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God has heard the taunt of those who say: ‘Truly, God is indigent and we are rich!’
We shall certainly record their word and (their act) of slaying the prophets in defiance
of right, and We shall say: ‘ Taste you the penalty of the Scorching Fire!’ (3:181)
God did aforetime take a Covenant from the Children of Israel. But because of their
breach of their Covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard: They
change the words from their (right) places and forget a good part of the Message that
was sent them (5:13-14)
This was the second nature of the people to whom Jesus was sent. As for the date of
his birth, Christians have not been able to establish any specific season or year.
“ Astronomers still have not pinned down any scientific explanation of the Star of
Bethlehem’ … … ‘Neither the year of Christ’ s birth nor the season of the year when it
(the star) occurred are known with certainty’ … ..’ Historians estimate the earliest year
was 11 BC and the latest, 4 BC … .’ Also, … … .. ‘while the time of year when the
birth occurred has not been fully established most probably it occurred in the
springtime, rather than in December. … … ” (Mrs. Simone Daro Gossner of the U.S.
Naval Observatory, quoted on p.12 of The Edmonton Journal of December 23,1960)
Be that as it may, the more important question to the Muslim is how Jesus was born.
Up to the time of Jesus three kinds of creation had been experienced, in each of which
the power, the knowledge and the wisdom of God the Creator were clearly
demonstrated. First, there was human being created without the physical interference
or presence of any known human father or mother, and that was Adam. Secondly,
there was a human being created without the physical existence or the precedence of
any known mother or female ancestor, and that was Eve. She was anticipated by
Adam who might be thought of as the symbolic or figurative father of mankind.
Thirdly, there were millions of people created through the normal intimacy of fathers
and mothers. Curious and inquiring minds might have pondered on the possibility of
the fourth kind of creation, namely, the creation of a human being without the
physical interference of any human father. This possibility seems to have been
translated into reality by God in the creation of Jesus to, perhaps, complete the four
possible kinds of creation, and to illustrate the power of the Creator in every possible
shape and form. The birth of Jesus to the pious Mary was a miraculous action, an act
of the will of God. The choice of this kind of creation at that particular time may be as
much intelligible as it is interesting. It seems that medicine was quite popular in one
way or another, in one region or another. The contemporaries of Jesus swerved so far
from the Path of God and were also stubborn. God showed them His power in a new
form of creation. He showed them that His power is infinite, and that their salvation
would come about only by submission to Him and belief in Him. The illustration was
presented in the vivid manifestation of the creation of Jesus. This, perhaps, was also
an anticipation of the kind of miracles which Jesus was to perform later on with the
help of God, the miracles which were more or less of a medical nature
It should be pointed out that this hypothetical interpretation of the birth of Jesus is not
based on the authority of the Qur’ an or the Traditions of Muhammad. These four
logically possible forms of creation and the induction that the birth of Jesus
constitutes the fourth and final form are the personal views of the writer and his own
hypothesis. This personal view has no bearing whatsoever on the authority or
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