When this struggle for Jerusalem is related to Isa’s death and resurrection that occurred there. ALLAH becomes vitally involved in the equation. Islam officially denies that the Messiah’s death took place anywhere; the New Testament has it occurring, and at Jerusalem. It is described as a major focus of ALLAH’S Will and His eternal plan.

So, this puts Muslims in the position of not only denying the death of Isa but of being flagrantly insensitive to the purposes of ALLAH. That is, they ask ALLAH to help them have Jerusalem as their capital but totally disdain the two most significant events in the history of man to ever occur in that or any other city.

ALLAH ordained that the death and resurrection of His only Messiah happened only at Jerusalem. But that has no significance for official Islam. In their here-and-now power negotiations, they either do not know or do not care about how the unseen reality of ALLAH’S Will relates to their decisions.

ALLAH’S UNSEEN WILL

I may be wrong to introduce in our considerations unseen realities such as ALLAH’S Will. Perhaps it was only coincidence that my own sincere but strange prayer about speaking with Saudi generals was answered in only a few minutes. Perhaps the whole house beginning to shake precisely when we were reading the words, “He was not killed or crucified…” also had no significance and was only a coincidence. Perhaps the shaking was not a powerful and vivid sign from ALLAH that Muslim mullahs are seriously his will.

How? By denying the historical death and resurrection of His Messiah at Jerusalem. Perhaps the shaking of the entire house at the exact time that it did does not reflect a spiritual struggle between unseen spiritual powers. If it was, the ALMIGHTY will win it. I remain convinced that these constantly occurring unseen realities around us are as real as the things in which we put so much confidence.

UNSEEN REALITIES

Here is an example of how each of us remains aware of unseen realities around us: do we realize that we are each surrounded by the voices of many different languages? We do not hear them. Many images of different people and places are racing by our eyes; we do not see them. We remain unaware of them, yet they surround us.

If we turn on a good short-wave radio, we pick up radio waves that are transformed into the voices -- in many different languages. If we have a television set, we suddenly see the images of these people and places that were invisible a few seconds earlier. The radio and television set do not produce these invisible voices and pictures. They already are near us, though we neither see nor hear them. We remain unaware of them until machines turn invisible waves into sounds or pictures. We also should consider the millions of invisible cellular telephone messages racing uninterrupted through the air.

So, it is with the invisible forces that constantly surround us. They are with us whether we believe in them or not. Even if we believe that man’s clever inventions are greater than ALLAH’S power, our scientist analysis does not guarantee that our belief is true. If we fail to consider the invisible force of ALLAH’S invisible Will, we risk a serious miscalculation. To others and ourselves, we may seem sophisticated and highly educated. What ALLAH sees in our hearts is far more important.

To ignore ALLAH’S unseen Will is to ignore one’s eternal future. If ALLAH’S unseen Will is that we acknowledge the Qur’an’s true teaching that Isa defeated death, to embrace that truth is our highest priority. If he truly rose from death, and we deny that, we are openly challenging ALLAH’S Will.

OCTOBER 2, 1996, AMMAN, JORDAN

WHEN QUESTIONED IN A SYRIAN PRISON

We were enjoying a friendly conversation with our guests for the evening while sharing some of Jordan’s delicious fruit and sweets. They seem even more enjoyable when eaten outdoors. A dear friend of my wife suddenly asked,

“Tom, what do you think of Islam?”

The question surprised me, so I didn’t answer her directly. Instead, I commented on how two questions years before also had totally surprised me. I was being held in a Syrian prison due to insurance settlement issues related to a car accident. The day before my release, I decided to buy a shave and a haircut from a fellow prisoner. The barber’s straightedge razor rested on my jugular vein while he gently but firmly held back my head. He calmly asked, “Have you ever visited Israel?”

I knew that many Arabs resented Westerns visiting Israel, so I was relieved to truthfully answer, “No.”

My relief was temporary. A minute or two later his razor found its way back to the same vulnerable location. Then he asked,

“Who do you think is right, the Palestinians or the Israelis?”

Even with my head held back, I was able to see the response of five or six fellow prisoners sitting near the barber chair. Without exception, they were gazing at the ceiling. Apparently my sincere but brief answer was satisfactory. I had a close shave, but not too close.

Today, I can look back with much relief and some humor at my very close shave. However, I believe there was half a chance that the razor might have slipped had I given an insensitive answer.

The incident is a vivid reminder of an extremely serious issue. The barber was reflecting the deep resentment of most of the international Arab community. For them, there is a question that has never been answered to their satisfaction -- or to the satisfaction of many others, including many Jews. What moral right did international leaders have to give away predominantly Palestinian-owned land to people of Jewish descent so they could have their own nation?

