muhamd
We Begin by praising
Allah we praise him and we seek his help
and we ask for his forgiveness and we
take
refuge with Allah from the evil of
ourselves and from the evil consequence
of our evil actions anybody whom Allah
guides no one can misguide but anybody
whom Allah leaves to go astray no one
can guide and I testify that Allah alone
is worthy of worship and that Muhammad
sallallah alaihi wasallam may God's
peace and blessings be upon Him is the
servant of Allah and his final messenger
so I've been asked to give a talk today
about Miriam the mother of Jesus now the
first thing what I'm going to do what
I'm going to do
inshallah is uh there is a chapter in
the Quran which is the 19th
Chapter it's actually called Miram Surah
maram or the chapter of Mary and in
Surah maram there is a
description of the birth of Jesus the
son of Mary or Jesus Christ the word
Christ as many of you may know actually
is a Greek it comes from the Greek word
Christos which itself is a translation
uh of the the word
Messiah okay and it doesn't actually
mean Savia some people think the word
Christ or Messiah or Messiah which is
also uh the the anglicized form of the
word uh means savior it doesn't mean
savior actually it means anointed
one it means anointed one it was a
tradition and a custom from amongst the
the children of Israel and it's
something you can find a tradition you
will find this mentioned in the Bible
and you will find the word Messiah is
used in respect to Kings who are
anointed and they were anointed usually
with olive oil this was a practice that
was common olive oil was uh extremely
precious and considered uh bless
perhaps even in by some sacred and the
olive oil was used to anoint the
king
So This this term Messiah
or uh um Christos or Christ actually
means anointed one and it's mentioned
Jesus has given this title in the Quran
M or so he's sometimes referred to as
Messiah but most often Jesus may God's
peace and blessings be upon himam he's
mentioned as Jesus the son of Mary and
the Quran
emphasizes Jesus Son of Mary as opposed
to the claims that are made by most
Christians that he is the Son of God the
Quran is very emphatic that Jesus is not
the Son of God and in in fact no uh no
one is the Son of God God does not have
sons God does not have children God is
far removed from such things he is far
removed from such comparisons from such
analogies from making because why this
makes Allah God the Lord the creator of
the universe in some way shape or form
like a created thing and the essence of
the teaching of every Prophet the
essence of the teaching of every single
Prophet every messenger of God their
essential
message was that the creator of the
universe is
unique he is different and distinct from
everything in this
creation there is nothing that can be
likened unto God actually this phrase is
mentioned numerous times numerous
times in the Old Testament in many many
different ways I haven't counted them
but maybe even hundreds of times it is
mentioned that God is not like anything
it even
mentions in Hosea for example it says
that I for I am God not
man it makes it clear even
emphatically that God is saying I am God
not man I am not man I am not like a man
I am not weak I am not fallible I cannot
be killed I cannot I do not lie I am not
subjected to the same
limitations as a human
being so this is the teaching of all of
the prophets as opposed to or in
contradiction
to the teachings of pagan
religions
paganism blurs the distinction between
the Creator and the
created in its extreme form paganism
teaches actually what is known as
pantheism which is the concept that
everything is God
according to this idea I am God you are
God the seat is God the rat is God the
cockroach is God the sun is God the Moon
is God everything God is the in in in
fact the idea is that Universe the
universe or the Creator and the creation
are one and the same which I don't want
to go into it but it's a logical
impossibility but this is the idea of
pantheism
so paganism which is the worship of
nature essentially paganism is nature
worship blurs the the distinction
between the Creator and the created and
that is why you will find consistently
in Pagan
religions the idea that God has children
look at Greek mythology
Zeus is
having intimate relations sexual
intercourse with women on
earth and he is having Sons born of this
intercourse Hercules for example I'm
sure you've all heard of Hercules was
supposed to be a son of
Zeus a literal son of
Zeus the Roman emperors the the
Pharaohs most of the rulers of pagan
lands claimed in one way or another
either to be gods or to be sons of
gods Alexander the
Great also declared himself at a
particular stage when he went to Egypt
then he went into the desert to a place
called I think it was called Deli or
some there was some Oasis and he went
there and he returned from this place
declaring himself that the Oracle had
revealed that he was in fact the son of
Zeus and by the way whether it was Zeus
or some other name that they gave to the
Supreme what they believed to be the God
of all the gods this is a pagan idea so
that in some sense the gods or God was
made very much like a human being
but in the midst of this
paganism there was always a group of
people who had stuck to and who had been
firm upon the
belief that the creator of the
universe was a being who was totally
distinct and separate from the
creation that nothing in the creation
was like the Creator and the Creator was
not like anything in the creation he was
the possessor of perfect
attributes and this you will
find this concept you will find is
condensed so
powerfully and so
beautifully in a small Surah which is
probably one of the suras that every
single Muslim at least knows this Surah
along with fa and that
isas
interestingly is not about ni it's not
about
intention right normally when we sayas
we think of intention making Our
intention purely for Allah that when we
do something we do it for the sake of
God Alone we don't do it to show off we
don't do it to get some worldly gain so
when in Arabic we hear this termas most
people they link this this concept ofas
with sincerity in our actions and
sincerity in our intentions but suras
the word doesn't necessarily mean
sincerity in only intentions it also can
mean
Purity in the concept of intention it
means that your intention is pure for
Allah but
in it means Purity in the sense of
purifying Allah the Creator from all
Partners from all associations from all
equals so what does
theah say it's very emphatic
which means say he is
say he is
Allah now the word in
Arabic does not just mean
one it's more than
one in Arabic means one and alone it is
a type of Oneness that does not permit
for for example a
trinity Ahad means one and alone so the
term Ahad automatically in
Arabic eliminates the possibility of a
