ʿĪsā ibn Maryam

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Persian miniature with Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount

ʿĪsā ibn Maryam or Isa ibn Maryam ( Arabic عيسى بن مريم, DMG ʿĪsā ibn Maryam  'Jesus, Son of Mary ') is the Arabic name for Jesus of Nazareth in the Koran , the holy scripture of Islam .

The representation of Jesus in the Islamic literature shows similarities, but also essential differences to New Testament representations and descriptions of Jesus Christ : Jesus is referred to in the Islamic literature asمسيح / masīḥ  / 'Anointed Messiah ',رسول / rasūl  / 'Messenger', a prophet (the last of the 24 predecessors of Muhammad ) (Arabic:نبي nabī ) and Word of God , but not referred to as the Son of God .

Name form

The Koran uses ʿĪsā عيسی, instead of the standard Aramaic Yeshua form used for other rabbis. It is believed that Mohammed was not aware of this form. Arab Christians use Yasūʿ (يسوع).

Jesus in the Koran

In the Koran, Jesus is the son of Mary, as the Arabic name ʿĪsā ibn Maryam suggests:

"And we have given Jesus, the son of Mary, the clear evidence and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit."

- Sura 2 , verse 87 : Translation : Rudi Paret

It is the result of a creative act of God, created through the word “be!” ( Sura 3 , 47). In it "he is like Adam before God" (Sura 3,59). The birth of Jesus without a biological father, his virgin birth , is also a miracle from an Islamic point of view. Mary became pregnant by God's power. The Holy Spirit (who often appears in the Qur'an as Archangel Gabriel ) brought this message to Mary:

"17th So she took a curtain (or: a partition) (to hide) from them. And we sent our spirits to her. He presented himself to her as a well-formed (w. Even) person. 18 She said, 'I seek refuge from you in the Merciful. (Get away from me) if you are godly! ' 19 He said, '(Don't be afraid of me.) I'm your Lord's Messenger. (I am sent to you by him) to give you a noisy boy. ' 20 She said, 'How should I have a boy when no man has touched me and I'm not a whore?' (or: ... has touched? I am (after all) not a whore!) 21 He said: 'So (is it how you were told). Your master says: (or: This is how your master said (it on).) It is easy for me (to accomplish this). And (we give it to you) so that we can make it a sign for people, and because we want to show (people) mercy (w. Out of mercy on our part). It's a done deal. '"

- Sura 19 , verse 17-21 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Jesus is the Messenger of God ( rasūlu ʾllāh : sura 4 , 157) and a prophet ( nabī : sura 19:30). He received his own scripture ( sura 5 , 46), the Gospel ( Indschil ) (sura 57:27). He could already speak in the cradle (Sura 3.46) and breathe life into birds made of clay, heal the blind and lepers, and raise the dead (Sura 5,110). Jesus is the "word of truth" ( qaul al-haqq , sura 19:34). God strengthened Jesus with the “Holy Spirit” ( ar-rūḥ al-qudus ) and taught him “Scripture, wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel” (Sura 5,110).

Jesus is not the " Son of God ":

“Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary, is only the Messenger of God [...] God is only one God. [...] (He is above) to have a child. "

- Sura 4, verse 171 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Jesus is the Christ (sura 4,172) and:

“When the angels said, 'Mary! God proclaims a word of himself to you, whose name is Jesus Christ, the son of Mary! '"

- Sura 4, verse 171 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Jesus is God's Spirit:

"Christ Jesus, son of Mary, is only the messenger of God and his word, which he has given Mary and spirit from him (rūḥ min-hu)."

- Sura 4,171. : Translation: Rudi Paret

In the Koran any divinity of Jesus is rejected, which also explains the fact that the wording “Spirit from Him” (rūḥ min-hu) is not limited to Jesus. In Sura 15:29 God speaks about Adam's emergence and describes this process a. a. with the words: "And when I have then formed him and blown in the spirit of me (min rūḥī)" (translation Paret). Furthermore, in Sura 32,9, which deals with the creation of the human embryo, the same is used: "And then shaped him (into a human form) and breathed spirit into him (min rūḥihi) [...]" (translation by Paret ). Since according to the Koran every human being gets a part of God's Spirit (rūḥ), the above condition is the norm.

