The Mother of Jesus Christ
Date:
Channel: Abdurraheem Green
File Size: 35.85MB
Episode Notes
Abdurraheem Green outlines the importance of Mary, mother of Jesus to the Muslim faith. He continues to discuss the lessons learned from the great prophet Jesus, and his importance to almost 1.9 Billion Muslims.
In this lecture about Maryam (AS), Br. Abdrraheem Green talks about Surah Maryam and how it reinforces the idea of Tawhid. In Surah Maryam, Allah talks about how Prophet Isa (AS) was born to a virgin and the difficulties she had to deal with after his birth. Br. Abdurraheem Green discusses how the birth of Isa (AS) proves that God can only be one and compares this to the Christian understanding of the subject, and How Allah refutes the claim in the Quran and specially in Surah Maryam.
AI Generated Summary ©
The concept of "has" in the Bible is discussed, emphasizing the importance of treating one's mother kindly and being good to her in Islam, as it is a consequence of all prophets. The speaker also touches on the complexity of Christian theology and the culture of "has", which is a consequence of all prophets. The importance of hard work and patient dedication to achieving success is emphasized, along with the benefits of working in a team and being patient with oneself.AI Generated Transcript ©
salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa
Al Hamdulillah. muda. Who want to stain on a stove through one or all the villa him in Cerulean fusina woman's Dr. Molina Melina Mija Hello for them. Well then Lola when you didn't follow her deola Why should one ilaha illallah wa shadow Anna Mohammedan Abdo hora solo. We begin by praising Allah.
We praise Him and we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. And we take refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves,
and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Anybody whom Allah guides, no one can misguide. But anybody whom Allah leaves to go astray, no one can guide and I testify that Allah alone is worthy of worship, and that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam may God's peace and blessings be upon him, is the servant of Allah and His final messenger. So I've been asked to give a talk today about Miriam, the mother of Jesus. Now the first thing what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do in sha Allah is, there is a chapter in the Quran, which is the 19th chapter.
It's actually called the Miriam surah. Tell Miriam, or the chapter of Mary, and inserted Miriam, there is a description of the birth of Jesus, the son of Mary, or Jesus Christ. The word Christ, as many of you may know, actually is a Greek it comes from a Greek word Christos, which itself is a translation of the word Mercia.
Okay, and it doesn't actually mean Savior. Some people think the word Christ or Messiah, or Messiah, which is also the English, the anglicised form of the word means Savior, it doesn't mean Savior, actually, it means Anointed One.
It means Anointed One. It was a tradition and a custom from amongst the, the children of Israel. And it's something you can find a tradition you will find this mentioned in the Bible and you will find the word Messiah is used in respect to kings who are anointed, and they were anointed, usually with olive oil. This was a practice that was common. Olive oil was extremely precious and considered blessing, perhaps even in buy some sacred, and the olive oil was used to anoint the king.
So this, this term Messiah, or
Christos, or Christ, actually means Anointed One. And it's mentioned Jesus has given this title in the end misia, Abner Marine, or a submarine. So he's sometimes referred to as misia. But most often Jesus, may God's peace and blessings be upon him alayhis salam, he's mentioned as Jesus the son of Mary. And the Quran emphasizes Jesus son of Mary, as opposed to the claims that are made by most Christians that he is the Son of God. The Quran is very emphatic that Jesus is not the Son of God. And in fact, no, no one is the Son of God. God does not have sons, God does not have children. God is far removed from such things he is far removed from such comparisons from such analogies from
making because why this makes a law God the Lord, the creator of the universe, in some way, shape or form, like a created thing. And the essence of the teaching of every prophets, the essence of the teaching of every single Prophet, every messenger of God. That essential message
was that the creator of the universe is unique.
He is different and distinct from everything in this creation.
There is nothing that can be
likened unto God. Actually, this phrase is mentioned numerous times, numerous times. In the Old Testament in many, many different ways. I haven't counted them but maybe even hundreds of times it is mentioned that God is not like anything. It even mentions in Hosea for example, it says that I for I am God, not man. It makes it clear even emphatically, that God is saying, I am God, not man, I am not man, I am not like a man, I am not weak, I am not fallible, I cannot be killed, I cannot, I do not lie, I am not subjected to the same limitations as a human being.
So, this is the teaching of all of the prophets, as supposed to or in contradiction to
the teachings of pagan religions. paganism, blurs the distinction between the creator and the created. In its extreme form. paganism teaches actually what is known as pantheism, which is the concept that everything is God's.
According to this idea, I am God, you are God, the seat is God, the rat is God, the cockroach is God, the sun is God, the moon is God, everything God is, in fact, the idea is that universe, the universe of the Creator, and the creation of one and the say, which I don't want to go into it, but it's a logical impossibility. But this is the idea of pantheism.
So paganism, which is the worship of nature, essentially paganism, his nature worship,
blurs the distinction between the creator and the created. And that is why you will find consistently in pagan religions, the idea that God has children look at Greek mythology, Zeus is having
intimate relations, sexual intercourse with women on earth.
And he is having sons born of this intercourse. Hercules, for example, I'm sure you've all heard of Hercules was supposed to be a son of Zeus,
a literal son of Zeus.
The Roman Emperor is the pharaohs. Most of the rulers of pagan lands claimed in one way or another, either to be gods or to be sons of gods.
Alexander the Great's also declared himself at a particular stage, when he went to Egypt, and he went into the desert, to a place school, I think it was called delfy. Or some there was some Oasis, and he went there. And he returned from this place, declaring himself that the Oracle had revealed that he was in fact the son of Zeus. And by the way, whether it was Zeus or some other name that they gave to the Supreme what they believe to be the God of all the gods, this is a pagan idea, so that in some sense, the gods or God was made very much like a human being.