OCTOBER 3 -- AMMAN -- TWO POEMS

I cannot forget that question, or our friend’s query about Islam. While I have great respect for Islam, I am concerned about its unwillingness to acknowledge that the Messiah of the Qur’an conquered death. I believe it stems, in part, from overlooking the use of hyperbole and other symbolic language in great literature. This is language that is not intended to be taken literally.

Consequently, the Holy Qur’an’s one verse that is thought to deny the Messiah’s death is instead a glorious proclamation of his magnificent victory. Not only did ALLAH’S Glorious Wisdom and His Great Might enable the Messiah to defeat death, but also to expose the importance of Israeli leadership. Those leaders didn’t grasp the infinite dimensions of the ALMIGHTY’S Wisdom and Might, so they believed they had eternally ended his life. Neither crucifixion nor death dealt a fatal blow to the Messiah. From the eternal perspective, he indeed was neither killed nor crucified. Yes, there was an eternal death that day -- to the leaders’ own wicked plans.

As the next verse triumphantly declares, ALLAH, through his Wisdom and Might, lifted up His Messiah to new life. Neither Wisdom nor Might would have been needed to deceive the Messiah’s enemies by finding an Isa-look- alike for the cross. Government intelligence agencies are accomplished at such deceptions; divine wisdom isn’t required. As the Glorious clearly declares, it is only through ALLAH’S Wisdom and Might that the power of death can be totally and eternally dispatched.

Our friend’s unexpected question also caused me to reflect upon another important question: How soon will Muslim leaders openly teach what truly in Al Nur 24:35?

“ALLAH is the Light of the Heavens and the earth.

The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche

And within it a lamp; The Lamp enclosed in a glass:

The glass as if it were a brilliant Planet:

Lit from a blessed Tree, An Olive, neither

Of the East nor of the West, Whose oil is

Well-nigh Luminous, though fire scare touched it:

Light upon Light! ALLAH doth guide Whom He will

To His Light: ALLAH doth set forth Parables

For men:

And ALLAH doth know all things.”

GLASS TO BE BROKEN

It is clear that ALLAH is the Transcendent Light. Since the full brilliance of ALLAH’S Light is too bright for humans to endure, He ordained that at the right time and place, His Light would be revealed in a way that would not overwhelm man. ALLAH’S Light is portrayed in this verse as shining within a glass or lamp. The people of the Messiah’s time built niches into the walls of their homes for lamps to light the house. Similarly, Al Nur reveals that ALLAH appointed Isa as a lamp in a niche to enlighten the house of Israel.

The leaders of that house rejected ALLAH’S Light. As a lamp made of glass can be broken, the vulnerable Messiah, clothed in the fragility of humanity, was cruelly broken by his own people. This occurred through the incomprehensible Eternal Wisdom of ALLAH, which is beyond human “common sense.” It makes no sense to us that he would allow the leaders of Israel to manipulate the Romans to crucify Isa on a Jerusalem hill.

Here is another way of looking at it. The Holy Qur’an often uses rich symbolic language to teach spiritual truth. In this case, it likens the Messiah to glass that can be broken. This is consistent with another sura that says the Messiah was neither killed nor crucified. Speaking symbolically, is it possible to kill eternal light? No! Speaking symbolically, can a brilliant planet that is destined to soar into the heavens be forever snuffed out? No!

Then it is consistent to symbolically state by skillful hyperbole that the Messiah was neither killed nor crucified in one sura, while teaching in others that they did indeed temporarily take his life.

AN OLIVE TREE

What more appropriately represents the invisible anointing of ALLAH’S Spirit on the Messiah than an olive tree? Consider that it produces oil both for anointing and light. As man cannot track the movements of the Spirit, so it is with this olive tree. Its origin is unknown. It comes from neither East nor West. Yet its pure oil when used in a lamp produces a bright light. So the oil of this olive tree represents both the anointing that ALLAH bestowed on His Messiah and the source of his brilliant light, the Spirit.

A BRILLIANT PLANET

Another representation of the exalted Isa is the brilliant planet or star. The Qur’an uses the word, “brilliant,” undoubtedly because his brightness on earth was so great that it revealed the impurities in the lives of that day’s religious. The light exposed their greed, arrogance, lack of compassion and hypocrisy, and selfish exploitation of the common people. The most glaring imperfection was the hard-hearted rejection of their compassionate Messiah. Rejected and unjustly executed, he could not be held by death. ALLAH, by His Great Might and Eternal Wisdom, gloriously returned him to the appropriate place for a brilliant planet - - the heavens, where he was destined to soar.

FIRE

The olive tree image shows that the light shines brightly, not needing fire. The Oil of ALLAH’S Spirit has its own internal flame; external fire isn’t needed. Besides giving light, fire purifies. No external fire was needed in the life of ALLAH’S Messiah because he needed no purification. Neither was the fire of discipline required because ALLAH’S Spirit constantly led him to fulfill The ETERNAL’S Will.

