Monday, April 5, 2010

The Koran's Easter Story

Yesterday was Easter, the most important of the Christian holidays. Though Islam and Christianity differ about other details of Jesus' life and mission, we agree on these important points: (1) he is not dead (2) his is with God in heaven. These are the Koran verses which describe the Easter we celebrated yesterday. n
سُوۡرَةُ مَریَم
وَٱلسَّلَـٰمُ عَلَىَّ يَوۡمَ وُلِدتُّ وَيَوۡمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوۡمَ أُبۡعَثُ حَيًّ۬ا (٣٣) ذَٲلِكَ عِيسَى ٱبۡنُ مَرۡيَمَ‌ۚ قَوۡلَ ٱلۡحَقِّ ٱلَّذِى فِيهِ يَمۡتَرُونَ (٣٤)
Maryam
"Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" (33) Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. (34)
سُوۡرَةُ آل عِمرَان
إِذۡ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَـٰعِيسَىٰٓ إِنِّى مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَىَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ ڪَفَرُواْ وَجَاعِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوكَ فَوۡقَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ إِلَىٰ يَوۡمِ ٱلۡقِيَـٰمَةِ‌ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَىَّ مَرۡجِعُڪُمۡ فَأَحۡڪُمُ بَيۡنَكُمۡ فِيمَا كُنتُمۡ فِيهِ تَخۡتَلِفُونَ (٥٥)
Al-E-Imran
Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee (blogger's note: muatwafeek means literally "to die" but is translated "to take") and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject Faith, to the Day of Resurrection; then shall ye all return unto Me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute. (55)

Jesus is alive, and he has shown us the way to heaven, this is why we celebrate this Easter!

The full story can be found here in English or Arabic.

5 comments:

  1. Mary the mother of Jesus in Islam:beutiful recitation of Surat Maryam :
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgRX1r2XSk
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kWgqkC1l6c&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8TbhhvM-bM

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  2. hi stranger

    (muatwafeek means literally "to die")

    very commonly used but it is mad-fork use of the word the word but the literal meaning is take back what was giving as loan or what giving to some one to care fore. it is used commonly because it give the idea that God take back the sprit of the human whom was in custody of that sprit . i hope i was able to communicate the idea clearly

    ziad

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  3. muatwafeek means literally "to fully take" and in the Quran, Allah almighty used the Arabic word "twafa" in several places and it always meant "take" and He almighty used "mawt" to describe death. Back to the verse you mentioned in your post, Allah said "O Jesus! I will take(muatwafeek)thee and raise thee to Myself" mutawafeek or fully take here means take you Jesus body and soul. And death as we all know is taking the soul and leaving the body. So the verse confirms the fact the Jesus peace be upon him never died. Hope this clears up things, and wish you the best of luck.

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  4. Thanks guys for the linguistics lesson. It is a confusing use of the word and I've heard many different explanations - I've enjoyed the discussion!

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