The Story of Prophet Isa (Jesus, Peace be upon him): Part 1

The story of Prophet Isa (peace be upon him), known as Jesus in Christianity, holds a significant place in Islam. This is because Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) is regarded as one of the greatest prophets and messengers sent by Allah.

Unlike in Christianity, where Jesus is viewed as the Son of God, in Islam, Isa is considered a human prophet and a servant of Allah. His life, message, and the miracles he performed are well-documented in the Quran and Hadith, providing Muslims with deep insights and knowledge about his mission and his role in spreading the words of Allah.

Understanding the story of Prophet Isa from an Islamic perspective is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it strengthens the faith of Muslims by highlighting the consistency and continuity of Allah’s message through different prophets.

Secondly, it clarifies misconceptions that may arise due to the differing narratives between Islam and Christianity. Let’s now delve into several key aspects of Prophet Isa’s life and his significance in Islam:

The news of the birth of Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him)

While Maryam (Mary) the mother of Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was praying in her temple, an angel in the form of a man appeared before her, filled with terror, she tried to flee, praying

She said, “Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, [so leave me], if you should be fearing of Allah.”

He (the angel) said, “I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure righteous boy [i.e., son].

She said, “How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been a fornicator?”

He said, “Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.'”  (Ch 19:18-21 Quran) 

The Birth of Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him)

The angel’s visit caused Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) great anxiety, which increased as the months went by. How could she face giving birth to a child without having a husband? Later, she felt life kicking inside her. With a heavy heart, she left the temple and went to Nazareth, the city in which she had been born where she settled in a simple farmhouse to avoid the public.

But fear and anxiety did not leave her. She was from a noble and pious family. Her father had not been an evil man nor was her mother an impure woman. How could she prevent tongues from wagging about her honor?

After some months, she could not bear the mental strain any longer. Burdened with a heavy womb, she left Nazareth, not knowing where to go to be away from this depressing atmosphere. She had not gone far, when she was overtaken by the pains of childbirth.

So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, “Oh, I wish I had died before this affair, and become forgotten.” (Ch 19:22-23 Quran) 

Suddenly, she heard a voice:

But he called her from below her, “Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, ‘Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to any man.'” (Ch 19:24-26 Quran) 

For a while, she was comforted by Allah’s miracle, for it was a sure sign of her innocence and purity.

Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) Returns to the City with her Son

Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) decided to return to the city. However, her fears also returned. What was she going to tell the people? As if sharing his mother’s worry, the baby began to speak:

And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, ‘Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to any man.'” (Ch 19:26 Quran) 

With this miracle, Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) felt at ease. As she had expected, her arrival in the city with a newborn baby in her arms aroused the curiosity of the people.

Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, “O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister [i.e., descendant] of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.”

So she pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?” 

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) said, “Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and Zakah as long as I remain alive. And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive.”  (Ch 19:27-33 Quran) 

Prophet Muhammad also let us realize that Prophet Isa (Jesus, Peace be upon him) was pure from the time he was given birth to, as narrated in Sahih Bukhari that Satan wasn’t able to touch him.

Most of the people realized that the baby was unique, for if Allah wills something, He merely says “Be” and it happens. Of course, there were some who regarded the baby’s speech as a strange trick, but at least Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) could now stay in Nazareth without being harassed.

It was said that Joseph the Carpenter (Mary’s husband) was greatly surprised when he knew the story, so he
asked Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her): “Can a tree come to grow without a seed?” She said: “Yes, the one which Allah created for the first time.” He asked her again: “Is it possible to bear a child without a male
partner?” She said: “Yes, Allah, created Adam without male or female!”

Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust; then He said to him, “Be,” and he was.  (Ch 3:59 Quran) 

Prophet Isa’s (Jesus, peace be upon him) Ability to Debate

As Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) grew, the signs of prophethood began to increase. He could tell his friends what kind of supper waited for them at home and what they had hidden and where. When he was twelve years old, he accompanied his mother to Jerusalem. There he wandered into the temple and joined a crowd listening to the lecture of the Rabbis (Jewish priests).

The audience were all adults, but he was not afraid to sit with them. After listening intently, he asked questions and expressed his opinion. The learned rabbis were disturbed by the boy’s boldness and puzzled by the questions he asked, for they were unable to answer him. They tried to silence him, but he ignored their attempts and continued to express his views.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) became so involved in this exchange that he forgot he was expected back home. In the meantime, his mother went home, thinking that he might have gone back with relatives
or friends. When she arrived, she discovered that he was not there, so she returned to the city to look for him.

At last, she found him in the temple, sitting among the learned, conversing with them. He appeared to be quite at ease, as if he had been doing this all his life. Maryam (Mary, peace be upon her) got angry with him for causing her worry. He tried to assure her that all the arguing and debating with the learned had made him forget the time.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) Did Not Observe the Sabbath

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) grew up to manhood. It was Sabbath, a day of complete rest: no fire could be lit or extinguished nor could females plait their hair. Prophet Musa (Moses, peace be upon him) had commanded that Saturday be dedicated to the worship of Allah. However, the wisdom behind the Sabbath and its spirit had gone, and only the letter remained in the Jews’ hearts.

