Hey guys, first off I will go ahead and tell you I am a Christian. Then i will go ahead and tell you that I know next to nothing about Islam, so please excuse my ignorance.

I am very interested in two things really.

1) What are the major differences between Christianity and Islam

2) Does the Quran (Koran) mention Jesus in it, and if so can you give me some passages where He is?

I appreciate this a lot, i've been meaning to get some knowledge about Islam for a while now and I'm glad i found this site.

-James

Hey JAG.


Thanks for your interest in Islaam, and your sincerety in wanting to learn.


I think i'll link you to some sites which may answer your questions in detail;


http://beconvinced.com

The Story of Jesus, Son of Mary
http://www.islamonline.net/english/i...rticle03.shtml



Hope you benefit from them insha Allaah (God willing), they will describe the Islamic perspective on the honorable servant and Messenger of God, Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him), and they will also discuss the similarities between Islaam and Christianity, and maybe even why they are so similar.



Once you've checked them out, please don't hesitate to ask if you ever have any questions!





Peace.

Hi

There is a whole chapter in the Qur’an dedicated to Mary (Maryam) and Jesus (‘Isa). That chapter is called Maryam.

http://www.tafsir.com/Default.asp

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh (May the peace, mercy and blessings of God Almighty be upon you)

%%%%%


Christians believe Jesus (p) is God and Holy Spirit is also God . Muslim believe Jesus (p) is a blessed Prophet of God Almighty & Holy Spirit (p ) is an angel.

We respect them but don't worship them. We don't associate partner with God. In Islam ,it's the most major sin.....result is eternal
hell fire



2)
yap .....many times. Do u know Quran has a chpater titled Mary (p) ? We respect her a
lot



ok , wait pl. ...need to do a google search

salaam/peace;


The Koran
27 matches.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cow



[2.87] And most certainly We gave Musa the Book and We sent apostles after him one after another;


and We gave Isa, the son of Marium, clear arguments and strengthened him with the holy spirit, What!


whenever then an apostle came to you with that which your souls did not desire, you were insolent so you called some liars and some you slew.





[2.136] Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which had been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Musa and Isa, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.



[2.253] We have made some of these apostles to excel the others among them are they to whom Allah spoke, and some of them He exalted by (many degrees of) rank; and We gave clear miracles to Isa son of Marium, and strengthened him with the holy spirit. And if Allah had pleased, those after them would not have fought one with another after clear arguments had come to them, but they disagreed; so there were some of them who believed and others who denied; and if Allah had pleased they would not have fought one with another, but Allah brings about what He intends.
The Family of Imran



[3.45] When the angels said: O Marium, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the '. Messiah, Isa son of Marium, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah).



[3.52] But when Isa perceived unbelief on their part, he said Who will be my helpers in Allah's way? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the way) of Allah: We believe in Allah and bear witness that we are submitting ones.
[3.55] And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l will decide between you concerning that in which you differed.




[3.59] Surely the likeness of Isa is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was.
[3.84] Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.
The Women
[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.




[4.159] And there is not one of the followers of the Book but most certainly believes in this before his death, and on the day of resurrection he (Isa) shall be a witness against them.
[4.163] Surely We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh, and the prophets after him, and We revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and Isa and Ayub and Yunus and Haroun and Sulaiman and We gave to Dawood
[4.171] O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector.
The Dinner Table



[5.46] And We sent after them in their footsteps Isa, son of Marium, verifying what was before him of the Taurat and We gave him the Injeel in which was guidance and light, and verifying what was before it of Taurat and a guidance and an admonition for those who guard (against evil).
[5.78] Those who disbelieved from among the children of Israel were cursed by the tongue of Dawood and Isa, son of Marium; this was because they disobeyed and used to exceed the limit.



