Yasir Qadhi – The Messiah In Islam Jesus Son Of Mary
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses various theories about Jesus's death, including his parable about the holy ghost and the use of "ma'am" in the Quran. The transcript provides a detailed list of figures and their significance to the story, including multiple versions of the story, confusion over the meaning of "has been revealed," and the use of "has been revealed" in various sections of the transcript. The discussion also touches on the church's history, including its use of multiple people, political parties, and political parties.
AI: Summary ©
It is the season to have discussions about
the reality of Isa ibn Maryam, and about
the reality of us Muslims living in a
land where the theology is different than our
theology.
As is the case, it is very relevant
for our children, for even us to be
reminded of the differences between our understanding of
Isa ibn Maryam, Jesus Christ, and between the
broader society's understanding.
Because in the end of the day, this
is a core fundamental aspect of our theology.
Now, obviously, as usual, how much can be
done in one short khatira.
Nonetheless, some aspects today, I wanted to briefly
go over some of the Quranic ayat about
Isa ibn Maryam, and then explain in particular
one very powerful verse from the perspective of
history.
So to summarize, Isa ibn Maryam is mentioned
in the Quran exactly 25 times.
Isa ibn Maryam is mentioned exactly 25 times.
By the way, his mother Maryam is mentioned
more than him, 34 times.
So Maryam A.S. is mentioned more than
Isa.
And as you know, she has a whole
surah named after her.
And there are a number of passages of
the Quran that deal specifically with the story
of Isa ibn Maryam.
Most, so let's begin to summarize some of
these passages.
Most importantly, let's begin with surah Maryam itself.
The first three and a half pages of
the surah deals with the birth of Isa
ibn Maryam.
It deals with Maryam A.S.'s pregnancy.
And in it, the bashara, the good news
is given that Jibreel visits Maryam A.S.
and informs her that she will give birth
to a righteous child, a miraculous child.
He tells her that this child will be
speaking from the cradle, that this child will
be performing miracles.
And Maryam A.S., then the pregnancy is
outlined.
She gives birth and she comes back.
All of this is in surah Maryam itself.
In surah Ali Imran, we have a more
detailed list of the miracles of Isa A
.S. In surah Ali Imran, we are told
that Jesus or Isa ibn Maryam, he spoke
from the cradle.
He performed magical miracles by meaning Allah's miracles,
meaning he made birds out of clay and
breathed life into it.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave real
life to the birds.
He cured the sick.
He healed the leper.
He resurrected the dead.
And he told people what they're hiding in
their houses, away from everybody else.
So this is a longer list of miracles
in surah Ali Imran.
Surah Ali Imran also tells us about the
Hawari or the disciples, that there's a core
group who believed in Isa and who was
faithful to the teachings of Isa.
And in surah Ali Imran, we also have
a reference to the end of Isa.
Notice I didn't say the death of Isa,
to the end of Isa on this earth.
That verse that has been interpreted differently, that,
يَعِيسَا إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ إِلَيْكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ
وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ O Isa, I will mutawaffika.
Now the word mutawaffika has many meanings.
Of the meanings linguistically is to cause to
die.
There's no question linguistically it means that.
The question is in this verse does it
mean that or not?
Pretty much all of the Mufassireen from the
time of the Sahaba up until our times,
they said in this verse, tawaffa does not
mean to die.
Because in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala uses tawaffa to indicate death, and He
uses it to indicate long sleep.
Both are in the Quran.
And so according to the majority, when I
say majority, I mean like 99.9%
majority.
Those who disagreed were a very small fringe.
But the bulk of the ummah from the
beginning to the end, they said mutawaffika here
means, we will cause you to go into
a long sleep.
We will cause you to not be active
and walking on this earth, but you will
go into basically a long sleep.
وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ And I will raise you up
to myself.
And the fact that this is mentioned after
mutawaffika is an affirmation, this is not death.
Because had it been death, then there's no
need to physically lift Isa up there.
So mutawaffika وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ And I will raise
you above, your followers will be raised up
above those who rejected you.
So this is in Surah Ali'Imran.
In Surah An-Nisa, Allah also has a
page and a half about Isa ibn Maryam.
And in it, He also mentions that the
claim of the Yahood is that they killed
Isa.
