Ask an Alim

Bismihi T’ala
Alaykum Salam
Q 1.     ,”My father is greater than I or I can not cast anything without the will of my father”. Is this the reason why Christians misunderstood the Jesus position as the son of God and not a messenger?

The fact that Jesus (ie Hazrat Isa (alayhis salam)) calls God ‘father’ doesn’t mean that God is his biological father and that God had a child, neither do the Christians believe that. Rather, in the trinity doctrine of Christianity:

a.       Jesus is God the son, begotten of the father in all ages but not lower to the father

b.      God the son became a human being, so he became son of God.

However, These concepts cannot be proved logically.

c.       The other reason for making Jesus as son of God, is because he was born without a biological father.  Therefore, they designated this father-son relationship. Most Christians (as per my understanding) are of this belief.

But we must note that God in the bible is referred as ‘father’ to many categories of creation, e.g. angels, good human beings…

So, no, the bible’s use of the word ‘father’ is not the reason that Christians believe Jesus as son of God.

In fact, they derived their conclusions (above) from other sources (eg other beliefs of the time such as Greek philosophy and also their own arguments). The bible’s words were subsequently used to emphasize this argument.

Paul was the first person to bring in these concepts (ie divinity, son of god…) into Christianity. He attempted to explain his own beliefs, through the greek philosophy of the time. Over a period of time, his thoughts became accepted by the leaders of the church, thereby confirming the beliefs such as son of god and the divinity of Jesus.

Q 2.     Is this the reason Jesus is coming back to testify against the Christian’s that by referring God as his father was not his intention of saying I am the son of God or to worship me?

When Imam Zaman (alayhis salam) will reappear, Jesus will also come down and the riwayaat mention that he will pray behind the Imam, thereby showing the Christians that they are following the wrong path and they will submit to Islam.

From this event, it will become clear to the Christians that Jesus is not son of God and to be worshipped, and the word ‘father’ in the bible must mean spiritually (ie one who nurtures and gives nourishment for growth)

Q 3.     Did Jesus make a mistake by his figure of speech and this why Jesus must come back to clarify his message?

Jesus, being a high ranking prophet of Allah, is ma’sum (infallible) in his speech and actions. Even to the extent of making mistakes is not allowable. There is a logical argument behind this. Allah must send prophets to guide the people to the right path. If the prophet makes mistakes eg using wrong words which lead to deviation, then the people will not be guided to the truth. This would mean that Allah has failed in His objective. However, failure for Allah is unconceivable and is against His wisdom. So the prophets cannot make mistakes in their mission, i.e. they would be
infallible.

On the other hand, we know that lot of distortions exist in the bible and this cannot, but be traced back to the people themselves.

MD