Who is Jesus?: His Humanity and His Divinity

By Dr. H. A. Morsi

Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are the primary sources of information and are the windows through which the children of Abraham (in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) see God, learn, and reflect.

This book tries to separate fact from fiction in dealing with the birth, life, mission, and death of Jesus of Nazareth, the great prophet and Messiah.

Based on first-hand knowledge by arranging dozens of lectures, dialogues, and debates, the author skillfully navigates what historians said about Jesus, and what the New Testament and the Quran also said about Jesus. Most importantly, how did Jesus, his contemporaries, and his disciples view his mission on Earth? The book also tracks the new discoveries that came to light, within the last century, about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Gospel of Thomas, the Jesus Seminar, and the Gospel of Jesus’s wife.

The book documents the story of the Talpiot Tomb discovered in March 1980 outside Jerusalem. The tomb was proved to belong to the second temple period (538 BC–70 CE). The book also investigates the claim by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici that this tomb contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as well as the remains of a child that belonged to them!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662448553

Book preview

The Legacy of Abraham

The Father of Monotheism

The story of Abraham is detailed in both the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, and in the Quran, the Muslim scriptures.

Abraham is recognized by the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as the patriarch and the father of Monotheism.

The Muslims trace their heritage and lineage to Ishmael, the oldest son of Abraham. The Jews and the Christians are the descendants of Isaac, the second son of Abraham.

In the book of Genesis, we read that God: Elohim (Hebrew), Jehovah (Greek), Allah (Arabic) promised Abraham with the birth of a son and that his seed will be very fruitful.

In that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram [Abraham] saying: unto thy seed have I give this land, from the river in Egypt unto the great river Euphrates. (Genesis 15:18)

Abraham was married to Sarai (Sarah) who was barren. At the age of eighty-five, he took a second much younger wife named Hagar with the intention that she will bear him a child (Gen 16:3). Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Ishmael. God assured Abraham that his firstborn will be blessed, "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly, twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation" (Genesis 17:20).

Thirteen years later, Abraham was nighty-nine years old, and God told him that, "He will be the father of many nations (Gen 17:3). At the age of one hundred, a second son was born to Abraham by his first wife, Sarah (age nighty-nine). They named the new child Isaac (Genesis 17:17).

In fulfillment of his covenant with God, "Abraham had all the men in his household, including himself [age ninety-nine] and Ishmael [age thirteen], circumcised" (Genesis 17:23).

The faith of Abraham was also severely tested when God ordered him to sacrifice his son, and Abraham declared his obedience. Both the Quran and the Old Testament confirm that God saved the child in the very last minute by sending a ram to be slaughtered in his place.

The identity of the son to be sacrificed is in dispute between the Muslims and their cousins, the Jews. In the book of Genesis, we read that God commanded Abraham to, "take thy son, thy only son, Isaac" (Genesis 22:2). The Muslims point of objection is in the fact that Isaac was never the only son of Abraham. Ishmael was thy only son for thirteen years before Isaac was born.

The Quran speaks highly of the great prophet, Abraham, as well as all of God’s prophets, "Surely Abraham was a model [of Virtue], Obedient to Allah, upright and was not a polytheist" (Quran 16:120).

Abraham grew up in a society that worshipped idols and prayed to statues. "And Abraham said to his father and his people: I declare my rejection [for your pagan practices]" (Quran 43:19).

All the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam assert that they follow in the footsteps of their great-grandfather, Abraham.

Only the fools will turn their back to the faith of Abraham. Certainly, he was purified in this life and surely, he is among the righteous in the hereafter. Allah, commanded him to surrender and he willingly obliged. (Quran 2:131)

According to the Quran, Abraham was the first to use the word, Muslim, meaning to submit and surrender to the will of the one and only true God: the Creator.

And Abraham asserted to his two children [Ishmael and Isaac] and also to Jacob, Allah has purified the faith for you, so strive to be Muslims before your death. (Quran 2:132)

When Muslims perform the pilgrimage, the fifth pillar of Islam (Hajj in Arabic) in Mecca, they remember the difficulties that Hagar faced after Sarah expelled her and her child (Genesis 21:10). After the expulsion, Abraham settled Ishmael and his mother in the barren desert of Mecca. The pilgrims will trace the seven frantic runs of Hagar between two hills, searching for water for her thirsty child till a spring burst under her feet. The spring was called Zamzam and still gushes great tasting water to this day. The pilgrims will also honor the great faith and obedience of Abraham and his son, Ishmael, by donating the meat of a ram to feed the poor.

Today. When we look at the map of North Africa and the Middle East, we can certainly see that the promise of God to Abraham has been fulfilled.

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, born in Mecca in the year 570 CE, comes from the progeny of Ishmael, the first born to Abraham. Muhammad was blessed to be the recipient of the Quran which is viewed by Muslims as a corrective theological revelation. Muslim scholars also present strong arguments that Muhammad is the Comforter, the Paracletes, that Jesus spoke about in the Gospel of John: "When he the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself and he shall show you things to come" (John 16:13).

The Quran was revealed to Muhammad over a twenty-three-year period through the agency of Angel Gabriel whom the Quran identifies as the Holy Spirit, the conduit between Allah and all his prophets. In more than fourteen hundred years, the Quran had been under the scholarly microscope, and no one has been able to detect one single inconsistency, one mathematical error, one scientific contradiction, and not even one single linguistic mistake in this amazing book. Today, Islam, the religion with no missionaries, is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. One in every four people on the face of the earth, identify themselves as a Muslim.

On the side of Isaac, the younger son of Abraham and who was also blessed by God, came a multitude of prophets. From Jacob to David, Moses, and Jesus to name a few.

If you read the Old Testament, it is obvious that Ishmael and Isaac were not in a brotherly cordial relationship. It is probably fair to say that Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, held a grudge after they were forced by Sarah to leave their home. However, Ishmael