Jesus and Muhammed, compared

The World Nut Daily has yet another bit of tripe for our viewing pleasure. In response, I take on their assertions:

A review of these resources reveal:

* Jesus was a religious leader.

* Muhammad was religious leader and a military leader.

Incorrect. While Jesus was not head of any kind of organized military effort in the way Muhammad was, he was still very much part of an insurgency effort in Israel at that time. The Zealots were a guerrilla group which committed acts of terrorism against Rome and were highly critical of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem, seeing them as traitorous to the cause of Israel through complicity with Rome. The Jews were not allowed to carry weapons, but the Zealots often were armed beneath their robes. Evidence of Jesus' involvement in the group can be seen in not only his pointed political speeches, often confused with religious rhetoric, but in the fact Peter was packing a sword and knew how to use it. Zealot uprisings lead to the razing of Jerusalem in 70 AD, most likely in response to the stirring up of the rebels by leaders like Jesus.

* Jesus never killed anyone.

* Muhammad killed an estimated 3,000 people, including beheading 700 Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina, A.D. 627:

Killing and advocating violence go hand in hand. Jesus' statements contain many overt and veiled references to the kind of violence he desired his followers to engage in. He warned them multiple times that they would have to fight and that he came in order to bring about that violence. His followers believed this as well, as can be seen in the numerous references they make concerning a coming war between them and others.

* Jesus never owned slaves.

* Muhammad received a fifth of the prisoners taken in battle, including women. (Sura 8:41)

There's actually no evidence about Jesus' personal life beyond what we know of historical context. His father was a carpenter, but carpenters in those days weren't as we know them today. They were more like architects. They designed structures, hired crews or used slaves to do the jobs, and were both respected and wealthy members of the community. Slave ownership was common in that time and there is no reason to believe Jesus' family didn't also engage in slave ownership. Some support for this can be seen in Jesus' sympathetic attitude toward slave owners and his encouragement to slaves to obey their masters.

* Jesus never married.

* Muhammad had many wives.

The arguments on this subject are long and many. There is simply no good reason to believe Jesus was NOT married, especially given the historical context of the time. The external Biblical sources voted out of the Bible at Nicea lend tremendous credence to Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene. This would also account for Mary's continued presence in his entourage of followers. Unmarried women were simply not allowed that kind of freedom of movement. Thus, Mary was most likely married to one of Jesus' followers or to Jesus himself.

* Jesus never forced followers to continue believing. After Jesus made a difficult saying, "many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will ye also go away?' Then Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.'" (John 6:31-69)

* Muhammad forced followers to continue believing, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." (Hadith al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, Bk. 84, No. 57)

Jesus said more than once that his purpose was to turn those who followed him away from those they loved, driving a wedge between parents and children, etc. Referencing back to the Zealots once more, we know from history that the Zealot movement more than once assassinated those they viewed as collaborators with Rome. Like the Zealots, Jesus never once preached he was founding a new religion. Instead, he wanted the Jews to return to the older, more spiritually focused ways of their ancestors. The Zealots advocated this through force, if necessary, and we have already discussed that Jesus was most likely a prominent Zealot member. These ideas were enforced in how Jesus threatened those who didn't believe him. He threatened their very souls if they did not follow his ideas.

* Jesus taught God was our Father (Matthew 6:10).

* Muhammad taught it was blasphemy to call Allah your father (Sura 5:18)

Jesus actually flip flopped between calling himself god and calling on the Jewish god. In the middle, he advocated a kind of polytheism abhorrent to the Jews.

* Jesus taught man was made in God's image. (Matthew 22:20, ref. Gen. 1:26-27, 9:6)

* Muhammad taught Allah has no image. (Sura 42:11, Sura 112:4)

Jesus also said that men were like evil gods themselves and advocated their ascension to such. In John 10:34, he answers a question from the Pharisees by invoking a passage from Psalm 82:6, in which an assembly of evil gods are opposed to the Jewish god. Basically, he is saying all humans are like these evil gods, as is he, and thus is his authority to teach.

* Jesus taught "forgive those who trespass against you." (Matthew 6:10-15)

* Muhammad taught to avenge trespasses against your honor, family or religion.

Actually, Jesus affirmed the eye for an eye laws of the Jews even as he used acts of civil disobedience to pester Roman soldiers.

* Jesus did not retaliate when violence was committed against him, saying "Father, forgive them." (Luke 23:34)

* Muhammad retaliated when violence was committed against him, ordering the death of his enemies.

If the Jesus story is to be believed, he died fully believing he was going to come back from the dead, go to heaven in order to rally the angels, and come back with a vengeance.

* Following Jesus was voluntary, from the inside out.

* Following Muhammad could be coerced, from the outside in.