trinity or a Pantheon of gods or that in
some way this Creator in some way shape
or form shares his power his knowledge
or should be worshiped in any way along
with the creation just the word has that
significance it's a very powerful
word say he is
Allah now by the way as a
point as a side
point the word
Allah you find some Christians take
objection to the name
Allah and this objection is really based
upon ignorance there are some Americans
who actually really believe that Jesus
spoke
English in fact in fact I have actually
even seen a clip of a woman an
Evangelical
woman saying there is a clip of her a
video of her saying that Jesus spoke
English and this when did she say this
when there was some debate about whether
they should introduce Spanish because
there's so many Hispanics in America
right so they were thinking are they
getting introduce Spanish as a second
language oh no it was over the Coca-Cola
was it Coca-Cola Coca-Cola did an
advertisement where they sung it wasn't
even the American national anthem right
it was some other song about America
that all Americans oh America or I don't
know what no that's Oh Canada but anyway
I can't remember there's some song All
Americans not even their national anthem
right and Coca-Cola what did they do
they got different people to sing it in
different languages and you know there
was even a girl with hijab in it and
this and that and you know these white
anglosaxon you know these you know these
people just they just went crazy right
and there was this Evangelical Christian
woman saying you know God you know Jesus
spoke English and then she had to sort
of you know what she said afterward she
said okay the jewry is still out on
whether Jesus spoke English or
Not Jesus didn't speak
English actually Jesus didn't probably
according to most biblical Scholars
Jesus didn't speak
Greek and he didn't speak Latin in fact
according to most biblical Scholars
Jesus didn't even speak
Hebrew he he didn't even speak
Hebrew right most Christian Scholars
think that the language that Jesus spoke
was
Aramaic was
Aramaic and the word that is
used in the Aramaic and there are
Aramaic Bibles existing and the you the
word that is used in Aramaic for the
creator of the heavens and Earth is
allaha
allaha because
Aramaic is a sister language of Arabic
they're
related Aramaic Arabic Hebrew they are
very similar
languages right like French and Italian
and Spanish they are very similar
languages Hebrew and Aramaic and Latin
and Syrian
as well which is a dead language
obviously so is by the way Aramaic is a
dead language and Hebrew by the way is
also a dead language when they wanted to
revive the Hebrew language they went to
Arabic in order to Aid the grammar and
pronunciation they borrowed from
Arabic so the word in Aramaic the
language of Jesus according to most
Scholars was
Allah right not God
not du not
got right not yahovah or
Jehovah no it was
Allah this is the probably because no
one actually knows for sure but this is
probably probably the word that Jesus
used for God right
so say he is Allah and the word Allah
means anyway this is what the Arabic
uh grammarians have said the or the
people who are expert in the Arabic
language they said there's difference of
opinion but they said it means Al is
anything that is woried it is equivalent
to the English word
deity so anything that is worshiped is a
deity you know whether it's a rock or a
stone or or Jesus or a saint or you know
or or some Idol or whatever it may be a
deity okay Al means the deity or the
God meaning the one God the only true
God
Allah so it means Allah is a what is
aad Right Assad the word Assad is one of
the names or the
attributes of God and assumed means
the one upon whom everything
depends whereas this one depends upon
nothing self-reliant self-subsisting
it's not only self-reliant and
self-subsisting it's everything depends
upon Allah whereas Allah does not depend
upon anything so it is a declaration
this word aad of the
absolute power of Allah over everything
and the fact that God the Creator is
absolutely free from all wants and all
needs God does not need to do anything
God does not need anything he doesn't
need our worship he doesn't need our
prayers he doesn't need our sacrifice he
doesn't need us to believe in him he
doesn't need our love he doesn't need
our fear he needs nothing
he is
self-sufficient if you know if there was
nothing in existence and there was no
creation that was only Allah Allah would
be enough for
himself this is what it
means
right now means he was not
born so anything that is born is not God
this is what it's clear
anything that is born is not God because
God is not born God exists and is ever
existing and is not befitting the
Majesty of God and the nature of God and
who and what God is that something or
someone could give birth to
God now I remember when I
was when I was a
Catholic you know what the cathol
Catholics call
Mary do you know what the Catholics they
call
Mary there's a prayer we
learned there is a prayer we learned in
the Catholic
church this prayer is called Hail Mary
Hail Mary and this is how it goes Hail
Mary Mother of
God blessed art thou amongst women and
blessed is the fruit of your womb or thy
womb Jesus hail and you know what I
remember when I was a little
kid and I must have been like 9 years
old it's a long time
ago I remember I was lying in bed and my
mom was sending me off to boarding
school my boarding school was a Roman
Catholic monastic boarding school so it
was a boarding school where that means
you stay there you live there you sleep
there you don't go home at the end of
the day that's where you
stay right and this school was run by
monks okay
so I was just about to be shipped off to
this boarding school and my mom
obviously you know thought maybe it's a
good time my mom is not religious at all
but she still decided I had to go to
this super religious school right anyway
that's not the topic of tonight's
conversation but she she was teaching me
this prayer and she said okay say off to
me now Hail Mary Hail Mary Mother of God
and when she said Mother of God I
remember distinctly thinking Mother of
God this is the first time I'd heard
that and even as a child right my
natural my nature my natural instinctive
understanding of God I found this
repulsive it was like how can God have a
mother what's that supposed to
mean because I knew that God was the
creator of the whole universe the
infinite without beginning Without End
right how can you give birth to
something that's not supposed to have a
beginning or end God has a mummy there's
my mummy telling me that God has a
mommy right and I'm thinking you know
like my when you're young your mother is
a bit like a god right in the sense that
really seriously what I mean I don't
know for for maybe not for you but I
remember that you know it was a bit of a