But in the midst of this paganism,
there was always a group of people
who had stuck to and who had been firmed upon the belief
that the creator of the universe was a being who was totally distinct and separate from the creation.
That nothing in the creation was like the creator and the creator was not like anything in the creation, he was the possessor of perfect attributes.
And this you will find
this concept you will find is condensed so powerfully and so beautifully in a small sutra, which is probably one of the students that
Every single Muslim at least knows this surah along with sudo Fatiha and that is sort of a headless sutra till a floss, interestingly, is not about nia. It's not about intention. Right? Normally when we say loss, we think of intention, making our intention purely for Allah that when we do something, we do it for the sake of God alone. We don't do it to show off we don't do it to get some worldly gain. So when in Arabic we hear this term in class most people, they link this this concept of a class with sincerity in our actions and sincerity in our intentions. But pseudo class, the word class doesn't necessarily mean sincerity in only intentions. It also can mean purity.
In the concept of intention, it means that your intention is pure for Allah. But in certain effortless, it means purity in the sense of purifying a love the Creator, from all partners from all associations from all equals. So what does the sutra sutra to say? It's very emphatic. Who Allahu Ahad Allahu Samad. lamea laid wollam ewallet while lamea cola who Khufu one ahead, which means say he is a local say, who Allahu Ahad, he is a lot ahead. Now the word I had in Arabic does not just mean one.
It's more than one, I had an Arabic means one and alone. It is a type of oneness that does not permit. For example, a trinity I had means one and alone. So the term had automatically in Arabic eliminates the possibility of a trinity, or a pantheon of gods or that in some way this creator in some way, shape or form, shares his power his knowledge or should be worshipped in any way along with the creation. Just the word I had has that significance. It's a very powerful word. poldhu Allahu Ahad say he is a lot ahead. Now, by the way, as a point,
as a side point,
the word Allah,
you find some Christians take objection to the name of Allah. And this objection is really based upon ignorance. There are some Americans who actually really believe that Jesus spoke English.
In fact, in fact, I have actually even seen a clip of a woman, an evangelical woman, saying there is a clip of her a video of her saying that Jesus spoke English. And this When did she say this? When there was some debate about whether they should introduce Spanish because there's so many Hispanics in America, right? So they were thinking of again, introducing Spanish as a second language, or no, it was over the Coca Cola was it Coca Cola, Coca Cola did an advertisement where they Sung, it wasn't even the American national anthem, right? It was some other song about America that all Americans owe America. I don't know whether that's Oh, Canada, but anyway, I can't remember. There's
some song all Americans not even their national anthem, right? And Coca Cola, what did they do? They got different people to sing it in different languages. And you know, there was even a girl with hijab in it, and this and that, and, you know, these white, Anglo Saxon, you know, these, you know, these people just they just went crazy, right? And there was this evangelical Christian woman saying, you know, God, you know, Jesus spoke English. And then she had to sort of, you know what she said, After what she said, okay, the jury's still out on whether Jesus spoke English or not.
Jesus didn't speak English.
Actually, Jesus didn't probably according to most biblical scholars, Jesus didn't speak Greek.
And he didn't speak Latin. In fact, according to most biblical scholars, Jesus didn't even speak Hebrew.
He didn't even speak Hebrew.
Hebrew.
Right? Most Christian scholars think that the language that Jesus spoke was Aramaic
was Aramaic.
And the word that is used
in the Aramaic and there are Aramaic Bibles existing. And the the word that is used in Aramaic for the Creator of the heavens in the earth is Aloha.
Aloha.
Because Aramaic is a sister language of Arabic, they're related Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew. They are very similar languages.
Right, like French and Italian and Spanish. They are very similar languages, Hebrew, and Aramaic and Latin and Syriac as well, which is a dead language, obviously. So is by the way, Aramaic is a dead language. And Hebrew, by the way, is also a dead language. When they wanted to revive the Hebrew language. They went to Arabic in order to aid the grammar and pronunciation they borrowed from Arabic.
So the word in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, according to most scholars, was Allah. Right? Not God, not do not got right, not yehovah or Jehovah. No, it was Aha. It says the probably because no one actually knows for sure. But this is probably probably the word that Jesus used for God. Right? So cool, who Allahu Ahad say he is a lot. And the word Allah means Allah, Allah in any way. This is what the Arabic grammarians have said that are the people who are expert in the Arabic language. They said this difference of opinion, but they said it means in law in law is anything that is worshipped that is equivalent to the English word deity.
So anything that is worshipped is a deity. You know, whether it's a rock or a stone or Jesus or a saint, or you know, or some idol or whatever it may be a deity, okay? Illa means the deity or verb God,
meaning the One God the only true God. Columbo Allahu Ahad
Allahu Samad. So it means Allah is a summit. What is a summit?
Right, a summit the word a summit is one of the names or the attributes of God. And a summit means
the one upon whom everything depends
whereas this one depends upon nothing.
self reliance, self subsisting, it's not only self reliant and self subsisting, it's everything depends upon Allah, whereas Allah does not depend upon anything. So it is a declaration. This word a Samad have the absolute power of Allah over everything. And the fact that God the Creator is absolutely free, from all wants, and all needs. God does not need to do anything. God does not need anything. He doesn't need our worship. He doesn't need our prayers. He doesn't need our sacrifice. He doesn't need us to believe in him. He doesn't need our love. He doesn't need our fear. He needs nothing.
He is self sufficient.
If only you know if there was nothing in existence and there was no creation, there was only Allah Allah would be enough for himself.
This is what it means a summit. Right? lamea lid now lamea lid means he was not born.
So anything that is born is not God. This is what it's clear, lemonade. Anything that is born is not God, because God is not born. God exists and is ever existing. And is not the fitting the majesty of God and the nature of God. And who and what God is that something or someone could give birth to God's.
