salahdin
Junior Member
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Stories of the Prophets
Written by Al-Imam ibn Kathir
Translated by Muhammad Mustapha Geme’ah, Al-Azhar
Prophet Isa
Jesus Does Not Observe the Sabbath
Jesus grew up to manhood. It was Sabbath, a day of complete rest: no fire could be lit or
extinguished nor could females plait their hair. Moses (pbuh) had commanded that Saturday be
dedicated to the worship of Allah. However, the wisdom behind the Sabbath and its spirit had
gone, and only the letter remained in the Jews' hearts. Also, they thought that Sabbath was kept in
heaven, and that the People of Israel had been chosen by Allah only to observe the Sabbath.
They made a hundred things unlawful on Saturday even self-defense or calling a doctor to save a
patient who was in bad condition. This is how their life was branded by such hypocrisy. Although
the Pharisees were guardians of the law, they were ready to sell it when their interests were
involved so as to obtain personal gains. There was, for example, a rule which prohibited a journey
of more than one thousand yards on the Sabbath day. What do we expect of the Pharisees in this
case? The day before, they transferred their food and drink from their homes two thousand yards
away and erected a temporary house so that from tthey could travel a further thousand yards on
the Sabbath day.
Jesus was on his way to the temple. Although it was the Sabbath, he reached out his hand to pick
two pieces of fruit to feed a hungry child. This was considered to be a violation of the Sabbath
law. He made a fire for the old women to keep themselves warm from the freezing air. Another
violation. He went to the temple and looked around. There were twenty thousand Jewish priests
registered there who earned their living from the temple. The rooms of he temple were full of them.
Jesus Receives His Prophethood
Jesus observed that the visitors were much fewer than the priests. Yet the temple was full of
sheep and doves which were sold to the people to be offered as sacrifices. Every step in the
temple cost the visitor money. They worshipped nothing but money. In the temple, the Pharisees
and Sadducees acted as if it were a market place, and these two groups always disagreed on
everything. Jesus followed the scene with his eyes and observed that the poor people who could
not afford the price of the sheep or dove were swept away like flies by the Pharisees and
Saducees. Jesus was astonished. Why did the priests burn a lot of offerings inside the temple,
while thousands of poor people were hungry outside it?
On this blessed night, the two noble prophets John (pbuh) and Zakariyah (pbuh) died, killed by
the ruling authority. On the same night, the revelation descended upon Jesus (pbuh). Allah the
Exalted commanded him to begin his call to the children of Israel. To Jesus, the life of ease was
closed, and the page of worship and struggled was opened.
Jesus's Message
Like an opposing force, the message of Jesus came to denounce the practices of the Pharisees and
to reinforce the Law of Moses. In the face of a materialistic age of luxury and worship of gold,
Jesus called his people to a nobler life by word and deed. This exemplary life was the only way
out of the wretchedness and diseases of his age. Jesus's call, from the beginning, was marked by
its complete uprightness and piety. It appealed to the soul, the inner being, and not be a closed
system of rules laid down by society.
Jesus continued inviting the people to Almighty Allah. His call was based on the principle that
there is no mediation between the Creator and His creatures. However, Jesus was in conflict with
the Jews' superficial interpretation of the Torah. He said that he did not come to abrogate the
Torah, but to complete it by going to the spirit of its substance to arrive at its essence.
He made the Jews understand that the Ten Commandments have more value than they imagined.
For instance, the fifth commandment does not only prohibit physical killing, but all forms of
killing; physical, psychological, or spiritual. And the sixth commandment does not prohibit
adultery only in the sense of unlawful physical contact between a man and a woman, but also
prohibits all forms of unlawful relations or acts that might lead to adultery. The eye commits
adultery when it looks at anything with passion.