Bible Question: what does the islam religeon say about the Christians |
Bible Answer: Theoretically, if they followed the teaching of Muhammad Muslims would welcome Christians as the people of the word and would acknowledge the Gospels. Muhammad accepted the Gospels of his day as the word of God, and bade his people to welcome Christians and Jews and not interfere with them. Although they were required to pay a poll tax. In practise Muslims make the excuse that the Gospels have been interfered with and that they can no longer be relied on (even though we have papyri and MS from long before the ones accepted by Muhammad). They have to do this because the Gospels contradict the Hadith (Islamic later tradition). As the Gospels as we have them were accepted by Muhammad this is clearly s deliberate refusal to follow what Muhammad and the Quran taught. But that does not seem to worry them. In theory they believe the Quran. In practise they put the Hadith (later traditions) above the Quran. They also believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but refuse to believe that He died on the cross. The latter on the authority, not of the Quran, but of the Hadith, which says that somehow Judas replaced Jesus on the cross, Jesus being raised to Heaven. The Quran is vague on the subject of the cross and never hints at any part played by Judas. The Hadith also teach that Jesus is coming back again, but will die in battle fighting for Islam. They also reject the fact that Jesus was the son of God (i.e. the son of Allah and Mariam). But that was because Muhammad had a very strange view about the Triunity of God. He had only met heretical Christians and believed that in Christian eyes the Trinity was composed of Allah, Mariam (Mary) and Isa (Jesus). Thus Muhammad never rejected the Trinity as we know it. (He also mixed up Mariam, Moses' sister, and Mary). In fact the Quran exalts Jesus well above Muhammad. It states that He was virginally born, was able to argue and dispute from birth, and turned clay birds into living birds. And that finally He was exalted to Heaven without dying. It is clear from all this last that its ideas are based on the later heretical so-called gospels. |