What’s Jesus got to do with Islam and Muslims?

Amid the wonderment of Christmas and the Holidays, it’s surprising to Christians, Jews, even most people that a Muslim couple named their newest child ‘Ēsa or Jesus, as he’s called in the Quran. As Muslims we too love and believe in Jesus as the Messiah sent to the Children of Israel with God’s signs like the Injeel or Gospels. We’re encouraged by Prophet Muhammad to name our children after Allah’s Messengers and to live up to the relationship they had with God and His creation. Upon hearing this some people light up, others drop their jaws, and yet a few others even get upset.

But please don’t get offended, let’s talk and give each other ear in the season of giving and beyond. In the Quran, Allah teaches that “peace was upon Jesus the day he was born, the day he died, and the day he’ll be raised to life again” (19:16). He was an exalted Prophet who worked miracles by Allah’s command yet was a human who worshipped Allah alone as the Gospels too record. Jesus is called the “Word of God” who Allah “strengthened with the Holy Spirit”, as the Gospels again say as well. However, in Quran 5:117, Jesus is troubled upon hearing about he and his mother’s deifications after their deaths. He’s notably always associated with his noble mother as the “son of Mary”. In fact, the Quran’s account of Jesus first begins with the narrative of two righteous women before him, without whom there would be no Jesus, i.e. his grandmother and mother. Mother Mary, who Quran’s chapter 19 is named after, was a hijab-wearing virgin, chosen by Allah “above all people of her time” and as a prestige example to all believers, male and female alike. There’s notably no mention of Joseph the Carpenter in the Quran or Hadith.

While Muslims, like Jesus, don’t celebrate birthdays we do commemorate his life by being Christ-like and advancing his God-conscious and humanitarian mission. We also believe in his second coming as promised by Allah through Prophet Muhammad as well as in the Gospels. As members of the fastest growing Islamic sect in the world, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, we believe the Messiah had already come again in the person of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) of Qadian, India. After Messiah Ahmad’s demise, the “second Divine manifestation” was established, as was the Papacy after Jesus, in the form of Khilafat or Caliphate, meaning Successorship.

What’s more is that Messiah Ahmad himself thought Jesus would descend from the skies, like many do to this day, until he was revealed otherwise. In 1890, Ahmad received rhetoric-breaking revelations that Jesus died a natural honorable death, as preserved in the Quran, Hadith, and Gospels alike, and that Allah had chosen Ahmad as the latter day Messiah and Guided Leader in fulfillment of God’s promise through the Messengers and Scriptures. Ahmad was sent as Jesus in the same manner that John the Baptist, another Muslim Prophet, was sent as the re-advent of Elijah, which Jesus himself believed in and taught (Matt. 17:12-13). Ahmad soon began announcing the good news through word, deed, and the pen that he was sent as the Promised Messiah to reconnect humanity with the Living God, put an end to religious wars, and re-establish justice, morality and peace on all levels, just as his counterpart Jesus did before him.

Ahmad elucidated the natural honorable death of Jesus and his survival from death by crucifixion according to the Gospels, Quran, sayings of Prophet Muhammad, and his own Divine revelations. The Quran says Allah granted Jesus and his mother “refuge on an elevated land” following the crucifixion and reveals his opponents did not kill him as part of the Divine intervention that saved his life for the fulfillment of his unfinished mission. The Gospels are full of proofs that Jesus survived the Cross, some of them include the following;

1. Jesus’ own prediction as a sign to the Pharisees and Suddacees; “"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39,40). Jonah was never known to die and resurrect thereafter, so why would Jesus refer to the fate of Jonah, unless he was saying that he would survive certain death as did Jonah.
2. “One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water" (John 19:34). Blood pouring out is a sign of a beating heart and blood circulation, with the spear injuring an arteriole. Note the words 'sudden flow' which implies blood pressure. The 'water' was perhaps pleural fluid, present between the rib cage and lungs.
3. The Gospel of John records that Nicodemus, a physician, brought myrrh and aloes 'about a seventy-five pounds in weight' (John 19:39). Myrrh and aloe are considered medicinal, healing, and applied to wounds. It was used extensively in many ancient cultures is used even today to soothe open wounds. This ointment of Jesus was rediscovered by our great grandfather Hazrat Hakeem Muhammad Hussain who was given the alias “Marham Esa” or ointment of Jesus by Messiah Ahmad. There’s no Jewish custom of anointing or embalming the dead with such ingredients.

Messiah Ahmad even discovered the Rozabal or final resting tomb of “Youzaasuuph” in Srinagar, Kashmir who he identified as Messiah Jesus. In his famous book treatise entitled “Jesus in India”, Ahmad proposes, with ample evidence, that Jesus had travelled to Persia, India, and Eastward with his mother Mary to reach the remaining lost ten tribes of the house of Israel who had been scattered following their escape from the bonds of Nebuchadnezzar centuries before. This, argued Messiah Ahmad, proved the legitimacy of Jesus as the true Israelite Messiah. These are just a few things we as Ahmadi Muslims believe and celebrate about Jesus, his life, mission, and second coming.

Whatever our beliefs may be about such influential religious figures, we’re all united around them in one way or another under God. As Prophet Muhammad beautifully put it, “The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one” (Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 652).

We’re definitely unified in our collective struggle towards righteousness, for freedom of conscience, justice, peace, and love right here in America. So, let’s strive together in keeping the holy in Holidays, the Christ in Christmas, and engaging in enlightening dialogue among people of all backgrounds. It’s time to put into practice what we read and talk about - that’s an upworthy New Year’s resolution for us all.

In the end, we warmly wish everyone Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Joyous New Year!

By Syeda Sana Shah and Zahir Muhammad Mannan

Sana is a member of the women’s auxiliary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Baitul Aman “House of Peace” Mosque, 410 Main Street, Meriden, CT 06451. Zahir serves as the statewide Outreach, Quran Education and Devotion Director for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Baitul Aman Mosque Meriden, CT where he hosts an open and honest weekly Coffee, Cake and Conversation on True Islam Friday nights at 7. Zahir also serves as a National Spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association USA. Zahir is a Chaplain for the Meriden Police Department. He can be reached at 860-670-6402 or zahir.mannan@ahmadiyya.us.