A PARABLE UNITY

Al Nur does not present a formula for ALLAH, unlike some Christian theologians who make a tight formula out of what they describe as trinity. It presents only a representation of ALLAH’S Unity; any attempt to portray ALLAH’S Majestic Unity by formula is inadequate. So, it is that this parable about ALLAH’S Light and Spirit helps us understand unity while not representing itself as final truth.

    AL NUR

In the Holy Qur’an                                         Do His people listen?

ALLAH’S Truth to see,                                 In rebellion and sin

The ALMIGHTY IS ONE                              Try to forever kill

Never three.                                                   Pure Love to Show.

        ↓

In AL NUR                                                     A niche now empty

So the world will know                                 Too bright for man                           

True Unity Revealed                                     Darkness heavy                                 

To hide light from men.                                Before the Dawn.

A Parable of Light                                         His glow the Spirit                           

Shining light gone                                         Not from East or West

Revealed in a niche                                       A blessed Olive Tree            

Brightness he can stand.                               Crushes Satan’s test.                        

A vulnerable lamp                                          Guarded tomb empty            

Glass to be broken                                        Broken body gone

Is the Human Isa                                            Darkness shattered

ALLAH’S Word Spoken.                              By the Dawn.

No fire needed                                               He could not be killed

That he fulfill                                                 Though He did die

Perfectly                                                        ALLAH’S Brilliant Planet

The ETERNAL’S Will.                                 Now Exalted High.

Against His Will                                            While lifted Up

We must not fight                                         For nations to see

As ALLAH guides us                                    He is with us

To His Light.                                                  By the Olive Tree.

ONLY A PROPHET

This poem addresses the concern of many sincere Muslims over other verses in the Qur’an that refer to Isa as only a prophet, or messenger. Since the Qur’an is a whole message not to be dissected, the hearer must consider individual verses in the context of the whole. Truth, as a diamond, has many facets. First, consider the most obvious message of a verse, then how it is balanced by other verses to perceive the whole.

The Qur’an presents ALLAH’S Messiah as much more than what is generally considered to be a prophet. The Qur’an Itself has many descriptions of the Messiah that reveal him to be more than a prophet. Or, as a prophet, his attributes surpass those of a normal prophet.

The Qur’an’s references to Isa as “only a prophet” strike at a temptation experienced by many Christians: that is to place Jesus in such an exalted position that people cannot feel close to him, or feel that he understands them. Accordingly, the distorted adulation of Mary was developed to offer a softer, more approachable mother figure, a mediator, for those who shrink from her son, in fear.

The New Testament warns against this distortion. Instead, it portrays a man who for years walked the streets of the Middle East. He grew in wisdom, got thirsty, became hungry, got tired and experienced loneliness. Those who overlooked Jesus’ humanity were persuaded that his mother was more sympathetic to our weaknesses than he. Though he never sinned, as a prophet he was tempted as we are tempted. The Qur’an emphasizes his prophet’s identity because we recognize that prophets are tempted and know our weaknesses.

The Qur’an calls Jesus only a messenger or prophet, as we may advise a friend who puts another on a pedestal, out of the reach of a relationship. We try to moderate the friend’s perspective by saying, “Oh, he is only a man.” When we say that he is “only a man.” We are not saying he may not be a bank president, a father, a son or possibly, not a king or president. It is helpful to remember that even the Prophet Moses used only the title of “prophet” when he predicted the coming of ALLAH’S Messiah.

Here is the Qur’anic context for this understanding of Isa as prophet. The Qur’an also refers to Isa as His Word, Spirit, as Parable or Sign. It declares him faultless, born of a virgin, exalted in this world and the next. He heals the stick, gives sight to the blind, raises the dead, and will return to Earth as judge. No other prophet shares such attributes.

THE MIGHTY SACRIFICE

The Qur’an never states directly that the Messiah is ALLAH’S Mighty Sacrifice. However, this is what the Qur’an strongly implies when it uses the term, “Mighty Sacrifice.” Could any animal, no matter how magnificent, be worthy of truly being called a Mighty Sacrifice? Was the animal that was sacrificed instead of Abraham’s son a Mighty or Momentous Sacrifice? Abraham’s animal sacrifice merely foreshadowed a truly Mighty Sacrifice offered centuries later. Not one for one person, but for an entire rebellious human race. That is how John the Baptist described Isa’s future sacrificed death when he pointed to him and proclaimed, “Behold ALLAH’S lamb which will take away the world’s sin.” As all these thoughts swirled in my mind, to attempt to express them in awkward poetry was the best that I could do.

A PROPHET

When Isa comes to Islam                             The Holy Qur’an Truth

They say, “You did not die.”                         Is not, “You did not die.”

Your Glorious Resurrection                        But death defeated,

Is man’s twisted lie.                                      Your Triumph not a lie.