shock in my life when I discovered that
my mother actually could be
wrong you know like there was a time
when you know whatever my mother said it
was as if it was from from God right it
was like
I learned everything from my
mother right I mean this is the one who
cared for me who fed me who clothed me
who did everything for me so there am I
thinking so the creator of the universe
had a mummy who fed him and clothed him
and taught him everything so you know
what in my little brain I said to myself
oh well if you know Mary's the mother of
God she must be a bigger God than
God that's the only way to logically
explain it if she's the mother of God
she must be an even bigger God bigger
better more powerful
right but it's nonsense you can see it
really is nonsense as it makes no sense
whatsoever he is not born no the Quran
the word of
God makes it very clear God is not a
born thing if you see something that has
been born at any stage it's not God
simple God is not
born now this means that also God is not
the
begetter it is
refuting Greek paganism the idea that
Zeus right fancies some you know bit of
Greek Crumpet walking around yeah and
Zeus says oh I like a bit of that one
over there no God does not have intimate
relations he God does not do that God
does not beget
children God does not have children this
is what it means because why God is far
removed from that why why do people have
children either because they have some
sexual urge they want to satisfy God
does not have an urge like
that God is far removed from such things
or perhaps that you have children
because when you get old you want
someone to look after you but God never
gets old he never gets weak he doesn't
need someone to look after him or you
have children maybe because when you die
you need someone to inherit from you and
pass on your
name but God will never die he is the
ever living Who Never
Dies what then need does God have to
have
children rather having children
begetting and having children is an act
of animals it's a creation it's the act
of a
creature so the Quran is
emphatic God is not born nor is he
begotten he he is not born and he
doesn't give birth to Children he
doesn't participate in the process of
having children God is far removed from
that and there is nothing that can be
likened unto
him nothing can compare to God whatever
you can
imagine imagine something God is not
like that imagine anything God is not
like that
you cannot imagine what God looks like
we can know some things with our limited
faculties about God that he creates that
God is the
creator there's very limited things that
God is wise that God is powerful we can
use that we can understand that actually
just by the way with our reason but most
of what we can know about God has to be
from God
telling us himself so a person may say
Well if you know how do you say
him but we say him only because God says
him God uses that he describes himself
as
H he describes himself as him so we use
him it doesn't mean we ascribe gender to
God in the same way that we have gender
but this is the term God uses and we use
the term that God uses
that's
it God tells us about himself that he is
compassionate that he is merciful that
he is forgiving that he is wise that he
is generous that he
is and so on and so
forth so this knowledge about God comes
from
Revelation
so let
us
read what does Surah maram tell us
about
Mary very clearly she is not the mother
of God very clearly God that Jesus is
not the Son of God and part of the
purpose of God revealing the story of
Mary is to make this clear now there is
another thing about this story of Mary
in the
Quran it is very very different from the
nativity
story that most
Christians have heard
about and the story they hear about and
you know they celebrate in
Christmas okay now during Christmas you
know there's the usual anyway the the
the the usual Nativity
Story okay is that Mary becomes
pregnant okay through the Holy
Spirit that's something we can agree
with right to some degree yeah but you
see how beautifully the
Quran talks about it and then she has a
husband
Joseph so Joseph and Mary are wandering
around they're looking for a place to
stay they can't find any place to say
there's a census going on at the time
apparently although there's no
historical evidence that this census
took place but anyway that's problematic
but anyway according to the gospel
narrations there's a census going on
they find find it difficult they can't
find a place to stay So eventually they
find you know all they can do is stay in
a shed in a barn in
Bethlehem right so this is the famous
scenes you have with the cow standing
and the sheep and the goat and you know
all of these things standing around and
you know Mary's sitting there and the
angels are there right and you know
Jesus is born in a stable right okay so
and the Shepherds you know uh uh uh the
shepherds are with their
flocks right right the shepherds are up
in the and they you know they they they
come down because this Angel tells them
that you know the king is being born
although generally in winter in December
you don't find many Shepherds out on the
Hills even in Palestine it's freezing
cold yeah but that's another topic how
did Christmas come to be the 25th of
December that's a very interesting topic
and it by the way shows the paganism of
Christianity yeah the Pagan influence in
Christianity is actually a pagan
Festival right so this is the usual
story oh yeah and then the three kings
you know usually they've all got turbans
and you know it's like they're from the
Middle East yeah to show that the Arabs
really should be in the recognizing
Jesus you know it's all very clever
right programming right so this is the
story you know there's a big star that
foretells the coming of Jesus so this is
the normal Nativity Story but you will
find that actually this is very very
different what we find in the Quran is
so different you might think it's a
different story Al together but there
are similarities so let I'm going to
read through it and I'm going to pause
to make some comments and have a
discussion about certain things that I
think may be uh beneficial you know like
a t or a reflection upon these verses
okay so it says here in in it's Surah 19
Miram and in the 6 16 verse of 16th Ayah
and mention in the
book Mary when she withdrew from her
family to a place towards the east and
she took in seclusion from them a screen
then we sent to her one of our angels
and he represented himself to her as a
well proportioned man she said indeed I
seek refuge in the most merciful from
you if you should be fearing God and he
the angel said I am only the messenger
of your Lord to give you news of a pure
boy and she said how can I have a boy
while no man has touched me and I have
not been
unchaste he said thus it will be your