And the slander that they gave to Maryam
that she gave birth to an illegitimate child.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
Surah An-Nisa, وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا
عَظِيمًا And they disbelieved in Allah.
And they said buhtan against Maryam.
So in the midrash, in the Jewish exegetical
literature, it's not in the Old Testament, but
it is in the rabbinical tafsir.
They use a word that I'm not going
to say here, but the English equivalent begins
with B.
It's a very vulgar word.
They use that word for Isa ibn Maryam.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala references this,
that you have accused Maryam of buhtan when
you use this vulgarity against the Isa ibn
Maryam.
So, وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا
قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيْحَ عِيسَةً بِنَ مَرْيَمٍ And they claim,
we killed the Masih Isa ibn Maryam.
Then Allah says, وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَكِنْ
شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ They neither killed him, nor did
they crucify him.
This is an explicit verse that Isa did
not die at the hands of those who
pretended or thought they killed him.
And then there is a verse that our
scholars have given various interpretations, وَلَكِنْ شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ
But it was made to appear to them
so.
Now the tafsir of this verse, there's at
least five or six tafsirs in our tradition.
And the fact of the matter is there's
no definitive tafsir.
But I would say the majority is that
there was the presumption that Jesus died on
the cross, and the people thought he died
on the cross, but he did not die
on the cross.
How was that presumption?
Here we have a number of theories of
our own Mufassirun.
One of them is the substitution theory.
The substitution theory is that Isa was not
put on the cross, rather somebody else was
put on the cross.
And some say it is Judas Iscariot, and
he died.
But his face or his figure was transformed
into that of Jesus.
So and Allah cursed Judas because of his
treachery.
So Allah punished him that when the Romans
entered the Garden of Gethsemane, and they wanted
to find Jesus, Allah raised Jesus up.
This is one interpretation out of others.
Allah raised Jesus up, saved him.
And then Judas who thought he's betraying Jesus,
Allah made him look like Jesus.
So when the guards entered, they thought that
was Jesus.
And so they captured Judas, and Judas said,
it's not me, I'm not the one.
But he looked like that.
And so they took him, they tortured him,
they put him on their cross, they killed
him.
What do you expect the people to believe
than when they see the body of quote
-unquote Jesus dead?
وَلَكَنْ شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ This is the predominant tafsir.
There are other tafsirs as well.
And as long as, you know, the Quranic
wording is met, inshaAllah, في كلٍّ there's no
problem in any tafsir.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that,
وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ Those
who are arguing about Jesus, those who are
arguing about him, they are in doubt.
They don't have knowledge.
Allah says in the Quran, وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا
This is definitive.
قَطْعِي There can be no two opinions.
يَقِين They did not kill him.
This verse is definitive.
However you want to say شُبِّهَ Okay, you
have this theory, this theory, this theory.
Because some people say other theories about شُبِّهَ
It doesn't matter.
What is explicit?
However the tashbih was done, we don't know.
But one thing, وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا This is
in the Quran, no two opinions.
They did not kill Jesus.
بَلْ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ Once again, رَفَعَ We
had this also in Al-Imran, we have
it in Nisa.
The same phrase, Allah took him up.
And if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had
caused him to die, there's no reason to
raise the body up.
The fact that the body is raised up
means physically he is alive.
That's why the body is taken away from
this earth.
بَلْ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ So Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has raised him up.
And then Allah Azzawajal says, وَإِمْ مِنْ أَهْلِ
الْكِتَابِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ And none
of the people of the book shall be
there except that they shall believe in Jesus
before the death of Jesus.
This is again a cryptic verse, I mean,
what does that mean?
What does it mean that none of them
will die until they believe in Jesus properly?
And again, the majority tafsir is, none of
them who are alive when Jesus comes down,
none of them who are Ahlul Kitab will
end up remaining Ahlul Kitab.
They will all convert to the real religion
of Jesus which is Islam.
And they will believe in Jesus before Jesus
dies his actual death, which is gonna happen
towards the end of times.
And this is an interpretation, Ibn Al-Jawzi
and Tabari, they mentioned this as the primary
interpretation.
So we will keep it over there.
So this is Surah An-Nisa.
Surah Al-Ma'idah is also like around
two sections about Jesus, about Isa ibn Maryam.
And Allah mentions the miracles of Isa.
And Allah mentions the favors that he has
given Isa.