Also, they thought that the Sabbath was kept in heaven and that the People of Israel had been chosen by Allah only to observe the Sabbath. They made a hundred things unlawful on Saturday even self-defense or calling a doctor to save a patient who was in bad condition. This is how their life was branded by such hypocrisy.

Although the Pharisees were guardians of the law, they were ready to sell it when their interests were involved so as to obtain personal gains. There was, for example, a rule which prohibited a journey of more than one thousand yards on the Sabbath day. What do we expect of the Pharisees in this case?

The day before, they transferred their food and drink from their homes two thousand yards away and erected a temporary house so that from there they could travel a further thousand yards on the Sabbath day. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was on his way to the temple. Although it was the Sabbath, he reached out his hand to pick two pieces of fruit to feed a hungry child.

This was considered to be a violation of the Sabbath law. He made a fire for the old women to keep themselves warm from the freezing air. This was another violation.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) Upsets the Jews

The Jewish priests felt this child Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was dangerous, for they felt that the people would turn their worship to Allah the Almighty Alone, displacing the existing Jewish tenets. Consequently, they would lose their authority over the people. Therefore, they kept the miracle of Prophet Isa’s (Jesus, peace be upon him) speech in infancy as a secret and accused Mary of a great misdeed.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) Receives His Prophethood

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) observed that the visitors were much fewer than the priests. Yet the temple was full of sheep and doves which were sold to the people to be offered as sacrifices. Every step in the temple costs the visitor money. They worshipped nothing but money.

In the temple, the Pharisees and Sadducees acted as if they were in a marketplace, and these two groups always disagreed on everything. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) followed the scene with his eyes and observed that the poor people who could not afford the price of the sheep or dove were swept away like flies by the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him)was astonished. Why did the priests burn a lot of offerings inside the temple, while thousands of poor people were hungry outside it? On this blessed night, the two noble prophets Yahya (John peace be upon him) and Zakariyah (peace be upon him) died, killed by the ruling authority. On the same night, the revelation descended upon Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him).

Allah the Exalted commanded him to begin his call to the children of Israel.  To Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him), the life of ease was closed, and the page of worship and struggle was opened.

Prophet Isa’s (Jesus, peace be upon him) Message

Like an opposing force, the message of Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) came to denounce the practices of the Pharisees and to reinforce the Law of Moses. In the face of a materialistic age of luxury and
worship of gold, Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) called his people to a nobler life by word and deed. This exemplary life was the only way out of the wretchedness and diseases of his age.

Prophet Isa’s (Jesus, peace be upon him) call, from the beginning, was marked by its complete uprightness and piety. It appealed to the soul, the inner being, and not being a closed system of rules laid down by society. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) continued inviting the people to Almighty Allah. His call was based on the principle that there is no mediation between the Creator and His creatures.

However, Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was in conflict with the Jews’ superficial interpretation of the Torah. He said that he did not come to abrogate the Torah but to complete it.  He made the Jews understand that the Ten Commandments have more value than they imagined.

For instance, the fifth commandment does not only prohibit physical killing, but all forms of killing; physical, psychological, or spiritual. The Sixth Commandment does not prohibit adultery only in the sense of unlawful physical contact between a man and a woman but also prohibits all forms of unlawful relations or acts that might lead to adultery e.g. the eye commits adultery when it looks at anything with passion.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) Denounces Materialism

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was therefore in confrontation with the materialistic people. He told them to desist from hypocrisy, show and false praise. There was no need to hoard wealth in this life. They should not preoccupy themselves with the goods of this passing world; rather they must preoccupy themselves with the affairs of the coming world because it would be everlasting.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) told them that caring for this world is a sin, not fit for pious worshippers. The disbelievers care for it because they do not know a better way. As for the believers, they know that their sustenance is with Allah, so they trust in Him and scorn this world.

Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) continued to invite people to worship the Only Lord, Who is without partner, just as he invited them to purify the heart and soul.

Jewish Priests Try to Embarrass Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him)

His teaching annoyed the priests, for every word of Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) was a threat to them and their position, exposing their misdeeds. The Roman occupiers had, at first, no intention of being involved in this religious discord of the Jews because it was an internal affair.

However, the priests started to plot against Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him). They wanted to embarrass him and to prove that he had come to destroy the Law. of Moses. The Law. of Moses states that an adulteress should be stoned to death. They brought him a Jewish adulteress and asked Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him):

“Does not the law stipulate the stoning of the adulteress?” Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) answered: “Yes.”

They said: “This woman is an adulteress.” Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) looked at the woman and then at the priests.

He knew that they were more sinful than she. They agreed that she should be killed according to the Law. of Moses, and they understood that if he was going to apply this Law, he would be destroying his own rules of forgiveness and mercy. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) understood their plan. He smiled and assented:

“Whoever among you is sinless can stone her.” His voice rose in the middle of the Temple, making a new law on adultery, for the sinless to judge the sinners. There was none eligible; no mortal can judge sin, only Allah the Most Merciful. As Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) left the temple, the woman followed him.

She took out a bottle of perfume from her garments, knelt before his feet and washed them with perfume and tears, and then dried his feet with her hair. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) turned to the woman and told her to stand up, adding: “O Lord, forgive her sins.”

He let the priests understand that those who call people to Almighty Allah are not executioners. His call was based on mercy for the people, the aim of all divine calls.