lord said it is easy for me we we will
make him a sign to the people and a
mercy from us and it is a matter decreed
so she conceived him and she withdrew
with him to a remote place so let's just
stop there for a second one of the
things I want to mention about Miriam or
about
Mary is the prophet sallallah wasallam
mentioned about four very very special
women four very very special women the
prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam he
mentioned that there were many many men
who had reached this particular level
but only four women and two of one of
those was Khadijah his wife the other
one was Fatima his daughter the other
one was assia who was the wife of
pharaoh and the other one was Miriam who
was the mother of Jesus now it's
brothers and sisters this means that
these four women are a very very
important example for us especially for
our
sisters that they have been chosen and
they have been highlighted for a
particular reason for certain qualities
now these qualities are not my brothers
and sisters that they were
doctors or
Engineers
or you know uh the ones who ran amazing
businesses although of course Khadijah
did have a business but that's not the
reason why she has been
highlighted and this is very important
we have to understand what are the
qualities about these women that Allah
subhana ta'ala the prophet sallallah
alai wasallam emphasized and singled
them out for this High
status
so the first thing about Miriam is that
she withdrew from her family to a place
in the East and she took in seclusion
from them as scream this means she went
into a state of religious
retreat elsewhere in the
Quran we find that in fact the the
priests of the temple were disputing
about who was going to care for Miriam
because she had actually been dedicated
by her mother to the service of God she
had been dedicated by her mother to the
service of God when the mother of Miriam
became pregnant she thought that it was
a boy when she gave birth she she saw
that it was a girl but she had while
this child was in her womb she had
dedicated it to the service of God now
usually this is something that was
exclud exclusively for men but the fact
that she had made this dedication then
the priests were you know drawing Lots
as to who was going to take her and look
after her so she had this uh upbringing
in the
temple so she was learned she was
worshiping Allah subhah wa taala and it
was a habit to PR practice this type of
seclusion it also mentions uh in the
Quran more details about how the angel
came and that they used to find by the
way that Miriam was fed with
fruits she was being fed with fruits
they didn't know where this fruits where
these fruits came
from According to some they were out of
season fruits so they didn't they
weren't even fruits in season so this is
just from the the the the blessing of
Allah subhana wa taala that he gave to
this this really one of one of his aah
one of his friends one of these Pious
people okay so this is something that uh
very special about Miriam she was
someone very devoted to worshiping Allah
subhana taala she was very Pious you
know this is the the qualities that the
excellent
qualities that she had so she withdrew
from her family she was in Retreat she
was in seclusion then uh the angel
Gabriel comes to her but he comes in the
form of a man he comes in the form of a
man so look at the first thing she says
she says indeed I seek refuge in the
most merciful from you if you should be
fearing God this is very
interesting so she takes Refuge with God
so look at this is her first reaction it
is not to scream not to shout for help
right she takes Refuge with
God this really indicates the quality of
her Iman the quality of her trust in
Allah the the the reality of her
connection and her relationship with God
is that her reaction is to ask God for
help to take refuge with God from this
man but it is also another way of her
saying be mindful of God don't
transgress against me don't molest me
now you have to understand brothers and
sisters that the time in which Miram was
living was a very very difficult time
actually it's an amazing period of
history and this would be a very
interesting topic for it's not a subject
I've talked about for a long time
actually but it's a very fascinating
subject and actually it would be worth a
lot of research what was the situation
of the Ben Isel at the time of
Isa at that
time the holy land was occupied by the
Romans the Romans of course were
pagans I'm saying this
because the
similarities between the condition of
the Ben
Isel at that time and the condition of
the Muslim umah today are
absolutely striking it is amazing you
will find the divisions amongst them the
different sects amongst them you'll find
the same sorts of
divisions
today okay they had the zealots the
zealots right were the equivalent of you
know the the Muslim fundamentalists
today right or more they were more than
that right they were and you had another
group called the sari they or sikari wi
which is named after a type of dagger or
a sword so they were in a sense a
militant Wing right and you had these
zealots and then you had the the Jews
who are really
secularists by the standards of that day
they had basically become well what you
could call westernized they had become
totally
westernized they had begun to look like
Greeks speak like Greeks act like Greeks
right one of the big uh conflicts at the
time was you know the gym the
gymnasium now today maybe we will go to
the gym but in those days they would all
when they exercised in the gym the the
habit of the Greeks was to do it
completely naked for some reason they
used to like running around Stark naked
yeah even when they did their Olympics
they all ran around naked I I don't know
what the thing but that's their thing
right so of course for religious
practicing Jews for a Jew to participate
in this was a type of you know big
Haram so it's very interesting that you
find there are some anyway it's it's a a
truly amazing topic even to the extent
that Herod the King was nothing really
except a Roman puppet he was a king he
was the king of Israel but he was just a
puppet of the Romans he was a
puppet so what we are talking about is a
very type of instable type of situation
you have lots of things going on
rebellions fermenting so on and so forth
so it's very interesting that that
Miriam says um if you should be fearing
God because who could this person be
could be
anybody and she understood that who is
the person who would leave her alone
only a person who is going to fear God
have some mindfulness of God who's going
to be reminded about this but he assures
her and says no I'm a messenger of God
who's going to tell you this Glad
Tidings of this pure boy and so straight
and this is interesting as well she says
how can I have a boy while no man has