And the miracles that are mentioned are almost
the same as that of Ali Imran.
But in Surah Ma'idah, you have a
unique story.
That story is not mentioned anywhere else in
the Quran.
And in fact, that's why it's called Surah
Al-Ma'idah.
And in Surah Al-Ma'idah, we are
told of a story where the disciples of
Jesus, the Hawari, they asked Jesus for a
miracle.
And they said, O Isa, tell your Lord
to bring down a table laden with food.
We wanna have a feast.
تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًا We wanna have an Eid.
لِأَوَّلِنَا وَآخِرِنَا For the first and the last
of us.
And we want it to be a miracle
from you.
Let this be a miracle.
And Isa says, don't do this, don't test
Allah, don't do this, it's not right.
And they insisted, do it, ask Allah.
And so, Isa Ibn Maryam raised his hands,
and Isa Ibn Maryam said that, رَبَّنَا أَنزِلْ
عَلَيْنَا مَآئِدَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ O Allah, send down
a table from the heavens and let it
be a feast.
So Allah says, إِنِّي مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ I'm gonna
send it down.
فَمَنْ يَكْفُرُ بَعْدُ مِنكُمْ فَإِنِّي أُعَذِّبُهُ عَذَابًا لَا
أُعَذِّبُهُ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ If anybody becomes kafir
after this, I'm gonna punish him like I
punish no one else.
Now again, one interpretation, this is a reference
to Judas.
One interpretation, because Judas was there, the one
who betrayed.
One interpretation again, it's okay if you have
another interpretation because the Quran is not explicit.
But one interpretation, this is a reference to
the one who will betray.
And there is the understanding that this is
a reference to what the Christians call the
last supper.
This is an understanding.
Even though the Quran doesn't call it the
last supper, but the fact that there is
a final banquet or there's a banquet coming
down from heavens, and the Christians have in
their folklore the last supper.
So Allah knows best if it's the same
correlation, but that is also over there.
Also in surah Ma'idah, we have a
unique conversation which is in no other surah.
And that is a conversation that will take
place on the day of judgment in which
Allah says that, Ya Isa, O Isa, أَأَنتَ
قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اِتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمْيَا إِلَٰهَيْنِ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
Did you preach to mankind that they should
worship you and your mother instead of worshiping
Me?
Did you preach to mankind this theology?
This is an interesting ayah, we're going to
spend some time deconstructing it and explaining it,
right?
قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ He said, Subhanak, I would never
do such a thing.
ما أقول, It's not possible for me to
say except what you commanded me to say.
I would never say anything other than what
you commanded me to say.
I did not preach to them the theology
they believe.
This is a very interesting verse which is
going to be affirmed over and over again.
And then also at the ending of the
surah is a very, very deep, profound theological
verse.
I'm just going to mention it, we're not
going to have time to discuss it.
In which Isa asks Allah to forgive all
of his Christian followers.
He asks Allah, إِن تُعَذِّبْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ عِبَادُكُ وَإِن
تَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ فَإِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ If you
punish them, they are your creation, you have
the right to punish them.
But if you forgive, you are Al-Azizul
Hakim.
So he asks Allah indirectly to forgive those
who followed him.
So this is in surah Al-Ma'idah.
In surah Zukhruf, which is the earliest revelation
of Isa.
This is the first time Isa is mentioned
in the Qur'an in terms of revelation.
Because interesting point, most of the surahs that
mention Isa are Madani.
Most of the surahs, in contrast to most
of the stories which are Makki.
When it comes to Jesus, interestingly, most of
the surahs are Madani.
Only a few are Makki.
Some are, I'm not saying it's not mentioned
in Makki.
And the earliest reference to Isa is surah
Zukhruf, which is mid Makkah.
This is the first time Isa is mentioned
chronologically in the Qur'an.
And in surah Zukhruf, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala mentions that the Quraysh are trying to
compare and contrast Isa with their gods.
And they say, look, just like you guys
believe in Isa, and you think him to
be good.
We also believe in our gods and we
think them to be good.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, ما
ضربوه لك إلا جدل, بل هم قوم خصمون.
They're only using this analogy to argue.
They are an irrational argumentative people.
عيسى إن هو إلا عبد أنعمنا عليه.
Isa is an abd, he's not an ilah.
There is no comparison.
