What does the willfully blind, doctrinally ignorant “Chrislam” movement propose to do about this?
An open letter to Fox and Friends:
Dear Ms. Green, Ms. Earhardt, and Mr. Kilmeade
I just watched the “Chrislam” segment on today’s (2/21/11)“Fox and Friends,” as a follow-up to this segment from 2/18/11, and I was appalled at the egregious omission of basic Islamic doctrine regarding the so-called “Muslim Jesus, Isa”.
In Islam Isa is not a Christian he is a full-throated Muslim Prophet who was never crucified (the Koran says his “body double” was killed instead! see below) and whose “job description’ is to come back some 40 years before the end of times and destroy Christianity, as per this and other canonical hadith:
Sunan Abu Dawud Book 37, Number 4310:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus (pbuh). He will descend (to the earth). When you see him, recognize him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizya. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him.
From an earlier, relevant essay of mine:
Specifically, Quran 4:157-158 iterates, “That they [i.e., the Jews] said in boast, “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not…Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise…
Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), a pre-eminent Muslim historian, theologian, and Qur’anic commentator, provides this elaboration of Qur’an 4:157-158, which emphasizes the Jews overall perfidy, especially their gloating (but unknowingly “false”) claim to have killed Jesus:
“When Allah sent Isa (Jesus) with proofs and guidance, the Jews — may Allah’s curses, anger, torment, and punishment be upon them — envied him because of his prophethood and obvious miracles…the Jews defied him…and tried their best to harm him. Allah’s Prophet Isa (Jesus) could not live in any one city for long and he had to travel often with his mother…Even so, the Jews were not satisfied, and they went to the King of Damascus at that time a Greek polytheist who worshipped stars. They told him there was a man…misguiding and dividing the people in Jerusalem and stirring unrest among the king’s subjects. The king became angry and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem to arrest the rebel leader, stop him from causing unrest, crucify him and make him wear a crown of thorns. When the king’s deputy in Jersusalem received these orders, he went with some Jews to the house that Isa (Jesus) was residing in, and he was with twelve, thirteen, or seventeen of his companions. That day was a Friday, in the evening. They surrounded Isa (Jesus) in the house, and when he felt that they would soon enter the house or that he would sooner or later have to leave it, he said to his companions, ‘Who volunteers to be made to look like me, for which he will be my companion in Paradise?’A young man volunteered, but Isa (Jesus) thought that he was too young. He asked the question a second time and third time, each time the young man volunteering, prompting Isa (Jesus) to say, ‘Well, then you will be that man.’ Allah made the young man look exactly like Isa (Jesus), while a hole opened in the roof of the house, and Isa (Jesus) was made to sleep and ascended to heaven while asleep…When Isa (Jesus) ascended, those who were in the house came out. When those surrounding the house saw the man who looked like Isa (Jesus), they thought that he was Isa (Jesus). So they took him at night, crucified him and placed a crown of thorns on his head. The Jews boasted that they killed Isa (Jesus) and some Christians accepted their false claim due to their ignorance and lack of reason.
In his commentary on the related Qur’anic verse 4:159,
“And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them.”
Ibn Kathir elucidates the Islamic version of the “Resurrection” from the hadith (oral tradition recording Muhammad’s words and actions) in which Isa (Jesus), who is merely a Muslim prophet preaching Islam, returns to “break the cross, kill the pig, and banish the jizyah [Qur’anic poll-tax signifying a non-Muslims subjugation under Islamic rule] and call all the people to Islam.”
It is critically important to understand that all the essential themes of Ibn Kathir’s narrative regarding the Crucifixion are reiterated in the authoritative contemporary (February 1991 English edition) manual of Islamic Law (‘Umdat al-salik wa’uddat al-nasik), “The Reliance of the Traveller,” which is certified by Cairo’s distinguished Al-Azhar University. In addition, “Reliance of the Traveller” reaffirms the accepted interpretation of Isa’s (Jesus’) return as described in the Qur’an and hadith:
“(T)he time and place for [the poll tax] is before the final descent of Jesus…After his final coming, nothing but Islam will be accepted from them, for taking the poll tax is only effective until Jesus’ descent…