touched me and I have not been un chased
by the way I mean this means she does
understand the basics of human biology
the fact that she has been bought up in
the temple right the fact that she has
you know uh spent her life worshiping
God does not mean she does not
understand The Facts of Life she
understands at least she understands the
concept of you know how a child comes to
be
born right what happens between a man
and a woman so I mean what it shows
brothers and sisters right is that you
know being part bias does not
preclude this information than this
basic biological knowledge one shouldn't
imagine that you are so shy and so
bashful and that you know one could not
even talk to their daughters about these
things because somehow it's shameful I'm
saying this because there are some
Muslims who think about this I know
there are girls who come to be married
right and they don't even know they have
no idea they don't even know how babies
are born I've heard about
this right
so even Miram she understands these
things I'm I'm mentioning this because
this is a point of benefit a point of
wisdom from the Quran that you can
understand
okay so then okay let's go to the next
stage of this and and then very
important he said the he he is saying
this is easy for God it's easy Allah God
only needs to say be and it is the point
being here is that it is making it very
clear that Jesus is a creation of God he
is a creation of
God right he has been created by God God
has not somehow conceived Jesus it is
easy for God to create Jesus he only
needs to say be and what he says
happens okay he could create the whole
universe in an instant or he can create
it over millennium
this is either either is easy for
God so the fact
that Jesus does not have a human father
does not necessitate that he has a
Heavenly Father no it doesn't mean that
and the Quran gives the
example it says the similitude of the
example of Jesus is that of
Adam the example of Jesus is that of
Adam God said to him be and he
was God can create him with a word so if
Jesus is the son of God because he has
no human
father then Adam surely must have more
right to being the Son of God because he
has no mother or
father right that's the
logic so this is to show that this is by
the way this is something amazing about
the Quran
this is actually one of the Miracles of
the
Quran what is amazing about the Quran
brothers and sisters and I'm saying this
as someone who went to a Roman Catholic
monastic boarding school and you can
imagine we were quite well trained in
Christian
theology not only by the way in the
doctrines of the Catholic church but
within being taught the doctrines of the
Catholic church we were also taught why
the doctrines of the Protestants and uh
various other sects and various other
groups were
wrong okay so I actually studied
medieval history as an a level and
believe me um the teaching of this
history was not exactly unbiased I can
say from the point of view of the monks
you know when it came to the cathar for
example and when it CES to teaching
about the Muslims this was not an
unbiased you know uh way that everything
was presented so always they will be
mentioning which is fair enough I mean I
suppose that's you know we should do the
same thing but they would mention within
these discussions and these classes you
know reputations of what they thought
were false doctrines so I have quite a
good understanding or I used to have
quite a good understanding of Christian
Theology and if you study it's very
complex I mean it's a whole degree you
can study Christian theology it's
theology is a degree
right the amazing thing about the Quran
is that it deals with really complex
theological
discussions really complex theological
discussions for
example how was Jesus
conceived right how was Jesus actually
conceived if he was the son of God this
is a big discussion how did Jesus
actually come into existence but the and
and and by the way one of the arguments
of Christian
theologians you'll find it in the books
of theology one of the arguments they
use to prove according to them because
scripture is their basis right that
Jesus is God because in traditional
Orthodox Christian belief right there is
one God but the one God is a trinity
made up of the father who is God and the
son who is God and the Holy Ghost who is
God but there are not three Gods there
are one it's one God this is what they
call the Trinity right this is Orthodox
Christian belief right so every Orthodox
Christian is supposed to believe that
Jesus is
God
right so one of the arguments that
Christian theologians use to try and
prove according to them that Jesus was
God is that Jesus was the son of God
this is the argument they used Jesus was
the son of of God and my son is a human
being like
me therefore God Son must be a god like
God that's one of the arguments they
used but the Quran refutes this in very
simple ways one of the arguments
Christian use for example Jesus had no
earthly father so he must have a
heavenly father but but the Quran
refutes that no the similitude of Jesus
is that of Adam God said to him be and
he was in a very simple sentence it
answers these complex theological
questions
right as for the claim that Jesus is the
son of God because my son is human like
me therefore Jesus must be then God
asked this question if God has a son who
is God's
wife this is actually a very simple
reputation of this point
meaning simply if you're claiming that
God had a literal son then God literally
must have had a wife because if he
didn't then that's not a son it's
something else because the word son
means the product of an act that took
place between me and my wife
right let me give you an example you all
know that you probably all know about
Frankenstein right you all know about
Frankenstein
yeah maybe you haven't seen the movie
read the book but you know who
Frankenstein is Right Frankenstein
there's some Mad Doctor whose name I
don't remember right he puts together he
gets bits and pieces of a body yeah
different bodies from everywhere he puts
it together right and like puts
electricity through it and brings this
dead body back to life right now in some
way he creates
this this human being right now I mean
he could call this thing his son right
but it's not his son is it it's not his
son he doesn't me he may he may love it
like a son he may care for it like a son
but it's not his son is it it's his
creation but it's not his son yes or no
it's not right good okay so if I adopt a
son I can adopt someone as my son but
that is still not biologically in
reality my son is it I mean I just say
he's my son but is he really my son no
he's
not so this is very important because
what do you mean when God has a son when
you say God has a son what do you mean
does God have a wife
then now I I mean in 27 years of