So Allah mentions the fact that the Quraysh
try to compare.
We have people that we respect and you
have people you respect and you worship them
and we worship them.
And Allah says, no, Isa didn't preach the
worship.
Isa is an abd, and your gods you
are being, you are worshiping them besides Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And the final verse we'll mention before I
go into my history.
The final verse we'll mention, this is multiple
verses mentioned, but the final one, Surah Hadeed.
Very interesting, Surah Hadeed.
Allah mentions in Surah Hadeed that Allah mentions
Isa and the followers of Isa.
Then Allah says, وَجَعَلْنَا فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ تَبَعُوهُ
رَأْفَةً وَرَحْمًا It's a very interesting point of
the Quran.
We made the hearts of those who follow
Jesus full of compassion and rahmah and softness.
We made the hearts of Christians compassionate hearts.
And if you look at the reality of
the world today, those who genuinely want to
follow Jesus, you find them to be of
the most kind and compassionate people.
And Allah says, وَجَعَلْنَا فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ تَبَعُوهُ
Anybody who really wants to make ittiba' of
that Prophet, we made in his heart ra
'fa.
Ra'fa is a tenderness, rahmah, you all
know what rahmah is.
رَأْفَةً وَرَحْمًا So Allah makes...
By the way, contrast this with those who
claim to follow Moses.
Those who claim to follow Moses, Allah describes
them with arrogance.
Allah describes them with knowing the truth and
rejecting it.
Allah describes them as يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاعَهُمْ
Look at how Allah described that group and
the characteristics and look at the reality.
Then look at how Allah described this group
and the characteristics and look at the reality.
Wallahi ra'ya al-'ayn, you see it with
your own eyes, exactly how the Quran describes.
Then Allah says, وَرَهْبَانِيَّةَ نِبَتَدَعُوهَا And their monasticism.
What is rahbaniyya?
Rahbaniyya means to live away from the lifestyle
of normal human beings, to live in like
a hermit, to live like a monk, to
eat hardly anything, to dress hardly nothing, to
leave marriage, to leave this dunya.
This is monasticism or living like a hermit.
وَرَهْبَانِيَّةَ نِبَتَدَعُوهَا The monasticism, they invented it.
ما كَتَبْنَاهَا عَلَيْهِمْ We didn't tell them to
do this.
Once again, Allah is referencing another fact.
Their rituals, we did not tell them to
do.
They invented.
So the Quran explicitly is saying, Isa is
saying, I didn't tell them to do this.
Isa is saying, this is not my religion.
Allah is saying, this is not what I
told them to do.
They invented it after me.
So the Quran is referencing multiple times the
fact that modern Christianity is a development.
It is a corruption.
It is something that evolved over multiple iterations.
And the most explicit verse, and this verse
I'm gonna spend some time on.
The most explicit verse that is mentioned in
the Quran in this regard that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala mentions in the Quran in
Surah Al-Ma'idah verses 72 onwards.
Surah Al-Ma'idah, the second part because
I said Ma'idah has two times in
Jesus.
The second section that mentions Isa, Surah 72,
Allah says, لَقَدَ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ
هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنَ مَرِيَمَ Those who say that
the Messiah, the son of Mary is God,
they have blasphemed.
Right after that, لَقَدَ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ
اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثًا Those who say God is
a trinity have blasphemed.
So those who preach, Jesus is divine, have
committed kufr.
Those who preach a trinity have committed kufr.
By the way, then Allah says, both Isa
and his mother were created servants, they would
eat food.
Allah refutes this theology in the most simple
manner.
كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامِ How can they be gods
when they used to eat food?
How can they be gods when they are
mortal?
Then Allah says that, يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ This
is the key verse I'm gonna spend some
time on.
يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ O people of the book,
do not exaggerate in your religion over the
truth.
لا تَغْلُوا Don't exaggerate.
وَاتَّتَبِعُ أَهْوَاءَ قَوْمٍ قَدَضَلُّوا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّوا كَثِيرًا
وَضَلُّوا عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ Don't exaggerate something that
might be true, you make it bigger than
it is.
And instead you follow groups of people.
Listen to this now.
قَدَضَلُّوا مِنْ قَبْلُ They went astray before you.
And because they went astray, وَأَضَلُّوا They forced
others to go astray.