[5.110] When Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! Remember My favor on you and on your mother, when I strengthened you I with the holy Spirit, you spoke to the people in the cradle and I when of old age, and when I taught you the Book and the wisdom and the Taurat and the Injeel; and when you determined out of clay a thing like the form of a bird by My permission, then you breathed into it and it became a bird by My permission, and you healed the blind and the leprous by My permission; and when you brought forth the dead by My permission; and when I withheld the children of Israel from you when you came to them with clear arguments, but those who disbelieved among them said: This is nothing but clear enchantment.




[5.112] When the disciples said: O Isa son of Marium! will your Lord consent to send down to us food from heaven? He said: Be careful of (your duty to) Allah if you are believers.
[5.114] Isa the son of Marium said: O Allah, our Lord! send i down to us food from heaven which should be to us an ever-recurring happiness, to the first of us and to the last of us, and a sign from Thee, and grant us means of subsistence, and Thou art the best of the Providers.
[5.116] And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.




The Cattle
[6.85] And Zakariya and Yahya and Isa and Ilyas; every one was of the good;



Marium
[19.34] Such is Isa, son of Marium; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute.




The Clans




[33.7] And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, son of Marium, and We made with them a strong covenant



The Counsel


[42.13] He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Nuh and that which We have revealed to you and that which We enjoined upon Ibrahim and Musa and Isa that keep to obedience and be not divided therein; hard to the unbelievers is that which you call them to; Allah chooses for Himself whom He pleases, and guides to Himself him who turns (to Him), frequently.



Ornaments of Gold


[43.63] And when Isa came with clear arguments he said: I have come to you indeed with wisdom, and that I may make clear to you part of what you differ in; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah and obey me:



The Iron


[57.27] Then We made Our apostles to follow in their footsteps, and We sent Isa son of Marium afterwards, and We gave him the Injeel, and We put in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and mercy; and (as for) monkery, they innovated it-- We did not prescribe it to them-- only to seek Allah's pleasure, but they did not observe it with its due observance; so We gave to those of them who believed their reward, and most of them are transgressors.





The Ranks


[61.6] And when Isa son of Marium said: O children of Israel! surely I am the apostle of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Taurat and giving the good news of an Apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad, but when he came to them with clear arguments they said: This is clear magic.



[61.14] O you who believe! be helpers (in the cause) of Allah, as~ Isa son of Marium said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause) of Allah. So a party of the children of Israel believed and another party disbelieved; then We aided those who believed against their enemy, and they became uppermost.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kora...size=First+100

Hey thanks, that helped alot, i also found a thread stickeyed on this board that helped too.

So in Islam, no one believes Jesus was crucified?

I suppose my next question would have to be about the Islamic afterlife, or dealings with sin.

Is there such thing as sin in Islam, and if so, how do you deal with it?

That's kool.




The main concept in Islaam (which means submission to God) is that ALL the Prophets of God have called to the worship and obedience of our Creator and Sustainer Alone.


This has been explained in another post so i'll just mention it here;

Let's start off with the fact that the majority of the world believes in a God, or 'Higher being.' The difference between islaam and all other faiths is that instead of just recognizing that there is a God, we believe that the Creator created us with the purpose of submitting to Him, worshipping Him alone sincerely without any associates.


These associates can be stone idols, it can be humans (or human legislations) it can be a person's desires etc.



Islaam call's to the worship of God, known as Allaah in arabic. If you're confused about why God is Allaah in arabic, realise that people from spain call God - Dios, the french call God - Dieu etc. Similarly the way of saying God in arabic is Allaah.


Allaah has sent messengers to convey the same message of calling to the worship of God since the beginning of time, since Adam (peace be upon him) the first person to ever live. All the messengers came to call to Allaah's worship, and this is the purpose of our creation - to worship Allaah, without no associates, so no idols, no humans, no law which opposes the law which Allaah has revealed to His messengers.


We as muslims believe that Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (peace be upon them all) were prophets. There have been a total of 124,000 prophets that have come to mankind to call to the worship of Allaah Alone. However, the majority of mankind has fallen astray, because they do believe in a Creator, but they reject the fact that He should be worshipped alone, and that His law should be established for mankind.


