| The Bible Led me to Islam Abdul Malik 
              LeBlanc tells How He Discovered Islam Within the Pages of Bible Taken from International 
              Edition Voice of Islam November 1998, Page 25
 During my Christian days there were 
              many verses in the Bible that made me question the religion I was 
              following (Christianity). There was one particular verse, 1 Thessalonians 
              5:17 which says; "pray without ceasing," that lingered heavily in 
              my mind. I often wondered how a person (Christian) was supposed 
              to pray (be in a state of worship) without ceasing? Without any 
              biblical or divine guidance, the only way I thought this to be possible 
              was to always do good deeds and keep the remembrance of God on my 
              tongue and in my heart.  However, I found this to be impossible 
              to do as a human being. But when I was introduced to Islam in 1987, 
              and began to read and learn more about this way of life, I found 
              that Islam provided divine guidance both from God (Allah) and Prophet 
              Muhammad (SAW) by which a person could pray (be in a state of worship) 
              without ceasing, if it was the Will of God.   Whether waking up, eating, sleeping, 
              putting on clothes, being in the presence of a woman, looking at 
              a woman, going shopping, going to the bathroom, looking in the mirror, 
              traveling, visiting the sick, sitting in a non-religious meeting, 
              taking a bath, having sexual intercourse with one’s wife, yawning, 
              cutting you nails, sneezing, greeting people, talking, hosting guests 
              at home, walking, exercising, fighting, entering one’s house, praying 
              and many other acts, Islam and the guidance therein of the Quran, 
              and the acts and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), provided ways 
              in which I could observe 1 Thessalonians 5:17. In addition, it allowed 
              me to be at peace with myself and in submission to the one True 
              God - Allah (SWT).    This divine guidance of Islam taught 
              me greatly about my duties, responsibilities and birthright to my 
              Creator (Allah), and more about the religion of Christianity as 
              a Muslim, I [By the Will of Allah (SWT)] felt it necessary to share 
              with you how the Bible led me to Islam.  Christianity Given the fact that there has never 
              been in the history of the Torah (Old Testament) the religion of 
              God to be named after a Prophet (i.e. Adaminity, Abrahamity, Mosanity, 
              etc.), I hope to explain that Jesus did not preach the religion 
              of Christianity, but a religion that gives all Praise and Worship 
              to The One God.  One of the questions I asked myself 
              as I took an objective (second) look at Christianity was; where 
              did the word Christianity come from and was the word ever mentioned 
              to Jesus? Well, I did not find the word Christianity in the Bible, 
              not even in a Bible dictionary. Specifically, I did not find in 
              the Bible where Jesus called himself a Christian.   The word Christian was first mentioned 
              by a pagan to describe those who followed Jesus. It is mentioned 
              one of three times in the New Testament by a pagan and Jew in Antioch 
              about 43 AD, (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:38 and 1 Peter 4:16) long after 
              Jesus left this earth. To accept the words of pagans as having any 
              value or association with divinity, Jesus or God is contrary to 
              the teachings of all Prophets.    Jesus prophesied that people would 
              worship him uselessly and believe in doctrines made by men (Matthew 
              15:9).   "But in vain they do worship me, 
              teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." This verse, Matthew 
              15:9, is further supported by these words of the Quran:   "And (remember) when Allah will say 
              (on the Day of Resurrection): "O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say 
              unto men: "Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?" 
              He will say: "Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had 
              no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would surely have 
              known it. You know what is in my inner-self though I do not know 
              what is in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the All-Knower o fall 
              that is hidden and unseen.   Never did I say to them aught except 
              what You (Allah) did command me to say: ‘Worship Allah, my Lord 
              and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst 
              them, but when You took me up, You were a Witness to all things. 
              (This is a great admonition and warning to the Christians of the 
              whole world)." (Al-Ma’idah 5:116-117)   I found that Biblical verses like 
              John 5:30, John 12:49, John 14:28, Isaiah 42:8 and Acts 2:22 support 
              the above mentioned verses of the Quran.   Before leaving the subject of Christianity, 
              I should mention one small point of observation. If Christians are 
              Christ-like, why are they not greeting each other with the words; 
              Peace be with you (Salamu Alaikum), as Jesus did in Luke 24:36. 
