A week ago this surprising statement was made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan: “There is no mention of Jesus Christ in any books of history.” I wrote a rebuttal to it only yesterday. However, the exact phrase Mr. Khan used for Jesus Christ was ‘Hazrat Isa’. His use of the word Isa comes from the Arabic word used in the Quran, Isa. The Isa of the Quran purports to be one and the same as the Arabic Yeshua, the correct Arabic name for Jesus.
The Quran tells all sorts of rather odd stories about Isa, drawn from Gnostic sources and other non-Biblical sources from the 2nd to the 5th centuries AD, none of which are drawn from the Biblical account of Jesus, or Yeshua.
So, in one sense, one ought to acknowledge that in this sense Imran Khan was quite correct: there is no mention of Isa in any books of history, and I will emphasise here that, that includes the Quran, for the Quran contains not one account of Yeshua consistent with the Biblical text.
That is, of course, a problem for the Quran. For why, if the Quran is the eternal, unchanged, God given perfect message of Allah, does it contain so many references to what are obvious quotations of previously-published extra-biblical tall tales about Yeshua, and then proceed to spell his name consistently incorrectly?
If the Quran cannot get name or incidents from the life of Yeshua right, what confidence can any Muslim have that the Quran has anything to say about the eternal God that can be relied upon.
One thing Christians and Muslims do agree upon is this: it is vital to obey what God wants. But if we cannot have confidence in our understanding of what God wants, then that is a major impediment to obeying Him.
Only in the Bible, and above all in the primary source of the revelation of God, Yeshua the Christ, can we be truly confident we have God making himself clearly known to His creatures.
So, I invite all Muslims everywhere: now, now is the time for you to come home and enter into the rest God invites you to enter into, through the Jesus, who is God in the flesh, and enter into a relationship of peace with God through faith in the name of Yeshua and repentance for sin, and you will receive his forgiveness and life everlasting. The Lord bless you.
Graham Ford
President – Jesus Christ for Muslims