Author: Harris Abdullah
Do you know what Allah is trying to convey to mankind through His signs? If mankind had understood the whole intention of Allah through His signs, they would not be so foolish as to reject His signs. Let us examine the following verses.
Surah 6: 157 Or lest ye should say: “If the Book had only been sent down to us, we should have followed its guidance better than they.” Now then hath come unto you a clear (sign) from your Lord,- and a guide and a mercy: then who could do more wrong than one who rejecteth Allah’s signs, and turneth away therefrom? In good time shall We requite those who turn away from Our signs, with a dreadful penalty, for their turning away.
Surah 7: 156 “And ordain for us that which is good, in this life and in the Hereafter: for we have turned unto Thee.” He said: “With My punishment I visit whom I will; but My mercy extendeth to all things. That (mercy) I shall ordain for those who do right, and practise regular charity, and those who believe in Our signs;-
The signs of Allah conveys to mankind the mercy and guidance of Allah. Most importantly, Allah had decreed that His mercy shall be in His messenger, Isa Al- Masih as clearly expressed in verse below:
Surah 19: 21 He said: “So (it will be): Thy Lord saith, ‘that is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us‘: It is a matter (so) decreed.”
The word ‘decreed’ here only appears twice in the Quran. Another time is in Surah 19: 71 about the judgment of Allah which has been decreed. It is important to remember here that Isa is not just a sign for the Israelites but for the alamin (for the worlds which definitely includes mankind) (Surah 21: 91). Likewise, Allah Himself is the Lord of the alamin (Surah 1: 2). However, some Muslims adamantly stressed that Isa is just a sign for the Christians instead of for the worlds. If this is the case, Allah should just be the Lord of the Christians instead of for the worlds. Are these Muslims reading a different Al-Quran? Or they want to defy the word of the Quran which they have to answer to Allah on that Day.
Isa is a sign for the alamin, more precisely he is a mercy from Allah for men. Isa has been decreed by Allah to convey the mercy of Allah to mankind including you and me. This is the Good News that the Scriptures want to convey to us, is it not? Why need to search high and low for the mercy of Allah when it is lucid like clear water that Allah had already bestowed His mercy in Isa al Masih (Surah 19: 21) ie. those who believe Isa, not believing by the mere utterance of mouth but by obeying him ie. obeying his words in the Injeel, will surely receive the mercy of Allah. We can easily understand this even by way of logical reasoning; when we say we believe in Allah, we are obeying Allah and to be more precise, we are obeying Allah’s word. Likewise when we believe Isa, we will obey his teaching namely the Injeel. Otherwise how are we supposed to obey Isa? Did not nabi Isa said in Surah 3: 50 ‘I have come to you), to attest the Law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was (Before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me. ‘Fear’ and ‘obey’ are imperative verbs ie. they are commands. When it is a command, the person commanded has to carry it out.
Let us read carefully the verses that follow:
Surah 3: 51 “‘It is Allah Who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is a Way that is straight.'”
Surah 3: 52 When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: “Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah?” Said the disciples: “We are Allah’s helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.
Surah 3: 53 “Our Lord! We believe in what Thou hast revealed, and we follow the Messenger; then write us down among those who bear witness.”
Again if you have eyes to see, Isa NEVER asked his disciples to worship him but to only worship Allah. Surah 3: 50 & 51 are repeated in Surah 43: 63 & 64. The disciples of Isa are Allah’s helpers and they are Muslims according to the Quran, they are among the witnesses. Now, wait a minute! We thought only the followers of nabi Muhammad are called Muslims. No, according to the Quran, the disciples of Isa, Allah’s helpers are also Muslims. Why? Because they surrender to Allah by fearing Allah and obeying Isa as commanded.