              As you may be aware, the greeting from one Muslim to another Muslim 
              is Assalamu Alaikum; a Christ-like saying.  Various Holy BiblesIt is worth mentioning that the Bible 
              references cited might not be exactly as the Bible you are using. 
              There are MANY Bibles on the market that are used by different Christian 
              sects and all of these sects say that their book, though different, 
              is the word of God. Such Bibles are: The Revised Standard Version 
              1952 & 1971, New American Standard Bible, The Holy Bible; New 
              International Version, the Living Bible, New World Translation of 
              the Holy Scriptures used by Jehovah Witnesses, Roman Catholic Version 
              and the King James Version. A special note: I have not found in 
              any of these Bibles where the "New Testament" calls itself the "New 
              Testament," and nowhere does the "Old Testament" call itself the 
              "Old? Testament." Also, the word "Bible" is unknown within the pages 
              of the Bible.  In addition to the many different 
              Christian sects and Bibles, I have learned that there are also different 
              men, not Prophets, who founded these sects and are using various 
              interpretations of the Bible and/or man-made doctrines as their 
              creed.   I would like to share with you some 
              thoughts that you may not have read or known about the Bible being 
              the word of God. Briefly, let me mention that on September 8, 1957, 
              the Jehovah’s witnesses in their "Awake" magazine carried this startling 
              headline - 50,000 Errors in the Bible. If you ask a Jehovah’s witness 
              about this headline, it may be said that today most of those errors 
              have been eliminated. How many have been eliminated, 5,000? Even 
              if 50 remain, would one attribute those errors to God?   Let me pose another question: 
              if a "Holy" book contained conflicting verses would you still consider 
              it to be Holy? Most likely you will say of course not. Let me share 
              with you some conflicting verses both in the Old and New Testaments: 
              
 
  
              
                
                   
                   
                    | II Samuel 8:4 (vs) | II Samuel 8:9-10 | II Kings 8:26 |   
                    | II Samuel 6:23 | Genesis 6:3 | John 5:37 |   
                    | John 5:31 | I Chronicles 18:4 | I Chronicles 18:9-10 |   
                    | II Chronicles 22:2 | II Samuel 21:8 | Genesis 9:29 |   
                    | John 14:9 | John 8:14 |  |  
 Only two contradictions of the New 
              Testament have been mentioned, but others will be referenced when 
              the Trinity, Divinity of Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship of Jesus, 
              Original Sin and Atonement are reviewed.   How could the "inspired words" of 
              God get the genealogy of Jesus incorrect (See Matthew 1:6-16 where 
              it states 26 forefathers up to Prophet David, and Luke 3:23-31 says 
              41 in number). Or for that matter, give a genealogy to Jesus who 
              had NO father? See II Kings 19:1-37, now read Isaiah 37:1-38. Why 
              is it that the words of these verse are identical? Yet they have 
              been attributed to two different authors, one unknown and the other 
              is Isaiah, who are centuries apart; and yet, the Christians have 
              claimed these books to be inspired by God.    I looked up the word Easter in the 
              Nelson Bible dictionary and learned that the word "Easter" (as mentioned 
              in Acts 12:4) is a mistranslation of "pascha," the ordinary Greek 
              word for "Passover." As, you know Passover is a Jewish celebration 
              not a Christian holiday. I think human hands, all to human, had 
              played havoc with the Bible.   From the brief points mentioned above, 
              and the fact that Biblical scholars themselves have recognized the 
              human nature and human composition of the Bible (Curt Kuhl, The 
              Old Testament: Its Origin and Composition, PP 47, 51, 52), there 
              should exist in the Christian’s mind some acceptance to the fact 
              that maybe every word of the Bible is not God’s word.   As a side note to this subject, let 
              me mention that some Christians believe that the Bible was dictated 
              to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by a Christian monk, and that is why some 
              of the biblical accounts are in the Quran. After some research, 
              I found that this could not have happened because there were no 
              Arabic Bible in existence in the 6th century of the Christian era 
              when Muhammad (SAW) lived and preached. Therefore, no Arab, not 
              even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was absolutely unlettered and unlearned, 
              would have had the opportunity to examine the written text of the 
              Bible in his own language. 