ضَلُّوا وَأَضَلُّوا They went astray, they were wrong,
and they forced others to follow their incorrect
beliefs.
وَضَلُّوا عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ And they turned away
from سواء السَّبِيلِ from صراط المستقيم.
Now, I want to impress upon you a
historical fact, which is wallahi without a doubt
one of the miracles of this book.
The people in Arabia, Hijaz, 6th century, had
no idea of the development of Christian theology.
It's impossible.
In fact, most of early Christianity itself had
no idea of the various iterations and phases
and theologians that developed Christianity.
Even the average Christian in the Roman Empire
was ignorant because they kept their people in
the dark.
This is the stuff that only advanced, if
you like theologians within the empire would have
known.
And without a doubt, nobody outside of their
circles, definitely in the Arabic language, no one
would have known.
Because Christianity was not popular amongst the Arabs.
There was not a single Bible, much less
theological text translated into Arabic.
There were no Christian priests and ministers wandering
in Arabia.
There were pockets of Jewish people, yes, but
they didn't know Christian theology.
They didn't have a knowledge of Christian church
doctrines.
So Allah mentions very interesting facts.
Allah says, Jesus never taught the Trinity.
Jesus never taught His divinity.
Jesus never taught your theology.
Jesus never taught your liturgy.
Jesus never taught your rituals.
All of this, you invented it after Him.
اِبِ تَدَعُوهَا You created the bid'ah.
You did this innovation.
Now, history knows, even now the average biblical
student is well aware of the development of
Christianity.
What I'm trying to impress upon you, when
the Qur'an came down, it is impossible
that any Arab would have known, much less
an Arab in the middle of Hijaz, much
less somebody who didn't read and write, impossible.
Yet the Qur'an with vivid, explicit detail
is saying, all of this is coming later
on.
Groups of people went astray and then they
forced others to follow their astray theology.
Force means there's political power.
Allah is pointing out historical fact.
What is that historical fact?
This is a very brief summary.
Realize, Isa ibn Maryam was raised up when
he was 33 years old, very young.
So one of the main reasons why there's
so much confusion about his religion is that
he only preached for a short period of
time, maybe three to five years he was
actively preaching.
And his disappearance, his raising up occurred suddenly.
Nobody was expecting it.
His followers were not expecting it.
And so there was no codification.
And so when he was raised up, chaos
amongst his followers, complete chaos.
What happened after he was lifted up?
Very briefly, we know now historically at least
four or five different strands of Christian groups
appeared.
The first of them is called Jewish Christianity.
This is the technical term, Jewish Christianity.
And this Jewish Christianity, it was followed by
the 12 disciples of Jesus other than Judas.
The 12, because Judas disappears.
We have no idea what happened to him
in the Old Testament, in the New Testament.
The 12 disciples that remain onwards, all of
them remained following the laws of Musa, eating
kosher, observing the halakha, the sharia, and believing
Jesus to be the Masih, not the son
of God.
And from them came what is called Jewish
Christianity, which is basically Islam.
Isa is the Masih.
Isa came to revive the deen of Musa
alayhis salaam.
Isa did not preach any new theology.
There were a number of movements which eventually
fizzled out, and there's no remnants of them
in our times.
The second group, Pauline Christianity.
This group is now the only dominant group
in the entire world.
All Christian movements today that you're familiar with,
tap into Pauline Christianity.
And Paul, Paul, his name was Saul, he
changed it to Paul.
Paul never saw Jesus.
Paul was not one of the 12 disciples.
Paul pretended, or we should say, let's be
accurate here.
Paul was a persecutor of early Christians after
Jesus was raised up.
And he says that he saw Jesus after
the ascension.
Jesus came back and spoke to him.
So he converted because of a miracle, he
said.
He spoke to Jesus, and so Jesus came
to him, you know, basically in life form
after the ascension.
And Jesus spoke to Paul, and Jesus made
him a disciple.
How do we know this?
Because Paul told us so.
That's the only way we know this.
Paul claimed to have seen Jesus.
He claims to have converted.
And he becomes an ardent Christian for the
rest of his life.
But even the New Testament mentions Paul clashed
with the actual disciples of Jesus.
Over what?
Look and go read Paul's letter to the
Galatians and Paul's letters to so and so.
Number of points.
Most importantly, Paul began to preach.
