No man has perhaps attracted the attention of the
world since the time immemorial as does Jesus the Christ (upon him be peace). Very little about his life, however, is
known.
His story appears only in the Islamic and
Christian traditions. The Jewish or
Judaic tradition largely ignores him, although he was a Jew. History completely ignores him, except for a
brief mention by a classical Jewish writer, Flavius Josephus.
Titus Flavius Josephus, whose Jewish name is Joseph
ben Mattathias, was born in 37 C.E., a few years after the alleged crucifixion
of Jesus. He wrote five books. Except for the Antiquity of the Jews, his other books are considered
contemporaneous history. Strangely, he
made no mention about Jesus, except for a short line in the last part (called Book
20, Chapter 9.1) of his Antiquity of the
Jews, which is not exactly about contemporary history, but the history of
the Jews from the dawn of mankind to his time.
The line reads:
Festus was now dead, and
Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and
brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was
James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an
accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.*
Even in that line, Josephus did not exactly
write about Jesus, but rather about a man said to be Jesus’ brother, whose name
was James, who was leading the rebellion against the Roman at that time.
Elsewhere, passages about Jesus were said to be
inserted into Josephus’ writings, but they are not considered to be authentic
(i.e., not penned by him). Even the
line, “who was called Christ,” in the above quotation was alleged to be a later
insertion by some.
In short, Jesus was not a historical figure. His
life and work were largely ignored by his contemporaries.
Yet, he has captured the imagination of the
world, especially among the Muslims and the Christians, and his life and his
work have been the subjects of countless scrutiny.
The story about Jesus came to the scene shortly
before he was conceived. According to
the Islamic Tradition, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to his mother, bringing
the good news that she was about to conceive a pure (i.e., holy) baby boy. His mother, Mary, wondered how she could
conceive a baby, for no man has ever touched her. The Angel simply replied it is all too easy
for God to do so. It is a thing decreed,
Gabriel added, and God just need to say Be, and it is.
The Christian Tradition has additional story to
it, saying that Mary was betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph the
Carpenter, who wanted to break the betrothal upon hearing the news that Mary
was pregnant, but was visited in his dream by an “Angel” who asked him not to
break his engagement with Mary.
According to Islamic Tradition, Mary was said to
be giving birth to Jesus alone, while the Christian Tradition says that Joseph
was with Mary when she delivered Jesus to the world.
The Christian Tradition further says that King
Herod, the Jewish king who was a Roman satrap at that time, was given the
premonition that a baby boy will be born.
This baby boy would challenge his kingdom, pretty much like the baby boy
among the Hebrews would challenge Pharaoh during Moses’ time (upon him be
peace). So Mary and her fiancée brought
the baby boy to Egypt, looking for the safe refuge. Jesus only appeared when he was ten years old. He went to the Temple of Jerusalem, reading
the Torah and challenging the priests there.
The Islamic Tradition, however, says that Mary’s
pregnancy and the subsequent birth of Jesus had caused the commotion among his
people, the Jews. They accused her of
adultery. She responded to the
accusation by simply pointing to the baby Jesus, signifying that they should
ask the baby boy themselves. They
wondered how a newly born baby could speak, but the baby Jesus spoke in the
cradle, defending the chastity of his mother.
Then his story disappeared from the scene in
both Traditions, until he finally appeared at the age around thirty. He rebuked the Jews, especially their
leaders, whom he accused of leaving the true spirit of Torah, clinging only to
its letters, focusing only on dead rituals, and teaching people to do what they
themselves did not do. He performed many
miracles, including curing the lepers and reviving the dead.
Barely three years later, Jesus
“disappeared.”
Hitherto, there are not many differences between
the Muslims and the Christians regarding Jesus.
Both agree that he was conceived without the help of a man, that a
virgin mother gave birth to him. It is
the Jews who questioned the chastity of his mother, accusing her of
adultery. Islam places her among the few most virtuous
women, even dedicating a chapter in the Quran to her name. Christianity meanwhile places her above the
rest of women from the dawn of mankind to the end of the world. Both have nothing but respect for her.
The Quran talks about Jesus defended his
mother’s chastity while in the cradle, while the Bible says that he went to
read the Torah at the age of ten. These
are not exactly contradictions, but rather complementary stories. The Christians shouldn’t have any problem
about Jesus speaking in the cradle, as the Muslims shouldn’t with regard to
Jesus reading the Torah at the age of ten.
When he re-entered into the scene as an adult,
both Quran and Bible agree that he challenged the Jewish authority of his time,
and that he had performed many miracles.
Bearing in mind that the four canonical Gospels in
the Bible were not written by Jesus himself, but rather by other people who
wrote the account of his life and his mission, a Muslim would feel at home
reading passages attributed to his teachings.
Barring a few passages that clearly say Jesus is merely human and not
one of the three single God (Trinity), a Christian would likewise feel at home
reading the accounts and the teachings of Jesus in the Quran.
These many similarities, however, are
overshadowed by one fatal difference, namely the manner of Jesus leaving the
world.
Now, historically the Christians have been
having major disagreement as regard to Jesus leaving the world. Many versions have been put forward, but
finally one version has been accepted as official, namely that Jesus was
arrested, put on trial, beaten to a pulp, nailed to the Cross, died a few hours
thereafter, buried in a tomb, resurrected from death three days later, met his disciples
and ascended to Heaven, sitting with God the Father.
Islamic version is slightly different. As we have narrated earlier, the majority of the Muslims scholars say that someone
else was arrested and crucified. Jesus
was ascended to Heaven before all that commotion took place. This is because Quran has made it clear
already that he was not killed, nor crucified, but only made to appear so (an
Nisa 157). Quran is also equally clear in
stating that Jesus was ascended to Heaven (an Nisa 158).
But then in Surah Ali Imran verse 55, Quran
states: "O Jesus, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify
you from those who disbelieve.” The
phrase “take you,” mutawaffika in
Arabic, could also mean “cause you to die” or “cause you to sleep.” For that reason, scholars differ as to
whether Jesus was raised alive or was made to die before he was raised to
Heaven.
That he was raised to Heaven and will be brought
back to the earth was never a matter of dispute, because the authentic Hadith
says: "The Hour [Day of Judgement] will not be established until the son
of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will break the
cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so
that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts). (Sahih Al Bukhari)
Somehow, however, slightly more than two hundred
years ago, around 1780 as Wikipedia says, someone by the name of Karl Friedrich
Bahrdt, suggested that Jesus deliberately feigned his death. From thereon, various other theories were
proposed along the same line, that Jesus was crucified but did not die on the
Cross. He was only fainting and thought
to have been dead. He was resuscitated,
lived somewhere and died a natural death.
This is known as Swoon Theory.
Various hypotheses and conjectures were put
forward to defend this theory, such as the fact that death through crucifixion
is a slow process, generally takes two or more days, while Jesus was crucified
for only a few hours before he was taken down from the Cross, believing that he
was dead already.
Islam should have no place for such conjectures
and extrapolations, but somehow it does.
We shall talk about it in the second part of
this instalment, inshaAllah.
End of Part 1
Note:
*In case one is interested in Josephus’ work,
here is the link:
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