There are in the Quran many references to our Lord Jesus Christ, but there is practically no historic knowledge. It must be remembered that in Muhammad’s time there was no Arabic version of the Bible; he was therefore dependent for information upon the Jews and Christians with whom he came into contact. That he formed conclusions upon very insufficient knowledge is the terrible blunder of his life, of which full use has been made by Christian writers. Enough has not been made of the responsibility of the church which had no better tales to tell, no truer account to give, of their Lord and their Faith. The Christianity presented to this Seeker after God was painfully inadequate to his need.
The little Muhammad discovered led to his acknowledgment of the Jewish and Christian books, which he had never read, with reservations. It led also to a far more important admission. The Jesus of the Quran is denied Divinity, but the character of Jesus did not fail of effect. All criticism is directed towards the professors of the Christian Faith, and their doctrines. This “son of Mary” is, in Muhammad’s view, that which he never dreamt of claiming for himself, a man unstained by sin. Not only so, but titles and honours are yielded to Him little short of Divine:—He is Masih, the Messiah; Qaul-ul-Haqq, the Word of Truth; Kalima, the word; He is “the Apostle of God to confirm the law, and to announce an Apostle who should come after Him, whose name should be Ahmad;” He had near access to God, and was “illustrious in this world and the next.”
Yet Muhammad supersedes Jesus Christ!
The Death of Jesus There is another part of the problem of the rejection of our Lord; the attitude of the Quran towards the Death of Jesus. The death upon the Cross is indignantly denied.
“They have not believed on Jesus, and have spoken against Mary a grievous calumny; and have said, Verily we have slain Christ Jesus the Son of Mary, the Apostle of God; yet they slew Him not, neither crucified Him, but He was represented by one in His likeness; ... They did not really kill Him; but God took Him up unto Himself; and God is mighty and wise ... on the day of resurrection He shall be witness against them.”
It is said that Muhammad so hated the sign of the Cross, that if any article, however valuable, came into his possession bearing the mark, it was destroyed at once. The horror of the thought that Jesus should have died the abhorred death, or that God Himself should have permitted it, seems to be the argument against its having occurred. In the Quran that which is symbolized by the Cross—the approach of God to sinful man in mercy and love—is entirely lacking. There is no hint that the Christian Message of Atonement through the Gift of the Saviour’s life to God in man’s name had ever reached the Prophet. There is therefore no assurance, save the Prophet’s word for it, that God upon His far Throne, hears, or hearing answers and forgives the sin of His creatures; there is no assurance of salvation in Islam.
It is a tragic story; the responsibility for which it has been the habit of Christian writers to cast largely upon Muhammad. The apportionment of guilt is not so lightly determined.