              ↓

“You are only a prophet                                Though a Prophet,

Al Qur’an does teach                                     Mighty Sacrifice for sin.

Into our hearts                                               Appointed our Judge,

ALLAH’S Spirit cannot reach.”                   Soon to come again.

OCTOBER 7 – MOSES ON MOUNT NEBO

One of my wife’s favorite places is the site where Moses last spoke with ALLAH on Earth. As we walked out the gate at closing time, I wanted to dedicate my recently completed poem, Al Nur, from this site made significant by this humble servant of ALLAH. I asked our small group if they would listen to the poem, then hold hands for a prayer of dedication. When I quietly suggested that we invite two Muslim site supervisors who were standing nearby to join us, they all immediately agreed. I quickly explained about the poem and prayer, and the two young men graciously accepted our invitation. When we had finished, I had the feeling that our Risen Messiah was pleased to have Muslims and Christians join hands and hearts in prayer asking ALLAH to reveal more truth about His Messiah from the Holy Qur’an.

OCTOBER 8 – ISRAELI ESPIONAGE

My wife gave me two books to read that she enthusiastically had told me about while we still were in the United States. When I was finally able to read them in Amman, their revelations about Israeli intelligence activities shocked me. Their relevance to my interest in Islam was more than I could have imagined.

OCTOBER 14 – DEATH IN JERUSALEM

As I awake from a restful night’s sleep, the words “Ninth Chapter of Luke” were in my mind. I couldn’t recall the content of this New Testament Scripture, but I went on to read it with astonishment. It describes what happened while Isa was praying with three of his disciples on a mountain, and its mention of Jerusalem caught my attention.

Suddenly, my two recently written poems, the political peace negotiations reported on television and the Jordan Times, the disclosures of two Israeli spy books that my wife had introduced me to, and our visit to Mount Nebo fit together.

To my surprise, the Holy City of Jerusalem was the common link for all of them. Until that morning, I hadn’t noticed the reference to Jerusalem in the conversation of the prophets Moses and Elijah with the Messiah. Their lives on Earth were separated by centuries, yet ALLAH miraculously enabled them to converse. The subject of their conversation was how the Messiah would compete his work on this earth by his death at Jerusalem.

WHO CONTROLS ISRAEL?

I will not identify the two Israeli spy books. They are well known, and I feel no responsibility to promote them. Still, their message has inescapable relevance to current Islamic theology. Both books were authored by the same former Israeli intelligence officer. Before reading them, I had incorrectly assumed that the main purpose of Israeli intelligence is to disrupt and apprehend individuals and groups who oppose Israel. What the books disclosed went far beyond that. The activities they described followed the maxim for athletic contents, “the best defense is a good offense.”   

To defend itself and assure its security, Israeli intelligence has manipulated events, spread disinformation, ruined and exploited the lives of individuals, groups and nations, sometimes murdered the innocent, and withheld information that might have averted a suicide bombing that killed over two hundreds Marines from United States, Israel’s main benefactor.

The books also disclosed how Israeli intelligence forced the dismissal from the United Nations of an effective African-American ambassador for the Carter Administration. His “crime” was communicating with a Palestinian official to spur peace negotiations. According to the author, agents even arranges the murder of an Israeli general who would have directed their most effective intelligence agency. He planned to clean up its out-of-control operations.

All of this was done in the name of defending Israel. Especially shocking was the extent of intelligence agents’ influence, success, and lack of accountability. It soon become obvious that many events that directly or indirectly affect other nations’ interactions with Israel, which may appear to be spontaneous, are actually initiated and manipulated by the Israeli intelligence community to give Israel an advantage.

The ability of their intelligence to independently decide what is best for the security and welfare of their state can be exceptionally damaging to neighboring nations. For instance, agents may sanction covert action to undermine legitimate businesses in other nations if they perceive them as a threat to Israel’s economic health.

Many secret Israeli intelligence activities are unaccountable to the democratically elected government. Consequently, the government is in the compromised position of responding to decisions made at the intelligence level rather than elected officials controlling the intelligence decisions. Intelligence agents also are capable of trying to rig Israeli elections to suit their aims, and of sabotaging the peace process.

ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE VERSUS ALLAH

To sum up, Israeli intelligence uses all available methods to advance its objectives, including the priority of controlling an undivided Jerusalem. Their resources are merely human, tainted by evil. ALLAH has His own agenda for Jerusalem, and neither His Might nor His Wisdom are with those who oppose his Will and His Commandments. Consider now ALLAH’S perspective regarding Jerusalem in the face of this human manipulation.

THE RESOURCES OF MOSES

The source of Moses’ power lay beyond the ingenuity of his own mind or the usual resources. To liberate the descendants of the twelve patriarchs from Egypt, ten supernatural plagues occurred. The ALMIGHTY was their source. These powerful demonstrations persuaded Egypt’s Pharaoh to release Jacob’s descendants. When he reneged, all the military might of Egypt was no match for ALLAH’S Might.

