Jesus Christ in Islam and Christianity

Fourteen centuries ago a man named Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that Mother Mary was a pious virgin, when she gave birth to Jesus. He said that Jesus had been born miraculously without any male intervention. And he shut the mouthes of many of those, who used to abuse Mother Mary. It is because of prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that around one and a half billion Muslims around the world respect, love and revere Jesus Christ. In fact Islam makes it an article of faith to believe in Jesus. A Muslim can not be a Muslim unless he believes in Jesus Christ

The miraculous birth of Jesus is a compulsory article of the Muslim faith and every Muslim has to believe in it, in order to be a Muslim. Muslims believe in his miracles. Qur'an mentions the miracle of Jesus as a young kid, when he gave life to birds that he had made out of clay, with God's permission. But if one checks the New Testament he would not find this miracle mentioned there. A few days ago while doing a research concerning the Bible, I came across some scriptures that the early Christians included in the Bible and called them the word of God, but the church did not include these scriptures in the New Testament. One of these scriptures is the Gospel of Infancy, which is about the childhood of Jesus Christ. This Gospel of Infancy and the Holy Qur'an contain this miracle, but the Bible does not.

Muslims also believe that he  (Jesus) gave life to the dead with God's permission and healed those born blind and lepers. We believe in his (Jesus) second coming. It is astonishing that the Qur'an tries to defend Jesus against objectionable things mentioned about him in the Bible. For instance, The Bible says that Jesus Christ never called Mother Mary as "Mother or Mom", but rather called her "you woman!" This is highly objectionable because this is the same language that he uses for a prostitute in the Bible, "you woman!" Astonishingly the Qur'an in turn defends Jesus and says that he was obedient and respectful to his mother and would never say anything as such to his mother.

So astonishing as it maybe, Islam is the only Non Christian faith, which holds Jesus Christ in such high prestige and reverence and makes it an article of faith for its followers to believe in Jesus Christ. The major difference of opinion among Christians and Muslims is that some Christians believe that Jesus Christ claimed divinity and was God. While Muslims believe that he was a mighty messenger of God and never claimed to be God. So Muslims believe that so many good things about Jesus only because Muhammad (peace be upon him) said so, not that Bible thumpers convinced them. Now the Bible thumpers are making serious efforts to convince Muslims that Jesus is God. 

They use a wide range of tactics for this purpose from common arguments that Jesus did not have a father so he should be God or that Jesus gave life to the dead that is why he is God. But these arguments have so far failed in front of Muslims, as even Adam did not have parents and even Moses gave life to his dead staff and made it a serpent. The Bible thumpers even get handy with the Qur'an. They quote verses from the Qur'an and tell Muslims that Jesus is "Kalimatullah, the word of Allah" and "Ruhullah, the Spirit of Allah". But the Muslims come forward with the argument that even John, the Baptist is referred to as "Kalimatullah, word of God" in the Qur'an. The Qur'an also says that Allah breathed into Adam of his spirit and also breathed of it into the whole mankind.

Efforts are also being made on the Muslim side as well to convince Christians that Jesus was not God, but is a messenger of God. Muslims use common arguments such as how can Jesus be God and also die for your sins, when God is Eternal? But Christians make some efforts to prove that death is of two types, spiritual death and physical death. While other Christians try to prove how Jesus has a dual nature. Muslims even get handy with the Bible. For instance, this post " Is Jesus God? " claims that Jesus Christ did not claim divinity anywhere in the Bible. It also makes an effort to answer the several Biblical verses quoted by Christians to prove the divinity of Jesus Christ.

So the major difference of opinion between Muslims and Christians is the divinity of Jesus Christ and both are trying to convince the other to accept their point of view. It is a healthy discussion and is surely going to continue for a long time.