(From
the Gospel of Barnabas)
The Roman
Senate Decreed:
«On pain of
death, none should call
Jesus the
Nazarene, prophet of the Jews,
either God or
son of God.»
And that
decree was posted up in the Temple,
engraved upon
copper
(M.
Javed Naseem)
Allah
has clarified His status in the Holy Quran (Ch. 112 – Surah Ikhlas)
with these words:
«Say:
He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He
begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
And there is none like
unto Him.»
(al-Quran 112:1-4)
That's
the best definition by which you can know Allah, the Almighty, the
Supreme Creator and the Supreme Controller of the universe. He has
attributed many names to His virtues but the fact remains that He is
the One and Only. He sent many Prophets and Messengers to the mankind
to guide them. Some of those Messengers came with the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, man corrupted those scriptures to make things easier
and comfortable for himself. Some went too far to raise the status of
those Prophets and Messengers to the level of God or the sone of God.
Allah, the Creator of mankind, says in the Holy Quran:
“And
lo! There is a party of them who
distort the
Scripture with their tongues,
that you may think
that what they say is
from the Scripture,
when it is not from
the Scripture. And
they say: It is from
Allah, when it is
not from Allah; and they
speak a lie
concerning Allah knowingly.”
(al-Quran 3:78)
Gospel of
Barnabas, Ch. 93-98:
Barnabas was one of
the twelve disciples of Jesus, the son of Mary. His quotes/references
are considered very authentic. During the height of the controversy
about the status of Jesus, people got divided into three main groups
– those who believed that Jesus was God; those who believed that
Jesus was son of God; and those who believed that Jesus was a prophet
of God. There was a big turmoil as these groups started fighting with
each other. Therefore, the Roman Governor of Judea, King Herod and
the high priest sought a public meeting with Jesus. They asked Jesus
to explain to the huge gathering of thousands, who he really was.
Here are some excerpts from Chapters 93-98:
‘The
priest answered: “Now is Judea so greatly moved over your signs and
your teaching that they cry out that you are God; wherefore,
constrained by the people, I am come here with the Roman governor and
King Herod. We pray you therefore from our heart, that you will be
content to remove the sedition which is arisen on your account. For
some say you are God, some say you are son of God, and some say you
are a prophet.” ‘Jesus answered: “And you, O high priest of
God, why have you not quieted this sedition? Are you also perhaps,
gone out of your mind? Have the prophecies, with the Law of God, so
passed into oblivion, O wretched Judea, deceived of Satan!”
‘And
having said this, Jesus said again: “I confess before heaven, and
call to witness everything that dwells upon the earth, that I am a
stranger to all that men have said of me, to wit, that I am more than
man. For I am a man, born of woman, subject to the judgment of God;
that live here like as other men, subject to the common miseries. As
God lives, in whose presence my soul stands, you have greatly sinned,
O priest, in saying what you have said. May it please God that there
come not upon the holy city great vengeance for this sin”.
Then said the
priest: “May God pardon us, and do you pray for us”.
Then said the
governor and Herod: “Sir, it is impossible that man should do that
which you do; wherefore we understand not that which you say”.
Jesus answered:
“That which you say is true, for God works good in man, even as
Satan works evil. For man is like a shop, wherein whoever enters with
his consent works and sells therein. But tell me, O governor, and you
O King, you say this because you are strangers to our Law; for if you
read the testament and covenant of our God you would see that Moses
with a rod made the water turn into blood, the dust into fleas, the
dew into tempest, and the light into darkness. He made the frogs and
mice to come into Egypt; which covered the ground, he slew the
first-born, and opened the sea, wherein he drowned Pharaoh. Of these
things I have wrought none”.
“And
of Moses, every one confesses that he is a dead man at this present.
Joshua made the sun to stand still, and opened the Jordan, which I
have not yet done. And of Joshua every one confesses that he is a
dead man at this present. Elijah made fire to come visibly down from
heaven, and rain, which I have not done. And of Elijah every one
confesses that he is a man. And (in like manner) very many other
prophets, holy men, friends of God, who in the power of God have
wrought things which cannot be grasped by the minds of those who know
not our God, almighty and merciful, who is blessed for evermore”.
‘Accordingly
the governor and the priest and the King prayed Jesus that in order
to quiet the people he should mount up into a lofty place and speak
to the people. Then went up Jesus on to one of the twelve stones....