The Red Sea opened for those led by the Prophet Moses, and they all crossed safely. When those who challenged the ALMIGHTY’S Will tried to follow, the Red Sea swallowed them. The might of Egypt was suddenly destroyed. Yet not even the renowned Red Sea crossing compares with the last and least well known of all the miracles in which Moses was involved.

That event was centuries later as The ALMIGHTY shattered all natural laws of time and space to miraculously transport the Prophet Moses to speak with his Chosen about his coming death -- in Jerusalem.

THE RESOURCES OF ELIJAH

The Prophet Elijah also experienced great demonstrations of the ALMIGHTY’S Power over this world’s evil forces. It was Elijah who was led by ALLAH to courageously stand up against the evil King Ahab and his even more sinister wife, Queen Jezebel. It was in answer to his prayer of faith that rain was withheld for three years to punish his own people’s wickedness. In answer to more fervent prayer, the heavens opened and the land again received abundant rain.

It was this faithful prophet who, by ALLAH’S Great Power, defeated the evil prophets of the false GOD, Baal, in a stunning display of miraculous on Mount Carmel. Yet there was one even greater miracle than this triumph or his supernatural ride toward heaven in a blazing chariot. It was his being instantly transported through thousands of days and nights to converse on a mountain with the Prophet Isa and the Prophet Moses about Isa’s coming death in Jerusalem.

AN AMAZING DISCUSSION

Why would ALLAH transport two great Prophets who had left Earth centuries earlier to a mountain to discuss with Isa the Messiah’s death? These two men were enabled to leap over millions of hours to spend time with the one who the Qur’an tells us is exalted in this world and in the next. Why?

His death in Jerusalem would be more important than any event in the history of man. This death was to be more than the topic of the mere theological discussion; all of history would turn on it. The Messiah’s unjust execution and his subsequent resurrection were not preliminaries leading to some main event in another time, another place.

Together, they were history’s main event.

To somehow overlook the death and resurrection of ALLAH’S Messiah or to try to explain them away is misjudgment of unequaled magnitude.

WHY MOSES AND ELIJAH?

There are compelling reasons why Moses and Elijah were the two men chosen to discuss with the Messiah the most significant event in history. The Prophet Moses was well educated, but neither man was an academic. They had lived instead in the real world of struggle against injustice, oppression and abuse of power. Neither man was concerned for polite debate about religious pluralism.

Instead, they each had experienced feeling for their lives from the wrath of ruthless rules who had rejected their messages from The MERCIFUL. Both had stood alone against powerful evil forces that had attempted to thwart the ALMIGHTY’S Will. Both had endured deep mental and emotional anguish in standing for what was right. And they each finally saw the reward from their lonely walks on Obedience Road.

So the Prophet Moses, ALLAH’S lawgiver, and prophet Elijah, who represented his prophets, were for a conversation with Isa shortly before his crucifixion in Jerusalem. It was appropriate that the law and the prophets be represented at that time. As Isa explained on the road to Emmaus, on the very day of his resurrection, his life, death and resurrection fulfilled the law and the prophets.

In these two men, Isa found faithful servants who had endured deep loneliness and suffering. They had walked the same lonely path of obedience and persecution that he was walking. They understood, while his own disciples did not want to hear about suffering. Later, on the eve of his execution, they fell asleep when he asked them to support him in prayer. They appeared too overwhelmed with their own suffering to appreciate the anguish he soon would face. Significantly, it seemed to be women such as the one who anointed him with her perfume and tears who most understood the severe test he was facing.

But, the MERCIFUL used two men from the past, who had endured deep suffering, to discuss with Isa his coming trial, torture and execution. It was to be an agonizing, gruesome death in a city supposedly devoted to justice.

Tragically, the religious leaders who were supposed to lead the people in acts of mercy and justice would be the very ones to attack and tear at ALLAH’S Anointed, a pack of wild dogs tearing at a wounded prey. While he was on the cross, it would appear that even The MERCIFUL had forsaken him. The three men agreed that the circumstances facing him were horrible. But they also agreed that good would finally arise out of the evil that would soon occur in the city that was supposed to be holy.

And so it is today, that no matter hoe great the darkness that prevails over Jerusalem, it is ALLAH who watches over it. As Isa’s glorious resurrection gives total proof of ALLAH ultimate victory over evil, He will have victory in that city. It is not the evil plans of those who manipulate, exploit and even murder that finally triumph. Instead the ALLAH of Moses, Elijah and Isa will ultimately be victorious in the struggle for the soul of Jerusalem.

