Dear Moonah, I am a revert to Islam from a non-religious Irish Catholic family. Although I went to Catholic school, regrettably we never studied the bible. I think when there is a reference to God the Father in the Bible, it means Father in the sense of Creator and in the same sense, we are his creation, his servants. Jesus is a very beloved prophet to Muslims and we do believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus and that he is the Messiah:
Surah Ali 'Imran 3:45
"Behold! the angels said:
"O Mary! Allah giveth thee Glad tidings of a Word
From Him: his name will be Christ Jesus. The son of Mary,
held in honour In this world and the Hereafter
And of (the company of) those Nearest to Allah";
However, it is fundamental to the main belief in Islam that there is no God but Allah (God)..... we must not attribute any partners to Allah.
Surah Al Nisa' 4:171:
"O Peole of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say
of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary
Was (no more than) A Messenger of Allah, And His Word,
Which He bestowed on Mary, And a Spirit proceeding From Him:
so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist:
It will be better for you: For Allah is One God: Glory be to Him;
(Far Exalted is He) above Having a son. To Him Belong all things
in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs".
In the Qur'an, indeed it tells us that Jesus never meant to be considered as God:
Surah Al Ma'idah 5:72
"They do blaspheme who say:
"Allah is Christ the son of Mary".
But said Christ: "O Children of Israel!
Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord".
In the NT, John 20:17, Christ says to Mary Magdalene:
"Go unto my brethren and say unto t hem, I ascend unto my Father and your Father;
and to my God and your God".
Also in the NT, Jesus Christ rebukes a ruler for calling him "Good Master":
Luke 18:19:
"Why callest thou me good? None is good, save One, that is God".
So, dear Moonnah, we Muslims love and respect Jesus and his teachings and actually we do a lot of things that we learned from Jesus' teachings. We greet each other with the same greeting that Jesus did "Peace be upon you" or "Assalamu alaikoum". We make a special ablution (wash) before we pray to God, just as Jesus did. We prostrate in humility and obedience to Allah just as Jesus did, when we pray. We believe in the miracles of Jesus in healing the sick and in making birds out of clay, by the will of Allah.
However, we sincerely believe, that in being a good Muslim, we are following the teachings of the original Gospels and Psalms of David and Jesus' message. We also believe that Jesus will let it be known in the end that he never wanted to be worshipped as God or the Son of God and this would really sadden him deeply that others with a political agenda twisted his message after he was taken up to heaven by Allah. btw, we do not believe that Jesus was crucified nor that he died for our sins. He has not yet experienced death but before the end of time, Jesus, the Messiah will return and he will live and have a family and die before the Last Day. May blessings and peace be upon him.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions
Catherine Iman
