Nowadays, Christians all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus, better known as “Christmas”. As a matter of fact, each Abrahamic religion has its own account of such controversial birth.
The Old Testament is deemed to have made
mention of the birth of Jesus more than once. For example, we read the
following verse: “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the
little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to
rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah
5:2)
However, old Jews ascribed Jesus to
illegitimate birth. In the course of time, the Jewish rabbis have become
more lenient that they believe that Jesus might have been a good
teacher, but he could not have been God, Son of God or even Prophet of
God.
The New Testament makes mention of the
story of the birth of Jesus in two gospels (Luke 2 & Matthew 1).
Nevertheless, when the story of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament
is carefully read, many question marks arise, which cast doubt on the
accuracy of such a story as a whole.
In this article, I will deal with only
two intuitive questions which quickly arise when we read the story of
the birth of Jesus in the Bible.
The First Question: How did Mary Survive a Very Likely Accusation of Adultery?
The New Testament tells us that Mary
who was betrothed to Joseph conceived and gave birth to a child. But,
how did their conservative people, who lived in a conservative place and
time, accept a situation where a betrothed woman gave birth to a child
outside marriage?
While the New Testament tells us that
the people thought that the child was Joseph’s, how did they accept
that? How could a righteous man impregnate his righteous fiancée outside
marriage? Was this acceptable at the time? This is a problem for which
the accounts of the New Testament did not find a reasonable solution.
Judging by the outward situation, this
should have been seen as a crime. This must have been regarded as
adultery. It is noteworthy that the New Testament did not pay any
attention to this matter. It did not relate that the people were told
that Jesus was the Son of God. In spite of the angels’ input, the people
were left with an untrue conviction that Jesus was the son of Joseph.
Here a problem still exists! How could people accept the idea that
Joseph slept with Mary before marriage? Can a holy baby be born as an
illegitimate son?
The Second Question: Why is Jesus not Called “Son of God” in the Nativity Story?
It is also curious that Jesus is not
called “the Son of God” in the story of his birth. This is also a very
strange thing! If Jesus is really the Son of God, was it not more
logical to declare the birth of the Son of God to people?
How could a very historic incident like
the birth of the Only Son of God pass unnoticed like this? How could God
let people believe that Jesus was Joseph’s son though he was allegedly
His own son? Why were people not told that Jesus was the Son of God from
the very beginning? Nowhere in this story is Jesus referred to as the
Son of God!
The only conclusion which we may reach
here is that the story of the birth of Jesus in the Bible is not
logical, reasonable or palatable.
In fact, the Qur’anic accounts of the
story of the birth of Jesus are much more logical, reasonable and
palatable, simply because it is coherent and consistent. We find the
answer to the above two main questions in the Qur’an.
As far as Mary’s likely accusation of
adultery is concerned, the Qur’an tells us how Mary survived such an
accusation in a standalone chapter named after Mary. In the Qur’an, we
read the following verses:
Then
she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, “O Mary, you
have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron, your
father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste.” So she
pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is a child in
the cradle?”…(Maryam 19:27-29)
The Qur’an relates that Mary was
commanded to just keep silent after giving birth to Jesus and let God
act on her behalf. Jesus’ miraculous speech in the cradle merely served
as the way out of the likely problem of the accusation of adultery.
Indeed, in more than one position, the
Qur’an lets us know that when Mary was told that she would give birth to
a child without a father, she herself feared the potential accusation
of adultery. She wondered:
She
said, “My Lord, how will I have a child when no man has touched me?”
[The angel] said, “Such is God; He creates what He wills. When He
decrees a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is… (Aal `Imran 3:47)
She said, “How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?”… (Maryam 19:20)
Actually, Mary’s fear of the accusation of adultery and the Qur’anic reaction to her concern sound quite logical.
As far as the status of Jesus is
concerned, the Qur’anic account is very logical as well. The Qur’an
tells that Jesus spoke in the cradle in defense of his mother’s honor
with God’s permission. In his first words in this worldly life, Jesus
declared his status for all mankind. The Qur’an quoted Jesus as saying:
[Jesus]
said, “Indeed, I am the servant of God. He has given me the Scripture
and made me a prophet. And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has
enjoined upon me prayer and Zakah as long as I remain alive and [made
me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant. And
peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I
am raised alive.” (Maryam 19:30-33)
It is quite expected that a baby in such
a case lets people who he is, so that the miraculous birth will not be
misinterpreted. Unfortunately, despite this great miracle, many people
still misunderstand Jesus’ status. Therefore, the Qur’an comments on and
concludes the story of the birth of Jesus with the following verses:
That
is Jesus, the son of Mary – the word of truth about which they are in
dispute. It is not [befitting] for God to take a son; exalted is He!
When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is. [Jesus
said], “And indeed, God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That
is a straight path.” Then the factions differed [concerning Jesus] from
among them, so woe to those who disbelieved – from the scene of a
tremendous Day. (Maryam 19:34-37)
Finally, now, according to the Qur’anic
accounts, we may quite logically understand how Jesus was born, how Mary
survived the accusation of adultery as well as any likely punishment,
and how Jesus introduced himself to mankind. In a word, it is safe to
say the New Testament verses in this regard are illogical, unreasonable
and unpalatable.
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