2005/12/27 IRIB & Agencies 

The birth of Prophet Jesus is indeed a miracle, which no scientific research into stem cell technology can achieve. His birth from a chaste and virgin mother, the Lady Mary, was intended by God Almighty to serve as proof of His Majesty till Doomsday. The Holy Quran refutes the slander and accusations of the ever-rebellious Israelites to whom Jesus was sent, and vouching the chastity of his mother, it says in verses 34 and 35 of the Surah entitled Maryam in honor of Mary and Jesus, says in this regard:

“That is Jesus, son of Mary, the Word of the Truth, concerning whom they are in doubt. It is not for God to take a son. Immaculate is He! When He decides on a matter, He just says to it, 'Be' and it is.”

God sent Jesus at a time when the Israelites had descended into sin and disbelief. They had distorted the Torah and laws of Prophet Moses, killed many apostles and indulged in all sorts of corruption. For instance, we read in the Christian gospels that when Jesus entered the synagogues, he strongly censures the different Jewish sects such as the Sadducees and Pharisees who were openly engaged in bribes and taking usury by lending money to the needy at these supposed places of worship. For this reason the corrupt Jews turned against him.

Jesus, however with the help of his 12 sincere disciples, whom the Holy Quran calls Ansarallah or the Helpers of God, continued to preach. God gave him the power to perform miracles, such as curing the lepers, wakening of some of the dead to life, restoring eyesight to the blind and breathing life into the forms of birds that he molded out of clay. This was supposed to be a divine tribulation for the Israelites and others in order to test their faith. The erring majority as usual rejected and tried to put obstacles in his way. But nevertheless Jesus continued his mission and built up a sizeable group of devoted people around him much to the concern of the arrogant Jews.

He dauntlessly continued the path of the earlier great Prophets like Noah, Abraham and Moses and predicted about the coming of the Last and Greatest of Messengers with a universal mission. In the version of the Gospel according to St. John we read Jesus’ prediction of the last great Prophet as Paraclete, a Greek word that in English means a Comforter or Intercessor and which is a translation of the word Hmda that was mentioned in the now lost Hebrew and Aramaic versions of the Evangel. However, the holy Quran, which mentions the name of Jesus or his titled Messiah 45 times, has preserved this wonderful prophecy of the Messiah that reads:

“O Children of Israel! Indeed I am the Prophet of Allah to you, to confirm what is before me of the Torah, and to give the tidings of the Prophet to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” (61:6)

Ruhollah or the Spirit of God as Jesus is also known in Islam never called himself a godhead or son of god, as alleged by the pagan Romans who well over three centuries after the end of his mission in Palestine, coined the absurd belief of trinity in Europe and forcibly imposed on the areas under their rule. Jesus also never called his followers Christians. This was a sort of insulting epithet given by the dissenting Israelites and their Roman overlords to the followers of Jesus, whose message like that of all other divine messengers was peace, submission to none but God and a healthy way of life, which translated into Arabic means Islam. Actually, the person who presented a distorted image of Jesus to Europe in order to convert the Roman Empire to his own ideas was Paul, a Hellenized Jew, who as long as Jesus was preaching in Palestine was one of his staunchest opponents.

In view of these facts, as modern Western scholars have admitted, Christianity in its present form in the West is actually the creed of Paul and not the untainted message of the Messiah, who purely focused on the pristine principles of monotheism. Even the 25th of December is not actually the day when Jesus was born among the Jews, who observed a lunar calendar as opposed to the solar one of the pagan Romans. Several centuries later after Emperor Constantine forced the Europeans to Paul's version of Christianity, December 25 that was actually Roman pagan festival was renamed as Christmas.

The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia states that the birthdays of the following pagan deities were celebrated on December 25: God of Mithra (sun god) of Romans, Hercules (son of Zeus) and Adonis of Greeks, and Krishna of Hindus.

According to Islamic texts, the birthday of Prophet Jesus (peace upon him) according to the lunar calendar was the eve of 25th of Dhul-Qa'da, which quite interestingly is falling this year on the night of December 27. Taking this coincidence as an omen of peace, we invite Christians to contemplate on the teachings of the Messiah and strive to promote peace and harmony among the various human societies instead of indulging in senseless frivolities or following the oppressive ways of the enemies of Jesus and Mary, the Israelites.

Unfortunately, today the Christians seek Jesus Christ only in the Church and on Sundays only with only lip service to the Bible. They totally disregard the saying of Jesus: “Seek repentance from God. Be good servants and not oppressive kings or rebellious pharaohs.”

Once again we offer our congratulation on this auspicious day and advise our Christian friends to be cautious of the plot of the Zionists, the descendants of those who planned to kill and crucify Jesus, who was saved by the Grace of God and lifted to the heavens. We Muslims also believe in his coming in the last days, when he will serve as lieutenant to Prophet Mohammad's (s.a.w.a.) 12th infallible successor, Imam Mahdi (a.s.) in the global government of peace and justice.