This is an example of what can go wrong when Scriptural texts are not interpreted correctly using all available data. To further enhance this meaning we can use the following Biblical quote:
And consider that the longsuffering of our lord {Master teacher} is salvation {as he practiced and preached}—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior {Master} Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2Peter (3:15-18)
The particular phrase we need to look at below is as follows: (‘and there is but one lord {master – Messiah}, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist’ Corinthians (8:6) – Paul)
Interpreting this wrongly will mislead people into following a pathway of joining partners TO THE ONE LIVING GOD. However, a correct form of interpretation gives credence to the belief in only ONE GOD and that the Quran is correct in pointing out the ‘blessedness of the other Monotheistic Scriptures’ in their basic format.
Furthermore, it gives us a boost in recognizing the Quranic statement:
The similitude of Jesus before ALLAH is as that of Adam; HE created him from dust, then said to him: “BE”. And he was.
The Truth (comes) from ALLAH alone; so be not of those who doubt. Q (3:59-60)
As far as Jesus (pbh) is concerned, he, being a creation of the LORD, is perfect as to what HIS LORD’s DESIGNS BECAME such that Adam (as a figure-symbol) was a PERFECT ‘fit’ for a PERFECT STORY to be played out on the PERFECT STAGE of creation!
Islam gives us the framework of this story but as to its particulars, these things are not known and, in truth, are not needed to be known for Salvation.
Adam is created by the hands of ALLAH and so we would say that Adam is perfect in every way! However, Adam must conform to THE PLAN and although he was made perfect, it was in the sense of being only perfect for that particular PLAN.
What is the problem? Actually, there is no problem because Adam was ‘perfectly fitted’ to what was going to occur in ALLAH’s PLAN. That is the difference between the word ‘PERFECT’ and the word perfect.
To underscore this idea we go to hadiths to find out how perfectly suited Adam was to become a Sign unto an unravelling and continuous story!
ALLAH does not make a sub-par creation with HIS OWN HANDS so therefore, a story of how a ‘perfect weakness’ can be turned into a perfect strength must be plotted out by the MASTER BUILDER – ALLAH. This works only when there is a PLAN behind the creation of such a being.
The ‘perfect Adam’ was created with a weakness so that a ‘perfect story’ could unfold! That is the story of the men who will follow the ‘Light’ versus the men who would follow the darkness. So, in that sense, a weakness was ‘built-in’ on the creation of Adam for the long-haul of a ‘perfect story’ to unfold.
Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (pbh) said: “When ALLAH fashioned Adam in Paradise, HE left him (in the form HE created him) as long as HE desired to leave him (i.e. for a certain period of time). Satan started to go round Adam looking at him. Once he saw that Adam had a hollow body, he realized that he was a weak creature.” (Muslim)
If we don’t have a blueprint to the creative activities of the unfolding universe and the knowledge that seeking out the PRAISE FOR ALLAH is incorporated into the equation of LIFE itself – {Do they seek for other than the Religion {WAY} of ALLAH while all creatures in the heavens and on earth have, willing or unwilling, bowed to HIS WILL (Accepted Islam {HIS COMMAND}), and to HIM shall they all be brought back. Quran 3:83)}, then we find a purposeless universe with no meaning to it as well as no meaning to raising up of the dead for Judgment!
Abu Huraira reported ALLAH’s Messenger (pbh) as saying: There was an argument between Adam and Moses in the presence of their LORD. Adam came the better of Moses. Moses said: “Are you that Adam whom ALLAH created with HIS Hand and breathed into him HIS sprit, and commanded angels to fall in prostration before him and HE made you {to} live in Paradise with comfort and ease. Then you caused the people to get down to the earth because of your lapse. Adam said: Are you that Moses whom ALLAH selected for HIS Messengership and for HIS conversation with HIM and conferred upon you the tablets, in which everything was clearly explained and granted you the audience in order to have confidential talk with you. What is your opinion, how long would the Torah have been written before I was created? Moses said: Forty years before. Adam said: Did you not see these words: Adam committed an error and he was enticed to (do so). He (Moses) said: Yes. Whereupon, he (Adam) said: Do you then blame me for an act which ALLAH had ordained for me forty years before HE created me? ALLAH’s Messenger (pbh) said: This is how Adam came the better of Moses. (Muslim)
One part of puzzle is where the virtue of ‘patience’ comes in. So many verses of the Quran feature the word patience and those who are of the ‘Saberoun’. This reflects the unfoldingstory of our universe and the unfolding story of our lives and the unfolding story of the Christ-soul reflecting the building blocks of the universe – in the case of the human being and his development.
