Muhammad |
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Jesus Christ |
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He gave a complete book to his followers which he declared was revealed to him by Allah and embodied in itself a perfect code
of life. |
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He did not give a book of any description to his followers, and left the matter of religion entirely to their
discretion. |
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The Qu'ran depends on one man.
For Jesus, the Book was already in existence. It is now known as the "Old Testament". It is composed of the work of many authors. The New
Testament was written after the death of Jesus, and also comprises the writings of many authors. The Qu'ran and the New Testament express opposite approaches to religion: the "letter of the
Law" vs. "the spirit of the Law".
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He gave an entirely new dispensation to the world. |
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He laid no claim to any such exalted position for himself; but told his followers to follow the same old Mosaic
dispensation. |
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Muhammad's teaching was new to the Arabs, but he does not claim his dispensation is "entirely new", for it goes back to
Abraham (2:Al-Baqarah:136).
What Jesus proclaimed was how to see beyond the letter of the Mosaic Law into the nature of God and the life of the Spirit to which He is
calling us. Jesus is reported to have made many claims, e.g., to be "the way, the truth and the life".
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He taught the fundamental principles of his religion in unambiguous language and in unequivocal terms: hence no dispute over
them or no controversy about them in the Muslim world during all these 13 centuries. |
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He knew nothing about the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Logos, the Transubstantiation, the Atonement, or the Mariolatry or
the elaborate ritual of the Roman Church or the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope. |
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There are different Muslim "denominations", e.g., Sufism, but generally there is intolerance for divergent viewpoints. But
there are aspects of popular Islam today which Muhammad would probably disagree with, e.g., the celebration of his birthday, Mawlid, and his veneration in branches of Sufism.
Jesus did not know of developments within Christianity after his time, and would probably disagree with many of them.
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The Holy Prophet is a human being just like ourselves and as such he can command our allegiance and our
love. |
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Jesus is perfect man plus perfect god and as such his personality has become quite an enigma. We cannot feel drawn towards
him as he is not one of us; he belongs to quite a different species and as such he cannot serve as model for us. |
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Anyone, Muhammad, Jesus and even Batman can be a role model. But what sort of role model? Muhammad lived a life of aggressive
evangelism. Jesus lived a life of quiet service. Jesus was "tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." We are to "walk as he walked." |
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He can inspire confidence in us by his achievements. |
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Nothing of that sort, as we are apt to attribute all his achievements to his divinity and this element is lacking in
us. |
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Muhammad's early failure and later conspicuous success are evident.
On the physical plane, Jesus was a failure. On the spiritual plane a conspicuous success. He came to enable us to receive that spark of the
divine that is lacking in us.
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He is the greatest exemplar for human beings. For twenty three long years, he lived and worked amongst us as an ordinary
mortal and during this period he displayed so many phases of his humanity and so varied aspects of his sweet personality that men in all walks of life - from kings and rulers down to the
man in the street - each one can find a definite pattern for his guidance in life.
("The Ideal Character of the prophet." M. S. Chaudry) |
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He has absolutely no such beauty or excellence to his credit. He lived for barely three years and died ignominiously on the
cross. |
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It is difficult to know what Muhammad was really like, for his life is surrounded with sympathetic legends. But obviously he
has a certain physical appeal, or none would follow him.
Jesus indeed had "no form or comeliness that we should desire him." His appeal is at the spiritual, not physical,
level.
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The Qur'an gives this exalted position to the Prophet. Allah says, "Verily, in the life of the Messenger of Allah there is a
noble uswa (model) for you. |
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Jesus makes no such claim. |
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The skeptic would note that, since Muhammad transmitted the Qu'ran, his remarks about himself might be self-serving.
The New Testament makes many claims about the exalted position of Jesus. Jesus himself is careful to give all glory to God.
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The Holy Prophet "is the most successful of all the religious personalities of the world" (vide Encyc. Brit., Art.
MUHAMMAD). |
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Jesus left his work unfinished owing to his sudden arrest and crucifixion (as believed and preached by the Christian
Church). |
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Muhammad launched a highly successful international religion.
Jesus calls his church "a little flock". Jesus continues his work today: "Lo! I am with you even to the end of the
world."
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The Holy Prophet gave a perfect code of life to his followers. |
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Jesus left some portion of his teachings to be imparted by the Paraclete vide John 14:16. |
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Muhammad didn't follow his own code exactly, e.g., wives.
Christianity is a religion of continuing divine revelation in which we are expected to "grow in grace and knowledge."
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The Holy Prophet wrought a mighty revolution and made the Arabs master of the then civilized world. |
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Jesus could not free his people from the yoke of the Romans. |
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The Arab empire was vast, but where is it now?
Jesus proclaimed a Kingdom, "not of this world." Yet Christianity conquered the Roman Empire.
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* Comments provided by: Mike Linacre
References: Yousuf Saleem Chishti (1970), "What is Christianity: Being a Critical Examination of Fundamental Doctrines of the
Christian Faith." ; Karachi, Pakistan: World Federation of Islamic Missions Islamic Centre
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