Now I remember when I was
when I was a Catholic
you know what the Catholic school Mary
Do you know what the Catholics they call Mary?
There's a prayer we learnt our rubella. There is a prayer we learned in the Catholic Church. This prayer is called Hail Mary, Hail Mary. And this is how it goes, Hail Mary, mother of God's
blessing thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb or by womb, Jesus. Hail. And you know what I remember when I was a little kid.
And I must have been, like, nine years old.
So long time ago.
I remember I was lying in bed. And my mom was sending me off to boarding school. My boarding school was a Roman Catholic monastic boarding school. So it was a boarding school, where that means you stay there, you live there, you sleep there. You don't go home at the end of the day. That's where you stay.
Right? And this school was run by monks.
Okay, so
I was just about to be shipped off to this
boarding school. And my mom, obviously, you know, thought maybe it's a good time. My mom is not religious at all. But she still decided I had to go to the super religious school, right? Anyway, that's not the topic of tonight's conversation. But she she was teaching me this prayer. And she said, okay, say off to me now, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Mother of God. And when she said, Mother of God, I remember distinctly thinking, Mother of God.
This is the first time I'd heard that. And even as a child, right? My natural my nature, my natural, instinctive understanding of God, I found this repulsive.
It was like, how can God have a mother? What's that supposed to mean?
Because I knew that God was the creator of the whole universe, the infinite without beginning without end. Right? How can you give birth to something that's not supposed to have a beginning or end? God has a mummy. There's my mommy telling me that God has a mummy. Right? And I'm thinking, you know, like, my, when you're young, your mother is a bit like a god. Right? In the sense that really seriously what I mean? I don't know. Maybe not for you. But I remember that, you know, it was a bit of a shock in my life, when I discovered that my mother actually could be wrong.
You know, like, there was a time when, you know, whatever my mother said, It was as if it was from from God, right? It was like, I learned everything from my mother.
All right. I mean, this is the one who cared for me, who fed me who clothes me who did everything for me. So there are my thinking. So the creator of the universe had a mummy who fed him and clothed him and taught him everything. So you know, what am I little brain? I said to myself, Oh, well, if you know Mary's the Mother of God, she must be a bigger God than God.
As the only way to logically explain it. If she's the mother of God, she must be an even bigger God.
bigger, better, more powerful, right?
But it's nonsense, you can see. It really is non sense, as it makes no sense whatsoever.
lamea laid, he has not gone over the core and the Word of God
makes it very clear. God is not a born thing. If you see something that has been born at any stage, it's not God simple.
One lamb EULA.
lamea lead God is not born one lamb you lead. Now this means that also God is not the begetter
it is refuting
Greek paganism. The idea that Zeus right fancies some you know a bit of Greek crumpet walking around Yeah. And group Zoo says, Oh, I like a bit of that one over there.
No, God does not have intimate relations. He God does not do that. God does not beget children.
God does not have children. This is what it means. Because why God is far removed from that. Why? Why do people have children either because they have some sexual urge. They want to
satisfying God does not have an urge like that.
God is far removed from such things, or perhaps that you have children. Because when you get old, you want someone to look after you. But God never gets old, he never gets weak. He doesn't need someone to look after him. Or you have children mainly because when you die, you need someone to inherit from you and pass on your name.
But God will never die, he is the EverLiving, who never dies. What then need does God have to have children,
rather, having children, the getting, and having children is an act of animals, it's a creation is the act of a creature.
So the Quran is emphatic.
God is not born, nor is he forgotten.
He is not born and he doesn't give birth to children. He doesn't participate in the process of having children. God is far removed from that will lumea cola who for one I had, and there is nothing that can be likened unto him.
Nothing can compare to God, whatever you can imagine.
Imagine something. God is not like that. Imagine anything, God is not like that.
You cannot imagine what God looks like. We can know some things with our limited faculties about God, that He creates that God is the Creator.
There's very limited things that God is wise that God is powerful. We can use that we can understand that actually just by the way with our reason. But most of what we can know about God has to be from God telling us himself. So I'm person may say, Well, if you know how do you say him?
But we say him only because God says him. God uses that. He describes himself as who
he describes himself as him. So we use him. It doesn't mean we ascribe gender to God in the same way that we have gender. But this is the term God uses. And we use the term that God uses. That's it.
God tells us about himself that he is compassionate, that He is merciful, that he is forgiving, that he is wise that he is generous that he is
and so on and so forth.
So this knowledge about God comes from Revelation.
So
let us read, what does Surah Maryam, tell us about Mary?
Very clearly, she is not the Mother of God, very clearly, God that Jesus is not the Son of God. And part of the purpose of God revealing the story of Mary is to make this clear. Now there's another thing about this story of Mary in the Quran.
It is very, very different from the Nativity story that most Christians
have heard about.
And the story they hear about and you know, they celebrate in Christmas. Okay, now during Christmas, you know, there's the usual anyway, the the usual Nativity story. Okay, is that Mary becomes pregnant.
Okay, through the Holy Spirit. That's something we can agree with. Right? To some degree. Yeah, but you see how beautifully the Quran talks about it. And then she has a husband, Joseph. So Joseph and Mary a wandering around, they're looking for a place to stay, they can't find any place to say there's a census going on at the time, apparently, although there's no historical evidence that the census took place. But anyway, that's problematic. But anyway, according to the gospel narrations, there's a census going on, they find it difficult, they can't find a place to stay. So eventually, they find you know, all they can do is stay in a shed in a barn in Bethlehem.
Right. So this is the famous scenes you have with the cow standing and the sheep and the goat and, you know, all of these things standing around and you know, Mary's sitting there and the angels are there right. And you know, Jesus is born in a stable, right. Okay, so um, the shepherds, you know, the shepherds are with their flocks.
