In Part 1,
we have shown that for all the commotion between the Muslims and the Christians
regarding Jesus Christ (upon him be peace), they have more in common between
them as opposed to differences.
The manner Jesus was conceived is the same. Their view about his mother is similar. His life and works are more or less similar
in both accounts. Without
extrapolations, Jesus teachings in the Bible are not much different than in the
Quran. What are attributed to Jesus in
the Bible and in the Quran are largely comparable.
But they differ with regard to Jesus’ death or
his disappearance. Yet, both believe
that Jesus was ascended to Heaven.
Their major difference is that, to the Muslims,
Jesus was ascended without being crucified, while to the Christians, Jesus
ascended only after he was nailed to the Cross.
That Jesus was crucified, but was taken down
alive in a swooning state, is neither a Christian’s, nor a Muslim’s view. This so-called Swoon Theory was first promoted
by one Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, who is not regarded as a Christian even by the
Christians. The Christians reject this
theory wholesale, as the Muslims also should.
In 1899, however, after more than one hundred
years the first Swoon Theory was proposed, a Muslim heretic by the name of Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed himself ImamMahdi, has written and published a book Jesus
In India.*
He proposed that Jesus was crucified, but did
not die. He only fainted, brought back
to life and went to find the ten lost tribes of Israel in India. These Israelite lost tribes accepted his
teaching, and made him their leaders. He
died there. Since these lost tribes of
Israel received the truth from Jesus himself, they eventually became Muslims,
and nowadays known as the Afghans and Kashmiris.
Now, the book is really not worth reading,
unless if you want to know what the fuss is all about. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who has some followers,
especially in India and Pakistan—known either as Ahmadiyah Movement or Qadiani
Movement, first by his last name, Ahmad, and the second by the place he hailed
from, Qadian—seems to have problems with Jesus’ second coming.
In the Introduction, he writes:
The difference in their
views, i.e. the view of the followers of Islam and that of the Christians, is
only this, that the Christians believe that Jesus died on the Cross, was
resurrected, and went to the heavens in his earthly body, seated himself on the
right hand of his Father, and will come to the earth in the latter days for
judgment; they also say that the Creator and the Master of the world is this
Jesus the Messiah and no one else; he it is who, in the latter days of the
world, will descend to the earth with a glorious descent to award punishment
and reward; then, all who will not believe in him or his mother as God, will be
hauled up and thrown into hell, where weeping and wailing will be their lot.
Having talked about the view of the Christians,
he continues with the view of the Muslims:
Muslims say that Jesus was
not crucified, nor did he die on the Cross; on the other hand, when the Jews
arrested him in order to crucify him an angel of God took him away to the
heavens in his earthly body, and he is still alive in the heavens... Muslims,
moreover, also say that Jesus is an eminent prophet of God, but not God, nor
the son of God, and, they believe that he will in the latter days descend to
the earth, near the Minaret of Damascus or near some other place, supported on
the shoulders of two angels, and that he and Imam Muhammad, the Mahdi…will kill
all the non-Muslims, not leaving anyone alive except those who will forthwith
and without any delay become Muslims.
Having given both views, he puts forward his
point:
In short, the real
object of the descent of Jesus to the earth…is that, like the Mahadev of the
Hindus, he should destroy the whole world…[and] that when Jesus comes down from
the heavens he will break all the Crosses in the world, do many a cruel deed
with the sword, and inundate the world with blood.
This, he believes, contravenes to Jesus’ core
teachings, namely:
'Not to resist evil,'
and, being struck on one cheek, 'to turn the other cheek also.'
His impression about Jesus’ second coming appears
to be that Jesus is bent on destroying the world, while the Hadith simply says
that:
The Hour will not be
established until the son of Mary descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will
break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it
(as charitable gifts). (Sahih al Bukhari)
The impression one gets from the above authentic
Hadith, however, appears to be just the opposite. Jesus
second coming is to usher in an era of justice, abundance and prosperity.