Furthermore, Jesus is described as “one of those who are close to (God)” (min al-muqarribīn) who “will be respected in this world and in the hereafter” (Sura 3:45). The Koran exegesis thus sees him as a prophet in this world and as an advocate in the other.

He is also understood as "blessed" (mubārak): "And he made that wherever I am (the gift of) blessing is bestowed on me" (Sura 19:31), the sending of which is a sign ( Āya ) and it is a mercy (raḥma) "that we may make him a sign for men and because we may show mercy" (Sura 19:21).

Jesus is in possession of clear evidence (bayyināt) and wisdom (ḥikma): "And when Jesus came with the clear evidence (to the contemporary children of Israel), he said: 'I have come to you with wisdom'" (sura 43.63).

The crucifixion of Jesus in the Islamic tradition

Jesus' departure from earthly life is mentioned several times in the Koran. This is how Jesus' "recall" is reported:

“God said, 'Jesus! I will (now) recall you (innī mutawaffīka) and raise you up to me (into heaven) and make you pure '"

- Sura 3, verse 55 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Similarly, the Koran lets Jesus speak that he died:

"After you recalled me ..."

- Sura 5, 117 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Docetism theory

According to the docetism theory, Jesus is only pretended to be crucified. His pain and suffering are only an illusion to the observer. Instead, Jesus himself is raised to God. Here there are parallels to ( Gnosticistic ) Christian-Docetical ideas, in which the actual (divine) being cannot be killed if the body is also destroyed.

Substitution theory

The substitution theory rejects the idea of ​​a crucifixion of Jesus and assumes that another person, visually similar to him, was crucified instead:

“And (because they) said, 'We killed Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary and Messenger of God.' - But they (in reality) did not kill him and (also) did not crucify him. Rather, (someone else) appeared similar to them (so that they mistook him for Jesus and killed him). And those who disagree about him (or about it) are in doubt about him (or: about it). They have no knowledge about him (or: about it), rather they make assumptions. And they did not kill him with certainty (that is, they cannot say with certainty that they killed him). // No, God raised him to himself (into heaven). "

- Sura 4, verse 157–158 : Translation: Rudi Paret

The decisive passage in the above Koranic verse is the passage: "Rather, ( someone else ) appeared similar to them (so that they mistook him for Jesus and killed him)" - in the original text: wa-lākin šubbiha lahum . The verb generally means “make similar” or “see as similar”, the noun derived from it (tašbīh) then means “similarity” or “confusion”. These basic meanings also play a central role in the exegesis of the verse. The Koran exegete Ibn 'Atiya († 1151 or 1152) from Córdoba explains:

"There are many different opinions about the how of killing and crucifixion, and about those upon whom the likeness (Jesus) was cast, and there is nothing that is certain about the Messenger of God."

- Ibn 'Atiya : after Heribert Busse

In fact, the traditional collections do not record any prophets saying the passage in question from the Koran. At-Tabari , who in his Qur'an commentary explains the interpretation of this passage from the Qur'an: ("Rather, (someone else) appeared similar to them") on 5 pages, likewise does not cite a prophetic saying, but only refers to the oldest Koran exegetes, among them Mujahid ibn Jabr († 722 ) and others from the late 7th and early 8th centuries.

The Koran exegetes endeavored to exactly match the passage from the Koran (sura 3, verse 55) and the God's word “mutawaffī-ka wa-rāfiʿu-ka” - “I will (now) recall you and raise you to me (into heaven)” interpret. The Koran exegete and theologian Muqātil ibn Sulaimān († 767 in Basra ) confirms that the corresponding verb to "mutawaffī-ka" (tawaffā) means "cause death by God", but in the case of Jesus this will only occur after his return. For Muqātil there is a hysteron proteron (Arabic: taqdīm al-muʾaḫḫar), because it says at the point: "I will raise you from this world to me and call you away after you have descended from heaven at the time of Dajāl ." aṭ-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathir put together several exegetical traditions, which also do not speak of death, but only of Jesus' sleep. Since at least since al-Hasan al-Basri the Prophet himself was allowed to speak to the Jews: "ʿĪsā did not die, he will (rather) return to you before the day of resurrection".