The most important thing, you don't have to
follow the law of God.
No salah, no zakah, no siyam, no following
the rituals, no kosher, halakha, no halal, zabiha,
nothing.
You don't need to have any shariah.
How is salvation then?
What did Paul say?
Who knows?
Belief.
All you have to do is believe and
you will be saved.
This is a new aqeedah.
Nobody before him said this.
So Paul abolished circumcision.
That's the debate between him and the disciples.
You don't need to be circumcised to become
a part of our church.
Paul abolished the laws of the kosher.
Paul abolished being a law-abiding Jewish person.
And the second main thing he innovated, Paul
said, our gospel is meant for all people,
Gentiles and Jewish people.
Whereas Isa said, I am sent only to
you.
I'm only sent to the lost sheep of
Israel.
I have nothing to do with the Roman
Empire.
I'm sent to the Jewish people.
As Allah says in the Quran, مُصَدِّقَ لِمَا
بِنْ مَتَوْرَىٰ I'm reaffirming the Torah.
I'm sending to the Bani Israel.
رَسُولًا إِلَىٰ بَنِ إِسْرَائِيلِ I'm a messenger to
the children of Israel.
The New Testament has it from his own
tongue.
He literally says in the New Testament, I
have only been sent to the lost sheep
of the children of Israel.
Literally it's in the New Testament.
Paul said, no, we're going to make this
global.
And because he started preaching a new ideology,
a new theology, there's no laws, no rituals.
All you got to do is believe.
A lot of Romans embraced Christianity and Christianity
became slowly a Roman phenomenon.
This is the second sect of Christianity.
We have Jewish Christianity, Pauline Christianity.
We'll mention one more, Gnostic Christianity.
And Gnostic Christianity is a very interesting, bizarre
religion.
It doesn't really exist anymore in our times.
And they viewed, listen to this, and it's
all very common sense.
They said, the Old Testament and the New
Testament don't seem to have the same God.
Because the Old Testament has one God, and
the New Testament and Jesus and all of
this seems to have already the talk is
beginning of Son of God and whatnot.
And so they began preaching the God of
the Old Testament is different than the God
of the New Testament because they could not
reconcile the Trinity.
They could not reconcile the divinity of Jesus
with the Old Testament.
And so they began preaching a very, you
know, interesting, mystical interpretation, which lasted a while.
One of the main people, his name is
Martian.
You can look him up, not Martian, Marcion,
M-A-R-C-I-O-N, not
Martian.
No, Marcion, you can look him up.
He has an interesting theology and there are
other strands as well.
Now, these diverse strands began to argue and
bicker, but still the government is not involved.
All of this argument is amongst lay people.
All of this argument is among the social
network.
The government is pagan.
Roman Empire is pagan.
What happens?
Constantine the Emperor converts to Christianity.
This happens in the year 300, way after
Jesus Christ.
300 years after Jesus, Christianity finally knocks on
the door of the Emperor of Rome.
But by that time, all of these strands
are fighting each other.
By that time, you still have some Jewish
Christians, you still have some Pauline Christians, you
still have some Gnostic Christians.
So Constantine has to decide, what do we
do?
Constantine, for reasons we're not gonna get into
now, decides to adopt Pauline Christianity and solidify
it.
Make it the state religion.
بَلُّوا وَأَبَلُّوا Force his aqeedah upon everybody.
Because during Constantine time, there were two primary
popular strands.
One of those strands was by the bishop
known as Arius.
And Arius preached that Jesus was not fully
divine.
Jesus was created, and Jesus had a normal
birth.
But then to be very precise, he said,
Jesus then had aspects of divinity later on.
It wasn't purely Islamic belief, but he believed
that Jesus was not fully divine.
Arius Christianity was relatively close to Islam.
And that is why Arians faith, which was
the faith of the people of Andalus and
others, when Islam came, they embraced Islam easily.
The Emperor Constantine decided, we want to kick
Arius out of Christianity.
He convened a council, and he made a
creed called the Nicene Creed.
And the Nicene Creed in the year 324
basically, for the first time adopted the Trinity
as official doctrine.
Question, was Constantine the one who invented Trinity?
Response, no.
They say, Trinity was first proposed by somebody
one generation before Constantine.
His name is Tertullian.
Tertullian in the third century.
