Jesus was not born on 25th December- No Biblical Evidence.

Jesus was not born on 25th December- No Biblical Evidence.



Mohamad Mostafa Nassar

Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR

All evidence below points to the birth of Prophet Jesus(as) being shortly before or after October 3rd, 7 BC

Bible and Quran

December the 25th is actually the birthday of the “pagan” Roman sun-God Quirinus. To the Persians, he is known as Mithra. This is in conjunction with the winter solstice, the time of the year when the days begin to get longer in the northern hemisphere.

This day was not celebrated as the birthday of Jesus(as) until the 4th century, following the infamous Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The purpose was to meld the pagan rituals of Rome with the new religion of Catholicism that was being established.

All the ceremonies of the sun-god’s birthday were incorporated into this Christmas holiday. Ceremonies such as decorating trees (a pagan practice which is condemned by the Bible; see Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Isaiah 40:19-20), exchanging of gifts, etc…

Interestingly enough, the Orthodox Christian church celebrates Christmas a little over a week later on January 6th, as opposed to the mainstream Catholic and Protestant Christian. At this time we may ask ourselves; “When was Jesus(as) actually born”?

We should not become to dogmatic about such matters, however, there is Biblical evidence, in conjunction with Qur’anic and historical evidence, which may shed some light on the actual birth date of Prophet Jesus(as).

In the Bible we find the following:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the Glory of the Lord shone round them, and they were afraid. And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ (Messiah) the Lord.” Luke 2: 8-11

And likewise, we find the following in The Holy Qur’an:

“And the throes of childbirth drove her (Mary) to the trunk of a palm-tree. She said: ‘Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten’. So, a voice came to her from beneath her: ‘Grieve not, surely thy Lord has provided a stream beneath thee. And shake towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree, it will drop on thee fresh ripe dates.’”  Quran (19:23-25)

Both passages above deal with the birth of Prophet Jesus(as) and both contain clues as to the approximate time of his birth but before we do this, let us focus on the possible year of his birth.

Herod the Great reigned in Judea from 37-4 BC. Three years prior to the end of his reign, Prophet Jesus(as) was born. The Romans in those days took a census of the Empire every 14 years for revenue and military purposes.

So that a census was taken in 7 BC during Herod’s reign. A Roman inscription discovered at Antioch indicates that Cyrenius (see Luke 2:2) was involved in taking the census in 7 BC, just as he was in 6-7 AD. The legate of Syria (Cyrenius) was responsible for supervising the governing of Judea, and although Pontius Pilate was not officially appointed governor of Judea until 25-26 AD, he evidently functioned as an agent for the legate as early as 7 BC.

Annas was officially appointed high priest in 7 AD, while Caiaphas became high priest about 18 AD, but evidence here and in other sources indicate that these men were leaders before their official appointments. It also indicates that Jesus(as) was born in 7 BC.

Now, let us focus on the date. Regarding the star of the east followed by the Magi or the wise men of the Gospels (see Matthew 2: 1-2), Babylonian astrologers considered Saturn to be the special star of Syria and Palestine, this according to Walter Keller, in his book, “The Bible as History” page 391.

Walter Keller also stated on page 388 of said book that a Rabbinic writer named Abarbanel (1437-1508 AD), reported that Jewish astrologers had ascribed to the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces, a sign of the advent of the Messiah.

Residing east of Judea, to the Magi or wise men, the star would appear in the west. Evidence from the ancient observatory at Sippar in Babylonia, shows that on May 29, 7 BC, in the morning sky, for at least 2 hours, the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces occurred giving the appearance of a large bright star.

Sippar was advanced enough in their day to calculate the second conjunction on October 3rd, 7 BC and the last on December 4, 7 BC. Keeping this in mind, with the grazing practices of the shepherds (see Luke 2:8-11), who grazed their flocks from March until the beginning of November (scientific investigation of weather in this area of the world.

Which has not changed significantly in 2000 years, has demonstrated the wisdom of this practice) in conjunction with the astrological evidence from Sippar in Babylon, as well as the Qur’anic evidence of the “fresh ripe dates” on the tree, see Quran (19:23-25), all evidence points to the birth of Prophet Jesus(as) being shortly before or after October 3rd, 7 BC.

Considering the evidence provided, it is safe to conclude that Prophet Jesus(as) was not born on the 25th of December.

Source: Br. Mazhar Hussain