challenging Christians I've only really
met one Christian who said yes yeah God
had actually said God had sex with
Mary he actually said I I I said am you
saying God had sex with Mary he said yes
only one one thank thank God you know
Muslims say no no no no we don't believe
that so okay if you don't believe that
then Jesus is not literally the Son of
God is
he no well so how is he the Son of God
like Frankenstein you know or like an
adopted
son but it doesn't if you think about it
it doesn't mean anything because if
you're going to have a son if you're
going to have a son the son has to be
like you right for example if I you know
if I bought today in this a bottle and I
bought a little fish swimming around
yeah I said here everybody is Flappy the
fish my
son you say but Mr you know ABD it's a
fish yeah you're a human being that's a
fish it doesn't work right no I say no
how do you say that I love it so much
yeah I love this this I love my son
Flappy so much yeah you know what I mean
I love him so much he has a bedroom in
the house he has his own bedroom he sits
with me at the dinner table and the
adoption papers are coming through next
week yeah but you know it doesn't mean
anything because you are not like a
fish right similarly God is not like a
human
being to say that God took a human being
as a son is more more
absurd than saying that a human being
took a fish as his son it's more absurd
because we are more like fish than we
are like
God the difference between us and God is
far far far bigger than between us and
fish
right but if that's nonsensical the
concept of the idea that God has a son
is also nonsensical
so we find the Quran uses very simple
examples in order to refute these deep
uh theological Concepts so let's see
what happens then okay so it's a
sign the Quran is telling us that God is
creating Jesus miraculously God just
needs to say be so the emphasis here
again is Jesus is a creature he is a a
unique creation yes not even unique
because Adam was created without a
mother or or a father Jesus is created
without a father right
okay
so she conceived him and she withdrew to
with him to a remote place okay and the
Pains of childbirth drove her to the
trunk of a palm tree she said oh I wish
I had died before this this and was in
Oblivion
forgotten
now this is a very powerful description
of you know the pain of child birth
right now it is interesting that you
know some people who looked at the Quran
they they said that actually Mary what
she says what she was saying here about
I wish I had died before this was in
Oblivion forgotten they say some of them
say it's not because of the pain of the
child
birth but that's because of the worry
she had about what was everybody going
to say right about the situation she was
in now probably the person who suggested
that never gave birth
right so the sisters I mean you know
childbirth
is probably one of the most
painful
experiences natural experiences that a
human being can go
through it really is you know something
amazing I want to tell you a story
connected with child bsh child birth
right and I want to mention this in
respect to it is something really uh
incredible right something amazing to do
with suffering and pain because one of
the question questions we often people
often have in respect to God is about
suffering you know if there is a God why
is there so much suffering you
know and of course there are many
different ways to answer this but
something there is a type of paradox in
life there is a type of paradox in life
a
paradox means something that seems to be
a contradiction but when you think about
it deeply it's not a
contradiction
right and this is the connection between
love and
suffering I mean it could be a qu it
could be a a topic that Christians might
talk about but I want to talk about it
in a slightly different context in in
respect to giving birth because it's a
very powerful description here of child
birth and I want to relate narrate to
you an experience of my own personal
experience yeah alhamdulillah have 13
kids yeah and I've been to the birth of
and I I wish I didn't have to yeah but
anyway that's just the way my you know
it was except one only one child I
wasn't there yeah okay so for 13 I've
seen the birth of 13 of my you know of
12 of my children one child I delivered
myself right but one of
my kids the birth was particularly you
know I mean I'll be honest I'll be
honest brothers and sisters I'm being
honest to you right I mean my wife was
suffering so badly I you know I start to
have
sh I start to think why you know why
Allah why how can you let this happen
you know what she done so bad that she
has to go through all of this suffering
and all of this pain you know and all of
this and you know I really thought you
know she's GNA die and you know in all
this pain and you know and I mean I know
the answers rational answers but you
know it's very emotional right and
then you
know then the baby is
born right and then the nurse takes this
baby and she gives this baby to my wife
and my wife looks at the baby right with
total love and she says oh my baby what
would mommy do with without
you I mean this is seconds after she's
going through all of this pain and she
looks at this child and these just
amazing words come out of her
mouth you know from so much suffering
there is still so much
love anyway you know I you know when
that happened W he this was like it's
like Allah had just showed me you know I
had all these questions and Allah
answered my question it's like oh now I
understand you know it was like I just
understood something very profound about
suffering and about love and so I called
her ayat you know cuz it was she was
like an ayat from Allah she was like
many signs from Allah to me you know so
Miriam is going through also this
suffering of child birth right she is
feeling it is so painful it is so
excruciating she is feeling like you
know I wish I died before
this
right Oblivion forgotten Subhan Allah I
remember I used to get migraines and I
felt like I wanted to die Subhan Allah
but he called her from
below okay and some mu say this is
actually she's G gave birth to Issa and
this is Issa he's talking yeah Jesus is
talking as a
baby okay and some say it is the an
angel saying it do not
grieve okay don't be sad don't be upset
your lord has provided beneath you a
stream and Shake towards you the trunk
of the palm tree and it will drop upon
you ripe fresh dates it's very
interesting I mean it's just a side
point that one of the things that when
when a woman goes through childbirth one
of the things the good things for her to
have straight after is
glucose right it's very interesting and
I've see a couple of heads nodding
they're probably doctors who know that
right so it's very interesting that
she's given these dates which is a more
is an excellent source of natural sugars