AN EXPLANATION

When the verse that mentions Isa’s death is read in Arabic -- Luke 9:31 -- some may suggest that the Arabic word that speaks of his death, (khuruuj), is only speaking of what would be his last departure from Jerusalem and is not speaking of his death.

There are several reasons that is certain this word DOES speak of the Messiah’s coming death in Jerusalem.

1. In each of the four accounts of Jesus’ life by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, his death at Jerusalem was clearly spoken of both before and after his remarkable conversation with the Prophet Moses and the Prophet Elijah and witnessed by three of the Messiah’s disciples, Peter, James and John.

2. Scholars generally agree that the original Greek word, (exodan), was used as a Greek idiom similar to the way decease is used in English.

3. The ancient Roman philosopher, Philo, uses the Latin translation of this word in a way that is a similar to the meaning of decease.

4. The ancient Jewish historian, Josephus, and the ancient church father and scholar, Justinian, both understood the original of this word to refer to death.

5. The death is referred to as being completed or accomplished in Jerusalem. The use of either the Greek or Arabic words implies that the Jerusalem events were the completion or conclusion of the total purpose of his dedicated life. This is consistent with his last words spoken from the cross, “It is finished.” If ALLAH’S Messiah was going to Jerusalem to deceptively escape death rather than to defeat death, it is unlikely that such an escape would be an appropriate completion of his life’s work.

6. If Isa were only planning to escape or depart from Jerusalem by deception, the conversation on the mountain is inconceivable. It seems ALLAH hardly would arrange one the Bible’s greatest miracles for a deception that might have been performed by a professional magician. That is to cheapen ALLAH’S Majesty and question His Judgment.

7. The Messiah had wept over Jerusalem, proclaiming that it is the city where ALLAH’S Prophets give their lives in faithfulness to Him. Having said this, why would he go to Jerusalem, have another die in his place while he secretly departed. In that case, his obedience would be rewarded in heaven with shame. He would be there as one who escaped rather than having honorably given his life in Jerusalem. Another would have been crucified in his place.

8. The people of Jerusalem were discouraged because their city was occupied by the despised Romans. The Messiah’s heart was broken, not because of the Romans, but because its Jewish leaders had stayed far from ALLAH’S purposes. Their strangulation of the city’s soul crushed his heart. They had made city and temple into a narrow, selfish image of themselves. The Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had observed this same corruption in their day. So Isa, with great emotion, quoted these two prophets on the day when, in holy anger, he drove corrupt money changes and greedy merchants from ALLAH’S Temple.

Besides cleansing the temple, he also attempted to cleanse the people of an arrogant exclusivist attitude. He did this when he reminded them of the great Prophet Isaiah’s proclamation that it is ALLAH’S Will that the Jerusalem temple have an international character and be open for the prayers of people of other nations. So Isa cried out, “It is written in the Scriptures that ALAH said, ‘My temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations but you have made it a den of thieves!’”

Another time, Isa expressed his deep desire to protect Jerusalem. He likened himself to a mother hen who longed to protect her small chicks, but who was rejected. He said it was not right for a prophet of ALLAH to be killed anywhere else but in the City of Jerusalem.  

Then he made a significant observation that has much relevance to contemporary Jerusalem. He did not hold any particular group responsible for killing ALLAH’S prophets who were martyred in this city. He said that it was the whole city that did the actual killing. “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, You kill the prophets and you stone the messengers ALLAH sends you.”

In light of these deep ties that the risen Messiah has with this city, to suggest that he was willing to quietly depart from Jerusalem unnoticed is to discount his deep emotional commitment to it. It is also to declare that he was much less than a prophet. True prophets do not sneak away and let other persons suffer in their place. The idea of a silent departure totally ignores his deep passion to see this beloved city redeemed from her awful rebellion. Isa definitely went to Jerusalem and gave her his life for this rebellious city and for the entire word, whose rebellion is not dissimilar to Jerusalem’s.

ZIONISM’S LIE

The Messiah’s resurrection confirms that good will ultimately triumph in Jerusalem. Unhappily, this hope fails to dull the pain of having loved ones unjustly killed, or losing one’s homeland to theft. Zionist propaganda speaks of a land without a people waiting for a people without a land. That lie has taken the lifeblood of thousands of Arabs and Jews, but many more Arabs than Jews.

Tragically, many still believe that Palestine was uninhabited. It is not generally known outside of the Middle East that as early as 1939, the British already had killed well over 3,000 Palestinians in their own land. Palestinians had fought desperately against the obvious implications of the hated Balfour Declaration.

This British proclamation set the stage for land inhabited and owned by mostly Palestinians to be officially given to the Jews. By Britain’s own official statistics, by 1939 they had killed 2,000Palestinians by military and police action -- 961 in gang terrorist activities and 110 by judicial homicide, which was hanging. It is estimated that by 1939, a total close to 20,000 Palestinians had either been killed or wounded by the British.

