Jesus was a Prophet

Submitted by Abu Deedat (United Kingdom), Nov 16, 2006 at 13:59

In John 4:19, a woman addresses Jesus as a prophet. She says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." In Matthew 21:11, the multitide refer to Jesus as "Jesus the prophet of Nazareth." In Mark 6:4, Jesus refers to himself and his own situation when he says, "A prophet is not without honour except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." Incidentally, the Prophet Muhammad too was rejected in his own home-city of Mecca, by his own tribe (the Quraish), and they even attempted to assasinate him in his own home. It was only in the city-state of Medina where people who had previously been strangers accepted him as a prophet and legislator.

Getting back to Jesus, it would appear that he and his earliest followers viewed him as a mortal Prophet, a human teacher and rabbi who worshipped the One God of Abraham. Secular biblical scholars are now coming to this very same conclusion, the same thing which Islam already said 1400 years ago. Yes, Jesus was the Messiah or Christ, but Messiah has never been understood by most Jews to mean God Himself, but rather a God-sent human figure who will interpret the Scripture, re-establish God's kingdom on earth, and establish justice.

Finally, Jesus never claimed to be ELOH/ALLAH/ELOHIM/ELAH/YAHWEH Himself, nor did he view himself as part of a trinitarian godhead.

So the idea of God as an Absolute One (as compared to a compound unity of three persons in a trinity) is not an invention of Muhammad, since this conception of God was already held by the Jews before him. Nor is the idea of a human Jesus a creation of Muhammad. But rather the idea of a divine Jesus who is a god is the creation of Paul and other writers and scribes who, through a snowball effect, built Jesus into something far bigger than he claimed to be and transformed him from a Palestinian prophet and wise teacher into a Greek human-god.

Muslims are, then, in a position between the Jews and Christians. The Jews would have nothing to do with Jesus and consider him a false prophet and false Messiah. The Christians, on the other hand, believe Jesus to be God-in-the-flesh, God Incarnate. The Muslims are in the middle and say that Jesus was neither a false prophet nor God-in-the-flesh, but rather he was a righteous Prophet, Messenger, Messiah, and Wise Teacher sent by God to convey the message of true monotheism and good morals....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".