After his long diatribes in the Introduction, which
is not worth quoting here, Mirza Ghulan Ahmad proceeds with his arguments about
his Swoon Theory, and about Jesus going to India and died there. He extrapolates his conjecture in the first chapter
through Biblical narrations, the second chapter through Quran and Islamic
Traditions, the third chapter through books of medicine, and the final chapter
through books of history. None of his conjectural
arguments or his sophistry is worth quoting here.
If one reads his book, or speed read as I did, it
makes one wonder why he has to go through all the trouble of making needless
and senseless arguments. He could have
made his point simpler. After all, like all
prophets, he receives Revelation from Allah, you see. He is even greater than all those prophets,
because unlike the prophets, he can converse with the dead with relative ease.
As he writes:
I have seen Jesus many a
time in Kashf (vision in the waking
state), and I have met some of the prophets, while fully awake; I have also
seen our Chief, Master and Leader, the Prophet Muhammad many a time in the
waking state, and I have talked to him -- in such a clear state of waking that
sleep or drowsiness had nothing to do with it. I have also met some of the dead
at their graves or other places, while awake; and have talked to them.
What a marvellous man he is. Even Prophet Muhammad does not have such
privilege. The Prophet never claims that
he spoke with the dead or the earlier prophets in the waking state, and with
relative ease to boot. The Prophet has
that privilege only during the Night Journey and Ascension (Isra’ and Mi’raj). But Mirza Ghulam Ahmad seems to supersede the
rest of the prophets, because, as he writes:
I very well know that
such meeting with the dead in the waking state is possible; not only can we
meet, we can also talk, and even have a handshake... This experience is a gift
from heaven; it is for those who are endowed with new senses. This is a fact --
actual and true.
One may ask: Since he has seen Jesus in the
waking state, and even talked to him, wouldn’t it be easier to just ask Jesus
what had really happened, so that he can save all the trouble of making lengthy
chapters of arguments?
I know I would, if only I have such a gift.
In the end, he appears to have an axe to grind:
And I have been declared a Kafir
[infidel], not only because of my denial of the appearance of this supposed
Mahdi and this supposed Messiah in whom they believe, but also because I have
publicly announced, having been informed of it by God through revelation, that the real and true Promised Messiah who
is also the real Mahdi…is myself; who is, however, not provided with any
sword or gun.
Now we know what the fuss is all about. He is both Imam Mahdi and Jesus in one. It makes one wonders how he managed to get
followers at all. But then again, life
is strange. If people can believe that
the stones and woods that they carve are gods, then it is not at all strange that
some people can buy his nonsense.
Admittedly, to be a Muslim, some measure of
faith is required. One has to believe
that God exists in the first place, that He is the Creator of everything, and that
He selects a few people to be His prophets and messengers to convey the
knowledge about Him, and to live and worship in accordance with what He has
decided. In the same manner, one also needs
to have faith in order to believe in other religions, including Christianity,
Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. The key is to
discern among these faiths which one is more palatable to the mind, more
correct to the history, more congenial to human nature.
If one chooses not to believe in any religion at
all, such as the free thinkers, some measure of “faith” is also required of
him. He has to believe that he is
nothing more than an upgraded version of cow, pig, dog, cat, monkey, etc., who
live only to eat, copulate, have fun, make something and then die for nothing
and without consequence. After all,
mankind evolved from monkey you see. We
are just an upgraded version of the ape.
If that is what he wants to believe, then it is his business.
But once we become Muslims, having believed in
the Prophethood of Muhammad, we have to go with the way he taught us, without
having to conjecture too much, or to extrapolate everything. Our Christian friends, who have more
similarities than differences with us, fall into error because they have
conjectured too much. Likewise with the
Qadianis.
Now, if Wikipedia is correct, it seems that the
Swoon Theory of Jesus in India has become rather popular among the
Muslims. Yet in my life, I have met only
one Muslim friend who has told me about this Indian Swoon Theory. Fortunately he was not a Qadiani, and
realized the mistake when I pointed out where it comes from.
I know for certain that the Christians reject it
outright. They have to, because Death Through
Crucifixion is central to their tenet, as we have seen in the Good Friday and Crucifixion of Jesus. No death on the Cross, Christianity would
crumble.