But who can begin to estimate how many tragic casualties there have been since that time. The statistics for only occupied Gaza are very alarming. As reported in the December 9, 1996, Jordan Times, from a report of the Gaza Center for Rights and law, 626 Gazans have been killed by Israel since the beginning of the first Intifada and 140 of them since the beginning of the peace process.

It also is reported that the 61,582 Palestinians had been injured by Israeli bullets or gas since December 8, 1987, the start of the first Intifada, and that more than 5,000 Palestinians even now, remain in Israeli prisons. It is vital to remember that these cold statistics represent people whose land has been and is being occupied by foreigners.

There is no way that in a few paragraphs we can begin to pay proper tribute to a courageous people who have been broken, raped, maimed, slaughtered, imprisoned, tortured, murdered, humiliated scattered, dispossessed, betrayed and made powerless.

Beyond the physical suffering, Palestinian farmers who loved and nourished each tree in their orchards were callously dispossessed of their land. It was a cruel tragedy that few in the West can appreciate. Who can begin to measure the justified outrage deeply engraved in Palestinian memories of the vicious, unconscionable slaughter that occurred in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, just outside Jerusalem?

There, in 1948, one month before the State of Israel was proclaimed in Palestine, 260 defenseless men, women and children were ruthlessly slaughtered. The massacre was an example so other thousands of Palestinians would hear about its brutality and, in panic, would flee for their lives, leaving their land for Jewish settlement. Although official Zionist leadership publicly condemned this outrage, no action was ever taken against the murders who could have been easily identified.                 

So the unjust and often brutal expropriation of Palestinian land has continued to this day with thousands of Palestinian having lived their entire lives in refugee camps. Consequently, as I emphasize the government-sponsored murder of Jesus that occurred in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago, I do not minimize the cruel injustice to the multitude of lives that have been much more recently destroyed. Not only do I refer to the physical loss of life, but also to the destruction of hope that occurs when people are unjustly dispossessed of their homes, businesses and land.

Nor do I intend to imply that any Palestinian should lost the right to have Jerusalem as his capital because of his belief about what happened to the Messiah in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. From my perspective of what the Palestinian have endured for the past eighty years, they deserve much nor than an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. But I do not believe that the horrible wrong that has more recently happened to the Palestinians makes it right that Isa’s murder by Israeli leaders continues to be considered by Muslims an event that did not happen.

The history of what happened to Palestinians has been distorted for political expediency. There is a parallel here with what happened to ALLAH’S Messiah in the same land 2,000 years ago. It is immoral to manipulate the historical reality of the slaughter of innocent men, women and children at the village of Deir Yassin by the Israeli terrorist group, Irgun. It is also wrong to manipulate the facts of what ALLAH’S Messiah endured at the hands of Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

In that city, because of the political expediency involving Israeli religious and political leaders and the reluctant but manipulated Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, Isa was murdered on a Roman cross. What happened in both Jerusalem and Deir Yassin, two locations separated by only a few miles, was obscene and violated all standards of human decency. These events were centuries apart, but each merits remembrance. The excessive brutality of both of those historical events must never be denied or forgotten.

MULTIPLE TESTIMONIES

The Old Testament Scriptures repeatedly predict the Messiah’s suffering and death. The New Testament’s main theme is the death of our Messiah and the implications of his death and resurrection. Finally, the Holy Qur’an, when it is correctly understood, reaches a magnificent crescendo when it proclaims the glorious victory over the futile attempt of Jewish leaders to eternally end the Messiah’s life.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that the city where history’s most significant event occurred even today dominates deliberations in the United Nations. No other city stirs emotions, as does this place where Isa died and rose and for 40 days appeared to more than 500 of his followers.

DO ARAB MUSLIMS WANT JERUSALEM?

Does the evidence indicate that Muslim men of political stature are truly serious about having Palestinians control at least Arab East Jerusalem? No! Does the evidence indicate that the vast Arab Muslim community is truly serious about having Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian Nation? No!

Multitudes have given their lives. There is much persuasive rhetoric and much-impassioned speed making. There is considerable diplomatic activity. There are many sincere protests. There have been hundreds of editorials. But in the midst of all the sincere effort and sacrifice, there is one regrettable reality.

Islam ignores the multiple testimonies and the persuasive evidence pointing to the validity of the two most important events to ever occur in Jerusalem. For as long as Arab Muslims overtly reject the triumph of ALLAH’S Risen Messiah, they objectively demonstrate that they are not truly serious about more justice regarding Jerusalem.

No less regrettable is that a significant proportion of both the world Christian community and Arab Christian community neglect the death and resurrection of our Messiah. By neglecting the relevance of these two events to our lives, we reject the love and support ALLAH offers us through the most unique man to have ever lived.

