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Expert Author John W. Scott
There are 40 prophets in the Koran which were first mentioned in the Bible. Some of these include Adam, Enoch, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Jonah and Jesus.
The greatest of these for Christians is Jesus. The greatest prophet for Muslims is Muhammad. Muhammad lived approximately 500 years after Jesus. The Greek Scriptures, commonly referred to as the New Testament, were written approximately 14 to 95 years after Jesus died, and were completed around the year 98 AD.
While there are no original copies of the Greek Scriptures, what the Muslim refers to as the Injil, there are fragments of the Bible that date to within 10 to 25 years of the original writings.
The Koran acknowledges that Jesus was a prophet of God, a servant of God, a teacher about God, and also that Jesus performed miracles.
Some of the miracles that Jesus performed were, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, opening th ears of the deaf, giving the ability to walk to the lame, as well as resurrecting the dead.
That Jesus resurrected the dead is acknowledged in the Koran, and Jesus miracles are seen as being from the power of God in the Koran, rather than from any miraculous human ability that Jesus possessed of his own.
While other prophets in the past had performed miracles, none performed miracles on the scale that Jesus did when he was on the earth. Elijah resurrected one boy who had died, but Jesus performed several resurrections of persons who had recently died, and those who had been dead for several days, always giving glory to God, rather than to himself.
Jesus said that you would know the true prophet from the false, by that prophet, not seeking his own glory, but seeking the glory of God. In the Bible, Jesus never brought glory to himself, but always gave glory to God. The witness that the Bible gives, then, from Jesus, of the power of God, is a true witness.
When a rich young ruler came to Jesus, and said to him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get saved," rather than give glory to himself, Jesus said, "Why do you call me good, none is good but the Heavenly One." Jesus recognized that absolute goodness and honorific titles belonged, not to him as a human on earth, but to God.
Religious leaders, then, that honor themselves with high-sounding titles, are going contrary to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said, "Do not call anyone your Teacher on earth." Also, "Do not call anyone" your Rabbi, or Father on earth. Those honors belonged to God, not to man. To call a priest Father, Pope, or a minister, Reverend, or Most Reverend, are titles fitting for God, not for man. We can see, then, that the ministers and priests of "Christian" religions are seeking are not following Jesus example of honoring God, but are honoring themselves.
Jesus not only performed miracles, but he was primarily a teacher. For 3 1/2 he lived a life free from any materialism and walked through the land of Judah, teaching the people about God's ways. The theme of Jesus teaching was "the good news of God's kingdom". God's kingdom would come and restore all things both in heaven and on earth. Jesus was tempted by the Devil to break his integrity to God. The Devil tried to get Jesus to directly worship him, in exchange for all the glory of the nations of the world. Jesus refused, and said, "Go away Satan, it is Jehovah your God you must worship, and to Him alone you must render sacred service." The Devil, then, fled from Jesus.
Jesus taught a higher form of love than had ever been taught previously. Even though Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism had existed for centuries before Jesus, Jesus taught about a new kind of love, a self-sacrificing love, a love for even your enemies. No one had ever taught about a love like that before, nor did anyone originate a teaching in any religion, teaching about a love like that after Jesus. Jesus teaching about love reached an apex in religious history that would never be equaled by any other prophet.
Jesus said, at Matthew 5:43-47, "43 "YOU heard that it was said, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 However, I say to YOU: Continue to love YOUR enemies and to pray for those persecuting YOU; 45 that YOU may prove yourselves sons of YOUR Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. 46 For if YOU love those loving YOU, what reward do YOU have? Are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? 47 And if YOU greet YOUR brothers only, what extraordinary thing are YOU doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing? 48 YOU must accordingly be perfect, as YOUR heavenly Father is perfect."
Jesus not only taught this type of self-sacrificing love, but he also practiced it. While Jesus was being executed, on the torture stake, he prayed, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," according to the Bible. Additionally, the Bible states that Christians were to cultivate and practice the same type of love that Jesus had, being willing to die for their brothers, in the same way that Jesus was willing to die for his earthly brothers. 1 John 3:16. Jesus disciple and apostle John was loved by Jesus and he wrote a great deal about the love that Jesus taught in his various writings, even 65 years later.
Jesus did not teach that we should war against those warring against us, but rather that we should forgive, love and pray for our enemies.
Jesus did not have to be persuaded or forced to declare God's writings. The account of Muhammad said that the angel Gabriel had to finally choke Muhammad in order to persuade him to declare God's writings. Jesus, on the other hand, willingly did everything God asked him to do, to teach people and expose religious hypocrisy at the risk of his own life, willingly.
Additionally, the standards that Jesus taught for marriage were superior to that taught by the prophets preceding him, and superior to that taught by Muhammad, some 500 years later. While the Koran allows for divorce on many different grounds, and that a man can divorce twice before having to stay with his third wife, Jesus taught that divorce was not permissible, except in the case of adultery. Matthew 19.
In that same account found at Matthew 19, Jesus taught that polygamy was not permissible, but that God's original arrangement was for the man to "leave his father and his mother, and stick to his wife, and the two would become one flesh." The Bible says, in the Greek Scriptures (or New Testament), that an Christian minister must be "husband of one wife," not many wives.
One Muslim husband who had many wives and children from each of these wives stated that, he would "not recommend" having many wives, that it brings many problems into the family. So, while the Koran allows for many wives, Jesus taught that the husband should have only one wife, which is better family arrangement and contributes to the happiness of both the husband and the wife.
In the Bible, the husband was never to hit his wife, whereas the Koran allows a husband to his wife. Jesus never hit his disciples, and the Bible encourages husbands to love their wives as themselves, and be self-sacrificing to their wife, but never hit their wife for a misdemeanor, or for any reason. This would be a sin against God, rather than something allowed according to the Bible and to the teaching of Jesus.
Jesus stayed single so that he could devote his life to teaching others and serving God. He encouraged Christians who had that "gift" of remaining single to do so, so that they could serve God more fully. While all the Apostles of Jesus were married, Jesus did not forbid marriage, there were some prominent Christians such as Paul, who were not married for the purpose of being able to do more in the ministry of God, as Jesus did. On the other hand, Muhammad had many wives as did many Muslims, even today, after him.
Jesus was willing to die for his followers, a painful death of integrity to God. No matter what the Devil threatened, Jesus was courageous, and willing to give up his life for God and for others. Because of that spirit, God rewarded Jesus with the greatest reward, greater than any other prophet before him or afterwards, to sit at God's right hand in heaven. God resurrected Jesus, and Jesus is in a position at the right hand of God, according to the Bible.
Jesus taught,
We should honor only God not ourselves
We should love our enemies and not war against them
Husbands should not divorce their wives, except for adultery
A husband should have only one wife, not many
A husband should never hit his wife, no more than he would hit himself
Jesus performed thousands of miracles, including,
Curing the sick
Giving sight to the blind
Giving hearing to the deaf
Resurrecting the dead
Miraculously feeding thousands
Walking on water
Calming a violent storm
Therefore, Christians believe that Jesus is a superior prophet to any prophet before him, or after, which is why they do not follow the teachings of Muhammad. However noble Muhammad might have been, Christians believe that he did not match Jesus in his teachings or his deeds.
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