In fact one of the HOLY NAMES of ALLAH is AL-SABOUR or the ONE WHO IS PATIENT and FOREBEARING.
So, in this case, the painting of our universe as it were, reflects the BUILDER’S or CREATOR’S ESSENCE which is PERFECTION PERSONIFIED!
So, even though Adam was created with a weakness, he was perfectly created for a job and a story and a reflection of his CREATOR’S PERFECT MIND, HANDIWORK, PURPOSE and COMPLEXITY. Thinking of these things is also a form of worship by admiring and praising the ONE WHO HAS NO EQUALS, PARTNERS OR REAL ADVERSARIES.
Do we understand with depth the complexity of these things? No we don’t but it helps to reflect on HIS NAMES and HIS GREATNESS and how foolish it is to raise up ‘partners’ of any shape, form or name to HIM. It is so disgustingly foolish to think that there is anything that can be even closely resembling or matching HIS BEING:
Inasmuch as there is none like YOU, O LORD (YOU are Great and YOUR NAME is Great in Might) Jerimiah (10:6)
Yet for us there is but ONE GOD, the FATHER {THE ORIGINATOR – AL-Mubdee – the ORIGINATOR of all creation WHOSE WILL is the source of all existence}, from whom all things came and for whom we {all} exist. And there is but one lord {master – Messiah}, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist* {being that we are ‘patterned’ after him as being born in Fitra, being weak but given the chance to be cleaned by bowing down to our CREATOR in acceptance, obedience and love}. Corinthians (8:6) – Paul
This then becomes the SIGN or signal for Salvation in that the road is long and hard but at the end, those who are successful will find Paradise as their reward. And that sentiment is guaranteed throughout many places in the Quran.
{*The idea of being ‘patterned after Adam’ is not Adam’s idea but is ALLAH’s idea such that a continuation of ‘likeness’ occurs. One of the easiest ways to see this is when a man and a woman conjugates the marriage and a child is then born. The man and woman do not create the child or its soul but act as a ‘genetic pattern’ for the future vessel to be born.
Hence, in this case, one can say that the Mother/Father represent the notion of ‘whom (through the union of the couple) all things came and through (that parental sexual union) ‘the baby’ exists’. In this way, we don’t see any so-called partners of GOD but we see a developmental pattern (the baby) as a physical representation of the mother/father/historic side of resemblance.
Therefore, the result is that the ‘pattern or SIGN’ is reflected in this miraculous creation – ‘and through whom all things came and through whom we exist’ will not mean that the mother and father example are ‘gods’ or anything Divine but rather resembles the pattern to be brought forth. Therefore in realizing this, one can interpret the above Pauline expression as ‘that man (Jesus) who is our Messiah being but a SIGN unto man and not as some have made it as to being a second person in some trinity’!
He becomes that pattern or SIGN of working through things so as to First perfect himself(being born sinless and remaining sinless with ALLAH’s Permission) and then becoming that course (WAY – to the Believers with ALLAH’s Permission) to enter into that stream {– for this he did once – who does not need daily, as those {other} high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people’s, for this he did once for all {believers} when he offered up himself {to be that SIGN that Salvation to usher in the Religion of Truth (brought by Prophet Muhammad which would, at the proper season, be given to mankind. Hebrews (7:27)}.
Who planned for this to happen – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who protected the Christ-soul from falling into sin or Satan’s clutches – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
O you who believe! Follow not Satan’s footsteps: if any will follow the footsteps of Satan, he will (but) command what is shameful and wrong: and were it not for the Grace and Mercy of ALLAH on you, not one of you would ever have been pure: but ALLAH does purify whom HE pleases: and ALLAH is ONE WHO hears and knows (all things). Quran (24:21)
Who made things smooth and possible for the Christ-soul – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who provided all the Christ’s-soul needs and who made sure that he would win out in the end – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who comforted him in sorrow and rejection – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who kept him out of harms reach from the Children of Israel – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who was responsible for making him a prophet and speaking as a baby – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH!
Who held him up from failing or got him out of precarious situations – ALLAH or the Christ-soul? ALLAH! Remembering the true story of Yusef (Joseph – Sura 12 in the Quran) is a good reminder of this!