 The Gospels If you read Luke 1:2-3, you will 
              learn, as I did, that Luke (who was not one of the 12 disciples 
              and never met Jesus) said that he himself was not an eyewitness, 
              and the knowledge he gathered was from eyewitnesses, and not as 
              words inspired by God. Incidentally, why does every "Gospel" begin 
              with the introduction According to. Why "according to?" the reason 
              for this is because not a single one of the gospels carries its 
              original author’s autograph! Even the internal evidence of Matthew 
              9:9 proves that Matthew was not the author of the first Gospel which 
              bears his name:  "And as Jesus passed forth thence, 
              He (Jesus) saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: 
              and He (Jesus) saith unto Him (Matthew), follow me (Jesus). And 
              he (Matthew) arose, and followed Him (Jesus)." Without any stretch of the imagination, 
              one can see that the He’s and the Him’s of the above narration do 
              not refer to Jesus or Matthew as its author, but a third person 
              writing what he saw or heard - a hearsay account and not words inspired 
              by God.   It is worth noting, and well known 
              throughout the religious world, that the choice of the present four 
              "gospels" of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were 
              imposed in the Council of Nicea 325 CE for political purposes under 
              the auspices of the pagan Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. 
              Constantine’s mind had not been enlightened either by study or by 
              inspiration. He was a pagan, a tyrant and criminal who murdered 
              his son, his wife and thousands of innocent individuals because 
              of his lust for political power. Constantine ratified other decisions 
              in the Nicene Creed such as the decision to call Christ "the Son 
              of God, only begotten of the father."   Literally, hundreds of gospels and 
              religious writings were hidden from the people. Some of those writings 
              were written by Jesus’ disciples, and many of them were eyewitness 
              accounts of Jesus’ actions. The Nicea Council decided to destroy 
              all gospels written in Hebrew, which resulted in the burning of 
              nearly three hundred accounts. If these writings were not more authentic 
              than the four present gospels, they were of equal authenticity. 
              Some of them are still available such as the Gospel of Barnabas 
              and the Shepherd of Hermas which agree with the Quran. The Gospel 
              of Barnabas, until now, is the only eyewitness account of the life 
              and mission of Jesus. Even today, the whole of the Protestant word, 
              Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and other sects and 
              denominations condemn the Roman Catholic version of the Bible because 
              it contains seven "extra" books. The Protestant have bravely expunged 
              seven whole books from their word of God. A few of the outcasts 
              are the Books of Judith, Tobnias, Baruch and Esther.   Concerning Jesus’ teachings of the 
              Gospel (Injeel), the Gospel writers frequently mentioned Jesus preaching 
              the Gospel: Matthew 9:35, Mark 8:35, and Luke 20:1. The word "gospel" 
              is recurrently used in the Bible. However, in the New Testament 
              Greek edition the word Evangeline is used in place of the word gospel, 
              which is translated to mean good news. My question was: what Gospel 
              did Jesus preach? Of the 27 books of the New Testament, only a small 
              fraction can be accepted as the words of Jesus, and only of the 
              27 books are known to be attributed as the Gospel of Jesus. The 
              remaining 23 were supposedly written by Paul. Muslims do believe 
              that Jesus was given God’s "Good News." However, they do not recognized 
              the present four Gospels as the utterances of Jesus.   The earliest Gospel is that of Mark’s 
              which was written about 60-75 AD. Mark was the son of Barnabas’s 
              sister. Matthew was a tax collector, a minor official who did not 
              travel around with Jesus. Luke’s Gospel was written much later, 
              and in fact, drawn from the same sources as Mark’s and Matthew’s. 
              Luke was Paul’s physician, and like Paul, never met Jesus. By the 
              way, did you know that the names Marks and Luke were not included 
              in the 12 appointed disciples of Jesus as mentioned in Matthew 10:2-4?  
