December brings the season of Christmas. This holiday is one of the most celebrated events in Christian culture which honors the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately in today’s age, this holiday can often fall prey to commercial and consumer-based culture and does not always demonstrate the event’s inherent religious and spiritual value and place in religious history.
For Muslims, Jesus is recognized as a prophet of God in Islam as well. Muslims believe in the truth of his prophethood and his prophetic mission to revive the teachings of the Torah. However, they do not regard him as the literal son of God or a supreme divine being that has a higher spiritual value than mankind. In Islam, the purpose of Jesus’ mission is stated in the Qur’an as follows:
“And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, fulfilling that which was revealed before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel which contained guidance and light, fulfilling that which was revealed before it in the Torah, and a guidance and an admonition for the God-fearing” (5:47).
The Qur’an establishes Jesus’ humanity in the words, “Said Jesus: ‘Surely, God is my Lord, and your Lord. So worship Him alone; this is the right path” (19:37). Muslims believe the term “son of God” has been used metaphorically by prophets and not in a literal sense. The term “son” is used to address other biblical prophets as well, specifically David in the Old Testament: “I will proclaim the degree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’” (Psalm 2:7). In this manner, while Muslims believe in the prophethood of Jesus, they reject the Christian doctrine of his nature being both fully man and fully divine.
Historically, Christianity places the birth date of Jesus in the wintertime, specifically December 25th. Islamic history and the Qur’an, on the other hand, allude that he was born in the summer. The Qur’an relates that at the time of Jesus’s birth, God commanded Mary to satisfy her hunger and relieve her pains by eating ripe dates and to quench her thirst by drinking water from a stream. This incident is related in Chapter titled Mary (or Maryam in Arabic):
“…Grieve not. Thy Lord has placed a rivulet (or small stream of water) below thee; And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree; it will cause fresh ripe dates to fall upon thee” (19:25-26).
Islam steadfastly accredits the virtue and piety of Mary, so much so that pious Muslims are likened to her. Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus and that he was conceived without a father.
Simply put, Christianity and Islam both recognize that Jesus was a messenger of God; a reformer and Messiah whose life changed the tides of time, history, and the world as we understand it today. He is an important figure in both religions whose life is one to be remembered and celebrated as a gift to humankind.