Right. The shepherds are up in
And that, you know, they they come down because this angel tells them that, you know, the king is being born. Although generally in winter in December, you don't find many shepherds out on the hills, even in Palestine. It's freezing cold. Yeah. But that's another topic. How did Christmas come to be the 25th of December? That's a very interesting topic. And it by the way shows the paganism of Christianity. Yeah, the pagan influence in Christianity is actually a pagan festival. Right. So this is the usual story. Oh, yeah. And then the three kings, you know, usually they will got turbans? And, you know, it's like they're from the Middle East. Yeah. To show that the Arabs really should be
in dish recognizing Jesus, you know, it's all very clever. Right? programming, right? So this is the story, you know, there's a big star that foretells the coming of Jesus. So this is the normal Nativity story. But you will find that actually, this is very different. What we find in the Quran is so different, you might think it's a different story altogether. But there are similarities. So, let, I'm going to read through it. And I'm going to pause to make some comments and have a discussion about certain things that I think may be beneficial, you know, like to debate or or reflection upon these verses. Okay? So it says here in its surah, 19, Miriam, and in the 16th, verse
of 16th, ayah. And mentioned in the book,
Mary, when she withdrew from her family, to a place towards the east, and she took in seclusion from them a screen. Then we sent to her one of our angels, and he represented himself to her as a well proportioned man. She said, Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you should be fearing God. And he the angel said, I am only the messenger of your Lord, to give you news of a pure boy. And she said, How can I have a boy, while no man has touched me, and I have not been unchaste. He said, thus it will be. Your Lord says it is easy for me. We, we will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter decreed, so she conceived him, and she withdrew with
him to a remote place. So let's just stop there for a second. One of the things I want to mention about Miriam or about Mary,
is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned about four very, very special women.
For very, very special women.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he mentioned that there were many, many men who had reached this particular level, but only for women. And to have one of those was Khadija, his wife. The other one was Fatima, his daughter, the other one was Asya, who was the wife of Pharaoh. And the other one was Miriam, who was the mother of Jesus. Now, it's brothers and sisters. This means that these four women are a very, very important example for us, especially for our sisters.
That they have been chosen, and they have been highlighted for a particular reason
for certain qualities.
Now, these qualities are not my brothers and sisters, that they were doctors
or engineers,
or,
you know, the ones who ran amazing businesses, although of course Khadija did have a business but that's not the reason why she has been highlighted.
And this is very important, we have to understand what are the qualities about these women, that Allah subhanaw taala the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam emphasized and singled them out for this high status.
So
the first thing about Miriam is that she withdrew from her family to a place in the east and she took in seclusion from them a screen. This means she went into a state of religious retreats elsewhere in the Qur'an,
We find that in fact, the, the priests of the temple were disputing about who was going to care for Miriam because she had actually been dedicated by her mother to the service of gods. She had been dedicated by her mother to the service of God. When the mother of Miriam became pregnant, she thought that it was a boy, when she gave birth, she said, she saw that it was a girl, but she had while his child was in her womb, she had dedicated it to the service of God. Now, usually, this is something that was excluded exclusively for men. But the fact that she had made this dedication, then the priests were, you know, drawing lots as to who was going to take her and look after her. So
she had this upbringing in the temple. So she was learned she was worshipping Allah subhanho wa Taala. And it was a habit to practice this type of seclusion.
It also mentioned in the Quran more details about how the angel came, and that they used to find by the way that Miriam was fed with fruits,
she was being fed with fruits, they didn't know where this fruits were these foods came from.
According to some, they were out of season fruits, so they didn't they weren't even fruits in season. So this is just from the the, the the blessing of Allah subhanaw taala that he gave to this, this really one of one of his earlier, one of his friends, one of these pious people. Okay, so this is something that was very special about Miriam, she was someone very devoted to worshipping Allah subhanaw taala. She was very pious, you know, this is the the qualities that the excellent qualities that she had. So she withdrew from her family, she was in retreat issues in seclusion, then the angel Gabriel comes to her, but he comes in the form of a man, he comes in the form of a man. So
look at the first thing, she says, she says, indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, if you should be fearing God, this is very interesting.
So she takes refuge with God. So look at this as her first reaction, it is not to scream, not to shout for help, right? She takes refuge with God.
This really indicates the quality of her image and the quality of her trust in Allah. The the reality of her connection, and her relationship with God is that her reaction is to ask God for help to take refuge with God from this man. But it is also another way of her saying, Be mindful of God don't transgress against me, don't molest me. No, you have to understand brothers and sisters that the time in which medium was living was a very, very difficult time. Actually, it's an amazing period of history. And this would be a very interesting topic for it's not a subject I've talked about for a long time, actually. But it's a very fascinating subject. And actually, it would be
worth a lot of research. What was the situation of the dentist lawyer at the time of Isa?
At that time,
the Holy Land was occupied by the Romans, the Romans, of course, were pagans.
I'm saying this because the similarities between the condition of the Benny is right
at that time, and the condition of the Muslim oma today are absolutely striking. It is amazing. You will find the divisions amongst them the different sects amongst them, you will find the same sorts of divisions today. Okay, they had the zealots, the zealots, right, were the equivalent of you know, the, the muslim fundamentalists today, right or more, they were more than that, right. They were and you had another group called the psychotic they that SoCal psychotic, which is named after a type of dagger or a sword. So they were in a sense of militant wing, right. And you had these zealots, and then you had the the Jews who are really secularists. By the standards of that day, they had
basically become what what you could call westernized. They had become totally westernized. They
had begun to look like Greeks speak like Greeks act like Greeks, right? One of the big conflicts at the time was, you know, the gym, the gymnasium. Today, maybe we will go to the gym. But in those days, they would all when they exercise in the gym that the habit of the Greeks was to do it completely naked. For some reason they used to like running around naked, yeah, even when they did their Olympics, they will run around naked. I don't know what the thing but that's the thing, right? So of course, for religious practicing Jews, for a Jew, to participate in this was a type of, you know, big hub. So it's very interesting that you find there are some anyway, it's it's a truly
amazing topic, even to the extent that Herod the king, was nothing really except a Roman puppet. He was a king, he was the king of Israel. But he was just a puppet of the Romans, he was a puppet.
