Then there are five very
significant points of
convergence
between the beliefs of the
Christians and those of the
Muslims. These are
briefly described
thus:
THE ASCENSION: Both the Christians and the
Muslims agree
that Jesus Christ forcefully
and incisively called
upon his fellow Israelites to
mend
their
perverted ways, to give up sinful and unethical practices, to
repent with the
true spirit of repentance, and
to purify themselves from all
spiritual and moral corruption. He severely criticized the
pretentious religiosity, the emphasis on hollow but
legally
spotless rituals, and the servile adherence to the letter of
the
law with no regard
to its spirit
-- the hallmark of the
religious
establishment of his time (see Mathew 23, and the
Holy Qur’an Al-Maida 5:78). As a result,
he was
made
a target of hatred and malevolence from the rabbis, the
priests, and
the Pharisees. The message
and proclamation
of
Jesus Christ (Peace be upon them) attracted the attention
of
the population both in and around Jerusalem, but it was accepted
only by a very minute section of the Jews, of which even fewer became his dedicated companions. The number of these close comrades, according to the
Gospels, was
twelve, although matter of their
names is controversial.
The enjoyed complete religious freedom
under the
Roman rule, and it was their
religious court, Sanhedrin, which convicted Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon them) of
blasphemy and
apostasy and demanded the
Roman governor to carry out the death sentence
by way of crucifixion. The Gospels and
the
Holy Qur’an both
agree that the Jews were fully responsible for this wicked and shameful act. Again, both the Christians and the Muslims
are
unanimous that
Jesus
Christ
was raised up
alive from the earth into the
heavens. This has
been mentioned in the
Gospels of Matthew (28:6,7),
Mark (16:19), Luke (24:510,
and
John (20:17), as well as in the Holy Qur’an (An-Nisa 4:157, 158). The allusions of the
Qur’anic verses are explained, clearly and categorically,
in
the traditions
of Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon them). The only difference here is that, whereas the Christians believe
that Jesus was raised up
after his death on the cross and
following a miraculous resurrection,
the Muslims believe
that
Jesus Christ was never
crucified at all, but that he was raised up into the heavens before being arrested by the Roman soldiers. The doctrine of “Ascension” is,
therefore,
common to the followers of both Christianity and
Islam,
though obviously the
Jews
would never accept
this.