Outside of the Koran exegesis , another literary genre of Islamic literature deals with the Koranic crucifixion story: the legends of the prophets (qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ). Its oldest representative Wahb ibn Munabbih († against 728-732) reports in the Qur'an commentary by at-Tabari that Jesus looked for someone among his disciples who would die for him. When a volunteer, whose name is not mentioned in the report, emerged, the Jews seized him.

“God had changed him into the form of Jesus. They grabbed him and killed and crucified him. Thus they were made to believe (fa-min ṯamma šubbiha lahum) (him for Jesus) and believe that they had killed Jesus. Likewise, Christians believed it was Jesus. And God lifted Jesus up on the same day. "

- Wahb ibn Munabbih : at-Tabari

Wahb ibn Munabbih, who was known as a connoisseur of the writings of the Jews and Christians in Islamic literature, describes the Passion story in detail in a variant of the tradition at at-Tabari and concludes his report with the words: “Until they (the Jews) take him to the wood where they wanted to crucify him. Then God lifted him up and they crucified what was made like them (Jesus) ”.

The crucifixion was thus prevented by a change that resembled another Jesus . But the ascension of Jesus is obviously accepted in an earthly and not in a transfigured body.

This old report is passed down several times in the Koran exegetical literature and with some variants. In the later exegesis of the Koran, which always goes back to the reports of Wahb ibn Munabbih, the crucified Christ, who was unknown until then, is identified with Judas Iscariot : “God cast the resemblance of Jesus on the one who led them to Jesus - his name was Judas - and they crucified him in his place, believing it was Jesus. ”This version is also taken up in the so-called Gospel of Barnabas .

It is worth mentioning in the Islamic description of the crucifixion story that the exegesis does not speak of the cross (ṣalīb), but of “wood” or “tree”. In the old prophetic legend, traced back to Wahb ibn Munabbih, one speaks of wood (ḫašaba); later exegetes speak of a "raised wood" or a "raised place". This idea has its origins in the Arab tradition: According to a report by Ibn Ishaq , the Meccans crucified a Medinese by lifting him up on a wood , tying him up and killing him with lances. Similar motifs can also be found in Arabic poetry.

Although the Gospels were already known in Arabic translations in the late 8th century, the argument against the crucifixion story with reference to the forgery ( tahrif ) by the Christians in the Islamic literature, mentioned several times in the Koran, can be observed relatively late. Fachr ad-Din ar-Razi († 1209 in Herat ) argues in his Koran commentary on the falsification of the text with the remark: “The tradition (tawātur) of Christians goes back to a few people, and it cannot be ruled out that they had agreed to lie . ”About a hundred years later Ibn Taimiya († September 26, 1328 in Damascus ) treats sura 4, verse 157 in his book The Correct Answer to Those Who Changed the Religion of Christ under the heading:“ Falsifications (taḥrīfāt) in the Torah and in the Gospel “and there rejects the death of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus in non-Quranic literature

According to Ibn Ishaq's biography of the prophets , Muhammad met Jesus in the second heaven on his journey into heaven: “Then he took me up to the second heaven, and behold, there were the two cousins ​​Jesus, the son of Mary and John , the son of Zacharias . ”The traditional literature understood it more than the Sira to equip Muhammad's Ascension with further details. Al-Bukhari narrates this encounter in his hadith collection (see: al-Kutub as-sitta ) as follows: “They said: 'He is welcome and his arrival is good!' So he opened the door, and when I entered, John and Jesus, the two cousins, were there and (Gabriel) said: 'These are John and Jesus, greet them.' I greeted them, and they returned the greeting and said: 'Welcome to the righteous brother and the righteous prophet.' "

In the foreign Koranic literature, the return of Jesus - generally called nuzūl al-Masīḥ: "Descent of Christ" - is represented several times and equipped with legendary elements. The starting point for these descriptions is provided by the Koran and the interpretation of the verse of the Koran, which comes immediately after the "crucifixion verse" mentioned above:

“And there is not one of the people of the Scriptures who would not believe in him (yet) before his (i.e. Jesus) death (which will only occur at the end of days). And on the day of the resurrection he will be a witness over them. "