right and so so eat and drink and be
contented and if you see from among
Humanity anyone say inde indeed I have
vowed to the most merciful absent so I
will not speak to any man today this was
a habit sometimes of the people of
before they would have a fast from
speaking right they would not
speak okay so this is a type of they
would take vows a vow of silence or a
vow a vow of poverty or a vow of
Chastity or they would take certain vows
and renounce certain things okay
although the some of these things have
not been approved of by the prophet
sallallah alaihi wasallam from in our
Dean but this is something people used
to do in in the past then she brought
him to her people carrying him and they
said oh Mary you have certainly done a
thing
unprecedented Oh Sister of Aon your
father was not a man of evil nor was
your mother
unchaste that's very interesting in
Arabic they have a term for a good
person
Halal you ever heard that Halal the son
of Halal so when they say he's a good
person they say he's you know he's he's
the son of mean it's very interesting
that they connect evil behavior and evil
manners with an evil
conception right and it's this is
something that goes back to those days
you find that they had the same attitude
so they're saying how can this happen to
you because you know you had a good mom
and a good dad they were Pious people
how come how is it possible and this is
normal that people make these
associations you know your parents were
good how come you turned out so you know
in a bad way so she pointed
to the baby Jesus she points to
isaam and they're saying how how can we
speak to him yeah
he's just a baby he's just in the Cradle
like a child and then Jesus speaks Jesus
speaks this is of course one of the
great Miracles that Allah T gave to
Jesus and again what he says is very
profound and very
important okay Jesus says indeed I am
the servant of
God indeed I am the servant of God
Abdullah
the servant of God the worshiper of God
something cannot be the servant of God
and the worshipper of God and be
God this the Jesus is saying verily
defin certainly I am the servant of God
and he has given me the scripture and
made me a
prophet so he has been given scripture
and he is a prophet he is a messenger
someone who has been given a message by
God to deliver and all the messengers
are human beings there's a reason why
God chooses Messengers to be human
beings not to be Gods half Goods
demigods sons of gods right the reason
is because H because Messengers are
examples Messengers have been sent as an
example for us to follow
they practically show us how
to live God's message yes The
Messengers have characteristics that
make them Superior they are more
truthful they are more trustworthy they
are more sincere they have a capacity
for prayer and worship they may have
other capacities to fast longer you know
they have other capacities that make
them in some ways different from us but
essentially they are
human and the things that they do
essentially we can do that's why God
chooses because why because if the
messenger was an angel if the prophet
who was supposed to deliver us the
message and bring to all the rest of us
a message was an angel then what we
would say yeah you're an angel of course
you know huh you know when you see those
beautiful women it doesn't affect you
try being a human being then you see
what it's like when you tell me you know
keep away from
Girlfriends right you
see you get the point but when the
messenger is a human being then what
excuse do you have if one man can do it
another man can do it if one human can
do it another human can do it right so
this is the point as well in respect to
ISA you know he is human despite his
amazing way that Allah created him you
know despite the qualities that he has
that makes him exceptional he's still a
human being and he's a prophet of God
and all the prophets all the messengers
of God where human being is and and he
is Abdullah he is the worshipper of
Allah and he has made me and and Jesus
goes on to say and he has made me
blessed wherever I am and has enjoined
upon me prayer and zaka zaka means
giving in charity as long as I remain
alive and made me dutiful to my mother
dutiful to my mother and he has not made
me a wretched
Tyrant this is very important Brothers
this is very important brothers and
sisters Allah subhana is highlighting
this quality of Jesus a wretched Tyrant
here really means I don't abuse my
mother I don't mistreat my
mother a tyrant because really if you
can't be good to your mother how can we
expect you to be good to any other human
being if you are not afraid to treat
your mother badly you will definitely
have no fear to treat anybody else badly
if you are a tyrant to your mother you
will be a tyrant to your wife you'll be
a tyrant to your children you'll be a
tyrant to
anybody so treating your mother kindly
in Islam and this is the message of all
the prophets not just Muhammad S.I
wasallam all all of the prophets they
brought this message treating your
mother kindly and being good to her is
one of the most important things in fact
kindness to her after after revering
Allah Allah tells us rever Allah and the
wombs that bore you this is how
important kindness to your mother is
it's very Subhan Allah very important
and it's connected here look how soon
after this description of the pains and
the agonies of childbirth and then we
find that Subhan Allah this blessed
child he's relieving his mother of these
stresses that she has these worries that
she has what are people going to say and
this and that and he's assuring her
really he's assuring her as well I'm
going to treat you well I'm I'm going to
care for you don't worry this is Allah's
Assurance to maram okay this is all part
of the consequence brothers and sisters
and by the way I need to mention
something very important that is part of
what happens here
right you may think well look at Miriam
she's worshiping Allah in seclusion
she's this you know Allah is providing
her from amazing directions
yet look what she is subjected to a
chased woman a chased woman right no man
has touched her she said no man has
touched me right this is how she is yet
she is being accused of the most
horrific
thing I mean the punishment by the way
the biblical punishment for
adultery is does anyone know stoning to
death right can you
imagine but you know what this is
something important to understand
brothers and sisters Allah tests the
people who he
loves God tests the people people he
loves when he loves a person he tests
them he sends upon them tests and trials
and tribulations and the one he loves
the most he tests the most and the
biggest test
honestly is to be falsely accused even
worse than you know they say we have a
saying in English Sticks and Stones can
break my bones but words will never hurt
