Thursday, January 19, 2012

Muhammad's argument against the divinity of Christ

Here is Muhammad's argument against the divinity of Christ. Let me know what you think:
The Christians came to Muhammad and argued with him about Jesus, son of Mary. They asked him who his father was and uttered many lies and slanderous things about Allah - he is the only god; he has neither wife nor child. Muhammad said to them: "Do you not know that our lord is living and that he will not die? Jesus, however, was exposed to mortality." They said, "Yes." He asked them, "Was there a reason for Jesus being different?" They said, "No." He said, "Do you not know that nothing is hidden from Allah, whether on earth or in heaven?" They said, "Yes." He said to them, "Did Jesus know more than Allah taught him?" They said, "No." He said: "Our Lord fashioned Jesus as he pleased, in his mother's womb. Do you not know that our Lord neither eats nor drinks nor eliminates anything unclean?" They answered, "Yes." He said: "Do you not know that Jesus' mother was pregnant with him and bore him as every mother does her child; that he was nourished like every child, and that he ate, drank, and relieved himself of impurities?" They said, "Yes." He said, "How can what you claim be true?"
Source: Ibn Hisham, as-Siratu'n-nabawiyya, Cairo 1955, Vol. 1, pp. 224-225.

HT to http://www.light-of-life.com/eng/sources/

6 comments:

The Last Ephor said...

I can see nothing in his argument that is either logical or compelling. He appears to either not know the duality of Christ or ignores it.

Further, if God is indeed omnipotent, why would he not be able to create Himself in human form? Why would it be impossible for a omnipotent divine being to eat, drink and have all other normal bodily functions?

Robert Sievers said...

This particular angle of assaulting the biological aspects of Jesus’ humanity occurs quite frequently. As a rule, Muslims are quick to point out the dishonor of God enduring normal human bodily functions. When you think of it, being a bit disgusted is an understandable reaction. As a Christian, we don’t like to ponder such matters. I have never heard a sermon on whether Jesus wet the bed as a child or what Mary thought as she changed His soiled clothes as a baby. I doubt I ever will. Such sophomoric discussions are not really the point. The point is to consider what Jesus did for us, and it should humble us. Yes, these ignominious aspects of Jesus’ life are repugnant, yet they point back to what Christ did for us during His incarnation. It is these undesirable aspects of humanity that only add to helping us understand the sacrifice He made for us. He left the glories of heaven to come to a smelly, dusty, and sweaty world. He chose hunger, discomfort, pain, and ultimately the cross.

The whole point is that Jesus had absolute power, but never used it for His own gain. That is the definition of meekness, and that is our lesson. To lead a sinless life, Jesus never chose to use His divine power for His own gain at any opportunity, including those profound times when he calmed the storm, and those not-so-profound times when he may have been suffering from the common cold. Again, if Jesus were human only, discussing bodily functions is both disgusting and irrelevant. However, that God Himself endured our lives from beginning to end without ever intervening on His own behalf is the story of genuine beauty. It is the story of divine love that humbles us and causes us to love Him all the more.

Abu Daoud said...

I agree, obviously. It is ironic to hear the constant proclamation of Allahu Akbar and then in the next sentence hear someone telling you about God CANNOT do.

aadam said...

In islam, we believe god (Allah the almighty) is the greatest, he is the provider sustainer cherisher, he knows our needs after all he made us in the best of form. God ( Allah the almighty) is one, he has no partner, no children etc... there was no need for the sacrifice that you believe jesus made for you because at the end of the day it is your life and you control it. God sent messengers to guide mankind to only worship him alone with out any partners. Islam is all about gaining the closeness to god and keeping away from sins doing as much good deeds to get a higher status in heaven. Also do you not know about the quran? It is the best miracle that was given to prophet mohammad (pbuh) out of all miracles. Look at the scientific information that was revealed in the quran 1400 years ago! Who do you think wrote those scientific facts 1400 years ago? Clearly just from that, it proves the quran is gods (Allah) word. Without the latest technology it would be impossible to get such details. If you like to know more find out in more detail about the quran.

Robert Sievers said...

aadam,

I have investigating the Qur'an scientific statements and found them both lacking and factually errant. However, rather than discussing that, I am more interested in you.

You talk about achieving closeness to God, avoiding sins and doing good deeds. How are you doing? How many sins do you have, and how many good deeds do you have? If they were put on scales now, how would you fare?

I ask because I know for myself I would be found lacking. All of my sins, no matter what size, are an abomination before God, and my good deeds are nothing other than what I should be doing for God in the first place. So how are you doing?

observant observer said...

if biological aspects of human being are considered unclean, disgusting and made humanity unholy, then it seems that Muhammad really didn't get the meaning of what holy means and was lacking in understanding the very best design that God had created for human biological for living in this material world aka earth. I was rather surprised to see the connection of how Adam and Eve seemed to be made in heaven according to Quran (not as in the garden "paradise" on earth as what the bible told us) and had all those biological functions created as well (if not, there's no such story that their body function were somewhere somehow modified to be able to live the earthly life when they were thrown down to earth???) on what purpose as they believed that heaven is something that makes everything not dirty, not involving even any slight impurity regarding biological function? I do think that the theological concept of Islam and of course Muhammad is rather low.