seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 5:78. Cursed were those who disbelieved from among the Children of Israel by the tongue of David and Jesus son of Mary. That is because they rebelled and used to transgress.
79. They used not to prevent one another from the wrongs they used to commit. Evil is what they used to do.
80. You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve. Terrible is what their souls prompts them to do. The wrath of God fell upon them, and in the torment they will remain.
81. Had they believed in God and the Prophet, and in what was revealed to him, they would not have befriended them. But many of them are immoral.
82. You will find that the people most hostile towards the believers are the Jews and the polytheists. And you will find that the nearest in affection towards the believers are those who say, “We are Christians.” That is because among them are priests and monks, and they are not arrogant.
83. And when they hear what was revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears, as they recognize the truth in it. They say, “Our Lord, we have believed, so count us among the witnesses.”
84. “And why should we not believe in God, and in the truth that has come to us, and hope that our Lord will include us among the righteous people?”
85. God will reward them for what they say—Gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will stay forever. Such is the reward of the righteous.
86. But as for those who disbelieve and deny Our signs—these are the inmates of the Fire
The commentary is working this morning.
After Moses, David and Jesus, who represent the highest achievement of Israelite prophethood in temporal and spiritual glory, spoke of the advent of the Holy Prophet in unmistakable terms. The curse is used here in its original sense of being removed further off from Divine mercy. Both prophets had warned the Jews that their transgressions called for Divine punishment which should soon overtake them if they did not mend their ways. The time of both was followed by a great affliction overtaking the Jews, in the respective depredations of the Babylonian kings and the destruction wrought by Titus
The Christians were nearer to Islåm than the Jews, not only because the Muslims accepted Jesus Christ as a prophet of God, but because there were still among them many people who feared and worshipped God — there were priests and monks among them as the verse says. It is a fact that the Christian attitude towards Islåm was never so inimical as the Jewish. The Negus, Emperor of Abyssinia, accepted Islåm when he came to know of it through the Muslim emigrants in that country. Heraclius was favourably disposed towards it; even the Christian deputation of Najrån towards the end of the Prophet’s life was so impressed with the Prophet’s arguments that it decided not to have a mubåhalah with him. But the words here are more of a prophetical nature, and it is a fact that in the early history of Islåm, the Christians in Egypt, in North Africa, in Syria, in Persia and other countries, accepted Islåm in very large numbers, so that many of those communities became Muslims entirely or predominantly. At present, too, when Islåm is being presented to the West, the Christians are receiving the message with an open heart.
This refers to the Christians who believed. An important personage belonging to this class was the Negus of Abyssinia, in whose dominions the Muslims found shelter in the early days of the Prophet’s mission, when compelled to flee from Makkah on account of the severe persecutions of the Quraish. Even there they were followed by a deputation of the persecutors, who, in order to excite the religious hatred of the Christian monarch against the homeless Muslims, represented to the Negus that the fugitives not only denounced the idols of the Arabs but also spoke disparagingly of Jesus Christ. Whereupon, the Muslims being called upon to answer the charge, their leader read out the portion of the chapter “Mary” dealing with Jesus Christ, and the words so impressed the Negus that he wept, and said that Jesus Christ was not one whit more than the Qur’ån described him to be. That he subsequently became a true convert to Islåm is clearly shown by a funeral service having been held for him by the Holy Prophet when news of his death reached Madßnah (B. 23:4).
Women.... we are the crust. OK... the Middle Ages started in Europe about 100 years before the Quran was put together.... and it continued until 1400-1500.
The church was run by the priests who didn't have a Bible, as we know it. They relayed what they were taught. They were taught what would sell. They were taught the gospel according to the knowledge they had. Humans were relatively ignorant. Priests and Nuns lived together..... and not as husband and wife.... but not all chapels were God fearing.... some were just ignorant brothels for the priests.... just like today.... but Mary had to be part of the story according to them.
Knowing that Jesus was human.... was not an easy topic to discuss without a Bible. Pulling together scrolls, stones, and tablets and putting them in some kind of order was a task that had to be accomplished before the modern Bible was assembled. The printing press didn't come around until the end of the Middle Ages so Bibles were all hand transcribed by the priests and monks. Yep... the priests and monks had to transcribe it by hand. The Irish Monks began to make those fancy capital letters we see in some of the old Bibles.
Without a Bible.... the monk could only teach what he was taught. Without a Bible.... anyone of authority might be of a mind to "tweak" the Torah or the Gospels to say what they thought was appropriate for the ignorant masses..... and dealing with the Divine Birth of Jesus of Nazareth must have been daunting.
I don't know anything about Muhammed yet.... but I do know Jesus. Yep... He was human. Yes.... He supped on breast milk. Yep.... He drank water and wine. Yep.... He ate bread and fish. Yep.... He was human. The Gospels tell us He was tempted.... after all He was human.... but He resisted all the temptations.... because although He was human.... He was also God..... only in human form. But the idea of a woman.... suckling the Son of God.... well that just wouldn't do unless she was divine as well.... and that's what they sold to make the story easier to digest.
It's easier for those of us who have read the whole story.... to see how God would be able to use an ordinary woman to do such an extraordinary task as to birth and suckle the Son of God.... God Himself in human form..... after all.... He made the first woman out of a bone.
The Jews rejected [and still do] Jesus altogether. How could a poor man from that town Nazareth, who happened to have been born in Bethlehem, be the Son of God. David or Solomon was more what they were looking for. So they took that absurd story right to the Roman Cross because the story was inconvenient.
The Muslims accepted the exceptional Divinity of Jesus.... but they had a problem with the bestowing of some kind of divine status for that ordinary girl... Mary.
The church in England was fascinated with Mary.... they tweaked the Gospel to make her someone she wasn't.
The church could not allow the divinity of their precious Mary to be questioned.... so they hated the Muslims and they hired killers to hunt them down and do away with them.
All this.... because some priests, monks, nuns, and rich sponsors were hung up on Mary.