You as a christian may feel that Jesus is God, but we don't believe that God would humiliate himself on the earth by His own creation. That is blasphemy according to all faiths. Because God is All Powerful, and the creation can not harm Him whatsoever.



Any deeds we do, we do them sincerely to gain Allaah's Mercy, and if we gain it - we will enter the eternal paradise which all the prophets have called to also. However, if someone rejects the worship of the One God - without any associates, they will be punished in the hellfire. This is the only sin which God does not forgive [if one dies in that state], why should He, if the person is saying that a stone is God? Or a human is God etc.



We all will die and be raised back on the day of recompense, when Allaah/God will judge between us on all that we did. No-one will be judged unfairly because Allaah is the Most Just. Allaah can bring the dead back to life, the same way He brings the dead earth (plants, flowers etc.) back to life by sending down rain.



If you feel that God is being unfair to His servants by punishing those that associate partners with Him, then the justice for this will also be balanced out. Allaah will ask those who associated partners with Him to ask the one's they worshipped for reward. So if someone worshipped a stone idol, they will ask that for recompense on the day of judgement (obviously the stone won't be able to do anything.) If someone worships a human, even if the human is pious, the person will have to get their reward from this human [but obviously everything is dependant on the Creator.] The one's who worshipped God Alone, sincerely without no associates - they will be rewarded by Allaah, the Exalted with an eternal paradise where they can have all that they desire, and more.



If anyone feels that it is unjust, then they have to stop being unjust to their own Creator. If Allaah created man so he should worship Him, then why worship the stone idol, or why worship a human when you can turn towards your Creator who gives you all you have, and will reward you more if you turn to Him sincerely in worship?

And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks (by accepting Faith and worshipping none but Allâh), I will give you more (of My Blessings), but if you are thankless (i.e. disbelievers), verily! My Punishment is indeed severe."

[Qur'an Chapter Abraham 14: 7]

The basic concept in Islaam in regard to sin is that every son/daughter of Adam is prone to commit sin, but the best of sinners are those who learn from their error and repent to Allaah sincerely to forgive them.


We do not believe in the concept of the 'original sin' - since Adam and Eve repented to Allaah (after they ate from the tree) so He forgave them.

Similarly, all the children of Adam are born pure and sinless. Yet if they do sin, no-one else bears their sins except their own souls. However, Allaah is so Merciful that He is willing to forgive the one who does wrong, so long as this person intends not to do that evil again. Yet still, if this person falls into error again - they should continue to repent and intend not to do the sin again. Since only those who disbelieve despair of the Mercy of Allaah.



This whole life is a test, a trial between good and evil. Will we remain sincere to Allaah by continuously trying to do good? Or will we become arrogant and reject Allaah and His blessings? Without a doubt, those who are thankful to Him and accept His Messengers', and do good to please Him - their reward is with Him, the Rich, All Praised. Those who reject His blessings and turn them into disbelief - then they will be punished for their own evils in the hellfire, which is a place for those who were too arrogant, and denied the favours of Allaah.



Just imagine, if Allaah has given you so much good throughout your life (like your eye sight, your hearing, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, anything you can ever imagine you have in this life) - then if you are thankful to Allaah, you are a believer, and you submit yourself to Allaah, then know that Allaah has an even greater reward in store for you in Paradise (since Paradise is the original home of the family of Adam - peace be upon him.)

If He has given you so much good in this life without you striving for it, imagine the great good He will have for you if you did strive for His reward of Paradise!




If you ever have anymore questions, or unsure of anything i said - please don't hesitate to ask.






Peace.

salaam/peace;

some more links
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...=1119503546388





Title



Question




Date

Name of Counsellor

Topic

Hi James, it's good to have you here, I think you will find many Muslims here who are delighted to be asked about Islam and happy for the opportunity to explain the faith. I have found the moderators to be extremely knowledgeable masha'Allah (masha'Allah is something we say when admiring something about a person).