- Sura 4, verse 159 : Translation: Rudi Paret

Since, according to Islamic belief, Jesus did not die on the cross, but God raised him up alive, exegesis understands his return on the day of resurrection in human form, with a lance in hand, with which he will kill the Antichrist ( Dajāl ). The eschatological literature provides more details on this than the Koran exegesis; Jesus kills all Christians and Jews who do not believe in him, destroys the churches and synagogues, kills the pigs and destroys the cross - here the Arabic word for cross: ṣalīb and not board, called wood (ḫašaba) - the symbol of Christianity. The appearance of Jesus is expected, depending on tradition, either at the east gate of Damascus or in the Holy Land . According to some traditions, Jesus kills Dajal at the gates of Ludd / Lydda . Other traditions report that Jesus will kill Dajal at the church of St. George of Ludd. These accounts of Islamic eschatology and legends of the prophets go back to Jewish traditions. These traditions, which are mainly traced back to Mohammed, appear in the specially created chapters of the hadith collections under the title Kitab al-fitan (The Book of Temptations), Kitab al-fitan wal-malahim (The Book of Temptations and Slaughter). The best-known and most extensive work devoted to eschatology and the chiliastic expectations of Muslims was written by the traditionarian Nu'aim ibn Hammad , who died as a prisoner during the mihna in 844. Some chapters in his collection show the return of Jesus on the last day in the form of alleged prophetic sayings . The early interest in this topic is documented in writing in the hadith literature as early as the middle of the 8th century. The Heidelberg papyrus roll, in which eschatological traditions are preserved, goes back to the Egyptian traditionalist Abd Allah ibn Lahi'a († 790).

According to tradition, Jesus' stay on earth was forty years; After his natural death, according to Islamic tradition, he is buried by Muslims in Medina next to Muhammad's grave , between the tombs of Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Chattab .

Jesus in Ahmadiyya theology

According to the Ahmadiyya founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad († 1908), Jesus is identified with the figure of Yuz Asaf . After the crucifixion, which he survived, he is said to have gone in search of the “ lost sheep of the house of Israel ” and emigrated to Kashmir . In Kashmir he is said to have brought the ten lost tribes back to the true faith. Jesus then died a natural death in Srinagar ; his alleged grave in Roza Bal is shown there and is still venerated today.

mysticism

In parts of Sufism , Jesus is considered a “prophet of love” and a “seal of general holiness” ( ammah ). As a perfect human being ( insan-i kamil ), he reflects the characteristics of God and is considered a model for ascetics . For some Sufis, the crucifixion of Jesus is associated with “dying before you die” ( Fana ). He achieved the oneness with God that Sufis aspire to when he was resurrected. There are parallels to the Trinity of Christianity , which within Sufism only exist in the form of the deification of man, but not in the incarnation of God.

See also

Movies

Gérard Mordillat, Jérôme Prieur: Jesus and Islam . Seven-part television documentary (Arte, France 2013)

literature

  • Martin Bauschke: The son of Mary: Jesus in the Koran. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-650-25190-9 .
  • Heribert Busse : Jesus' salvation from the cross in the Islamic Koranic exegesis of sura 4: 157. In: Oriens 36, 2001, pp. 160-195.
  • Heribert Busse: The death of Jesus in the presentation of the Koran and the Islamic exegesis of the Koran. In: Studia Orientalia Christiana 31, 1998, pp. 36-76.
  • Todd Lawson: The Crucifixion and the Qur'an: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought. , Oneworld Publications Oxford 2009
  • Joseph Henninger: Assumption in the Koran. In: Rudi Paret (Ed.): The Koran. Darmstadt 1975, pp. 269-277, especially 272-273 (= ways of research , volume 326).
  • Annemarie Schimmel: Jesus and Mary in Islamic Mysticism . Kösel, Munich 1996. New edition: Chalice, Xanten 2018, ISBN 978-3-942914-30-7 .
  • Olaf H. Schumann: The Christ of the Muslims . Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-412-06386-X .
  • Gabriel Said Reynolds: The Muslim Jesus: dead or alive? In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 72, 2009, pp. 237-258.
  • AJ Wensinck, JH Kramers (ed.): Concise dictionary of Islam. Brill, Leiden 1941, pp. 215-217.