So what we are talking about is a very type of unstable type of situation. You have lots of things going on rebellions, fermenting, so on and so forth. So it's very interesting that, that Miriam says,
If you should be fearing God, because who could this person be? could be anybody.
And she understood that who is the person who would leave her alone? Only a person who is going to feel God have some mindfulness of God who is going to be reminded about this, but he assures her and says, No, I'm a messenger of God, who's going to tell you this glad tidings of this pure boy, and so straight and this is interesting, as well. She says, How can I have a boy, while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste? By the way, I mean, this means she does understand the basics of human biology, the fact that she has been brought up in the temple, right? The fact that she has, you know, spent her life worshiping God does not mean she does not understand the facts of life, she
understands.
At least she understands the concept of, you know, how a child comes to be born. Right? What happens between a man and a woman? So I mean, what it shows brothers and sisters, right, is that, you know, being pious does not preclude this information. And this basic biological knowledge, one shouldn't Imagine that you are so shy, and so bashful. And that, you know, one could not even talk to their daughters about these things. Because somehow it's shameful. I'm saying this because there are some Muslims who think about this. I know there are girls who come to be married, right? And they don't even know they have no idea. They don't even know how babies are born. I've heard about this.
Right?
So even Miriam, she understands these things.
I'm mentioning this because this is a point of benefits, a point of wisdom from the Quran that you can understand, okay?
So then, okay, let's go to the next stage of this. And then very important, he said, that he is saying, This is easy for God. It says, Allah, oh, God only needs to say be in it. It's, the point being here is that it is making it very clear that Jesus is a creation of God. He is a creation of God.
Right, he has been created by God. God has not somehow conceived Jesus, it is easy for God to create Jesus, He only needs to say B. And what he says happens.
Okay, he could create the whole universe in an instant, or he created over millennium. This is either or either is easy for God.
So the fact that
Jesus does not have a human father does not necessitate that he has a heavenly father. No, it doesn't mean that. And the Quran gives the example.
It says the similitude of the example of Jesus is that of Adam.
The example of Jesus is that of Adam, God said to him Be and he was,
God can create him with a word. So if Jesus is the Son of God, because he has no human father,
then Adam, surely must have more right to being the son of God because He has no mother or father.
Right? That's the logic.
So this is to show that this is, by the way, this is something amazing about the Quran.
This is actually one of the miracles.
Have a career.
What is amazing about the Quran, brothers and sisters, and I'm saying this as someone who went to a Roman Catholic monastic boarding school, and you can imagine, we were quite well trained in Christian theology, not only, by the way in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, but within being taught the doctrines of the Catholic Church, we were also taught why the doctrines of the Protestants and various other sects and various other groups were wrong.
Okay, so I actually studied medieval history as an A level. And believe me, the teaching of this history was not exactly unbiased, I can say from the point of view of the monks, you know, when it came to the Cathars, for example, and when it comes to teaching about the Muslims, this is not an unbiased, you know, the way that everything was presented. So always they will be mentioning, which is fair enough. I mean, I suppose that's, you know, we should do the same thing. But they would mention within these discussions in these classes, you know, refutations of what they thought were false doctrines. So, I have quite a good understanding, or I used to have quite a good understanding
of Christian theology. And if you study it's very complex. I mean, it's a whole degree, you can study Christian theology, its theology is the degree, right?
The amazing thing about the canal is that it deals with really complex theological discussions,
really complex theological discussions. For example, how was Jesus conceived?
Right? How was Jesus actually conceived if he was the son of God? This is a big discussion. How did Jesus actually come into existence? But the and, and by the way, one of the arguments of Christian theologians, you will find it in the books of theology, one of the arguments they used to prove according to them, because scripture is their basis, right? That Jesus is God. Because in traditional Orthodox Christian belief, right, there is one God, but the one God is a trinity, made up of the Father, who is God, and the Son, who is God, and the Holy Ghost, who is God. But there are not three Gods there are one, that's one God, this is what they call the Trinity. Right? This is
Orthodox Christian belief, right? So every Orthodox Christian is supposed to believe that Jesus is God.
Right?
So one of the arguments that Christian theologians used to try and prove, according to them, that Jesus was God, is that Jesus was the Son of God. This is the argument they used, Jesus was the Son of God. And my son is a human being like me.
Therefore, God's Son, must be a god like God.
That's one of the arguments they used.
But the core and refutes this in very simple ways. One of the arguments Christian use, for example, Jesus had no earthly father, so he must have a heavenly Father. But the Quran refutes that. No, the similitude of Jesus is that of Adam. God said to him Be and he was, in a very simple sentence, it answers these complex theological questions.
Right?
As for the claim that Jesus is the Son of God, because my son is human, like me, therefore, Jesus must be then God asked this question, if God has a son, who was God's wife.
This is actually a very simple refutation of this point. Meaning simply, if you're claiming that God had a literal son, then God literally must have had a wife. Because if he didn't, then that's not a son. It's something else. Because the word son means the product of an act that took place between me and my wife, right.
Let me give you an example. You will know that you probably will know about Frankenstein, right? You will know about Frankenstein. Yeah, maybe you haven't seen the movie read the book. But you know who Frankenstein is right? Frankenstein? This some mad doctor whose name I don't remember, right? He puts together he gets bits and pieces of a body. Yeah, different bodies from everywhere. He puts it together, right? And like puts electricity through it and brings this dead body back to life. Right now in some way he creates this.
