๐๐จ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ?
Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง?
From the Christian point of view, sin is a state of being. It is not a matter of choice for us; it is human nature to sin.
They believe that we inherit the Original Sin committed by our Parents, Adam and Eve, in primordial time.
To Muslims, sin is a deliberate violation of a divine commandment, and humans are answerable for it because they choose to sin despite their ability to avoid it.
For Christians, it is absurd for humans to judge or even consider Jesusโ nature as to whether it is sinful or pure. Indeed, for them, Jesus is sinless, as he is God, and isnโt it ridiculous to say that God is sinful?
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ฌ
Controversy arises when Christian apologists claim that the Muslim position on Jesus, peace be upon him, as regards his โsinlessโ state ought to be the same as the Christian one.
But to a Muslim, human nature at birth is fitrah, i.e the state of innate goodness. No one is born a sinner. All are basically and intrinsically pure. In other words, all are born โMuslimsโ(those who willingly submit to Godโs laws).
Our God-given nature demands that we do not deviate from it.
But as humans are gifted with choice and free will in this world, they may be seduced from their inherent nature of goodness and fall into sin.
In that case, Divine Guidance still helps them to remain true to their original status of intrinsic goodness. Their pure nature does not change.
All are accountable for what they earn, and in the ultimate reckoning, each gets the credit or the blame for what he or she has done by his or her own willful choice.
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ
For Muslims Jesus is not God; he was only a prophet of God. And this belief is true to the original Abrahamic (Semitic) tradition of pure monotheism.
Indeed, Christians cannot consider Jesus to be God without violating the First Commandment:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Also:
You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ, ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐:
The most important one is this: โHear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.โ (Mark 12:29, 30)
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐๐ญ๐๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐ค๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐. ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐:
Behold! The angels said: โO Mary! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah.โ (Quran 3:45)
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ญ
In short, Jesus was a human prophet. And, as a human, he had a human nature.
The Quranโs repetition of his name as โJesus, son of Maryโ is a strong negation of the Christian claim that he was the Son of God: The son of Mary ought to be fully human.
The Christian claim that Jesus was fully human and fully divine should leave us with two separate beings: one divine and the other human, which is absurd.
The attempt of the Christian apologists to foist a โdivineโ sinless status upon the Muslim Jesus is, to put it mildly, unreasonable.
But the key here is the fact that Islam sees all prophets as infallible as regards intentional, active sin, not because they were divine, but because God created them with a super-human ability to resist sin. They made mistakes, and they got angry, but they did not sin.
Jesus, peace be upon him, is included in this lot.
๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฐ ๐๐:๐๐
And so they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own house.”
๐๐ฎ๐ค๐ ๐๐:๐๐
What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฐ ๐๐:๐๐
The crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
๐๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐
But, letโs talk about this from a Christian perspective.
Sharon Houk answered this question quite well in her article, Did Jesus Really Live a Sinless Life?
It seems impossible for any person to live a sinless life as even the smallest wrongdoing would disqualify us from the โsinlessโ category. We are correct in concluding it is impossible for a person to be sinless unless that person was also God.
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ, ๐ฌ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ:
The Bible teaches that he grew in maturity, he knew hunger, he knew thirst, he needed sleep, and, eventually, he died. He was a complete and perfect man who had physical limitations as all humans have. The difference, however, is that he was born of a woman, but supernaturally conceived of God.
The only problem Islam would have with this statement can be found in the last part of the quote: โโฆthat he was born of a woman, but supernaturally conceived of God.โ
In order to convincingly present the doctrine that Jesus was fully human and fully God, the theologians had a hard time. The idea that Jesus was โsupernaturally conceived of Godโ is another way of saying that Jesus was โthe only begotten of Godโโbegotten, not created.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐
The inherent proneness of humans toward sin is of piece with all the weak characteristics of humans mentioned in the quote above. And that would mean that Jesus is fully human and had a tendency to sin.
However, their reply is that he is fully divine too! Fully human and fully divine! The contradiction in language reflects the contradiction in the concepts involved.
Muslims believe that Jesus was a human who was protected by God from falling into serious sins like all other prophets were.
Allah knows Best.
Source: Br. Ismail Jacobs