               Now the names of the twelve apostles 
              are these; the first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his 
              brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, 
              and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son 
              of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the 
              Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.   John’s Gospel is from a different 
              source, and was written in about 100 AD. He (John) should not be 
              confused with John, the disciple, who was beheaded by Agrippa I 
              in the year 44 CE long before this gospel was written. It should 
              be accepted as a reliable account of the life of Jesus, and whether 
              it should be included in the scriptures.   Christians, as I once did, boast 
              about the Gospels according to Matthew, according to Mark, according 
              to Luke and according to John. However, if we think about it, there 
              is not a single Gospel according to Jesus himself. According to 
              the preface of the KJV (King James Version) new open Bible study 
              edition, the word "Gospel" was added (see below) to the original 
              titles, "According to John, according to Matthew, according to Luke 
              and according to Mark."   The permission to call "According 
              to" writings the Gospel was not given by Jesus nor by any other 
              divine guidance. These writings; Matthew, Luke, Mark and John, were 
              never originally to be the Gospel. Therefore, Mark 1:1 can not be 
              a true statement that his writing is the gospel of Jesus.   
               It should be mentioned that Muslims 
              must believe in all Divine scriptures in their original form, their 
              Prophets and making no distinction between them: The Suhuf (Abraham); 
              Torah (Moses); Psalms (David); Gospel - or the Injeel (Jesus); and 
              the Quran (Muhammad). It is clearly stated in the Quran 3:3 that 
              Allah sent down the Torah and the Gospel. However, none of these 
              scriptures remains in its original form now, except the Quran, which 
              was sent for all mankind everywhere and for all times.   In addition to other 
              reasons why the Quran was sent to mankind, as mentioned in 18:4-5 
              it was sent to warn the Christians of a terrible punishment from 
              God if they cease not in saying: "Allah has begotten a son."  Muslims sincerely believe that everything 
              Jesus (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) preached 
              was from God; the Gospel (Injeel): The "good news" and the guidance 
              of God for the Children of Israel. There is no place mentioned in 
              the present four Gospels that Jesus wrote a single word of his Gospel, 
              nor is it mentioned that Jesus instructed anyone to do so. What 
              passes off, as the "Gospels" today are the works of third party 
              human hands. The Quran 2:79 says: "And woe to those who write the book with their own hands and they 
              say: "This is from Allah (God)." To traffic with it for a miserable 
              price! So woe to them for what their hands do write, and woe to 
              them for what they earn thereby!"
 
 
 Jesus As the Son of GodIs Jesus the Son of God?  Matthew 
              3:17 could be used by some Christians to support the divine Sonship 
              of Jesus.  If Matthew 3:17, "And Lo a voice for heaven, saying, 
              this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased," is used to support 
              divine Sonship, then there should be no other verse that contradicts 
              or gives equal divine Sonship to another person or persons in the 
              Old or New Testament. However, many references were found in the 
              Old and New Testaments that mentioned someone other than Jesus as 
              having a divine Sonship to God. See Exodus 4:22:  "Israel is my son, even my firstborn." 
              II Samuel 7:14 and I Chronicles 22:10: "...and he shall be my son 
              (Solomon)." Jeremiah 31:9: "...and Ephraim is my firstborn." Also, 
              Psalm 2:7.   The word "Son" must not be accepted 
              literally because God addresses many of his chosen servants as son 
              and sons. The Jews have also claimed Ezra to be the Son of God. 
              The New Testament Greek words used for "son" (pias and paida, which 
              mean servant or son in the sense of servant) are translated as son 
              in reference to Jesus and as servant in reference to others in some 
              translations of the Bible.   Further, the term "Father" as used 
              by Jesus corresponds more closely to the term Rabb, i.e. One who 
              nourishes and sustains, so that in Jesus’ doctrine, God is "Father" 
              – Nourisher and Sustainer – of all men. The New Testament also interprets 
              "son of God" to be mystical: "For as many as are led by the Spirit 
              of God, they are the sons of God." (Romans 8:14). This mystical 
              suggestion is further supported with Jesus being called the only 
              begotten Son of God.   In Psalm 2:7, the Lord said to David: 
                 "...Thou art my son: this day have 
              I begotten thee."   Does this mean that God had two sons? 