I was a Christian, but became Muslim about 9 yrs ago. I have found the biggest differences between Islam and Christianity to be 1) the different beliefs about who Jesus was (peace be upon him) and 2) the Christian concept of original sin and the need for atonement through sacrifice, which is unheard of in Islam. In Islam, we believe every person is responsible only for their own sins, and it is only necessary to sincerely ask for forgiveness, and God will forgive. No sacrifice required.

peace to you

Wow, thanks guys, all of that helped a lot. I am very intriged about your faith.

I still have a few more questions though.

1) I understand Islam doesn't say Jesus is God, but does it say Jesus is the Son of God?

2) How much of the New Testiment do Muslims believe in? All of it? None of it? Or just the parts that are also in the Quran?

3) Where is Islam in relation to Judaism. I have always learned that it stemed from Isaac and Ishmael - Isaac carried on Judaism, Ishmael's decendents were Muslim.

4) I really know next to nothing about Muhammad. Can you explain his story to me?

Wow that's really good



Sure, lets see:



We don't believe that Allaah/God has children. Since there is none like Him, and He has no Partners. Since God doesn't have partners, He doesn't have children. I know you might say that it isn't 'literal' - but why say that God has children then?


Allaah says in His final revelation (translation of the meaning);

Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

And there is none comparable unto Him.

[Qur'an Surah Ikhlaas (chapter of Sincerety - 112)

So Allaah is One, and the Only true God. He is Eternal and never dies, and we all depend upon Him. He doesn't beget (have children), and He wasn't born either. And there is none like Him.




So what is the Islamic stance on Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him)?


Allaah says in the Qur'an (translation of the meaning):

The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.

The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who doubt.


[Qur'an 3: 60-1]

Jesus was born of a virgin birth, his mother gave birth to him even though she was a virgin. Now you may ask how this was, but this shows that Allaah is able to do all things.

You might ask though, how come he was born without a father, that must be really special. Without a doubt it is special, yet it still doesn't take Jesus (peace be upon him) to the level of Allaah, since Adam was also created without a mother or a father.


Jesus is the true Messiah/Christ, and he will return near the end times.


I've explained that in depth abit here;

http://www.islamicboard.com/794662-post4.html (A Question about Jesus being God)
http://www.islamicboard.com/794680-post8.html (A Question about Jesus being God)






We believe that the Gospel (Injeel) was revealed to Jesus (peace be upon him) from Allaah/God. Today this isn't existant, and we hear the Gospel of Mark, John, Matthew etc. but we never hear any mention of the Gospel of Jesus! Which then makes you question their claim.


However, there may be some parts of the teachings of Jesus still within some of the Christian texts. Yet we don't have any clear proof, the Christians can't even agree on a common copy among their different denominations. Allaah sent the final revelation to His final servant and Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him.) The Qur'an is the Criterion to distinguish between the truth and the falsehood, and it has been authentically preserved for us throughout the centuries.




Islaam means submission to God, anyone who submits to God is therefore a Muslim (one who submits to God.)


We as Muslims know that Abraham didn't call himself a Jew, nor did any of the other Prophets boast of being Jews. Rather, they were happy in serving God, they submitted to God in the way He wanted them to worship Him, therefore they were Muslims (ones who submit to God.)



Islaam was and has been the religion of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus son of Mary, Muhammad (peace be upon all the prophets of God.) Like stated before, all 124,000 Prophets of God. All calling to the worship of God Alone, in the way that He wanted to be worshipped.

Their social laws may have been slightly different, however, they all submitted to God in the way He wanted to be worshipped. The final Messenger of God/Allaah is Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is also a direct descendant of Prophet Abraham. And he came for all of humanity, and after him there will be no more Messengers. Rather, Allaah will preserve the message which was sent to Him till the end times.




You can read his biography from here God willing:

http://www.islamicboard.com/prophet-...mmad-saws.html (Biography of Prophet Muhammad (saws))




If you ever have anymore questions, or need anything clarified - please don't hesitate to ask!





Peace.