Individual evidence

  1. See: Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān . Georgetown University, Washington DC; Brill Academic 2003. Vol. 3 (sn ʿIsā): “Muhammad learned this name from them not realizing that it was an insult (see JEWS AND JUDAISM; POLEMIC AND POLEMICAL language). [...] the final ʿayin would have been retained in Aramaic sources which mention him. In the Talmud, however, he is called Yeshu. "
  2. a b A. J. Wensinck, JH Kramers: Concise Dictionary of Islam. Brill, Leiden 1941, p. 216.
  3. Andreas Maurer Basic knowledge of Islam: How Christians and Muslims get into conversation SCM Hänssler in SCM-Verlag 2010 ISBN 978-3-7751-7012-3 Section 2.3.4
  4. Sören Rekel Jesus Christ - The Manifestation of God: The Image of Jesus of the Bahá'í Religion Sören Rekel ISBN 978-3-7323-3001-0 Section 11
  5. ^ R. Dozy: Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes . (3rd ed.), Brill, Leiden; GPMaisonneuve et Larose, Paris 1967. Vol. 1. P. 725a, lines 1-3: šabbahtu-ka li-fulān: prendre quelqu'un pour un autre
  6. Heribert Busse (2001), pp. 161–162
  7. a b Heribert Busse (2001), p. 162
  8. Fuat Sezgin (1967), pp. 36-37
  9. Gabriel Said Reynolds (2009), pp. 245 and 247 with references
  10. Fuat Sezgin: History of Arabic literature , Vol. 1, pp. 305-307. Brill, Leiden 1967
  11. Heribert Busse (2001), p. 172; J. Henninger (1975), p. 272
  12. ^ RG Khoury: Wahb b. Munabbih . 1. The Heidelberg Papyrus PSR Heid. Arab 23, the poet's life and work. (Introduction. Wiesbaden 1972). About his story of David and about the biography of the prophets, see ders .: The importance of the Arabic literary papyri of Heidelberg for the study of the classical language and cultural history in early Islam. In: Heidelberger Jahrbücher 19 (1975) 24ff.
  13. Heribert Busse (2001), p. 167 with further references to the translation
  14. AJ Wensinck and JH Kramers: Short dictionary of Islam . P. 216. Brill, Leiden 1941
  15. Heribert Busse (2001), p. 168; Gabriel Said Reynolds (2009), p. 241
  16. ^ A. Guillaume: The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Pp. 426-433. Oxford 1970
  17. Heribert Busse (2001), p. 172
  18. Manfred Ullmann: The motif of the crucifixion in the Arabic poetry of the Middle Ages. Wiesbaden 1995. pp. 115ff.
  19. Sidney H. Griffith: The Gospel in Arabic: An Inquiry into its appearance in the first Abbasid century. In: Oriens Christianus 69 (1985) 126-167
  20. Heribert Busse (2001), p. 184
  21. Ibn Ishaq: The Life of the Prophet . Kandern 2004, p. 87
  22. Joseph Schacht: Islam with the exclusion of the Qorʾān (= religious history reading book , 16). Mohr, Tübingen, 2nd edition, 1931, DNB 575954175 , p. 5
  23. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Vol. 4, pp. 89-90
  24. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. 5, p. 798
  25. ^ Fuat Sezgin: History of Arabic literature. Brill, Leiden 1967, Vol. 1, pp. 104-105; The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, Vol. 8, p. 87
  26. Raif Georges Khoury: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Lahīʿa (97–174 / 715–790): juge et grand maître de l'école égyptienne . Codices Arabici Antiqui. Vol. IV. Wiesbaden 1985
  27. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. 4, p. 90
  28. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad : Jesus in India. A depiction of Jesus' escape from death on the cross and his journey to India ; Verlag Der Islam, Frankfurt am Main 2005; ISBN 978-3-921458-39-6
  29. Stephen Hirtenstein: The Boundlessly Merciful: The Spiritual Life and Thought of Ibn ¡Arab∆ . Chalice Verlag, Zurich, 2008, ISBN 978-3-905272-79-6 , p. 212.
  30. Navid Kermani: Incredible amazement: About Christianity . CH Beck, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-69310-6 , section 9.