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| I took this picture of the mosaic of Jesus in the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul |
There's a nice article at newyorker.com -
"How Muslims View Easter." Here are the bullets.
- Jesus did not die on a cross. "It’s spelled out quite clearly... in the Koran’s fourth Sura, verse 157: “They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him.”" It was "made to look like" it was Jesus being crucified. But it was not. Maybe it was another person, perhaps Judas? "God changed his face to resemble Jesus, and Jesus himself was spared. A slight variation posits that God changed the vision of all those who witnessed the crucifixion to make them think they were seeing Jesus. Others argue that it was Jesus who was nailed to the cross, but that he survived it; what happened on Easter Sunday was not a resurrection but a resuscitation. Some say that no one was crucified at all."
- Jesus was born of a virgin, but is not the Son of God. "Jesus is not, and could not possibly be, divine. He is a prophet but he’s still a mortal, and God is not his father. “I understand that if you believe someone to be God, and others say he’s not God, it’s like an insult,” [imam Ibrahim] Sayar said. “But if you look at it from the Muslim perspective, there’s no difference between Jesus, Abraham, Mohammed.”"
- Jesus healed the sick, and raised the dead.
- Jesus is the Messiah.
- If you don't "believe in Jesus" then you're not a Muslim.
- Jesus is a Muslim.
Islam removes the beating heart from Christianity. This is what, for me, makes interfaith dialogue with Muslims unresolvable. We can love one another. We can dialogue together so as to understand one another. But fundamentally we are at odds with each other regarding Jesus who, on Christianity, is not merrely a prophet but God Incarnate.
