalists continue to make the claim that what the Qur'an negates not the Trinity , but other earlier Church heresies. What is your view particularly with your familiarity with the Qur'an?

Jamal Badawi: This is a very common error to confirm what you said and we see that mistake over and over again in many writings by Christian missionaries, Orientalists and others and it reflect an absences of careful examination. We find that not only does the Qur'an negate any aberration that was regarded as heresy, by the early Christian Church, if we look at the commonly accepted idea of the Trinity.

Muhammad and the Qur'an did not know the difference between heresies and orthodox Christian teachings, as we will soon see.

We can give an example of each and give documentary clarification. In the Qur'an in Sura 5:119-120 it clearly negates the heresy of giving some divinity to Mary the mother of Jesus, you know it was rejected in early Church Councils but accepted in the year 431, yet it is not accepted by other sects now but in any case the text of the Qur'an says "and behold Allah will say on the day of judgment, that I addressing Jesus, the son of Mary, did you ever say to people worship me and my mother as Gods in derogation to Allah, he, that is Jesus, will say, never could I say what I had no right to say. And then he continues on and say never did I say unto them except what you, the creator, did command me to say worship God or worship Allah my Lord and your Lord." I know that this is not the belief of the mainstream of Christianity it was regarded at some point or another as heresy. But on the other hand another set of beliefs that the Christians would again say is.... is to believe that Jesus was God himself, that is him and the father were the same person both in unity , that is he and the father are one person not two persons. But again, we find that this is negated once again in the Qur'an in Sura 5:72 it says they reject faith who say that God is Christ, the Son of Mary .......

The Qur'an incorrectly implies that Mary is regarded as equal to God, something that no Christians EVER believed! For more on this error in the Qur'an please read this article.

But in addition to this we find that the concept of Trinity has also been negated in the following Sura 5:73 An explanatory note that this means the Trinity. But the Qur'an explicitly says three Gods I think that the error of giving divinity to the creation of God [Jesus] is shown in the Qur'an and is contrary to the will of the creator who sent Jesus and contrary to his own duty, the nature of Jesus.

Once again, the Qur'an is wrong.

Host: Thank you Dr. Jamal for an interesting program.


Andrew Vargo

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