Let us continue with the following verses in Surah 43:
v63 When Jesus came with Clear Signs, he said: “Now have I come to you with Wisdom, and in order to make clear to you some of the (points) on which ye dispute: therefore fear Allah and obey me.
v64 “For Allah, He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship ye Him: this is a Straight Way.”
v65 But sects from among themselves fell into disagreement: then woe to the wrong-doers, from the Penalty of a Grievous Day!
v66 Do they only wait for the Hour – that it should come on them all of a sudden, while they perceive not?
v67 Friends on that day will be foes, one to another,- except the Righteous.
v68 My devotees! no fear shall be on you that Day, nor shall ye grieve,-
v69 (Being) those who have believed in Our Signs and bowed (their wills to Ours) in Islam.
v 70 Enter ye the Garden, ye and your wives, in (beauty and) rejoicing.
Those who believe in the signs of Allah (including Isa) and surrender to Allah are among the righteous and they shall have no fear on the day of reckoning.Do you only want to wait until the Hour to come as said in Surah 43: 66? Then it is too late for anything let alone listening to Isa’s teaching. So what is your excuse? That the teaching of the Injeel is corrupted? Does not the Quran that you believe in as the word of truth repeatedly give us the assurance that the Quran confirmed the earlier scriptures ie. the Torah and Injeel? This we have studied in the precious articles. Everything that Isa said and did was by Allah’s leave (Surah 5: 110). The Injeel NEVER said Isa is God the Son. If you persist in your contumacy to reject the signs of Allah, namely Isa Al-Masih, then it only confirms the word of the Quran – that Allah has sealed your hearts, your eyes and hearings. Are we no different from the Quraish whom Allah endowed with the faculties of hearing, seeing, heart and intellect but of no profit to them because they kept on rejecting the Signs of Allah (Surah 46: 26)? Finally, those who have believed in Allah’s Signs and bowed in Islam, they are the ones who will enter the Garden and rejoice. If we look at the context of the passage from Surah 43: 63 – 70 to ascertain what exactly the signs that Allah mentioned here, then clearly it is pointing to Isa who came with Clear Signs (Surah 43: 63).
Surah 3: 55 & 56 read Lo! God said: “O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me, and cleanse thee of [the presence of] those who are bent on denying the truth; and I shall place those who follow thee [far] above those who are bent on denying the truth, unto the Day of Resurrection. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ. And as for those who are bent on denying the truth, I shall cause them to suffer a suffering severe in this world and in the life to come, and they shall have none to succour them; (Translation by Muhammad Asad)
For those who follow Isa, obey Isa, Allah will place them above those who deny/disbelieve him till the Day of Resurrection. That means, there is a guaranteed salvation for those who truly obey Isa, who fear Allah S.W.T and surrender to Allah S.W.T as Muslims. Isn’t this good news because Allah in His mercy allows us to discover the straight path to salvation (Surah 3: 51). This explains why Allah Himself chose the name of ‘Isa’ for Al-Masih. ‘Yeshua’ which is the name of Isa in Hebrew carries the meaning Yahweh/Allah is Salvation. That means salvation will come to mankind through living and applying the teachings of Isa Al-Masih into your lives. Can you not see it?
Earlier on, we mentioned that Allah wanted to raise a new generation of people, people who have been transformed through living the teachings of prophet Isa in the Gospel. What characterizes this new creation who obeys Isa/believe in the sign of Allah? Let us look at the following verse to find out the answer.
Surah 57: 27 Then, in their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy….
Surah 57: 28 O ye that believe! Fear Allah, and believe in His Messenger, and He will bestow on you a double portion of His Mercy: He will provide for you a Light by which ye shall walk (straight in your path), and He will forgive you (your past): for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
The true followers of Isa are bestowed with compassion and mercy by Allah. Is it a small matter to have compassion and mercy? Do you not see that these are the attributes of Allah S.W.T/Yahweh Himself which are clearly mentioned even from the first Surah and first verse of Al-Fatihah. Muslims seem to recite Al-Fatihah on various occasions but how many really understand true compassion and mercy let alone possess these attributes. The true followers of Isa have the attributes of Allah who Himself is the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful because they have been transformed by Allah. In fact, those who believe in Isa will be bestowed double portion of Allah’s mercy, they will receive forgiveness and their ways will be guided. This is the beautiful message of the Quran for those who seek the truth.
