Jesus, the Jews and the Chosen People

  

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

Jesus, the Jews and the Chosen People

 

The Jews had a major problem with Nabi ‘Isa, i.e., Jesus ʿalayhi as-salām, because he condemned them with very powerful language while dismissing their claim to have a special status with Allah Most High as His chosen people.  

 

Jesus declared of the Jews that the Devil was their father. In other words, instead of recognizing them as the chosen people of the Lord-God, he declared that they were, in effect, the chosen people of Satan since their conduct was satanic. He considered them to be one-eyed, i.e., internally blind, and declared them to be “a nation of vipers”:

 

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44  

 

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  Matthew 12:34

 

For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Matthew 13:15

 

The Qur’an supported the response of Nabi ‘Isa, i.e., Jesus ʿalayhi as-salām. In fact, it not only rejected the Jewish claim to that special status with the Lord-God as false, but went on to challenge them to seek or desire death if they were convinced of the truth of their claim:

(Qur’an, al-Jumu’ah, 62:6–8)

Say: O you who follow the Jewish faith! If you claim that you alone are close to Allah, i.e., chosen by Allah Most High, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should be longing for death—if what you say is true!  But never will they long for it, because they are aware of what their hands have wrought in this world, i.e. their sinful evil conduct; and Allah has full knowledge of evildoers.  Say: Behold, the death from which you are fleeing is bound to overtake you—and then you will be brought back unto Him Who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind, whereupon He will make you truly understand all that you were doing in life.  

 

The Qur’an again challenged them concerning their belief that heaven is reserved for them:

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:94–5)

Say: If an afterlife with Allah, i.e., the abode of heaven, is to be for you alone, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should long for death—if what you say is true! But never will they long for it, because (they are aware) of what their hands have sent ahead in this world: and Allah has full knowledge of evildoers.  

 

The Qur’an asked with great logical compulsion, if the Lord-God chose you to be His ‘special’, ‘chosen’ and ‘beloved’ people, why then, does He punish you for your sins?

(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:18)

And both the Jews and the Christians say: We are Allah’s children, and His beloved ones. Say: Why, then, does He cause you to be punished for your sins? Nay, you are but human beings of His creating. He forgives whom He wills, and He causes to be punished whom He wills: for Allah’s is the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Him all journeys end.

 

The Qur’an laid this alleged Divine preference for the Jews to rest when it declared that the Divine classification of human beings is based on piety rather than on lineage:

(Qur’an, al-Hujurat, 49:13)  

O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another, i.e., in respect of classification of humankind. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the one who is most pious. Behold, Allah is all-knowing, all-aware.

 

Prophet Muhammad ṣallā -llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallam also dismissed that Jewish claim to a special (birth right) status with Allah Almighty when he declared:  that all of mankind are as equal in His sight as are the teeth of a comb”. (Sahih Bukhari)

 

We must now ask, —where from came this arrogant Jewish claim to a birth right of superiority over all of mankind? 

 

The Qur’an confirms that the Israelite people descended from Nabi Ibrahim, i.e., Abraham ʿalayhi as-salām, and also confirms that Allah Most High conferred on Abraham alayhi as-salām the status of Imam, i.e., spiritual or religious leader, of mankind. Abraham alayhi as-salām responded, however, with a request that his seed should also share in that status conferred upon him. As a consequence, the Jews came to the conclusion that since they were from the seed of Abraham alayhi as-salām, they had a special status divinely conferred upon them. But the Qur’an explained that Allah’s response to Abraham’s request was to grant it conditionally:

 

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:124)

And remember that event when his Lord-God tried Abraham by His commandments and the latter fulfilled them. He said: Behold, I shall make thee an Imam, i.e., leader, of men. Abraham asked: And will You make leaders of my offspring as well? Allah answered: My covenant does not embrace the wicked. 

 

The condition was that this status would not be conferred on those of his seed who were unjust, wicked in conduct, or oppressors. Allah Most High went on to fulfill that favor unto Abraham alayhi as-salām, by choosing Imams from his seed, hence the phenomenon of a continuous line of Prophets chosen from the seed of Abrahamalayhi as-salām, who were all sent to the Israelite people. The most that the Jews could claim, therefore, is that Allah Most High accepted the request of Abraham alayhi as-salām and blessed his righteous seed by choosing a continuous line of Imams or Prophets from that righteous seed. Believing Israelites, who are righteous, can therefore claim that Allah Most High chose Prophets from ‘our’ ranks.  

 

Hence it was that Prophets of Allah were always chosen and appointed from the righteous seed of Abraham (since the Covenant excluded those who were wicked). This continued uninterruptedly until the birth of the Messiah, Jesus the son of the Virgin Mary ʿalayhi as-salām. Mary’s mother is referred to in the Qur’an as a woman of the House of ‘Imran, and Mary herself is called “sister of Harun” who, himself, is the son of ‘Imran. 

 

It is very strange indeed that there is no evidence of ‘Imran having the status of a Nabi, i.e., Prophet of Allah Most High. Yet he is a father of two Prophets—Musa, i.e., Moses, and Harun, i.e., Aaron ʿalayhi as-salām. The Qur’an mentioned the names of Adam ʿalayhi as-salām and Noah ʿalayhi as-salām as Prophets who were raised to a special status over all of mankind. It then mentioned that the same status was conferred on the progeny of Abraham ʿalayhi as-salām, but it then went on to provide the additional information that this status was also conferred, strangely so, on the progeny of an unknown Israelite named ‘Imran, who resided in Egypt. The Qur’an is otherwise silent on this strange subject.

 

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