This human being right now. I mean, he could cool this thing his son right, but it's not his son. Is it?
It's not his son, he doesn't matter you've made. He made love it like a son. He may care for it like a son, but it's not his son, is it? It's his creation. But it's not his son. Yes or No, it's not right. Good. Okay. So if I adopt a son, I can adopt someone as my son. But that is still not biologically. In reality, my son, is it? I mean, I just say he's my son. But is he really my son? No, he's not.
So this is very important. Because what do you mean, when God has a son? When you say God has a son? What do you mean? Does God have a wife then?
Now, I mean, in 27 years of challenging Christians, I've only really met one Christian who said, Yes. God had actually said God had sex with Mary.
He actually said, I I'm saying God had sex with Mary who said, Yes, only one thing, thank God, you know, most of them say no, no, no, no, we don't believe that. So okay. If you don't believe that, then Jesus is not literally the Son of God is he?
Know, also, how is he the Son of God? Like Frankenstein? You know, I like an adopted son.
But it doesn't, if you think about it, it doesn't mean anything. Because if you're going to have a son, if you're going to have a son, the son has to be like you. Right? For example, if I you know, if I bought today in this bottle, and I bought a little fish swimming around, yeah. I said, Here, everybody is flappy the fish, my son.
You'd say that Mr. You know, it's a fish. Yeah. You're a human being. That's a fish. It doesn't work, right? No, I say no. How do you say that? I love it so much. Yeah. I love this. this. I love my son flappy so much. Yeah. You know what I mean? I love him so much. He has a bedroom in the house. He has his own bedroom. He sits with me at the dinner table. And the adoption papers are coming through next week. Yeah. But you know, it doesn't mean anything. Because you're not like a fish. Right? Similarly, God is not like a human being.
To say that God took a human being as a son is more absurd
than saying that a human being took a fish as his son. It's more absurd. Because we are more like fish than we are like, God.
The difference between us and God is far far, far bigger than between us and fish.
Right.
But if that's nonsensical, the concept of the idea that God has a son is also nonsensical.
So we find the Quran uses very simple examples in order to refute these deep theological concepts. So let's see what happens then. Okay. So it's a sign the Quran is telling us that God is creating Jesus miraculously, God just needs to say be so the emphasis here again is Jesus is a creature he is a unique creation. Yes. Not even unique because Adam was created without a mother or a father. Jesus is created without a father. Right? Okay.
So
she conceived him and she withdrew to with him to a remote place. Okay. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, Oh, I wish I had died before this, and was in oblivion forgotten. Now.
This is a very powerful description of, you know, the pain of childbirth. Right. Now, it is interesting that, you know, some people who looked at the Quran they they said that actually, Mary what she says what she was saying here, about I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion forgotten. They say some of them say it's not because of the pain of the childbirth.
But that's because of the worry she had about what was everybody going to say? Right, about the situation she was in. Now probably the person who suggested that never gave birth.
So the sisters, I mean, you know, childbirth is probably one of the most painful
experiences, natural experiences that a human being can go through.
It really is, you know, something amazing. I want to tell you a story connected with childbirth, she taught childbirth, right? And I want to mention this in respect to it is something really incredible,
right? Something amazing to do with suffering and pain, because one of the questions we often people often have in respect to God is about suffering. You know, if there is a God, why is there so much suffering? You know?
And of course, there are many different ways to answer this, but something, there is a type of paradox in life.
There is a type of paradox in life.
a paradox means something that seems to be a contradiction. But when you think about it deeply, it's not a contradiction.
Right.
And this is the connection between love and suffering.
I mean, it could be a question, it could be a
topic that Christians might talk about, but I want to talk about it in a slightly different context in respect to giving birth. Because there's a very powerful description here of childbirth. And I want to relate that narrative and experience of my own personal experience. Yeah. Alhamdulillah I have 13 kids. Yeah. And I've been to the birth of an I wish I didn't have to. Yeah, but anyway, that's just the way my, you know, it was except one only one child, I wasn't there. Yeah. Okay. So for 13, I've seen the birth of 13 of my, you know, of 12 of my children, one child, I delivered myself, right. But one of my kids, the birth was particularly, you know, I mean, I'll be honest,
I'll be honest, brothers and sisters, I'm being honest to you, right? I mean, my wife was suffering so badly. I, you know, I start to have shabbats
I start to think, why, you know, why Allah? Why, how can you let this happen, you know, what she done so bad, that she has to go through all of this suffering, and all of this pain, you know, and all of this, and, you know, I really thought, you know, she's gonna die and you know, in all this pain, and, you know, and I mean, I know the answers, rational answers, but you know, it's very emotional, right? And then,
you know,
then the baby is born.
Right? And then the nurse takes this baby. And she gives this baby to my wife, and my wife looks at the baby, right? with total love. And she says, Oh, my baby, what would mommy do without you?
I mean, this is seconds after she's going through all of this pain, and she looks at this child. And these just amazing words come out of her mouth.
You know, from so much suffering, there is still so much love.
Anyway, you know, I, you know, what, when that happened, well, law, he this was like, it's like Allah had just showed me, you know, I had all these questions. And Allah answered my question. It's like, Oh, now I understand. You know, it was like, I just understood something very profound about suffering and about love. And so I called her I at, you know, because it was she was like an ayat from Allah. She was like, many signs from Allah to me, you know. So, Miriam is going through also this suffering of child birth. Right? She is feeling it is so painful. It is so excruciating. She is feeling like you know, I wish I died before this. Right?
oblivion forgotten Subhana light remember, I used to get migraines and I felt like I wanted to die. Subhana Allah, but he called her from below. Okay, and some Mufasa don't say this is actually she's give it gave birth to Isa and this is a he's talking. Yeah, Jesus is talking as a baby. Okay, and some say it is that an angel saying, Do not grieve? Okay. Don't be sad. Don't be upset. Your Lord has provided beneath you a stream and shade towards you the trunk of the palm tree and it will drop upon you write fresh dates. It's very interesting.
