Jesus and Mary in the Holy Qur’an

At a time when the Vatican has agreed to hold a dialogue with the Muslim scholars, the book under review has come at the most opportune time. It presents most essential information as given by the Qur’an about Jesus and Mary – two of the noblest souls favoured by God in the highest. The book is “dedicated with love to those noble souls who love to be in search of the eternal, absolute, ultimate truth.” A beautiful dedication indeed!

The book is broadly divided into two sections. One is about Jesus (peace be unto him) and it has seventeen thoughtfully arranged sub-sections. The other section is about Mary and it has nine sub-sections. In the section about Jesus it is made clear that Jesus is a Prophet gifted with miracles but not God, according to the Qur’an. It is also made clear that Muslims cannot but believe in Jesus as they are not given the option to select some prophets and ignore others sent by God.

Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. The crucifixion is central to their faith and the Cross is the mark of their religious identity. The Qur’an stakes all its authenticity and reliability by denying the crucifixion. In one verse 4:157 the death of Jesus is denied three times—“They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him,…of a surety they did not kill him.” For Muslims, this is unquestionably God’s testimony. Whose testimony can be more reliable than God’s? Who is more knowledgeable than God? If this denial of crucifixion divides the Muslims and the Christians, their belief in the Second Coming of Christ should neutralize this division and unite them. The Second Coming does not figure in this book because it confines itself to the Qur’an.

The book refers to the prophecy that Jesus makes in the Qur’an about the advent of Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him). According to the Christians, Jesus has predicted that false Messiahs and prophets will come. (St. Matthew, 7:15, 24: 5, 23; St. Mark, 12:6) In my humble view, these predictions about false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, bad fruit were given as a forewarning to the Jews so that they should be wary of such phenomena in their midst. Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him) is a non-Jew and he cannot be included in the prediction about false prophets because he insists that his followers should accept Jesus as the Promised Messiah and that the only true God that Jesus worshipped is the God of the Muslims too.

It cannot be denied that Jesus predicts about the coming of the Counsellor. Jesus says about the Counsellor, “He will testify about me.” (St. John, 15:26) The book under review highlights this testimony about Jesus in the Qur’an. Jesus says, “The Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.” (St. John, 5:37) When Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him) speaks in honour of Jesus, there cannot be anything false about him. (Compare St. John, 7:18) The Prophet’s enemies testified that he was a man of truth- As-Sadiq. Moses predicted the coming of Jesus (peace to both); one Prophet predicts the coming of another. If Jesus predicts the coming of Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him), it is in keeping with the convention of the Prophets. I don’t know if it is the convention of the Prophets to predict the coming of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth.

The only thing to be done is to examine whether Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless and greet him) possesses the qualities and discharges the functions that are listed in the prediction about the Counsellor.

The section on Mary, though smaller in comparison, is significant. She was exclusively chosen for divine favours. She was “exalted above all the women in the world.” (The Qur’an, 3:42) She was an edifying example for emulation. It is regrettable that the author, Mr. Mansoorie, has not included the following verse while discussing the status of Virgin Mary: “Allah has set forth the parable of Mary, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity, and into whom We breathed of Our Spirit, and who testified to the words of her Lord and His Books. She was among the obedient.” (66:12)

The task of collecting passages dealing with Jesus and Mary (peace to both) from the Qur’an does not pose a problem but presenting them with brief and pithy comments is a formidable task and the author has acquitted himself well in executing it. He comes into his own in the Appendices, which reflect the depth and range of his knowledge of the vital Christian concepts. He has aptly quoted passages from the Bible to illustrate his point. A rich treasure of excerpts is available in this section.

On page 41, the author rightly says that prophets have been described as gods but where he errs is in the use of capital ‘G’. Jesus refers to this – “he called them ‘gods’- to whom the word of God came.”(St. John, 10:35)

In Appendix C, the author shows the similarity between Elisha’s miracles and those of Jesus. Still there are incomparable miracles of Jesus. He could transform a bird of clay into a living bird with God’s help. No miracle of a similar nature is attributed to Elisha.

How the epithet ‘Son of God’ is used in the Bible forms the theme of Appendix D. Illustrations have been painstakingly collected.

Similarities between the precepts of the Qur’an and those of the Bible are thoughtfully included and tabulated. References for the first three points are not given even though they have been dealt with in the preceding pages. Reference to those pages could have sufficed. As regards the second point in the table, even though Jesus did not demand worship, some characters in the Gospels are shown worshipping him and his reaction is not given. (St. John, 9:38) The list of similarities cannot be exhaustive in a small book. Still it would have been extremely relevant and topical if the Biblical teaching on Jihad as reflected in the battles of Joshua and the story of David and Goliath had been included.

The historical account of the mysterious doctrine of Trinity is clear and convincing. (Appendix B) The Islamic viewpoint on the subject is given on page 18. In 4:171 Jesus is presented as a Messenger of God but what the Qur’an says about the Holy Spirit is not given even though he is a member of the Trinity.

On the whole the book is packed with significant and considerable information at an affordable price. It deserves to be widely circulated.