 |
CONGRUITIES AND INCONGRUITIES BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE QUR'AN |
 |
As one can see in the Acts (Acts 9/19, 31) Paul, having been baptized, began preaching in the synagogues in Damascus that Jesus was God's Son. The Jews living in Damascus were nonplussed. Was this not the man who used to wipe out without compunction the believers in Jesus? Paul could establish contact with the apostles of Jesus whom he had wronged after he returned to Jerusalem through the mediation of Barnabas. As a consequence, the Nazarenes, the true followers of Jesus, agreed among themselves to consider him as one of them.
The Nazarenes consisted of the family (the mother and brethren) of Jesus, of the twelve Apostles and of a small Jewish community who had sincerely put faith in Him. « These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty, »(Acts 1/14-15) The remaining Jews, who had failed to place their faith in Christ, called them the Nazarenes, as Jesus had come from Nazareth. In the Old Testament the advent of Jesus Messiah had been foretold. « I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee ( Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.» (Deuteronomy 18/18)
The Christian sources believe implicitly that by this revelation Jesus was meant, while the Muslims believe for certain that the Prophet announced was Muhammad. Only God knows who the person meant in this revelation actually was. The Nazarenes, also known as Jewish Christians, had remained faithful to the Law, while sincerely practicing the religion preached by Jesus. « Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,» (Acts 2/38, 46) « And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.» (Acts 2/44, 45)
The Nazarenes acknowledged Jesus as Messiah, as a prophet, God's messenger, and did not deify Him. It is possible already to detect a certain tension between the 'Hebrews' and the 'Hellenists. The former are more conservative and legalistic, despite their expectation of the parousia. They faithfully follow the Jewish code of ritual prescriptions and are the typical representatives of the movement designated by the term Judaeo-Christianity. (Norman Perrin makes them the source of the narratives and sayings of Jesus that are preserved in the Gospels: the Judaeo-Christians were also characterized by thier interest in prophecy.) (Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, p.345)
The messages conveyed by Jesus were transmitted by word of mouth for about 25-30 years by his Apostles and their next of kin. Later on, they were written by the Nazarenes. This work is referred to by the present day researchers by the attribute 'The Q Gospel', 'Q' being the first letter of the German word Quelle, meaning source. It is generally accepted that all the writers of the books forming the New Testament written in Hebrew served as the source of inspiration for them. With the exception of the four gospels sanctioned by Christians, all other gospels, including the 'Q Gospel', was destroyed in the fourth century.
We learn from the Acts that the first church had been established by the Nazarenes. However they worked under very difficult conditions. Although they conformed closely to the Law, they were the object of rage of fundamentalists who saw them as heretics. On the other hand, the Roman administration, provoked by the Jews, deeming this development as a potential threat to their overlordship, always persecuted them. The Nazarenes were every now and then arrested and flocked. In 43 A.D. they had murdered one of the Apostles. « Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.» (Acts 12/1-2)
In 36-37 A.D. James (Jacob), the eldest of Jesus' four brothers, was elected to preside over the Nazarenes. Mary, had, after having given birth to Jesus Christ, married Joseph. From this marriage boys and girls had come to the world. « Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?» (13/55-56). Mircea Eliade in volume 2, p.345 of the work above cited says “that The Hellenists were exiled from Jerusalem and dispersed in Samaria and Judea leaving the suzerainty of the Jerusalem Church to the hands of the Apostles and of James (Jacob), Jesus' brother who presided over them.”
James, who took over the spokesmanship of Jesus' message, was an honest and virtuous leader who presided over the Nazarenes, amongst whom were also the Apostles, and who acted strictly in accordance with the techings preached by Jesus Christ. The Nazarenes believed that Jesus was the last prophet sent to the Israelites, despite the fact that they conformed to the Law of Moses. They had come into conflict with Paul who had strayed from Jesus' doctrine; this conflict was to last for years and years. St. Paul had first accepted James as the pillar and leader of the Christian community. « But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother».(Galatians 1/19) « And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars…» (Galatians 2/9) Although St.Luke, author of the third gospel and of the Acts has, with some partiality, reserved ample space for St.Paul who was his friend, he has provided relatively sparse knowledge about Jesus' inheritor and leader of the Apostles James (Jacob). James (Jacob) was killed at 62 by the Jews at the instigation of the fundamentalist High Priest.
THE LETTER OF JAMES (JACOB), JESUS' BROTHER