I mean, it's just a sight point. That one of the things that when a woman goes through childbirth, one of the things the good things for her
Have straight off to his glucose, right? It's very interesting. And I see a couple of heads nodding they're probably doctors who know that right? So it's very interesting that she's given these dates which is an excellent source of natural sugars right. And so, so, eat and drink and be contented
and if you see from among humanity, anyone say indeed I have vowed to the Most Merciful, absent ation. So, I will not speak to any men today, this was a habit sometimes of the people have before they would have a fast from speaking, right they will not speak.
Okay. So this is a type of they would take vows of vow of silence or about a vow of poverty or a vow of chastity or they would take certain vows and renounce certain things. Okay. Although the some of these things have not been approved off by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, from in our Deen, but this is something people used to do in the past. Then she bought him to her people carrying him and they said, Oh, Mary, you have certainly done a thing. unprecedented. Oh, sister of Iran. Your father was not a man of evil. No, was your mother unchaste? It's very interesting. In Arabic, they have a term for a good person. Edna Helen.
Abner halaal, the son of Halla. So when they say he's a good person, they say he's in the halaal. You know, he's the son of meaning. It's very interesting that they connect evil behavior and evil manners with an evil conception.
Right.
And it's, this is something that goes back to those days, you will find that they had the same attitude. So they're saying, How can this happen to you? Because you know, you had a good mom and a good dad, they were pious people. How come? How is it possible? And this is normal that people make these associations, you know, your parents were good, how come you turned out so you know, in a bad way. So she pointed to
the baby Jesus, she points to Isa alayhis salaam. And they're saying, How can we speak to him? Yeah, he's just a baby. It's just in the cradle like a child. And then Jesus speaks. Jesus speaks. This is, of course, one of the great miracles that Allah subhanaw taala gave to Jesus. And again, what he says is very profound and very important. Okay, Jesus says, indeed, I am the servant of God.
Indeed, I am the servant of God, Abdullah,
the servant of God, the worship of God, something cannot be the servant of God and the worship of God and be God.
This that Jesus is saying, verily, definite certain, I am the servant of God, and He has given me the Scripture, and made me a prophet.
So he has been given scripture, and he is a prophet, he is a messenger. Someone who has been given a message by God to deliver and all the messengers are human beings. There's a reason why God chooses messengers to be human beings not to be gods, half gods, demigods, sons of gods, right? The reason is, because he because messengers are examples. messengers have been sent as an example for us to follow
them, they practically show us how to
live God's message. Yes, the messengers have characteristics that make them superior, they are more truthful, they are more trustworthy, they are more sincere, they have a capacity for prayer and worship, they may have other capacities to force longer, you know, they have other capacities that make them in some ways different from us, but essentially, they are human.
And the things that they do, essentially, we can do, that's why God chooses, because why? Because if the messenger was an angel, if the prophet who was supposed to deliver us the message and bring to all the rest of us a message was an angel, then what we would say You're an angel, of course, you know, her, you know you when you see those beautiful women it doesn't affect you. Try being a human being then you see what it's like when you tell me you know, keep away from girlfriends right?
You see,
you get the point. But when the messenger is a human being, then what excuse do you have? If one man can do it, another man can do it. If one human can do it, another human can do it. Right. So this is the point as well in respect Teresa, you know, he is human, despite his amazing way that Allah created him, you know, despite the qualities that he has, that makes him exceptional, he is still a human being, and he's a prophet of God and all the prophets, all the messengers of God, were human beings, and he is Abdullah is the worship of Allah. And he has made me and Jesus goes on to say, and he has made me bless it Wherever I am, and has enjoined upon me prayer, and Zakah. That means giving
in charity, as long as I remain alive, and made me dutiful, to my mother, dutiful to my mother, and he has not made me a wretched tyrant. This is very important brothers. This is very important brothers and sisters, Allah subhanaw taala is highlighting this quality of Jesus, a wretched tyrant here really means I don't abuse my mother, I don't mistreat my mother,
a tyrant. Because really, if you can't be good to your mother, how can we expect you to be good to any other human being.
If you are not afraid to treat your mother badly, you will definitely have no fear to treat anybody else badly. If you are a tyrant to your mother, you will be a tyrant to your wife, you'll be a tyrant to your children, you'll be a tyrant to anybody.
So treating your mother kindly in Islam, and this is the message of all the prophets, not just Muhammad Sallallahu, alayhi wasallam all of the prophets they bought this message. treating your mother kindly and being good to her is one of the most important things in fact, kindness to her after, after revering Allah, Allah tells us reveal Allah, the wounds that boo you. This is how important kindness to your mother is. It's very Subhanallah very important. And it's connected here. Look how soon after this description of the pains and the agony of childbirth. And then we find that Subhanallah this blessing child, he is relieving his mother of these stresses that she has these
worries that she has, what are people going to say and this and that. And he's assuring her? Really he's assuring her as well. I'm going to treat you well. I'm gonna care for you. Don't worry. This is Allah subhanaw taala assurance to Miriam. Okay. This is all part of the consequence brothers and sisters. And by the way, I need to mention something very important. That is part of what happens here. Right?
You may think, well, look at Miriam. She's worshipping Allah, in seclusion. She's this, you know, Allah is providing her from amazing directions yet.
Look what she is subjected to.
A chaste woman, a chaste woman, right? No man has touched her. She said, No man has touched me. Right? This is how she is yet.
She is being accused of the most horrific thing.
I mean, the punishment by the way, the biblical punishment for adultery.
Is anyone no stoning to death?
Right? Can you imagine?