Who else has ever had the moral and spiritual authority to point to a flourishing vineyard and liken people’s relationship to him as a healthy branch to a vine? Jesus said, “I am vine. You are the branches. As a branch receives its nourishment from the vine, to bear fruit in your lives you must receive spiritual nourishment from me. For without me, you can do nothing.”    

Only this man showed by his wise teaching, his courageous opposition to personal and institutional evil, his many, many miracles of love and compassion, his sinless life and finally through his own resurrection from death, that on him rests the ALMIGHTY ‘s full blessing and approval.

Your choice to keep a high wall between yourselves and this man anointed by ALLAH is a loud and clear message to Him. “We have no respect for Your Choice of who would be our Messiah.” You also have the courage to tell the ALMIGHTY. “We wish to remain totally disassociated from the death and resurrection of Your Chosen that you ordained to occur in the city we are negotiating for.”

In all sincerity you cry out, “Oh ALLAH, since we are sincerely trying to please You and since You are Just, please help us obtain our fair share of Jerusalem.” With ALLAH’S help, can Muslim leaders understand the contradiction in their raising that prayer while rejecting the death and resurrection of ALLAH’S Messiah in Jerusalem? This contradiction leads to another relevant question.

DO CHRISTIAN ARABS TRULY WANT JERUSALEM?

The Messiah did much of his teaching through parables. Many of us ignore their teachings. Why? Because his parables contain powerful messages telling us to change our values. We unwisely think that our own values will bring us more joy than the values taught by ALLAH’S Messiah.

For example, Jesus told two short but penetrating parables to reveal how much more valuable ALLAH’S Kingdom is than anything that we can ever possess.

The first parable is about a pearl that is the most magnificent pearl ever to exist. When a certain rich man who truly knows the value of pearls sees this pearl, his mind can think of nothing else. He knows that he must own it. He immediately sells everything he possesses so that he will be able to purchase this one wonderful pearl. He wants always to enjoy its rare beauty.

The second parable contains the same powerful message about how nothing is more important than being committed to ALLAH’S Kingdom. One day, a wealthy man is wandering in a vacant field. Suddenly something barely sticking up from the ground catches his eye. He looks more closely, and then secretly digs around the object. Soon he cannot believe what he has discovered. He immediately thanks ALLAH for his good luck. He has no doubt that he must purchase this property so that the valuable that is buried there will be owned by him. But there is a problem. This property has a high price. And the law states that a person is not allowed to buy only a small piece of property; he must purchase the whole field. So, if he truly wants the treasure, he has only once choice. He must sell everything he possesses to have enough money to purchase this entire field. That is exactly what he does. Because he made this choice, a much greater treasure than he ever dreamed that he could own is now his.

Not for one second is Isa teaching that a great pearl or great wealth will satisfy the deep needs of our hearts. Rather, our Messiah is clearly proclaiming that so wonderful is full citizenship in ALLAH’S Eternal Kingdom that it is worth everything a person possesses. Significantly, it is the Living Messiah himself who is represented both by the magnificent pearl and by the great treasure in the field. To open our hearts to the one who referred in sincerity to himself as “The Way,” “The Life” and “The Resurrection” is worth all that we are and all that we possess or ever will possess.

Many Arab Christians seem very glad to know that their Messiah defeated death and now lives. However, few appear to have hearts that are deeply saddened that their Muslim brothers and sisters have not yet fully embraced the one who conquered death. Many of us seem to believe that the ALMIGHTY possesses neither the might nor the wisdom nor the love to draw Muslims to His Messiah.

There also is the possibility that many of us feel that our Messiah is our exclusive possession and belongs to Christians. We seem to reason that since Muslims have chosen to believe that Jesus is not ALLAH’S Risen Messiah, we have no responsibility to share the one who belongs exclusively to us with those who have already chosen to reject him.

We seem to not know or to have forgotten that the New Testament clearly teaches that a time is rapidly approaching when even great numbers of Jesus will turn to the Messiah, who died for all people everywhere. He is definitely not the private Messiah for Christianity. Also, we need to recall the words that Jesus himself proclaimed when some visitors from Greece inquired about him. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” Jesus made certain that his disciples understood that Greeks also were to be included. Therefore, it is the urgent responsibility of each of us, including Arab Christians, to believe that ALLAH’S Will is for the Messiah to be lifted up for all people, including Muslims.

If we are concerned that either our Muslim friend or ourselves may experience serious difficulty if we lift up our Messiah for Muslims to seek, there is a partial solution. We may lift up both the Messiah and our friends in secret prayer. And if we are not willing to plead and pray secretly for our Muslim brothers and sisters, we have a serious problem.

We may value our knowledge about the Messiah, who figuratively is presented by both the very valuable pearl and the hidden treasure that are worth all that a person possesses. However, if we have no interest in praying for others to know him, it appears that we ourselves are unwilling to pay the price of fully embracing our Messiah.