JESUS & MUHAMMAD
Parallel tracks, parallel lives
By F.E. Peters. Oxford University Press. 214 pages. £16.99
ISBN 978 0 199 747 467
This book gives an accurate, in-depth and insightful glimpse into the two personalities which could be seen as dominating history.
The followers of both Jesus and Muhammad are many in number and have a great respect and zeal for their ‘prophets’. This book is a comparative study and a helpful guide. It encourages us to dig deeper into the lives of two men: Jesus as a craftsman, who claims to be God and man; Muhammad as a trader, who was an ordinary man. The author sees these two great men, by whom the two religions of Christianity and Islam live parallel to each other and rub shoulders with one another, as closely linked, yet different from within.
The greatest miracle
The holy books associated with Jesus and Muhammad claim to be the Word of God. But the greatest miracle of all is that Jesus, as a prophet claiming to be the Son of God, has come back to life. Therefore, in Jesus, heaven is certain for Christians. But Muhammad has not given firm hope to his followers.
In this comparative study, there are major similarities between Islam and early Christianity. However, when we consider the crucifixion event, we come to a fundamental difference. For Christianity, the crucifixion is true and without it Christianity is not complete, for Jesus came for the purpose of dying for our sins. But, for Islam, Jesus Christ, being a prophet, has never died and was taken up to heaven without dying on the cross. Someone else died in his place.
As the book compares both lives, we note that Jesus was born of a virgin, whereas Muhammad was born in the normal way, just like any other man on the face of the earth. Jesus served God as a child when he entered the temple and preached, but Muhammad was an idol worshipper and had no education. Muhammad did not perform any miracles, yet Jesus performed many, responding to people’s faith in him. Muhammad never had that ability.
Jesus was a man of peace, but Muhammad adopted violence. The biggest of all miracles that Jesus performed was giving life by raising Lazarus from the dead. But Muhammad dealt in death and killed many. Jesus had the power to give life which only God has, raising the dead. Jesus obeyed God the Father and preached the gospel and ate with sinners. But there is evidence that Muhammad stole and lived on the goods of others. Jesus forgave those who were against him and taught his followers to turn the other cheek to those who persecuted them. But Muhammad had his opponents murdered.
Jesus was sinless
In the end, it comes down to the fact that Jesus was sinless and Muhammad was sinful. Jesus fulfilled his mission to die on the cross for the sins of his people. By contrast, Muhammad died of illness. Three days after death, Jesus rose and later ascended into heaven, whereas Muhammad was buried in Medina the third day after his death. His body remains there and his tomb is still visited today.