              Jesus also said that God is not only his Father but also your Father 
              (Matthew 5:45, 48). Luke 3:38 says:   "...Seth, which was the son of Adam, 
              which was the Son of God."   Who is mentioned in Hebrews 7:3 as 
              like unto the Son of God? It is Melchisedec, King of Salem, as mentioned 
              in Hebrews 7:1. He (Melchisedec) is more unique than Jesus or Adam. 
              Why is he not preferred to be the Son of God? Moreover, Adam did 
              not have a mother or father, but was the first human being created 
              by God and in the likeness of God to exist in the Garden of Eden 
              and on earth. Wouldn’t this give more rights to Adam to be called 
              the Son of God in its truest meaning?   I would like to share with you an 
              obvious contradiction between John 3:16, Luke 10:25-28 and Matthew 
              19:16-17. John 3:16 reads:    "For God so loved the world, that 
              he gave his only begotten, Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
              should not perish, but have everlasting life."   Now let’s read Luke 10:25-28:  
               And, behold, a certain lawyer stood 
              up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit 
              eternal life? He said unto him, what is written in the law? How 
              readest Thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
              God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
              strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And 
              he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and Thou shalt 
              live.   These verses tell us that the inheritance 
              of eternal life is for anyone who believes and worships no other 
              God, but the One True God. Luke 10:25-28 agrees with Matthew 19:16-17 
              which says;   "And behold, one came and said to 
              him (Jesus), Good teacher, what good things shall I do that I may 
              have eternal life? So he (Jesus) said to him, ‘Why do you call me 
              good? – No one is good but One that is, God. But if you want to 
              enter into eternal life, keep the commandments."   There is no commandment that says 
              to worship Jesus, but there that tells us to worship God alone.  
               In Luke 4:41, Jesus refused to be 
              called the Son of God by demons. Do you think that Jesus would rebuke 
              the demons, or anyone else for that matter, for telling the truth? 
              Unquestionably, no! Jesus rebuked the demons because they were saying 
              something false by calling him the Son of God. Also, if the demons 
              knew that Jesus was the Christ, for Jesus to shut them up because 
              they called him the Christ is a contradiction to Jesus’ mission.  
               In Luke 9:20 & 21, Jesus said 
              unto his disciples:   "But who say ye that I am? Peter 
              answered saying, "The Christ of God, and Jesus straightly charged 
              them and commanded them to tell no man that thing."   Furthermore, verses like John 3:2, 
              John 6:14, John 7:40, Matthew 21:11, Luke 7:16 and 24:19 confirm 
              that Jesus accepted the title of teacher, Prophet and called himself 
              the son of man in Matthew 8:20, 12:40, 17:9 & 12, 26:24, Luke 
              9:26, 22:48, 22:69, and 24:7. The most conclusive verse that says 
              Jesus is the son (servant) of man is Mark 14:26 where Jesus is mentioning 
              the Day of Reckoning. Jesus specifically said we would see the son 
              of man, not the Son of God, sitting in the right hand of power, 
              and coming in the clouds of heaven.   The act of begetting is a physical 
              act and such act is against God’s nature. The Qur’an 19:35 says: 
              
 "It is not befitting to (the majesty 
              of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines 
              a matter He only says to it "Be," and it is." (Maryam  19:35) 
               The teachings of Jesus as the Son 
              of God were not preached by Jesus nor accepted by Jesus, but were 
              taught by Paul as supported in Acts 9:20:   "And straightway he preached Christ 
              in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God."   Did Jesus ever claim to be God or 
              say, "Here am I, your God, worship me"? The answer is no. For there 
              is no single, unequivocal statement in the Bible whereby Jesus himself 
              declares, "I am God, therefore worship me." Virtually all of the 
              more than two thousand verses of the epistles of Paul are his own 
              fabrications to include Romans 9:5 that says, depending upon which 
              Bible you read:   "...Christ came, who is overall, 
              the eternally blessed God."   Christians should know that Paul 
              himself mentions his own gospel, not Jesus, in his epistle to the 
              Romans when he says in Romans 2:16:   "In the day when God will judge the 
              secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel."   In face, the Pauline epistle to the 
              Romans serves as the foundation of today’s Christianity. Thus, it 
              is the Christians whose efforts will be wasted in this life as they 
              think they were acquiring good by their works when they attribute 
              partners to God, as stated in Chapter 18:103-106 of the Qur’an: 
              
 "Say: Shall we tell you of those 
              who lost most in respect of their deeds? Those whose efforts have 
              been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring 
              good by their works?" they are those who deny the Signs of their 
              Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): 
              vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of judgment, 
              give them any weight. That is their reward, Hell; because they rejected 
              Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest. (Al-Kahf 18:103-106)
 Indeed, it is so strange and ironic, 
              knowing that none of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, more than 430 
              verses, were ever formulated by Jesus. Paul should have made direct 
              reference to the pristine teachings of Jesus, if only the former 
              claim for apostleship by divine inspiration was indeed true. Instead, 
              large parts of his epistles’ Biblical quotations (notably those 
              in the Epistle to the Romans) were taken from the Old Testament 
              – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, Psalms, 
              Proverbs, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea. His epistles were, indeed a 
              product of tedious efforts, but that does not make Paul far better 
              than any of the other men who authored the Bible, nor does it make 
              him a Prophet.    Other practices that were adopted 
              under Paul included the following: the Roman sun-day as the Christian 
              Sabbath; the traditional birthday of the Sun-god as the birthday 
              of Jesus; the emblem of the sun-god (the cross of light) to be the 
              emblem of Christians; and, the incorporation of all the ceremonies 
              which were performed at the Sun-god’s birthday celebrations.  
               As I come to a close concerning the 
              position of Christ, I would like to ask my Christian reader bow 
              down and pray earnestly to God and ask Him to invoke His curse on 
              you, your wife, your sons, and your daughters if what you believe 
              about Christ (Christ is God, Son of God or part of a trinity of 
              God) are false. Likewise, I have learned that if you asked a Muslim 
              to earnestly pray to God to invoke His curse on him, his wife, his 
              sons, and his daughters if what he is saying about Christ (Prophet, 
              Messenger of God, A Word from God) are false, the Muslims are firm 
              in their faith knowing that Christ is not God, nor the Son of God 
              and nor part of a trinity of God. This exercise of asking God to 
              invoke His curse on you and your family may sound a bit cruel, but 
              it would prove two points: (1) you would know that you are on the 
              wrong path; and, (2) it would put you on the right path.    The Crucifixion and AtonementA very significant event in the Christian 
              doctrine is the Crucifixion of Jesus. Before talking about the many 
              controversies surrounding the Crucifixion, it should be mentioned 
              that it was a gospel of Paul’s which professed the Crucifixion/Resurrection 
              of Jesus (II Timothy 2:8):  "Remember that Jesus Christ of the 
              seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel."  
               In addition, the gospel of the resurrection 
              in Mark 16:9-20 was already removed from the text by gospel writers 
              in the 1952 edition of the Revised Standard Version and then, for 
              some reasons, restored in the 1971 edition. In many Bibles, if not 
              removed, it is printed in small print or between two brackets and 
              with commentary (See the Revised Standard Version, New American 
              Bible and New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures).   The traditional biblical account 
              of Jesus’ Crucifixion is that he was arrested and crucified by the 
              orders and plans of the chief priest and Jewish elders. This account 
              was denied in the 1960’s by the highest Catholic Christian authority, 
              the Pope. He issued a statement in which he said the Jews had nothing 
              to do with Jesus’ Crucifixion.   Did any one of the disciples or the 
              writers of the Gospel see the Crucifixion or the Resurrection? No! 
              In Mark 14:50, it says the disciples forsook Jesus and fled. Even 
              Peter forsook Jesus after the cock crowed three times as Jesus foretold:  
               (Matthew 26:75) And Peter remembered 
              the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou 
              shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.  
               The most likely persons whom may 
              have witnessed this moment in Jesus’ life were Mary Magdalene, Mary 
              the mother of James and Joses, the mother of Zebedee’s children 
              and other women (Matthew 27:55-56). However, there is no statement 
              or account in the Gospels from those women as to what they saw or 
              heard.   The disciple(s) found the sepulchre 
              where Jesus was laid down, empty, and made the conclusion that he 
              was resurrected because the disciples and other witnesses saw him 
              alive after the alleged Crucifixion. Nobody saw the moment he was 
              resurrected. Jesus himself stated that he did not die on the cross 
              in Luke 24:36-41, as explained in the following paragraphs.  
               Early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene 
              went to the sepulchre, which was empty. She saw somebody standing 
              who looked like a gardener. She recognized him after a conversation 
              to be Jesus and wanted to touch him. Jesus said (John 20:17):  
               "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended 
              to my Father..."   Now read Luke 24:36-41:   "And as they (disciples) thus spoke, 
              Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace 
              be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed 
              that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you 
              troubled? And why so thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands 
              and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me end see; for a spirit 
              hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus 
              spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet 
              believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here 
              any meat? And they gave him a piece of boiled fish and of a honeycomb. 
              And he took it, and did eat before them."   Does a spiritual or dead body have 
              a need to eat food? Jesus eating of food was to prove to the disciples 
              that he was not a spirit, but rather, he was still alive and not 
              dead.   Jesus being alive and not dead is 
              further supported in his own prophecy (Matthew 12:40):   "For as Jonah was three days and 
              three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three 
              days and three nights in the heart of the earth."   Did Jesus fulfill this miracle? Christians 
              would say "yes," because Jesus died and rose three days later according 
              to Luke 24:36 and Matthew 20:19, to name a few verses. However, 
              in line with the miracle of Jonah and according to the Bible, Jesus 
              only spent one day and two nights in the sepulchre, and not three 
              days and three nights as he prophesied.   Jesus was put in the sepulchre just 
              before sunset on Friday (Good Friday) and was found missing before 
              sunrise on Sunday (Easter). If we were to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the time 
              frame a bit, one may say that Jesus spent three days in the earth, 
              but there is no way and I repeat, no way, that Jesus spent three 
              nights in the earth. We must not forget that the Gospels are explicit 
              in telling us that it was "before sunrise" on Sunday morning that 
              Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.  
               Consequently, there are some inconsistencies 
              as to whether Jesus fulfilled his own prophecy. Whether he was actually 
              crucified, or if the day (Good Friday) of his alleged Crucifixion 
              is wrong. Another significant point to mention is that Jonah was 
              alive in the belly of the whale. The Christians says, Jesus was 
              dead in the belly of the earth/tomb, and this contradicts Jesus’ 
              own prophecy. Jesus said (Luke 11:30):   "As Jonah was...so shall the Son 
              of man be."   If Jonah was alive, so was Jesus.  
               One critical event that took place 
              before the alleged Crucifixion was the prayer of Jesus to God for 
              help. Luke 22:42:   "Saying Father if thou be willing, 
              remove this cup (of death) from me: nevertheless not my will, but 
              thine be done."    Jesus’ prayer not to die on the cross 
              was accepted by God according to Luke 22:43 and Hebrews 5:7. Therefore, 
              if all of Jesus’ prayer were accepted by God, including not to die 
              on the cross, how could he have died on the cross?   In Matthew 27:46, it states that 
              while Jesus was on the cross, he said:   "Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani (My God, 
              my God, why hast thou forsaken me?).   If Jesus said these words, it represents 
              a blatant declaration of disbelief according to all theological 
              authorities. This is a great insult as such words could only come 
              from an unbeliever in God. Further, it is incredible that such words 
              should come from a Prophet of God, because God never breaks His 
              promise and His Prophets never complained against His promise, especially 
              when the Prophet’s mission is understood. It could be said that 
              whoever relates that this statement was said by a Prophet (Jesus), 
              is a disbeliever.   Muslims believe, as the Qur’an states, 
               Jesus was not crucified. It was the intention of his enemies 
              to put him to death on the cross, but Allah saved him from their 
              plot. Qur’an 4:157: "That they (Jews) 
              said boasting, "We killed Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the Messenger 
              of Allah, but they (Jews) killed him not, nor crucified him..." 
               (An Nisa 4:157) 
               |