However, the majority of Muslims do not heed the actual message of the Quran. A considerable number have fallen prey to deviant teachings and some even have headed towards extremism, creating a current world situation that is most worrying because some Muslim countries in the world have created Muslim extremists that kill people and are still engaging in a killing spree in the name of Islam, thinking that their so-called jihad movement is something approved by Allah and even dare to boast about it. What has got into these people? For one obvious reason, they have no compassion and mercy whatsoever. They acted in total contradiction to Allah’s character of being most merciful and most compassionate. Now we see Muslims killing fellow Muslims and the United States is allying with some Muslims countries like Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar, just to name a few to annihilate the extremist groups. The Muslims are teaming up with the U.S. (which some Muslims deride as infidels) to get rid of Muslim extremists. Isn’t this pathetic? The world is getting more and more chaotic and the chaos is mostly started by people who professed to be Muslims. What is the reason for such atrocities by Muslims? Are not these evidently showing that Muslims fail to take heed of the true message of the Quran and fear Allah?
Surah 3: 102 O ye who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam.
Surah 3: 103 And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah’s favour on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be guided.
Why should certain Muslims teach something different from what is commanded by the Quran, thus causing divisions among the believers? The exhortation by Allah is that believers should hold fast and not be divided, that means believers, the people of the book have to be united because Allah has united the believers’ hearts in love because of His grace towards us. He has made His Signs clear to us so that we may be rightly guided but some chose to propagate something different from the Word of Allah be it Christians or Muslims. This is outright violation of God’s command, an indication of not fearing Allah S.W.T/Yahweh otherwise they would not commit such preposterous and atrocious act and incur punishment upon themselves. Allah already saved us from fire by extending His grace to us but some chose to fall back to the fire. Why Muslim leaders taught that nabi Isa is not important and the Torah and Injeel are corrupted in writing without adducing concrete evidence? Do Muslims read the Torah and Injeel in the first place? We also hear Christians say that the Quran is not the word of Allah? Do the Christians read the Quran? Are not all these outright blasphemies? Let us remember very clearly: we were enemies of Allah but Allah tenders His grace which is His mercy through His signs to us, thus offering us salvation. What is the reason of getting puffed up just because you think you belong to the group of true believers? Your pride, judgmental attitude and lack of mercy already show that you are not true believers. True believers are those who fall down in prostration, praising Allah when the signs are recited to them as clearly stated in Surah 32: 15 Only those believe in Our Signs, who, when they are recited to them, fall down in prostration, and celebrate the praises of their Lord, nor are they (ever) puffed up with pride.
We believe they are true Muslims who believe in Isa and wish to obey him as instructed by the Quran but to show this openly may invite strong opposition from the nominal Muslims who only seek acceptance from people rather than seeking approval from Allah. The true Muslims need to persevere with patience because Allah will surely requite them with guidance and mercy. Allah will also appoint leaders to guide His people to put faith in His signs (Surah 32: 24 And We appointed, from among them, leaders, giving guidance under Our command, so long as they persevered with patience and continued to have faith in Our Signs).
It is interesting to note that people rejected the sign which conveys the mercy of Allah but on the day of Judgement they plead for mercy. It just shows how foolish these people are who rejected the mercy of Allah during their lifetime. Can their pleading help them when they meet Allah? No! Because mercy had already been accorded to them in their lifetime but they rejected it. What is left is only grievous penalty for them.
Surah 29: 23 Those who reject the Signs of Allah and the Meeting with Him (in the Hereafter),- it is they who shall despair of My Mercy: it is they who will (suffer) a most grievous Penalty.
Isa has the knowledge of the hour of judgment. The coming again of Isa is the sign of the hour of judgment. He himself will bear witness against those who rejected him.
Surah 43: 61 And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way.
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Note:
All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.