Again, the coercion of Jesus rested in manipulating the people's spiritual beliefs. They were either with him or against him. When the practices of his day were not to his agreement, he used violence to retaliate, as evidence by his terrorist attack at the temple.

* A martyr in Christian and Jewish thought is one who dies for his faith.

* A martyr in Islamic thought is one who dies for his faith while killing infidels.

This seems to have deviated from comparing the men of Jesus and Muhammad into a more general comparison between Christianity and Islam. Both schools of thought have evolved considerably since their inceptions. The Christian Crusaders, for example, were indistinguishable from the hardliner Muslims of today, and martyrdom viewed accordingly.

* Christianity teaches God wants a personal relationship with each individual.[/color]

* Islam teaches individuals cannot have a personal relationship with Allah, as he is transcendent and unknowable.

Again, this is current theology. Christian thought has run the gamut between mysticism, with esoteric gods and the study of the Sephtiroth, to the "warm and fuzzy" god of modern thought.

* Jesus' religion is known for forgiveness and love.

* Muhammad's religion is known for obedience and fear.

Once again, it depends on which century you are standing. Just before the first Crusade, the Islamic lands were bastions of knowledge and learning, hosting scholars from all over the world regardless of personal faith to study in Baghdad's Hall of Learning. Muslim doctors were performing delicate cataract surgeries while their European Christian counterparts were still trying to cast out demons to cure ailments. Europe's exposure to this wealth of knowledge through their contact with the Muslim world during the Crusades is a singular causal factor in Christian Europe's later flourishing.

At the same time, Christianity has gone through its own barbarous phases more than once and even on American shores.

* None of Jesus' Apostles led armies. A village did not receive Jesus "and when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?' But he turned and rebuked them, and said, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'" (Luke 9:52-56)

* All of the caliphs who followed Muhammad led armies. (Caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Muawiyya, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, etc.)

There have been many armies lead under Christian leaders, not the least of which were the Zealots during Jesus' time, prompting all manner of reprisals from Rome.

* In the first 300 years of Christianity, there were 10 major Roman persecutions, and Christians were fed to lions in the Colosseum. Never did Christians lead an armed resistance against those who attacked them.

* In the first 300 years of Islam, Muslim armies conquered Arabia, Persia, the Holy Land, North Africa, Spain, Southern France, Central Africa, and invaded vast areas of Asia and Asia Minor.

Actually, the claims about Christianity are patently false. There are numerous reports in Roman history of Christian insurrections throughout the Empire.

Fighting is inconsistent with Jesus' example but not Muhammad's, as the Sirat Rasul Allah records Muhammad personally led 27 raids.

Again, patently false. Jesus personally attacked a marketplace of people, using whips to scourge them.

Jesus's teaching on how to treat enemies:

* Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you (Matthew 5:44).

* Resist not evil (Matthew 5:39).

* If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to them the other (Matthew 5:39).

* If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt (Matthew 5:40).

* If someone make you carry something one mile, carry it two (Matthew 5:41).

* Forgive and you shall be forgiven (Matthew 6:14).

* Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1).

* Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

* Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7).

* Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not kill, but I say who ever is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment (Matthew 5:21-22).

* Treat others the same way you want them to treat you (Luke 6:27-36).

* Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, whatever you do to the very least you have done unto me (Matthew 25:40).

Muhammad's teaching on how to treat enemies:

* Infidels are your sworn enemies (Sura 4:101).

* Be ruthless to the infidels (Sura 48:29).

* Make war on the infidels who dwell around you (Sura 9:123, 66:9).

* Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day (Sura 9:29).

* Strike off the heads of infidels in battle (Sura 47:4).

* If someone stops believing in Allah, kill him (al-Bukhari 9:84:57).

* Take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends (Sura 5:51, 60:13).

* Never be a helper to the disbelievers (Sura 28:86).

* Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them (Sura 2:191).

* No Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel (al-Bukhari 1:3:111).

* The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land (Sura 5:33).

Once again, Jesus' plans involved far more extensive slaughters as soon as he could get back to Earth with his angelic army.

What motivates fundamental Muslims to violence? Where Jesus was a religious leader, Muhammad was a religious leader and a military leader, thus the effort to separate the militant aspect of Islam from the religious aspect is an attempt to split Muhammad.

The closer one follows the example of Jesus, the more peaceful is one's motivation.

The closer one follows example of Muhammad, the more militant is one's motivation.

Quite a difference!

Historically, this just isn't backed up. Some of the most ferocious military forces were the Christian armies under the various Crusades. Additionally, Christian leaders throughout time have used their positions of spiritual power to decimate their enemies and devise some of the most cruel and horrific atrocities to torture those who were unfaithful to the cause.

Even today, Christian leaders advocate violence in order to bring about a world war, ushering in their imagined era of total dominance of the planet. In 2006, prominent Christian pastor John Hagee said:

The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West… a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.