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BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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THE FORTHCOMING Christmas season is upon the Christian world to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
It is a known fact that the Christians follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, but what is less understood is that many of the Muslims also love and revere Jesus as one of God’s greatest messengers to mankind.
As a fitting tribute to our dear Muslim brothers and sisters, allow me share with you a message that was posted on the www.islamawareness.net website.
The said message might bring awareness and enlightenment to all those concerned – particularly during these times of divisiveness.
It should be noted that the personality of Jesus Christ plays a central role in Islam.
As we all probably know, Muslims believe that God delivered the Gospel – Injeel to Jesus, just as he did Ta’wrat with Moses and the Old Testament (Zabur) to David, and the Kor’an to Prophet Muhammad.
It is very critical for Muslims and non-Muslims to understand that a person is not considered a Muslim unless he or she believes in Jesus, and Islam is the only religion that testifies to Christianity.
Islam also assigns a very high degree of respect to the mother of Jesus, Mary (Mariam).
There is an exclusive chapter in the Kor’an on the mother of Jesus by the name of “Sura-e-Mariam.”
The life of Jesus Christ is a momentous event for Christians and non-Christians alike.
Jesus Christ’s birthday is a signpost, and of all the great people born through the ages.
Imagine that Jesus Christ is so important that his life divides time between B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini).
Hopefully, both Muslims and Christians should be able to learn a lot from Christmas.
This annual celebration is the victory of paganism over the religion of Jesus Christ, and no one disputes that many of its symbols came from the pagan religions rather than the birth or teaching of Jesus Christ.
The incorporation of these pagan rituals with Christianity has taken a toll by corrupting the original Christian principles of spirituality, simplicity, humbleness, kindness, and generosity.
Christmas is an awesome time of year, but the irony is that Prophet Jesus and his teaching are becoming more and more absent from these celebrations.
However, there is a positive side of Christmas becoming increasingly secular.
I think it is awesome that Christmas brings some of the greatest truths of the gospel to light.
If it were not for the Christmas or Thanksgiving holidays, family relationships would be worse than they are now in many parts of the world.
In fact, these are the only times of each year that many families around the world would most likely make an attempt to mend broken relationships.
As the forces of hate in this country continuously try to pull the Muslims and Christians apart, we are constantly in desperate need of a unifying force.
And that unifying force could be the message of love, peace, and forgiveness taught by Jesus Christ and accepted by the followers of both faiths. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com)/PN
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