Son of God: Jews’ claim for Uzair or
Christians’ claim for Christ
Q609 :According to the Qur’an, Christ was
misunderstood by his followers because of his unique and unusual birth,
so they said he was the son of God. But it is not clear how the Jews
were mistaken in their belief that Ezra or Uzair was the son of God. Do
they have any reason in support of their belief such as Christians
have?
A609 : Let me first correct your statement about
what the Qur’an mentions about the followers of Jesus Christ (peace be
upon him). In the early Christian era, there was no question among
Christians as to the humanity of Jesus Christ. He ensured that none of
his followers was in doubt about his birth and his nature as a human
being and a Prophet. To believers, the birth of Jesus without a father
is a sign of Allah’s greatness and grace. Moreover, it is very easy to
accept. Allah created Adam without parents. It was just as easy for Him
to create anyone of us with or without a meeting of the two sexes. It
was late in Christian history, round the third century, when the
erroneous beliefs which claimed a divine nature for Christ were
imposed. Moreover, they could not be imposed on the majority of
Christians without determined opposition by many a noble and faithful
Christian priests and laymen. Thousands of them were executed by
Emperor Constantine whose conversion to Christianity spelled
fundamental distortion of its beliefs. As for Ezra or Uzair, the claim
that he was the son of God is not widely known among the Jews of today.
The fact that it is mentioned in the Qur’an is irrefutable evidence
that some of them at least, especially the Jews of Madinah at the time
of the Prophet, made this false claim. At the time of its revelation,
the Qur’an was in direct confrontation with the Jews and Christians.
Had the Qur’an claimed that they said something which was not widely
known among them, they would have found such a claim easy justification
for refusing to accept the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) and they would have made use of it on the widest possible scale.
The position of Uzair among the Jews is not inferior to the position of
Moses or Elias. They claim that it was he who netpiled the books of the
Old Testament, introduced the use of Chaldean in place of the old
Hebrew script, because most of the Jews were able to read Chaldean
rather than Hebrew after they were released from bondage. It is also
well known among historian that the Torah which was revealed to Moses
and which he wrote down and put in the ark of the covenant was lost
long before Suleman’s time. When the ark was opened at the time of
Suleman, only two tablets were found there which contained the ten
netmandments. It was left to Uzair to write down the Torah in the
Chaldean alphabet and language, mixed with traces of Hebrew. Some Jews
suggest that Uzair wrote the Torah down as it was in its original
version, by special inspiration from Allah. There are other reports
about Uzair, but the fact is that many Jews revere him highly to the
extent that some of them used to call him son of god. It may be that
they used this title as one of honor, rather than in its literal
meaning. Whatever the fact, some Jews, especially those who were living
in Madinah at the time of the Prophet, certainly made this claim.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )