ISSA THE ARABIC SAINT WHO IS SAID TO BE THE MUSLIM JESUS IS NOT THE CHRISTIAN JESUS

The Qur'an mentions one figure more than others.  It is Issa.  He is taken for Jesus.  But as he is severed from the data given in the New Testament we should not take this as significant.  A figure partly based on Jesus is not Jesus and why does he have a different name to Jesus?  As Allah cancelled parts of the Qur'an or did not want certain revelations included the missing information could be very telling.  The figure no matter who he is is meant to attract Christians into the Islamic fold.

WHO WAS ISSA?

In the book, Who Was Jesus? A Conspiracy in Jerusalem, page 144) we read that an “ancient god called Issa, or Jesus, was worshipped in Arabia at one time”. This worship predated the worship of the Christian godhead “by many centuries” (ibid, page 144).

"The Arabic transliteration of Yeshua (Jesus’ name in Hebrew) is Yasu, which is the name for Jesus used by Arabic-speaking Christians. The Qur’an, however, in Arabic refers to Jesus as Isa (pronounced “eesa”), and there is no small amount of confusion among commentators concerning the origin of this name. The most likely proposals are (1) that Isa is an indirect transliteration of Yeshua through multiple languages, (2) that Muhammad modified the name for literary purposes, and (3) that Muhammad was tricked into using the Arabic form of the Hebrew name “Esau” (presumably by Arabian Jews who referred to Jesus as “Esau” in a derogatory sense)." David Wood PhD, Fordham University www.equip.org COMMENT: Muhammad then likely did not mean Jesus but a new figure whose story was partly borrowed from the Jesus legends. 3 sounds as if it is the top explanation. Muhammad had no excuse for getting the name wrong or altering the name. But he didn't get it wrong. He had Esau not Jesus. If Muhammad mixed up stories about Jesus and Issa that does not mean he referred to Jesus.

In Christianity, Jesus the son of God is the Jesus of history. Muhammad does not appeal to history at all but revelation. Allah has told him about Issa. On the secular level and the religious level, Issa is not Jesus Christ.

The "Jesus" in the Qur'an is not Jesus for the information is different at all core points and Miriam Moses's sister is said to be his mother. The disciples are named differently so it is a figure who has overlaps with Jesus but who is not Jesus. Jesus and the disciples are so close in New Testament thought and Jesus gave them his authority that a Jesus with different ones is not the biblical one.

Islam may call Issa the Christ or Messiah but not in the Christian sense. Islam says that Issa is not the Messiah as in role or position. His name is the Messiah. It is only a name. It is clear he is only a spokesman for God while Messiah in the Bible means Lord and ruler and king as in political king not just of Israel but of the whole world. Calling Issa or Jesus Messiah as in name is no good for it does not amount to confessing him as Messiah which is required doctrine in the New Testament. The writings of the apostle John say that there is no salvation for anybody who refuses to believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Sura 19 says that Zechariah's prayer for a child who would inherit the house of Jacob - be Messiah as in king - was fulfilled in the birth of John the Baptist. John then is the only proper Messiah.

Sura 5:109 says that messengers of Allah have no authority at all of their own:

The day will come when GOD will summon the messengers and ask them, "How was the response to you?" They will say, "We have no knowledge. You are the Knower of all secrets."

Issa was empowered by the Holy Spirit - meaning the Angel Gabriel to speak in the crib. He then was a ventriloquist dummy for Allah. Allah says that he taught Issa, "The scripture, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel." See 5:110. Issa is not Jesus for Jesus was the subject of the gospel and could not be taught it but taught it to others. Allah says he empowered Issa to revive the dead. Same verse. It goes on to say to Issa, You healed the blind and the leprous by My leave, and revived the dead by My leave. Recall that I protected you from the Children of Israel who wanted to hurt you, despite the profound miracles you had shown them. The disbelievers among them said, 'This is obviously magic.'

Issa resuscitated the dead by a miracle but that does not imply he could rise from the dead glorious. The Christians say that resurrection from the dead means a lot of change where you get a holy body with special powers. Merely dying and coming back in an ordinary body is resuscitation in their view. The protection from Israel refers to Allah's doctrine that Issa evaded death on the cross. So the verse does not support a Jesus who dies and resurrects gloriously from the dead.

The prophet is not Jesus but Issa. The Qur'an knows nothing of Jesus Christ but has another Messiah. Issa is only called Messiah as in name not role. Even the disciples have different names and Issa does not die on the cross and ascends to Heaven without a death or resurrection.

The Qur'an uses the legends about Jesus from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas as if they could be true. Remember the Jesus in the following verse is actually Issa. Jesus is not the right translation. "When Allah will say: O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My favour to thee and to thy mother, when I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit; thou spokest to people in the cradle and in old age, and when I taught thee the Book and the Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel, and when thou didst determine out of clay a thing like the form of a bird by My permission, then thou didst breathe into it and it became a bird by My permission; and thou didst heal the blind and the leprous by My permission; and when thou didst raise the dead by My permission; and when I withheld the Children of Israel from thee when thou camest to them with clear arguments -- but those of them who disbelieved said: This is nothing but clear enchantment" (5:110).

The use of a gospel that was not recognised by the New Testament shows that it is wrong to suppose the Qur'an respects the New Testament gospels. In fact how could it when it says they are wrong that Jesus was crucified? The gospel portrays Jesus as killing people with his miracles. Jesus interestingly is not said to have raised himself!

The lies of ecumenists who are too arrogant to imagine that a religion since Christianity would ignore Jesus are responsible for the false but popular and lazy view that Jesus is in the Muslim scriptures. Muslim "fundamentalists" are cast out by this whitewashing ideology and that only fuels the problems they create.