The Muslim and the Followers of Jesus

The Muslim

and The Followers of Jesus

by an anonymous Christian/previous Muslim

According to the Qur'an, God told Jesus "I am causing you to die and will raise you up to myself, and will cleanse you of those who disbelieve and set THOSE WHO FOLLOW YOU ABOVE THOSE WHO DISBELIEVE UNTIL THE DAY OF RESURRECTION, then unto Me (God) you will (all) return and I shall judge between you as to that wherein you used to differ." SURA 3 AL-IMRAN 55

This is a profound statement in the Qur'an. It reveals the superiority of those who follow Jesus Christ. It does not say those who believe in Jesus Christ shall be made superior........ it says those who follow him, that is , his disciples. In other words those who go by the name 'CHRISTIANS'. The verse tells us that God told Jesus that he would let Jesus die and then would raise Jesus up. Then he would set those who follow Jesus above those who could not believe the message Jesus brought ... and these followers of Jesus Christ shall remain superior until the Day of Resurrection and then all will be judged. Those who could not believe the message of Jesus Christ and so could not become his followers will be judged. What was the message Jesus brought, and which was rejected by people, except by the followers of Jesus? As we read verses 49 to 54 we see clearly what that message was. Jesus, according to the passage, came with a message and a sign from god, and performed wonders(miracles) so the people could see that he actually came from God. He then declared to the people what they were to eat (though he came to confirm the Torah which was given to Moses, and the Torah forbade certain foods and gave some other restrictions), Jesus told the people he had come to make lawful to them things forbidden them in the Old Testament (Torah). In effect, he was bringing them a New Testament which was known as the Gospel (Injeel). He asserted that the new law was the sign he brought from God and that the people should believe in him and obey him.

But the Qur'an says that the people could not believe Jesus on this matter; except for his disciples who said they believed him and had surrendered to God by obeying the message Jesus brought and, that THEY WOULD FOLLOW HIM (Jesus) whom God had sent. So they (the disciples) asked God to enroll them among those who witness to the truth. Then those who refused to believe Jesus schemed to kill Jesus. But God also proved that he could plan better than them and so he told Jesus (that is, reading the 55th verse now) that he (God) would let Jesus die but would raise him (Jesus) again and unto himself (God). He would then cleanse Jesus of those who could not believe and make those who accept Jesus and his message, (and follow him as his disciples) superior to those who cannot believe in that which Jesus brought. The verse indicates that God "shall judge between you as to that wherein you differ". So those who cannot believe the way Christians believe are regarded unbelievers and will continue to remain low-classed people on earth here, and shall be judged as unbelievers on Judgment Day. Also those who cannot believe that Jesus was made to die before being raised to God in heaven (as Sura 3 Al-Imran 55 points out in the Arabic: "Yaa Iisaa Inni Mutawafeeka wa rafiuka", which literally means "O, Jesus, I am causing you to die and will raise you unto myself"), will be judged as unbelievers. The Bible has this statement for unbelievers....those who cannot believe that God raised Jesus from the dead...." why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8) As a matter of fact, the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof of our own death and resurrection. At least we know that we shall surely be raised up some day in the future after this life on earth. The Christians and the Jews are known as the People of the Bible or the People of the Book or the People of the Scriptures. The Qur'an goes further to point out that these People of the Bible are the teachers of the Muslims on matters relating to the revelations concerning the doctrines and things of God.

For example, even though the Qur'an is supposed to be a confirming scripture to the Torah and the Gospel (Sura 3 Al-Imran 3-4) it also contains confused (or ambiguous or allegorical) verses that cannot be explained.... Sura 3 Al-Imran 7. Any Muslim who attempts to explain these ambiguous verses will cause dissension, confusion, etc., because no Muslim can explain them except God himself. That is what the Qur'an claims.

Then in Sura 5 Al-Maida 101 there is a warning that the Muslims should not ask questions which, if they were made known to them ... that is , if the answers are given... would trouble them - but that if the Qur'an is being revealed and the questions are asked, they would be explained. But since the Qur'an is no more in the process of being revealed, because the prophet Muhammad has passed away, it means a lot of the problems are still not explained to the Muslims. Besides, verse 102 of Sura 5 Al-Maida says that some people asked for explanations of certain problem revelations and when the explanations were given them, their faith in Islam shattered and they left Islam. However, there is consolation for those who are indeed truthful and need genuine explanations. We have already seen a verse like Sura 10 Yunus 94. In Sura 10 Yunus 94 we read that God told Muhammad (and of course all Muslims) that if "thou art in doubt concerning that which we reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scriptures before you." That is, Muslims should seek explanations to revelations which they doubt from those who read the Scriptures before them; that is, they should go to those who read the Torah and the Injeel which came before the Qur'an - after all, the Qur'an is only supposed to confirm the previous Scriptures of God (the Torah and the Injeel).

Again we refer to the wonderful statement in Sura Al-Ankabut. In Sura 29 Al-Ankabut 46, the Muslims are advised not to argue against the People of the Scriptures except in a good way. They should confess to the readers of the first Book (the Bible) that they (the Muslims) believe in what has been revealed to them (the People of the Bible) and that they (Muslims) surrender to the God of the Bible. So Christians are masters over the Muslims. We have already discussed how the Bible is superior to the Qur'an. Perhaps you are not a Christian and are wondering now: "Is this what the Qur'an really declares about the Bible? Did the Qur'an come only to tell people to follow what is in the Bible? Then why do Muslims claim the the Qur'an claims to correct the errors that have crept into the Bible? Why do Muslims hide the truth? Whom are they deceiving?"

Maybe you desire to know more about what

the Qur'an says concerning the true religion,

Christianity. You may be the type who hungers

for the truth and wants to know the true God and to surrender to him.

If so, please contact us.

May the true God of the People of the Book bless you!

Now you have an opportunity to find out more for yourself,

as God has given you the means and the ability to search for the truth.

To read the Holy Bible online visit:

www.ibs.org/bibles

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www.jesusfilm.org/languages