Christmas: Word became flesh/ a Book? Some Reflections

Christmas is a time of celebration, a time Christians concentrate on God’s greatest and best gift to all humanity. Though there are certain Christian groups who question the time of the year the celebration holds, hardly are there any that question the reason for this unique event in the history of humanity. Christmas in the […]

Christmas is a time of celebration, a time Christians concentrate on God’s greatest and best gift to all humanity. Though there are certain Christian groups who question the time of the year the celebration holds, hardly are there any that question the reason for this unique event in the history of humanity.

Christmas in the Bible and the Qur’an
The Christmas story appears only in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew (Matt.1:18-24) and Luke (1:26-38) without contradictions. Together, they provide a more complete family tree for Jesus both on his legal father’s side and on his biological mother’s side. Both were descendants of King David (Matt.1:1-17; Lk.3: 23-38). The story of the birth of Jesus begins in the gospel of Luke with God sending the archangel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin engaged to be married to a man named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel said to her that she had found favour with God and that she would become pregnant and give birth to a child. She was told to call him Jesus, and that he would be great and inherit the throne of David. Astonished and confused, Mary said, "How will this be since I am a virgin?" The angel said, "The Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." In other words, she would become pregnant by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
The version in the Gospel of Matthew is different. The angel of God, who remains unnamed in this version, appears to Joseph rather than Mary. Both Joseph and Mary were already engaged; he knew that she was pregnant and that he was not the father of the child. This is an embarrassing situation in any culture, but especially so in the Middle East, in ancient times as today. So what was Joseph to do? The angel told him that the baby was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah, and that he should go ahead with the wedding. Joseph agreed. But going back to the Gospel of Luke, Mary hurriedly travelled to the small town of Ain Karem to visit her cousin Elizabeth. She allegedly went to assist her cousin in childbirth, as she too, was pregnant- with John the Baptist.  Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married when they travelled to Bethlehem where Jesus was born (Luke 1:27 <x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/3063>).
The Qur’an is the third scriptural source of the Christmas story. Like the synoptic gospels do for each other, the story as told in the Qur’an complements the two gospel accounts and adds interesting details and insights. We should not expect the Qur’an to give as much space to the story of Jesus as does the gospels, not because Jesus (Isa’) is less important to Muslims, but rather because the gospels have already told the story. The Qur’an echoes some details of the story in confirmation, and adds other details. "It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).Q.3:3)
The Qur’an, like the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, tells the story of the annunciation in sura 19:16-22
As in the Gospel of Matthew, the angel remains unnamed, although Muslim tradition assumes that it is Gabriel. Q 21:91 and Q. 66:12 both say, "We breathed into her of Our Spirit [Ruh]". Following the Gospel of Luke rather than Mathew, the angel appears to Mary, rather than to Joseph.  Joseph does not appear in the Christmas story at all in the Qur’an.
What is clear in all three versions of the story, though, is that this baby was conceived not in the normal way of intercourse with a man but through the intercession of God through the Holy Spirit in Christianity or "Our Spirit" (Ruhina) in Islam. All three scriptural accounts agree on this. Indeed, the Qur’an is so emphatic about Mary guarding her chastity that it says:  "It is not befitting to (the majesty of) God that he should beget a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter, He only says to it ‘Be’ and it is"(Q.19:35). This is interpreted by many Muslim scholars as an emphatic denial that God had intercourse with Mary in order for her to conceive this special child.
The concept of ‘begetting’ is a very sticky issue in Islam and for the sake of reducing tension between the Christian and Muslim communities in light of the current reactions by Christians to the behaviour of extremist Muslim groups in some parts of our world; it may be helpful if we had a few words on this concept. The Arabic word "beget" in Qur’an 112:3,  where we read, "He begetteth not nor is begotten" is walada, which clearly means ‘the sexual act of begetting or bearing a child’. The Arabic word for "beget" in Qur’an 19:35 <x-apple-data-detectors://embedded-result/5428>, on the other hand, is ittakhadha (to make). Combined, as it is, with the word "son", it could have a sexual meaning, but it also might not. Most scholars believe that it is ambiguous. The important point here though, is that most Muslims, and I would add Christians, would agree that Jesus’ conception was not the result of a sexual act on the part of God and the Virgin Mary, but rather as a result of a command on the part of God.
The virgin birth is something that transcends our normal understanding of things. Of course, there are many other things that we do not understand scientifically, but we believe anyway. Somehow, the virgin birth of Jesus is different, harder for some to accept. As well-informed world Christian and Muslim leaders seek for ways of reducing tension and hatred, this is a good place to begin dialogue among the two communities because the main stream of both traditions believes that Jesus was conceived solely by the will of God.

