Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
Allaah often mentions the Messiah ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) in His Book the Quran for a number of reasons, including the following:
1.He is one of His Prophets, indeed he is one of the Messengers of strong will whom He sent to His creation and His slaves. It is obligatory to believe in him as in all the other Prophets, as enjoined by Allaah in the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
“Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allaah and that which has been sent down to us and that which has been sent down to Ibraaheem (Abraham), Ismaa’eel (Ishmael), Ishaaq (Isaac), Ya’qoob (Jacob), and to Al-Asbaat [the offspring of the twelve sons of Ya’qoob (Jacob)], and that which has been given to Moosa (Moses) and ‘Eesa (Jesus), and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam)”
[al-Baqarah 2:136]
2.The first people whom we should be concerned about when calling others to Islam are the People of the Book, i.e., the Jews and the Christians, because they are the closest of later nations to whom the later Messengers were sent. Both the Jews and the Christians knew of the coming of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his attributes were written in their books, the Tawraat (Torah) and Injeel (Gospel). So they should not deny what they find in their books and they should hasten to believe in him, because they already believe in the Messengers who came before him, unlike other nations who worshipped idols. Because they did not believe in the Last Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as they were enjoined to do, they had to be refuted and shown how they had distorted the message of divine Oneness (Tawheed). This is why they are frequently mentioned in the verses of the Quran.
3.Tawheed (the Oneness of God) is the basic principle upon which everything else, both religious and worldly affairs, is to be built; through Tawheed people will be saved from Hell and admitted to Paradise. This means affirming that Allaah is One. We see that the Jews and Christians differed concerning ‘Eesa ibn Maryam. The Jews said that he was a charlatan who told lies about God, so he had to be killed. The Christians differed from them greatly; some of them said that he was God, and some of them said that he was the son of God, but was one with Him in the Trinity, so that outwardly he appeared to be the son of God but he was in fact God. And some of them said that he was the third person of the Trinity which is a rejection of Tawheed. Others said that he was a Messenger from God and was human like the rest of mankind, but that Allaah singled him out to perform miracles in order to establish proof against people. The last group are the ones who were right. So it was essential to explain the matter and describe ‘Eesa in befitting terms. As with all the other Prophets and Messengers, it is not inappropriate to say that he was a human being, created from clay, whom Allaah chose from among all of mankind to be created without a father, as a manifestation of the power of Allaah to create a man outside the usual means. The likeness of ‘Eesa before Allaah is like Adam, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, the likeness of ‘Eesa (Jesus) before Allaah is the likeness of Adam. He created him from dust, then (He) said to him: ‘Be!’ — and he was”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:59]
This is the correct belief concerning the creation of the Prophet of Allaah ‘Eesa, which was a miracle for all the people to see.
But the miracle of Adam’s creation is greater. For ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) was created without a father, but Adam was created without a father or a mother, and this is more expressive of the power of Allaah to create; it is more miraculous than the creation of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him). For all these reasons and others, it was essential to explain the issue of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) and put matters straight.
In conclusion, the miracles which Allaah gave to ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) were just like the miracles of all the other Prophets, to prove that he was speaking the truth and that he was truly a Messenger from Allaah. But those who distorted the religion confused the matter for the simple-minded people and used his miracles as a justification to say that he was the son of God or that he was God. All of that is a distortion of the teachings and message of the Messiah (peace be upon him).
If everyone who follows a Prophet were to take the miracles which Allaah bestowed upon him as a sign that he was a god, then all the Prophets would be gods and each Prophet would be different from the others. For the mountains glorified Allaah along with Dawood (David – peace be upon him), but they did not do so with ‘Eesa. The sea was parted for Moosa (Moses – peace be upon him) and he spoke with his Lord and his Lord spoke with him, so he was known as Kaleem-Allaah (the one who spoke with Allaah), but this did not happen to ‘Eesa (peace be upon him). Allaah flooded the earth in response to the supplication of Nooh (Noah – peace be upon him) and that did not happen to ‘Eesa (peace be upon him). Allaah singled out Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to speak to him and to protect his miracle from being lost or distorted; he alone was sent to all of mankind, and he was given miracles that were not given to ‘Eesa. So how could that be taken to mean that they were all gods?
Secondly:
With regard to the view that if the Quran were not distorted there would not be all these many sects such as the Shi’ah and other groups.
The answer to that is that the Quran cannot force people to choose the right path, because the Quran is simply guidance (and it is up to people to choose). Allaah has warned us about these sects and groups, and He has forbidden us to imitate the nations who became divided in religious matters. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“and be not of Al-Mushrikoon (the polytheists, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allaah).
Of those who split up their religion (i.e. who left the true Islamic Monotheism), and became sects, [i.e. they invented new things in the religion (Bid‘ah), and followed their vain desires], each sect rejoicing in that which is with it”
[al-Room 30:31-32]
Allaah has commanded them to adhere to His Book and to follow the Sunnah (way, path) of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), as He says (interpretation of the meanings):
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allaah (i.e. this Quran), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allaah’s Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allaah makes His Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:103]
“O you who believe! Make not (a decision) in advance before Allaah and His Messenger, and fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing”
[al-Hujuraat 49:1]
i.e., do not say or do anything that goes against the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
What is meant here is that Allaah forbade the people to split into various groups, and He commanded them to be united, but they followed their own whims and desires, and they cast the Book of Allaah behind their backs, and if they were confused about a verse from the Book of Allaah, they did not refer to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in order to understand it, rather they let their own opinion and corrupt reasoning be the judge. All of that is not from the Quran and not from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Thirdly:
With regard to the question about plural marriage in Islam and its being forbidden in the New Testament, it should be noted that Allaah gave each Messenger his own laws and path. Allaah enjoined Tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allaah) upon every single Prophet whom He sent, but the laws varied and some of them abrogated others. Some things that were permissible at the time of Adam (peace be upon him) were abrogated at the time of Nooh (peace be upon him).
The laws that existed at the time of Moosa (Moses – peace be upon him) were partially abrogated at the time of ‘Eesa (Jesus – peace be upon him), as Allaah tells us (interpretation of the meaning):
“To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way”
[al-Maa’idah 5:48]
So once this is understood, we will realize that plural marriage did not exist only in the law of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), rather it existed in the laws of all the previous Prophets. For example, Ya’qoob (Jabob – peace be upon him) had two wives and was married to two sisters at the same time, according to the Old Testament, as it says in the Book of Genesis 29:15-35.
The father of the Prophets, Ibraaheem (Abraham – peace be upon him) was also married to two women, Haajar (Hagar) and Saara (Sarah). The Old Testament mentions that the Prophet of Allaah Dawood (David) had seventy or ninety-nine wives, and Sulaymaan (Solomon) had one hundred wives. These and other examples demonstrate that each of the Prophets implemented the laws that Allaah had prescribed. Plural marriage is not only for this ummah (nation – i.e., the Muslims). The fact that the Christians do not allow it may be for two reasons:
1 – This is one of the laws of Allaah which was binding before the time of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
2 – They introduced their own innovation and went to extremes in this matter, as in the case of monasticism which they invented and which was not prescribed for them, but they sought to earn the pleasure of Allaah thereby.
We ask Allaah to guide you and to help you find the true religion, which is Islam, and the path of the Prophet of Mercy (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) according to the understanding of his noble Companions.
And Allaah is the Guide to the Straight Path.
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