me is the
opposite that's the totally untrue
saying I mean you just say it as a
mantra because it's actually the
opposite words are the things that will
hurt you more than Sticks and
Stones the worst torment because it goes
on physical pain comes and it goes but
when people slander you when people
accuse you of being a liar and this is
the case of all of the prophets the
prophets came with the truth from God
from Allah from the Creator they came
from the truth from God they they're
sacrificing everything to warn people
about the day of judgment their
Hellfire and then people saying you're a
liar you're a sorcerer you're a magician
you're a soothsayer you're a
poet so when they call you a
terrorist and you know what you're the
furthest you know you're the furthest
person from
terrorism
really I actually think Muslims are the
first I'm not saying there are not
Muslims who commit acts of terrorism but
really Muslims generally with the
furthest people from
it Muslims generally are the most
kind-hearted caring loving they see any
child suffering they feel the pain not
just Muslim
children so when we're accused of these
things it hurts it's a slander it's a
lie but this is a test that Allah is you
know like Miriam was tested like the
prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam was
tested you know there's there the
there's a Hadith mentions that only
three children
spoke only three children babies spoke
it's a long Hadith and I've only got
like five minutes unfortunately cuz I
could give another lecture on this
Hadith but I want to mention the first
one is maram as we Isa isaam as we know
Jesus the second one this and it's very
similar yeah it's very similar there was
a woman she was best uh breastfeeding
her
child and she saw a man come by a prince
he was riding on a beautiful horse he
was dressed in the most fine clothes you
know like this selini robe I have yeah
it's the best you want the best the best
tailor made uh thbes inq go to selini
yeah so Taylor Made B like you know the
Taylor Made You know he was just that
look at him right you look and he was
handsome and behind him was a you know
I'm trying to paint the picture for you
right of course the Hadith is a bit more
simple than and she says oh Allah make
my child like this
one the child stops breastfeeding and
says oh Allah don't let me be like this
one right so the child feeds again then
after some time she sees a woman running
and this woman her hair is everywhere
her clothes are ripped you know she's in
a terrible condition she's running and
then after some time there's a group of
people clearly they're chasing her she
says oh Allah don't let my child be like
this one and the child stops feeding and
says oh Allah make me like this one so
she says oh my baby what are you saying
I mean you know what what are you saying
right and so the child says you know oh
my mother the first one was a man who
had wealth and power but he was arrogant
and proud and his arrogance and pride Le
leads him to the Hellfire I don't want
to be like that one the second woman was
a Pious woman she was falsely accused
but because of the reward of her
suffering and what the test she was
going through she was a PE person of
paradise and I want to be like that
one so don't be deceived always by
appearances all right you know th this
is the reality life is a test the
Believers the we will be tested with our
wives with our children with our
families with our property with our Dean
all of these things we will be tested
Brothers you know but and sisters we
will be tested like Miriam was tested
but you know
alhamdulillah verily with hardship comes
EAS there's always going to be followed
by EAS but it's a test because Allah
loves you right and why you say what's
the connection between the test and
Allah loving you it's simple let me ask
you a question if you want to be the
best
athlete right what are you going to do
sit and eat Biryani and glob Jam yeah
and only if you want to be you know the
big belly athlete you know I don't know
who's got the biggest belly you know
won't make you an athlete right if you
want to be an athlete you have to
train right I mean I know a bit I I you
know one of my son is one of my sons
he's in a he's training to be an athlete
and my God you know when you start to
study it your diet what you eat what you
can't eat the things you have to do the
exercises you have to do not only
exercises mental training now the
athletes get training in psychology on
how to think how to prepare yourself
mentally before a race so your mind is
in the perfect zone so you you know
because your mind will interfere you
know this is hard hard you think it's
easy what is it easy or
hard yeah but if you want to be the best
athlete you have to train it's the same
if you want to be the best spiritual
athlete if you want to reach that
state where you Subhan Allah are like an
elite athlete close to Allah if Allah
wants you to be like that he will train
you he will train you he will put you
through training he will make you suffer
right he will make you you're not like
when you're running I can't run anymore
you know and even you'll be sick and you
know what but what's the result what's
the
result
huh what's the result so this is the
training this is the so if Allah loves
you he's going to train you brothers and
sisters you know look at it as training
when you're going through hard times say
Allah's training me Allah is training me
he's training me so I can be closer to
him so what do you have to do brothers
be patient and brothers and sisters be
patient so I will finish now but I want
to read the rest of this I'm just going
to read the rest of this translation uh
on this particular subject and then
we'll finish inshallah so he made me
dutiful to my mother and he has not made
me wretched Tyrant and peace be and
peace is on me the day I was born and
the day I will die and the day I am
raised
alive I can't resist commenting again
showing you know he's going to die God
does not die he's going to be raised up
on the day of judgment so he's subject
to the power of God that is Jesus the
son of Mary the word of truth about
which they are in dispute it is not
befitting for God to take a son exalted
is he when he decrees an affair he only
says to it be and it is and Jesus said
and indeed God is my Lord and your lord
so worship Him
that is a straight path then the
factions differed from among them so woe
to those who
disbelieved from the scene of a
tremendous day how clearly they will
hear and see the day they come to us but
the wrongdoers today are in clear error
and warn them oh Muhammad of the day of
regret when the matter will be concluded
and they are in a state of heedlessness
and they do not believe indeed it is we
who will inherit the earth and whatever
is on it and to us they will be returned