Jesus said distinctly, so that everyone might hear:
“It
is written in the testament and covenant of the living God that our
God has no beginning, neither shall he ever have an end”.
The priest answered:
“Even so is it written therein”.
Jesus said: “It is
written there that our God by his word alone has created all things”.
“Even
so it is”, said the priest.
Jesus said: “It is
written there that God is invisible and hidden from the mind of man,
seeing he is incorporeal and uncomposed, without variableness”.
“So
is it, truly”, said the priest.
Jesus said: “It is
written there how that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him,
seeing that our God is infinite”.
“So
said Solomon the prophet”, said the priest,
Jesus said: “It is
written there that God has no need, for as much as he eats not,
sleeps not; and suffers not from any deficiency”.
“So
is it”, said the priest.’
Jesus said: “It is
written there that our God is everywhere, and that there is not any
other god but he, who strikes down and makes whole, and does all that
pleases him”.
“So
is it written”, replied the priest.
Then Jesus, having
lifted up his hands, said: “Lord our God, this is my faith
wherewith I shall come to your judgment; in testimony against every
one that shall believe the contrary”.
‘...
When the prayer was ended, the priest said with a loud voice: “Stay
Jesus, for we need to know who you are, for the quieting of our
nation”.
Jesus
answered: “I am Jesus, son of Mary, of the seed of David, a man
that is mortal and fears God, and I seek that to God be given honour
and glory”.
The priest answered:
“In the Book of Moses it is written that our God must send us the
Messiah, who shall come to announce to us that which God wills, and
shall bring to the world the mercy of God. Therefore I pray you tell
us the truth, are you the Messiah of God whom we expect?”
Jesus answered: “It
is true that God has so promised, but indeed I am not he, for he is
made before me, and shall come after me”.
The priest answered:
“By your words and signs at any rate we believe you to be a prophet
and a holy one of God, wherefore I pray you in the name of all Judea
and Israel that you for love of God should tell us in what wise the
Messiah will come”.
‘Jesus
answered: 'As God lives, in whose presence my soul stands, I am not
the Messiah whom all the tribes of the earth expect, even as God
promised to our father Abraham, saying: “In your seed will I bless
all the tribes of the earth”. But when God shall take me away from
the world, Satan will raise again this accursed sedition, by making
the impious believe that I am God and son of God, whence my words and
my doctrine shall be contaminated, insomuch that scarcely shall there
remain thirty faithful ones; whereupon God will have mercy upon the
world, and will send his Messenger for whom he has made all things
who shall come from the south with power, and shall destroy the idols
with the idolaters who shall take away the dominion from Satan which
he has over men. He shall bring with him the mercy of God for
salvation of them that shall believe in him, and blessed is he who
shall believe his words. Unworthy though I am to untie his hosen, I
have received grace and mercy from God to see him.
Then
answered the priest, with the governor and the King, saying:
“Distress not yourself, O Jesus, holy one of God, because in our
time shall not this sedition be any more, seeing that we will write
to the sacred Roman senate in such wise that by imperial decree none
shall any more call you God or son of God”.
The
Jesus said: “With your words I am not consoled, because where you
hope for light, darkness shall come; but my consolation is in the
coming of the Messenger, who shall destroy every false opinion of me,
and his faith shall spread and shall take hold of the whole world,
for so has God promised to Abraham our father. And that which gives
me consolation is that his faith shall have no end, but shall be
kept inviolate by God”.
‘...
And having said this, the multitude departed with the priest and the
governor with Herod, having great disputations concerning Jesus and
concerning his doctrine. Whereupon the priest prayed the governor to
write to Rome to the senate the whole matter, which thing the
governor did; wherefore the senate had compassion on Israel, and
decreed that 'on pain of death none should call Jesus the Nazarene,
prophet of the Jews, either God or son of God.' Which
decree was posted up in the Temple, engraved upon copper.’
It’s ironic that
People of the Book blame the Romans for every evil whereas the Roman
Senate did a great favor to the Jews and Christians by issuing an
imperial decree regarding the status of Jesus, the son of Mary.
(From my book “God’s
Prescription – al-Quran”, Chapter ‘Christianity – The Truth’,
pub. 2012)
***************