But you know what, this is something important to understand brothers and sisters, our tests the people who he loves. God tests the people he loves. When he loves a person, he tests them, he sends upon them tests and trials and tribulations and the one he loves the most he tests the most. And the biggest test, honestly,
is to be falsely accused. Even worse than, you know. They say we have a saying in English sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me is the opposite. That's the totally untrue thing. I mean, you just say it as a mantra, because it's actually the opposite. Words are the things that will hurt you more than sticks and stones.
The worst torment because it goes on physical pain comes in it goes. But when people slander you, when people accuse you of being a liar, and this is the case of all of the prophets, the prophets came with the truth from God, from Allah from the Creator. They came from the truth from God. They did sacrificing everything to warn people about the day of judgment that Hellfire
And then people saying you're a liar.
You're a sorcery, you're a magician, you're a soothsayer, you're a poet.
So when they call you a terrorist, and you know what you're the furthest You know, you're the furthest person from terrorism.
Really,
actually think Muslims are the first I'm not saying there are not Muslims who commit acts of terrorism, but really Muslims generally with the furthest people from it.
Muslims generally, are the most kind hearted caring, loving, they see any child suffering, they feel the pain, not just Muslim children.
So when we're accused of these things, it hurts. It's a slander, it's a lie. But this is a test that almost you know, like Miriam was tested like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was tested. You know, there's, there's a hadith mentions that only three children spoke. Only three children babies spoke. It's a long Hadith and I've only got like five minutes, unfortunately, because I could give another lecture on this hadith. But I want to mention, the first one is Miriam, as we, Isa, Isa, alayhis. Salaam, as we know, Jesus, the second one, this is and it's very similar. Yeah, it's very similar. There was a woman she was breastfeeding her child.
And she saw a man come by a prince, he was riding on a beautiful horse, he was dressed in the most fine clothes, you know, like this sileni robe. I have. Yeah, it's the best. You want the best, the best tailor made fobes and cutter. Go to sileni. Yeah. So tailor made bit like, you know, the tailor made, you know, he was just that look at him. Right? You look and he was handsome. And behind him was uh, you know, I'm trying to paint the picture for you, right was the Hades is a bit more simple than and she says, oh, Allah, make my child like this one.
The child stops breastfeeding, and says, oh, Allah, don't let me be like this one.
Right, so the child feeds again. Then after some time, she sees a woman running. And this woman her hair is everywhere. Her calls are red. You know, she is in a terrible condition. She's running. And then after some time, there's a group of people clearly they're chasing her. She says, oh, Allah, don't let my child be like this one. And the child stops feeding and says, oh, Allah made me like this one. So she says, Oh, my baby, what are you saying? I mean, you know, what? What are you saying, right?
And so the child says, you know, oh, my mother, the first one was a man who had wealth and power, but he was arrogant and proud. And his arrogance and pride led leads him to the hellfire. I don't want to be like that one. The second woman was a pious woman, she was falsely accused, but because of the reward of her suffering, and what the test she was going through, she was a person of Paradise and I want to be like that one.
So don't be deceived always by appearances. Right? You know that this is the reality life is a test. The believers that we will be tested, with our wives, with our children, with our families, with our property with our Deen all of these things, we will be tested brothers, you know, but when sisters we will be tested, like Miriam was tested, but you know, hamdulillah in the molossia surah Verily, with hardship comes ease, there's always going to be followed by is better test because Allah loves you. Right? And why don't you say what's the connection between the test and Allah loving you? It's simple. Let me ask you a question. If you want to be the best athletes,
right? What are you going to do? sit and eat biryani and globe gentlemen. Yeah.
And only if you want to be you know, the big belly athlete. You know, I don't know who's got the biggest belly you know what make you an athlete. Right? If you want to be an athlete, you have to train
right I mean, I know a bit I you know, one of my son is one of my sons. He's innocent. He's training to be an athlete and my God, you know, when you start to study it, your diet, what you eat, what you can't eat the things you have to do the exercises you have to do not only exercises, mental training, now the athletes get training in psychology and how to think how to prepare yourself mentally before array so your mind is in the perfect zone. So you know because your mind will interfere. You know, this is hard. You think it's easy. What is it easy or hard?
Yeah.
But if you want to be the best athlete you have to train, it's the same if you want to be the best spiritual athletes, if you want to reach that state, where you Subhanallah a like an elite athlete close to Allah, if Allah wants you to be like that, he will train you, he will train you, he will put you through training, he will make you suffer. Right? He will make you need to know like when you're running,
you know, even you will be sick, and you know what, but what's the result? What's the results?
What's the result? So this is the training, this is the therapy. So if Allah loves you, he's going to train you brothers and sisters, you know, look at it as training, when you're going through hard times, say I was training me, Allah is training me. He's training me so I can be closer to him. So what do you have to do brothers Be patient brothers and sisters Be patient. So I will finish now but I want to read the rest of this. I'm just going to read the rest of this translation on this particular subject, and then we'll finish inshallah. So he made me dutiful to my mother, and he has not made me wretched pirate and piece B and pieces on me the day I was born, and the day I will die,
and the day I am raised alive.
I can't resist commenting again, showing you know he's going to die. God does not die. He's going to be raised up on the Day of Judgment. So he is subject to the power of God, that is Jesus, the son of married the word of truth about which they are in disputes. It is not befitting for God to take a son Exalted is He, when he decrees an affair he only says to it be and it is. And Jesus said and indeed, God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path, then the factions differed from among them. So woe to those who disbelieved
from the scene have a tremendous day. How clearly they will hear and see the day they come to us. But the wrongdoers today are in clear error and warn them oh Mohammed of the day of regrets, when the matter will be concluded, and they are in a state of heedlessness and they do not believe Indeed, it is we will inherit the earth and whatever is on it, and to us, they will be returned Allahumma salli ala Muhammad in will early sappy of Solomon's zacapa