In the third century, for three centuries, nobody
said God the Father, God the Son and
Holy Ghost.
Nobody said this.
Tertullian comes along, and the first person to
propose, the Trinity.
And that is then adopted later on by
Constantine.
So the Trinity was proposed in the third
century before Constantine.
By the time Constantine comes, he adopts it,
and he makes it the state religion.
And he says, Arius is a heretic.
He is a murtad kafir.
Anybody who follows his beliefs needs to get
out of the empire.
And from then on, multiple councils took place.
21 councils, the last one of them, 1962,
believe it or not.
Every council convened to make another point of
aqeedah.
And every time they convened, one group broke
away.
So from the earliest of times, you have
the Coptic Christians broke away.
We don't agree with this.
You have the Nestorians, they broke away.
Chalcedonians, they broke away.
Russian Orthodox, they broke away.
This and that broke away.
And the Council of Trent, the Protestants broke
away.
So every time there's a council, there's a
mini civil war and Christianity breaks up over
and over again.
But the one council all Christians are united
on is the Council of Nicaea, the Nicene
Creed.
And the Nicene Creed, dallu kathiran wa adallu
kathira.
They went astray and they forced people to
go astray.
The Nicene Creed solidified the Trinity.
This is what the worst thing of that
creed.
You have to believe in three gods.
For 300 years, Christians are debating how many
gods there are.
300 years.
We have no equivalent in Islam.
All of our khilafat pale in comparison.
Wallahi, Muslims, you don't realize how blessed we
are.
Allah protected this ummah.
We are arguing who should have been the
khalifa.
And we think that's a big deal.
Okay, it's a bit of a big deal.
But there's no comparison.
There is no ikhtilaf about Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
There's no ikhtilaf about the finality of the
Prophet ﷺ for the bulk of the ummah.
There's no ikhtilaf about akhirah, jannah and naar.
The khilaf is who should have been the
first leader.
And we think it's a big deal.
When you compare it to Christianity, they don't
even know who God is.
Literally, I'm not exaggerating.
Is God one?
Is God...
And there was versions of Christianity, believe it
or not.
God is God the Father, God the Son
and Mary.
There were versions like this.
And you had other versions as well.
So bottom line, when you look at the
reality of Christianity, you find that subhanAllah, each
few generations, they came and they had to
add a theology, solidify their theology.
They're debating the core principles.
And the Quran is revealed when the Arabs
had no idea of this reality.
And the Quran references the truth that Jesus
never taught this.
Jesus is free of it.
The people who taught it were themselves misguided.
They have no certain knowledge.
They're debating amongst themselves, and then they force
other people to follow their theology.
And with this inshaAllah ta'ala, one final
point before we conclude, and that is that,
now we're gonna enter into the season of,
you know, the celebrations and whatnot.
And my position on this is very clear,
is that we as Muslims should not import
festivals into our religious festivals, into our tradition.
However, I'm making a very clear point here.
Those who have converted to Islam, converts, if
your families have holidays at that time, and
they bring family together, for you in particular,
it is permissible for you to go to
your family events, but do not participate in
any ibadah.
Converts have a different ruling than full Muslim
families.
You who are full Muslim families, why are
you bringing in terminologies and lights and what?
Why?
Why are we doing this?
We have no...
This is not our Eid.
لكل قوم عيد.
Every qawm has an Eid.
And this is not our Eid.
We do not celebrate the festivals that are
religious in nature.
And this is a religious festival.
However, converts, whose families gather on these days,
you may go with the intention of presenting
da'wah, with the intention of showing what
Islam is, whatever you can mention about Islam
mentioned, and you may partake as long as
obviously you do not do anything haram, and
most importantly, as long as you do not
participate in a hymn, any ritual, any ibadah.
But to be a part of the family
at this time, this is the one time
when the whole family comes together.
I know some fatwas say you should not
go.
This is I disagree.
You are the only Muslim in your family,
you must go.
And your goal for going is to present
Islam in the most good and positive manner.
And as for more fatwa related to corporate
celebrations, I have a longer Q&A, you
can listen to it.
But without a doubt in our houses, Muslim
houses, 25th should be the exact same as
the 24th and 26th.
We don't have anything to do with, you
know, anything of this nature.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect
us and all of our children, and keep
our tawhid strong.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide
us and guide those after us.
Wa jazakumullah khair.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.