Christ the son of Mary was no more than a Messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how ALLAH does make HIS Signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth! Quran (5:75)
Hence, he (the Christ-soul) finally became that which we call the Messiah or the man who is the rightful APPOINTED (ANOINTED) ONE! And the word Messiah just means the ‘one who is anointed’ as to being what ALLAH WILLS.
Another example for mankind as to the Messiah being a Sign unto mankind is the expression found in the New Testament Gospel of John:
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also {meaning in that stated condition of oneness of the spiritual/heavenly body}.
And where I go {when I shall rise up and you will see me no more until I come again}, you know {as we have discussed this} and the WAY {of Belief} you know.” John (14:3-4)
This topic requires a great deal of familiarity, of and by itself, which fortunately we don’t have to know that much about. However, Islam being the actual WORLD RELIGION will go on and make an adequate explanation of these things with a lot more depth that can be found in any other religious source!
For example, Islam deals with the topic of Spiritual Bodies versus our temporal (‘tent-like’) bodies which is related by Paul; the Quran and various hadiths discussing some of the ‘goings on in Paradise’ like their food, way of life, bodily functions, what they will look like; various levels of Paradise; those who will be allowed to visit the prophets, etc.
Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in reserve) for them – as a reward for their (good) deeds.
Is then the man who believes no better than the man who is rebellious and wicked? Not equal are they. Quran (32:17-18)
When Jesus (pbh) returned to this plane of existence after his judgment, he, as is recorded in the New Testament, had his discussions with his Disciples to make sure that they would be on the same page as to their surety of the correctness and purpose of the eventsprior to his return (the Non-Crucifixion Story) and concerning the steps to be engaged in, in spreading the religion.
Naturally, he was in a different mode than when he was taken up and judged (having been glorified). That seems readily apparent when one reads the Gospel of Luke and John and the Quran as to some of his mysterious comings and goings after the Last Supper.
For example, some have been fooled by their ‘religious teachers’ into trying to make him (Jesus) out to be more than a human being and that is WRONG!
His demeanor and activities during the 40 days he spent after coming back down from the Heavens does show a man who is at one with himself, having a glorified body or heavenly, spiritual body. This heavenly, spiritual body is covered in part in the writing called ‘Rising from the Dead and another Oddity’.
So, what does the knowledge of that do? It shows there is a vindication of the records for one thing (as the Quran declares) when some of these activities are put into a logical, understandable, sequence of events. And it brings out a strong sense that rather than a massive amount of corruption found therein, there has been a massive misinterpretationof those records leading the ‘religious priest-class’ to create other than the truth!
And when he {the Spirit of truth} has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they do not {really} believe in me {or see my true reality};
Of righteousness, because I go to my FATHER and you see me no more {my job is finished for what I have come for – purification of self – remaining sinless};
Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is {has been} judged. John (16:8-11)
Most assuredly, I {Jesus} say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow {if you are faithful} will be turned into joy.
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour {her trial} has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for {the} joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Therefore you now have sorrow {because I’m about to leave this world}; but I will see you again {I will return in glory near the end of days} and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. John (16:20-22)
Chapter 112 in the Quran:
Say: HE is ALLAH, the One and Only;
ALLAH, the Eternal, Absolute;
HE begets not, nor is HE begotten;
And there is none like unto HIM. (Quran (112:1-4) – equaling a third of the Quran)!
Abu Said Al-Khudri narrated that the Prophet (pbh) told the Companions: “Are you not able to read a third of the Qur’an in one night? They found this very difficult and replied that nobody amongst us can do so. Then the Prophet (pbh) said: “ALLAH, The ONE, WHO IS Self-Sufficient…” Surah 112 equals a third of the Qur’an.” (Bukhari)
Abu Al-Darda narrated: “Surah 112 equals a third of the Qur’an.” (Muslim)
The reading of the above Surah 3 times is also confirmed as part of the remembrance of ALLAH. So, once in the morning and once in the evening, and finally once when going to sleep, as it is reported in the Hadith: “Reciting Surah Ikhlas (112), and the two last chapters of the Qur’an in the morning and the evening times, will be a protection for you.” (Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmidhi)
‘Aisha, said that Prophet (pbh) when he resorted to his bed every night, used to put his hands together, blow onto them and then read: “Surah Ikhlas and the last two chapters of the Quran (chapters 113 and 114). Then he wiped over his body. He used to start from his head, then his face, then the rest of his body, and he used to do so three times.” (Bukhari)
And so it goes!