We the Muslims should not entertain this
nonsense, even for fun. The prolific
debater against the Christians, the late Ahmad Deedat, used to play with the
Swoon Theory. He didn’t actually believe
in it, but he simply wanted to make the point that Jesus Christ did not die on
the Cross. His intent was to refute the
central tenet of Christianity.
Personally I am not sure how wise it is to play around this conjecture.
From the Seerah, we know that the Prophet used
to debate with the Christians from Najran.
These Christians regarded him an impostor, as they still do nowadays. Else, the Christians would have to accept Muhammad
as a Prophet, and would therefore become Muslims.
Having failed to convince the Christian
delegates from Najran of his Prophethood—for they still considered him lying,
both as regard to the message he brought, as well as his version about Jesus—the
Prophet challenged them to resolve the matter by invoking Allah’s curse. This challenge is captured in the Quran, in
Surah Ali Imran Verse 61:
“Then whoever argues
with you about it after [this] knowledge has come to you - say, "Come, let
us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and
yourselves, then supplicate earnestly (together) and invoke the curse of Allah
upon the liars (among us)."
Of course the Christians of Najran chickened
out. The Prophet was already taking his
family members to the open space, and invited these Christian delegations to do
the same. Let the liars among us be
struck by the bolt of lightning, or some other forms of curses.
The Christian deputations from Najran, however, felt
that such is not a gentleman’s way of resolving the dispute.
I find this event somewhat curious. The Prophet is noted for being very patient when
dealing with his opponents. For
instance, he was severely abused physically, mentally and emotionally by the
Quraysh during the thirteen years of his mission in Makkah, but he always kept
his cool. He was badly mistreated when
he went to Taif, looking for new abode to establish his mission, after he was
convinced that the leaders in Makkah would never embrace the new religion. The leaders of Taif even asked their kids to
throw stones at him, chasing him away, bleeding. He simply prayed to God to forgive them.
With the Christians of Najran, however, he appeared
to be impatient. Gaining no ground with
them after some debate, he chose to cut the crap. He made the challenge he never made in his
life, namely, to decide the matter with the wrath of God.
One may ask: Why did he not make such kind of
challenge with the Quraysh and the Thaqif (people of Taif)? The Quraysh especially had been very nasty
with him. They used to ask him the
impossible, including invoking the wrath of God upon them if indeed Muhammad
was telling the truth. The Christians of
Najran did not go to that extent. Could
it be that his change of tactic is due to the fact that he was weak while
facing the Quraysh, but when the Christian delegates of Najran came to him, he
was already a powerful leader?
If we ponder about this matter, we know that
such is not the case. The Qurasyh were
people of Ignorance. They truly did not
know the truth. Their ancestors had been
living in Ignorance for centuries so much so that Ignorance had become part and
parcel of their life. Ignorance was in
their blood.
The Christians of Najran, however, were people
of enlightenment. They knew about the
prophecy of the forthcoming Prophet.
Muhammad matched the description of the prophecy. Yet they called him an impostor. It was, therefore, God Himself who inspired
the Prophet to call for the challenge, so that the matter could be resolved
quickly.
If they truly believed that Muhammad was an
impostor, they should have no fear in taking that challenge. Yet they refused. Since they were afraid to take the challenge,
it was clear that whatever it was that they believed, they didn’t believe in it
with certain knowledge or absolute conviction.
To recap, the Swoon Theory is just a useless
conjecture. The theory that Jesus went
to India is just a piece of crap, and should be regarded as such by the
Muslims. If some of our scholars want to
use the Swoon Theory to disprove the theory of Crucifixion, I guess it is their
business.
As for me, I would rather go with the Prophet’s
method. It may not be a gentleman’s way,
but it will show who has real ball. One
would not be afraid if he believes he is on the side of the Truth.
Note:
*In case one is curious, the book Jesus in India may be accessed here:
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great article! Let the truth prevail!
ReplyDeleteIt will, my friend, because it must.
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