Mary and Jesus in Islam

Mary and Jesus Return Home

Wahab has said that when Herod died, twelve years after the birth of Jesus[^1], Allah inspired Mary telling her of Herod's death, ordering her to return with her son Jesus and cousin Joseph the carpenter to Syria. They did, settling near the Galilee mountain at a village in north-northeast of Bethlehem (Bayt Laham) called Nazareth after which Christians are called “Nazarites” or “Nazarenes.” Its Arabic name is al-Nasira. There, Jesus kept learning in one hour what others would learn in a day, and in a day what others would in a month, and in a month what others would in a year, and such is the Almighty's design with His messengers.

When he became thirty years old, Allah inspired him to come out to the public and to invite them to worship the One and Only God, Allah, through the medium of parables, empowering [^1] There is no definite date given for the birth of Jesus Christ even by Christians themselves! Most books say that he was “probably” born between 8 B.C. and 4 B.C. The angel referred to above is described in Christian books as “the heavenly host.” In Islam, this may either be arch-Angel Gabriel or one of the angels working under his command. “Jesus” is a Greek noun derived from the Hebrew “Joshua” which means: “savior.” “Christ” is a Greek translation of the Hebrew “Messiah” which means “anointed.”

In Arabic, his name is `«s?. Jesus Christ is cousin of John the Baptist who is described by the People of the Book as “an ascetic preacher.” In Islam, he is a prophet referred to in the Holy Qur’an as Yah,.ya son of Zakariyya (Zacharias). He is mentioned in 3:39 where he is described as “an honourable, chaste, a prophet from among the good ones,” in 6:85 and 19:12-15 where he is described as one whom the Almighty granted wisdom even as a youth, and in 21:90 where he and his family are described as those who “used to hasten, one with another, in (the doing of) deeds of goodness.”

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him to heal the sick, to cure those afflicted with permanent handicaps, to give sight back to the blind, to heal the mentally retarded, to suppress the power of evil, to forbid people from committing misdeeds, and to subject the devils to humiliation by permitting goodness to thus prevail. He did as he was ordered, so people loved him and enjoyed his company.

His followers started increasing in number. Soon he became quite famous, and at times he may have had as many as fifty thousand patients or handicapped persons to heal. Those who could walk to him did so, and those who could not he himself sought, the messenger of God that he was. Those who could not reach him, he managed to reach them, and such is the mark of distinction of men of God. The only medicine he applied to the patients who had a full conviction in him and in his Lord was his supplication.