Interpretations of the Event
Where Christians and Muslims will disagree on the virgin birth is why the concept is so important. For Muslims, the virgin birth is testimony to God’s infinite creative power. God can, and in this case did, create by a sheer act of will. He said, "Be", and so it was ( kun fayakun). This was infact the second time , according to the   Qur’an, that God created a man by a simple act of His will. The first time was when He created Adam without the intervention of a father or mother. It was simply an act of God’s creative will. Additionally for Muslims, the purity of Mary is of the highest importance. Since Jesus was a prophet unlike the others, the purity of his mother needed to be established.
Adam, being the "first human", could not have come into the world with two biological parents. Jesus, on the other hand, assuming that God can do whatever He wants, could have, if God had wanted to do it that way. But He did not. God chose to bring Jesus into the world through His own command and a biological mother. This distinguished Jesus from Adam; it makes him special, unique. 
For Christians, that Jesus was "conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary" unites the divinity and the humanity of Jesus more clearly than any other way that Jesus could have come into the world. For Christians, the virgin birth has an added significance. It speaks to the question of whether or not Jesus is the Son of God whether or not, indeed, Jesus is God.

The Importance of the Incarnation.
For the Christian, sin is the cause for the incarnation: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mk.10:45). Both Muslims and Christians accept that sin produces an unfavourable state of ‘being’, one that we should be ashamed of, no less. "Sin is that which causes discomfort within your soul and which you dislike people to become informed of" (Sahih Muslim).
Who pays off the debt of sin? Obviously, the debtor is to pay off the debt; the sinner pays the debt of sin. This is why Muslims have a problem with the idea of vicarious atonement, with the idea of original sin, with the idea that someone other than the sinner pays off the debt. What the Christian is saying is that once the relationship with God is broken, it cannot be restored by man alone. Man simply does not have enough resources. God in His infinite mercy and love wants to be involved in restoring the relationship.
Muslims believe that God saves us through his divine word. The guide for salvation, the "agent" of salvation if you will, is the Word of God as revealed through the Qur’an (Az-Zumar. Q.39:17-18). Muslims believe that the Word of God became a book, (the Qur’an) which God sends as a guide for restoring the relationship. Jesus, as the Word of God, is a messenger, a sign, an image, a way to know the God revealed in scripture. Jesus transmitted the word of God like other prophets.
Christians, on the other hand believe that the Word became flesh (Man) and that Man is Jesus. Whatever else He may be, this Jesus is fully human and, at the same time, the visible image of God. He came to earth to save humanity. "Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death" (Heb.2:14). In other words, the reason Christ took on human flesh was so that he could die and in dying pay a ransom and free humanity from the power of death. This is what Christians celebrate at Christmas: that God became Man and came to earth to save  humanity, that Jesus is the Word of God, and that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1). 
This is an event in human history affirmed in both Christianity and Islam though with different interpretations. It is an event that both communities can celebrate and apply in their relationships positively together.
The first leader of the old Northern Nigeria has left a legacy which this reader believes world leaders need to accept, ponder upon and work with as they find solutions to the increasing hatred between the Christian and Muslim communities all over the world today due to the atrocities of religious extremists (ISIL, IS, Boko Haram et al.). Sir Ahmadu Bello (OBE), the Sardauna of Sokoto of blessed memory while responding to the suggestion that in relating together with another part of Nigeria with a different culture and religion said, “Let us understand our differences".  The Word became flesh (Man) for the Christian, a Book (Qur’an) for the Muslim.
In the document: “A Common Word between Us and You” we read, “Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.” Hans Kung wraps it up in these words:   “: …No peace among the Religions without Dialogue between the Religions, no Dialogue between the Religions without Investigation of the Foundations of the Religions” (Kung 2007). Most of the celebrations observed by these two religions are based on the same events but differently interpreted, with the culture of understanding both communities should be able to stand together against extremist views of their faiths and by so doing promote the culture of tolerance and understanding which are essentials for peace and peaceful coexistence. This unnecessary waste of human lives, displacements and instability in our world must stop; we must stand together as communities and challenge the abuse of our faith traditions.
Happy celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ to both communities.
The Most Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon (Ph.D) is the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, St Andrew’s House, Tailstock Crescent, London W11 AP